In the sermon titled 'One Final Sacred Assembly', the speaker discusses Joshua 24, where Joshua gathers the tribes of Israel at Shechem for a significant assembly. This location holds historical importance as it is where God first promised Abraham the land. Joshua recounts over 500 years of God's faithfulness to Israel, beginning with Abraham, emphasizing that it was all by God's grace and not by merit. He reminds the people of God's sustained promises and the miraculous victories given to them. Joshua urges the people to serve God sincerely and truthfully, making a definitive choice to follow Him over other gods. He emphasizes that leadership plays a crucial role in guiding the nation to cling to God. Joshua makes a personal declaration that he and his household will serve the Lord, setting an example for others to follow. This call to commitment serves as a pivotal moment for Israel to renew their covenant with God.

Joshua 24, starting in verse 1. Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers. And they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord God of Israel, your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river in old times, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river.

I led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. To Isaac, I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau, I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. Also, I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt according to what I did among them. Afterward, I brought you out.

And 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. So they cried out to the Lord, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And then you dwelt in the wilderness a long time, and I brought you into the land of the Amorites who dwell on the other side of the Jordan.

And they fought with you, but 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 to make war against Israel and sent and called Balaam, the son of Baor, to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam. Therefore, he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho.

And the men of Jericho fought against you. Also, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand. I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you. Also, the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow.

I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them. You eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant. 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.

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of 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. Praise God for this amazing word. The title of the sermon this morning is one final sacred assembly. Actually in a series of assemblies, it started in chapter 22 when Joshua dismissed the two and a half tribes to go take possession of their land on the east side of the Jordan.

Then last week we were in chapter 23. And chapter 23 begins by saying that a long time had passed since God had given the people rest. So we know that after the conquest and the division of the land, a long time passed, and then Joshua gathered the people again in chapter 23. And there are two great emphases to that discourse that Joshua gave to the nation last week. The first was an urgent exhortation to love and cling to God.

He reduces it right down to the bare essentials of our faith. What is this all about? It is about loving God and clinging to God, holding fast to God in the face of a world of flesh and a devil that was always pulling you in the other direction. Love Him and cling to Him. So Joshua gives the people an urgent exhortation to love and cling to God and he reminds them of something.

There's two kinds of promises. There's two kinds of promises. One to bless those who love Him and cling to Him, who obey Him, walk with Him, walk after Him. But another kind of promises to those who will not love Him and will not cling to Him, who drift away from Him in disobedience and rebellion against Him. And that's all represented in Leviticus chapter 26, Deuteronomy chapter 28, in the blessings for obedience, but the curses for rebellion and disobedience.

God makes two kinds of promises. So we should rejoice. Amen! Rejoice in God's keeping every promise of good that He's ever made to His people. Not one word of all the good that He's spoken to His people will fall to the ground, but just understand, He's made two kinds of promises, and this should always stand as a warning to us, a warning that helps us to love God and to cling to Him.

This week we began chapter 24. It's Joshua's final sacred assembly with the people that he's led for many decades now. It's a final gathering of the nation during the lifetime of Joshua. And then he'll die and be buried by the end of the chapter. As we come to our text, let's ask God to help us.

God, here we are at the end of this book. And we've seen Joshua so faithfully lead your people and be so careful in his obedience to what you spoke to the people through Moses. And we know based on all that we've seen that this brother deserves a hearing. He deserves to be heard by us based on His faithful leadership. If He would take one last shot at the nation of Israel, and we would be given the privilege to hear the things that He said to them that we ought to hear with great expectation.

I pray that would be the case today, that you would raise the expectation of our hearts to hear from you today and that you would speak to us today. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. In our subdivisions, I want to begin by just looking at verse 1 by itself. So hopefully you're still in Joshua chapter 24. Let me reread verse 1 and then just talk about this first verse.

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, for their officers. And they presented themselves before God. Here we have a sacred assembly in a special place. So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in the blanks, place fills in the blanks. A sacred assembly, this is a holy assembly.

