tonight chapter 24 and I'm going to read the first 15 verses these are Joshua's final words to Israel he knows he has not long to live and he wants to address them for this final time Joshua 24 and Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood, he means the Euphrates, in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nechor, 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 I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau, and I gave unto Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. But Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. 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 you 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 you 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 you might possess their land. And I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak, the son of Zippor, 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 you went over Jordan and came unto Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Ammonites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Gilgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I delivered them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which strayed them out from before you, even the two kings of the Ammonites, but not by sword nor with your bow. And I have given you a land for which you did not labor. and cities which you built not, and you dwell in them. Of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not, do ye eat. Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him with 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 ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. whether the gods which your father served which were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord well this evening I invite your attention to Joshua chapter 24 and the first The first thirteen verses. In other words, I'm not really going to get to verses fourteen and fifteen this evening. Leave them for a sermon next time. So the first thirteen verses of Joshua chapter twenty-four. Remember I said, I think, in Joshua twenty-three, this is really all one section, and it's Joshua's last sermon and as an old man he's taking this last opportunity to address Israel for he knows of course that Israel after his death will largely fall into apostasy and fall away from their true position which of course is what happened in the book of Judges very quickly after Joshua's death and after the death of that generation those leaders Israel went into terrible corruption it says many times and several times in the book of Judges there was no king in Israel every man did that which was right in his own eyes and we see the terrible consequences of that in the life of Israel There's nothing new under the sun. I think we can see something of it in our own generation, in our own times. Joshua, though, as he comes to the end of his days, realizes that he must try and do something before he dies. Whatever he can, however small it might be, he wants to do something. I labored this last time to advance the cause of God, if not that, at least to try and maintain something of the truth of God and the ways of God in Israel. And the only way he knows how to do it is to preach, to address Israel with these words. Now, I don't remember if I said this in chapter 23, but I was not, strictly speaking, I think, preaching that night. Nor, I think, strictly speaking, am I preaching tonight. Because I don't think actually Joshua is preaching in these first 13 verses. I think the preaching comes in verses 14 and 15. I'll just explain, I may have done this last time, but I'll just explain again because I think it's important. And I think today we suffer very much from the fact that ministers do not know the difference between giving a sort of a historical or a theological lecture and actually preaching. Preaching is quite clear to me as in verses 14 and 15. There's a very different tone in 14 and 15 as compared to the earlier part of the chapter. The earlier part of the chapter is mostly factual and it's just dealing with the basic fundamentals, the points, the facts, the history and the doctrine. Important, very important. He builds his case there, he makes a case there. But it's when he comes to 14 and 15 and he starts saying things like this, now therefore, and we want a few nows in our preaching. We want a few therefores. I don't know if I've mentioned William Perkins to you before, but I'll mention him again if I have. He was a famous Puritan, worked at Cambridge, 1600 or something, you know, very early on. One of the early great formative preachers in the Puritan era. And he laid down a marker, really, which other Puritans followed. And one of his great markers, he was a great intellectual, and the academics at Cambridge heard him very profitably. But it's also said that the common people flocked to hear him also, because he knew how to address the common man. But one of his great sayings was, what's the use of it? What's the use of it? In other words, he lays out his doctrine, he lays out all the great truths Now today, it seems to me, many