Ye cannot serve the Lord: for He is an holy God.
The covenant renewed
I. The difficulty of serving God. “Ye cannot serve the Lord.” It was a staggering admonition. It embodied what theologians have called the doctrine of “moral inability.” The seat of the disorder is in the will. There is the conflict. Till that is established in the choice of holiness it will still be true, as in the case before us, that one can not serve God. “Ye cannot” should still read for many, loath to abandon practices and ideas and hopes which He condemns, “Ye will not.”
II. The conscious ability to serve God. With much vehemence the people asserted that they would, and therefore could, be true to their promise. They realised that no more was demanded of them than was within the range of their powers to do. Their tribute to the righteousness of their Maker is the universal testimony as well. From the shrine of the most besotted savage to the latest Christian altar we see the multiplying tokens that each and all might have heeded and wrought that full measure of righteousness which their God prescribed. Everywhere, on all the recognised possibilities of a human soul, is plainly imprinted, and none can honestly exclaim against it, “This is your reasonable service.”
III. The solemn promise to serve God. The transfer of estates, the giving in marriage, the parting with a child--these chief acts of our lives are trivial and ordinary compared with that in which a heart yields itself for ever unto Him who has sought it from its first conscious moment. It is serious business we transact with Him. He hears, too, each voice among the myriads as though it were the only one, and receives each uplifted spirit as though no other had come.
IV. The abiding witnesses of the pledge to serve God. As our memorials and statues are eloquent of former scenes and persons, to those who will pause a little to listen, so this column in the spot of sanctuary told to children’s children that their fathers were given here and for ever to the Lord. Every individual, too, that stood near any who there uttered his “credo” had stamped upon his memory his neighbour’s act, to be made to glow as secret tracings when heat is applied. But are men aware of the numerous objects which have heard and may testify to their former promises to do the will of God? It was in some severe sickness, when the spectre of death seemed to draw nigh, when, begging for reprieve, you said: “If I am spared I will dedicate myself to Him.” And the walls of your chamber listened, and now and then repeat it in the stillness of the night. They who watched heard it, and are wondering yet if you have forgotten. Or it was when some sudden horror of doom flashed on you, and you proffered all you had for your life, while billows or tempest or hurrying car or roadside fences heard your cry and occasionally remind you of the pledge! Or, as you sat under the moving influences of the Spirit, and you were sure the acceptable time for turning to God had come, did you not say: “When I have made my fortune, or gained this office, or reached that age, I will”? And now the fortune is yours, the office has been held, the age has been passed, but your heart is not yet in the Lord’s keeping. It is easy to mortgage the future, so unknown, so full of plausible chances and opportunities. Be as fair, friend, with the Lord as with your neighbour, whom you are proud always to have satisfied, for He has waited longer, till you shall pay your vows to the full. (De Witt S. Clark.)
The difficulty of serving 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.)
The holy character of God
I. Although the lord is full of compassion and mercy, he is yet a holy and a jealous God. We must beware of attributing to our God any qualities which are inconsistent with those by which He is known to be guided.
II. As a necessary consequence of the holy jealousy of God towards wilful sinners there are certain conditions of mind in which he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins, and in which, therefore, ye cannot serve the Lord. The impenitent, the unbelieving, the careless, the presumptuous will be excluded from the blessing. The fact is, that one thing is indispensable to your acceptable service of God; and that is, that you should be in earnest.
III. Ask yourselves the question, are you desirous to serve the lord your God? (E. G. Marshall, M. A.)
God declining first offers of service
If there be any one thing true in the Bible, it is that God welcomes the first approach which man makes to Him. Yet here Joshua offers a repulse to men who wish to avow themselves on the side of God. Are we to conclude, then, that the people were insincere? We have no evidence of this, but the reverse, in their subsequent conduct. There must be some reason for the manner in which they are met, and we shall try to discover it.
