You may be seated. We'll dismiss the young'uns to go with Mrs. Shore to their class in the creche. And the rest of us, please. Ken, open up our Bibles to Joshua, Chapter 24. I can see by your smile that you're thinking about going. Brother Woods is back there. Brother Woods is thinking about going to the creche this morning. I can see it on his face, the young'uns. Joshua, Chapter 24. Alright, I want to introduce my message this morning by putting us into the context of what Joshua is saying. It's kind of a final message to the children of Israel as they get ready to disperse to go to their promised land and their section of it, as he challenges them again, one last time, to serve God. So he gathers them all together, all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, verse 1, 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. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nacor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. And notice the emphasis as to God. I did this, I did this, I did this, is what Joshua has reminded them of. And verse 4, I gave unto Isaac, Jacob, and Esau. I gave unto Esau Mount Seir to possess it. But Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. And I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did among them. And afterward I brought you out, and I brought your fathers out of Egypt. And he came unto the sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red Sea. And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt, and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan, and they fought with you. And I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak, the son of Zipporah, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you. But I would not hearken unto Balaam. Therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand. And he went over Jordan and came up to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Gergesites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. and I delivered them into your hand. I like, as you read Deuteronomy, as they're getting ready to go into the battle, God tells them, hey, there's seven nations greater and mightier than you. but I delivered them unto you. It's what we find in the story, they have been vanquished. Verse 12, I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with the sword, nor with the bow. And I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not. And ye dwell in them, of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not, do ye eat. And so as he calls them together for kind of a final message before they inherit everything, he says to them, I want to remind you of everything that God has done for you. And based upon that, there's a decision that you need to make. And so verse 14 is a command. Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt, and serve you the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me, in my house we will serve the Lord. And so as the leader of the children of Israel, Joshua knew what he was going to do. It's a great statement. You'll find this statement, I think, several times in our house and different pieces of art or different verses that we've got. As Joshua makes that great declaration, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And notice that he's calling them to decision. In verse 14 he says, now therefore, and then in verse 15, choose you this day. Everyone gathered here this morning Needs to make that decision. Now, it could be this this morning. You have decided in the past that you're going to serve the Lord. Ask for me in my house, we'll serve the Lord. Maybe as we look at it today, you'll reevaluate it and say, am I really accomplishing that? I said to God, that's what I do. Ask for me in my house, we'll serve the Lord. But I haven't accomplished it. You might be here today, and maybe you are accomplishing it. Maybe by the grace of God, you chose it. Ask for me in my house, we'll serve the Lord. And you're getting it done for God. Praise God. It might be somebody here today that in the past, that idea has come out in the Word of God, that point of decision of serving God, and you thought, no, I don't want it. You rejected it. Maybe God worked in your heart today. Maybe you've never thought about it. You've never made that step of obeying God and would have been challenging your heart to choose today that you're going to serve God. But let's put ourselves back there with Old Testament Israel and Joshua and the people being gathered together and being told, hey, God has done great things for you, but you've got to decide. You're not the child of God just because you're part of this assembly. It's really what Joshua is saying. You're a child of God by obedience and by decision. It's the same this morning. You could be here in church, but not really be what God desires you to be. Because you haven't really decided, this is what my life is going to be about. It's going to be about serving God and pleasing God. So let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to the Word of God this morning. Father, I thank you again for this passage. And Father, for the challenge that Joshua gave. I would have loved to hear him say this. Father, to challenge the children of Israel and to say, choose you this day. And to hear the conviction in his voice as he said, but as for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. Father, a leader cannot live for the people what they must live for themselves. Just because Joshua was consecrated didn't mean that others were. As parents, Lord, we want our kids to follow God. We can impact that for a while, but God, they've got to at some point come to that point of decision that they're going to serve God. And Father, I pray for our church, I pray for every buddy that's here this morning, that they make a decision today. I pray they make the right decision. But Father, I pray they make a decision. And Father, may the Spirit of God help us as we consider what it means to decide that we're going to serve the Lord. May the Spirit of God guide us now. