Joshua's final address to the Israelites, recorded in Joshua 24, centers on the critical choice of whom they will serve. The sermon highlights Joshua's life as an example of faithfulness, from his early service under Moses and his striving against Amalek to his leadership of Israel. The core lesson emphasizes that salvation is a gift requiring a personal decision, urging listeners to choose God, just as Joshua declared, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." The message concludes with an invitation for individuals to make a public commitment to Christ, mirroring Joshua's resolute stand.
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Joshua chapter 24 and we're just going to read the first verse although I would like to read from the beginning I hope you will we have in these last two chapters of Joshua, we have the last message of Joshua to the children of Israel. What we might call his allegory a message to them. And the words are very instructive. So I'm just going to read with you the 15th verse of Joshua chapter 24.
And if it seemed even to you to serve the Lord, choose you that day whom ye will serve, whether God for your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the God of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. As I thought of this morning's message last week, I thought, quite sure throughout the major part of the week that I was going to speak on a well-known passage in the New Testament, but as the week drew toward the end, and I was still praying about the service this morning, the thought seemed to be impressed on me.
Now, is that what you want to preach on, or is that what the Lord wants you to preach on? And I have learned from almost 50 years of experience that there's a great difference sometimes. And the more I thought of it, the more my mind was directed to this 15th verse of Joshua chapter 24. And I couldn't get away from it. Whenever that has taken place in the past, and it has on quite a number of occasions, that a Lord has had a special message for some heart or heart. I believe that's the case this morning.
So I trust that you will give heed to that which the Lord will say through my lips and receive it as a message from him to you. We have been studying this book of Joshua, and on Wednesday night in the will of the Lord, I should be looking at one of my favorite characters in this book, a man by the name of Caleb. Now, we're looking at five women, five young women, last Wednesday night, and we saw them availing themselves of the inheritance that God had provided for them. Now, in Caleb, we will have an outstanding example of a man who overcame various difficulties to withhold on what had been given to him the land of Canaan.
I trust that God will use that study to impress upon every one of us our need of laying hold of apprehending that which is ours in Christ, not only of having it, but of enjoying it and using it for the glory of God. But now the last two chapters We find Joshua as an old man. He dies in this chapter, and he dies at 110 years of age, just 10 years younger than his predecessor, Moses.
But I've been thinking of what a remarkable life this man Joshua is. We piece it together from various references made throughout the Scriptures. And first of all, I would just like to address a few words to those of you who are young Christian men in this audience. I believe that we have in Joshua a very splendid example. If you, my younger brethren in Christ, if you will just follow the example of Joshua, As I shall briefly sketch it for you, your life will be just as successful as his will.
And I think as those of us who are getting older, as we draw toward the end of our service for the Lord, we're increasingly interested that there be young Christian men who will really give themselves to God and to the service of God, to take up where we're going to have to lay down pretty soon, and to carry on for the Lord. Now, there isn't too much said about Joshua, but you'll remember that he's linked very intimately with a man by the name of Caleb, whom I said I'll be preaching on a Wednesday night.
Now, Caleb and Joshua, you may remember, were two of the spies that were sent out Tarnia to spy out the land Canaan. And Kib tells us that he was 40 years old when he was sent by Moses to spy out the land. I would gather that Joshua would be approximately the same age. We have no way of proving it, but I think every would indicate that he was approximately that age at Kadesh Barnea.
Now that would mean that he was one who had come out of Egypt. That in turn would mean that first thing that we know about him then would be that he'd been sheltered by the blood on the night of the Passover. They had only been about two years' journey. so he would be a comparatively young man when the Lord brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt from under the blood-sained door that passed overnight. Therefore, Joshua would be one who had been sheltered by the blood.
Now that's the beginning, and that's the only beginning. Whether you're young or older in the congregation, this morning, remember, birth to third, till the shelter is doing as they did in figure down in Egypt, sprinkling the blood by faith and putting your trust in its sheltering power. Now, Joshua isn't mentioned by name at the Passover, but I say he must have been there. The first mention of him is in Exodus 17, and there you have him striving against Amalek.
