May God be pleased to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
book of Joshua, chapter 24, and we'll read verses 14 and 15.
The book of Joshua, chapter 24, and reading verses 14 and 15.
Now therefore, fear the Lord. and serve him in sincerity and
in truth. And put away the gods which your
father served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt, and
serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you
to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve,
where the gods which your father served that were on the other
side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land
ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord.' Joshua really set before the
people a very stark contrast. And the contrast was whether
they were going to serve the Lord or whether they were not
going to serve the Lord. And so he comes towards the end
of his life, and in order to give them some direction, he
runs through how they had come out of Ur of the Chaldees, and
that the Lord had been with them, and wonderfully appeared for
them, and brought them up to the present moment of time. So
they had plenty of evidence to prove that God had been with
them. And it's good for us to trace
back perhaps our lives and have the evidence that the Lord has
indeed been with us, perhaps been with us as families, perhaps
been with us as churches. But nonetheless, it comes down
to this really at the end, that we need to have a very personal
relationship with our God, a very personal desire to truly do that
which is right and not to do that which is wrong. And so Joshua
here speaks in this way, now therefore fear the Lord and serve
him in sincerity and in truth. We often read it perhaps and
yet it's very powerful such words. He says, in sincerity and in
truth. That doesn't mean to be hypocritical. That doesn't mean to operate
with a mock humility or a wrong modesty. It means to truly be
found serving the Lord in sincerity and in truth. And therefore Joshua
comes and says, now therefore fear the Lord. No doubt many of them may have
thought, well of course we fear the Lord, but many of them in
fact did not fear the Lord because they were following their own
gods, the gods of the Amorites in whose land they dwelt. And so we should not forget that
we have such an example that we don't realise that we're wonderfully
favoured, of course, we have a chapel to go to, we can come
together and we can worship, but have we any gods which we worship? And by that
I mean any things perhaps in our home life, any things which
are not directly related to the benefit of our souls, the things
of time, are they idols? And if they are, is it any surprise
perhaps that we don't prosper spiritually as perhaps we think
we ought to and wonder why we don't? That's why we have testimonies
like this to remind us and to encourage us. So the Word of
God is full of direction, godly direction. Israel of old decided
they would follow and then they did not follow. No, they were
temptations and they turned to other things. And so although
perhaps we may give lip service to serving the Lord, the great
truth is that you and I need to be found serving the Lord
in our hearts, in our innermost being, and also of course outwardly
in the things that we do and say. How necessary it is that
we realise, solemnly realise, the vast importance of eternal
realities in comparison with the poor things of time which
perish with the using. It won't be that long and our
lives won't be long and yet we've set our hearts on poor old things
of time. We've wasted our time. Wasted our time. Israel wasted
their time on idols. Did it do them any good? Not
at all. My friends, we need to be very
aware that we don't allow the things of time to creep in and
to occupy our time. That we find we don't have any
time for the things of God or perhaps a little bit of bad time. A little bit of when we're really
too tired or too stressed with other things or too immersed
in other things, that we don't really give the time to God. It's very necessary that we do
so. And the reaction is, what we're
really doing is we're not serving God. We're serving the devil. We're serving ourselves. So here Joshua, very concerned
he was about Israel, exactly the same as Moses was. You may
read in the book of Jews, when Moses recorded that long account
of his desires for Israel, shortly before he was to die, and he
was so concerned that he would not forget the things of God
and It's a good illustration for us today to be concerned. In the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy,
he speaks like this in the fourth verse. Hear, O Israel. Not just think about it. Hear, O Israel. The Lord our
God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. Well,
of course, we probably realize that's one of the The commandment's
the first commandment, really, that we are to do. And if we are loving the world,
we can't love God, can we? With a whole heart, we're loving
God with a little bit of our heart. Now let us remember, God
is a jealous God. God doesn't demand halves. And
so Moses says, and these words which I command thee this day
shall be in thine heart. And then he goes on to instruct
them how they should teach their children. And thou shalt teach
them diligently unto thy children. And shalt talk of them when thou
sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when
thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind
them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets
before thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of
thy house and on thy gates." It's a very wonderful statement,
isn't it? We can understand how concerned
Moses was that the children of Israel might not forget the law
and the grand and glorious truths of God contained not only of
course in the Ten Commandments, but also in the ceremonial law
and all that it meant, pointing of course to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a good, what a good testimony. I'm sure we have to confess how
we fail. But my friends, let us not sit
back and think, well, I don't do that. Let us sit back and
revise our situation and reverse the situation. And just remember
these words, thou shalt teach them diligently. It doesn't mean
haphazardly, it doesn't mean just a few words. And how are we to do it? When
we sit in our house, when we walk in the way, when we lie
down and when we rise up. That really means the law of
God, the truth of God should be so uppermost in our hearts
and minds and it's on our lips all the time. Are we concerned? about the souls of our children?
