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“Choosing to Serve the Lᴏʀᴅ”

Troy Nicholson
08/25/24 - Sun PM

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If you'd like to turn to Joshua chapter 24 I'll be reading from the ESV.

Yeah, just by way of observation and hopefully in a way as to not get into Troy's thoughts for the lesson tonight, the uh ESV headings talk about uh this section of text as the covenant renewal at sheck.

And then we edge down into a transition that uh the translators uh entitled choose whom you will serve.

Beginning at verse one, Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to shek em and some of the youngers, the heads, the judges, the officers of Israel and they presented themselves before God and Joshua said to the people thus says, the Lord God of Israel long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Tara, the father of Abraham and of Nahor, and they served other gods.

Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many I gave him Isaac and to Isaac, I gave Jacob and Esau and I gave Esau the hill country of sir to possess.

But Jacob and his Children went down to Egypt and I sent Moses and Aaron and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it.

And afterward I brought you out, then I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you came to the sea and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.

And when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt.

And you lived in the wilderness a long time.

Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan.

They fought with you and I gave them into your hand and you took possession of their land and I destroyed them before you.

Then Balak, the son of Zor king of Moab arose and fought against Israel and he sent and invited Balaam the sons of Bor to curse you.

But I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed.

He blessed you.

So I delivered you out of his hand and you went over the Jordan and became and came to Jericho and the leaders of Jericho fought against you and also the Amorites and the parasites and the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Gites, the Hibs, the Je sites, and I gave them into your hand and I sent the hornet before you which drove them out before you.

The two kings of the Amorites.

It was not your sword or by your bow.

I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built and you dwell in them, you eat the fruit of the vineyards and the olive orchards that you did not plant.

Now, therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness, put away the gods that your father served beyond the river in Egypt and serve the Lord.

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day, whom you will serve.

Whether the gods of your fathers served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Well, it's always a pleasure to stand before you and I'm thankful for this opportunity tonight.

For those of you are visiting, I'll just let you know I'm not the regular preacher.

So please come back in spite of what you may hear tonight.

Uh But in spite of the speaker, we will try to study God's word.

And I pray that it can be something that will be beneficial to all of us as we open and study God's word together this evening.

Sometimes there are certain passages that stand out to us in the Bible as being more passage passages that challenge us.

And we find one of those challenges that's being issued uh to the Israelites as soon as I can get my clicker out, we find that in the reading that we just had, especially in the last couple of verses uh of that reading verses 14 and 15.

And probably everyone here is familiar with that.

Some of you may have it hanging in your house.

It's something that we regularly see around, but it was issued really as a challenge to the Israelites at this point in their history.

And I want us to examine this challenge for ourselves tonight and consider the idea of choosing to serve the Lord.

What's it really mean to choose to serve the Lord?

Well, it really means the same thing for us that it did for them.

And I think by examining what Josh was set before them will help us understand what it really means.

And hopefully we can evaluate ourselves to see whether or not we're really up to the challenge of serving the Lord.

As we consider the idea of choosing to serve the Lord.

I first want to state what may seem rather obvious at first.

And that is that choosing to serve the Lord is a choice.

And while that may seem obvious, I think it's something that that's worth mentioning because some religious groups will tell us, well, it's really not our choice.

God makes that choice for us.

God predetermines who's going to be saved and who isn't.

It's really not your choice at all.

God just randomly or however says, I, I think you're chosen, you're chosen.

No, you're not.

You are.

And they say the choice isn't ours.

But Joshua obviously hadn't heard that false teaching or at least if he did, he didn't buy into it because he tells the Israelites they have a choice.

And throughout the Bible, we see choices being given to God's people.

I mean, really the, in, in one sense that the Bible is a book of Choices from Genesis to Revelation.

It's one choice after another that mankind has to decide to make one example.

If we go back from Joshua, go back to Moses in Hebrews chapter 11.

In that Hall of Faith, we're told a little bit about Moses there and about the choice that he made in Hebrews 11 beginning verse 313 it says by faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

Choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

Considering the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward.

God could have just looked down at Moses and told him Moses, I got a chore for you.

Whether you like it or not, you're coming with me and you're gonna do my will.

