Good morning. Our scripture reading is Joshua 24 versus 14 through 18. Joshua 24 14 through 18. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your father served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Then the people answered, far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord for He is our God. Amen.
That the Lord would lead you to come and fellowship with us this morning. It is a deed and honor and a privilege to have you here. Pray that your heart has been incurred somewhere that you've been greeted with a warm smile and a hello and welcome. And if there's anything we could do, anyway, we can serve you and answer any of your questions. Please do not have to ask one of us to someone near you. We would delight to do just that. We've been going through a series in Joshua and we have come to the final chapter in Joshua chapter 24. And we are about to wrap this series up real quickly here. But before we do, we have some important words that the Lord would have to meditate upon this morning. Joshua 24 verses 14 through 18, indeed, have been read for us in our hearing. Let us pray and thank the Lord that He would be so gracious as to apply them to our hearts in our minds this morning. So let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you for your goodness to us and how you have already manifested yourself in our presence by reminding us that you are worthy. It's you are worthy of all of our praise. And so we do, indeed, sing our anthem, Lord, the highest praise to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. And indeed that He is all we have and we are reminded. Therefore, here's all we need. Thank you, Lord. You are good. You are worthy of our praise. We meditate upon this passage of Scripture this morning. We do ask, Lord, that you would open our eyes, open our minds and our hearts. Again, that we would see Jesus glorify Him in all our ways. We thank you and we honor you and we praise you this day and always in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. Well, I am reminded that many of us are fans of courtroom dramas. Amen. I know that many of you are because there's so many of them on TV and they wouldn't be there. People didn't adore them. Courtroom dramas, movies, docu-series. We love it. We love it when when a lawyer stands up and gives what is a memorable and remarkable and a matter of fact, closing arguments. We love it in TV shows. Back when I was growing up, we watched Perry Mason and Matt Locke. Not a watch that Judge Judy stuff or Judge Brown who have all that other stuff. Good movies like The Killer Mockingbird. A time to kill. A few good men. My cousin Vinnie. Amen. Closing arguments. Closing arguments. They grab our attention and they grab our imagination and they do so because of the finality of the words. They sum up all that we have seen and all that we have heard and bring the case in question to its glorious conclusion and TV and movies. Some of these things are the most memorable, right? They are the most remarkable but it's not just true in the movies. It's also true in real life. Who of us doesn't remember the remarkable words of O.J. Simpson's attorney, Johnny Cochran. And he kind of put the nail on the case when he said, if it doesn't fit, you must quit. Our text this morning is Joshua's closing argument. We saw last few weeks Joshua was coming to the end of his days, the end of his time and leading the nation of Israel. And he's coming down. He's gathered the nation. He's gathered all the people around. That's where he's gathered the jury. And he's about to lay out his closing arguments. And like any memorable closing arguments, you read through these and you see that there is just some memorable and remarkable unforgettable words and the points that he wants to make. In fact, there is one there that seems like it's just a drop the mic statement where he says in verse 15, choose you this day whom you will serve. But that's for me and my house. We don't serve the Lord. Boom, unforgettable. Remarkable. I mean, I asked you the question this morning, who hasn't heard these words before? There I say that many, if not most of you have these words somewhere hanging up in your house, whether they need anything or not. Some of us at one time of another have probably committed these words to memory. In fact, some of us might consider these words this morning or someone to ask us our life verse. Joshua 24. In 15, all of us, all of us, I'm sure are familiar with these words at some point or another, whether we realize where they were in the Bible or not until this morning. These words are memorable. They are memorable and they are remarkable because in essence what Joshua was doing here is he is summing up his argument for the nation of Israel to faithfulness. He is closing the case that he has made for God's faithfulness and therefore for their faithfulness in response. These words sum up Joshua's life. They sum up Israel's journey from Egypt into the Promised Land and therefore these words are most fitting because they not only sum up the past but they also set the stage and give the charge to the next generation and as we have said before leaves the next generation without excuse. Let's set the stage for this court scene and let's listen again to Joshua's clothing arguments. Last week we saw Joshua had called the entire nation to attention and check them and there at the beginning of chapter 24 he began to make his case, right? He began to make his case as brother Pat reminded us last week he laid out the evidence and what was the evidence? The evidence was the evidence of grace. It was the evidence of God's grace since calling Abraham out of idolatry and delivering the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and then leading them into the Promised Land. What's the evidence? Well the evidence is grace. Found them that was evidence of grace and he brought the evidence out piece by piece one by one whether it's you coming out of idolatry or you coming out