1. First, however, we shall seek to show that this procedure on the part of God is not so unusual. You may recollect how the band of Gideon was chosen. When the wise men from the East came seeking Christ the star seemed to desert them, and they met with disappointment and perplexity from all their inquiries in Jerusalem. When the Jews, stirred up to expect the coming Messiah, sent messengers to John, in the hope that they had found their desire, “he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ.” We cannot forget the strange treatment of the woman of Canaan by the Lord Himself; how she cried after Him, and was not answered, and met at length what appeared a contemptuous rejection. In the same way He acted to the scribe who came to Him with such an unconditional offer of discipleship, “Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.” “This is no common pleasure-walk,” was the reply; “the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.” There is another way of finding the same result in the Bible. Consider, for example, the view that is given of the character of God. He is presented to us not only as good, and ready to forgive, but as just and righteous--a God who cannot look on sin without displeasure. There are many terrible threatenings, many dreadful judgments against sin and sinners, which have all this language in them: “Ye cannot serve the Lord, for He is an holy God.” When we leave Bible representations, and come to the experience of individuals, we meet with many similar illustrations. In regard to the general evidence of the divinity of the Bible, we can see that God has not constructed it on the plan of overpowering the conviction of any man at first sight. And even when a man has come to the entire conviction that the gospel is Divine, that there is “none other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved but the name of Jesus Christ,” he is not assured thereby of perfect peace.
2. Having sought to show that this procedure, on the part of God, is not so unusual, we may now attempt to find some reasons for it.
(1) As a first reason we may assign this, that it sifts the true from the false seeker. The gospel comes into the world to be a touchstone of human nature--to be Ithuriel’s spear among men. There is enough in it to attract and convince at last every man who has a sense of spiritual need and a desire of spiritual deliverance, but it is presented in such a form as to try whether the soul really possess this, and therefore we may have obstacles of various kinds at the very entrance. It may seem a strange and unworthy thing that such an obstacle should meet a man in the very commencement of such a journey; but, after all, let it be remembered that what makes it an obstacle is the state of heart of the man himself. This further may be said, that no one will be able to complain of any real wrong from such obstacles. The false seeker is not injured, because he never sincerely sought at all. There was no sense of sin’s evil, no wish to be saved from it, and till this exists nothing can be sought, and nothing found. The true seeker is not injured, for never was such an one disappointed.
(2) Next, it leads the true seeker to examine himself more thoroughly. If a man is accepted, or thinks he is accepted, at once, he takes many things for granted which it would be well for him to inquire into. Very specially is this the case in regard to the nature of sin and the light in which God regards it. The easy complacency with which some talk of pardon and their assurance of it, often springs more from dulness of conscience than strength of faith. The natural result of such a defective view is, that when a man enlists with it in God’s service, he does so without any distinct idea of what he is to aim at. He does not see that the gospel binds us to the service of a God of truth and purity, and that only in this way can its blessings be enjoyed.
(3) Further, it binds a man to his profession by a stronger sense of consistency. There is a paper of obligations put into our hands to sign, and, when we take the pen, we are bidden read it over again and ponder it, that we may subscribe with clear consciousness of the contents. God will beguile no man into His service by false pretences.
(4) Lastly, it educates us to a higher growth and greater capacity of happiness. When we see the wind shaking a young tree, and bending it to the very earth, it may seem to be retarding its rise, but it is furthering it. In the intellectual world a strong man thrives on difficulties. There is no falser method of education than to make all smooth and easy, and remove every stone before the foot touches it. God Himself has hidden the knowledge of His creation in the depths of the sky and the bosom of the earth. He has demanded toil and travail, keen and patient thought, till study has become a weariness to the flesh, in order that man’s intellect may rise to its proper stature. It would have been a strange thing if the spiritual world had been an exception. Read the manner in which such men as Paul and Luther and Pascal passed through the gate of life, not easily and complacently, but with fears within and fightings without, and you will see how God made them grow such men as they became. And, though we are far distant from that mark, very humble plants in the garden of God beside those great trees of righteousness, yet, if we are to rise to anything, it must be in the same way, not by soft indulgent nurture, but by endurance of hardship, and pressing on against repulse. If there be some who have been seeking God, as they think, in vain, and have given up the search as fruitless, what can we do but urge them to renew the application? Come, as these Israelites did, with the words, “Nay; but we will serve the Lord.” I can suppose a twofold class who have ceased to seek. There are some, perhaps, with a feeling of wounded pride or petulance. They say they have done their best, and it is useless. They have gone through a course of inquiry and search and prayer, and they have found neither comfort nor hope. Would it not be worth the while of such to reconsider this part of it, and to see whether some of the blame may not lie with themselves? There may, however, be another class who have left off seeking God, from very different motives, not in petulance, but in despondency, who have not so much turned their back on search, as sat down, wearied and hopeless, in the midst of it. Let them consider that they have to do with One who will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax; that the heart of God is with them; that the darkness and death of Christ, now changed to the strength of intercession, are on their side, and all those heavenly promises which are yea and amen in Him, and which, as bright and as many as the stars in their courses, all fight for them. Let them think of Jacob’s wrestling, of David’s tears, of Paul’s threefold prayer, of the woman of Canaan, &c. (John Ker, D. D.)