But here we see that Moses had a choice and he chose the affliction that he suffered.

He chose to endure what he did he considered the options, the riches of Egypt, the oppression of Israel.

And he made that choice for himself.

And again, all throughout the Bible, we see that the idea if we have a choice, Ecclesiastes chapter seven, we see the wise men telling us that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

In other words, we can go against the upright nature that God has designed us to live according to.

We can choose to stay upright or we can choose to go astray.

We can choose to go a different way.

Now, that doesn't mean that God doesn't care.

God made us that way because he wants us to follow the right path.

Uh Peter tells us in second Peter three and verse nine, the Lord is patient to you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Now, God could just say I want everybody to be saved.

So everybody's gonna be saved.

I mean, after all, he's got him do what he wants.

But he says, no, I'm gonna give people a choice.

I'm going to be patient with them and hope they choose to repent.

But ultimately, it's their choice.

They make the decision.

And Peter came to understand that everyone in the world has a choice.

We're, we're looking at a time when God's chosen people or the Israelites, we come into the New Testament and Peter living under the new covenant came to understand that God wanted everybody to be saved and everybody had a choice when we look in X chapter 10 and we find Him at the household of Cornelius.

He said, but in every nation, whoever fears Him and works, it works righteousness is accepted by Him.

It's not a matter of God just choosing certain people to be saved.

God says it's your choice.

You want to serve me, you can choose to serve me and I'll accept you.

You want to work righteousness, then you can choose that and I'll accept you, but it's your choice.

And that's a point that Josh was making to the Israelites here in Philippians two and verse 12, it says that we get to work out our own salvation.

Now, God definitely has his part, but he also gives us a part.

It's a choice.

Will you choose to serve the Lord?

And something else that makes itself clear from this passage is that it's a logical choice.

Now, left reading all the hard names to Craig and he did a great job in reading those.

I don't have to read them.

Now, I can just summarize what he just read for us.

And if you look at the first several verses there in Joshua 24 mainly verses one through 13.

Essentially, God is telling the Israelites through Joshua, remember everything that I've done for you, how I delivered your fathers, how I brought you out of Egypt across the red sea across the Jordan into this land that you now live in.

And after God reminded them of everything that He had done.

That's when we get to verse 14, after God says, remember what I've done then Joshua says, now, therefore, fear of the Lord serve him.

You probably know like every good Bible student you see the word there for.

You gotta ask what's it there for?

It's there as a conclusion to everything that God just said.

God said, I've taken care of you.

I've provided everything for you.

Just the logical conclusion would be that you'll serve me.

Now, obviously, the Israelites, at least at this point bought into that logic because after Joshua went on to tell them fear of the Lord serve him, how did they respond?

Well, go down to verse 16.

So the people answered and said, far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods?

Why, why would it be far from them to do that?

Why would it just be the logical thing to serve God for the Lord?

Our God is he who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, who did these great things or great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed and the Lord drove out from before us, all the people including the Amorites who dwelt in the land.

So again, they say through conclusion, because of all this, we also will serve the Lord for He is our God to kind of summarize this.

They basically say, well, what other logical conclusion would we come to?

But to serve the Lord when we stop and think about all that he's done for us.

And really, that's the same way that it should be for us today.

If we're trying to choose whether or not we're gonna serve the Lord, what other logical conclusion is there when we consider all that God has done for us?

And this isn't just old Testament, reasoning come to the book of James in James chapter one in verse 17, James said, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights with whom there's no variation or shadow due to change of his own will.

He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.

So how should we logically respond to what God has done for us?

Well, verse 21 therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness, the implanted word which is able to save your souls again.

Why would we do that?

Because every good and perfect gift is from above.

We do that because of all that God has done for us.

It's just a logical conclusion that we're going to choose to serve the Lord when we consider what the Lord has done for us.

But at the same time, we need to realize a point that Joshua made with them.

And that is the fact that it's a difficult choice.

It's kind of interesting after Josh was encouraging them to serve the Lord and they're all in.

Yes, we, we're, we'll serve the Lord.

I mean, that's the logical thing to do.

What does he say next?

You can't, essentially, that's what he said.

He said in verse 19, you're not able to serve the Lord for he is a holy God.

