Dear congregation, we cherish the words that our loved ones have spoken as they were about to leave this life. Maybe some of you are thinking even of words your loved ones spoke to you this year even or recently before they went into eternity. It's a blessing when those are not words about ourselves or even about their relationship with us. But when they're about the Lord, whom they were so soon to meet, and we also really in a certain sense will soon meet. Well, in our chapter, Joshua, gives us some of these final words. He's old and well-stricken in years. He's about to die, and rallying his last strength, he calls the tribes of Israel, the elders, the heads, the officers, the judges. He's at the high age of 110, the next chapter tells us. And as he does so, he points them to the Lord. And as these words live on, written down by the pen of the Holy Spirit, he points us on this eve, this eve of 2021. As we close out this year 2020, he points us to the Lord. As we can hear in the words of our text, which is taken from this chapter, Joshua 23, verse 14, and its context. where we read these words. And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you. All are come to pass unto you and not one thing hath failed thereof. Thus far our text, looking to the Lord, our theme is simply these words, not one thing has failed. We'll see first of all, Joshua's confession and secondly, Joshua's charge. Well, young people and children, you know about Joshua, don't you? Joshua was a man who lived a long time and whom the Lord used at many different times and in different ways. He was, first of all, the minister of Moses, he remembered bondage in Egypt. He was about 19 when you figure it all out, when the exodus took place. So he remembered those taskmasters and that heavy burden in Egypt. And he saw God's mighty hand at work, leading his people through the Red Sea on dry ground to the other side. He witnessed what the Lord did at Sinai, how he came down, how he was there among his people, how he gave his law, his statutes and his judgments, all of them, and wrote them with his own finger on the two tables of stone. He had been halfway up the mountain, you'll recall, and he had come down with Moses from the mountain only to see the people. worshiping the golden calf, he had seen that. And children, you remember that Joshua was one of the 12 spies, wasn't he? And he was one of the two that didn't bring an evil report, but by God's grace, he brought a good report, which the people refused to believe. and they brought on them 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. And the most of them would never enter into the land. And even Moses, because he struck the rock when he was supposed to speak to it, he too would not even enter into the land of promise. But Joshua did, remarkably. Around the age of 59, almost 60 or so, he was the successor of Moses. He was the designated leader. And the Lord spoke to him in the first chapter of Joshua and said to him, be strong and very courageous. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee. neither forsake thee." And 40 years later or so, 50 years, Joshua comes back to that very statement of the Lord, and he ties it all up. He comes full circle, and he says to Israel, as in a certain sense he passes the torch onto Israel as a nation, he says what the Lord promised then. He has fulfilled until today. He said, I will not fail thee. And not one word of the Lord has failed. My dear friend, wouldn't you want to die that way? To be able to look back and see with clarity that the Lord has been true. that the Lord has not failed, that what he has said he would do, he has done. And he says that there, no doubt with joy in his heart, not one thing has failed of all that the Lord has said. It's as if in his mind he reviews everything, he scans everything. He's looking for one thing. that might have failed, and he concludes, not one thing has failed of all that the Lord has said. Of course, Joshua is especially thinking here of God's redemptive acts that God had promised long ago. And the Lord had unfolded them one after the other. He made the Jordan River to open up. He saved Rahab from Jericho. He made the walls of Jericho fall flat. He made all these cities fall and be destroyed. He had given the whole land really as an inheritance. Indeed, they had to take it further in their own lives. Every tribe was given a commission there, but the whole of Canaan was open to them and Joshua had given them rest it says repeatedly in this book of Joshua not one thing had failed of all that the Lord had spoken the oath that God had made to Abraham he had upheld the promise made in days of old with Abraham He doth uphold. And notice then, first of all, that Joshua is not talking about himself. In a certain sense, hypothetically, he could have. He could have given them 10 lessons about how to be a successful leader. And he could have talked about all that he had been able to do, even by and with the help of the Lord, but none of that. He doesn't draw attention to his faithful spying or his faithful leadership or his faithful service throughout the years. It is instead the Lord's faithfulness that possesses his mind. What are we dwelling on as we come to the close of this year, this very difficult year? It's easy for us to find ways to take credit for what we've accomplished, even and