Joshua's final address to the Israelites in Joshua 24 emphasizes the critical importance of choosing whom to serve, presenting them with a stark choice between the gods of their ancestors and the Amorites, or the Lord. The sermon draws parallels between the Israelites' historical context and the present, highlighting the significance of this decision by referencing the blessings and curses associated with Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Ultimately, the message underscores that this choice is a personal responsibility, urging listeners to commit to serving the Lord, as Joshua himself declared, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
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Those of you that were with us last evening will remember that I said that tonight we were going to look at the last chapter of the book of Joshua. So, with your permission, I would like to read first a verse or two in the first chapter, and then a verse or two in the last chapter. The first chapter of the book of Joshua, if we may, please. Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead.
Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates. All the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.
As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy hand, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Then, if we may please, in the last chapter of the same book, no longer a young man, a hundred and ten years of age.
And here in that, the last book of Joshua, the first verse we read, and Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges, and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God. Verse fourteen: Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers 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, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now may the Lord just add his blessing to the reading of his own precious word. I presume that most of you have gathered already, as I mentioned last evening, the text that's on my heart for this evening.
I do not usually prepare the day before for a service, but with a very, very busy weekend as we start the crusade in Chicago tomorrow morning, I had to prepare yesterday for today, and I was absolutely confident as I opened my Bible and read it, I was absolutely confident that God wanted me to consider with you the words of that fifteenth verse of the twenty fourth chapter. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord. Now, please don't forget that. You know, mostly when this text is preached from, the preacher does what he has a right to do, but the preacher takes the text and he says, choose you this day whom you will serve.
He goes into the wonders of the Lord Jesus and tells us of the marvels of our God and says, now will you choose him? That's not the question at all, you. The question is not will you choose the Lord, the question is this. If you don't serve the Lord, who will you choose then? If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, then choose you this day who you will serve. Whether the gods that your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now this is our text, but like all texts, we must consider its content. And so you must permit me to take you back, as it were, to Sunday school once again, and remind you of the things that you know. You will remember that yesterday, as we were thinking a little of the choice of Moses, we left Moses, of course, we didn't really, did we? We left Moses in glory. But we thought of the fact that he appeared with Christ, and we thought of the fact that there was coming a day when we will sing of Moses and of the land.
But as far as the story was concerned in Holy Writ, we left Moses on the top of Mount Nebo, speaking to the one that he'd chosen years before. And you will remember that there he languished in death, and God came and buried him, and no one knows where God buried him. The greatest funeral we're told of in the Bible, when God came down as the undertaker and buried Moses. And God looked around for someone to take his place. And sir and madam, I think that this is one of the most thrilling stories that's in the Bible.
I never read it without thanking God that he saw fit to place it there. That when Moses, the servant of the Lord, was dead, God looked around for someone to take his place, and there was there Joshua. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that just wonderful? You see, thirty eight years before, Joshua, in company with eleven others, had gone to spy out the promised land. They come back with great bunches of grapes, with baskets that were filled with fruit, and there with faces somewhat shining, they said it's a land that flows with mountain honey.
But ten of those men dared to say that Moses, the folk that live there are giants, and we are but grasshoppers before them. We'll never be able to conquer them. But there were two men, Joshua and Caleb. Two men who were prepared to say, in effect, to use our modernisms, the bigger they are, the heavier they fall. It doesn't matter if they are giants. If we're on God's side, then God won't deliver them into our hands. But Moses listened to ten men, ten men who continually were thinking of the giants and the obstacles in the way and the problems, and instead of entering the land, he didn't go in.
God allowed them to go round in the wilderness for nigh forty years, thirty eight years. They went round and round till everyone was dead except Moses, except Caleb and Joshua. Not Joseph. By the way, this just is a little thinking point. The greatest revival that has ever occurred in the history of the world was when God brought the children of Israel out to Egypt. The Bible speaks of it as salvation, and there were more people saved that day than at any time before or since.
Yet the most remarkable thing is this, that thousands came out of Egypt, but only two went into the Promised Land. Only two. Let's remember, salvation is only the beginning of things. It's not the end of things. Oh, let's press on to the Lord, let's go in and possess the land. But God looked around, and God said, Joshua, thirty eight years ago you said that you'd go into the promised land. Thirty eight years ago you weren't frightened of the giants. Thirty eight years ago you were prepared to trust me. He is still the same God. This is wonderful.