God is bringing the people together to speak to them. And it's in a special place, as we're about to see. This is not just any old location, but it's a very special place on the ground that God has given to His people. Joshua gathers all the tribes and he calls for all the leaders. So everyone's included, everyone has been gathered, All the tribes are there, but He especially calls together all of the leaders.

This is exactly what happened in chapter 23. We saw exactly the same thing last week. He wants everyone there to hear and participate, but he is dialing in on the leaders. Why is that? Because he wants the leaders to lead.

If the prominent men among the people will love God and cling to God, then the people, more of the people will love God and cling to God. And he's doing this, targeting the same thing this week. He wants everyone there, everyone participating, but he wants the leaders front and center so that they'll lead in all of the things that he's exhorting the people to. And he actually models that at the end of our text. He himself is going to lead in what he's calling the people to.

So this is what's happening. Where does Joshua summon them to? Shechem. Now Israel has already had a sacred assembly in this location. In Joshua chapter 8, after God had given them the victory over Ai, they renewed the covenant on Mount Ebal.

Do you remember that? According to what God had told them to do in Deuteronomy 27 and 28, they set up stones and if they are obeying Deuteronomy 27, and it says that they did in Joshua 8, so that's a safe assumption, they whitewash these stones. And then Joshua writes the law on these stones. So they're setting up a memorial to God, to the Word of God in Joshua chapter 8. And half the tribes are standing on Mount Ebal and they're calling out curses for disobedience.

When they call out the curse for certain ways that you can rebel against God, disobey God, and the other people they'll call out, a cursed is the man who dishonors his father and mother. And the other tribes are all saying, Amen. So there are a series of curses pronounced on disobedience. And then all the people will amen it. So the curses are coming from Mount Ebal.

And then the other half of the tribes are on Mount Gerizim and they follow by saying the blessings, pronouncing the blessings for obedience. So you have both of these things coming together. Well there's a city in the valley between Mount Ebal where half the tribes are calling out the curses and Mount Gerizim where the other half of the tribes are calling out the blessings and in this valley is a city and Shechem is that city. So the word Shechem, the name of that city never appeared in Joshua chapter 8, but That's exactly where they are. It's in the valley between Mt.

Ebal and Mt. Gerizim, which are called out in Joshua chapter 8. So there's already been a sacred assembly of the nation here. My guess is it was 30 years earlier. It was before most of the conquest happened and before this long period of time, before chapter 23.

In Genesis 12, God appeared to Abram for the first time to promise him the promised land in Shechem. Genesis chapter 12. God had already spoken to Abraham and had already called him out of the land from beyond the river. This was Ur of the Chaldeans when it says the river in our text. It's talking about the Euphrates River on the other side of the river.

Terah and Abraham and Nahor are from Ur of the Chaldeans on the other side of the Euphrates. So that's what our text is talking about. So God had already appeared to him to tell him to go into the promised land, but the first time he promises Abraham and his descendants is Abraham's in Shechem, the spot where Joshua is gathering them to. And in Genesis chapter 12, Abraham sets up an altar and worships the Lord there after receiving the promise of the land for himself and his descendants there. In Genesis chapter 33, it's Jacob, the grandson of Abraham.

So Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob. In Genesis 33, Jacob has just been renamed Israel. He's just been given the name of the nation as the father of the nation. Jacob has just been renamed Israel and he comes to Shechem and he builds an altar and worships there. So where Joshua gathers all the tribes to and especially addresses their leaders is the place where Abraham came and God promised him the land and where his grandson Jacob came and also erected an altar and worshiped God there.

So when Joshua begins to give his history lesson in our chapter, the chapter that we're studying today about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is on the ground where God first made the promise to give the land to Abraham. Understand all that this meant to the people who were gathering here. They all know this. They all know that they're standing on the ground that God first made His promises to Abraham to give this land to Abraham and his descendants.

