And Kirstie to come and read. So if you'd like to come up the front, you can put your
Bibles here and use this. Just hold it up to your mouth so we can all hear.
It's Joshua chapter 24, verses 1 to 13 I'll be reading. That's page 240 on the church
Bibles. Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders,
leaders, judges, and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
Joshua said to all the people, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Long ago your
forefathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the river,
and worshipped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the river,
and led him throughout Canaan, and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave
Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Ther to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you
out. When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them
with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put
darkness between you and the Egyptians. He brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with
your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a long time. I brought you
to the land of the Amorites, who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them
into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. When Balak,
son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam, son of Beor,
to put a curse on you. But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again,
and I delivered you out of his hand. Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens
of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites,
Gergashites, Hivites, and Jebusites. But I gave them into your hands. I sent the hornet ahead of you,
which drove them out before you. Also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword
and bow. So I gave you a land in which you did not toil, and cities you did not build,
and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.
Let's continue in verse 14. Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the
gods of your forefathers, worship beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the
Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether
the gods of your forefathers serve beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are
living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Then the people answered,
Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods. It was the Lord, our God himself, who
brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs
before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey, and among all the nations through which
we traveled. And the Lord drove out before all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the
land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God. Joshua said to the people, You are not able to
serve the Lord. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.
If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and will make
an end of you, after he has been good to you. But the people said to Joshua, No, we will serve the
Lord. Then Joshua said, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.
Yes, we are witnesses, they replied. Now then, said Joshua, throw away the foreign gods that are among
you, and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel. And the people said to Joshua, We will serve
the Lord our God and obey him. On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem
he drew up for them decrees and laws. And Joshua recorded these things in the book of law of God.
Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak, near the holy place of the Lord.
See, he said to all the people, this stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words
the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.
Thank you, Jonathan and Kirstie for reading. Let's talk to God, let's pray. As we finish
off this great book of Joshua, let's pray together.
Our Father God, you are very great. You are creator and ruler over our lives. And we are small
and insignificant. And we come before you humbly and ask that you would speak to us.
We ask that you would change our lives. That you would cause us to be a people who live in response
to you in worship. Teach us what that means. And help us in Jesus' name. Amen.
So all the hard work has been done. Battles have been fought, cities have been captured,
and the lands have all been divided. Finally, God's people can sit back and take things easy
in the promised land. That's the expectation as we reach the concluding chapter of Joshua chapter 24.
After 600 years of patiently waiting for God's promise to be realized, it seems that at long
last they can rest and relax they can rest and relax. Perhaps it's time to build a nice new home
along the Mediterranean coast. Maybe to upgrade their car or their chariot or whatever they used.
Join the gym and take a few holidays. But God is not finished with his people. Far from settling down,
it's time to start serving. The sight that Joshua has chosen to speak to the people is full of
significance. Let's read verse 1. Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. Not just
individuals. Everybody was included. All God's people. He summoned the elders, the leaders, the judges,
and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. Well, you say, what's significant about
that? Well, Shechem was the place where God first met Abraham way back in Genesis chapter 12. It was the
place that God spoke promises to Abraham. He said to Abraham all those years ago, I promise you that you
will be a great nation. You will have a land in which to live and you will be a blessing.
Now here they are, 600 years later, gathered together as a nation, gathered together in the land that God
had promised to hear Joshua's speech. What's he going to say to them? Well, to our surprise, look at what he does
say in verse 14. Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Rather than settling down, it's a time to get up
and start serving. The work is just beginning. You see, God has brought his people into the land so that they can bring
God to the surrounding nations. They are to serve God by speaking and living the salvation that they've experienced
and come to know. They are to begin to live out amongst the people around them. So it's not a case of Israel
sitting back and putting the feet up and watching TV. It's a case of God has so blessed you.
Now go and be a blessing to all the other nations. Go and be a blessing to the world. Go and serve your God.
