Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world.
so that all may know Christ. Join us now. For a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church. Located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Open your Bibles to Joshua 24.
If you didn't already, with Brother Jacob reading, we're going to pray and we're going to jump into it today. Lord. We love you. We have a lot. We've already done today.
It's been a good day. Thank you for the music. Thank you for. Blessing Josh and Lauren with a precious boy, and thank you for James and Lord, there's just been so many good things already. Lord, I think of what you've already used our young people to do in just two days and all the adversity that has come their way.
Now, Lord, we need wisdom, and God, this is the most important part of the day. And that's to hear from you because it's your word, and you are your word. We want to hear from you. They don't need to hear from me. They need to hear from you.
So, God, I pray that you would bless. everything that we want to share. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Before we get started in Genesis chapter 24, I just want to give you a quick historical context because I believe it's important.
What has gone on to lead up to here for this famous verse that you know? Choose you this day. whom you will serve.
Well, historical context leading up to Joshua 24 is this, that Israel was in bondage in Egypt, and we know the whole thing about Moses and all the plagues. Then they get out of Egypt and they end up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, not because God had them do that, but because of some choices that they made. They ended up in the wilderness for 40 years, and then Moses was not allowed to enter into the promised land. We would call it Canaan, although God had already promised it to them. Their faith was small, and Moses had a little bit of an obedience issue because he had been dealing with Baptists for 40 years.
You say, the Bible doesn't say they were Baptist. No, the way they acted, they were Baptist.
Okay, we're just going to say that. And we Baptists can be very temperamental, trust me. And so Moses was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land.
So Moses died. And Joshua was commissioned to be The man in charge.
So now we come to Joshua chapter 1. In Joshua chapter 1, all the way through chapter 12, It is the story of them taking the promised land, the conquest of Canaan. Joshua supervised The division of the conquered, what we would call land. And here in chapter 13, beginning through 21, now that they've conquered the land, Joshua divides the land into 12 tribes, and he's involved in that. There were special cities that were set aside for refuge and Levitical cities and all that for the priest.
But now that they've conquered the promised land, now that they're there, now he's dividing the land into these 12 tribes, and then we come to chapter 22.
So 1 through 12 is them conquering the land, and 13 through 21 is them dividing up the land, and then chapter 22 through 23. Joshua gives these people some covenant reminders. God made a covenant with you. Don't forget that, but in God making a covenant with you, you made a covenant with God. Joshua gave these final speeches.
to the leaders, to the people. And most of the subject matter was being faithful to God. By the way, that's a really good subject matter. I have found the older I get, one of the hardest things to do is just to stay faithful. And can I encourage some of you younger couples in a world where you're trying to fight and claw to get everything you can get?
What ought to be your top priority? It's just to remain faithful. It starts, I believe, with your faithfulness to read and pray. Get in God's Word. And I believe it starts with next after that is your faithfulness, obviously, to your mate, to your family.
And then I believe you ought to be faithful to God's house. Here's what I have found: when things start slipping at God's house and you just can't be faithful to church, then before long you're not faithful to read and you're not faithful to pray, and that just opens the door to so many things. Just being faithful. is a very, very vital thing. Joshua warned them not to intermarry with pagan nations.
That's still a good practice, by the way. He reminded them that God had fought for them and God had given them the land. And so we come to Joshua 24. And imagine this. In Joshua 24, here's the setting.
This chapter and this meeting in Joshua 24 takes place at Shechem.
Now you say, What's so important about Shechem?
Well, it's a very important, significant spiritual location, and I'll tell you why. At Shechem, where they met, This final meeting, the final chapter in the book of Joshua, is the exact place that God first made the covenant to Abraham: I'm going to give you this land. That I'm going to bless you, that I'm going to honor you, that I'm going to bless the nations through you. All the way back in Shechem is where that covenant was made through Abraham, and then thing after thing after thing after thing, and then Moses and the children of Israel. And then we come all the way up to now Joshua, and they're finally in Canaan.
God had promised this, God had made a promise to them, and they go back to the very place that if they had just listened and had faith, they would have been there a long time ago. But they're right here at Shechem in Joshua 24. He gathers all the tribes of Israel.
Now he's separated them into 12 tribes. They all have 12 different tribes have 12 different lands. He brings them all together and he talks about Israel's history from Abraham all the way through the Exodus out of Egypt, the wilderness, all the way up till now, the conquest of Canaan. It's a fantastic chapter. It all comes to fruition, we would say.