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Alright, so the important thing is this. Today, you need to make a decision. Am I going to serve the Lord or not? I mean, you might as well have it out with yourself and say, and by the way, let me say this before we get started. I look back at my youth group and I see teens that, as we're growing up in church, we all kind of look the same a little bit. We're at church, we're there, but I have teens that went off into gross sin. We have teens that went into full-time ministry. And I say this, very few in between. There's some. But that middle ground gets questioned. Praise God, there's some faithful lay people that came out of our youth group as well. But it's because there's a decision, a dividing point that we need to come to and say, today, God, by your grace, I'm going to decide, am I going to serve God or not? Let's have it out today. And so what does choosing to serve the Lord involve? Well, the choice involves your sanctification. As he's talking to them in verse 14, he says, you need to choose to serve the Lord. In verse 15, if it seemed evil to you to serve God, then decide what you're going to do. But, as for me and my house, that's sanctification. That but means that Joshua and his family were set apart for God's use. That's what sanctification is. Sanctification is to set apart, actually for intended use in the case of Joshua, for God's use. To illustrate that, if I have sanctified gym shoes, sometimes you'll go into a gym and it'll say, on the wood floor or whatever it is, it'll say, only gym shoes. And when we were growing up in high school, we had gym shoes. I mean, those were shoes that were sanctified. I mean, we didn't wear those outside and get them unsanctified. Right? Because you get a rock stuck in them or something stuck in them, you come back inside and you damage the gym floor. So you set them apart for an intended use. Joshua said, I'm going to set myself aside, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. In contrast to who? He's saying to them, if you don't choose to serve God, if you're not going to be sanctified, I'm going to be sanctified. The problem for us is that a lot of times we want to follow what somebody else is going to do rather than deciding for ourselves what we're going to do. People are interesting that way. It's called peer pressure. And we think we're beyond that. But I don't think we are. I think here's why. When I'm handing out flyers to people in Edinburgh, as I did on Monday, and sometimes people are very kind, they'll take the flyer. And what you find, if that happens, everybody after them, as you hand them a flyer, because the first person took it, they're more inclined to take it. But if somebody rejects the flyer, and you get that sometimes, I have, you know, some people reject the flyer, you might as well stop for a second because everybody after them is going to reject the flyer as well. You know, that's okay in life, I suppose. But when it comes to deciding to serve God, don't let the fear of man impact your decision. Proverbs 29, verse 25 says, The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved. The fear of man bringeth a snare. If we as a church sit back and say, I'm going to wait until somebody else takes that step. I'm going to wait until somebody else gets more involved. I'm going to wait until somebody else gets more dedicated. I'm going to wait until it's the case that others are doing that. And if they don't, then I don't know if I will because they're not. Have we really decided? The early church, as they started preaching the gospel, Peter and John healed the man that was lame at the temple and the great things were accomplished as people began to get saved through that. The Sanhedrin got upset about those that were turning to Christ because of what God had done through Peter and John. In Acts 4, verse 18, they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. He said, if you think it's right to listen to you instead of be sanctified and set apart for what God has said we must do, you be the judge. But then they declared, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them. Because the people, for all men, glorified God for that which was done. Peter and John said, hey, you threaten us all you want. We are sanctified. I mean, we have decided. It's in the past. We don't have to stand here today as you talk to us about not obeying God and make up our minds now. So we're set apart. This morning, are you set apart for God's use? I think of Joshua standing there, and all the children of Israel there, and he's saying to them, look, God has been good to you, serve God. And he says, but if not? I wonder, as he stands there, he's thinking, Lord, I don't know who's going to take that stand. But I've decided. Have you decided to follow Jesus. As the song says, I like the verse that says, though none go with me, still I will follow. I'll tell you, it's a lot easier to do door-to-door with a hundred people than with two. It's a lot easier to take a stand for God when others are standing. But whether others stand or not doesn't impact my personal responsibility to God who has said to me, look, you need to be sanctified. You need to be set apart for my use. So the choice involves your sanctification. Secondly, the choice involves