And now they've been enjoying this land of milk and honey for a period of decades. Dale Davis titles his chapter on Joshua chapter 24, covenant renewal at Abraham's place. That's a good way to think about it. That's what's happening here in chapter 24. They're having a covenant renewal.

Where are they doing it? Abraham's place? Abraham was more than 500 years earlier, but this is Abraham's place because that's where Abraham was when God appeared to him and said, I'm giving you and your descendants all of this land. This is where the people are coming to. Verse 1 says that, quote, They presented themselves before God.

As we'll see as the chapter progresses, by the way we're going to spend three weeks in this chapter, As the chapter progresses we'll see that this is a covenant renewal. God entered into a covenant with Abraham more than 500 years earlier and they renewed it in chapter 8 and they're going to renew it again here in chapter 24. They are presenting themselves to God. They are very aware of where they are and what they are doing. They are coming to be in the presence of God and we know that God is there because He puts the words into Joshua's mouth in chapter 2 going forward, Joshua is speaking as a prophet.

He says in verse 2, Thus says the LORD. So they present themselves to God and God is there to speak to them. So this is a sacred assembly. This is a holy gathering. A gathering unto the Lord.

This is no administrative meeting. This is not like when they got together to divvy up the land among the tribes. God was present there too. But this is a different kind of meeting where they are presenting themselves to the Lord and God is speaking to them. And it's in a very special place.

This is Abraham's place. Where he built an altar and worshiped. And his grandson Jacob, who had just been renamed Israel, built an altar and worshiped God. Now verses 2 through 13. I'm not going to re-read 2 through 13, But it is where God recounts his more than 500 years of faithfulness to this family.

So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, 500 and faithfulness fill in the two blanks. God recounts his more than 500 years of faithfulness to this family. So we think of them as the nation of Israel. They are the nation of Israel, but it's really a family. You can trace them back to one family head, Abraham, or you can go to his father if you'd like, to Terah, God, through Joshua actually begins with Terah, Abraham's father.

And for more than 500 years of family history. God's been keeping His promises faithfully to this people and turning a family into a nation, and here they are gathering as a nation. And Joshua recounts these 500 years of faithfulness. Verses 2 and 3 are very important in a number of ways. Look at verse 2.

Follow along as I reread verse 2. Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers, Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river in old times, and they served other gods. Joshua here is not speaking for himself, he's speaking for God. He stands before the people as a prophet to thunder out, thus says the Lord God of Israel, your God says to you." And then he speaks, and he speaks in the first person, I, I, I, I brought you across the Red Sea. Joshua didn't bring them across the Red Sea.

God parted the Red Sea. It is the voice of God that we're hearing here. Thus says the Lord God of Israel. And God through Joshua begins his history with Terah and his two sons. Two of his sons, he had a third son, but two are mentioned here, Abraham and Nahor.

Who were these people? This normal run of the mill idolaters. They served other This normal, run-of-the-mill idolaters. They served other gods. Abraham too?

Yes, Abraham too. Abraham too? Yes, Abraham too. You tend to think that God found a good guy in a very dark world, Abraham. And so he used him.

He made use of the good guy to accomplish his purposes. But the whole history here proves exactly the opposite. That is not what happened. God didn't find good Abraham in a very dark world and say, finally somebody I can use to accomplish my purposes. The whole history runs in the other direction of that.

None of it is merit. All of it is grace. Verse 2 through 13 recounts more than 500 years of history. None of it is merit. None of it is earned favor, wages paid for good behavior.

All of it is grace. Look at verse 3. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. There's the key phrase. You could summarize the whole history that God through Joshua gives here with these three words, then I took.

Nothing's happening in this family line except for rebellion and idolatry until those three words, then I took." They were on the other side of the river. They were all serving the gods of that land, plunged into darkness, not looking for light, then I took." Then God broke into that family history. Not because of what they did or what they earned, but because of His grace, it seemed good to Him to do it. So he did it. So that's what we see running through this entire history.