preachers just stop there. Now I'm going to say now that that's what I should be doing tonight, but I won't really be preaching. I really think Perkins had the truth in him here. What's the point of all this doctrine? What's the use of it? Now, therefore, fear the Lord. A bit more commanding, you see. In the first part it's, well God did this and you did that and this was how this worked out. All very important. But now we come to the imperatives. And that's preaching. Now therefore fear the Lord. And serve him. And do this. And stop that. And then he comes this. And if it seem evil, verse 15, and you know this famous text, it's been used so many times. Choose you this day whom you... Now those are preaching words. In the cowboy films you get that's fighting words or fighting talk. Well yeah, in cowboys they want a bit of fighting words, but in preaching we want a bit of choosing words, a bit of imperative words, a bit of preaching words. My friends, what we hear tonight is supposed to do something to us and make us do something about it. I was just talking to John before I came in, I remember a lady in Lowestock when we gave out tracts and when I knocked on her door and asked how she liked them, it was half a dozen tracts we'd given out over six months, she said, I like them very much, I've got them here and she had them on the shelf and she showed me and that delighted me, I couldn't understand it then and I still can't understand it. How come people like tracts and say tracts? You either love them and do what they say or you hate them. I can't see how you like tracts, Bible tracts, you know, How can you just like sermons? You either hate it, my friends, or you love it. You do it. And Joshua said, well, I want you to do something. Now this poor man actually failed, I think, ultimately, in large measure, judging by the history of Israel, but he had a go. And I'd rather have a go and fail than not have a go and succeed in not having a go. And I think I'm glad Joshua had a try at it. choose you this day and perhaps there have been one or two people maybe one or two thousand people down the history of the church have chosen this day whom they will serve and that's been the Lord God himself and maybe his words may be not successful that day I don't know but maybe they've been more successful after his death shall we say anyway so I won't be preaching very much but you know me too well I will stray into it I do ask you to forgive me that was said with my tongue in my cheek Of course I'm here to preach. What have I come up here for? That's my job. It's my privilege. If I wanted a lecture, I'd go into a college and lecture, as they'd have me, but I want to preach. I want us to do something. I wish it could be said of me, it was said of Joseph Alain, you've heard about that man in Taunton this week, can't be with the yoga thing, well there was another minister in Taunton, another Church of England minister a few hundred years ago, his name was Joseph Alain, he died very young. And it was said of Joseph Alain that he was insatiably greedy for the conversion of souls. I hope that dear man, he sounded a good man to me, I hope he's got that about him too, insatiably greedy, can't be satisfied, he never had enough for the conversion of souls. Well, Joshua knows he's going to die, and therefore he says, I must take this opportunity. I'm reminded of another Puritan, Richard Baxter. I don't agree with Mr. Baxter in lots of things, but I do like him on this. I understand that towards the end of his life, maybe in his last illness, he was very ill and it came to him. He said, if ever I could preach again, you may have heard the saying, I'd be sure to preach, he said, as a dying man to dying men. What does he mean? I've got to die, I've got to answer to God. They've got to die, and they've got to answer to God. But I've got to answer for them too. So when I preach, I'll remember. God can see me, and soon you'll be asking me what I did on September the 2nd, 2007 at Pidley Chapel, and he'll be asking you too. I'll be sure to preach, he says, as a dying man to dying men. And one last little word of introduction. I'm reminded of Paul. I may have quoted him before, too, in Acts 20. This he did when he sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus, when he said, I'll see your face no more. And they wept because they would see his face no more, and he said it. They knew it. They'd never see him again. Well, my dear friends, I'll never see you again in this life, and you will never see me. I'll preach the last time, and that might be tonight. I don't know. Will you be excited? I don't know. Does anybody know Peter Naylor? No? Peter Naylor? Well I understand he died very suddenly a week or ten days ago and his final service was taken last Friday. He drove 136 miles each way to a lock in Scotland, somewhere in Scotland, to see something. On the one day and the next day he had a burst artery and he was pronounced within a few days dead. By the way, that's four ministers I know, four Reformed, strict Baptist ministers that I know this year that have died. God may