And he challenges the people with the concept. And it's the concept of a choice. And I do want you to know today that we all have the same. Opportunity. in our life.
Every one of you who are in this building here today, for whatever reason, how it's all worked out, your lineage, your history, your past, whatever, every one of you that are in this building today, you're in here because somewhere along the way, you made a choice. Right.
Now some of you might have made some wrong ones.
Some of you might have made some right ones. You and I, our lives are a product of our choices, not our circumstances. Look at me, our choices.
So Joshua presents the people with A choice. Oh, God's done all this, and hey, we've been in the wilderness 40 years, and we've gone through all this. But now that everything has taken place, you still. Have choice. If they didn't want to serve God, then they could serve other gods.
And Joshua says, as for me and my family, we're going to serve the Lord. But for them, they would have to choose. It was a simple matter of a choice. And as a pastor, can I tell you something over the years? I've heard all kinds of excuses, I've heard every excuse in the world as to why people choose what they choose.
I've heard people blame their family, they blame their background, they blame their circumstances, they blame their finances, they blame their past, they blame society, they blame temptation, they blame Satan, and it goes on and on and on. It's never them, it's never their fault, but they made a choice because somebody or something happened, and I've heard all the gamut of what everybody wants to give excuses. And may I say, I've even given those excuses in my life too. But truthfully, none of them are legitimate. It boils down to one thing.
A choice. When you decide to serve God, when you choose to serve God, And do right, you will. And if you choose not to, you won't. God, listen to me. God will never take away your choice.
That's why God's such a wonderful God. He's not going to inflict something on you. Listen, God will not take away your opportunity. to choose. God does not want a bunch of robots running around here serving Him, by the way.
God wants you to be you. And God wants you to do it because you love Him and you want to, not because you've been programmed without a choice. God's going to give you your choice. God wants Servants that love him. Not prisoners that can't escape him.
He wants you to serve him because you love him. Joshua gives this choice.
Now it's very interesting. I think Joshua is probably one of the most underrated preachers in the Bible. I really, really do. Joshua, I've tried two different years to do a series in the book of Joshua. COVID happened the first one, that didn't work out.
Some other things happened the second one. Maybe at some point, I'll get to do an entire series on the book of Joshua, but I want to talk to you today just briefly. We're going to be starting a new Sunday morning series here soon. We'll let you know about that and the subject matter. I think you'll enjoy it.
But I want you to look at verse 13, and here's why. The first thing when he's talking to them about the concept of a choice, number one, he talks about the goodness of God.
Now, this is the way the Word of God does. Before God ever asks anything of you, God normally always explains and shares with us to remind us what He's done for us. Look at verse 13. And I have given you, this is Joshua speaking on behalf of God here to the people, to the leaders, to the tribes, all these people that God, notice what he says, and I have given you a land for which you did not labor. and cities which ye built not.
and ye dwell in them, of vineyards and olive yards. which ye planted not, Do ye eat? Look all the way down to verse 17. For the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up. And our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, which did great signs in our sight and preserved us.
In all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. Did you just hear that? What it says was: this is what God's saying: you've been blessed with things that you didn't even work for. You have the benefit of things that you didn't even build. You have been fed with things that you didn't even plant.
God brought you out of bondage. God did great miracles. God protected you. God provided for you. God allowed you to pass through on dry ground to the other side.
And here it is in these verses we're reminded of the goodness of God. And may I encourage you, Curlin Baptist Church, before you actually make your choice about something, especially any young people that are left here, a lot of ours are out of town right now. But young people, let me tell you something. You are at a place right now in your life where you're gonna make a choice. And you're making a choice based on what you think right now, based on how you have developed your information.
And can I tell you something lovingly, you're probably wrong. Because everything I thought I knew from 15 to 21 was not what I thought. But you've gathered everything in from your perspective and you're getting ready to make your choice. Can I challenge you with something before you make your choice? Why don't you just stop and think about how good God's been to you?
Oh, yeah, preacher, you don't know. I've come from this. I have a broken home. I have this. You don't know what I've a step.
I have this. And kids are mean to me, and I've been bullied. And I've been this. You can go on and on and want, and you can be the victim if you want. But can I tell you something?
If you're here in this building and you're breathing and you have legs and arms and eyes, you've been blessed. Can I tell you something? Most of us here in this building, most of us have been blessed with things that we never even actually work for. You can say, Preacher, I'm a hard-working man. Oh, yeah, how hard did you work for your health?