Moral inability
I. The certainty of the truth that unrenewed men cannot serve God.
1. The nature of God renders perfect service impossible to depraved men.
2. The best they could render as unrenewed men would lack heart and intent, and therefore must be unacceptable.
3. The law of God is perfect, comprehensive, spiritual, far-reaching: who can hope to fulfil it?
4. The carnal mind is inclined to self-will, self-seeking, lust, enmity, pride, and all other evils.
5. Let men try to be perfectly obedient. They will not try it. They argue for their ability, but they are loth enough to exert it.
II. The discouragement which arises from this truth.
1. It discourages men from an impossible task.
2. It discourages from a ruinous course.
3. It discourages reliance upon ceremonies or any other outward religiousness, by assuring men that these cannot suffice.
4. It discourages from every other way of self-salvation, and thus shuts men up to faith in the Lord Jesus. Nothing better can befall them (Gal 2:22-23).
III. The necessities of which we are reminded by this truth.
1. Unregenerate men, before you can serve God you need--
(1) A new nature.
(2) Reconciliation.
(3) Acceptance.
(4) Continual aid, to keep you in the way when once you are in it (1 Samuel 2:9; Jude 1:24-25).
2. If you cannot serve God as you are, yet trust Him as He manifests Himself in Christ Jesus; and do this just as you are.
3. This will enable you to serve Him on better principles.
4. This change of your nature will be effected by the Holy Spirit, who will come and dwell in you.
5. This will fit you for heaven, where “His servants shall serve Him.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Moral inability
Their inability was wholly of the moral kind. They could not do it because they were not disposed to do it, just as it is said of Joseph’s brethren (Genesis 37:4) that they “could not speak peaceably unto him,” so strong was their personal dislike to him. But an inability arising from this source was obviously inexcusable, on the same grounds that a drunkard’s inability to master his propensity for strong drink is inexcusable. In like manner the “cannot” of the impenitent sinner, in regard to the performance of his duty, is equally inexcusable. (George Bush.)
Entire change needed
A man deeply exercised about his soul was conversing with a friend on the subject, when the friend said, “Come at once to Jesus, for He will take away all your sins from your back.” “Yes, I am aware of that”; said the other; “but what about my back? “I find I have not only sins to take away, but there is myself; what is to be done with that? And there is not only my back, but hands and feet, and head and heart are such a mass of iniquity that it’s myself I want to get rid of before I can get peace. (British Evangelist.)
Discouragement useful
Discouragements, rightly put, encourage. The best way to deepen and confirm good resolutions which have been too swiftly and inconsiderately formed is to state very plainly all the difficulty of keeping them. The hand that seems to repel often most powerfully attracts. There is no better way of turning a somewhat careless “we will” into a persistent “nay, but we will,” than to interpose a “ye cannot.” Many a boy has been made a sailor by the stories of hardships which his parents have meant as dissuasives. Joshua here is doing exactly what Jesus Christ did often. He refused glib vows because He desired whole hearts. “Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest!” was answered by no recognition of the speaker’s enthusiasm, and by no word of pleasure or invitation, but by the apparently cold repulse: “Foxes have holes, birds of the air roosting-places; but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head. That is what you are offering to share. Do you stand to your words?” He will have no soldiers enlisted under false pretences. They shall know the full difficulties and trials which they must meet; and if, knowing these, they still are willing to take His yoke upon them, then how exuberant and warm the welcome which He gives 1 There is a real danger that this side of the evangelist’s work should be overlooked in the earnestness with which the other side is done. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Reasons why man will not serve God
Dr. Tucker, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, said: “In our journey we came to the country of Taita. The people of Taita are not a very interesting people, and are adverse to Christianity. I visited a chief there, and asked him why they were so unwilling for Christian people to settle in their midst, and I said, ‘If I sent you a couple of missionaries would you not be glad to have them?’ ‘No.’ ‘Why?’ I asked. The chief replied, ‘ If they come and settle among us they tell us that stealing cattle and fighting are not right.’ ‘Yes! ‘I replied. ‘Well, that would never do; for we are very fond of stealing cattle, and also of fighting.’ It was a most straightforward reason, and I think if many of the heathen at home would be as honest in giving the reasons why they will not come to Christ they would say much the same. ‘If I came to Christ I should require to quit getting drunk, and I am very fond of getting drunk,’” &c.