especially in such a difficult year. We've endured, haven't we? As best as we could. A lot was working against us, but we didn't quit. We put up a fight. We did what we could. And this is how most of the world and all of our hearts by nature would think. left to ourselves. But dear friends, if we would focus like that on this evening, I hope we would see not our faithfulness, but how from our side it's been failure again and again. Hasn't it? In your actions, in your decisions, in my attempts at outsmarting this and that, in our plans, in our proposals, in how we've related to one another, in our good intentions that maybe we had at the beginning of 2020. How does it stand, really, with you in your life up against what the Lord has commanded you and what He has a right to? Do you really see your faithfulness? Or must you confess with myself tonight? Really, if that's all there is, it's bad. It's failure. Really, especially in the sight of the Lord. Whatever we count to be successful in the sight of the Lord, stained by sin as it is, it's failure, failure, failure. Oh, my dear friend, do you see that for yourself, that you've messed things up also this year, that you've failed from what God has called you to? And in terms of the privileges that God gave you, and his word, and his entreaties, and his gospel. Yet in the midst of all these failings, Even these failings speak of the faithfulness of God. Do you know that Joshua also failed himself? There's at least two occasions, and probably many more, but two occasions that it's recorded for us. One is in the case of Ai, where Achan, of course, had sinned, and Joshua had not searched this out, and they suffered defeat, and on the heels of that, Joshua fell down and was beseeching the Lord, and the Lord simply said to him, Joshua, get up. Why are you on your face? Search out the accursed thing. In other words, know that something has happened that has grieved me sore, and search it out. And then, even more evidently, in the matter of the Gibeonites, remember those people who came from close by, but it looked like they'd come from far. And maybe you say, well, how could Joshua know that? Well, the Bible, and Joshua probably himself writing this, says that we fail to inquire of the Lord. We forgot to ask the Lord what we should do, what was going on. So he too was a man who was characterized by failures, and yet even in the midst of his failures, The Lord came to him and showed him his failures. That even is proof of the faithfulness of the Lord, that he does not leave his children to themselves, that he searches them out, that he pursues them, that he brings to their mind even their failures, that they might confess them before the Lord and seek for a covering Also tonight, congregation, of your failures of 2020. But again, congregation, if we had to end there, simply with our failures, oh, I believe we would do the Lord a dishonor, because the Lord has been faithful, oh so faithful, also this year. Even in the difficulties and hardship, the economic downturn, the sickness, and even death striking so many and also reaching within our ranks, within our families, the Lord has told us that these things would happen. They're there because of sin. They're there as a result of our sin in paradise. God said that there would be thorns and thistles, that there would be pain and misery and death. You see, nothing has failed of what the Lord has said, also regarding sin and its consequences. And yet when we probe even further and deeper a congregation, don't you admit and don't you see that also in this very difficult year, there was not a day that went by in which the Lord was not faithful to his own word, to his own character, to his promises. He promised never to destroy the earth with a flood, and he was faithful to that this year. He was faithful to have his gospel go to the ends of the earth, for his Son to shine the light of the glory of the gospel throughout our world. Along with everything else that happened in our world, the Lord's truth was on the march. And the things that happened were all so many calls to the nations to know that they were but frail, weak, and that they needed the Lord. It was as if the voice of providence said, take heed to the voice of my word. Seek for me with all your hearts and you will find me. In the midst of your affliction, if you seek after me, you will find me. I will let myself be found. O congregation, as we close out this year, 2021, let us dwell on the faithfulness of the Lord. He can be relied on. And if our world has taught us one thing, and our nation, and the media, and the politicians all around us, and the organizations throughout this world, if they have taught us anything, They've taught us that well-intentioned as some might be, they're but men, they're but frail. And the wisdom changes all the time. One day it's this, the next day it's that. Man is of yesterday and knows nothing. And will you rely on man? Will you cast in your lot with politicians and with health officials, and with what man can prognosticate. Let us be done with relying on man, whoever he is, including ourselves, and find that there is in all the world only one who is utterly, absolutely reliable, and his name is the Lord. The Lord who changes not, and therefore we sons of Jacob are not consumed. His faithful, his word is faithful now as then. Is