yourself. Joshua said, but ask for me. Ask for me. As a counselor at the Wiles Christian Camp in North Carolina, It's a wilderness down in the United States, North Carolina. It's a big wooded camp facility. They have about a thousand campers there for each week of the summer. And 120 counselors. But as a counselor, it seems kind of glamorous. I get to be a counselor at the Wiles. But as you get into counseling, there's a lot of sacrifice involved. And they would say to us at the team meetings each week, they'd say this saying and we'd repeat it. There's just two choices on the shelf, pleasing God and pleasing self. As a camp counselor, you're tired and you're with the kids all day long, sun up to sun down. The team competitions and things are taking place. The environment is sometimes damp, sometimes cold. We had at camp a lot of gnats down south in the southern United States. We'd eat our Thursday meal, I think, was out on the grounds of the camp. We'd have chicken. We'd be eating our box chicken, and it's hot and we're sweaty, and in the sweat of our forehead, we had little dead gnats. As you got up in the morning, You didn't want to necessarily be a camp counselor, but you got up every day and you had to decide there's just two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self. As you thought about church today and getting to the house of God, you had a choice to make. You had to lay there in bed this morning. I don't know about you, I look at the day like today. It's a nice day to have a lion, right? There's just two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self. You might have to get up early if you're going to spend time with the Lord in prayer, and so you've got to be disciplined to put feet on the ground at a time when nobody's standing there saying to you, hey, you've got to get out of bed. There's other disciplines to the Christian life, being in the Word of God and being in prayer, that the choice is really, am I going to Put myself where myself needs to be. Jesus said in Luke 9.23, He said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Notice the condition, right? If. That means, take it or leave it. I mean, it's your choice. Either if you follow him, or if you don't. But it's either or, isn't it? And so if you follow Him, if anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. So what did it cost you this past week to serve God? What did your consecration, your surrender to God, what did it cost you in real terms? Where did self have to suffer so that you could obey God? Romans 12.1, Paul, we believe, said this in Hebrews 12.1, rather. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. We could read that in our picture. I think, oh, that's a nice picture. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. But we don't stop to think about the pain involved. Jesus Christ on the cross. We've already read the verse. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Tozer would say about a man carrying a cross, that man's not coming back. Why? Because he's going to his death. And so today, as we talk about it, it sounds great for somebody to stand up here and say, but as for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. And in our hearts, there's a response that we say, hey, I want to say that, but we've got to stop and consider that it's at a real cost. And the cost is self. And so are we willing to take that step of saying, God, I know it involves this, but I'm going to put it right out there for you, myself. And then third, your choice involves your sphere. He says, as for me and my house. Joshua wasn't content just to give himself to God. Joshua took everything that he was authority over And he said, God, you've got that too. As for me, in my house, beyond just myself, but everything that's under my control, God, I give it to you. My dad was a preacher for 50 years. Dad's retired now, but dad's 72. By the way, we've got a preacher up here, St. Pierre and his wife, and it's good to have him with us again. Growing up in a preacher's home, my kids get this too. And the longer you come to my church, our church, Free Baptists, you get this too. My illustrations are only so deep. So are my dad's. But I liked hearing my dad's illustrations. And there's one in particular that stands out to me. And if you've been here very long, you probably have heard it before. But my grandparents lived on a dairy farm out in out from Durango, Colorado, about 15 miles. Dr. Van Gelderen Sr., pastor of a church in Durango, Colorado. Dr. Van is John Van Gelderen's dad. John comes here and preaches for us regularly. Growing up on a dairy farm, Grandma and Grandpa put a great emphasis on honoring God. They'd have missionaries come and stay with them in their home. They'd always be in church, no matter how hard it was to get themselves there. As an example of that, the illustration I remember is Dad saying, on a Sunday morning, the cows got out. They got out into a field that if they ate it, their stomachs would bloat. It could kill them. And my dad and my uncle said to my grandpa, They said to their dad, dad, we're going to stay, we'll get the cattle back in. And grandpa said, get in the car. And they went to church. And they got back from church, they lost one sickly cow that died. But all four of their kids went into full-time ministry. Uncle Verl was a missionary in Brazil. Aunt Jackie, she married a church planter in Albuquerque, that pastored a church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My dad pastored for 50 years. My Aunt Bonnie married Steve Blanca, and they smuggled Bibles into communist countries with Brother Andrew's ministries. But you look at that and say, I mean, this