All of grace, nothing of merit. Those three words are the great theme then I took. And friends, I can and should apply this personally. I was nothing but a normal run-of-the-mill God-hater. That's what idolaters are.

Call a spade a spade. Don't want to serve God. They want to be God. So they find other, air quotes, gods, not to serve those gods, in hopes that those gods will serve them. It's self-love.

Idolatry is always self-love. The intent is not to serve those false gods. The intent is to be served. It is just the ultimate expression of self-love. And it is hatred of God.

Because God will not serve you, He demands to be served. Now there are senses in which we can say, yes, God has served us, and we look at the cross and think of all that God has done for us. I know that. But the point is, he is ultimate and we exist for him and his pleasure, not the other way around. But idolatry functions as the polar opposite of that.

Oh, serve me. Serve me. There's a deal made with the idol and your hopes out of the deal, which are never fulfilled by the way, but your hopes out of the deal is that you get served by the idols. But you end up slave to the idols, by the way. That was me until God took hold of me.

I didn't want to serve God. I wanted to be God. I wanted to be served. I had a particularly inward version of that, meaning I was quite respectable. I wasn't doing the outwardly scandalous sin, my heart was black as night.

I was full of pride and self-love. I'm ashamed of how much pride and self-love still exists, but at least I know this God and want to serve Him. What is said of Abraham here is true of every believer that there ever was. They were just normal, run-of-the-mill idolaters, not wanting to serve God, not looking for God. Until these three words, then I took, then God took, then God claimed, then God set apart, part, then God rescued from bondage.

Then God redeemed out of slavery. Now Joshua the prophet speaking the words of God, I, I, I, using the first person, thus saith the Lord, I. Joshua marches through the briefest of historical summaries more than 500 years and 12 verses. How much do you think we're going to get done in this sermon? 500 years and 12 verses.

Well, I'll just do what he did and go fast. I'll give it to you in three tiers. It begins with history that none of them were personally a part of. Abraham more than 500 years earlier, depending on the chronology you use, it could be 700 years earlier, but in any event it's more than 500 years earlier. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, none of them are personally a part of that history.

Then it extends to history that some of them were a part of. Moses, Aaron, the generation in the wilderness, some of them are a part of that history. He's speaking to people who were eyewitnesses there. Some of them are eyewitnesses. And he finishes with recent history that almost all of them are a part of.

Two through four, verses two through four, deal with The fathers who received the promises. Abraham, promises were made directly by God to Abraham. Promises were made directly by God to his son Isaac. Promises were made directly by God to Jacob. The same promise but reiterated through the generation so that all of them heard directly from God, that God would be their God and He would give them their land.

It's worth noting this. He talks about Jacob and Esau. And in what Joshua says here, or what God says through Joshua, Esau is given a possession, look at verse 4, Esau is given a possession, Jacob goes to Egypt. Now the older is supposed to serve the younger, Jacob is the younger, so he should be having the upper hand in what God has said. And Jacob is the line that the blessing is going through, not Esau.

That Esau is given a possession. Jacob and his descendants go to Egypt and are enslaved. Well what's worth noting about that? That's a lousy time to draw your conclusions. God has spoken and It doesn't seem to be happening.

Esau has Edom, a nation, an inheritance. And they're developing. You go back to the Old Testament, you read the histories, they have chiefs and they have kings, while Jacob and his descendants are languishing in slavery in Egypt." Bad time to draw a conclusion about God's faithfulness and His promises. It's 430 years in Egypt. There are generations and generations and generations that live and die in slavery to Egypt.

What do we say about them? We say that of those believing descendants of Jacob, those momentary afflictions are not worthy to be compared with the glory that has been revealed to them. And that you judge at the end, You don't judge in the middle. Think about the cross. The moment Jesus died was a lousy time to be drawing conclusions about the faithfulness of God.