He was still the same old. With all that had happened, he was still the same old. You see, over the course of years, again and again, folk have come to me, especially young folk. You know, young folk want everything done yesterday, don't they? They come and they say, do you know, Mr. Ford? I went to a missionary meeting, and I heard a good brother stand up and appeal for men and women and fellows and girls to yield their life to God, that they might indeed be willing to serve God. I must say, I'm never quite sure whether that's the right thing to do.
Seems to be so different than the way they did it in the scripture, but that, by the way. But I've had young folk come to me saying, you know, I heard, I heard the call of God that day, and I yielded my life to him. I said, Lord, I'll go anywhere. I'll go to tip up too if you want me to go. Lord, I'll go anywhere. You know, Mr. Ford, the Lord threw the light back at me. I was willing to go. He's never opened up the way. He's never made it possible for me to go. Oh, listen, friend. The question is not whether you go to Timbuktu.
That's not the question. The question is, are you willing to go? Joshua was willing to go. God kept him for thirty eight years. Saying, Lord, I'll possess the land. That those ten say, I'll go in, Lord, I don't trust me. It seemed as though God threw back his letter. But thirty eight years later, Joshua, are you still the same boy? You learned something, you're still the, he said, Lord, then be strong and very courageous.
Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua, go into the land. And into the land he went. And you remember what happened? The overthrow, indeed, of Jericho, the defeat of Ai- Einan, the colonizing of the land, as there they divided into sections and different families had their part. Now we come. One hundred and ten years of age he is. He knows it will not be long before he starts on a journey from which men never, never return. So he gathers the children of Israel to Shechem.
He gathers them there to this little village that's nestled between two mountains, this little village called Shechem. By the way, it's interesting, isn't it? The New Testament mentions Shechem, doesn't it? But it doesn't call it Shechem, does it? Do you remember the New Testament? In the New Testament, it was Sidon. The Lord met a woman there. She had to make her choice as to what God she'd serve. But here he gathers the people of Israel together to Shechem. Now, places are of interest in the Bible. If God has seen fit to mention the name of a place, I think it's fit for you and I to wonder why he's mentioned the name.
Do you know Shechem is one of the most interesting places? It lay between two mountains. On one side, lifting its head up to the heavens, was Mount Gerizim. On the other side, lifting its head also to the heavens, was Mount Ebal. Now, every Jew knew the meaning of the names of those mountains. If you come with me back again into the book of Numbers, you will remember something that happened. And then again, of course, in the eighth chapter of Joshua, it's recorded. Do you remember what had happened? That there God had dared to say that every high hill and every low valley had to be renamed.
God knew that if they went into a heathen land and they kept the heathen names, it would not be long before his people would say, now why was it called that? And they would get associated with heathenism through names, through association. And so God said that every high hill and every low vale must be renamed. And the way it was placed, God had done something in that great eighth chapter, and I think it's about the thirtieth verse. You remember what had happened? How Joshua had chosen one man from every tribe, twelve tribes. He chose one man from every tribe. He sent six men up Mount Ebal.
He sent six men up Mount Gerson. And there, from the grassy slopes of Mount Evil, the six men that had climbed it read in the hearing of the people the curses of the law. He said, if you don't obey the law of God, then cursed shall ye be. You know the curses of the law? Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long upon the earth. Remember indeed that this was the promise of the law, the blessing of it, but the curses, he dared to tell them that if we sin, he will visit the sins of the fathers under the third and fourth generation.
And from Mount Ebal the curses of the law were pronounced, but from Mount Gerson the blessings of the law were pronounced. If you keep my law, blessing shall ye be. And ever after, to every Jew, Mount Evil was the Mount of Curse, and Mount Gresham was the Mount of Blessing. And between those two mountains was the little village of Shechem. shepherd. I don't think we need a degree in a theological seminary to understand that, do we?
Choose you this day whom you will serve. There they stood between the blessing of the law and the cursing of the Lord. Sir and madam, I dare say to you tonight that every one of us here is a sinner. We can have the blessing of God, or we may have the opposite. The decision that we make is a decision that's made between the two, either God's blessing or God's cursing. Life or death.
Heaven or hell. Oh, what a significant place. And there he asked them to make their choice. Now, if I may please, I want to look at the verse, remembering, of course, as I've already said, that he is in effect asking them who they will serve, but I want us to look at the words. And I'm going to suggest that first of all, we have brought before us our responsibility. Jews. Now, I think that's important, don't you say? Jews. Our responsibility. I come across so many men.
Oh, I get tired of hearing it. I come across so many men and women who say to me, but Mr. Ford, why did God make us so we could sin? I wonder if I can illustrate it in a very silly way. You've heard me mention I have two children. Of course, they're up and married, so I've got three grandchildren now. But when my boy was just a wee bit of a boy, I have never once in my life been able to hypnotize anyone, and I have never tried, and I would never want to try.
