Stan Ford emphasizes the critical choice each individual must make regarding whom they will serve, drawing from Joshua 24. He reflects on Joshua's leadership and the importance of remaining steadfast in faith despite challenges, urging listeners to consider their own commitments to God. Ford highlights that the decision to serve the Lord is not just a personal choice but a responsibility that each person must take seriously, as it impacts their lives and families. He encourages the congregation to choose wisely between the gods of the past and the true God, affirming that as for him and his house, they will serve the Lord.

Those of you that were with us last evening will remember that I said that tonight we were going to look at the last chapter of the book of Joshua. So, with your permission, I would like to read first a verse or two in the first chapter, and then a verse or two in the last chapter. The first chapter of the book of Joshua, if we may believe. Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the soil of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness, from this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, or the land of the Phittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coasts. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of my life, as I was with Moses. So, I will be with thee. I will not hail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance, the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayst observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand, or to the left, that thou mayst prosper with us wherever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy hand, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayst observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good sense. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, with us wherever thou goest. And then, if we may please, in the last chapter of the same book. No longer a young man, a hundred and ten years of age, and here in this, the last book of Joshua. The first verse we read, And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God. Verse 14, Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt, and serve thee the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. For that's for thee, and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now may the Lord just add his blessing to the reading of his own precious work. I presume that most of you have gathered already, as I mentioned last evening, the text that's on my heart for this evening. I do not usually prepare the day before for a service, but with a very, very busy weekend as we start the crusade in Chicago tomorrow morning, I had to prepare yesterday for today. And I was absolutely confident as I opened my Bible and read it, I was absolutely confident that God wanted me to consider with you the words of Acts 15 verse of the 24th chapter. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, now please don't forget that. You know, mostly when this text is preached from, the preacher does what he has a right to do, but the preacher takes the text and he says, choose you this day whom you will serve. He goes into the wonders of the Lord Jesus, and tells us of the marvels of our God, and says, now will you choose him? That's not the question at all, the question is not, will you choose the Lord? The question is this, if you don't serve the Lord, who will you choose then? If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, then choose you this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods that your father served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now, this is archaic, but like every text we must consider its context, and so you must permit me to take you back as it were to Sunday school once again, and remind you of the things that you know. You will remember that yesterday as we were thinking of the choice of Moses, we left Moses, of course we didn't really, did we? We left Moses in Gaul, and we thought of the fact that he appeared with Christ, and we thought of the fact that there was coming a day when we all set off Moses and the rest. But as far as the story was concerned in Holy Writ, we left Moses on the top of Mount Neba, speaking to the ones that he'd chosen years before. And you will remember that there he languished in death, and God came and buried him, and no one knows where God buried him. The greatest funeral we're told of in the Bible, when God came down as the undertaker and buried Moses. And God looked around for someone to take his place. And sir and madam, I think that this is one of the most thrilling stories that's in the Bible. I never read it without chanting God that he saw fit to place it there. That when Moses the servant of the Lord was dead, God looked around for someone to take his place, and there was there Joshua. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that just wonderful? You see, thirty-eight years before, Joshua, in company with eleven others, had gone to spy on the promised land. They come back with great bunches of grapes, with baskets that were filled with fruit, and there were faces somewhat shiny. They say it's a land that flows with mountain honey. But ten of those men dared to say that Moses, the folk that lived there are giants, and we are but grasshoppers before them. We'll never be able to conquer them. But there were two men, Joshua and Caleb. Two men who were prepared to stay in effect, to use our modernisms. The bigger they are, the heavier they pull. It doesn't matter if they are giants. If we're on God's side, then God won't deliver them into our hands. But Moses listened to ten men. Ten men who continually were thinking of the giants, of the obstacles in the way, of the problems, and instead of entering the land, he didn't go in. God allowed them to go round in the wilderness for nine forty years, thirty-eight years, then they round and round, until everyone was dead except Moses, except Caleb and Joshua. Natural selection. By