So Joshua chapter 24 reminds us that while God has saved us, it's only the start. Our salvation is only the beginning.
He has saved us so that we can go and serve him together as a community wholeheartedly.
And sometimes we lose sight of that. We are very individualistic in our thinking about things that I want to do.
There's none of that here. The whole nation of Israel was gathered together.
We are all gathered together this morning to hear what God is saying to us together, not individually.
It's a message for his church today.
Well, what does he have to say to his church? Well, let's look at what God has done, first of all, his amazing salvation.
Look at verse 2.
Now let's go back in time to where Abraham was.
He was the kind of guy who you would never see in church.
If you showed Abraham a Bible, he wouldn't know what it was.
Verse 2 tells us that he and his family worshipped other gods.
God wasn't on his radar. He wasn't looking for him and he wasn't wanting him.
In fact, Abraham's whole life was lived serving someone else or something else.
Because that's what worship is.
That's what it says in verse 2.
They worshipped other gods.
Worship is not about singing songs and getting excited with the praise time.
As much as it's good to sing, that's not what worship is.
Worship is all about what or who you serve.
What you give your life to.
Or who is most important to you becomes the object of your worship.
So, whatever you love the most, whoever you trust the most, that's where you serve.
And for Abraham, it was certainly not the creator god.
He had a god of his own invention or making.
People of Abraham's culture, well, they depicted everything as a god.
They had hundreds of gods.
They had sex gods.
They had work gods.
They had money gods, nation gods.
Gods all over the place.
And in reality, all of these different gods were just replacements for the one true god.
They were god substitutes.
And that's how Abraham and his family lived.
They were ruled by the gods that they made and therefore they worshipped them.
They served them.
Now, the problem with worshipping other gods is they're not actually good to you.
They enslave you.
They begin to control you and to consume you.
And isn't that what happens when we make money and work and family a god,
when we put that as the priority in our lives?
They begin to control your life.
They begin to overtake you.
And so you live your life for that.
And rather than your gods giving you something,
they begin to take from you.
They take of your life.
They suck you dry.
And the trouble with these kind of gods is that you make and create for yourself,
they can't free you.
They can't do anything for you.
Of course they give us some pleasure for a time,
but they're powerless.
Rather than save you,
they actually enslave you.
And this is the life that Abraham was stuck in.
He was living a life where he was worshipping other gods.
And it's the kind of life that we're in as well.
It's how society operates.
Oz Guinness, you may have heard of him as a well-known apologist,
comes from the great line of the Guinness family.
He wrote in one of his books,
No God but God.
Listen to this quote.
He says,
When we cease to worship God,
we do not worship nothing.
We worship anything.
We don't just eliminate God.
We don't just put God to one side.
We erect God's substitutes in his place.
A God's substitute can be anything.
It can be a physical object,
a property.
It can be a person,
like your spouse.
It can be an activity,
like sport.
It can be a role,
an institution,
like church.
It can be a hope,
an image,
like beauty,
an idea,
or a pleasure,
a hero.
Anything can substitute for God.
And so, like Abraham,
we need to be people who are set free
from the gods that we worship
so that we can be free to serve
and worship the true living God.
And that's exactly what God did in Abraham's life.
Look at verse 3.
He says,
But I took your father Abraham
from the land beyond the river
and led him throughout Canaan
and gave him many descendants.
I gave him Isaac.
And to Isaac,
I gave Jacob and Esau.
I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau.
Do you see what's going on here?
It is God who makes the move.
He says,
I took you, Abraham.
God intervenes.
God takes the initiative.
And when we're stuck worshipping
and serving something
or someone else,
we need somebody from outside
to come into our lives,
to break into our lives,
to free us.
And this is illustrated so well for us
in the next few verses.
Look at the end of verse 4.
We learn that, yes,
he had taken Isaac and Jacob
and they had had many families,
but Jacob and his sons
went down to Egypt
where they were enslaved.
Verse 5.