was just a farm family. But all four kids went into full-time service for the Lord. Why? Because Grandpa and Grandma said, as for me and my house. You know, if it's under our sphere of influence, we ought to say, God by your grace, we can't make decisions for our kids, but the Bible says, Proverbs 22, verse 6, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. So as parents, we can have that influence and say, hey, uh-uh, not in this house, as for me and my house. But let me broaden the sphere this morning. and say it like this, what about your time? As for me and my time, that's under my authority, that's under my control. As for me and my time, we'll serve the Lord. As for me and my talents, me and my entertainment, me and my hobbies, me and my finances, me and my family, God, as for me and mine, we'll serve the Lord. It includes our sphere, our sphere. And so this morning, is that sphere going to be surrendered to the Lord? But to surrender self in our sphere, it's not going to happen until we submit our will by surrendering. And so the choice involves this morning your surrender. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Are you a person that makes up your mind very easily? I was at Krispy Kreme. Friday, I decided to go. I made that decision. But I got to Krispy Kreme, and you look in that counter, and you're choosing a dozen. And you've got all these exotic choices that you can make. And so I'm standing there, I'm thinking, and I had to let somebody else go before me, before I could figure it out. Have you ever waited for someone that's taken a long time to decide? It's frustrating, isn't it? I mean the kids, Alec you've seen this probably, you're back there with the bag in the back and you've got one kid in front of you and he's there for like five minutes and all the kids in the back of the queue are going, come on, get with it, decide. It's frustrating, isn't it? We sometimes have a problem as a family deciding where to eat out. We don't eat out that often and so we go through all the options and we're debating and the kids are probably like, come on, make a decision, it's like an hour and a half. It's frustrating. You know, if somebody is indecisive, that's very frustrating. I remember on the San Mateo Bridge in California, it's a seven mile long bridge, we're sitting in a queue, because there was an accident on the bridge, and I remember a policeman coming by with his loudspeaker, and he's trying to get through, and he's saying, come on folks, decide, right or left. He's frustrated, like, get out of the way, you're taking forever to decide. God's servants, at times, have gotten a bit frustrated when the people of God can't decide. Elijah, in 1 Kings 18, Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. You almost see the pride in their heart. Elijah, here, this man has run for his life for three years. He's doing something for God. He's taking a stand for God. He's all by himself and his life is threatened. He's saying, how long are you going to halt between these two opinions? Decide today. Right? He was frustrated by their indecisiveness. Can you imagine being at a wedding? We had the joy of having a wedding this past year. But can you imagine you're at a wedding And as the vows are given, and the minister is there and he's giving the vows, as he gives the vows to the bride, what if she said, can I hear that again? Can I hear that again? Or she said, what do you mean by death? Do you mean death of love? That young man, as he listens to that, he ought to be troubled. If he's not, he's got a problem. Because he hasn't decided. He doesn't want to be married to somebody that, do I want to be his husband or not? He wants somebody that's going to say, I do. You know what God wants today? He wants people that say, I do. Right? I will. That's exercising that surrender option. Jesus said to the church at Laodicea, Revelation 3, 15 and 16, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I will thou art cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. God says this. He doesn't want us unsurrendered. And he doesn't want us wondering, do I really want to serve God or do I not want to serve God? He'd rather today, and this is strong, but he'd rather today somebody say, forget it, I don't want it! Right? Them to come and to act like they're doing something for God when they're not. Choose. That's an act of surrender. It's a decision. A choice. And then the choice involves your service. It says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. It's not a choice to sit and believe in God. It wasn't enough that Joshua say, I will affirm all the doctrinal truth of the word of God, right? That wasn't the decision. The decision was, I'm going to do something. I'm going to get involved. I'm going to serve. Tyne Castle Stadium is the hearts stadium. It has a seating capacity of 21,000. It's a football team. Hibbs Stadium, about 21,000 as well. 20,000, 421. I guess there was a Hearts and Hibbs game this weekend or something. 