Three days later, a better time. Now, even better still. When He comes back again, better still. So don't think because there is a history of God's faithfulness that every minute, every hour, every week, every year, every decade is going to be just victory, marching to victory. That's not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible does teach that all our afflictions are momentary compared to the eternity that awaits people who trust in Jesus. You'll not lament your afflictions in heaven. It will add to the glory of heaven. Do you believe that? Your afflictions will add to the glory of heaven.

Yes, you will not lament them. Verses 5 through 10 deal with the time of Moses and Aaron, the liberation of the people from their bondage in Egypt. Now, Israel's gathered, all the tribes are gathered, Those something like 70 years old or older were there from the start of the history that he's expounding here. How do I get there? Let's say you were born right before they were liberated.

You're zero years old. You're Liam. You're Liam. You're two weeks old. And God liberates you from Egypt.

And then there are 40 years in the desert. So now you're 40, and then there's five years of conquest. Give or take. So now you're 45. And then there's 25 years of living in the land of milk and honey before this.

Now you're 70. So that might not be exact, but it has to be close because of a few of the time markers that bound what it could be. It has to be something like the 70 year olds are there from the start. So you could be somewhere between 70 and 90 years old you were there from the time that the people were brought out of Egypt. Those who were 20 years old when the liberation from bondage happened would have had vivid memories of going through the Red Sea and that they could be 90 now and here at this gathering.

Imagine that. You at 20 years old walked through the Red Sea, and now you're 90, and Joshua's 110, and Joshua's giving his last address. These years that are spoken of in verses 5 through 10, God plagued Egypt. He brought them out with a mighty hand and miracles. God brought them out of their bondage.

He finally broke Pharaoh, who had hardened his heart. God hardened his heart and Pharaoh hardened his heart. And God finally broke him and they liberated the Israelites. God parted the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army. God sustained the people in the wilderness for a long time.

It was 40 years. Most of the people who were hearing Joshua in chapter 24 were born there in the wilderness. Statistically, that has to be true. Most of the people listening had been born in the wilderness wanderings. God defeated the two kings of the Amorites.

We know it was Og and Sihon and gave Israel those kingdoms east of the Jordan River. God thwarted the purposes of Balak, king of Moab, and has hired soothsayer Balaam. They wanted to curse Israel, but God would not listen and continue to bless Israel. I think that's mentioned because it's sort of a microcosm. It's a little example of the great truth that the enemies of God all along wanted Israel cursed, wanted Israel opposed, wanted Israel destroyed, but God wouldn't listen to any of that.

God just kept giving them victory after victory after victory. They wanted them cursed, but God kept blessing. Verses 11-13 deals with the most recent history when Joshua was leading, when the people came across the Jordan, when Jericho was defeated, the walls fell down, when they defeated these seven nations greater and mightier than themselves. And you really get the summary of it in the very last part of verse 12 and 13. Look at the very last part of verse 12 and verse 13.

But not with your sword or with your bow. These seven nations were defeated. Jericho fell. These seven nations were defeated. But not by your sword and your bow.

It was God. Verse 13, I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them. You eat of the vineyards and olive groves, which you did not plant. It was me. It was me.

It was me, says God through Joshua. The whole point. It's been more than 500 years. God never forgot His promises. God never abandoned His people.

It's exactly the opposite. God kept every promise of all the good things that He said. Not a single word fell to the ground. God fought for His people. And every step of the way, it was all grace, no merit.

This is the whole point of the 500 plus years of history. God never forgot his promises. God never abandoned his people. God kept every promise. God fought for his people and every step of the way it was all grace and no merit.

Every step of the way. With Abraham it was all grace and no merit. Isaac, all grace, no merit. Jacob, all grace, no merit. Liberation from bondage, all grace, no merit.

He actually says here, yeah you were serving the Egyptian gods when you were in Egypt. It wasn't their good behavior that got them out of jail for good behavior in Egypt. They were idolaters in Egypt, but God was determined to do good to them and to keep his promises to them. Why did the people spend 40 years in the wilderness? Because they rebelled against God.