Then I sent Moses and Aaron
and I afflicted the Egyptians
by what I did there
and I brought you out.
Now not only were they rescued
and set free from slavery.
Verse 8.
I brought you to the land
of the Amorites
who lived east of the Jordan.
They fought against you,
but I gave them into your hands.
I destroyed them from before you
and you took possession
of their land.
Look at verse 11.
Keep with me.
Then you crossed the Jordan
and you came to Jericho.
The citizens of Jericho
fought against you
as did the Amorites,
the Perizzites,
the Canaanites,
the Hittites,
the Girgashites,
the Hivites,
Jebusites,
and all the other ites
that there would have been.
And I gave them into your hands.
Verse 13.
So I gave you a land
on which you did not toil
and cities you did not build
and you live in them
and you eat from the vineyards
and from the olive groves
that you did not plant.
Do you see what he's saying here?
It's crystal clear.
Salvation is God's work.
We can't free ourselves
from our own slavery.
We need God to rescue us.
Now I want to drive this home
for us this morning
because many people
like to think
that we can free ourselves.
That somehow
when it comes to salvation
it's our choice
and our decision.
That we have the power
and the resources
within ourselves
to change us.
But that's not what God is saying.
Look at the emphasis.
It's all I.
I took you.
I sent Moses.
I brought you into the land.
I fought for you.
I delivered you.
I gave what you did not have.
In other words
you cannot save yourself.
You can't free yourself.
Abraham and his family
couldn't do it
and neither can we.
It's not your decision.
It's not even your desire.
It's all by God's grace.
Now of course
some of you will be thinking
they're going
yeah but don't I decide
to follow Jesus?
Yeah I know this thing
about God choosing
and all the rest of it.
But don't I decide
to follow Jesus?
Don't I decide
to be a Christian?
Well no you don't decide.
One of the most well-known verses
that we often quote
from Ephesians 2.
It says by grace
you have been saved
and it's through faith
which is the gift of God.
Even faith
the faith to believe in God
is a gift from God.
It comes from Him.
And this is the point
that He's making.
You made no move towards me.
You were off serving
your own gods
and doing your own thing
but I intervened
into your life
and caused you.
I called you.
I chose you.
It's all by God's grace.
Why?
So that He would humble us.
He would remove
any ounce of pride
any sense of superiority
because as soon as I say
well I did something
or I chose
or I responded
then we're saying
I did something
what somebody else can't do.
It removes all pride
and all sense of superiority.
superiority.
But the big point is
if God has done this for us
as God has intervened
into our life
if God has saved us
and freed us
and blessed us
then the only reasonable
and right response
is to give our lives
in service
to the only true God.
God has done this for you
if God has saved us
and freed us
then the only right response
is to give our lives
in service
to the true God.
So having looked at
God's amazing salvation
let's look at how we respond
our loving service.
there's a few things
that we need to look at here.
The first one is
choose who you serve.
Joshua gives a very simple
but yet direct choice
to God's people.
Look at verse 15.
He says there
but if serving the Lord
seems undesirable to you
then choose for yourselves
this day
whom you will serve
whether the gods
your forefathers
served beyond the river
or the gods
of the Amorites
in whose land
you are living.
But as for me
and my household
we will serve the Lord.
Now read that carefully.
Look at the verse.
Read it carefully.
It does not say
choose to serve God
and then serve nothing.
No it says
choose whom
you will serve.
In other words
if you don't serve God
you will end up
serving someone else
or something else.
Because you can't serve
nothing.
Every one of us
are born into this world
as servers
and worshippers.
We all worship
someone or something.
And since we're all
very good this morning
and we've all gotten
out of our beds
and we're here in
church together
and we're reading
our Bibles
and listening
and paying attention
we're all going to say
I serve God
I worship God
that's me
that's who I've chosen.
But do we?
Do we worship God?
Do we serve God?
Well
I help stack up
a few chairs
and I kind of
I do my bit
and I serve the tea
and coffee
and well I'm even there
on a Wednesday
sometimes handing out
the flyers.
