It really is something else for
an Arkansas boy to be in New Jersey. Let's turn in our Bibles
to Joshua 24. Joshua 24. Let's read verse 15 together.
And if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you
this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father
served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods
of the Amorites and whose land you dwell. But as for me and
my house, We will serve the Lord. Christ Jesus, the Lord, is the
mediator between God and His elect people. God gave Him a
people before the foundation of the world. And that elect
people make up the household of God. It's His house. Christ is the head of that house. It's his church. Now, this verse
here in verse 15 is a familiar verse to us. You may have preached
from it. You may have quoted from it. And I had. I had quoted from
this many times. And someone took this verse and
was using it to support the notion of man's free will. This is a
popular verse for that. And they were using it to show
me that man has a free will and that man must choose to serve
God or not. But I hope to show you tonight
that this verse in no way supports that notion. It does not. That
a sinner has a free will to choose to serve the Lord God. That's
not the case. Christ is the servant of the
Lord God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the servant of the Lord God,
and he's the mediator between God and his people, and he effectually
makes his house willingly serve the Lord Jehovah. He does it
in spirit, and he does it in truth. The Lord Jesus Christ
spoke, and he said, the flesh profiteth nothing, It's the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. He said the words that
I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. We read in
Ephesians 1.23 that Christ is head over all things to the church
and He fills all in all. He filleth all in all. That's
always been the case. It's been the case since the
foundation of the world. Christ our head works in such
power and such grace in the hearts of his people so that we don't
have a choice and we don't want a choice. The Lord said, thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Now, that's
our title, No Choice. Now, first of all, Christ works
this work through the preaching of the gospel. Turn with me,
look back up to verse 1. And it says there, Joshua gathered
all the tribes of Israel to Shechem. He gathered all the tribes of
Israel to Shechem. And he called for the elders
of Israel. He called for their heads. And
he said for their judges and their officers. and they presented
themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the
people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Now they were gathered
before God like you and I are gathered here before God. It
says there they presented themselves before God. And Joshua was the
one used to gather them, like brother Todd is used to do the
things that need to be done here and like Joshua did the things
there and they came together. But the one who really gathers
his people and brings his people together is Christ the Lord,
the sovereign savior, the sovereign head of his people. He's the
one who brings his people together. He said where two or three are
gathered together in my name by his gathering. by His gathering. There I am in the midst of Him.
And Joshua is the preacher. But just like all faithful preachers,
Joshua is not preaching His Word. He's not preaching, Thus saith
Joshua. That's not what he's preaching.
Look there in verse 2. It says, And Joshua said unto
all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. And right
there a quotation is going to start and it's going to be Christ
speaking on behalf of the Lord Jehovah. In fact, let me show
you that Joshua is saying, it's not me speaking, it's the Lord
speaking. Let me show you that. Look over
at the end of the chapter in verse 27. Joshua said unto all the people,
Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it hath heard all
the words of the Lord, which he spake unto. Do you see that? This stone has
heard the words of the Lord which He spake unto us. Not only does
Joshua say, this is not me speaking, Joshua says, He's speaking to
me. This is the Lord speaking to
me as well as to you. Now every sinner has been called
the same way. The scripture says, of his own
will begat he us with the word of truth. Romans 10 says, how
shall they call on him whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Christ is the one who sends them.
We can read that in Ephesians 4. He sends his messenger. The
word of men can't save us effectually. I could stand here and I could
give you a charge. I can't make that effectually
in you. I could say, serve God, and I can't make you serve God,
but Christ can. Christ can speak the word, and
he makes you willing. He creates you anew, he gives
you a heart, and he makes you willing. Now secondly, not only
does he use the word to do this, Christ regenerates, and he willingly,
he draws his people by himself. He does it. He draws them speaking
through the gospel that is preached. As the gospel's priest, he's
the one doing the drawing. Verse 2, when Joshua began to
speak, he said, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. When we read,
Thus saith the Lord God, the one speaking on behalf of the
triune Jehovah is the pre-incarnate Christ, our mediator. We need
to understand this because any time in the Old Testament scriptures
that we hear somebody speaking to a man, who's that speaking? It's Christ speaking. He's Christ
speaking because there's just one mediator between God and
man. That's the man Christ Jesus.
