You have to Choose
WARNING
Joshua’s warns the people about their idolatry. He warns them that the judgments of God will fall upon them unless they live for the Lord.
And here's what he says, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve"! If you want to serve the devil, serve him! But make a choice!
Joshua said: if every one of you serves other idols and other Gods, makes no difference: as for me and my house, we've already made a decision: we are going to serve the Lord.
DECISION
And that's a decision that every single person here tonight has to make. You either have to decidethat you're going to serve the Gods of materialism all around us, or, the true and the living God.
And Joshua was warning the people to choose God, to follow him, instead of these other Gods. And so, we have to make a choice.
Moses had warned Israel much earlier, a generation earlier, when he was dying. He said, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live".
Moses had said the same thing that Joshua is saying, separated by many years, and every generation has to hear it, over and over and over again, and that's why the gospel never grows old. It applies to every generation or life. We have to make a choice.
Are you unstable about your relationship to Christ? Do you waver in your relationship to Christ? Or are you totally committed to Christ as Savior and Lord? Or do you waver about it?
Many of you waver by the way you live. And Jesus warned the hypocrites, people who pretend one thing and live another.
Don't waver: make a decision, do it now!
Joshua said, "Serve God and live! Serve these other Gods and you'll die and come under the judgment of God," and the message has not changed.
America should be grateful to God for the blessings he's given us, but what do we find? We find that we're worshipping other Gods. The Gods of pleasure, the Gods of lust, and greed and hate. The Gods of materialism. Even the Gods of war. And Joshua tells them that such a condition cannot continue. They must decide whether they want to serve the idols, or to serve the living God. And he will not allow any neutrality. Neither does Jesus Christ.
And Joshua said you have to decide immediately, now! "Choose you this day", not tomorrow, this day, "whom you're going to serve". And many of you are going to have to decide tonight. What is the number one priority in your life? Is the priority Christ? Or is the priority something else? Christ demands first place. There's no room on the throne of your heart for two Gods. It's either Christ, or it's the other God.
Give your life to Christ. He'll challenge you. Because he says you must deny self and take up a cross. He says, "I'm going to a place of execution. Come and go with me". Deny your own selfish ambitions and lusts and turn to me and go to the cross with me.
Now Paul taught that a Christian is someone who has turned to God from idols, to serve the living and the true God.
A Christian is an idol breaker.
GOD GIVEN FREEDOM TO CHOOSE
Adam and Eve had to make a choice in the Garden of Eden. God said, "If you want to build a wonderful world, we'll build it together. But I'm going to test you because I've given to you the ability choose. I haven't made you a robot in which I could punch a button and you would obey me. I've made you in my image. You have the right to choose"!
CHOSE WRONG
So when Adam and Eve faced that choice, they chose wrongly. They broke the law of God. And God said, "In the day that you do, you will suffer and die".
DEATH AND SUFFERING
And man had been suffering ever since, and it's all because of that first sin in the Garden of Eden. And man has been inheriting that tendency to sin ever since: the seed of sin is in us when we're born.
ACCOUNTABILITY BEFORE GOD
David said, "In sin did my mother conceive me". Think of it now: at conception, sin was already planted. And then comes the age of accountability. Moral accountability, maybe eight, or nine, or ten years of age when you are held accountable by God for your actions and you choose to sin! And then the rest of your life, you practice sin. You're born toward sin, you choose to sin at a certain point, and then you practice sin. And the Bible says, "We have all sinned," and we're all idolaters.
TWO WAYS OF LIFE
Now the Bible says we must choose two ways of life. Jeremiah had written, "Thus saith the Lord, behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death". There's a way of life: there's a way of death.
THE WAY OF LIFE
Which way are you on? Jesus said, "I am the way. I am the way. I'm the only way. I'm the only way to permanent peace. I'm the only way to permanent joy. I'm the only way to eternal life. I'm the only way to forgiveness of sin. I'm the only way to the father". You have to come by me. And that eliminates a lot of people.
THE WAY OF THE CROSS
When Jesus began to talk about dying on the cross, a lot of his followers left him. They said, "Lord, we thought you were going to sit upon a big throne and we were going to drive in Cadillacs, and we were going to have beautiful swimming pools and lovely ladies, and all the rest of it.
We didn't really know that you were going to die and wanted us to go with you. We thought this was going to be a kingdom, and we were going to overthrow Rome, and we going to rule the world". And that is going to happen someday, but not now!
The cross before the crown. Some of us want the crown before the cross. The Bible says, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death".
WRONG WAYS
What are some of the ways? Well, some people say, "I'm gonna follow my conscience," but you don't follow your conscience. Many of us have dead consciences. Your conscience is no longer a safe guide. You've hardened it: you've deadened it. And then other people say, "Well, I try to be sincere in everything I do". We're here in a football stadium right here. And many years ago, I saw a man pick up a football and he ran 65 yards the wrong way! Now he was one of the most sincere fellows you ever saw. Lost the game. And then there are many people that say, "Well, you know, I do a lot of good works, and I give money to charitable causes, and I do all that. I'm sure God will understand".