be doing something. And I don't know my friend. So I'll try tonight to remember that. Paul says, this is how I've laboured, I want to take the last opportunity. I commend you to God, he said, as the word of his grace, which is able to build you up. I know after I die, he said, after I leave you, I know that what's going to happen here. Now, that's what he said. So there's nothing in you I say under the sun. Well, there's just three little points I want to draw out from this section here. The first one won't go down very well, I suppose, in many circles. I don't know how well it will go down with you, but I see it here and I'm very happy to speak on it. The first thing I want to draw to your attention about this whole episode, these first 13 verses, and if you like put it with the chapter 23 before, but I want you to notice how solemn, how solemn the whole affair is. Now I don't suppose that will go down very well in many chapels tonight. I'm not saying miserable, I'm not saying just long-faced and, you know, no sense of any humor in the nicest possible sense. God's got a sense of humor. He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. But, my friends, there is a solemnity about this passage. Well, it's the only chapter in the Bible where there is solemnity. Not at all, my friend. I don't find it any chapter where there isn't solemnity. Just take what I've just said to you. Did you like what I said? Do you agree with Richard Baxter? If ever I get the chance to preach again, he said, I'll remember. I'm a dying man, and my congregation are dying men and women. And I'll preach to them with that spirit. You don't come giggling when you know you're dying. Who was it says? Was it George Johnson? It solemnizes a man wonderfully. I think that was his word or something like it. It makes him solemn when he knows he's going to be hanged within a week. That was his way of putting it. And it certainly makes a man think, doesn't it? Now this is the spirit that Joshua said, I'm going to die. He said, I'm an old man. I don't know how his voice could carry. Maybe it was very difficult. Maybe he had to be helped. They got arthritis in those days, you know. Maybe he had to be helped up on the podium. I don't know. Maybe he couldn't stand for all service. I don't know what it was. But the poor man is there and he's going to do what he can. I haven't got time for jokes, he said. I haven't got time for amusing you. This is a serious business. Israel is going to go to the dogs when I finish and I want to do what I can to preserve you. He says quite clearly in verse 1, and they presented themselves before God. Now I don't see, if you really believe that, they presented themselves before God, that you can say anything else, but this must be a very solemn occasion. My friend, one day we are going to be presented before God, and there'll be no jokes and giggles on that day, I'll tell you. There might be on earth, but then I say we're not presenting ourselves before God. We are dealing tonight with life and death matters, eternal matters. That's what I believe when we open the Bible. We're dealing with the most precious and most wonderful things. And I'm not saying again that there's no sense of humor in it, there's no sense of pleasure in it, and delight in it, and all the other things. But my friends, lightheartedness and superficiality, I just don't see it going along with it, my friend. I've been in services where it's just giggle after giggle after giggle. And I can't see it myself. Perhaps you can, I don't know. Well, we'll have to park company on it. We're in the presence of God. I don't know how other ministers open their meetings, but I always open with prayer. What a routine. No, my friend, I've got to come before God. Before I take up my hymn book, I want to know that I'm in the presence of God, so I seek God's face first. I want to know His blessing upon what I do. I'm opening the Word of God. That is a very solemn matter indeed. And the people are gathered together to present themselves before God. Now I hope they had the spirit of Cornelius. Do you remember Cornelius who sent for Peter because he was instructed by God to send for him and he gathered his family together and a few friends and more than a few it seems. In Acts chapter 10 he gathered his company together and when Peter came in and he said why have you sent for me? He said we are gathered here to hear what God shall say for you are the words of God from him. Perhaps we ought to get the very words, Acts chapter 10 verse 38. That's what he says to them, we want to hear whatever God has said to you. Oh no, 1033, I can't believe my own writing. Immediately therefore I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art here. Come, now therefore are we all here presently for God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. For us, I think God will be over every service. It's a wonderful privilege, if that's true then. It's a wonderful privilege. So if anybody gave me a ticket tonight and said, Mr. Browns is preaching and speaking on the homeless and you're welcome to come and you can