I do my bit.
But is that it?
Is that what service?
Is that what worship is?
Now I want us to do
some really hard
self-examination here
and I ask myself
the same questions.
I'm going to ask
two big questions
and I want you to
think about it
very carefully.
Here's the first one.
It's to find out
who we serve.
To find out
where our worship
is lying.
Here's the first question.
What is
your greatest
nightmare?
What causes you
the most amount
of worry?
Okay?
Stay with me.
I'm over here.
Okay?
What's your greatest
nightmare?
What causes you
the most amount
of worry?
Is it losing
your job?
Is it maybe
getting cancer?
Is it your
children's future
and what's
going to happen
then?
Is it maybe
losing your spouse?
And here's
the next question
and it's related
to it.
So you've all
got something
there that
causes you
the biggest
worry.
What do you
look to
to comfort
you or
give you
happiness
when those
worries come
or when
things go
wrong in
your life?
Where do you
look to?
What do you
go to to
give some
little comfort
to yourself?
Is it in
relationships?
Maybe it's
sex.
Maybe you run
to family.
Maybe it's
all about
comfort spending
and buying
yourself
little treats.
Maybe it's
even in
religion,
in church.
Now your
answer to
those questions
will tell you
what or who
you serve.
What's most
important to you
in life?
What do you
dream about
and long for
when you're
sitting down
daydreaming?
Where does
your mind
go to?
anything that
takes priority
over God,
anything that
is more
important to
you than
God is
what we
serve.
And the
reality is we
serve many
gods.
We worship
our job.
It consumes
us.
It's what we
live for.
We worship
our children.
Our children
tell us,
control us.
They absorb
us.
Our health
becomes a
God.
Our
relationships,
the need
for a
partner,
the need
for a
boyfriend or
a girlfriend
or a
wife or
a husband,
that becomes
the priority
and the
goal of
our life.
And God
gets pushed
out.
As we said
earlier in the
quote,
God is
eliminated.
We push
him to one
side and
we erect
God's
substitutes.
Something to
take the
place of
God.
Something that
we look to
for our
meaning and
our purpose.
So there's a
challenging
question,
verse 15.
In the
light of
God's
amazing
salvation,
choose who
you will
serve.
Is it the
God who
frees you
or the
gods that
fail you?
So choose
who you
serve.
Second,
know the
cost.
God's
God.
Because
serving
God is
not going
to be
easy.
This next
point is
an attempt
to stop
anybody from
becoming a
Christian.
You've heard
me.
It costs
your life.
It's
serious if
you are
going to
be a
Christian.
Verse
16.
The people
answered,
far be
it for
us to
forsake
the
Lord to
serve
other
gods.
Verse
19.
Then Joshua
said to
the people,
you're not
able to
serve the
Lord.
He is a
holy God.
He is a
jealous God.
He will
not forgive
your rebellion
and your
sins.
If you
forsake the
Lord and
serve other
gods,
he will
turn and
bring disaster
on you and
make an
end of you
after he
has been
good to
you.
You see,
serving God
is serious.
It's not
for half-hearted
people.
We can't
treat God
with an
attitude that
says something
like this,
sure,
God is
loving and
forgiving.
It really
doesn't matter
how I
treat God
and,
well,
if I
want to
live my
life this
way and
God is
second best,
that's okay
because God
always forgives
us,
doesn't he?
He's kind
and compassionate
and gracious
and,
well,
God may be
forgiving,
but it
doesn't give
us a
right to
abuse his
forgiveness
or take
it for
granted.
And I
think Joshua
is putting
it up to
them.
He's
challenging
them and
he's putting
it up to
us as well
as we
listen in.
It requires
careful thinking
for each one
of us to
respond.
He's
challenging
us of
the cost.
Can you
do it?
He is a
great God.
God,
can you
give your
life to
him?
But yet
he's urging
us on in
his commitment.
