Make Your Choice

Saturday, November 11, 2023

by Dr. Paul Chappell

Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; 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: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Joshua 24:14-15

God did so much for the Israelites. He sent Moses to deliver them from slavery in Egypt. He worked mighty miracles, sending plagues that finally convinced Pharaoh to let the people go. He parted the Red Sea, letting them pass on dry ground and then returning the water to drown the Egyptian army. He fed them with manna, provided water in the wilderness, and cared for their every need. He gave them victory over their enemies and even made sure that their clothes and shoes didn't wear out. Then under Joshua He led them across the Jordan River and gave them victory after victory. He made the walls of Jericho fall down and made the sun stand still so that the enemy army would not be able to escape under the cover of darkness.

In spite of that, the people consistently tried to mix the worship of the Lord with the worship of the gods they had learned about in Egypt and the gods of the Canaanites whose land they had claimed according to God's promise. They did not completely turn away from God, but they were not completely committed to Him either.

As Joshua neared the end of his life, he challenged the people to make a once-for-all choice and refuse to straddle the fence. We must make the same choice. 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

Today's Growth Principle
God is worthy of our whole-hearted, single-minded worship, service, and love.

Old Testament Reading

Jeremiah 50

CHAPTER 50

¹ The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. ² Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. ³ For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast. ⁴ In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. ⁵ They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. ⁶ My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. ⁷ All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers. ⁸ Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.

⁹ For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. ¹⁰ And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD. ¹¹ Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls; ¹² Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. ¹³ Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. ¹⁴ Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD. ¹⁵ Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. ¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land. ¹⁷ Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. ¹⁸ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. ²⁰ In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.

²¹ Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. ²² A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. ²³ How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! ²⁴ I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. ²⁵ The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. ²⁷ Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. ²⁸ The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. ²⁹ Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰ Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD. ³¹ Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. ³² And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.

³³ Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. ³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. ³⁵ A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. ³⁶ A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. ³⁷ A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. ³⁸ A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. ³⁹ Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. ⁴⁰ As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. ⁴¹ Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. ⁴² They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. ⁴³ The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. ⁴⁴ Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? ⁴⁵ Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them. ⁴⁶ At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

New Testament Reading

Hebrews 8

CHAPTER 8

¹ Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; ² A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. ³ For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. ⁴ For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: ⁵ Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

⁶ But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. ⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. ⁸ For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: ⁹ Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. ¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: ¹¹ And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. ¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. ¹³ In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 11

¹ A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight. ² When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. ³ The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. ⁴ Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. ⁵ The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. ⁶ The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. ⁷ When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth. ⁸ The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. ⁹ An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. ¹⁰ When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. ¹¹ By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. ¹² He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. ¹³ A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. ¹⁴ Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. ¹⁵ He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure. ¹⁶ A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches. ¹⁷ The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. ¹⁸ The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. ¹⁹ As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. ²⁰ They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight. ²¹ Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. ²² As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. ²³ The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath. ²⁴ There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. ²⁵ The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. ²⁶ He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. ²⁷ He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. ²⁸ He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch. ²⁹ He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. ³⁰ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. ³¹ Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.