Being a holy God means he has a holy standard for us.

And if we're going to serve a holy God, then we need to do so in a holy way.

And so Josh was really telling these people, it's not gonna be easy to live up to the high standard that God has for you.

He's such a holy God.

Are you sure you can live up to that standard?

Are you really ready to choose to buy into that?

And he wasn't literally telling them, you can't just don't, don't even try as we continue to read.

We see he's more or less just trying to get them to understand what they're getting into.

But we need to realize that today choosing to serve the Lord, sure, I'll choose to serve the Lord.

We want everybody to make that choice, but just like Jesus, when he came to this earth and people were following him, he stopped them sometimes and said, have you counted the calls?

Do you understand what it really means to follow me?

Are you willing to make the sacrifice?

Are you really willing to commit to following me?

So, what Josh was trying to get the Israelites to realize you, you're committing to serving a holy God.

Well, that same holy God is the God that we serve today.

So we shouldn't be surprised that we have that same standard set for us in second Peter chapter uh excuse me, first Peter chapter four, verse 103 Peter said, but as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

Anybody here able to do that, anybody holding all your conduct.

I gotta put my hand down too.

I didn't see the others go up.

That, that's a high standard when we choose to serve the Lord though.

That's really what God says.

All right, you want to serve me be holy like I'm holy.

The reality is we won't quite live up to that standard.

The reality is what Paul told the Romans in Romans chapter three and verse 23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Even when we choose to serve the Lord, we're gonna fall short of his high standard.

It's going to be difficult to live the way God wants us to live.

Let's not say, don't try, don't do your best.

But we're choosing to serve a holy God who has a holy standard.

It's not always going to be easy.

And something else that Joshua emphasized to the Israelites is the fact that it's a serious choice.

Continue in verse 19 there in Joshua 24 he says of God, he's a jealous God.

He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign Gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you after having done you good.

In other words, you want to choose to serve the Lord and choose to serve him.

He'll bless you, he'll provide for you.

But if you fail to live up to that commitment, well, he's going to consume you.

It's a serious business and we choose to serve the Lord and Joshua wanted them to realize how serious the commitment they were making was.

If you choose to serve the Lord and leave sin behind, there is no going back.

It's not one day.

Oh, I'll live this way and another day, I'll live that way.

It's a serious commitment that you make.

Are you up to the commitments?

Again, the New Testament emphasizes the same point that, that it's a serious commitment we make when we choose to serve the Lord Peter said it this way in second Peter two and verse 214 if for, if after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

They are again entangled in them and overcome.

The last state has become worse for them.

Then the first, in other words, you choose to serve the Lord, it's not all that easy.

So you choose to quit, you're gonna be worse off than you were before you ever started.

You'll be in the group that the Lord say he's going to consume when you fail to live up to your commitment.

Well, backing up into our main verses again, they're in Joshua 212 back in verse 215, Joshua also emphasizes the fact that it's a personal choice.

Now, Josh was probably speaking to possibly 231 million people or so because he's addressing the Israelites at this point.

But he's not asking for a national commitment here.

He's asking for a personal commitment on the part of each and everyone who hears him notice the personal nature of it verse 224, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, not just the nation as a whole, but as individuals.

And if it seems good to you to serve the Lord, but as for me, he makes it personal for himself as well.

It's a personal choice when it comes to serving the Lord.

And we need to realize the seriousness of that.

Nobody else can make that decision for us.

I feel blessed to have been able to be raised by Godly parents.

I'm thankful for their good example.

I'm thankful for the good brethren around me as I grew up.

But there came a day I left home and I quit going to that church and I've got to make the choice on my own because on the day of judgment I can't stand behind my parents.

I'm thankful for the KSR family here and I think it's a great group of people.

I think we do a great job of standing for the Lord and showing the love of God.

And in some ways, it'd be great to just be judged as a group before God, Ksr group.

Did you choose to serve the Lord?

If you would like to kind of hide behind as we come together as a group?

The fact is we're not gonna be judged that way.

Each of us are gonna be judged as individuals.

Each of us has to make the choice for ourselves.

Am I going to choose to serve the Lord?

I love spending time with others who've made that choice, but I have to make that choice myself.