sit on the platform, that's very good. I've got a better ticket, I'm sorry I can't go. Why not? I've got a ticket to go and hear the King of Kings. But Mr. Browns speaking, I've got a ticket to go and hear the infallible Word of God read to me. Ah, but the Queen's going to be there. Ah, but I'm going to where the King's going to be, you see. I got a prior engagement. We're so used to these little chapels, but these are only meeting houses. To me, these meeting houses mean nothing but by association. It's just a convenient place. But when we've sat here like this and gathered like this and the Bible's open, if I read it right, we are present before God. And he took them to Shechem. Now under the Old Covenant, verse 1, chapter 24, he took them to Shechem. Now under the Old Covenant, places meant more than they mean for us now. Acts 4, John 4, 24 and so on, there's no special place now. Not in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem. No, no, no. There's no special place. But in these days there were places that had very strong associations. Now why Shechem? Well you can check it for yourself. You'll find it in Genesis chapter 12 verses 6 to 7 and you'll find it in Genesis chapter 35 and verses 2 to 4. You can check it for yourself if you want to when you go home. Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 35 and you'll find Shechem is important there it was the first landing place more or less when Abraham with his father and they moved and when Abraham got to this promised land Shechem really was the place where he started and Joshua knows this association and he's taking the people back to where it started And Shechem also was the place when Jacob, coming back with his wives, made them give up their idols and he buried them under the oak at the tree, wherever it was in Shechem. Put things right. And now says Joshua, we're here before God and he's going to speak for God and verse 2, he's going, if you like, to let God speak for himself. And this man chose to use words. He thought that was the most important thing he could do. And I'm still a believer myself in the power of the preached word. It is still the power of God and the salvation. I know they found out better ways today, but not to my mind. I know they've improved the taste of this and the flavor of that. and the cars are better and the computers are faster and the mobile telephone we've been talking about it can do this and that and the other. But my friend, funny enough in religion I'm very old fashioned. I'm two thousand years old fashioned. The Apostle said it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Until that's expunged out of my Bible, I'm going to still believe it. I am sorry to say that I cannot prove it by experience. I have seen just a little of it, but by my experience I'm afraid I cannot verify it as I wish I could have done. But I still believe it. And if a man doesn't see it soon in England, there won't be much preaching left here, I'll tell you. But if preaching won't work, nothing will work in my opinion. That's what Joshua thinks. So he says, I'm going to preach it and then I'm going to write it down. And maybe our brother's recording and sending this to other parts of the world. I understand he does. I'm very pleased he does. If we won't at Piddly hear it, maybe they'll hear it in Zimbabwe or wherever it gets to next. That's a remarkable miracle, isn't it? I understand that people out there are seeing more power than we are seeing in the preaching. Don't turn the camera around and show us how poor we are, Obery. But we don't do it, my friend, or say these things because we approved it and therefore we know it's right. We believe it's right. And Joshua's going to do it. So let's get on with it and see what he says then. Now what's his material? Well, his material is different to mine. My material really is scripture. But this man didn't have scripture to go on, did he? Really, not much. I mean, I don't know what was written in those days, I don't think any, very little of it. So what he could draw on is, if it was written, or if it was verbal, I don't know how it was verbal, I suppose, transmitted in those days, but it was the history of God's dealings with Israel. It was their experience of God in his dealings with Israel. It was the doctrine of God, what he knew of God, what God had proved to them down the centuries about himself. Now this is very frequent in the Old Testament, I'll just rattle off a few chapters. Deuteronomy 26, Psalm 78, Nehemiah 9, and even in the New Testament to Acts 7, Stephen, you will find he gives a history talk to the Jews. I remember 40 odd years ago, 50 years ago nearly now, a young Christian saying he wished he had a short summary of the history of Israel, shall we say. Well, if you want a short history of Israel then would you like to make a note of those chapters? It won't take you many hours to read it. Deuteronomy 26, Psalm 78, Nehemiah 9, and Acts chapter 7. You'll have quite a lot of the history of Israel there in those chapters. And what this man does is draw upon this history. I have not proved