He's always been the mediator. Ever since God the Father entrusted
his people to him and entrusted the work to him, he's been the
mediator from the beginning. Who was the voice walking in
the garden that came to call Adam out of the trees? That was
Christ speaking. If God's speaking to a man, he's
Christ speaking. Joshua is preaching the words,
but it's Christ speaking. Joshua is preaching, but it's
Christ speaking. Christ is declaring what Jehovah, the Lord God, has
done by Christ Himself. This is the message that He's
declaring. Now let me show you in verse 7. Speaking of how He
delivered their fathers out of Egypt. I'm just setting this
up for you right now. We're fixing to go through this
chapter, but I'm just setting this up. He's showing us here
how His Father delivered them out of Egypt. But watch how He
speaks of His Father and of Himself. Christ speaks of His Father and
of Himself. He says, verse 7, when they cried
unto the Lord, there's Jehovah, He put darkness between you and
the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them and covered them.
And then He says, and your eyes have seen what I have done in
Egypt. That's not Joshua talking, that's
Christ talking. You've seen what my father did,
you've seen what I did. And you dwelt in the wilderness
a long season. So this is Christ speaking of
what the Lord Jehovah has done through him, with him, by him. Now the point I'm trying to make
to you is this, Joshua preaches, and this is as he preaches, this
is Christ speaking as the mediator saying, thus saith the Lord God. That's how the gospel is made
effectual in the heart. It's by Christ speaking effectually
into the heart in spirit as the gospel is preached. Christ makes His people willing
through the message which declares the works accomplished by Christ
Himself as the righteous servant of the Lord Jehovah. Not only
does He do it through the Word, not only does He do it by Christ
speaking in that Word into the heart of His people, but the
message He declares is the works that He has accomplished. The
works that He has accomplished. We don't preach our works, we
preach His works. Now let's hear His works. The
Gospel declares what Christ has accomplished. Now, the first
member of his house, of Christ's house, that he holds up here
for us and says, here's you an example of one of the members
of my house. The first one he holds up is
Abraham, Joshua 24.2. Joshua said unto all the people,
thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other
side of the flood in old time. That means the other side of
the Euphrates, the other side of the Jordan River, they flooded.
He's talking about the other side of that. He says, even Terah,
the father of Abraham and the father of Nacor, and they served
other gods. Here you have Abraham and all
his fathers, and they're idolaters. They don't have the word of God.
They're Gentiles. There's no such thing as Israel
at that time. And they have a god of their
imagination, and they're worshiping the gods of their imagination.
They're just idolaters. But Abraham was a chosen child
of God. Abraham was a chosen child of
God, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Not his father and not anyone else in his family. Abraham.
Abraham. Abraham was a member of Christ's
spiritual house and therefore God sent Christ who called out
Abraham effectually by his grace. Look at verse 3. And I, this
is Christ speaking, I took your father Abraham from the other
side of the flood. Christ took Abraham effectually,
but He didn't take His Father. God's grace is particular towards
His people alone. He took Abraham. He said, I took
him. And then look, Christ led him
and He protected him. Verse 3, And I led him throughout
all the land of Canaan. And it was Christ who produced
fruit in Abraham. Verse 3 says, And I multiplied
his seed and gave him Isaac. You know what Philippians 1.11
says? Paul prayed because he couldn't do this. He prayed to
this mediator, Christ Jesus. And he prayed that the saints
at Philippi might be filled with fruits of righteousness, which
are by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God. And Christ
said, I called you, I led you, I made you fruitful. This was
a member of his house. And we know Christ did this because
it was Christ. Remember when Abraham went to
offer up Isaac? And over there in Genesis 22,
15, it says, the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out
of heaven. That angel of the Lord that called
unto him is Christ. That's who called unto him and
spoke unto him. Now, Abraham, we see here's a
member of Christ's house, and Christ made him to serve under
him as his head. Now, here's the next member Christ
holds up for us as a member of his house. Verse 4, And I gave
unto Isaac Jacob and Esau. And I gave unto Esau mount Seir
to possess it, but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
Christ gave Isaac Jacob and Esau. He gave Abraham Isaac and he
gave Isaac Jacob and Esau. And since Jacob was loved of
God and Esau was hated of God, Christ gave Esau the world to
possess. That's what he wanted. That's
what he wanted. He didn't want Christ, he didn't
want his birthright, he wanted the world. You know, God gives
us just what we want. He gives us exactly what we want.
The thing is, is by his grace, he puts a willingness in us to
make us want him, and then he gives us him. But if he doesn't
do that, we just want the world, and he gives us exactly what
we want. People get all upset about election, and they fuss
and fight about election. And I use this illustration a
lot, because I think it sort of shows what really men feel
about election. They think it's keeping them
out of heaven. They think it's meant to keep
them out of heaven. An election opens the door to
glory. It opens the door to our Father. But my son Will one day
was trying to get into Emma's room and Emma wouldn't let him
in. And he come to me and he was all upset about it. He's,
you know, just beside himself. And, Nettie, Emma won't let me
in her room. And I said, son, do you really
want in her room? I said, there's nothing in there but a bunch
of girl stuff. And he goes, well, no, I don't really want in there,
but I don't want her telling me I can't go in. And that's about, well, that's
us by nature. By nature, we don't want to go
to be with God. We just don't want anybody to
tell us we can't. But election didn't tell you king, election
says God chose the people and if he hadn't it would have all
perished, would have all perished. All right, so Christ gave Esau
what he wanted, what he wanted. Now you remember with Jacob,
Christ, Jacob saw that ladder. Remember that ladder Jacob saw?
