The power of personal decision

Let's read in the book of Joshua, please chapter 23 Now briefly, I'd just like to talk to you about the power of Personal decision and So I'm going to use this classic speech from Joshua About his devotion and his decision to serve the Lord. So let's read in chapter 23 of Joshua It says here and it came to pass a long time that after the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about That Joshua waxed old and was stricken in age quite dramatic there isn't he's been beaten up by the years and Joshua called for all Israel and for their elders and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers and said unto them I'm old and stricken in age and you have seen all that the Lord your God has done unto these nations because of you For the Lord your God is he that hath bought for you well, let's not read the whole thing, but let's move to chapter 24 and We'll read a first two verses here and then the principal part in verses 14 and 15 chapter 24 in verse 1 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 he presented and they presented themselves before God and Joshua said unto all the people Thus saith the Lord God of Israel your father's dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time even Tara the father of Abraham and the father of Nacor and they served other gods And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood and led him and you know the story of Israel So let's move on to verse 14 Now here's the verse that you might even have posted somewhere in your house somewhere It should be a good text for people to receive for wedding gifts It says here in verse 14 now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods from which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and Serve the Lord and if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord choose this this day whom you will serve Whether the gods which 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 read in verse 24 and the people said unto Joshua the Lord our God we will serve and His voice we will obey so Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem and Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God and took a great stone and set it up there under an oak That was by the sanctuary of the Lord And Joshua said unto all the people behold this stone shall be a witness unto us for it hath heard of the war all the words of the Lord which he has spoken to us and Shall therefore be a witness unto you lest you deny your God So Joshua let the people depart and every man unto his inheritance And verse 31 says and Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua And all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua which had known all the works of the Lord Like I said, I'd like you to think today about a personal decision Now to make this message work. I need your help.

You need to think of something in your life that you're indecisive about Okay, because this is about making a choice for God And so just like well what happens in our house this time of year. It's time to clean up the garage You know, you got to park the car inside It's been sitting in the driveway all summer and the snow is coming and so Cynthia and I we go out and I look at everything that's been piled up and she says hey this thing here you either fix it or You move it to the end of the driveway because it's got to be done today, right? And so that's the idea that I'd like you to have is look through all the rubbish that's hidden away in your life in your closet look through the whole landscape of your life and You think now what if I got to do for God that I've been indecisive about up until this moment That's the thing that I want you to have work on your conscience right now in the next 15 minutes Something that you've been indecisive about that, you know that God wants you to do And then take a look at the principles that we read here in Joshua's famous speech first of all this place It was a monument. I was just a rock has stone lifted up under this oak tree But it was the place where God had worked It was where Abraham came into the land and it was there that he first built his altar here this place called Shechem and so Joshua picked this place.

It meant a lot to the people and it was a place where they couldn't ignore What God had done in their life? Okay. Now look at your life. What kind of decision are you thinking about right now? Is there anything in your past that you can say, you know, I am so indebted to God for I'll take for instance your salvation Can you go to some gospel hall somewhere? It might be just a simple building but you look at it as a monument and you say that's where God worked That's where he saved me or that's where he that's where he saved my daughter or that something worked in your life and that God used It that's a monument even though it might be just a plain stone like what Joshua was looking at It was a place that was important and the man himself isn't Joshua a monument He says I'm old and I'm stricken in years And so the man you can imagine what an old 110 year old warrior looked like he probably had Arrowholes in his back or scars on his forehead He was a man that really took the brunt of the battle.

And so the man himself was a living testament that I served God Is there any monuments that walk around in your assembly? Is there anybody that you look at and you say well look at him? I want to be like that Well, you will be pretty soon because we're all getting old Or you might look at other people and you say I wonder if they've ever done anything for look at their life they've kind of let the water just flow over the waterfalls and Time passed and and what what have they done? Well, you couldn't say that about Joshua Could you a man that was taking the baton right out of Moses hand and running to the finish line? conquering the land for Israel and Giving them giving them the rest that God had wanted and so Joshua is the monument He's the man that says look at look at what happened here. Look what God did for you look at where we are and now How can you be indecisive? And so Joshua says look at the monument But the motivations that's the next part. Let's talk about M&Ms today So I've got the the the monument that God has given them and now in verse 14 We've got the list of the emotion of the the decisions the motives that they should have Why they should make the decision to get off the fence and he says serve the Lord Here's what he says.