And I'm going to be judged based on how well I've made that choice.

Ezekiel emphasizes that point in Ezekiel chapter 231, he said, yet you say, why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?

The cost of Sun has done what is lawful and right?

Ok, because the son has done what is lawful and right and has kept all my statutes and observe them.

He shall surely live the soul who sins shall die.

Not, in fact, that's the central message here.

The Son shall not bear the guilt of the Father, nor the Father bear the guilt of the Son.

The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Each of us is going to be judged as an individual.

And so really, the question is, is serving the Lord, your choice, not your parents, not friends.

Is it your personal choice?

Because someday you're gonna stand before God an answer for whether or not it's your choice and whether or not you lived up to that choice as Paul stated to the Corinthian brethren and second Corinthians chapter five and verse 183, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

We're all gonna be there, the notice of judgment.

It's individual that each 218 may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done.

Whether good or bad serving the Lord is a personal choice.

Is it your choice?

And again, Joshua emphasizes how choosing to serve the Lord is an exclusive choice.

Again, if you look there in verse 224, he says now therefore fear the Lord serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river.

And in Egypt serve the Lord notice twice.

He says, serve the Lord serve the Lord.

But what does he say right between that?

Basically, if you're gonna serve the Lord, you gotta get rid of everything else.

You got to get rid of all the other gods.

If you're going to serve the Lord, because you can't serve the Lord in on this side and keep the gods on the other side.

It doesn't work that way.

Remember, God is a jealous God.

If we're going to choose Him, it has to be only Him.

He doesn't allow us to try to split our allegiance.

Joshua made the same plea with the people in first kings chapter 224.

Before the great event there at Mount Carmel, they're the people, the Israelites were kind of wishy washy which direction they were going, who they were gonna serve.

And so Joshua told them, all right.

I mean, put up there a little later and uh Joshua 24 Joshua again really makes the same point.

But going on to what uh Elijah told the people.

He said, how long will you falter between two opinions?

If the Lord is God, follow him.

But if bell follow him, you can't straddle the fence when it comes to serving God, you can't kind of be wishy washy.

God wants all or none.

Th th those are really the only two choices.

Either you're fully committed to serving God and you cast aside everything and everybody else or don't even bother.

I mean, isn't that really the same point Jesus made even when he was upon this earth, some of those who are following him, he says, are you really committed to me?

Are you willing to forsake everybody else?

Will you even hate your own father and mother and wife and kids?

In comparison to me, that's an exclusive choice to follow after God.

But that's the kind of commitment that God expects of us.

It's Him and him alone.

Jesus stated it this way in the sermon on the mouth.

In Matthew chapter six, no one can serve two masters.

Either He will hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.

Your mammon.

Now think about that serving two masters.

We don't really like the idea sometimes of slavery, but in essence, a lot of times when the Bible talks about us serving God, it uses the word for slaves.

And when someone was purchased by a master, how many masters did he serve?

I mean, did two different masters buy the same slave?

Oh, it didn't work that way if you purchased a slave and you had exclusive rights to that slave.

God has paid the purchase price for us and He has exclusive rights to us.

We can't share ourselves with God in the world.

We can't say we're gonna serve God and then choose to follow our own pursuits.

It's an exclusive choice when we choose to serve the Lord.

So the question is, are you willing to be exclusively committed to God?

That's choice we make when we choose to serve him?

And something else, Joshua makes clear here in this passage that it's an urgent choice notice.

He says in verse 15, choose for yourselves this day, Joshua didn't just tell the people.

I just want to give you something to think about to go back to your tents and just come back.

Let me know whatever you decide, whichever guide you want to follow.

You know, just whenever just let me know your decision.

Oh, this was a decision that couldn't wait another month for another week or even another day.

Joshua said, you choose yourselves this day.

That day was the day for them to make that decision.

Some choices are that urgent choosing to serve the Lord is one of them.

Sometimes we go to the doctor and the doctor examines us and says, hey, you've got this little issue here.

There are, you know, a few different ways we can treat that.

We can try this or we can try that.

Let let me reschedule you for a month out, go and think about it and come back and just let me know and we'll go from there.

