Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil to you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve… I. THE OCCASION OF THESE WORDS. II. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE RESOLUTION? 1. A solemn and exclusive worship of God from the heart. 2. In all the actions of our life to have respect to the will of God, to seek to please Him, to seek to glorify Him. 3. There are three ingredients in the service of God that may be considered as giving vitality to it. (1) The first is sincerity. The servant of God makes an entire surrender of himself to the service of God, and keeps back nothing from Him. (2) Next, this obedience must be minute — His service must be universally adhered to. There is a harmony and consistency between all the parts of real practical religion, so that they cannot be separated one from another, and if we separate them we deceive ourselves and lose sight of God. (3) Another ingredient in the service of God, if it be true and genuine, is that, like the principle from which it proceeds, it is permanent and abiding. III. SOME OF THE REASONS WHY WE SHOULD CLOSE WITH THE RESOLUTION OF JOSHUA. 1. It is our duty to serve the Lord from the relation in which we stand to Him and the unspeakable benefits we derive from His goodness. 2. The grand distinction of man above the other creatures consists in such a constitution of our nature as appears to have no other end or object but that of qualifying us for the end of worshipping God. 3. Consider, next, the great rewards which hereafter necessarily accompany the service of God. 4. Recollect, again, the impossibility of neutrality and the danger of delay. 5. Recollect, in a very short time, if you are not employed in the service of God, you will have no portion, no employment beneficial or dignified or delightful to all eternity. (R. Hall, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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