So how hard did you work for your eyesight? You know, if you want to sit here and say, well, I work out every day, good for you.
So do I. Bicep, bicep, bicep, bicep. No, I'm uh listen. Your hearing, your eyes, whatever the case might be. If you're in your life, can I tell you something?
There's a whole lot of things you get the benefit for that you didn't work for. God's blessed you with a whole lot that you didn't make happen. Most of us enjoy things, we get the benefit of things, we've been blessed with things, we didn't work for it, we didn't make it happen, we didn't manipulate it. It's just God's goodness to us. God's brought you through things.
God's blessed you through things, God's protected you through things, God's provided at different times in your life, and yet you want to choose to serve something else. You want to serve something that's never done anything for you. and you want to turn your back on a God that's done everything for you. What an ignorant choice that would be. But Joshua is dealing with people.
So the first thing he says, you know what? Remember this. I wrote this statement down. We often fail to be faithful because we have forgotten the faithfulness of our Father. You know why we often fail to be faithful?
Because we have forgotten His faithfulness. I want to remind you today: you've been blessed with things in your life. that you didn't make happen. You've been given a lot of things. That's not because of your effort.
Or you're doing Notice number two. He talks first about the goodness of God, and then in verse 14, he talks about the components of commitment. All right, you 12 tribes, all right, we've conquered the land. God's done all this for us. God promised us a long time ago, and we're finally here, we finally made it.
And so he wants to challenge him here. And this is what it looks like when you're committed to God. I love this. This is so good. Like I said, Joshua is a fantastic preacher.
Look at verse 14. Notice first, he says, Now, therefore, What is that word there for? When you see the word therefore, stop and see what it is. Therefore. It's everything that's just been said.
I mean, 23 chapters of what God's done and the victory God's given. Notice this: now, therefore, because of the goodness of God, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood. That means, remember, before God even brought the flood, remember how evil man was back at that time? And in Egypt, this is all the way back.
Now they're in bondage in Egypt. And serve ye the Lord. Notice, first component of commitment is submission. He says, now therefore, fear the Lord. You know, that word fear isn't just to be scared of, it means to reverence.
It means to submit. It means that I put him above me. Submission. May I say this: if you're going to serve God today. If you're going to choose that.
And that's the choice being made here. It's going to have to start with you submitting. And let me tell you why that's first, because that's the hardest. Because you got pride. It's going to be hard for this to happen.
Oh, I'll do things for God, but I'm not just going to give God everything. He says, Now, therefore, fear the Lord's submission. Notice the second component is serving. He says, Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him. I do want you to know that if you're going to serve God, it's not going to be on a cruise ship, it's going to be in a rowboat.
Serving God isn't just lounging through life. Serving God is hard work. Serving God takes effort. And let me tell you why. It's not just the physical labor.
I believe all of us, listen, we can hack physical labor, it's the emotional. And the spiritual and the mental labor, because if you're gonna serve God, you're gonna have to work with people. People are going to hurt you. People are going to talk about you. People are going to stab you in the back.
People are going to make judgments before they've even heard you, talk to you. Let me tell you something: people, it's going to be hard. And some of you, you work in ministries here, and I'm going to tell you some of the hardest parts sometimes is the way people can be. But I remind you and I remind myself, I'm people too. And everything that somebody's done to me, I've probably done to someone else at some point.
It's going to be work. their submission, their serving. You notice third, their sincerity. and serve him, notice, in sincerity and truth. Listen, God says, listen, don't come and act like you love me if you don't really love me.
Don't come and act like I'm the greatest thing if in your heart I'm really not the greatest thing to you. Don't put on a show. Don't show up at church just because it's an obligation. Don't put on this false front because this is what you think you're expected to do. But deep down, you're different.
God says, no, no, no, no. Listen, I don't want that mess. If you're going to serve me, serve me in sincerity. Serve me in truth. Be the real deal.
I gotta be honest with you.
Nowadays in religion, it's hard to detect sincerity. I mean, whatever the social side of religion and TV and all that is, we're on TV, so, but. Can I tell you something? 'Ca sometimes you're like. All right, the guy's saying the right, but is that sincere?
And I get so tired of hearing guys and then I meet them. Yeah. What a jerk. You say, who are you talking about? I'm not going to tell you.
Sincerity. Listen. This is just you loving God so much that you want to serve him. You making a choice. Because you want to.
Not because you have to. Submission, serving, sincerity. Notice, fourthly is separation.