But we'll imagine just for one minute, just for one minute, that I could hypnotize someone. And I put my boy right in front of me, or whatever it is they do. And suddenly I brought him completely under my control. That everything I wanted him to do, he would do. I'd say, Stephen, get up, and he'd get up. Do this, and he'd do it. Don't do that, and he wouldn't do it. Oh, wouldn't it be lovely? For a whole day, a boy doing everything I told him to do.
Wouldn't it be lovely? The nighttime would come. The boy would come into the room and he'll say, son, put your arms around your dad's neck. And two flabby, useless arms would go around there. Kiss your daddy good night! And he kisses daddy good night. Go to him! Oh, come on, you men here. Whatever would there be in that for me? And I told the wee little boy to throw his arms around my neck because I told him to, to kiss me goodnight because I told him to.
What would there be in that for me? Do you know something? I'd rather a wee little lad who didn't always do what he was told. I'd rather a wee little boy who sometimes had to be dealt with. But a boy of his own free will, of a night time would run into the room and throw his arms around his dad's neck and kiss his dad good night, maybe kick him in the shins before he left the room. But of his own free will, he showed his daddy loved him.
Have you ever stopped to consider that one of the blessed names of our God is this, the Eternal Father? You ask. me, why does God make us so we could sin? God hasn't made us like puppets at the end of strings. God hasn't hypnotized us, because this is why the Bible says, this people have I formed that they might show forth my praise. You and I have been made for the enjoyment of God, as well as made that we might enjoy God.
God has given to you and me a free will. It's the greatest gift he's given us apart from salvation, a free will. And here our text says choose. For the sake of you young folk here, sir. Do you know when we were first converted in our own fellowship, we had some godly elders, like I'm sure you have. And these dear brethren used to teach us. And I remember one of our dear brethren, he was a hairdresser, Mr. Newcomb. Oh, what a man of God he was, and how he knew his book. Do you know he used to say to us now, boys, boys, if you want to know the importance of any subject in the Bible, you open your Bible and see the first time it's mentioned.
And the first time it's mentioned in the Bible, the importance that's given to it then is the importance that's given to it right through Holy Writ. Now you think of that, because that's true. If you read of something in the Bible and you find the first time it's mentioned, and there's no importance given to it, there's no importance given to it really right through scripture, but let the first time it be mentioned be important, and that's the importance God gives to it right through Holy Red. No wonder the book of Genesis has been called the seedbed of the Bible. Choose. How important is choice?
Have you ever stopped to consider for one moment the first time choice is mentioned in the Bible? Do you know it's the most important choice that a young man or a young woman could ever make, apart from the choice of a savior? It says the sons of God beheld the daughters of men and chose from among them women to be their wives. Now, please, I can talk like this, you see. In just a few days' time, it'll be our thirty-first wedding anniversary. So I can talk like this! Do you know something? The most important choice a young man could ever make apart from the Savior is the choice of a life partner.
I don't like saying this. I did mention this the other evening in, in, uh, in Emmaus. I don't like saying this, but I'm going to say it, and you will please accept it in the spirit in which it's said. But it's been my joy in this and thirty other countries to have preached the gospel. Over the last twenty eight years, I've spent all my time telling men and women of Christ. I've been in your country now about twelve weeks. I came here in the middle of July. And over these last weeks, I have come across more cases of divorce than I've come across in the twenty eight years I've been preaching in thirty different countries.
Now, I can only tell you a fact, a fact, now please, not just more in three months over another three months, but more in the last three months than I have in twenty eight years. I think we need to re-preach, don't you, the importance of the choice of a life partner. Our young people today are being bombarded with this cursed thing of television and all these, all these hoardings and filthy magazines, and they've got a whole wrong idea of what life's about. You know, I sympathize with these young men.
They think sometimes I get a bit grumpy with them, and I do. I can tell them off quicker than anyone else in the world. But I tell you this, I move heaven and earth to help one of them really find their way in the things of God. I realize this, that if ever there was a day when our young folk need an example set to them, it's today, and those of us that are older, when it comes to our married life, when it comes to the home things, what example are we setting? The first mention of choice is the mention of a life partner, and if that's not important, tell me what is. Do you know the second mention of choice in the Bible?
It's almost as important. It's the choice of a job. Lot beheld the wild water plains of Solomon chose to go young. Here was the choice of a job. Where am I going to live? Where am I going to work? How am I going to get my living? And he saw the luscious grass and saw the rich plains, and he said, the valleys of Solomon you are. He made his choice. What a cursed choice. Sir, is not this case so often? How many young folk are there today who make their choice of a job, and the first thing they say is, where's the grass the thickest?