Are we concerned about the souls of those we meet with? Or are
we not concerned? And do we allow ourselves to
be taken up with those things which are not profitable? Not profitable. So easy, isn't
it, to be sidetracked. You see, let us never forget,
the devil is a great deceiver. The devil wants you and me to
continually be sidetracked, to turn away from the truths of
God. He will endeavour to make us
tired, so that we can't do these things. He'll endeavour to produce
other things, which he'll tell us are more important. And therefore
we spend our time on that. And then we find it takes longer
than we thought. And before we've finished, we find there's no
time for God. And we haven't been very courageous
in speaking the truth of God. We may not have been courageous
because we haven't actually made a profession ourselves and therefore
we don't have any right perhaps to speak of the truth of God. And perhaps the people we speak
to, the children that we have, may therefore doubt the reality
of them because we haven't walked them out ourselves. So here Joshua
says, and let us remember this, what was it? It's in love to
their souls. That's what it's about. If we've
got love to the souls of those we meet and our children, concerned
about their eternal state, surely we should desire that we might
put it to practice, difficult as it may be, hard as it may
be to our flesh, opposition that it may be. Spiritual life is
never easy, never has been. Moses never had an easy life,
Joshua never had an easy life, the people of God never had an
easy life. They made a good end, they had
a clear conscience, there was wonderful results from those
things the Lord enabled them to do. And so here we have before
us this evening Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in
sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father
served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve
you the Lord. And it's very easy, you see,
to try and justify ourselves by saying, well, of course, my
parents did that and it seemed all right. Don't follow what
your parents did if it didn't align with the word of God. Follow
The blessed example set before us in the truth of God. You see,
are we concerned truthfully about the health of our souls? Are
we concerned truthfully about the souls of those we meet with
and our children? Do we ignore the truth of God?
Do we continue our own way? Well, therefore we have these
words, remember, written in love. And my friends, we should do
these things in love. Not because we want to think,
well, I'm a great person, because we'll fail, no doubt, in the
way we do things. And we'll have to often pray
earnestly that the Lord might make openings, that the Lord
would grant those situations whereby we can speak, whereby
we can do things. You know, we fail, don't we,
so often? I'm just reminding on a slightly
different note that I'm John Broome, the minister who died
a few years ago, you may know that he was a teacher when he
was young and at a grammar school and quite a successful teacher.
And he told me this, he said, well, you know, he said, when
I used to pray that I might have an opportunity to speak to people,
the Lord gave me opportunities. And when I didn't pray, I didn't
have the opportunities. And of course, through his testimony
at school, a number of boys were brought to the knowledge of God. It was a wonderful position that
he was able to do. Now, we have such testimonies
naturally. We have glorious testimonies
in the Word of God. Let us not despise them. Let
us not think they're irrelevant to us today. They're not. They're
very important. You see, we live in a pretty
miserable state, don't we? People don't speak about the
Word of God, do they? You know, you can read in the
accounts of godly people a long time ago when there weren't any
motorcars and things like that, and people used to walk home
from chapel. And the godly used to talk about
the things they'd heard. And the seekers used to walk
behind. wanting to hear what they were
saying. It's a good example, isn't it? You see, what they were doing
really, they were taking the word they'd heard. It wasn't
into that bad ground, it was in that good ground. The seed
had sunk and it was bringing forth fruit and they were honouring
and glorifying God. They hadn't wasted their time
listening to the sermon. It had been beneficial to them.
and they were able to go and speak one to another. Remember
those glorious words in Malachi, so true. Then those that fear
the Lord speak often one to another, not just once a year or once
a month or once a week, but often. Let us remember that and let
us desire to follow the pattern set before us in the word of
God. And so Joshua here, was concerned
about that, and he tells them, and put away the gods which your
father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and
serve ye the Lord. And if it seemed evil unto you
to serve the Lord, he then says, choose you this day whom you
will serve. If you and I were placed in that
position today, which in essence we are, If we had to respond
before God, and not before me, before God, as to who we desire
to serve, I'll be prepared to forsake all the poor gods of
time, the things that we worship, and to choose that which is good,
and that which is right. Choose you this day, whom you
will serve. So are we serving God? Are we serving the Lord? Whether
the gods which our father served that were on the other side of
the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. Then he tells us, but as for
me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And of course this
wasn't anything that was going to prove to be unusual. Remember
perhaps in the days of Elijah. It was a very similar kind of
situation and we can read of it in the first book of the Kings
when Elijah was there in Mount Carmel and he came to the people
and he spoke to the people and it was a wonderful favour that
he was able to speak and declare to them. And Elijah came unto
all the people. He was on Mount Carmel. They
were all gathered together, great company of people. And he asked
them this question, how long halts ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. What was the result? The people
answered him, not a word. They weren't prepared to respond.