REFORM THROUGH SPIRIT
“Well, I'll reform. I'll do better". I know people that are always saying, "I'm going to do better". But they never do better.
They don't have any power within them to do better, until they come to Christ, and when you come to Christ, an explosion takes place, of power that he gives you to live a new life. I can't live the Christian life. I have no power within me to live the Christian life. The Holy Spirit has to live in me, and Christ has to live through me.
I cannot live the Christian life. I'm a total flop and failure.
The Bible says, "For by grace are ye saved, through faith, that not of yourselves, but the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast".
THE CROSS
The only way you're ever going to make it is to come to that cross, where Christ took our sins, and our judgment and our hell, and identify ourselves with him. And then there are some people that say,
Jesus said, "Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat, because strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it". Few, he said only a few are going to find that narrow gate and that narrow way. Are you among that few?
You not only choose between two ways of life, but you choose between two masters.
Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other". "You cannot serve God and materialism.”
CHOOSE WAYS OF LIFE, MASTERS, FATHERS, AND DESTINIES
You have to make a choice. All the way through the Bible: choices, choices, choices, choices, choices.
Not only between two ways of life and two masters: but you're going to have to choose between two fathers. Two spiritual fathers.
He said in John 8, a very shocking statement, the 44th verse, he said, "You are of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father you will do". Now he says, "For many of you, the devil is your spiritual father". Now you're not aware of it. You wouldn't admit it. But that's the way God looks at it.
There's either God, your spiritual father, the true and the living God, Christ. Or, there is the devil.
And then you have to choose not only between two ways of life and two masters and two fathers,
but you have to choose between two destinies: heaven or hell.
Jesus Christ is the way to heaven. Come to him.
Jesus is in heaven preparing your estate right now. Waiting for you. There is a future life, and eternal life does not begin when you die and go to heaven: it begins here and now when you make this choice for Christ. Because eternity, eternal life comes to dwell in your heart tonight. Jesus Christ is the gateway to heaven.
YOUR PERSONAL CHOICE
Now this choice also, you must make yourself. Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". Your father can't make it for you. Your mother can't make it for you. Your children can't make it for you. This is where you must choose yourself. He knew that he could not choose for the tribes of Israel. They must choose for themselves.
ALONE
Man is a social being: however, there is an inner sanctuary within ourselves, where we retire from all other fellowships, comradeships, and influences, and there's a lonely arena where the greatest battles of life must be fought alone. And this is a decision that you have to make alone. Moses said, "I call heaven and earth to record this day that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that thou and thy seed may live forever".
CHOSE CHRIST BY FAITH NOT FOR GAIN
The writer to Hebrews recounts how Moses "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches that the treasures of Egypt, choosing rather to suffer the affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season". He made a choice. Moses could have probably been the Pharaoh of Egypt. He was the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Heir to all the riches and power of Egypt. And he made a choice to suffer persecution and the reproach with the people of God. He didn't know that his name would be in history. He didn't know that some day he would lead all of Israel. He didn't know that some day he would be considered one of the greatest men that ever lived. When he made that choice, he made it on the basis of simple faith in God.
DESTINY FORGIVEN JUSTIFICATION
You can determine your destiny by deciding for Christ, and when you do that, Christ changes your past! He wipes out all the sins of the past. Because, you see, the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth from all sin. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. When he died on that cross, he forgave all the past.
You tonight are reminded of the many sins in your life. The Holy Spirit's bringing them to your mind right now. And you know, they stand against you at the judgment, where every secret thing will be brought out. But Jesus, tonight, offers forgiveness. But he offers more than forgiveness. He offers justification. Just as though you had never committed a sin.
What a wonderful thing to go to bed tonight and know that the past is gone. Forgiven, cleansed, and God no longer remembers your sins. Yes, and this choice is very urgent. To delay makes the right decision harder. Indecision is itself a choice. Not to decide is to decide not to. Choose now! Nowhere in the Bible does it promise a tomorrow. Come while you can.
HOW TO CHOOSE
You say, "But what do I have to do"? Three things:
- you must be willing to repent of your sin. That means to change your way of thinking about your sins and realize how bad they are in the sight of God.
- and secondly, by faith, receive Christ into your heart. That means you put your whole weight on him and trust him and him alone. Change your thinking about God and say, "I love him and I'm going to love him with all my heart, mind, soul and strength.
- and thirdly, I'm going to make him the priority of my life. I'm going to put him first from now on. He's going to be not only my Savior but my Lord". You follow and serve him as his disciple and follower and obey him. That means a big change for many of you, if you make this choice.
I'm going to ask you to make it now.
By: Billy Graham
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