He says fear the Lord now, therefore Fear the Lord you fear God You're afraid of him You know that that's not quite the fear that the Lord uses but there is a sense that we have such a fear of Disobeying God that we can ruin our lives with bad choices that he says we have to fear him That's how the maybe a young Christian might start off to say, you know, I'm afraid of ruining my life I'm afraid of making decisions that will take me far from God and that my life will be a wreck he says You should fear him. You can't live you can't live a life and ignore God You can't live a life and ignore everything that he has taught you in his word and come out in a good place Fear the Lord But that's not how a Christian lives his whole life Oh, we might start off that way with fear of making the wrong choice But then after we've been in the pathway for a while we say, you know, why would I ever want to go back there? Why would I ever want to live like I did? Why would I ever want to move away from God? I enjoy his presence I enjoy the benefits that come from serving him and making good choices and And So perfect love then casts out fear and so a mature Christian somebody that grows up and makes good choices Begins to say, you know, it's not even it's not even worth thinking about disobeying God I I love him so much that I'm going to continue all the way to the end of my days And so the motive there first of all, there's the fear and of course fear then becomes something even greater. We're afraid Not for the consequences that God would give us but we're afraid of disappointing God And so we grow more mature in our fear of the Lord.

But then what does he say? Fear the Lord and serve him in Sincerity and in truth. Oh Maybe that's a good motive for a decision that you're vacillating about service. So it takes some time doesn't it? now there's some people when they come to your assembly and Their sponges they come and they kind of wonder who's gonna help me today Who's gonna serve me who's gonna be helping me because I don't feel too good about life And I need I need I need and they're taking all the time and then there's other people in your assembly What do they do? Well, they probably they might even have your name on the prayer list and they come and they wonder how she's doing She's got a decision with school.

I wonder how he's doing. I know he's struggling with his job I wonder how these people are doing their Sunday school teachers and they seem frustrated with all the little kids that they're dealing with and These people what are they doing? They're reaching out and they're looking at the needs of everyone around them and they're saying how can I help him? How can I bring this person closer to God? This person's discouraged. How can I lift up this weak one? What are they doing? They're serving the Lord instead of taking all the time.

Give me give me give me give me he says sir sir, and So there we have another motivation for a decision that you might be thinking about today Is it really worth my effort is it really worth my time Well, it's not just about serving others. Who is he say you have to serve You serve him don't you? You serve the Lord by serving others And what kind of a consequence does that lead you to? Well, your life is just a quick quick moment It's like water falling over though over the waterfalls is gone before we know it and the only way that we can keep the life Is if we use it up in the right way, you're losing your life day by day You might as well lose it for eternity And so the decisions that we make in this life not only affect who we become when we're old but they become what we do in eternity and So the Savior even says if you want to save your life and lose it now Because it's going away. And so he says serve the Lord in Sincerity and truth and then he says put away the gods Well, there's a lot of gods to serve aren't there? I suppose you could say you'd serve Buddha You could serve Mohammed you could you could serve yourself That's a popular God, but the God that is the Lord is the one that's the God of my life And so he says serve the Lord and put away other gods.

Now, let's talk about verse 15 So we've seen that there's this place. It's the monument And then he says there's these motives that we have or serving the Lord. We're not serving men.

We're serving for eternity We're not serving for time and then he says Let's talk about the moment the moment to choose What's this the strange strange language in verse 15? He says if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord Okay, anyone on this side of the room think it's an evil thing to serve God Anyone over here raise your hand. Is it evil? No, he's not talking about whether it's evil or not. He's talking about Indecision he says if you live your whole life wondering whether you're gonna get started.