Those of you who can recall the sharp messages will remember that Amalek was the first enemy that Israel encountered. And without going into detail, I pointed out that Amalek is the type in our Bible of the flesh, that old, fallen, a damning nature that is in every one of us. That's all we have until we're born again. But when we're born again, there's a new nature planted within. But the old is still there, and it has to be subjugated. It can't be eradicated. There's no such a thing as getting rid of the flesh and becoming sinless in the flesh.
But we have this man and Joshua, and he's leading Israel against Amalek. He's striving against them, and he wins the victory with the help of God. When we come on toward the end of the book of Exodus, the chapter 34, we have there a camp of Israel at Mount Sinai that has been defiled by idolatry. He may remember how Aaron made the golden calf. And when Moses came down to the mountain, there was the nation of Israel worshiping that golden calf.
Now, Moses took the tent of meeting. It wasn't a tabernacle that we generally think of. It was a temporary tent. He took it and he picks it outside the camp, and it says all those who sought the Lord went outside the camp. It had been defiled by the sin against God, the disowning of him, and those who sought the Lord, they went outside the camp. But the significant thing is, it says a young man, Here he was separated unto the Lord outside of the defiled camp.
And we are told in Hebrews chapter 13, Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. Now you dear young brethren, the first thing if you're going to be used of God, you've got to be sheltered under the blood. Don't make any mistake on that. Secondly, you've got to strive against the flesh. You can't let the flesh dominate your life, or you'll never amount to anything for God. And you've got to be separated unto Christ from all that was dishonoring to him.
But there's another thing I'd like to point out. He's spoken of, so far as I know for the first time in Exodus chapter 24, as the servant of Moses. And again and again you see him in that capacity, ministering to Moses, serving him. When you come to this book of Joshua. In the first verse, he's spoken of as a servant of Moses. But when you come to this last chapter, he's spoken of when he dies as a servant of the Lord. Now he had learned to serve under Moses.
And for all of those years, he serves under Moses. He's willing to take the place of a sermon, a secondary place. Now that's the principle of serving the Lord. You can't start at the top of the ladder. If you're going to be of any use for God, you've got to start at the bottom and go on up as God enables you. That's far the trouble today. We have young men coming out of Bible school who haven't done a single thing for God, and they haven't learned to earn a dollar, and they want to start out as top preachers.
It just doesn't work that way, brethren. You start at the bottom and you work up with the help of God, and here's this young man, and he's willing to be the servant of See, Expersion is generally credited with the words, It takes more grace than tongue can tell to play the second fiddle well. But before you amount to much for God, you've got to learn to play the second fiddle. You've got to learn to serve. And in my almost 50 years of experience in the service of God, I can't think of a young man that I have seen who's ever amounted to anything who wasn't willing to work.
Whatever the work was, that meant rolling up his sleeves and getting to manual labor for God, whatever it is, or taking a secondary place and learning from others that were more experienced than he. So you have this man, Joshua, he faithfully serves the law, a Moses, and the eye of God is on him. Now when there needs to be a successor to Moses, who becomes a successor to Moses, the servant of Moses? You see, he was way ready to do what needed to be done, to work as it were at the bottom of the ladder, and someone as graphically said, the way the Lord does as he turns the ladder upside down.
And those that have climbed up the top, they find themselves in the bottom. And those that are willing to work at the bottom, they find themselves right at the top. Now that's exactly the way it was with Joshua here. The servant of Moses becomes the successor of Moses. And the servant of Moses becomes a servant of God. Now here he is. And he's 110 years of age. He's just about to pass off the sea. And I do hope that you will read his word. Maybe it's because I'm getting old. But increasingly I value the words of those who have had experience in the things of God.
And I find in my Bible, again and again it's those who have been experienced in the Word of God that are giving off words that you and I can follow. If you began to read at the opening of this chapter, you would find Moses recounting not what he had done, or not a word about that, it's what the Lord had done. he reminds them that the Lord went and brought Abraham out of Ur the Chaldees where he was an idol worshiper. Eventually, he brought the nation of Israel, Abraham's seed, out of Egypt.