the way, let's just have a little picnic ball. The greatest revival that has ever occurred in the history of the world was when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. The Bible speaks of it as salvation, and there were more people saved that day than at any time before or since. Yet the most remarkable thing is this, that thousands came out of Egypt, but only two went into the promised lands. Only two. So, let's remember, salvation is only the beginning of things. It's not the end of things. Oh, let's crack on the Lord, and let's go in and possess the land. But God looked around, and God said, Joshua, thirty-eight years ago you said that you'd go into the promised land. Thirty-eight years ago you weren't fighting the giants. Thirty-eight years ago you were prepared to trust me. He is still the same man. This is wonderful. He was still the same man. With all that had happened, he was still the same man. You see, over the course of years, again and again, folk have come to me, especially young folks. You know, young folk want everything done yesterday, don't they? They come and they say, you know, Mr. Ford, I went along to a missionary meeting, and I heard a group of brothers stand up and appeal for men and women and fellows and girls to yield their life to God, that they must indeed be willing to serve God. I must say, I'm never quite sure whether that's the right thing to do. It seems to be so different than the way they did it in the Scripture, but that, by the way. But I've had young folk come to me say, do you know, I heard, I heard the call of God that day, and I yielded my life to Him. I said, Lord, I'll go anywhere. I'd go and pick that too if you want me to go. Lord, I'll go anywhere. Do you know, Mr. Ford, the Lord blew my life back at me. I was willing to go. He's never left the way. He's never made it possible for me to go. The question is not whether you're going to yield your life to Him. That's not the question. The question is, are you willing to go? Joshua was willing to go. God kept him for 38 years. And it seems as though God's true match is later. Well, 38 years later, Joshua, are you still the same boy? You've learned something, and you're still the same boy. Then be strong and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Joshua go into the land, and into the land he went. Do you remember what happened? The overthrow, indeed, of Jericho, the defeat of Aida, I know. The colonizing of the land, as there they divided into sections, and separate families had their part. Now we come, 110 years of age he is. He knows it will not be long before he starts on a journey from which men never, never return. So he gathers the children of Israel to Shechem. He travels from there to this little village that nestled between two mountains, this little village called Shechem. By the way, it's interesting, isn't it? The New Testament mentions Shechem, doesn't it? But it doesn't call it Shechem, does it? Do you remember the New Testament? In the New Testament, it was Simon. The Lord met a woman there. She had to make her choice as to what God keeps her. But here he gathers the people of Israel together to Shechem. Now places are of interest in the Bible. If God has seen fit to mention the name of a place, I think it's fit for you and I to wonder why he's mentioned the name. Do you know Shechem's one of the most interesting places? It's laid between two mountains. On one side, lifting its head up to the heavens, was Mount Gerobo. On the other side, lifting its head also to the heavens, was Mount Ebal. Now, every Jew knew the meaning of the names of those mountains. If you come with me back again into the book of Numbers, you will remember something that happened. And then again, of course, in the eighth chapter of Joshua, it's recorded. Do you remember what had happened? That there God had dared to say that every high hill and every low valley had to be renamed. God knew that if they went into a heathen land and they kept the heathen names, it would not be long before his people would say, now why was it called that? And they would get associated with heathenism through names, through association. And so God said that every high hill and every low valley must be renamed. And the way of this place, God had done something. In that great eighth chapter, and I think it's about the fortieth verse, do you remember what had happened? And Joshua had chosen one man from every tribe. Twelve tribes. He chose one man from every tribe. He sent six men up like Ebal. He sent six men up like Gershon. And there are from the grassy slopes of Mount Ebal, the six men that had climbed it, read in the hearing of the people, the curses of the law. He said, if you don't obey the law of God, then cursed shall you be. Do you know the curses of the law? Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment, with promise that it may be well with thee that thou mayest live long upon the earth. You remember it means that this was the promise of the law, the blessing of it. But the curses dare to tell them that if we say he will put the sins of the fathers under the third and fourth generation, and from Mount Ebal the curses of the law were pronounced. But from Mount Gershon, the blessings of the law were pronounced. If you keep my law, blessings shall ye be. And ever after, to every group, Mount Ebal was the mount of curse, and Mount Gershon was the mount of blessing. And between those two mountains was the little village of Sheffield. I don't think we need a degree in a theological seminary to understand that. Choose you this day whom you will serve. And there they stood between the blessing of the law and the cursing of the law. Sir, madam, I dare say to you tonight that every one of us here is a child. We can have the blessing of God, or we may have the opposite. The decision that we make is the decision that's made between the two. Either God's blessing or God's cursing, life or death, heaven or hell, all a significant place. And