50,000 spectators watching at one time 22 players on the field. You know, our society is very much a spectator society. We've got the entertainment, sitting down, watching the telly. I mean, all we do is kind of entertain me, entertain me, entertain me. And sometimes, you know, we think that's what life's about. I'm involved if I'm entertained by it. Somebody's involved in the team because they cheer for the team, but they're doing nothing to win the game. And that's fine in sports. But it's not okay in battle. Imagine in battle, we've got spectators, 20,000 people looking down as their team is getting beat back, militarily defeated, and they're sitting on the sidelines. They're watching and maybe cheering and saying, hey, you can do it. What's it matter to the guys giving their lives on the field trying to win the battle? We may have forgotten a little bit about this today, but we're in a battle. And Satan, the enemy of God, is seeking to damn the souls of all mankind. He came into power at the Garden of Eden, as we looked at in Sunday School, and death reigns. And he's excited about the fact today that so few Christians are surrendered to doing something for God. Because he's not concerned about spectators. Because they're not in the battle. He's not bothered. The chief of our salvation, as a soldier, laid down his life. But God's army is getting beaten back by the enemy. And I'm not trying to be negative this morning, but I want to be clear in saying this. How often is our baptismal pool being filled? How many seats are open at how many services? How much is being given to the work of the Lord in foreign missions? How many participating weekly evangelism? Who's still needing to hear the gospel in our community? How many are working in their local church? I'm just saying this. I'm saying this specifically to us and broadly, right? And I'm burdened about it. Midlothian needs the gospel. Edinburgh needs the gospel. And the idea that we can spectate Christianity and see it done is false. It's false. And God's army is getting beaten back. And there's believers sitting on the sidelines, at home, in the pews. But Jesus took the field and gave His life for that cause. And so what would the idea be today? It'd be kind of like me as a recruiter standing here saying, folks, we need to get in the battle. There's work to be done. There's souls to be saved. We've got events coming up. We've got the afternoon tea. We've got the men's camp. We've got the family seminar. We've got the activities of June, the Gala Day, and the outreach, and everything that's coming, plus our weekly things, and plus our Sunday things. And it means something to stand for God and to do something for God. It's service. And so, nobody's chosen to serve the Lord, who's not doing service for the Lord. That's logical, isn't it? I mean, it's logical to say, somebody could say, but I have chosen to serve the Lord, and I ought to be able to ask them and say, oh sir, ma'am, then please do tell me, what are you doing for God? As for me and my house, we'll serve. Serve, and I mean that comes in different flavors. You're serving God by being here this morning. You got into the battle today. It's a battle. You tried to come to church. It's not going to be easy, but you got into it today. That's part of it. But it ought to be, hey, as for me, my house will serve the Lord. So what? So I got my Bible out this week. And I got on my knees and I went to prayer. Listen, there's some big things to be praying about evangelistically, but there's also some other real needs. We've got a young lady, Sarah Gorman in Ireland, that has an illness that is debilitating and she is failing. She's a child of a missionary that's there. We've got to be praying. I mean, there's stuff like that where we've got to enter into the battle and say, hey God, I'm going to get involved in this thing, I'm going to do something. We've got missions giving in the back back there. We're talking about taking on tonight, we're going to vote on taking on the Killeens and supporting their ministry. And that's getting involved and saying, God, I can participate in that. And then there's all the gospel flyers back there. When you talk to somebody at the till, you can say, hey, I'd just like to invite you to visit my church. I'd just like to share this with you. It talks about Jesus. Hey, that's the most important question in the world. Do you know the right answer? I give the white one to people at shops and I'll say, on your break, just one question quiz for you. Right? But are we getting involved? What are we doing? Because the choice involves service. And then the choice involves your sovereign. Your sovereign. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. LORD is in all caps. It's Jehovah. It's the covenant-making God who created all things. Jesus said in Luke 6.46, Why call ye me LORD, LORD, and do not the things which I say? Why would Jesus say this to people? I mean, they were there and they acted as if they were following him. Why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Why does he say that? Because if he's sovereign, Lord, then he has a right to say, you can do this, you must do this, or you ought not do this. And if he's Lord and Master, then what he says is final. It's something that we submit to. Justice Clarence Thomas, a black Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the United States, his biography is incredible. I've read it. He went from poverty and Catholicism to the Supreme Court. Sadly, he got out of poverty, never got rid of the Catholicism. He ended up with divorce and other things. As you're reading the biography, you're just hoping the guy's going to get saved. Because he's seeking God. I mean, there's a process of seeking God, but it's seeking God in works religion and definitely not in agreement with God about many things, though he's a conservative Chief Justice that I'm very thankful for. But he became a Chief Justice when President H.W. Bush flew him, I think, to Kennebunkport and had him there and asked him to be a Chief Justice. He didn't want to be a Supreme Court Justice. He didn't want it. I mean, people asked him and he said, no, I don't want it. But when the President called him there, he said this, because the President asked me, I will. And I mean, he went through a horrible Senate confirmation hearing that was just brutal. It's