You can't
serve him.
You can't
serve this
God.
Yes,
we can.
He's urging
them on in
their commitment.
Isn't that
exactly what
Jesus said?
Let me read
to you from
Mark's
Gospel.
Jesus said,
whoever wants
to save
his life
will lose
it.
Whoever
loses his
life for
me and
for the
Gospel
will save
it.
What good
is it for
a person
to gain
the whole
world yet
forfeit
his soul?
What can
a person
give in
exchange for
his soul?
If anyone
is ashamed
of me,
says Jesus,
and my
words in
this
adulterous
and sinful
generation,
then I
will be
ashamed of
him when
he comes
in my
Father's
glory.
Before we
start making
great and
grand promises,
before we
start waving
our flags
around and
saying,
oh, I'm
going to
serve the
Lord,
or I'm
committed to
him,
know the
cost of
serving a
God who
saves.
It's
serious.
It costs
your life.
The third
thing there
then is,
know the
cost.
Second,
deal with
your
gods.
If we're
going to
choose to
serve God,
we must
first deal
with our
God
substitutes
that we
have in
our lives.
Look at
verse 14,
he says,
fear the
Lord,
serve him
with all
faithfulness,
throw away
the gods
your
forefathers
worshipped.
And the
people,
verse 21,
the people
said to
Joshua,
we will
serve the
Lord.
Then Joshua
said,
you are
witnesses
against
yourselves
that you
have chosen
to serve
the Lord.
Yes,
we are
witnesses,
they replied.
Now then,
said Joshua,
throw away
the foreign
gods that
are among
you and
yield your
hearts to
the Lord,
the God
of Israel.
This is a
call to
repentance
and faith.
We are
first of all
to repent.
That means
we are to
turn from
the things
that we
worship and
serve.
Look at
what it
says,
verse 23,
throw away
your gods.
we must
take active
steps to
remove
whatever it
is that
has become
the priority
in our
life and
replace it
with God.
The answer
to the
questions that
we gave
earlier,
what is that
thing that
drives you?
What is it
that consumes
your thinking?
Put it
to one
side and
replace it
with God,
the only
true God.
Repent.
second,
we must
have faith.
That means
that in
trusting,
that means
that trusting
in God,
we have
everything
that we
need.
Look at
verse 23
again,
it says,
yield your
hearts
to the
Lord.
When we
worship God,
when He
alone is
our object
of trust,
when He
alone is
the person
we look
to for
our
confidence,
we will
find that
He
fills us,
that He
satisfies
us,
that He
frees
us.
If
everything
in your
life that
surrounds
your life,
if all
of that
was to
be
zapped
in one
moment,
all taken
from you,
lose your
job,
lose your
health,
lose your
family,
and all
you're left
with is
God,
and you
can still
say,
He is
my
everything.
I am
completely
satisfied and
content because
I have
God.
in Him
we rest.
And here
is a
double action
to deal
with our
gods.
Throw
away your
gods and
yield your
hearts to
the Lord.
Now we
need to
take time
to think
this through.
What is it
that controls
us?
What is it
that you're
building your
life around?
What right
now is your
number one
desire or
priority?
What's the
dream that
you have
for life?
If it's
not God
and His
glory,
deal with
it now.
Deal with
it now.
I think
we all,
myself
included,
need to
repent
and have
faith.
look at
verse 25.
On that
day Joshua
made a
covenant
for the
people and
I'll read
again,
sorry.
On that
day Joshua
made a
covenant
for the
people and
there at
Shechem he
drew up for
them decrees
and laws.
He's saying
to the
people,
if you
keep your
promise,
if you
keep your
promise to
serve God
as you
have said,
then blessing
will come
to you.
But if
you break
your
promise,
if you
fail to
serve,
then curses
will fall
on you.
That's what's
going on
here,
verse 26.
And Joshua
recorded these
things in the
book of the
law of God
and he took
up a large
stone and
he set it
up under
the oak
near the
holy place
of the
Lord.