there a people here tonight who know that the Lord has been faithful in hearing your cries, your calls, when you sought his face? And when perhaps you didn't even dare hope that He would have mercy on you. Like Abraham, you hoped against hope and you were not put to shame. Is there a witness of that tonight? Is there an echo of what Joshua says here? That not one thing has failed of all that the Lord has spoken. You see, congregation, we do well to follow this Joshua and how he thinks and how he speaks and how he makes account of his life. You know, there were disappointments in his life. Ai was one, Gibeon was another. No doubt there were many other disappointments in Joshua's life. But as he casts his eye, and looks at his life in review, he sees his sin. He sees the people's sin. He sees failure on man's side, but rising above it all, no doubt he would have said if he had known the words of the hymn, great is thy faithfulness. how important it is for us to remember two things here as we close out 2020. First of all, how important it is to remember the word of God. When he says here, not one thing has failed of all that the Lord has said, this tells you that Joshua is a man who kept his ear close to the word of God. He knew his Bible at that time, the law of Moses, the word of God through Moses. He had scoured it, he had read it, he had heard it, he had hid it in his heart. And so when he comes to the end of his life, he says, not one of those words has failed. That means he knew the Bible. Do you know the Bible? Do you read the Bible? Do you treasure the Bible? Is God's word a lamp unto your foot? And a light for your next step? It was for Joshua. And in that word of God, there were so many precious promises that Joshua would plead. And as one has said, God has given no pledge which he will not redeem. And he has encouraged no hope but what He will fulfill. Well, my friend, you see that the Lord is a covenant-keeping God. His Word is true. It is firm. All flesh is as grass. We saw that this year. And all its comeliness is as the flower of the field. The grass withers. The flower fades. But the Word of our God stands forever. Heaven and earth may pass away, but God's Word will never pass away. Oh, will you not then treasure this Word of God, which lives and abides forever? And then, beyond remembering the Word of the Lord, shouldn't we meditate on the faithfulness of God it delights the Lord it honors the Lord when Joshua speaks this in front of the whole nation of Israel don't you think the Lord from heaven delighted there in his Joshua because he acknowledged his goodness he acknowledged his faithfulness his word is unchangeable The Lord is not limited in any ways, not even by our failures. Not one thing has failed. Joshua says, and the Lord approves, and the Lord is honored. Well, dear friends, when we confess the faithfulness of the Lord, And the angels of heaven, they sing. They know God's faithfulness. But when the children of men see it and confess it, that is music to heaven's ears. And also, in the ears of the covenant-keeping Lord, he would have his praises exalted by mortal men and women like you and like me. Now, let me address a question that may be building in someone's mind and heart. Perhaps as you hear about the faithfulness of the Lord and you put your own life next to it, you can think of many, many things that have been so very hard, very difficult. Maybe 2020 has been a year of unimaginable struggle for you. Whatever level, mentally, emotionally, physically, or otherwise, things have happened that you never foresaw and that you still have not come to grips with. That can happen. The Psalms are filled with people who are up against this. I thought upon the years of old, days that departed long. Will God cast off forever? Will he not? be faithful anymore. That can be a real struggle in our souls when we come up against God's providences and we take his promises and we put them with his providences and there seems to be such a collision. Has God forgotten to be faithful? Has God forgotten to be kind? Maybe you've pled many of the Lord's promises in his word on your own behalf or the behalf of your children, perhaps straying children, children who tonight are not under the word of God, and maybe you don't even know where they are at. And you fear greatly for their souls, and you've been praying day in, day out, sometimes through the night. Will his promise fail? You fear. It's important to realize that Joshua here is speaking indeed about all the Word of God, but he has especially in mind, and I speak this for our comfort as sinners, he's speaking here about the redemptive promises of the Lord. with which the Lord began to speak in paradise as soon as Adam and Eve had sinned. He came and he promised to put enmity between the devil and the woman, between their seed and her seed, and to bruise Satan's head. And he came to Noah, and he came to Abraham, and to all the godly throughout the generations, and he promised redemption, full and free. And with this, he gave many precious promises. And many of them concern this life, but many more concern the life hereafter. And at the heart of all these promises, there is God's redemptive power. Jesus Christ came to save his people not just from their difficulties and hardships and miseries, though the Lord speaks into all of that, but he came to save