been brutal since then, but that was kind of the first of the worst of what took place. But he went through it in obedience to his Commander-in-Chief. See, there's things that you might look at in your life and think, I can never do that, I'll never do that. But listen, if the King asks you, will you? See, if God worked in your heart about it, the Sovereign said, you know what? My choice is for you to serve me. What are you going to do? See, I remind us, though the choice takes place, and it is a choice, and sometimes we think this, even in evangelism, people will say, but it's my choice. Yes, it's your choice, but you can choose wrong, or you can choose right. And I would say this to you today. The will of God is that you surrender your life to do exactly what God wants you to do. And to choose otherwise is to choose wrong. But it's your choice. But He's your Sovereign. You're going to be so sad someday. Somebody that chooses wrong about that thing. It's going to be so sad someday to stand before the King of Kings and to realize they did not submit to the King. How do I know this? Because Joshua is saying to the people, he's saying, choose you this day whom you'll serve. But notice verse 14. Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. So it was commanded, it was said, hey, do this thing. And Joshua said, as for me and my house, we're going to do it. but they had to make the decision. You know, God may be speaking to your heart about salvation today. You've never submitted to God when it comes to the gospel and what Jesus Christ did for you when he died on the cross and paid the price for your sin. You need to submit. He's sovereign. You don't get to decide about the punishment of sin. You don't get to argue with God and say it's not fair that you'd send me to hell. You need to agree with God. You might be here today and God's speaking to your heart about baptism. follow the Lord of Believers baptism, you might be saved, but you've never been biblically baptized. As sovereign, he has the right to say, you must, because he said it in his word, that we're to follow the Lord of Believers baptism. It could be sanctification, it could be church membership, and getting connected to this, in this case, our local body, and saying, I'm going to be a part of this church, it's going to be my church, because God wants me to. It's just whatever the sovereign is saying today, Are you going to do it? And so at this point in the text, we come to the point of this decision. And he has said to them, hey, choose you. If you don't, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. But now it's their response. So let's see what they did. Verse 16. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, for wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites, which dwelt in the land. Therefore will we also serve the Lord, for he is our God. I want to stop and say this. It involves a statement as well. This is not a point, but it involves a statement. Do you notice? They said it. It involves a statement for us, doesn't it? Us saying to God, OK, I'm going to say it, I'm going to put it online, and I'm going to put it out there, and I'm going to put it out there where other people can see it. I'm going to declare that I will serve the Lord. That's what they did. And Joshua said unto people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God, and He is a jealous God. He will not forsake your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt and consume you after He has done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay, but we'll serve the Lord. Joshua is warning them, Hey, you don't mess with God. You're going to decide to serve God. I'm telling you this, He's going to bless you if you serve Him. But you turn from that, God's going to destroy you. That's a very sobering response. They go, No, but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you, the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. They made a choice. And I want to end with two points. If you choose to serve the Lord, there's two things that we see remaining in the passage. The first, the choice involves your separation. Verse 22, Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. He's saying to them, look, if you've chosen God, then that choice mandates that these other idols go. They go. To go back to the bride illustration, she can't stand there and say, is it okay if I just have an occasional date, or worse? No, if you're going to say, this is my husband, then you are agreeing that this is it. And so for us this morning, as somebody thinks about, am I going to serve God or not, you've got to decide to separate yourself unto God. We live in a day of perverse Christianity that has this idea, I can be married to God and wed to the world at the same time. I was giving tracts out, I said on Monday in Edinburgh, And as I was getting right across by the National Gallery, the side road there to Princess Street Gardens, there was a guy beside me, and I gave him a flyer. And as I gave it to him, and I asked him, do you believe in God? I didn't really expect him to say yes. And here's why. In his left ear, he had a very large earring. And left ear, back in the 1980s, meant homosexual. And so I gave it to him. You know what he said to me? He said, I do believe in God. He said, in fact, I'm here from Germany for a Church of Scotland gathering on the call of the ministry. And I didn't have a full conversation with him. And I didn't, not that I want to wreck his day or anything, but what I wanted to say to him is, and he told me he'd been born again at the age of 22, and he was about my age. But I want to say, that's confusion. To look at you, I don't think you're saved. We don't judge by looks, but the thing is, if I'm going to identify with Christ, I identify with Christ and I put off the junk of this world. I can't say I'm going to obey God and I'm going to maintain holding hands with that which is defiled. And so, if you're going to serve God, it's not going to be that confusion thing, it's going to be that identification with Jesus. 