Let us now open our Bibles to Joshua chapter 24. And for our last message this evening, we shall consider verses 16 to 25. I believe that’s Joshua 24, 16 to 25. Let us read this passage responsibly. I will begin with verse 16:
“And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; for the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up, and our fathers, out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the Lord; for He is our God.” (Joshua 24:16-18, KJV)
And Joshua said unto the people, “Ye cannot serve the Lord: for He is an holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that He hath done you good.” (Joshua 24:19-20, KJV)
And the people said unto Joshua, “Nay; but we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:21, KJV)
And Joshua said unto the people, “Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” (Joshua 24:22, KJV)
Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey.” (Joshua 24:23-24, KJV)
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. (Joshua 24:25, KJV) Amen. The Lord add His blessings upon the reading of His Word.
Blessed evening to one and all. We are in the last message for this camp. Thank the Lord for how He has sustained us and blessed us with His precious Word.
Here we have the answer of the people of Israel to the question, the challenge that Joshua made. And we are to look into how they have affirmed and answered this challenge, and also we have to take note of how Joshua here challenged them. If they were really true to what they said. And we see how they confirmed this by telling Joshua, “Yes, we are to do this. In fact, we are witnesses.” But later, we will look at the next book of the Bible, the book of Judges, and we will see how they fared, how they worked out with what they have said.
We know of many people who are just good at saying things, claiming things, but they don’t do what they have said. We call them NATO — No Action, Talk Only. That is what is also named today. And we as preachers, I myself can testify, and I would admit that there are things that we say, and we are guilty of saying this to you: “You should do this, you should do that,” but even we ourselves, I myself, am not doing it. So I pray also for myself and ask the Lord to help me, even to preach to myself what I say here, what I preach to the people, that I may also be convicted of what I said.
The first hymn is very significant to me because it was the hymn that was sung when I first graduated in FEBC. And it says here, “We are prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love.” And indeed, that speaks true of my batch. It’s so sad that we were about 10 or 15 graduates during that time, but only very few are left remaining in the ministry today. So every time I hear that hymn, it really pricks my heart. I would cry before the Lord and ask, “Lord, please, also, help me that I may remain in the ministry, that I will continue on.” It is easy to say, “I love the Lord, I will serve the Lord,” but when we are confronted with the many challenges in life, it’s easy to give up.
In fact, there were many times in my work in the ministry that I wanted to say, “Lord, I want to give up. I want to stop. I want to surrender.” And there were times also that I even asked the Lord, “Lord, please take me, take me home today, Lord, please.” I had this burden, this heavy burden, that I don’t even want to face people. So there were times, and there are many times, even in our own lives, that we do this. And preachers, don’t look at us as supermen or people who have this great spiritual power. We all are like you. We are all the same, and we many times fail God.
That’s why we have to look into this passage to see how they have claimed that they will serve, and yet after that, we see that they failed. And today, we might commit ourselves to obey God and follow God and say, “Lord, we want to follow You, we want to serve as a family.” But we have to pray, “Lord, please help us. We cannot do this by our own. We cannot do this by our strength. We cannot do this by us claiming. We need Your strength. We need Your presence. We need You, Lord, in order for us to truly offer ourselves as a living sacrifice unto You.” We need God. We cannot do it by ourselves. Even pastors and preachers, there are so many who failed. Why? Because we trust ourselves. We just think that we are so highly close or very near to God because we are preachers, and yet we know that we are also weak people.
So we need every one of us. That’s why the song “We Must Be a Blessing” is very important. We have to pray for one another. And we know the burdens, we know how heavy the burdens are carried by many of us. People we think are so light-hearted, but really, in their hearts are so many things that are causing them to be worried, anxious in life. We need to pray for one another. We thank God for your care group. I got this idea that maybe we should also have this in our own fellowship. We need to divide into care groups. I cannot do it alone. Preachers cannot do it alone. We need one another.
And this is what they answered to Joshua here. They said, “The people answered immediately when he challenged them. 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 24:15, KJV)
This is what Joshua told them. And the people answered immediately. There is no pause. There is a word, and we will see in the scriptures. It’s always that continuous account. After that, they answered, and the people answered, “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.” May it not happen to us. May these things not be true to us. Let this not come to a point where we forsake the Lord. We will continue on to follow Him. We should not leave out the Lord, and we have to highlight here the idea of what is the Lord in L-O-R-D. This refers to our God, who is the Jehovah God of the Bible, the faithful God, the covenant-keeping God, the God who will always be faithful, the God who will always reaffirm what He has promised.
This is the God, the Lord, Jehovah, that is referred to here. And when we talk of the God here, Elim, which is also mentioned here, this refers to how powerful He is, how great He is, how mighty this God is. And He says, we should not forsake the Lord. The Lord is always faithful. The Lord is always with us. The Lord will always help us. We should not forsake the Lord to serve other gods, the Baals, the idols of the heathen nations around us.