But then there are other days we go in for the checkup and the doctor says you're not going home.

Do you have surgery?

You can?

But it's risky you may not make it back.

It could be a deadly decision if you decide to put off the surgery you need right now before you leave, some doctor visits go that way because some health matters are that urgent, choosing to serve the Lord.

Is that urgent?

You may have been thinking about the choice for a long time and for whatever reason you keep putting it off, the decision is that urgent?

You can say you're putting it off, but really when you're putting it off, you're choosing not to serve the Lord, you're still making a choice and it could be deadly to put off the choice.

We like to think we know what the future may hold for us.

My guess is a lot of you.

If I ask, what, what are you doing tomorrow?

You could tell me you check your calendar, you got it planned out, maybe even for the next week or so, maybe even for the next year.

You know, we make plans ahead and that's ok, but some decisions are too urgent to put off.

We don't know what tomorrow holds for us like when you go in the doctor tells you you're ticking time bomb.

I don't know how much long you've got before your heart fails.

I'd recommend you take care of it.

Now choosing to serve the Lord is that kind of issue?

We don't know how much longer we have.

It's an urgent matter to take care of and we see the urgency, not just in the Old Testament, but even in the New Testament, we think about the Book of Acts serving is that book of conversions.

And in those conversions, we see urgency emphasized to us in the choices to serve the Lord.

One of those is in chapter two on the day of Pentecost, just kind of coming down toward the end of it.

There in verse 41 those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day, about 3000 souls were added to them that day, 3000 souls.

Now that sounds great.

And we rejoice in 3000 souls or being the gospel, being baptized.

But stop and think for just a moment about the logistics of this.

I, I don't know but how many people have been baptized in one day here at KSR?

I don't know, maybe three or four if, if we got here this morning and, and somebody met us from the community there there at the door and said, you know, I've been studying, I need to be baptized.

We'd say great.

What if you showed up?

And 31 people are at the door and they say we all want to be baptized?

That's great.

But how do we, how are we gonna do that?

Have you ever thought about the logistics of how they did that?

Now, what we may do when it comes to some issues today, we, we divide everybody up and say, all right.

Uh last name A through D we'll take care of you right now.

Uh But if you're e through K, you come back tomorrow and then let's see.

Uh L through T well, we'll get you on Wednesday and we, we get that all planned out and we take care of it.

I don't know how they took care of it, but they did because it was that urgent.

They couldn't wait for that 2999th person to be baptized.

If they were ready to choose to serve the Lord, it had to be done that day.

It was that urgent.

And we see that same urgency again throughout the the um the book, we come to chapter nine and we find there where Saul had been fasting for three days, going without food and water.

And when he learned the gospel, when he learned what he needed to do to be saved, he didn't stop and eat.

He didn't take care of his physical body.

He met the need of his spiritual body first.

And once he had been baptized and took care of his soul, then he sat down and can enjoy a meal.

We get hunger pains and we think eating is pretty urgent, but his spiritual pains were more urgent and the spiritual was taken care of.

Even before the physical was, we'll go a few chapters further into acts.

And again, we see the urgency we come down to chapter 16 and there we find the jailer and it says in verse 33 he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and immediately he and all his family were baptized, same hour of the night immediately.

All right.

What's the big deal here?

Well, if you know the hour of the night, you may realize that it's kind of a big deal and you realize the events have already taken place.

I mean, what, what hour is it?

Midnight?

So we get to midnight and what happened at midnight.

Well, I mean, the earthquake happened and, and what else happened?

All the jailer doors were open.

I mean, this jailer could have been at this point.

You know, th this is great what you've just told me, Paul and that's something I really need to do.

But my life is still at stake here.

I need to secure these prisoners and make sure.

And then why don't we just get a good night's rest and I'll be baptized first thing in the morning.

Nothing else mattered at this point.

It didn't matter if it's midnight.

It didn't matter if there are other prisoners who possibly could leave the jailer understood the urgency of taking care of his soul's need.

And when he heard the gospel message the same hour of the night, immediately, he obeyed the gospel choosing to serve the Lord.

Is that urgent?

And we may think we have plenty of time.

But James tells us in James chapter four and verse 14, you do not know what will happen tomorrow.