us from our sins. And when that becomes our main preoccupation, when that is in the center of the center, then my dear friends, when you read the word of God, then you realize that God is entirely faithful in this plan of redemption that he has undertaken in himself. Imagine that God would give you a nice, smooth, easy life, but in the end of 60, 70, 80, or 90 years, you would drop off into hell. Oh, my friend, that's not what you want. That's not what you need. That's not Good, and if that's how you're living, my friend, oh, I call you to turn unto the Lord. He is worthy of so much more. And you see, the Lord who has redeemed his people from their sins in the sending of his Son, who has proven over and over again that all that he has promised in redemption, he will fulfill. He has ordered everything in his covenant to such a degree and in such a way that even affliction and struggle and perplexity and difficulty and prosperous years and poverty years, all these things come not by chance. but come forth out of his fatherly hand to drive us more and more out of ourselves to find it more and more with him. And faith, congregation, faith takes God at his word. No matter what I see, no matter what I feel, No matter what my experience is today, I take God at His Word. His Word is faithful now as then. You all know about Hebrews chapter 11, the heroes of faith, and how by faith they achieved many things. But there's that section in Hebrews 11 where all of a sudden the author shifts and he says, others had trial of cruel mocking and scourging. And he goes on to detail what that looked like. Some of them were sawn asunder. They didn't get what they prayed for at least materially and physically. But this is what it says, these all obtained a good report through faith. They received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. In other words, In many instances, they didn't receive the fulfillment of the promise that they had staked their hope on. But by faith, they persevered, even through suffering and through persecution and even through death. And they have now obtained a better inheritance. And they are bound together, even now, in heaven with Christ. They're bound together with the church here on earth. And you know what? I speak as a man. In a certain sense, they pity us because they have everything and we're not there yet. We're still in the midst of sin. We're in the midst of sorrow and of sighing. And they don't wish to come back to us. They wish for us to be with them. And they are praising God and his faithfulness all the day. You see, they obtained not the promise, but they obtained a good report by faith. And that attitude gives freedom. It's like those three young men, young people, keep this in your mind as well, as days of persecution may not be far. They told Nebuchadnezzar, who threatened to throw them into the furnace, the fiery furnace, to even make it seven times hotter. And he thought that that would scare them. And he gave them time to think over their resolve not to bow before the golden statue and the music of the world was sounded. And they said, Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need any more time. Our God will deliver us. one way or another. And even if He doesn't deliver us from the flames of your fire, He'll deliver us through the flames of your fire, because our God is faithful. He will do what He decrees, and it all will stand. His purpose shall stand. He will do all His good pleasure. Oh, my dear friends, do you see how Joshua has in his heart that the people around him would believe this? And he says it so endearingly. He says, you know in your own heart and in your own souls. Now, many of these people were probably not converted. I mean, the whole nation is gathered here. But he says it the same way Paul says it to Agrippa, when he's pleading with Agrippa, when he's entreating Agrippa. And he says, Agrippa, King Agrippa, I know that you believe the prophets. I know there's something inside of you that tells you that this is true. And Joshua has that same mind here. I know that down deep, when you focus on this, you know that something about this is true. But my friend, fall in with it. Oh, approve of it. Acquiesce to it. Come here with Joshua and say, I don't understand all that the Lord is doing, but his word is powerful. His word is amazing. And indeed, everything that he has said will come to pass, whether I see it or whether I don't see it. My trust, may it be unshakable in the greater than Joshua. Because dear friends, do you see that who is speaking here is Joshua the first. His name means the Lord is salvation. But he was a type of a greater than Joshua. One who came into this world to be the Lord's salvation. And really you could say that attached to everything he said and to everything he did was this guarantee, not one thing will fail of what the Lord has promised. Will you go with me? Will you believe my word? Will you rest in my promise? Will you put credit upon what I have said? In the sense that will you fall in with it? Everything the Lord Jesus Christ did, there was no AI with Him. There was no Gibeon with Him. There was no failure ever with Him. And on the cross, His last words. His final words, they all attested to the fact that nothing had failed of all that the Lord had said. Because He was what God had said. He was the Word, and