2 Corinthians 6.17 says, Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. You know, it might be this today, the Spirit of God works in your heart, and you say, hey, it's all for Jesus. I've been waffling, I've been trying to have it both ways, but I'm deciding today to serve God. You know what that means? It means that junky music that is on my phone, that is in my case, that is in my house, it's gone. That wicked entertainment that I justify and say, I'm not doing that, but I'm feeling that and I've got that, that has to go. Why? Because I've decided. I'm going to serve the Lord. There's no half-hearted thing about it, if you've decided. And then the choice involves, lastly, your steadfastness. Verse 24, the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone and set it up there under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he hath spake unto us. It shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart, every man into his inheritance. And so what the stone was, it was this. In the future, as they're walking along, they're constantly reminded, I decided. They're constantly reminded, I decided. It's a witness against them, it's a witness of what God said. It's like the wedding ring. That bride, she puts that on her hand. She might want to tuck it away where somebody doesn't know for whatever reason, because she wants to be unfaithful to her vows. But that stone identifies her as that man's. And see, what God desires today is not for you to say, well, I decide. It's for you to get to the marriage altar, stand before God and say, God, I'm going to take the ring. It's going to be evident. No more secret Christianity. I'm going to identify with you. Do you stand with Joshua today? You know, if I asked you this morning, has God been good to you? You'd have to say yes. Has God done great things for you? You'd have to say yes. So the question is, are you going to serve Him? And don't think, oh, pastor, I'll just wait, I'll think about this, give me a few hours here. I'd like to make the decision, maybe this afternoon, maybe I'll have a little more time to pray about it. Listen, God's will is that you surrender. God's will is that you decide, hey, I'm going to serve God. It's not to be put off, it's not negotiable. Listen, to decide otherwise is to decide wrong, no matter what your age is. And so, it's just like Joshua said, hey, choose today. What's your decision? Here's what it involves. Your sanctification. It's you saying to God, OK, God, my life is set apart for your purpose. That means this. I'm not going to marry somebody unsaved. For a young person. Why? Because be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. It means, when it comes to Bible college or college, I'm going to ask God, God, what do you want me to do? It means, I'm not going to have to make the decision every time that God wants me to go to church whether or not I'm going to go. Because I've decided. It does mean that. Think about it this way. You make one decision, it impacts all those other decisions. You can stop making all those decisions. You can just decide, no, I'm going to have my devotions. Because I decided. Right? It's going to be painful. Do count the cost. It's going to be yourself, a living sacrifice. It's your fear. So it's not just you saying, I'm going to serve the Lord. It's as for me and my whatever. If it's under my control, it's going to obey God. It's your surrender. You exercise your will saying, God, I will. I choose today. It's your service. It's not just, God, I'm surrendering, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do anything. It's, no, I'm surrendering to serve. He's your sovereign. It involves your separation. You decide you've got to separate. And you've got to be steadfast. What is your statement? Joshua's was, but as for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. You know, I encourage you this. Let it be known. Now I'm not going to have a stand up if you're going to serve God. Because then the peer pressure thing enters in. If everyone stands, maybe you'll stand. But it needs to be that personal today. Where you really think, hey, even if I've said this in the past, am I keeping it? What does God want me to do today? And I challenge you, make a decision. Don't sit here today and think, I'm not going to think about it, Pastor. I'm not going to make a decision. By not making a decision, you are making a decision. So what's it going to be? Let's pray. Father, may the Spirit of God speak to our hearts. Father, I forget who said it, but the world has yet to see what God can do through a man that's wholly surrendered. I think it's Moody. He said, God, make me that man. Father, I pray that we'd see that. I pray for our young people. I pray they'd say, by the grace of God, God has all of me. Father, not just our young people. Father, heaven forbid that we'd have young people more dedicated to God than our adults. Father, I pray the Spirit of God to give us grace to say, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And not a nice saying to put on the wall of our house, but Father, something to live, not to give through our lips, but to live for Jesus. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's stand please and sing A hymn of surrender. 390. I surrender all. 390.