of slavery whether it's you going into the Promised Land and possessing it beloved all of it serves as evidence of God's grace. Joshua's making his case. He's building his case and so he's speaking to this generation here whose very existence he says his very existence had been nothing more than the grace and the graciousness of the Lord their God. Their very existence. He was dressed he was addressing a people who had all their lives seen the good hand and the loving grace of God and he makes that point. He makes that point in chapter 24 and verse 13. If you want to ask me what is Israel's life verse? This is Israel's life verse. Verse 13 I like to call this the verse of grace. There might not be a more gracious verse in all the scriptures beloved listen to what Joshua says God says I gave you land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. Now wish I could just stop this moment. I wish that I could just stop and pause right here and hand somebody else the monk because I know that there are people here who could testify even beyond me of the grace and the mercy of God's goodness this morning that you have things that you don't deserve that you've been places that you shouldn't have been. That's a field I'm looking around this sanctuary this morning and I realize that we meet in a sanctuary that we did not build and a building and we bought with money that we did not have. I wish I wish I could and press this truth upon every young person here this morning. There is nothing you are there's nothing you have that you haven't gotten by the grace and the love and the mercy of God. Nothing beloved nothing Joshua here Joshua here is speaking this morning he is speaking to those who grew up in the church he is speaking to those who grew up in Christian homes he is speaking to those who went to Sunday school he's speaking to those who know the catechism and he's speaking to those because they grew up in Christian homes and because they went to Sunday school and because they know the catechism that the tendency is to take those things for granted that's who he's speaking to this morning. To speak to those who tend to take the things of God for granted or as it says in Sanctuary chapter 6 and verse 1 who received the grace of God in vain who received the grace of God in vain what does that mean beloved to receive the grace of God in vain is to receive God's favor to receive God's goodness without it having any effect or result in your life. Whoa. Whoa I really don't know if there's anything worse that could be said about a person than that God has been good to them and they don't care that it makes no difference and the way they live it makes no difference in how they walk and how they talk this is what Joshua was speaking against God had been good and I want to make sure that you haven't received the grace of God in vain that it would have no effect that it would bear no fruit and it would have no result in your life God forbid may it never be beloved may it never be said of this generation that we took the grace and goodness of God and this is this is this is what Joshua is going to speak against what so you see this is Joshua's objective verse 14 now he says therefore this is Lord has been good and all this evidence of grace has manifested itself in your life now therefore fear the Lord and serve him now fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord therefore therefore in other words since this the Lord has been so good since he had been so faithful since he had been so gracious to you fear and serve the Lord your God because this is the objective of his grace this is the objective of his goodness this is the objective of faith this is why God called you Joshua says this is why you were delivered out of slavery in Egypt this is why you have been delivered out of slavery to sin worship worship worship and these few verses here the word serve is mentioned seven times seven times and the idea in the Old Testament to serve God is to worship God to serve God is to worship God to serve God is to acknowledge that God is savior it's acknowledged that God is redeemer it is to acknowledge that God is Lord to serve God is to acknowledge where your life and your help comes from now this is your purpose this is the purpose this is the reason that God appeared to Moses on the mountain of God when God appeared to Moses on the mountain of God and revealed himself to Moses God not only gave Moses a calling but he also revealed the purpose Exodus chapter 3 verse 11 and 12 the Bible says but Moses said to God speaking to God in that burning bush who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt and God said I will be with you and this will be assigned to you that it is I who's sitting you when you have brought the people out of Egypt you will do what worship God on this mount that's the objective Moses that you would bring those people out of slavery so that they could come here and serve me so that they would come here and worship me but love it you are not saved just to be saved that you are not saved just to be saved you were saved to serve you were saved to worship you were redeemed for praise you were delivered for his glory but the Bible says first Peter chapter 2 and verse 9 all right but you you you are a chosen people
a royal priesthood a holy nation God's special possession that he that you made declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light that's the reason that's the reason you are chosen you are holy you are God's special possession he called you out of darkness into his light so that you would do what the clear the praises of him who called you so that you would worship so that you would serve so that you would give praise to him and therefore Joshua says