there he asked them to make their choice. Now, if I may please, I want to look at the verse, remembering, of course, as I've already said, that he is, in effect, asking them whom they will serve, but I want just to look at the verse. And I'm going to suggest that, first of all, we have both before us our responsibility. Choose. Now, I think that's important, don't you, sir? Choose our responsibility. I come across so many men, oh, I get tired of hearing it. I come across so many men and women who say to me, but Mr. Poland, why did God make us so reclusive? I wonder if I can illustrate it in a very silly way. You've heard me mention I have two children. I was going to have them married, so I've got two grandchildren now. But when my boy was just a wee bit of a boy, I have never once in my life been able to hypnotize anyone. And I would never try, and I would never want to try, but we'll imagine, just for one minute, just for one minute, that I was hypnotized by someone. And I put my boy right in front of me. Well, whatever it is they do. And suddenly, I brought him completely under my control. That everything I wanted him to do, he would do. I'd say to him, get up, and he'd get up. Do this, and he'd do it. Don't do that, and he wouldn't do it. Cool, wouldn't it be lovely? For a whole day, the boy doing everything I told him to do. Wouldn't it be lovely? The night light would come, and the boy would come into the room, and he'd say, son, put your arms around your dad's neck. And two flabby, useless arms would go around him. Kiss your daddy goodnight. And he'd kiss his daddy goodnight. Don't do that. Oh, come on, you man-eaters. Whatever would there be in that to me? And I told the wee little boy to throw his arms around the neck because I told him to, to kiss me goodnight because I told him to. What would there be in that for me? Do you know something? I'd rather a wee little lad who didn't always do what he was told. I'd rather a wee little boy who sometimes had to be dealt with, but a boy of his own free will. And the night time would run into the room, and throw his arms around his dad's neck, and kiss his dad goodnight. Maybe kick him in the face before he left the room. But of his own free will, he showed his daddy loved him. Have you ever stopped to consider that one of the blessed names of our God is this, the Eternal Father? You ask me, why does God make us so weak of sin? God hasn't made us like puppets at the end of strings. God hasn't hypnotized us. Because this is why the Bible says, This people have I formed, that they might show forth my praise. You and I have been made for the enjoyment of God, as well as made that we might enjoy God. God has given to you and me a free will. It's the greatest gift he's given us apart from salvation, for free will. And here are Texas Jews. For the sake of you young folks here, sir, do you know when we were first converted, in our old fellowship we had some godly elders, I'm sure you have. And these here brethren used to teach us. And I remember one of our dear brethren, he was a hairdresser, a Mr. Newcomer. Oh, what a man of God it was, and how he knew his book. Do you know what he used to say to us now, boys? All day. If you want to know the importance of any subject in the Bible, you open your Bible and see the first time it's mentioned. And the first time it's mentioned in the Bible, the importance that's given to it then, is the importance that's given to it right through Holy Writ. Now you think of that. Because that's true. If you read of something in the Bible and you find the first time it's mentioned, and there's no importance given to it. There's no importance given to it really right through Scripture. But let the first time it's mentioned be important. And that's the importance God gives to it, right through Holy Writ. No wonder in the book of Genesis has been called the seedbed of the Bible. Jews, how important is choice? Have you ever stopped to consider for one moment the first time choice is mentioned in the Bible? Do you know it's the most important choice that a young man or a young woman could ever make, apart from the choice of a Savior? It says, Now please, I can talk like this, you see. In just a few days time it'll be our 31st wedding anniversary. So I can talk like this. Do you know something? It's the most important choice that a young man could ever make, apart from the choice of a life partner. I don't like saying this, and I did mention this the other evening in America. I don't like saying this, but I'm going to say it, and you will please accept it in the spirit in which it's said. But it's been my joy in this and 30 other countries to have preached the gospel. Over the last 28 years I've spent all my time telling men and women of Christ, I've been in your country now about 12 weeks. I came here in the middle of Julong, and over these last weeks I have come across more cases of divorce than I've come across in the 28 years I've been preaching in 30 different countries. So I can only tell you a fact. A fact that we, not just more in three months over another three months, but more in the last three months than I have in 28 years. I think we need to re-preach, don't you, the importance of the choice of a life partner. Our young people today are being bombarded with this cursing thing of television, and all these horrid things, and filthy magazines, and they've got a whole wrong idea of what life's about. You know I sympathize with these young guys. They think sometimes I get a bit grumpy with them, and I do. I can tell them off quicker than anyone else in the world. But I tell you this, I'd move heaven and earth to help one of them really find their way in the things of God. For I realize this, that if ever there was a day when our young folk need an example set to them, it's today, and those of us that are older, when it comes to our married life, when it comes to the home things, what example are we setting? The first mention of choice is the mention of a life