Christ was that ladder. He was that ladder that reached
from From God the Father to Jacob, Christ was that ladder. Remember
when the man appeared in the form of a man to Jacob when he
was sleeping and he began to wrestle with Jacob? And as he
wrestled around with Jacob like I do my son in the floor, Jacob
was trying to fight back. Jacob was trying to use his own
strength and fight back. And when he did, the Lord saw
that he didn't prevail. Because you'll never prevail
with the Lord trying to fight the Lord and trying to wrestle
back against the Lord. And so the Lord just touched
the hollow of his thigh and knocked him out of joint. And when he
did, all he could do was hold on to the Lord and cry and make
supplication unto the Lord. And that's how he prevailed.
That's how you prevail with God. That was Christ that did that.
And Christ sent Jacob down into Egypt to manifest His grace more
fully. Be sure to get this. Isaac and
Jacob were members of Christ's house. They were members of His
house. As the servant of the Lord God,
Christ the Lord, as the servant of Jehovah, He brought Isaac
and Jacob. to serve the Lord Jehovah by
His power. Now here's another member of
Christ's house, Moses and Aaron, verse 5. I sent Moses also and
Aaron, and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did among them.
And afterward, I brought you out. Moses was on the backside
of that desert, but Christ knew where he was. He knew right where
he was. And when the time came, He went
and fetched him. He went and got him. You know,
men will talk about all these crazy scenarios. What if a man's
out on a deserted island? Well, God will shipwreck Paul
there and have him preach the gospel to him. What if he's out
in the middle of a desert somewhere and there's nobody around? The
Spirit of God will send Philip to him and he'll go preach the
gospel to him. What if he's out on the riverbank
somewhere? Nobody knows where he's at. The Lord have forbidden
his servant to go to Asia, like he did Paul. Send him down there
to the riverbank, like he did to Lydia. The Lord knows where
his people are. And he went there to Moses, and
he's the one that spoke in the burning bush. That was Christ
speaking. The angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. And
so Christ made Moses effectually serve the Lord God. Christ came
as the servant of Jehovah and by his power he made Moses willing
to serve the Lord God. He did that. Alright, here's
another member of Christ's house. Joshua and Caleb. It says in
verse 6, And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came unto
the sea. And the Egyptians pursued after
your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red Sea. And
when they cried unto the Lord, He, Christ referring to the Lord
God, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought
the sea upon them and covered them. And your eyes have seen
what I, Christ, the servant of the Lord, have done in Egypt.
And you dwelt in the wilderness a long season. Christ delivered
all the elect from the bondage of the devil pictured in Pharaoh.
That's what we see there in Israel. Christ delivered us. Who delivers?
He's the deliverer. He's the redeemer. And just like
He went and delivered Israel out of Egyptian bondage from
those taskmasters. He said, for as much as the children
were flesh and blood, he partook of the same. That he might through
death deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. He delivers his people out. And all the, they were delivered from the
law, from the bondage of the law by Christ's death. If one
died for all, then we're all dead. If he died for all his
people, right then, all were dead. All things that needed
to die, died right then. Romans 6 says the body of sin
and all his people died when Christ died. Romans 7 says you
come dead by the body of Christ, dead to the law by the body of
Christ, right then when he died. And that, being dead wherein
you were held, the law became dead to his people right when
Christ died. If one died false, then we're
all dead. He delivered us from the bondage
of the law, giving it everything it required. And all his elect
were baptized when Christ was immersed in the judgment of God.
This is what we see in them coming out of Israel. Him redeeming
them from their taskmasters. Him redeeming them from the bondage. Him bringing them through that
baptism in the Red Sea. Christ was immersed in the judgment
of God when He bore the sin of His people on Calvary's tree.