You're gonna do anything for God It's almost like you're an unbeliever and you think it's like something evil. He says no if it seemed evil to you then choose this day Right now this moment is where you start making the choice A couple days ago or actually a couple months ago There's a woman that came to me and she was a I teach classes in Postville English classes and some high school GED classes And she's you know We're having a lot of marriage problems and she's I'm wondering if I should get my master's degree and become a marriage counselor Well, maybe we should try getting your high school diploma first and so sometimes we got these great big Clouds of dreams of ideas and yet when it comes down to say, you know, maybe if you came on Tuesday I'll give you the book and you can start studying and maybe in a couple months you get your high school Graduation and then you go off to college and and then maybe oh, that sounds like way too far away And so what's the most important step in? in a pathway It's the first one, right? And so Joshua says When are you gonna serve the Lord? He says today Today, this is when you do it. And so whether your your decision, let's say you're you're vacillating about is Something that you have you got a problem.

Let's say one of you is in the audience here right now I can feel it. One of you is thinking, you know, I've got a real bad problem with a relationship Well, maybe you don't treat your wife very well Or maybe you yell at your kids or or maybe it's a brother you haven't seen for a while and you've got this got this Problem that just eats you away in your heart and you say you know This is what I gotta get I gotta get this fixed because I'm never gonna be anything for God being an angry bitter person all the time And so what what do you do? How do you fix that big nebulous problem? Well, the first thing you do is maybe You give him a phone call or you see him face to face and you say we got to talk How about if we go to McDonald's on Tuesday just you and I and we're gonna start What do you do you start That's where you make the decision this day. You can't fix the whole problem, but you can start Or maybe your issue is that you know, you think you look at yourself and you say honestly, my devotional life is pathetic If I ever do get up and participate in the worship in the Lord's Supper, it's the same thing I thank God for dying and sending his son and that's about all I can think of And you say really I need to get a little bit more mature.

I need to grow up a little bit in that I want to become more eloquent. Maybe no, I just want to become deeper in my Appreciation for the Lord Jesus. I want to be a better worshiper.

And so how do you get to become something like that? Maybe the decision you make this day then is to say, you know every day at breakfast I'm gonna I'm gonna take a devotion. I'm gonna read a chapter. I'm gonna do something and that is what you do today What can you do today? You pick the time And you pick the place today today serve the Lord Maybe you look at your other your life and you say, you know the evangelism in my life.

It's frankly dead I haven't talked to anyone about Christ for months. Maybe a year You know, there's people in my assembly that come into our Sunday school and I don't even know who their parents are What can you do? Make the phone call ask the kid. Where do you live? Can I take you home today? I want to meet somebody in your house.

We will start today And so the decision of something that is great in long term starts With one step you make the appointment you make the phone call you talk to the person you get out of the car You meet them whoever they are Whatever your problem is Whatever you want to do Just ask yourself Is there something in my life? That if I started today and I did it with a repetition. I did it over and over through the rest of the days of my life Would it impact me in a positive way for eternity? Is there anything in your life that you could think of that way? Then you answer with Joshua today Serve the Lord But you know, not only does he talk about this day But he talks about this house What happens if nobody joins you Joshua what happens if the whole country goes to idolatry I Don't care about you all but I in my house will serve the Lord Who's the responsible person in your life for the decisions you make? It's your mom. It's your dad your boss.

No, it's the person you see in the mirror That's the responsible person. And so the power of a personal choice for me and my house We will serve the Lord. Oh, let's go over to the beach now There's Peter and he's talking to the Lord Jesus and they look behind and they see another man John He says what's he gonna do? And what's the Lord tell him? You know what he said, right? He's what is that to you? You follow me as for me and my house We will serve the Lord Lastly let's talk about this man in the great momentum the great momentum of his decision It says here that in verse 31 in all Israel and the Lord served the Lord all the days of Joshua And all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua What an impact he had a man who not only said I'm going But there was a whole lot of people that followed right behind him What kind of a decision Will you make that will affect your life? Oh, you say I'm going to be devoted to the assembly for the rest of my days I'm going to serve the Lord.

I am going to be somebody that speaks up and talks about the gospel No matter what the situation Will that affect you? I sure will What affect your wife you might not even be married yet, but will affect the kind of person you marry How will that affect your children? How will affect that your friends? Everything that you do affects everyone around you and so Joshua as a single man making a single choice for one house affected everybody And so there you have the power of a personal decision. Okay, we're at the end of my message now What are you vacillating about? What is the one thing in your life that you're thinking that you're indecisive about? Answer it this way as for me In my house We will serve the Lord