partner, and if that's not important, tell me what is. Do you know the second mention of choice in the Bible? It's almost as important. It's the choice of a job. Not the hells of the wild, wilted plains of Solomon's shoals! You go young, here's the choice of a job! Where am I going to live? Where am I going to work? How am I going to get my living? And he saw the luscious grass, and saw the rich plains, and he said, the valleys of Solomon you are! He made a choice! What a cursed choice. In turn, it is not the case so often. Having a young folk on every day who make their choice of a job, and the first thing they say is, where's the grass the thickest? Where are the houses the nicest? Do you remember I mentioned the other day, a dear friend said to me just recently here, speaking of a certain person who lived right opposite him, away there in the garden of Georgia, he said they've got a, oh I don't know just how many it was, maybe a forty thousand, or fifty thousand, sixty thousand, I've forgotten the exact figure, a whole house! Said they've got a sixty thousand dollar house, with a ten cent home! So many of us want the sixty thousand dollar house, don't we? So many of us want the luscious grass of the valleys of Solomon. Better that we chose the hillside with Abraham, because we choose Abraham's God. Choose! But you know something? I see many a man, and many a woman, make the choice of what appears to be a wrong husband, and a wrong wife. I see many a young person make the choice of the wrong job, and they become square pegs in round holes. And then suddenly they make the greatest choice of all, the choice of the Savior. And hallelujah, it makes the wrong choice right. A man came to me just in Augusta, Georgia, just recently. Do you know what he told me? Do you know what he told me? How can all that be because of me? Of course, I'm the last person in the world to come to. He looked at me and he said, you know Mr. Ford, I've lost my love for my wife. Oh, phew. I tell you, I just like a gobble, really. Do you know some more accursed thing was this, he told me, he was a Christian. Do you know what I said? I looked him right in the eyes, and I said, Mr., if that's true, and I'm not sure that it is, but if it's true, I know who's fault it is, it's yours. But would you get this? Would you get this? Love is of God. And if you'll get love with God, He'll restore to you the thing that you say you've lost. He'll restore the yearning for love with you. Love is of God. Oh, this is the wonder of it, that when we get right with our choice concerning God, He puts right even the wrong choices in our married life, and He puts right the wrong choices even in even in our business life. How many men have suddenly realized, oh, what an irksome job, but look, look, I can be in this for the Lord. I can be in this for the Lord. And suddenly an irksome job becomes pleasant, even if they get their eye on the right thing. Choose how important is our responsibility. Sir, do you know your responsibility tonight? Choose. But then would you notice something else? Our text says, choose you. So there's not only our responsibility here, there's our individuality. Choose you. Isn't that important? I've said this so many times, I must say it again. Look, sir, I couldn't choose for my wife, and my wife couldn't choose for me. I couldn't choose for my children if my children couldn't choose for me. Choose you, because you stood and looked into the faces, a man of 110 years that he was, looked into the faces of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of men and women that lined the hillside. Choose you. As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord. But you've got to make no changes. Young man, you thank God that you've got a Christian mother and father. You thank God. Madam, you thank God that you've got a Christian husband. Sir, you thank God that you've got a Christian wife. Remember this, that you'll never stand before God and say, Lord, I have the right to be in heaven because my wife is. And I'll tell you something else, though. I never had to know you. Madam, you'll never stand before God and say, God, I had a right to get to heaven. Because my husband, he loved you. And I cooked his meals and I made it possible for him to go to the meeting, all his shirts ready and his shoes cleaned and everything was airy. Oh, bless God if you've done that. Thank you, madam, if you've done it for your husband. Let me say thank you on behalf of your husband. Thank you, sir, if you've done it for your wife. Let me say thank you on behalf of your wife. But that will never get you to heaven. Choose you. You've got to make your choice. We were thinking last night not only of the choice of Moses, we were thinking of the choice of the Christ who chose to come into this scene. The Bible said the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, and that's true. But remember, he sent the Son because the Son was willing to be sent. Whom shall I send and whom will go for it? You're not. Spend it. Though I can't in the volume of the book that you've written of me, I'd delight to do thy will, my God. He can. And to tell of his cross he chose to tell, that you should. But if in our text we have indeed our responsibility to choose, and if in our text we have our individuality to do, dare I say this, we have something more. That in our text we have our perplexity, and not a perplexity. Choose you this day whom you will send. Oh yes, you say I'm willing to make my choice, and I know I have to make my choice, but who are we going to choose? The gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell? The gods that rule the underside of the planet in Egypt? We're living in a day when folk have got all sorts of peanut gods, but this was ever such. I open my Bible and I find that on one occasion in the book of Isaiah we're informed of someone who went forth and there was an axe, hewn down a tree, and with that same axe he fashioned out of the wood of the tree an idol to