And being immersed in that sin, He satisfied divine justice for
us. And Christ, when He brought them
out on the other side of that Red Sea, they began to sing a
new song unto the Lord. They were committed to the Lord
at then. And Christ brought us to cry
unto the Lord through his gospel. He effectually separated us from
all our enemies, just like the Lord put a difference between
them and the Egyptians. Christ did that. Christ is our
all, just like he was to them during that long season in the
wilderness. First Corinthians 10.4 says this, They did all
drink the same spiritual drink, and they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. He said,
I brought them out. I did this. All right, now here's
another member of his house concerning the deliverance of those to whom
Joshua was now preaching. Here's Joshua preaching to all
those heads and those elders right there. And this is what
Christ says of them, verse 8, ìAnd I brought you into the land
of the Amorites,î this is still Christ speaking, ìwhich dwelt
on the other side of Jordan, and they fought with you, and
I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land,
and I destroyed them from before you.î You know who weíre told
Christ is over in Dexter 17? Whenever they were fighting against
Amalek in that battle, weíre told heís Jehovah Nissi, heís
the Lord our banner. As long as they held up the rod,
Moses held up the rod, as long as the gospel goes forth, Joshua
goes forth and he fights the battle and he prevails over the
enemy. And when the rod is let down,
the enemy prevails. But when that rod was held up,
Christ prevails. Christ prevails through the preaching
of his word. And when he finished winning
the battle, Moses said, this is Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our
He's our banner, the one we rally to, the one we follow after. This is He. And then look at
this, verse 9. Christ delivers us from all false
preachers and from their deception. Verse 9. Then Balak, the son
of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and
sent and called Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you. But I
would not hearken unto Balaam. Therefore he blessed you still,
so I delivered you out of his hand. Christ is the angel of
the Lord that appeared unto Balaam and forbid him in his madness. That was Christ that appeared
to him. Christ gives his faithful preachers. He gives faithful
preachers. Look at Ephesians 4 with me. And this is why he does it. Look
here. Ephesians 4, 14. that we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie and wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body is fitly joined together. and compacted
by that which every joint supply according to Christ effectively
working in the measure of every single part of that body. And
he makes increase of that body unto the edifying of itself in
love. That's what Christ does. So he didn't let Balaam go forth
with his madness because he sends forth true preachers. He sends
forth preachers that preach in truth and he brings his body
together and compacts it and gives this part what it needs
and that part what it needs and that part what it needs. And
you know what happens in your physical body? In order for this
finger right here to get the nutrients it needs, That member
is going to be used, and that member is going to be used, and
this member is going to be used, and internal members are going
to be used, that member is going to be used. And that's what he's
saying there. He puts all the members of the
body together so that he uses each member, every part, to make
the body complete and provide what every other part of that
body needs. That is, I just love that. I just love it. I just
love the wisdom of God in saving us through the preaching of the
gospel and bringing us together in a body like this. It's just
so wise. It's just, it's amazing. And
the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Isn't that something?
Isn't that something? All right, now look at this.
Then Christ appeared to Joshua. Remember when He appeared to
Joshua with that sword in His hand and delivered Jericho into
their hands? Verse 11, ìYou went over Jordan
and came unto Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against
you.î Verse 11 says, ìThe Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites,
and looked down, and He says, ìI delivered them into your hand.î
I delivered them into your hand, and I sent the hornet before
you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings
of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, and not with your
bow. And I've given you a land for
which you did not labor, and cities which you built not, and
you dwell in them. Of the vineyards and olive yards
which you planted not do you eat. Do you know by Christ's
finished work, He's driven out all our enemies, brethren. By
His work, by what He's accomplished, He's driven out all our enemies. Not by our sword, not by our
bow, not by our strength, not by our works, not by our wisdom,
by His power. by His blood, and He's given
us a land for which we did not labor. We didn't toil, we didn't
do anything for this. You and I were going away from
God. You and I were running away from God, sinning against God,
hating God, enemies in our minds by wicked works. Christ did all
the work and came and showed us what He had done and gave
us a land for which we did not labor. And we've been eating
the fruits of that land ever since. the fruits of His righteousness. He brought us to heavenly kingdom.
He brought us to heavenly Mount Zion. He brought us to heavenly
Jerusalem. That heavenly city whose foundation,
whose maker and builder is God and will never fade away. Now
look at Ephesians 2 with me real quick. I should have had you
hold your place over there. Look back here at Ephesians 2
and look at verse 13. Now this is what we've been seeing
throughout this chapter. Now listen to this. We were alienated, we were enemies
and all of this. Now look at this, verse 13. He
says, Now in Christ Jesus you who were far off are made nigh
by the blood of Christ. And He came, Christ did, and
He preached peace to you which were far off and to them which
were nigh. He preached to you and I who
were far off, the Gentiles, and to those elect nearby, the elect
Jews. And He says, for through Him
we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore,
you're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. You're of His house now. of his house now. He said, not
by might nor by power, but my spirit saith the Lord. Now, back
up there when Joshua said, thus saith the Lord God, right there
the quotations open. And Christ started telling us
what he's done. Holding up these trophies of grace one after another,
saying, look at this member of my house, what I made him do.