put away put away the God that your father served beyond the river put away the God that your father served served while they were in Egypt listen beloved Moses again is making his case he says I want to remind y'all that when God saved Abraham he saved Abraham out of idolatry when God saved Israel he saved them out of bondage God saves his people out of darkness beloved we all have been saved out of something and is that did you and I need to come the grips with I don't care how good you look this morning I don't care how well you think of yourself if you are saved you have been saved out of something in fact if you have not been saved out of something then you need to check if you've been saved at all I find it interesting I watch some people and I think some people hesitate to worship hesitate to worship because of where they've been it might hesitate to worship because of what they've done but I want to suggest you this morning I don't care what the person looks like next to you okay we all been saved out of something we all been lifted out of mess we've all been transformed from the kingdom of darkness in the king to the kingdom of light we've all God had to reach into the depths of the darkness for each and every one of us we have all been saved out of idolatry we have all been slayed they've been saved out of bondage and this is the case this is the case as you said put away all that stuff drop it drop it drop it whatever you've been saved from drop it let it go let it go and lift your hands and choose God this morning let it go and lift your hands and choose Christ this morning let it go that's why Lord of the brought you here this morning that's why you're here that's why you're here you are here to worship so you come in here in all of your life every day beloved we got choices to make every day every day we got choices to make and Israel had a choice verse 15 he says now you see his argument here he's staring them joking right in the face he's approaching the jury box and he's looking them right in the eye and he's saying if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord then you choose this day whom you will serve whether the gods of your father your father served in the region beyond the river of the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord like Moses before him Josh was set before the people two options two options and why two options beloved well because there really are only two options there is only two options there is the one true living and then there's everything else there is the one true living Christ and then there is everything else
the challenge who is real is the challenge for every generation is the challenge for every young person here this morning they call them generation Z a post millenials they tell us that they're techs at it
they tell us they like their choices and they tell us that the world has given them more options than any generation in the past but I'm here to tell you this morning young people you only got two options I don't count many apps you got on your phone you only got two options
there are only two choices if you think it's wrong to serve and worship the one who brought you that's far
if you think that it is inconvenient if you think that what the preacher says is unreasonable if you think that it is narrow-minded and wrong or even if you think it's stupid then I say to you this morning you choose make the choice because I'm telling you this morning beloved you don't have the option of not choosing you don't have the option of not choosing Joshua was saying to them when I'm saying to you you eat all in or you all out you ain't walking the fence with Jesus you eat all in or you all out there is only one true and living God everything else and everyone else is false
there is only one savior Jesus Christ and everything else and everyone else is false
not just that's not the preacher talking that's what the Bible says my first Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5 well there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus the world affords you beloved the world affords you many options when it comes to God and they present them and they parade them before you every day sex and money and drugs and power and popularity and celebrity and sports and business and politics and race and nationality even self all of these are the options and the choices that the world parades before you as God but I want to tell you this morning that there are a lot of ways to be wrong but there is only one way to be right you can bow down at the altar of any and all of these and be wrong but there is only one altar before which you can bow and be right and I say to you this morning like Joshua said Israel you choose this day choose this day I know I know I know because you are a quote-unquote generation Z I talk to young people you know what they have to pass the field you know what they have to they want a third option that's what they want they want a third option no I don't want to serve those guys but I don't want to do what mommy and daddy did so they want a third option they said it's got to be some other way that's what they thought in Elijah day Elijah said in the first Kings 18 and 21 Elijah went before the people and said how long will you waver between how many options two how long will you waver between two opinions if God is God follow him if bail is God follow him that's it that's it beloved Jesus said that Elijah that isn't just on Elijah you listen to the words of Lord Jesus this morning Jesus Christ said Matthew chapter 6 in verse 24 no one can serve two masses but you will hate one and love the other you be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve God you cannot worship God and worship money you cannot worship God and worship self you cannot worship God and worship sex politics sports race nationality so Joshua said I want I want to be clear this morning if y'all don't hear me say anything else y'all hear this regardless of what you choose to do regardless of which way you choose to go as for me and my house we're going worship the Lord as for me and my house we are going to worship the Lord as for me and my house we will be a house of faith listen listen to me young people listen to me there are only two choices and everybody makes a choice and when you refuse to worship the Lord Jesus Christ you are choosing to worship bail you are choosing to worship false God you are choosing to worship self only two options