worship. And the wood that he cut off in fashioning it, he used it for a fire to warm himself in the cooking dinner. Oh, what a ridiculous thing. But man will worship that which comes from the same thing. The trinity, they'll worship it, and yet they use the same thing to cook their dinner and warm themselves with. Yet isn't this true? Oh, no, that's tot, tot, don't let them out, but they were heathen folks, you know. They were heathen folks. Chelsea wouldn't do that, did she? Oh, no, we wouldn't do that, would we? What, with our education? No. Wouldn't we? Sir, come on, let me talk to you a minute. Isn't it right that if I was to ask you, you would give me the names of a dozen men who worship their own business? They set to and they work hard and they build up for nothing a business, but they live for their business. Almost day and night when you get them they get a bit boring because it's all they can talk about. There are the taxes that's being taken from it, or something. Yet they eat from their business, and clothe themselves from their business, and live from their business, yet worship the same thing. They make... prophecy lies are all crashing, you know. Really, sir? And when I look here, he says, choose who you will serve. And, you know, it's remarkable this. I haven't time really to go through it, but would you care to do it when you get home? I'll tell you what I suggest to you, and I think you will find it interesting. The twenty-fifth chapter, I'm sorry, twenty-fourth chapter of Joshua, start in the first verse, and then read through it, and see the names of the men. They're in cutlets. He speaks about Abraham, and, of course, as he dies, he says, yes, Lot. They chose, didn't they? Abraham chose. He chose the mountainside, and God, Lot, chose the watered plains, and Solomon, Gomorrah, lost his home, and lost his wealth, and lost most of his family, and Abraham gained everything, the presence of God, and all the blessings. Choose. You remember, he goes on, and he speaks about Moses, the prophet of the Lord, and Baal. They come together. They both chose. Moses had to choose. Baal had to choose. You remember how Baal came to the finish, and he said, let me die in the death of the righteous? The church said, yes, but you'll never die in the death of the righteous unless you live the life of the righteous. Oh, no, no, no. The thief on the cross died righteous in Christ, but he didn't die a righteous man. He said, don't tell. He said, I receive the due reward of my deed. He didn't die in the death of the righteous. He died a righteous man because God had made him righteous. But if you don't live the life of the righteous, you will die in the death of the righteous. Had to make a choice. Moses chose. Baal chose. Abraham chose. Lot chose. Didn't go with them. Lot chose. And how many people have their history left them, and gone right through their history, spoke of Jacob. Oh, double-minded Jacob. What a bad human. Cruel. What can we do? Spent all their... Veterans have to giving them a history lesson, and showing them their own partners that made a choice. He said, now, who will you have? The gods that were on the other side of Egypt? On the other side of the flood in Egypt? Oh, yes, he goes back, you see, to Jacob. He goes back, indeed, to Abraham. He goes back to Lot. He goes back to these four gods that were on Egypt the other side of the flood. And he goes beyond, and the gods of Moses and Caleb. The gods of the Amorites who landed where? Oh, he was out of complexity. Who are we going to choose? Young woman. Young man. What are you going to do with your life? I can't put a claim to them, I cannot. See, that's what Christianity's about. What are you going to do with your life? Are you going to yield it to Christ, who gave His life for you? That you might receive the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting? Are you going to yield it to one who knows what's best for thee, and unless joy will turn thee into the powerful of pleasing to Him and blessing to you? Who will you choose? Complexity. But here's our responsibility to choose. Here's our individuality to choose you. Here's our complexity. But dare I say this, dare I say this. Choose you. This day is our opportunity. This day. Can't really afford to put it off till tomorrow, can we? See, the wonder is this, that whoever we may be, however old we may be, however young we may be, whoever we may be, God's claim for us is now. Now. You remember the words of the poet that comes in the close of that lovely little track that Grant laid all the reason why? You remember what he says? Tomorrow he promises conscience. Tomorrow I'll need to believe. Tomorrow I'll think as I ought to. Tomorrow the saviour received. Tomorrow I'll conquer the habits that keep me from heaven away. Whatever his conscience repeated, what were, one only, today. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Thus day after day went on. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. To you to a division was gone. Till sin and his passions had written their effigies of hate on his brow. And up from the grave came death with a pitiless syllable. Now, now, to you he said. Madam, sir, I suggest that today is the day of your choice. I suggest this to you, that every one of us will leave the chapel tonight, and as we leave it we will have made a choice. We will leave it either saying Christ for me, or we'll leave it going from this place, having said by our action, if not by our own, I'll just carry on without you. And I please want you to understand that. I want you to understand that. The Joshua could say, choose you this day who you will serve, but that's for me. And my house, we will serve as room for you. We've made our choice. I will save the hell of my house. Won't you? Christ for us. It's Christ for us. We've made our choice. Will you not make your choice? It's God's Word. I face the claim of the tax. Choose you this day who you must serve. You will serve. Please God, you may serve.