Remember, they are already in the land of promise, in the Promised Land, in Canaan, and they are surrounded by many tribes. Each tribe was assigned a territory that they had to occupy. It’s their land to control. And later, we will see how they fared, how they did these things. And for the Lord our God, who brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt.
Now, take note that when they affirmed this, they just acknowledged the work of the Lord in their lives. When Joshua reminded them, he worked back or recalled to the times of Abraham. And when they affirmed this challenge, they remembered what the Lord, their God, our God, did for them when they were brought out of Egypt. I think it is significant. I believe it is quite significant because they acknowledged what they had experienced, what their fathers experienced, but they did not recall back to how God started it all.
And for us, we have to understand this. We don't just think about our own family, how God brought us out from darkness. We have to recall the goodness of God, even in the past. They may be our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, maybe idolaters, but we have to recall how the Lord brought them into such a place. That’s why we are in this place, and when we are in this place, we somehow come across some people who shared the gospel with us. And it is because of God's leading. They may not have come to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, but because of how God led them, they came, and oh, we came to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is to recall the goodness of God, even from the beginning. But they just mention what they have heard, what they have experienced. "Our fathers were brought out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and did those great signs in our sight." What we have seen, what we have heard, and preserved us in all the way during the time we were in the wilderness for 40 years, where we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. They went through, they were fighting against the Amorites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and others who tried to prevent them from going into the place or crossing from the other side of Jordan to the land of promise, Canaan. And they recalled the goodness of God, but they did not mention what Joshua told them at the beginning, how it all started from Abram—God, with His grace upon Abram, whom He called to come to the land where they are now occupying.
And He says here, "And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites." So when they crossed the Jordan, how the Lord dried up the river, how the Lord allowed them to go through, even though it was springtime and there was overflowing of water in Jordan—how miraculously God allowed them to go through on dry ground, and then entered into the land of the Amorites. And when they were there, God helped them. God gave them the land. If we are to recall how they defeated the city of Jericho, that was also a great miracle. Can you imagine how they trusted the Lord? They were asked to just go around six times with the trumpets, and then after that, they had to shout.
They could have easily questioned the Lord’s way: How can we defeat this city with that kind of tactic? That is not even like any military tactic we’ve heard before—how can we enter? And then we know how the Lord showed that after that day, the walls of Jericho were destroyed, and they entered in and occupied the city, defeating the people.
So He says here, "And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land." Therefore, will we also serve the Lord our God because of what He has done for us—delivering us out of Egypt, bringing us through the wilderness, and now we have entered into this land of Canaan, and now we have entered, we have occupied, we have this territory, we have enjoyed so much from this land, the land flowing with milk and honey. We will worship the Lord.
The question now that they have to remember is, how about when there are trials and testings that will come? Now, this is what Joshua challenged them with in verse 19. Joshua said unto the people, "Ye cannot serve the Lord." Now, the word "cannot" here is a correct translation, of course, but the idea is, you are not able to serve the Lord. You see, yourself, you were warned to fear the Lord with sincerity, serve Him with sincerity and in truth. That was in verse 14, and you have to put away the gods your fathers served on the other side of the flood. You did not mention this. You just said, "Well, we will not forsake, we will serve the Lord," but you did not say, "Okay, we are ready to take out and cast away all the gods. We will just trust the Lord, our God alone." They did not mention this when they answered Joshua. So he highlighted this and underscored it. He says, "Ye are not able."
You are not able to serve the Lord, because here He is a holy God. You cannot serve God with unclean hands. You’re gonna serve God with some heart’s doubting, questioning Him. You cannot serve God with some other things that still pull you away from Him. You’re gonna serve God with your heart towards other gods. You’re gonna serve God with having two masters, the world and the Lord. You’re gonna hold hands together; it’s either the world or the Lord. You have to decide. He’s a holy God, separate—the word "holy" means separate, sanctified. And He’s a jealous God. He will not allow anybody to have some kind of attraction, affection towards other gods, the idols. You have to focus yourself on God alone.
You cannot say that on Sunday, "I am devoted to God," but from Monday to Saturday, "I am all focused on the Lord, on the world." I don’t think about the Lord. I don’t think about the church. I don’t think about my service. I’m busy with my work from Monday to Saturday, or Monday to Friday. I’m focused on my studies. I’m focused on my work, I’m focused on my assignments. Only in the evening of Saturday, I remember, "Oh, tomorrow is Sunday. Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day. So I have to prepare myself." And so, the whole day you are there serving the Lord, but from Monday to Saturday, you are serving the world. Serving the enemy, serving Satan. Engaging yourself in all the things that the world offers, because you think that, "Well, this is Christianity, only on the Lord’s Day. The other days, it’s mine."