He led them to the wilderness. He fed them. He guided them. He overcame their enemies. He dropped them into the land. He gave them the land, and now they're settled in it. God has done everything possible for them, and everything that needed to be done, then he throws out this challenge. I like it. I like to think of a man 110 years of age, and here he is. He's still on fire for God. And he's challenging others. He's speaking words of them, as we were reading, choose you this day whom ye will serve.
Those are the words that have been burning into my heart for some hours now regarding this morning's message. Friends, God calls on you to make a choice. All through the Bible, we have have the lesson of human responsibility running parallel to divine sovereignty. And everywhere you look in your Bible, man is responsible before God and man has to act.
Choose ye now this day. Here says Joshua, this is your responsibility. You've got to make a choice. On the one hand, you've got the false gods that Abraham and his father worship on the other side of the Euphrates. You've got the false gods of the Amorites all around you, and you've got Jehovah. Now, he says, make your choice. Choose ye. This must be a personal thing. individual. If God did all these things for Israel, and he did, think of all he's done for us infinitely more.
He gave his son on Calvary's cross. That son suffered and bled and died enough to save every sinner in the world if they'll only choose him. He has provided everything that is needed for salvation. You can't lift a little finger to sing yourself. I was telling a person on the phone the other day of an incident that took place up in Canada years ago. There were gospel meetings going on and the gospel was being preached in power. And when God works, the devil works.
And people were getting convicted getting angry. My spiritual father, when he and I were preaching, he said to me, Harold, if you can't make the people mad now, and then you're not making much headway. If some hypocrite that comes along, that's living a double life, can sit and smile all the time you're preaching, there's nothing much to your preaching. Well, as this preaching was going on, a man got so mad, he got up, and he stormed us. And he went across the street into the home of a friend over there, and the friend's wife was there, and she saw his all perturbed, and she said, what's the matter?
He said that preacher across there said you can be saved without lifting a little finger, without paying a penny, without doing any work, without saying any prayers. she can be saved for nothing through trusting Christ. She said, praise the Lord. That's what I've been waiting to hear. And she got saved right there. You know the devil not only gets mad, but he oversteps himself sometimes too. And he can do that. Well, Joshua says, now you've got to make a choice. Christ has done all the work.
Everything's for the us, but you must make the choice. Choose ye. And when are you to choose? Choose ye now, this day, not tomorrow, it may never come, and even if it does come, you may not be the object of the spirit's convicting power. I am convinced that a person gets saved only when the Spirit of God is convicting them of their sin. I have believed that for 50 years and believe it just as much this morning.
It's only when the Spirit of God is convicting you, making you realize you're lost and guilty and hell-deserving, but then and then only you genuinely trust Christ. Now it says Joshua, this is a day of decision for you, the nation of Israel. You've got to make your choice. I've reminded you of all that God has done for you. Now you have to make the choice. You see, God can't do it for you. spirit can do it for us.
Christ can do it for us. Your parents can do it for us. Your husband can do it. Your wife can do it. No one but you yourself. Q ye, you're the one. Now this day, only at this moment do you have the opportunity of trusting the Lord Jesus Christ I hope, my friend, that right where you sit, those of you who have been halting between two opinions, that you'll make your decision right now. You know, you find us all through the Bible.
Moses comes down from the mountain. There's a camp of idolatry, the golden camp in the midst. And the man of God takes his stand, and he says, who is on the Lord's side? him, let him come unto me. And you go up to the top of Mount Carmel, and you see another old servant of God, and he's standing there with the nation of Israel before him, and the apostate king Ahab standing there. And he says, How long halt he between two opinions?
If the Lord be God, serve him. And if they'll be God, serve him. But make up your mind about it. And our Lord Jesus Christ, the very highest authority, said, He that is not with me is against me. You can straddle offense in politics and a lot of other things, but you can't straddle when it comes to God's salvation. My friend, you're either on one side or the other. There were two sides to the cross. From one side a man went to paradise.
From the other side a man went to hell. Now that's just the way it is. There are two classes traveling two roads to two destinies, and you're in either one or the other. So the message of God to you is just this. Choose ye now this day whom ye will serve. And I believe, you know, friends, in these lukewarm Laodicean days, I believe more and more we've got to get down to clear-cut things.
