Summary: Destiny is a choice is a sermon based on Joshua 24. Joshua exhorts the Israelites to choose between God and Baal. This sermon also gives us practical ways we can make the right choices that will in turn lead us to the right destiny.
Destiny is a Choice – Joshua 24.
Pr. Shine Thomas' complete sermon series on Joshua: http://www.cityharvestagchurch.org/category/sermons-and-sermon-series/joshua-sermons/
During World War II, Winston Churchill was forced to make a painful choice. The British secret service had broken the Nazi code and informed Churchill that the Germans were going to bomb Coventry in Central England. He had two alternatives: a. Evacuate the citizens and save hundreds of lives at the expense of indicating to the Germans that the code was broken. b. Take no action, which would kill hundreds but keep the information flowing and possibly save many more lives.
Churchill had to choose and followed the second course. Churchill said, “Sometimes, the consequences of our choice can be devastating but if it will be for the future good, we had to make a decision.”
Klyne Snodgrass, Between Two Truths – Living with Biblical Tensions, 1990, Zondervan Publishing House, p. 179.
Life is a series of choices. We make choices every day. Some choices have far reaching consequences and other choices are not so far reaching. Our choices determine the character, direction, destiny and eternity of our life. Thus learning what to choose and how to choose is very important in our lives.
Over the months in our message series on Joshua, we have marched with Joshua from the eastern side of the Jordan River over to Jericho and Ai. This followed by seven years of war with different nations, distribution of the Promised Land, and settling into the land. Walls have fallen, altars have been build, the sun stood still, and promise fulfilled. Joshua spent 40 years in Egypt as a slave, the next 40 years he was in the wilderness. Finally, his last 30 years had been spent in the glorious land of promised abundance. They are enjoying peace, prosperity, and rest from their foes now. Joshua had come to the sunset years of his life and at the age of 110, Joshua gathers all their leaders at Shechem for a final farewell.
Joshua 24:1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
Key of Joshua’s speech:
Joshua 24:14-15 14“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
On the surface, it appears that the people made the right choice. Three times they had promised to serve God alone, but they were merely giving lip service to that commitment.
Joshua 24:31 Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.
By the time we get to the next book of the Bible, the book of Judges, we find that the people had already violated their promise: Judges 2:8-11 88Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9And they buried him in the land of his inheritance… 10After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.
By the time we come to the book of Ruth, there is a famine in the land flowing with milk and honey. Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and sons went to live for while to live in the country of Moab.
Later we find that the same people who possessed the Promised Land were defeated by their enemies and taken as captives to a foreign land. They lost out on the Promised Land. Here are God’s people who followed God, received the promise, but their destiny was bad because of wrong choices.
Remember destiny is not a Chance, Destiny is a Choice.
How to choose the right destiny?
1. Remember what God has done.
In the first 13 verses of Joshua 24, Joshua lifts his voice in thundering tones and speaks on behalf of God. He begins with God’s call to Abraham and he recounts in stirring notes all the wondrous ways in which the Lord led his people down to this very day. Seventeen times Joshua takes the name of the Lord.