that. If you just glance down, you'll see Abrams mentioned, Aaron, Moses, Egypt, Jordan, Jericho, all these towns, all these nations. It's the history of God dealing with his people. And in some cases, he's calling upon the experience which they or their fathers have had and their fathers have told them. And some of them actually experienced it. And I think when I address you, my friends, although I base what I say upon Scripture, it is history, isn't it? The other week, I might preach it here one day, I was preaching on a subject from 1 John chapter 1. That which we have seen, that which we have heard, that which we have touched, that which we have handled of the Word of Life. What John is doing there in 1 John 1 is saying, we were there, we saw Him. It's all fact. Peter says it. It's not cunningly devised fables. We saw Him with our eyes, we heard Him with our ears. Very important point. Our religion is based on history. Did you know that Julius Caesar came to this country? Was it in 59 or whatever it was and he conquered? Yes? How did you know that? Well it says it in history books. I tell you this, there's more authority and relevant history for Jesus Christ than anything of Julius Caesar. It's about the most attested fact in history I should think. It's well attested. I mustn't digress unless another sermon. But the fact is, we've got history to go on. And we've got experience too. I can draw on your experience, my friend. If I want to, I can draw on your experience. You've all had experiences of God dealing with you, haven't you? I can draw upon that. Has not God done this for you? Has God not answered prayer for you? Has God not defended you, protected you, led you? Did mum and dad ever tell you anything? Did auntie or uncle ever tell you anything? Did you ever hear anything in a sermon that affected you? Any bells ringing anywhere? I know I can draw upon it, my friend. I know, I know I can. Some of you don't like it, perhaps. Some of you say, no, well, I don't want it. Ah, but it's true, my friend, isn't it? God has touched the cord once or twice, hasn't he? I remember reading a William book. I used to read William books. Remember William, the just William? And one of the things, just came to me as I was speaking there, touching the cord. I remember once he had a neighbor which annoyed him. And so he decided to get his own back on this neighbor. And he discovered his mother wanted to make him garden. But he hated gardening because he had to please his mother. For once he tried to do a bit of gardening. And it just so happened when he chose the garden, when he was fiddling about there, he found he could look into the next door's house there and he found the wires leading to all the bells. Remember all the maids bells and all that sort of thing? And so he said to mother, he said, I'd like to have this patch of garden. She said, well William, there's no sun here. He doesn't get any light here. I'd like to have this patch mother. Would you sit here, please?" And so she sat in the garden in the sun and watched him while he gardened. Of course, what he was doing was poking his stick through and rattling the bell so the man would run to the door, thinking the door was... but there was nobody there, of course. He looked at William, but of course William was with his mother and gardening. But the point is, he touched the bell cords. My friend, I believe God has touched the cords. Joshua could say to these people, God did this and you know it because you were there. He brought you across to Jordan, didn't he? Oh yeah, we saw it. Yeah, he did. And he conquered Jericho for it. Oh yes, so he did, yes. And then what? I mustn't get preached. Oh yes, I will get preached. Now then, he said, what are you going to do about it? If God be God, if he's your God, do you want him? Then serve the Lord your God. If not, choose who I'm preaching next week. But there you are, my friend, that's what he comes to. And let's move on then. What's the subject here? Well, I've been over it a little bit, but let me just briefly bring it out with you. As I say, he's dealing with the history of Israel, not really. It is the history of Israel, but there's something much more important. Where does he start? Well, you say he starts with Abraham. Look at verse 3 and verse 2. The father of Abraham, and then verse 3, he starts with Abraham, your father Abraham. And that's always a good place to start in scripture, Abraham. Why? Well, because Abraham is the father, he's the first, he's the great foremost one of the faithful. He is the literal father of the Israelite people. From Abraham came that great nation that God so favoured and so used and so blessed. How did he favour them? Well, not only in Joshua's time, but my friend, down the centuries. Think how he favoured Israel. To which nation did he give his law? And only which nation did he give his law? He says it, I have given no other nation this law, only you, he says, and it was Israel. To whom did God send the prophets? 