Where the house is the nicest? You remember I mentioned the other day, a dear friend said to me just recently here, speaking of a certain person who lived right opposite him away there in Atlanta, Georgia, he said they've got a, oh, I don't know just how many it was, maybe a forty thousand or fifty thousand, or sixty thousand, forgotten the exact figure, ho- house. So they've got a sixty thousand dollar house with a ten cent home. So many of us want the sixty thousand dollar house, don't we? So many of us want the luscious grass of the valleys of Sodom. Better that we chose the hillside with Abraham because we choose Abraham's God.
Choose. But you know something. I've seen many a man and many a woman make the choice of what appears to be a wrong husband and a wrong wife. I've seen many a young person make the choice of the wrong job, and they become square pegs in round holes. And then suddenly they make the greatest choice of all, the choice of a savior. And hallelujah, it makes the wrong choice right. Man came to me just in Augusta, Georgia, just recently.
Do you know what he told me? Do you know what he told me? Have you audacity to come to me? Of course, but we're last person in the world to come to. He looked at me and he said, you know, Mr. Ford, I've, I've lost my love for my wife. Phew. I tell you, I just like to go. Really? You know, some more accursed thing was this, he told me he was a Christian. To Rosa. I looked him right in the eyes. And I said, Mister, if that's true, and I'm not sure that it is, but if it's true, I know whose fault it is, it's yours.
But will you get this? Would you get this? Love is of God. And if you'll get right with God, he'll restore to you the thing that you say you've lost. He'll restore the year for love. Love is of God. Oh, this is the wonder of it. That when we get right with our choice concerning God, he puts right even the wrong choices in our married life, and he puts right the wrong choices even in, even in our business life. How many men suddenly realize, oh, what a nerfsome job, but look, look, I can be in this for the Lord.
I can be in this for the Lord. And suddenly an irksome job becomes pleasant, even if they get their eye on the right thing. Choose. How important is our responsibility? Sir, do you know your responsibility tonight? Choose. But then would you notice something else? Our text says choose you. So there's not only our responsibility here, there's our individuality. Choose you. Isn't that important? I've said this so many times, I must say it again.
Look, sir, I couldn't choose for my wife, and my wife couldn't choose for me. I couldn't choose for my children, and my children couldn't choose for me. Choose you. Joshua stood and looked into the faces, a man of a hundred and ten years that he was, looked into the faces of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of men and women that lined the hillside. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You've got to make your choice. Young man, you thank God if you've got a Christian mother and father.
You thank God. Madam, you thank God if you've got a Christian husband. Sir, you thank God if you've got a Christian wife. But remember this, that you'll never stand before God and say, Lord, I have the right to be in heaven because my wife is. I'll tell you something also, I never hated her, you know. Oh no. And none of you'll never stand before God and say, God, I, I, I, I had a right to get to heaven. It was my husband, he loved you, and I cooked his meals, and I made it possible for him to go to the meeting.
Always had his shirts ready and his shoes cleaned, and everything was there ready. Oh, bless God if you've done that. Thank you, madam, if you've done it for your husband. Let me say thank you on behalf of your husband. Thank you, sir, if you've done it for your wife. Let me say thank you on behalf of your wife. But that will never get you to heaven. Choose you! You've got to make your choice. We were thinking last night not only of the choice of Moses, we were thinking of the choice of the Christ who chose to come into this city. The Bible says the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world, and that's true.
But remember, he sent the Son because the son was willing to defend. Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Here am I. Send him. Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. He came. To Calvary's cross he chose to die, but you should. But if in our text we have indeed our responsibility to choose, and if in our text we have our individ- individuality to choose you, dare I say this, we have something more.
That in our text we have our perplexity. And what a perplexity. Choose you this day whom you will serve. Oh yes, you say, I'm willing to make my choice, and I know I have to make my choice, but who am I going to choose? The gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell? The gods that were on the other side of the flood and in Egypt? We're living in a day when folk have got all sorts of peanut gods, but this was ever so. I open my Bible and I find that on one occasion in the book of Isaiah, we're informed of someone who went out and there with an axe, hewed down a tree, and with that same axe he fashioned out of the wood of the tree an idol to worship.
And the wood that he cut, cut off in fashioning it, he used it for a fire to warm himself and to cook his dinner. Oh, the ridiculous thing. That man will worship that which comes from the same thing, the tree! They worship it, and yet they use the same thing to cook their dinner and warm themselves with. Yet isn't this true? Oh, don't let's ta- ta- don't let's say all that they were heathen. They were heathen. Oh, no, we wouldn't do that, did we? Oh, no, we wouldn't do that. What with our education? Wouldn't we? Sir, come on, let me talk to you then.