They would not obey God and go take possession of the land, God did not forsake them. He delayed the fulfillment of his promises, but not one word of the good things that he promised fell to the ground. He kept every one. He fought for Israel. Now verses 14 and 15.

Now verses 14 and 15. Joshua 24 verses 14 and 15. Joshua says, Now therefore fear the LORD, Serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of 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." In these two verses, God demands a choice and makes His stand. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in the blanks, it's choice and stand. God demands a choice. I choose right now. And he makes his stand.

He says, this is what I'm choosing right now. Now Joshua is not acting as a prophet. Now He's acting as a leader and a brother, and he's urgently appealing to the people that he's been leading, and that are his brethren, literally and figuratively. They're his brethren in both ways. They're genealogically, their bloodlines are tied, but he's appealing to his believing family members.

And he's urgently appealing to them. Joshua draws the grand conclusion. What's the grand conclusion from a recitation of 500 years plus of God's faithfulness to this family line? Now, therefore, because of God's more than 500 years of faithfulness to our family, and now a nation, we were a family, now we're a nation. The grand conclusion, fear the Lord.

Serve him in sincerity and in truth. Really serve him. Not with eye service. Serving Him when you think someone's looking, not with lip service, talking as if you're serving Him, but never living up to your talk. Serve Him in sincerity and in truth.

Serve Him in fear. Afraid of God? He's speaking of that holy reverence that understands and who acknowledges who God is. He is to be feared. It's not the fear that drives you away in terror.

But it is a fear that acknowledges the facts of who God is. In all of His glory and His greatness. You ought to be afraid of that kind of God, but it's not the kind of fear for the believer that drives you away, it's the fear that drives you too, in love and adoration. And causes you to serve Him, Really serve Him in sincerity and in truth. Not eye service, not lip service, real service.

Wholeheartedly serve Him. Take all of those other so-called gods that we served in the distant past on the other side of the river. And those of the not so distant past that we served in Egypt. And those are the remnants of the nations we dispossessed from this land and they're trying to entice us to join in that worship. Utterly turn your back on all of that and have this one God, the one God.

Serve the Lord and serve the Lord only. This is just the first commandment. Joshua here is just teaching the first commandment. You shall have no other Gods before me. You know the remnant of those nations that they've dispossessed, they don't have to make any such choice.

They can just keep adding gods. It's perfectly consistent with their world view. It's perfectly consistent with their history. Another God shows up on the scene, just add Him in. The God of Scripture will not tolerate that for one minute.

The God of Scripture will not be added in with your other gods. Friends, Please don't just think of Buddha on the mantle. I don't have Buddha on the mantle, so I'm free and clear. Oh no! We have other gods!

And the God of heaven will not be Added in with them. Play nice with them. Be side by side with them. He is a jealous God and a consuming fire. Then Joshua does something that seems strange to me.

He tells them to make their own assessment and then act decisively on whatever it is they decide. You assess for yourselves and then go act on it. Look at verse 15. What kind of a leader does this? Well, Joshua.

He's been a great leader for 24 chapters, so he gets the benefit of the doubt here. Look at verse 15. Joshua says, And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord. Listen to what Dale Davis says.

Dale Davis gives us some Latin. Are you ready for some Latin? He is using reductio absurdum. Okay, Latin. Just means reduction to the absurd.

Boil it down to where everything else has been stripped away and You can see that it's crazy. Reductio absurdum, reduction to the absurd, boiling it down to where you're just left with the crazy. He says, serve Yahweh. But if you won't, choose which non-gods to serve. You will say, but that's stupid.

Choosing between Pagan gods is really absurd. Joshua retorts, that's precisely my point. If you reject Yahweh, you are stupid. And the only options left are so absurd that they make no sense at all. Now imagine how jarring it would be to an Israelite to hear about the 500 years of God's promise making and God's promise keeping to those people that was all of grace, none of it was a merit.