Look at this member of my house, what I made him do. Look at this
member of my house, what I made him do. Just holding them up
one after another for us. Now, I don't know a whole lot
about Mudd, but I know this, until that quotation ends, it's
still the same person speaking. All right? It's not until verse
19 that Joshua starts talking. And it's not until after a few
verses later that these men start talking. Right now, we're still
listening to the same person talk. All right? This is the
word Christ Jesus, the servant of God, speaks into the heart
of His child through this gospel. When He truly is going to save
one of His own, this is what He speaks to you. Verse 15. If
it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day
whom you'll serve. After you've heard this gospel
and you've heard everything that I've done, Christ says, and you've
heard how I make my people willing. Now, if it seems evil to you
to serve me, then you choose whom you're going to serve. Choose
whom you're going to serve. As this gospel goes forth and
Christ makes us the members of His house, He puts away our so-called
choices. That's what He does. And the
way he does it is by effectually teaching us our choices are all
vanity. That's how he does it. He speaks
and he says this, verse 15, now here's your choices. whether
the gods which your father served that were on the other side of
the flood, Christ said, those gods I saved the members of my
house from. I just showed you, I saved members
of my house from those gods. You might want to choose those
gods. I chose my people and brought them out from those gods. And
he says, or will you choose the gods of the Amorites in whose
land you dwell right now? And he said, and you've already
seen how I've defeated These gods. Now notice, the choice
is not between serving the Lord or serving a false god. It's
not between serving Christ or serving a false god. The choice
is between which of the many false gods would they serve.
That's what he's saying. Look at it again, verse 15. Whether
the gods which your father served that were on the other side of
the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. All of those were vain idols.
They were all proven to be vain. And then Christ speaks into our
hearts. He shows us now. I see now, by His effectual words
speaking into me, these choices that I've been bragging about,
these choices that I've been making, they're vanity. They're all vanity. They're no
choices. This is no choice. Between vanity
and vanity? Between air and air? Between
a dumb idol and a dumb idol? That won't help me. And then
Christ speaks in our hearts about himself and about the members
of his house. And in verse 15 he says, but
as for me, the servant of Jehovah, Christ the Lord, as for me and
my house, everything we've been seeing and all those examples
he just gave, one after another, one after another, one after
another. Do you see? Christ says, as for me and my
house, we will serve Jehovah. We will serve the Lord. Christ
Jesus, our head, is the only one who can make that statement,
brethren, and it be effectual. He's the only one. You know,
at this time, Joshua was, you'll find at the end of this chapter,
Joshua was 110 years old and he died. He couldn't make that
word effectual. But Christ could. Joshua said,
we've heard the words which He spake unto us. These are the
words He's speaking to us. We've heard Him speaking to us.
This is Christ speaking. I won't argue with anybody on
that, but it sure looks to me like it's Christ saying, as for
me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. Does Christ
work this work in His people? Does He make it effectual in
His people? Absolutely. Every time He brings you to see,
your choices are no choice at all. Psalm 110.2 says, The Lord
shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, rule thou in the
midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the
womb of the morning thou hast to do of thy youth. If He speaks
in our hearts tonight, He's going to take all our choices away
and make us see there are no choices at all. It's good that
He takes them away because there's nothing there. And He's going
to make us see Christ served Jehovah for his people, and he
makes his people serve Jehovah by casting all our care into
his hand and trusting him alone. He's that faithful servant. He's
that mediator between God and men. He's the one who feels all
in all, and he's going to bring every member of his house to
serve him, just like he did Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses,
and the children of Israel, just like he did every elect, true
elect child throughout the history. And you know what? When he brings
us there, do you want another choice? I don't want another
choice. If you're made willing, you don't
want another. There are choices. I don't have a choice, and I
don't want a choice. I found, I found the pearl of
great price. I found the one who's all together
loving. What choice? I don't want a choice.
I don't need a choice. You remember when the multitude
departed? Remember when Christ was speaking and they were listening,
you know, and they listened, and the longer they listened,
the more they didn't like what they heard. And finally they
said, this is a hard sin, and they went away. And Christ turned
to his multitude, and unlike preachers in our day, he didn't
chase after those that were running away. He turned to those that
were still there and said, you want to go too? You can go too. And they said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we're sure. We're sure. No choice about this. We're sure. Thou art that Christ, the Son
of the living God. Has God taken away your choices?
Has Christ taken away your choices? I pray He'll do it tonight. Amen.