99.999% of what the prophets said was said to Israel. Occasionally they did go outside. Occasionally they looked over the fence and did speak. You'll find in one or two prophets they do speak to the nations, but usually speaking to Israel about the nations. And occasionally, of course, like Jonah, they send, God does send the man outside. Only just a little, but he does, but 99.9% is to Israel. And our Savior was an Israelite. He was born of an Israelite. He lived under the law. He worshipped at the temple and so on and so on and so on. Paul makes much of it. Favored with God's promises, with his law, with his prophets, with the sacrifice system and many other things. And it all starts with Abraham. But Abraham is not only the father of the literal Israel. He is the father of all the faithful. Romans chapter 9 tells us there are two descendants from Abraham. There is a physical descent and there is a spiritual descent. There are those who are literally Abraham's children and there are those who have the same faith as our father Abraham. Galatians 3 says the same. And if you are a true believer tonight, your true father, spiritually speaking, is Abraham. So it's always good to start with Abraham. But I led you up the garden path, my friend, because he didn't start with Abraham. He started with the God of Abraham. Ah, you're playing Ubers. No, I'm not, my friend. Verse 3, and I took your father, Abraham. Abraham was a great man, but he was a man. He was made a great man, but he started off, verse 2, as an idolater on the other side of the flood. He was born in an idolater's family. He lived beyond the Euphrates, in Babylon, as we call it today, over there, beyond Canaan. It was God who took him. Now, my friend, here's the theme. This is what Joshua is telling them. He's telling them of the electing God, the choosing God, the sovereign God. Out of all nations, he said, I made Israel, but out of all men I chose Abel. And you can see what he's saying to them, what privilege, what honor, what dignity he has placed upon this people. And therefore he's going to say, when they get to the preaching, now therefore fear the Lord. How can you think of going back from this God? How can you think of turning away from this God who's done so much for you? You could have still lived and died with your father Abraham beyond the Euphrates. My friend, can I not say the same to you? Some of you had a privilege I didn't have. You were born into a family where mum and dad were godly. My mum and dad were not. Some of you had that privilege. But all of us, my friend, I take it all of us here, I know Mona's different, but she's coming to this country. All of us, I think most of us anyway, we have had a privilege of being born in a land as favored as any nation upon the face of the earth. Oh, we're not so wealthy as the Americans. We're not so numerous as the Chinese. We don't have the resources, perhaps, of India. But we have something in this land which I believe no other land has ever known. We had such favor from God, such openings of His mercy and preaching power as I think few nations have had. I don't think it's all it was cracked up to be, I don't think, I'm not trying to make it whiter than white, but I mean you can only see, if you look in the libraries and see the heaving commentaries that the Puritans and the sermons that they wrote, I'm not saying it was all masterfully wonderful, but we have been favoured. Some of you have been favoured very much in your own life, I remember we talked many times about early days at War Boys. I mean, that's nothing compared to what has happened in history, but compared to what we are having now, well, it is something. But still, you have seen the favor of God. I have seen it. I can hear Joshua saying to me, as he said to Israel, how could you think possibly of going back from this God? I could say to this nation, my friend, if it would hear it. Why ever would we go back from a nation that was prepared to translate the Bible and distribute it and read it and preach it where there was such conflict to establish free religion and we've had such favoured times and seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Why would we go to Islam? But we're going there. Why would we go to New Age thinking? But we're going there. Why would we go to the drivel that comes out of so many pulpits today? But we're going there. Why? Of all people we must be the most stupid. But then, we are the same as Israel. Should we turn over? Not now, but if we had time, should we turn over to Joshua? You know what happens, don't you? Time after time, time after time, time after time, what do they do? They go into declension and to sin. They build their idols. Some of the things going on in Judges you could hardly read in public. The thing is you can read them in public today because I've seen times change. Things are happening in public today that would never be dreamed of in my day, in my youth. But not only had God chosen them, you'll see again, I'm just being very brief, I'm not actually expanding the scripture, but you'll see that time and again He favoured them, He brought them through difficulties, He delivered them from men who would harm them and pull