And then to hear Joshua say these words, but if it seems evil to you to follow this God. We read through it fast and we missed how jarring that is. Evil to me. Evil to me. Our great great great great great grandfather was nothing but a normal run of the mill idolater.

Our great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was nothing but a normal run-of-the-mill idolater. And then God took him and did good to him and made promises to him and has been keeping those promises for 500 years so that I now dwell in cities that I didn't build. Eating from vineyards and olive groves that I didn't plant, living in homes that I didn't build, drinking from wells that I didn't dig. That I didn't dig. Evil to serve this God.

He strips it down to where you're just left with the crazy. But know this, I think this is the point of what Joshua was saying, know this, you will serve a God. You will serve a God. It will be this God who makes and keeps his promises, who fights for his people, or it will be for a non-God, another God, a false God that never delivers on what is promised. You thought it would serve you, but you end up a slave to it.

But it will be one or the other. And don't wait, because a non-choice is a choice. You know that. Every moment, day, week of delay in following God is a period of time when you have rejected God. There is not neutral ground from which you choose to follow or not follow.

A non-choice is the choice to reject God. That must be true. You're only choosing who you will serve. You will serve someone. You are serving someone.

You must choose. Serving someone, you must choose. Something similar happens in 1 Kings 18. In 1 Kings 18, Ahab is the king of Israel. Elijah is God's prophet.

And most people are Baal worshipers. In 1 Kings 18-21 Elijah addresses the people, and Here's what we read in 1 Kings 18.21. Elijah came to all the people and said, How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal, follow him.

But the people answered him, not a word. Elijah essentially says what Joshua said centuries earlier in our text, choose, choose today. If God is God, follow him, serve him in sincerity and in truth. And if these other gods, if it seems evil to you, then follow these other gods. How long will you falter between two opinions?

Don't let it be another day says Joshua. Choose this day. In Elijah's time, the people wouldn't even answer. Oh friends, pity such a people who rob God of glory and themselves of good. Do you know when you say, I just can't pick?

When you're confronted, make a choice today, and you don't answer a word, you rob God of glory, As if there's even a choice to be made and you rob yourself of good. The joke's never on God. Do you think God needs you? Do you think God will be diminished, lessened, if you don't serve Him? Who will be diminished if you don't serve him?

It is you. It is you. You rob God of his glory, and you rob yourself simultaneously at the same moment you rob yourself of all the good, of all that God is to His people and does for His people. You rob yourself of that. Joshua confronts this spirit and calls for an immediate choice.

Choose this day! Don't let the sun set without choosing! Finally, Joshua makes his stand. No matter what others choose, no matter what others do, Joshua will serve the Lord and Joshua's household will serve the Lord. He will lead his household in serving the Lord.

He will cheerfully blaze the trail and draw his family after him in serving the Lord as God would give him grace. To whatever extent he is able, up to the very limit he will insist that the members of his household serve the Lord with him. He can't overturn election, the sovereign grace of God, but he'll do all he can to bring the members of his family with him into the good that God is to his people and does for his people. He can't be everywhere and he won't live forever on this earth, but where he is, where he has the most influence, and as long as he is alive, he will serve the Lord and bring as many with him as he can. The more influence he has, the more he'll try to bring them with him.

As for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. Applications, I'll give you two. Number one, if you're a believer, never forget who you are and where you came from. Brethren, brothers and sisters, never forget who you are and where you came from. You're just like Abraham.

You're a normal run-of-the-mill idolater. You didn't want God. You weren't looking for God. You might look back on your history and say, no, I did want God. I was looking for God.

That was God. That was the marks of His grace in your life. That wasn't you. If He'd have left you to you, you never would have had any of those thoughts or sensations, those influences. Never.

You would have continued on in your self-loving and self-serving, Not wanting to serve God, but wanting to be God. And you might have been very respectable for all of your days, but in your heart, never serving God, never really choosing to walk in His ways, to have Him as your God. All of grace, nothing of merit. It.