Now this isn't popular nowadays, but no notice. He says, and put away the gods. Which your fathers served on the other side of the flood. Oh, those gods really did them a lot of good, didn't they? What did those gods do for them?
They were dead. What did those gods do for them? They're in hell today. That's what those gods did for them. And notice what he says: and in Egypt.
Oh, Egypt had their own gods too. And here's what Joshua is saying. Listen, you don't have to serve God. You can serve the gods that your father served before the flood. You can serve the gods that your father served in Egypt.
You can serve them. God's not going to make you serve him, but you are going to have to choose. And here's the deal: that if you're going to choose to serve God, you're going to have to separate from some things. You're going to have to put away the gods that they serve. And may I say something?
It might not be a little Buddhist sitting in your yard, but there's a whole lot of people in our day and time. They serve culture, they serve money, they serve fame, they serve all kinds of things. And that's their God in this world. And they want materialistic things, they serve that. And a lot of people serve entertainment.
There's a lot of people aren't here today because they want entertainment. Let me tell you something, there's a whole lot of people that serve a whole lot of different things. But here's what it said. If you're going to serve God, you're going to have to put away that stuff. If you're going to serve God, he has to be the only one.
I noticed last Logically, here is sacrifice. What does he say? Not just these gods, but he says put away. put away. You're gonna have to sacrifice.
You're gonna have to put away some things. You're gonna have to get rid of some things. If you're going to serve God, boy, this is a really positive thing. Man, they just conquered the land, just divided up into tribes, and now Joshua's bringing them forth. You think we would just have a coffee social here?
Yeah. You know, maybe some Krispie Kreme donuts. That that always helps everything. I have found. But instead he gathers them all and he is just laying down the carpet.
Now you've got a choice. God's done what he promised he would do a long time ago. And God's been good. God's given you stuff you didn't even work for. God's blessed you with things that you didn't even earn.
But I'm gonna tell you something.
So, because of what God's done, listen, you fear God, you submit to Him, you serve Him, you be sincere about this thing, you separate yourself, you sacrifice. And then I want you to notice in verse 15 as we close, he says he gives us the call for a choice.
So there's the goodness of God. The components of commitment, but notice last the call for a choice. Look at verse 15. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, Choose you this day whom you will serve. What does that mean?
He just says: if it doesn't sound good to you to serve God, if that just doesn't sound like what you want to do. Notice what he says: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell.
Now, just think about that. You can serve the God of the Emorites. What did their gods do? They just conquered the Emirites.
So, if the Amorite gods couldn't help the Amorites, why would you want to serve an Amorite god? But people make dumb decisions every day. Not those that have doctor's degrees, but the average person.
Somehow, I'm going to get it in every service for a couple of months. I'll just, I'm determined. Let's look at this verse. I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but I want to give you principles before you go today. You say it's three minutes to 11, I'm well aware.
Notice no watch today. I left it at home. It's not my fault. I want you to notice the first principle here we'll let you go today. And it's this: you are going to serve something or someone.
Now look at verse 15. Look how brilliant Joshua was. This is through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but notice this. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. He did not say, choose you this day if you want to serve.
He said, choose whom you're going to serve. What he is saying is this: you're gonna choose something. You're going to serve somebody. You can't go through your life and just say, I'm not going to serve anybody.
Well, you already are. You're serving you. You're serving your flesh. It amazes me that people that They say that they don't want to fit in with the crowd, and yet somebody always gets in with some crowd. Young people that say, hey, listen, I don't want to identify with that.
I don't want to identify with anybody who already have. Listen to me, Curb One Baptist Church, and especially young people, young couples, let me tell you something, you are going to serve something. It's not, well, I'm just not going to serve God. I don't want to be bogged down. I get this all the time.
Why don't you get in church? Why don't you jump into church and get away?
Well, I just don't have time. I don't want to get bogged down. I don't want to have to have that commitment. Dear friend, you're going to be bogged down by something. You're going to commit to something.
You're going to serve something or someone. You can't choose not to serve. You just have to choose who you serve. you're going to serve. You are going to serve someone or something.
Notice secondly. you are going to have to make your own choice. Look at verse 15. Joshua says, but as for me. What's he telling these 12 tribes?
Hey, every one of you, you're going to have to choose. But I can't choose for you. Hey, we parents, we'd love to make choices. I wish I could at times there's been times Raising my boys, I wish I could have just made the choice for them. I tried.
You all know how that works out with teenagers when you try to tell them the choice to make. That automatically now becomes the one choice they don't want to make because you just told them to make it. Y'all with me? Yeah, you were all like that too, and so was I. Guess what I have found?