Maybe you're like the rich fool in Luke 12.

He thought he had many years.

The Lord told him no, you're wrong this night, your soul is going to be required of you.

What if your soul is required this night?

Have you made the right choice?

Are you ready to stand before God in judgment?

Choosing to serve the Lord is an urgent choice and choosing to serve the Lord is also a daily choice.

Again, going back to the same quote there in verse 15, choose for yourselves this day.

Stop and think for a moment again.

What point we are in Israel's history?

When Joshua spoke these words, the book of Joshua is probably one of the most positive books in the whole Bible.

Throughout Joshua, the Israelites had already chosen to serve the Lord.

They're ready to trust in Him as he led them across the Jordan.

He leads them in victory at Jericho and in just one battle after another, they trust in God to deliver them.

And it's such a positive book because they're trusting in the Lord and they're serving the Lord.

So why at the end of the book would Joshua say, well, you still have to choose this day to serve the Lord because he knew the day would come that they would choose to quit serving the Lord every day, we have to make that choice.

What happened with Israel, what we see where when Josh was challenging them their own board, we will serve the Lord will obey him.

And a few verses later, we see kind of a summary of what's going to happen in the future.

Verse 31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua and had known all the deeds of the Lord which he had done for Israel.

And as you cross from the book of Jo Joshua into the book of judges.

Judges, chapter two and verse seven is almost an exact quote from here in chapter 24 in verse 31.

But if you continue to read in judges too, you see that Israel quit serving the Lord beginning of verse 10, when all that generation had been gathered to their cho to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord, nor the work which he had done for Israel.

Then the Children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and serve the bales.

And so what happens is we go from one of the most positive books in the Bible with Joshua to one of the most negative books in judges.

What happened a day came when the people quit choosing to serve the Lord. Mhm.

If it can happen to them, it can happen to us.

And my guess is everyone here tonight, or at least most of us are here tonight because we chose to be here tonight.

We've chosen to serve the Lord and we want to come together today.

We want to praise him.

Will you make the choice to serve the Lord tomorrow?

Were you serving while you're driving to work?

Sometimes that can be a challenge.

What about when you get to work?

What kind of challenges await you there any trials or temptations you may run into maybe Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

Every week we run into challenge.

We, we run into decisions that we have to make and whether we verbalize it or not every day, we choose whether or not we're going to serve the Lord.

Satan puts those other gods before us.

He wants us to choose them.

Will we every day we have to make that choice.

A fresh Israel quit making the right choice and they went astray.

And so will we if we quit choosing each and every day to serve the Lord again?

Going to Ezekiel and Ezekiel chapter 18, he said, do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?

Says the Lord God and not that he should turn notice Eric, there's a choice, turn from his ways, his evil ways and live.

But when a righteous man, one who's turned to follow righteousness, he turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does according to the abominations that the wicked man does.

Shall he live all the righteousness which he has done all those good things in the past.

He's made that choice a lot.

He's chosen to serve the Lord.

He's done a lot of good things.

But those choices of the past don't help him in the present and in the future, all the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty today.

And the sin which he has committed because of them, he shall die.

So again, I ask if you're willing to choose to serve the Lord, are you willing to choose it again tomorrow and the next day and the next day, each and every day of your life to make that choice today, I'm going to choose to serve the Lord in verse 24 of Joshua 24.

And the people said to Joshua, the Lord, our God, we will serve and his voice, we will obey.

I ask you tonight is that your choice?

Will you choose to serve the Lord?

Will you choose to obey his voice?

You can make that choice tonight.

You can be obedient to the Lord.

That may mean you've been kind of iffy and trying to decide whether to begin to live a life of the Lord.

Maybe tonight, you're willing to set aside the gods that have been ensnaring you.

You're willing to repent of your sins and quit living for yourself and start living for the Lord.

You're willing to confess his name and be buried with him in water to have your sins washed away and begin a new life in service to him.

Or maybe you're like most of us here tonight, you've already made that choice, but maybe you're like the Israelites who quit making that choice and it's time to repent and make your life right again before it's eternally too late.

If we can help you in any way tonight, in making the right decision and choosing to serve the Lord, we encourage you to come as we stand and as we sing.