the Word was sure. The Word was so sure that it went all the way to the cross of Calvary. And there with arms stretched out on the cross of Calvary, the word of God cried out, it is finished. Meaning all the promises of God, all the purposes of God, all the word of God is finished. It's bound up with Jesus Christ. What do you see? Congregation, how the Lord Jesus Christ, as it were, speak reverently, slips into these words, and he is everything. He is the faithfulness of God incarnate in the flesh, and he guarantees it from the cross of Calvary, where he says, as it were, to sinners far and wide, not one thing has failed. I finished the work that the Father gave me to do. And all those who were given to me, I have lost nothing. Not one jot, not one tittle has fallen to the ground until it's all fulfilled. Oh dear friends, do you see how this is much deeper, much higher, much wider than what Joshua is saying? If the word of Joshua was true, how much more is not the word of Jesus true then as well as now? My dear unconverted friend, every word is true. Will you remember that? Not just his promises, but also his His threats are real. They're true. They're not fake. They are real. And Joshua even says this here in verses 15 and 16. Therefore it shall come to pass that as all good things are come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things. until he have destroyed you from off his good land, which the Lord your God hath given you, when you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God. Oh, my dear unconverted friend, God's word is sure. Every syllable, all his threatenings are real and true. Eternity will prove it. Oh, my friend, may you not be among that number. will be emblems of the just judgment of God, that what He has threatened He will bring to pass while He proffers peace and pardon, while He holds out Christ one last time in 2020 for sinners. Oh, my friend, will you hear His word, His sure word of prophecy? Or in two, we do well to take heed as to a light that shines in a dark place. Well, dear friends, this is the confession of Joshua. And then, just very briefly, there is a charge. And for that, I just want you to look with me at verse eight, very briefly. Joshua doesn't just look back. Joshua also has a charge for the future, and it's a wonderful one. But cleave unto the Lord your God as ye have done this day. You see the Lord was faithful to the covenant and is faithful to the covenant but he also calls his people from out of the strength that he is for them and to them. He calls them to cleave unto him. What does it mean to cleave? Children, do you remember that when God created Adam and then Eve in the garden? He said these words, therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh. To cleave to someone means to abandon all else. and to stick with, to be glued to, to be devoted to, to be yoked with one. And Joshua says, as it were, to the people, O people, be married to one God. Cleave unto the Lord. Lean upon the Lord. Go with the Lord. Go with the one who has been faithful to his word. Time and time and time again, without fail. You know, as we stand here and speak our vows to each other, we promise all sorts of things to each other. We need the help of God. And it's, till death do us part. But the Lord is faithful through and through. And he, in his son, he even died. Not for his faults, for his failures, but for the failures of his bride. And here Joshua calls for the people to cleave unto the Lord. And he says, don't cleave to the other nations and to their gods, verses 12 and 13. They will be snares and traps to you and scourges in your side and thorns in your eyes until you perish. Don't be glued to them, don't go after them. Well, dear friends, as we close off this year, I wonder, What story does 2020 tell about who you are married to? Who you are cleaving to? Are you cleaving to your worldly goods? Are you cleaving to your ungodly friends? Are you cleaving to your cozy life that you've made for yourself? Oh, my friend, shouldn't these idols all go? Isn't there in the Lord Jesus Christ so much more? Oh, cleave to Him. He is a God that lets, invites, and wants sinners to cleave to Him. Imagine that. Reverently speaking, if we were Him, would you want some sinner up against you? Some vile, wretched, filthy sinner up against you? A holy, a faithful God, an unfaithful sinner up against you? God, for Christ's sakes, He calls guilty, hell-bound sinners and says, cleave unto the Lord. Come with all your sin, all your shame. Cleave to Him. Lean on Him. And then, dear friends, when you do that and you look back, then you say, all to the glory of your bridegroom, you say, not one word has failed. of all that he has said he will do. And if nothing has failed up till now, nothing will fail till the day I stand before his face in that wedding garment he has purchased, he has woven, in which he puts on his filthy bride. And then, in eternity, where you'll never ever have a New Year's Eve again. You'll never have to cross a threshold into another year with all its deficiency and all its turmoil and all its toil, but one with your heavenly bridegroom. your child of God, forever, all because of him. Oh, I ask you tonight, how many of you joined Joshua tonight in praising God and saying, not one thing has failed of all that the Lord has spoken. May it be to his praise Amen.