them down. He mentions Balaam and Balak, He talks about the kings who came against them, rivers against them, floods against them, but He brought them through and through and through again and again. My friend, if we came into the New Testament, the equivalent would be such passages as Romans 8, 2 Timothy 1, Ephesians 1 and so on. If we came into the Old Testament, it would be Ezekiel 16, Psalm 40. What passage am I talking about? I drew you out of the miry pit. I found you in the wilderness. I have loved you with an everlasting love. And many, many such scriptures. Chosen before the foundation of the world and so on. What a privilege, Christ dying for sinners. You can see it for yourself, it's not Abraham. How many times do you see the word I in this chapter? I, I, I. And it's not Joshua, it's God. I took. That's what you want in preachers, who give you a sense of God. I think George Whitfield said, that man, he said, he prayed me into a sense of God and then he prayed me out of it. I think people expect too much from sermons. Ooh, that surprises you. I think one thing you should expect, though, is the sense of God. That God is in it somewhere. God is speaking to us. Whatever you get of this passage here, you will know that God is in it. I did this, he said, and I did the other. So he tells them what they were. He tells them what God has done. What you were, he said, were idolaters, but I made you into a nation where I favored you and blessed you and I protected you. But then we come to the preaching, but not tonight. None of that's preaching. That's just facts. But I'll just read it to you, my friend, in case you won't be here next time. 14 and 15. Now therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth, Put away every other God. If it seems evil, choose you this day whom you will serve. Choose which God it shall be. And then he gives them at the end of verse 15, that most famous of all statements, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. When I come to it next time, I shall, I think, make this point. I hope I will. We live in a time when we so want to make everything so easy and so popular that we won't do what Joshua does. Joshua says, you've got a choice. Either this God I have preached to you is the God and the only God, or he is not. And you can't go on sitting on the fence, he says. You've got to come out openly and choose which way you will go. What I'm thinking of is the book of Ruth when Naomi is going back and her two daughters-in-law are going with her. And you remember that Naomi says to her two daughters-in-law She says, now you go back to Moab. You go back to your own people. If you come with me, she says, I'll have no more sons. And anyway, if I did have a son tonight, if I had sons tonight, you wouldn't wait for them. You wouldn't wait the 20 years. You'd be older. No, no. You go back to your own people. And you remember, Orpah went back. And you remember, she says, Naomi says to Ruth, you follow her. You go back with her. to your people and your gods. Preachers of the day won't do that. They won't put the stark choice to sinners. But Joshua does it, Naomi does it. And it's the only way to get Ruth's answer. Ruth's answer comes down in the history, the years of history, because Naomi put the choice to her. And her answer comes out gloriously, doesn't it? Go back, she says. Your people shall be my people. Your God shall be my God. Where you die, I will die. Don't say any more, go back, because I'm not going back. My friend, I can tell you, when I labored, as I did for many years, several years, as an elder in a church, I would love to hear sinners saying that to me. In fact, I used to address them when they wanted to join the church towards the end. I used to say to them, why do you want to join this church? There's easier churches. I wanted to hear them say, don't say that again. This is the church we want. We will join. We will keep our feasts. We will be at the prayer meeting. We will attend. I was at a church this last Thursday when the man openly said, in the prayer meeting, by the study I was taking we get half the people here so I'm glad to get half I'm not glad to get half my friend it's 100% for me Joshua wants it you choose he said you don't have to choose the Lord you can have these other gods if you want you can have these other religions if you want if you want Islam go for Islam but if you want Christ then come out for him Let us hear it. And you know the way to confess Christ, my friend, don't you? Arise and be baptized. Tell us. Ask for me in my house. Perhaps we can go up the house, because that's a bit Old Testament. Ask for me. I will serve the Lord. Don't you ever say again to me, go back, because I'm never going back. Do you know what the phrase burning your boats behind you means? I think the Romans did it. When they landed on the shore they burnt the boats. Why? They were telling the enemy we're not going back. We either conquer here or we're buried here. As for me, I'm going to serve the Lord. Now, which way will it be for you he says. But perhaps I'll try preaching next time anyway.