We're living in a day of lukewarmness. And I believe that time has come when God is calling, he wants us either be hot or cold, either to be out and out for God or out and out for the devil. And I believe those that are Christians, the time has come for us to take us stand in every respect. And the dear old man continues, he says, Now choose ye. for you, it's up to you, but whatever you do isn't going to affect me. As for me and my husband, we will serve the Lord.
I like that. He's, I'm not going to be influenced by the majority. I'm not going to be influenced by you, my old friends, that I've accompanied with all to the wilderness I'm going to be influenced by no one but God as for me whatever you do whatever your decision is as for me and my house we will serve the Lord now as I said friends I have had this burden on my heart now for about 48 hours.
And I believe God wants us to make this a morning of decision. Now, we don't do this very often at Chamhills Chapel because we want the Spirit of God to do the work. We're not interested in big crowds of professors. not interested in a big display. We've seen the emptiness of that far to us, but we're interested in reality. Reality. But now and then, I believe God gives us a time of real decision.
I'm convinced in my heart that this morning is that time for many of us. Now, I'm not 110 years old. I may look like it, but I'm not. Actually, I'm not. I'll soon be 70. That's just about old enough for me. But you might say to Joshua, look, Joshua, if one thing for you to say, you serve the Lord and your house, well, you're at the end of the journey. What do you mean by you who serve the Lord?
I mean just this. I'm reaffirming my decision for the Lord. I'm reaffirming I'm standing at the end of my journey where I stood that night of the Passover. I'm standing on the Lord's side. And this morning, after over 50 years in Christ, and if I'm spared till next Sunday, 48 years next Sunday, in the service of the Lord, I'd like to reaffirm my faith in Christ and the fact that I will serve him what little time he gives me to remain here.
to reaffirm that before all of you, my friends, this morning. I do it seriously. I do it solemnly before the Lord. I'm going to do one or two things. I'm going in just a minute to take my stand down here, I'm going to ask my wife, who because she accepted Christ at an earlier age than I did, has been saved longer than I have, and has served with me for these 45 years of our married life in the service of the Lord, I'm going to ask her to join me.
And I'm going to ask the three sons that God gave us, who have accepted Christ and are seeking to live for him. I'm going to ask them to join their mother and me here, and we by doing that are going to say to you, whatever you do is for you and God, as for me, my house, we will serve the Lord. Now, quite a number of you, several of you, have been saved recently. Some of you were saved in your home.
Some of you were saved by yourself. If any of you would like to join us, I'm not going to ask you to say anything. If you would like to join us here in a public of your faith in Christ, I'd be happy for you to do so. Just come up and stand with us. I made the first mistake in my Christian life the night after God saved me. Now, I've made many sense. I wouldn't like to try and recall them. But I made my first one. I went back to a service where I'd been saved the night before.
the meeting. I was saved in the basement. No, pardon me. They were praying in the basement. I was saved there in a corner with a brother with his Bible open before, and I was saved reading the Word of God. And that next service, at the end of the service, the Spirit of God kept saying to me, get up and tell them that you got saved last night. Get up and tell them. Maybe it'll bring someone else to the scene. I didn't do it. That's my first mistake. Now, I was saved, you see?
But I missed an opportunity to take my first stand for the Lord before that place that was packed. So if any of you have been saved recently, come here, and in doing that, you're giving your public testimony the fact that you have chosen Christ as your Savior. Maybe you've accepted him while I've been preaching. I hope so. If you have, join us. We'd be happy to have you do so. Now we do this only for the glory of God.
As for me and my house, we will of the Lord, choose ye this day whom ye will serve. If you've been halting between two of them, why not step out of that seat where you are and come up here and by coming, say, I am accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior who died for me. Many of you have accepted Christ and have never made a public testimony to Christ for that fact.
If you'd like to join us, we'd certainly be happy to have you. God sees the heart. He knows who saved him there. Men see the outward contraction, and it can result in others coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. So we'll do this, friend. In the fear of of God.