Isn't it right that if I was to ask you, you could give me the names of a dozen men who worship their own business. They set toe, and they worked hard, and they built up from nothing a business, and they live for their business almost day and night. When you get them, they get a bit boring because it's all they can talk about, that or the taxes that's being taken from it or something. Yet they eat from their business and clothe themselves from their business and live from their business, yet worship the same thing. They make, oh no, no, no, no, the prophecy of Isaiah is not so old fashioned, you know.
With us. And when I look here, he says, choose who you will serve. And you know, it's remarkable, this. I haven't time really to go through it. Would you care to do it when you get home? I'll tell you what I suggest to you, and I think you will find it interesting. Go fifth chapter, I'm sorry, twenty fourth chapter, Joshua. Start in the first verse, and then read through and see the names that are mentioned. They're in cutlets. He speaks about Abraham, and of course, as he does, he suggests Lot.
They chose, didn't they? Abraham chose, he chose the mountainside, and God, Lot chose the watered plains, and Solomon, Gomorrah. Lot lost his home and lost his wealth and lost most of his family and lost his wife and lost his character. Abraham gained everything, the presence of God and all the blessings. Choose. You remember he goes on and he speaks about Moses, the prophet of the Lord, and Balaam. They come together. They both chose. Moses had to choose, Balaam had to choose. You remember how Balaam came to the finish and he said, let me die the death of the righteous. Which I tell you, you never die the death of the righteous unless you live the life of the righteous.
The thief on the cross died righteous in Christ, but he didn't die a righteous man. Said, don't tell. Said, I received the due rewards of my deeds. He didn't die the death of the righteous. He died a righteous man because God had made him righteous. But if you don't live the life of the righteous, you won't die the death of the righteous. Had to make a choice. Moses chose, Balaam chose, Abraham chose, Lot chose. You go and read it through. That's how. And having given them a history lesson and gone right through their history, spoke of Jacob, oh, double-minded Jacob. Where am I, you?
We're going to read it. It's all there. Then, after giving them a history lesson and showing them their own fathers that made a choice. He says, now who will you have? The gods that were on the other side of Egypt? On the other side of the flood in Egypt? Oh yes, he goes back, you see, to Jacob. He goes back indeed to Abraham, he goes back to Lot, he goes back to Esau. Gods that were Egypt the other side of the flood. And he goes beyond and the gods of Moses and Bala.
The gods of the Amorites knew lands you, landed where? Oh, here's our perplexity. Who are we going to choose? Young woman, young man, what are you going to do with your life? I can't put it cleaner than that, can I? See, that's what Christianity's about. What are you going to do with your life? Are you going to yield it to Christ, who gave his life for you, that you might receive the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting? Are you going to yield it to one who knows what's best for me, and on life's journey will turn me into the paths that are pleasing to him and blessing to you?
Who will you choose? Perplexity. But here's our responsibility, choose. Here's our individuality, choose you. Here's our perplexity. But dare I say this, dare I say this, choose you. This day. Here's our urgency. This day. Can't really afford to put it off till tomorrow, can we? See, the wonder is this, that whoever we are may be, however old we may be, however young we may be, whoever we may be, God's time for us is now.
Now. You remember the words of the poet that comes in the close of that lovely little tract of Robert Laveall, The Reason Why? You remember what he says? Tomorrow, he promised his conscience. Tomorrow, I mean to believe. Tomorrow I'll think as I ought to. Tomorrow the Savior receives. Tomorrow I'll conquer the habits that keep me from heaven away. But ever his conscience repeated one word, one only, today. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, thus day after day went on.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, till youth like a vision was gone, till sin and his passions had written the language of hate on his brow. And up from the grave came death with a pitter of syllables. Now. Now. Choose you, Miss Day. Madam, sir. I suggest that today is the day of your choice. I suggest this to you, that every one of us will leave the chapel tonight, and as we leave it, we will have made a choice.
We will leave it either saying Christ for me, or we'll leave it going from this place, having said by our action, if not by our lips, I'll just carry on without him. I please want you to understand that. I want you to understand that. That Joshua could say, choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me. And my. We will serve the Lord.
We made our choice. I will save the head of my house. Christ for us. It's Christ for us. We've made our choice. Will you not make your... It's God's word. And f- face the claim of the text. Choose you this day whom you will serve. Please God, you may serve.