and in the grace and the love and the mercy of God God sets before you this day and says choose
all the evidence is there he's been good he's been gracious he has given you all things necessary for life and godliness he has provided more than you could ever deserve all the evidence of grace is there choose you this day but so that you don't get it twisted regardless of what you choose me I'm choosing the Lord come what may I'm choosing Lord whoever does and whoever doesn't I'm choosing the house of faith isn't it interesting isn't interesting this morning the Joshua says as for me and my house we're going to worship the Lord and do you know what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19 it says that we are the household of God now how does that relate beloved because Joshua pledged his household to faithfulness Joshua pledged his household to the worship of the one true God Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 5 says that we are the household of Yeshua that if you are in Christ this morning that if you are in Jesus the true Joshua then Christ has pledged his household to the worship of God Christ has pledged his household to the service of God and if you are in Yeshua
and in receiving Christ that choice has been made for you you serve Lord come what may you serve God this is our confession this is our creed we worship God we worship Jesus Christ regardless of what others do or don't do regardless of what others say or don't say we worship God we serve Jesus because we are of the household of the true Joshua Jesus and Joshua finished speaking and he gave them he laid out his objective and then he gave them their options notice this gracious obedience that followed oh beloved might that be the result of the word this morning the word that you have heard this morning would result in this grace field obedience when Joshua made his unwavering uncompromising closing argument for the commitment to God what did the jury say we do to we do to sin verse 16 to 18 then the people replied far be it from us far be it from us Joshua we heard you your words have struck a chord your evidence is irrefutable in your words are unforgettable far be it from us therefore to forsake the Lord to serve other God for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt the Lord our God who brought us out of the house of slavery and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we pass and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples the Amorites who lived in the land therefore we also will serve the Lord for he is our God here what they say Joshua is the Lord who picked us they thought for a moment and they heard Joshua and Joshua says who you gonna serve who you gonna worship and they said well Joshua it was the Lord who picked us the Lord chose us from all the peoples of the world is the Lord who chose us of all the nations on the earth it is the Lord who picked us who picked us for his divine and precious purposes it is the Lord who picked us to show forth his glory and delivering us out of Egypt it was the Lord who picked us and gave us his precious promises it is the Lord who picked us Moses but it's not only the Lord who picked us Moses but it was the Lord who preserved us Moses it is the Lord who brought us through the wilderness it is the Lord God who brought us through the sea it is the Lord God who had been our keeper night and day it is the Lord God who had preserved us alive even till this morning so don't Joshua it is the Lord who picked us it is the Lord who had preserved us it is the Lord who has provided for us, Joshua, the Lord provided for us, the land on which we live, we did not labor, the cities in which we live, we did not build, the gardens from which we feed, we did not plant, the victories that we have won, the Lord is the one who fought them, the Lord has provided us this morning, and if it is the Lord, Moses who picked us, and if it is the Lord who preserved us, and if it is the Lord who provided for us, how then can we not give him praise? We worship Him, we worship Him, Joshua, we worship Him, therefore we will serve Him, we will worship Him, He is our God. I have questions for you this morning at this point. I got a question for you. Has he picked you? Has he set his love upon you before the foundation of the world? Has he searched you and find you when you were not looking for him? Has he picked you this morning? Are you the recipients of his mercy and his grace? Were you once lost and now found, were you once blind and now see? Has the Lord picked you this morning? If he picked you, has he not preserved you this morning? Has he not brought you here? Has he not kept you alive? Has he not preserved you're going in and you're going out? Has he not washed over you day and night? Has he not kept your heart? Has he not kept your mind from the evil one? Has he not put a hedge of protection around your soul? Has the Lord picked you? Has the Lord preserved you? I got another question for you. Has he provided for you this morning? What do you have that he did not give you? Has he provided all things that are necessary for you to live and worship him this morning? Has he provided all things necessary so that you can do the things that he has called you to do? Has the Lord provided for you this morning? And if he has picked you and if he has preserved you and if he has provided for you, then each point why don't you get up and give him some praise this morning? Praise the Lord God this morning. Choose you this day home you will serve. The Lord God who has brought you, the Lord God who has kept you, the Lord God who has provided for you, choose you this day home you will serve. And you tell everybody we serve and worship the Lord our God. Amen. Amen. Amen.