If anything's going to stick in your children, They. have to choose. And I want you to know something here, young husband. Young life. Older husband?
Order. You have to choose for you. Here's what's interesting. There is a trend going around. That I've seen men want to choose for their family, but they don't want to choose for themselves.
They want to have a family that serves God, but they don't want to serve God. They want their kids to have a relationship with God, but they don't. They want their kids to have a good spirit at church, but they don't. Can I tell you something, dads? It starts with you.
Your attitude's wrong, you gotta appoint me and you're critical of everything, don't like nothing, guess what's gonna filter down? Everybody in the family is going to be that way. You have to choose. But notice. Thirdly, your choice will affect those around you.
What did Joshua say? But as for me, and my house. It's going to be really difficult for the house to go one direction and the husband to go the other. Joshua was saying this: I'm going to make a choice, but I can't expect my home to go one direction and me go another direction. If you want your home to go a right direction, you have to go a right direction.
If you want your home and your household and your kids and your wife and your family to choose something, you're going to have to choose that something. Starts with you. I noticed this last You're going to have to live with the choice you make. Look at verse 16. And the people answered and said, God forbid.
that we should forsake the Lord. to serve other gods. Why did they say that? Because they had just seen what their fathers and mothers went through with the choice they made: 40 years in the wilderness. And they weren't even allowed to enter the promised land, most of them, because of their lack of faith.
So here's what they said. We see from what we've seen that when you make a choice, You're going to have to live with it.
So you better make a right one. Let me explain this before I let you go. I um Yeah, I I know now that they're dead, I talk about them even more, but It's a little different than what you might think. I I think I even recently kind of shared quickly My mom and dad's testimony, and my dad didn't grow up in a Christian home, my mom didn't grow up in a Christian home. My dad had a wonderful high character, high moral family, but they weren't in church, in a biblical church.
My dad's dad owned a nightclub and different things, and my mom's dad was a drunk in Baltimore. You know Beat my grandma and beat my mom and beat kids, and that's what my mom grew up in. My dad not only grew up in a bar, helped clean as a kid, worked many nights. My dad would fall asleep in the hamper with all the bar rags where they would clean the bar.
So my dad was drunk by the time he was five or six. You know what I'm saying? You sleep in that all night.
So Hear my dad, you know the accent, and he. Turns over a road grader. and has to take two weeks off and Ends up driving a bus for a youth camp, gets saved the second day of the youth camp. But look, here's where I want to share. Because I was thinking about this.
So, dad would often share. He comes back in town, been saved now. What's his job?
Well, he runs a road grader during the day. But he's There's a set five or six sets as a comedian in the nightclub. They're on Miami Beach, my grandpa's nightclub.
So now my dad's been saved and So he gets back in town, and my dad used to often tell the story that he drove there to the nightclub that night and was sitting on the hood of his car smoking cigarettes. And he's trying to get up the nerve to go in there to work. And my dad would say, I just, it's just something like, you're not supposed to go in there. You're not supposed to. You're a new creature now and and and it was all new to him, but he He said, I just struggle.
And he said to my My uncle, my dad's brother, was the bouncer there at the nightclub and He said, my uncle came out and said, listen, you're... You missed your first set. What in the world is going on? My dad said, you know, just don't worry about it. I'll be in there in a minute.
Well, this went on a little while, and my dad just sat in the just couldn't go in.
So my uncle came out and said, listen, dad said either get on or you're out. My dad's sitting there in the car, and my dad often said, Now, here's your choice.
Well, it's my job.
Well, it's my dad.
Well, it's my family. I just need to go. Here's your choice. Get in. Or get out.
And my dad took that cigarette, threw it down, and Put out that cigarette and he said, Well, I guess I'm out. And he got in the car and never went into a nightclub again the rest of his life.
Now listen to me. I'm not picking on anybody on that, but listen to me. It just might have been that if my dad had just went ahead in that night, Just went ahead and went back to the norm.
Well, I'll. Who knows how things would have changed? Who knows how Satan might have choked out That seed that dad had just gotten. Who knows if he wouldn't have gone back the next night and the next night and the next night. And can I tell you something?
It all came down to a choice. It all came down to a moment. And I don't think it probably gets enough airtime. That probably was a pivotal beyond the fact where my dad finally gave his heart to Jesus Christ was. Am I going to go?
Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192. or via the web.
at Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today. God bless you.