The majority of them had been following Baal. Tragic, wasn't
it? But you see, we're thankful that
therefore, God in his great mercy and great favor was with Elijah,
a great servant of God. And you may remember, there was
the account, therefore, The prophets of Baal had tried to produce
fire under their sacrifice, and they were utterly unable to do
it. But when Elijah came unto the
people, he said, come near. And all the people came near. He repaired the altar of the
Lord that was broken down. He took 12 stones and repaired
it. He built the altar, and then
he cut up, he put the wood on it, and he cut up the bullock,
and then covered it with water, and a trench all around it. So,
naturally speaking, there was no possibility of fire coming
down. And then, at the time of the
evening sacrifice, Elijah prayed to the God. And he said, Lord
God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this
day thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and I
have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear
me, that this people may know thou art the Lord God, and that
thou hast turned their hearts back again. That was Elijah's
concern, wasn't it, that they might realize They'd been following
the wrong God. They turned aside to Baal and
now he was here at this occasion on this mountain with this sacrifice,
covered in water and praying to his God that he would indeed
set it alight. Then the fire of the Lord fell
and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and
the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench When all
the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said,
the Lord, he is the God. The Lord, he is the God. My friends, we have the same
God today. We may not have the appearance
in the same way. There may not be a sacrifice
covered in water that the Lord comes down to set on fire. But
what do we have? The word of God. We have the
truth of God. And you and I, by the grace of
God, should listen to the Word of God and read the Word of God,
that it may penetrate into our hearts and have a gracious effect
upon us, so that we might be among those who truly serve the
Lord, just like God's servant here, Joshua, desired
they might indeed serve the Lord and not serve themselves. And
then, a very different occasion. Remember Ruth? Familiar, I'm
sure. I hope it is. I preached from
it recently. So it's a familiar book, I hope. And Ruth, you see,
had the option of returning to her own country, the land of
Moab, an ungodly place where the Lord wasn't worshipped, or
going with Naomi, a person that she had come to love, and a person
in whom she observed was the true God. And therefore, she
was advised to go back to her own people. But what did she
do? She said, entreat me not to leave
thee, or to return from following after thee. Whither thou goest,
I will go. Whither thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if ought but death part thee and me. And what did Naomi
notice? She noticed this. When she saw
that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left
speaking to her. And so Ruth came back with Naomi
into the unknown country of Bethlehem. But the Lord was indeed with
her. And how necessary that is for
us today to have the Lord God with us. The problem is we try
to serve two masters. The Word of God tells us that
we cannot serve two masters. We like to serve the flesh and
the spirit. It is an impossibility and yet
you see our nature tries to do it and the devil encourages us
to do it. And yet the Lord tells us when
he preached, that will be called the Sermon on the Mount, he tells
us in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24, no man can serve two masters. Quite clear. For either he will
hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And that means that you and I,
if we're trying to do that, we will find that we are despising
the things of God. Despising the things of God in
our heart, not outwardly. Oh no, we look as though we're
a wonderful person following the ways of God. But in our heart,
we're despising. truth of God and we cannot serve
God and mammon and how we sadly try to do so and that's really
what Joshua was setting before these people giving them as it
were the two options the good and the bad and he asked them
therefore what they would do and he told them clearly what
he would do but as for me and my house We will serve the Lord. That's a good word, isn't it?
I know that you and I may all be able to say, as for me and
my house, we will serve the Lord. And the response from the people
was, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other
gods. For the Lord our God, he it is
that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt from
the house of bondage and which did those great signs in our
sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and
among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord
drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites,
which dwelt in the land. Therefore will we also serve
the Lord, for he is our God." Then Joshua comes and puts the
position clearly. He cannot serve the Lord. For he is an holy God, he is
a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions
nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve
strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you
after that he hath done you good. Clearly set before them, wasn't
it? And my friends, the truth hasn't changed today. It's no
good pretending to serve the Lord. It's no good pretending
to worship God. And when we say that, it really
reverts very directly to us as we view the blessed Lord Jesus
Christ. What think ye of Christ is the
test. That's the test, my friends.
What do we think of the Saviour? What does He mean to us today?
