You Are Not Able | Grace, Not Willpower | Joshua 24:19

Dr. Thomas White

“But Joshua said to the people, ‘You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.’”

Joshua 24:19 (ESV)[1]

Wait … what?

After calling the people to choose whom they would serve, and after they confidently declared, “We will serve the Lord,” Joshua hits them with a sharp and sobering truth: “You are not able.”

It’s not the kind of motivational speech we expect. It’s not how to win friends and influence people. But it’s true — and it’s exactly what they needed to hear. And so do we.

We are not able.

Have you ever resolved to change — only to fall flat?

• You promised to eat better … but gave in to the dessert.
• You swore you’d break a habit … but relapsed under pressure.
• You said you’d stop sinning in a particular area … and yet it surfaced again.

Willpower is not enough.

Especially in a culture like ours rooted in self-reliance, achievement, and personal effort, we are taught to believe, “I’ve got this. I can do this on my own.” But that mindset leads only to frustration and failure.

That was Israel’s story too.

Though they chose rightly in saying, “We will serve the Lord,” their history would soon tell a different tale. The very next book, Judges, describes their descent into a repeated cycle:

• Sin
• Judgment
• Desperation
• Deliverance
• Repeat

Eventually, their repeated rebellion led to exile from the land God had graciously given them.

This is our story too.

Like Israel, we are not able to live faithfully on our own. We fall. We fail. We sin. The Christian life is not about trying harder or checking more religious boxes. It’s about recognizing our inability — and depending completely on God’s grace and power.

We are saved by grace through faith, not by works. And we are sanctified — the ongoing process of becoming like Christ — the same way: by grace through faith, not through legalistic effort.

This was Paul’s struggle in Romans 7: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

Can you relate? The heart wants to obey, but the flesh is weak. So what’s the answer?

The good news: You’re not able — but God is.

The difference between us and ancient Israel is this: If you’ve trusted in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit now lives in you. We move from Romans 7 to Romans 8, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

All of your sins — past, present, and future — are covered by the blood of Jesus. You have been justified, made right with God, and nothing can separate you from His love. So do we keep on sinning because grace covers it? Absolutely not.

We learn to walk with God. We speak to Him in prayer. We renew our minds by meditating on His Word. We wage war against sin, not in our strength, but in His strength.

We will stumble. We will fall. But we don’t stay down. We get up — not because we are able, but because He is able.

Don’t focus on your inability — focus on His sufficiency

Yes, Joshua was right. You are not able. But the Gospel message is this: Jesus is.

• He lived the life we could not live.
• He died the death we deserved.
• He conquered sin, death, and the grave.

And now, through His Spirit, we are made able to follow Him — not perfectly, but persistently.

So don’t fix your eyes on your failures. Fix them on your faithful Savior. Don’t dwell on your sin. Dwell on His grace. Don’t live in defeat. Live in the power of His resurrection.

Because in Christ, what once was impossible is now reality.

We are able because He is.

COURAGEOUS STEP

Humility. It matters. Pray, “Lord, I can’t, but you can.” Choose to depend on the Spirit today. When you sense pride rising up within you or when you are tempted to defend how good you are at something…stop. And remember that pride comes before the fall, but God exalts the humble. Here is my frequent prayer, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”[2] Feel free to make it yours too.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why did Joshua tell Israel they were not able to serve the LORD in Joshua 24:19?

After Israel confidently pledged to serve the LORD, Joshua confronted them with a sobering reality: in their own strength, they were not able to do it, because the LORD is a holy and jealous God. He was not discouraging their commitment but exposing the gap between their good intentions and their actual ability. The warning was meant to drive them away from self-confidence and toward honest dependence on God.

2. Can a person serve God in their own strength?

Scripture’s consistent answer is no. Joshua told Israel plainly that they were not able, and the rest of their history in Judges proved him right as they fell into a repeated cycle of sin and rebellion. The Christian life is not finally a matter of trying harder or keeping more rules, but of recognizing human inability and depending on the grace and power of God, who alone makes obedience possible.

3. What does “You are not able to serve the LORD” mean in Joshua 24:19?

It means that genuine, lasting obedience to a holy God is beyond the reach of human willpower. Joshua was telling Israel that their resolve, however sincere, could not produce the faithfulness God required. The statement is not a denial of grace but a setup for it, pressing people to stop trusting their own ability and to lean entirely on God, who supplies what He commands.

4. Why would Joshua discourage Israel right after they promised to serve God?

Joshua was not trying to talk them out of following God but to deepen the seriousness of their commitment. He knew the human heart drifts, and Israel’s later history bore that out. By telling them they were not able, he stripped away shallow confidence and forced an honest reckoning, so that any service they offered would rest on God’s holiness and help rather than their own optimism.

5. How does Joshua 24:19 connect to Romans 7 and 8?

Joshua 24:19 names the problem that Paul wrestles with in Romans 7, where he describes doing the very evil he does not want to do. The answer arrives in Romans 8, which opens with the assurance that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus and points to the Holy Spirit as the power for a new kind of life. Joshua exposes the inability, and the New Testament reveals the One who overcomes it.

6. How can leaders serve God when they are not able in their own strength?

Leaders apply this passage by trading self-reliance for dependence, beginning each day acknowledging that the strength to lead faithfully comes from God and not from talent or willpower. In a culture that prizes achievement and personal effort, the temptation is to assume the job can be done alone, which leads only to frustration. The leader who depends on the Spirit leads from God’s sufficiency rather than the fragile foundation of personal ability.

7. Why does Joshua 24:19 still matter for believers today? Joshua 24:19 matters because every believer eventually discovers the same truth Israel faced: good intentions are not enough to live a holy life. The verse turns us away from self-confidence and toward the grace of God, reminding us that we will stumble but we do not stay down, getting up not because we are able but because He is. In Christ, what once was impossible becomes reality.

Footnotes

[1]Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV).

[2]The words of the tax collector’s prayer in Luke 18:13.