See,
he said
to all
the people,
this stone
will be a
witness against
us.
It has
heard all
the words
the Lord
has said
to us.
In other
words,
it serves
as a
reminder of
what's
going on
here.
It will
be a
witness
against
you if
you are
untrue
to your
God.
At the
very
site
where God
made and
kept his
promise,
the people
now make
their promise
to serve
God.
But you
know something
about this
promise?
It's
terrifying.
It's
really
terrifying.
Because if
they break
their promise,
if they
are untrue
to God,
if they
should fail
and begin
to serve
other gods,
then look
what happens.
Look back
at verse
20.
If you
forsake the
Lord and
serve foreign
gods,
he will
turn and
bring disaster
on you and
make an end
of you.
That's why
it's terrifying.
And we
know the
sad history
as we
read on
through our
Bibles.
That Israel
made this
great promise,
oh, we
will serve
you, oh, we
will give our
lives to you,
oh, we
will never
turn to
anybody else.
And they
failed.
They were
untrue.
And disaster
did come.
And they
ended up in
exile.
And the
curse of
God fell
on that
nation.
And you
know what?
We are
no better.
Don't we
replace God
with God's
substitutes?
Haven't we
all made
promises?
Haven't we?
We all make
promises, I'm
going to serve
God, I'm
going to do
this, and
we fail.
And we
fail.
And it
seems that
serving this
God is an
impossible task
for us to
do.
But God
knows our
hearts.
He knows
that we are
just like
Abraham that
we read at
the beginning,
that we
worship other
gods and we
can't save
ourselves.
so that the
God that
deserves our
service, the
God who
deserves our
worship, comes
down to
serve us.
The God
who made
us and
deserves our
worship, bowed
before us.
The God who
rules over all
served us by
dying for us.
He worshipped by
obeying his
father's call and
going to the
cross.
And the
curse and
the disaster
that should
fall on us
fell on God
so that the
blessings might
come to us.
That the
blessings might
come to us
that we might
be able to
go and serve
God without
fear, without
condemnation, in
complete joy.
Tell me, the
gods that we
have, the
gods that we
worship, the
gods that we
serve, would
they die for
you?
The gods that
we make and
create, do
they love you
and would they
give their life
for you?
In your
minds, look
at the one
and only true
God as he
hangs on the
cross, broken
for you,
destroyed for
you, crushed
for you under
the weight of
God's curse.
As we
create God's
substitute, he
becomes our
substitute.
In your
mind, see the
love and the
grace and the
mercy as blood
flows from his
hands and from
his feet and
from his head
and his side.
Hear him as he
cries out on the
cross in agony
and pain.
My God, my
God, why have
you forsaken
me?
He came to
serve you.
He came to
die for me
and for you.
And listen to
his promise
that all who
come to him
will not die
but will live.
This God
served you
and this
God saved
you.
How can we
not give
our lives
in service
to such
a great
God?
Let's just
take time to
be quiet
before we
sing our
closing song.
There's a lot
to think through,
a lot to
contemplate.
but we're
just going to
have a
moment's
quietness
now.
An
opportunity
for us
to think
about the
gods that we
serve and
worship.
where do
we need
to repent?
Ask God
to forgive
you and
to replace
those gods
with the
one and
true living
God.
our
Father God,
may you be
our
priority.
May you be
our desire.
May you be
what controls
us and
consumes us
every day.
Forgive us,
Lord, for the
times we put
job and
family,
even church
and other
things and
people in
front of you.
Help us to
serve you and
to worship you
as we ought.
To center our
hearts around
you and to
make you the
focus of our
lives.
Teach us what
it is to
serve you.
Thank you
that we
can serve
you.
Thank you
that Jesus
died to
take the
blame for
all of our
failure so
that we can
now go and
serve you
without fear
and in
complete joy.
Thank you
for Jesus.
Amen.