Are we serving Him? Or are we not? It's no good pretending. What does Christ mean to us?
What does He really mean to us? Do we really desire to follow
Him? Do we really desire to do His
will? We really desire to honour and
glorify his great and holy name. So we can read these things,
we understand these things. But how is it worked out in our
own lives? What does Jesus really mean to
us? Now in these days, for the true
Church of God, to the few really, the true God meant something
to them. And they did desire to serve
him. And they did follow the path
and the way set before them. But the many that didn't, my
friends, we today, have the same situation set before us. Who are we truly following? Who are we truly desiring to
acknowledge? It's the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Lord and our Master. Do our actions declare that? Do they demonstrate the truth
of it? Or are we amongst those who do not follow that way? When the Apostle Paul wrote to
the Colossians, he understood this position pretty clearly.
And he tells us in verse 22, servants obey in all things your
masters according to the flesh. Not with eye service as men please
us, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever you
do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men." You
see, we're not there to impress men. Often we want to do things
and people say, oh that's well done, very well done. But you
see, it doesn't matter really, it's what God thinks of us. Whatsoever
you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing
that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance,
for you serve the Lord Christ. Are we serving the Lord Christ
with all our heart, in sincerity and in truth? Or are we just
operating just casually, just the things that suit us? And
we're not prepared to take up our cross and follow the Saviour. And we forget, we don't realise
what the Saviour did for us. In dying upon Calvary's cross
in order to redeem our souls, we forget the great cost And
we're not prepared, therefore, to be found serving him in sincerity
and in truth. And yet we read in the Hebrews,
as the Apostle wrote, he said in the 12th chapter, the last
two verses in the 12th chapter, wherefore, we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is
a consuming fire. I want to be given grace to serve
the Lord. Now this will come when we are
blessed with the wonderful love of God toward us. Amazing love. And that will produce our love
in return so that we will then desire to serve the Lord, to
forsake all, take up our cross and follow him. What a blessing
it is to have such a wonderful saviour, such a great and glorious
God. You know, we read together this
morning in that 12th chapter of John's Gospel, words which
are really very relevant to this situation. And those words were
these. In the 12th chapter and commencing
in verse 25, he that loveth his life, do we love our life more
than God? He that loveth his life shall
lose it. And he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve
me, let him follow me. And where I am, there should
also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will
my Father honour. Now, I suppose we all hope to
come to glory at last. We all hope to be found in heaven. I hope we don't want to be found
in hell or desire perhaps, but may we be blessed with a heavenly
desire to be found in heaven at last. And therefore if we
are to be found in heaven at last, and if we are blessed to
realise what Christ has done for us, surely you and I should
be concerned to serve him, in whatever way that might be. And how we have these words before
us then in this 24th chapter in Joshua as he says in this
24th verse and serve the Lord now therefore fear the Lord and
serve him in sincerity and in truth and serve ye the Lord and
he was able to say as for me and my house we will serve the
Lord. And so this evening surely we
ought to ask ourselves, before God, and honestly, not hypocritically,
before God are we serving the Lord? Are we honouring our God? Are we obeying his word? Are we keeping his commandments? Do we desire to be found at glory
at last and yet through this life serve ourselves and serve
the devil. It's a very striking and important
separating consideration, isn't it? And yet the Word of God gives
us many encouragements to follow Him and many warnings as to those
that will happen to those who do not follow Him. Let us not
think somehow there's an escape route for us. There's some back
passage that we can creep along. May we be abled by God's grace
and blessed with living faith to hear the Word of God and to
know his wonderful love to unworthy citizens. And let's not forget
That love was so great, it caused the Lord of life and glory to
die upon that cross to save our souls. He had to give his life,
nothing less. Are we called to give our life?
Well, the martyrs in history were called to give their life,
and how blessed they were in so doing. We may not be called
to give our life physically, but we are called to give our
life and to serve Him while upon this earth. We're not on this
world, in this world, to please ourselves. We're not in this
world to please the devil. We are in this world to serve
our Master, our great and glorious Saviour. What a privilege it
is to be found true soldiers, following our Heavenly Master
and desiring to honour and to glorify His great and holy name,
never underestimate the great debt we owe because of all our
sins. You know, as the Holy Spirit
convinces us more and more of our sin, we shall know more and
more of the great love of the Saviour, who that was forgiven
much and loves much. All friends, good evening. May
we heed such words here in Joshua, remembering that they were written
for Israel of old and written for the Church of God throughout
the generations, and they're appropriate and applicable to
us today, so that by His grace, all of us may take up our cross
and follow Him. Amen.