God says, "I’m jealous. I don’t want anybody to have affection towards another, like a husband. You don’t want to have your wife with another man. You don’t want your wife to go with another person, another man." The jealousy here refers to the fact that He wants our focus, our attention, to be on Him alone. We should not worship other gods. We should not give time to the things that would take away our love and affection towards Him. We should love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
And so this He reminded them because He knew that they were still keeping some of these gods. They were still focused on other gods. They still had affection towards the things of the world. In fact, we will see that later in the Book of Judges, He will not forgive your transgressions, nor your sins. It is true.
God will not sweep under the carpet all your transgressions. He will, surely, punish you. And in fact, here, Joshua mentioned, if he forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, give yourself to serve other gods, then He will turn and do you hurt. He will be against you. He will be fighting against you. And that we can remember how God let the Assyrians and even the Babylonians — the Assyrians went to the northern kingdom and the Babylonians to the southern kingdom. How God used them, allowed them, even called Nebuchadnezzar His servant in persecuting and causing the people of God to suffer because of their sins. He will turn against you, He will hurt you, He will consume you, He will eat you up, He will devour you. Because He is a jealous God. And this is what He will do to you and me.
And this is the same God. You may think of that as the God of the Old Testament; He is not the God of the New Testament. We have a forgiving God, we have a loving God, we have a merciful God, a gracious God, in the Lord Jesus Christ. No, it’s the same. It’s the same God, Old Testament and New Testament. He will not forgive our transgressions. We are only forgiven of our sins because somebody received that punishment. It is still punished. That transgression was justly punished, was condemned, was given the just retribution in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what we have to understand.
God will not forgive any single sin, whatever we have done, whatever sin that people have done, it will be punished. We thank the Lord that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself came down into this earth and said, "Yes, they have to receive that punishment, but I will receive it for them." That punishment must be given. He is not an unjust God.
This is the theory of some modernists today who will say, "Well, we have a non-just God. Non-just because He has to punish, but He did not do it." No, He punished our sins in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why all of us have sinned against Him, the punishment that we deserve is given to the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s how heavy, that’s how great was His sacrifice. That’s how the heaviness of the burden that He received when He was crucified on the cross. He will not forgive your transgression nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then the Lord will be against you.
And the people just said, "Oh no, we will continue to serve the Lord. We want to serve Him, we will serve the Lord." And so, Joshua reminded them, "Ye are witnesses against yourselves?" And they said, "Yes, we are witnesses." Now therefore, if you really want to serve, if you really want to give yourself to God, put away, said he, "the strange gods which are among you." Joshua knew. "You have to take away, put away, cast away all the things that keep you, buzz you, inhibit you, prevent you from serving the Lord." There are many things. It can be the love of something, a hobby. Some people who like to go for golfing on Sunday. They love golf more than to be in the Lord’s house. There are some people who love fishing. Somebody asks me, "Well, you know, if I go to Japan and have fishing, you know, and I’m there in the village on Sundays, but I still think of God, I still worship God, I read the Bible, but I’m in front of my fishing rod." And he asks me, "Am I sinning against God?" I told him, "I don’t think I am to answer you, brother. You know."
It can be some desire to excel in studies. That’s why we can just forget about God on Sundays and devote ourselves to focus on study in order to be recognised, awarded, as an A-plus student. It can’t be a desire to get more wealth, a bigger house, a bigger car. It can be a desire to be popular. "I must have a reward, I must have a promotion, I must have this kind of acknowledgement." Simple things. But these things bar and prevent us from coming and serving the Lord fully, wholeheartedly, because there are these things that keep us away from serving the Lord.
Now take note, we are not talking about giving ourselves full-time in the ministry, full-time in Bible college. Every one of us who are saved, we are to serve the Lord, but we have to fully serve God in which He is the very centre of everything. In our studies, we consider God. In our work, we consider Him. In our vacations, holidays, we have to think that we are not leaving out the worship of God, we are not leaving out our service to the Lord. We have to understand God is always at the centre. He is preeminent in all things, because He is God, our Lord, who delivered us out from the bondage of sin and delivered us out from the condemnation of hell, and even has the strength. He has given us the strength. He has given us life. He has given us the privilege even to live on this earth. He is our Creator. He is our provider. That’s why we all think that everything we can give to God, everything, we can offer unto the Lord.
We are witnesses that we want to serve the Lord, He said. And so, Joshua says, "Put away all the strange gods, all that blocks you from serving the Lord fully. It can be the love for our own children. It can be the love of that something that you really want to have, a dream to be a person well-known, that is a desire of man. If that will prevent you, then you have to put that away. That is a strange god that takes away your heart from the Lord, that you worship instead of God alone. Incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. Incline your heart. Lean toward Him. Be always attached to Him, attracted to Him. Have your affection towards Him."
And we know that after that, He assured Joshua because He says that the people said to Joshua, "The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey." You see, first they said in verse 18, "We will serve the Lord, for He is our God." And then in verse 21, they said, "Nay, but we will serve the Lord." And in verse 24, they said, "The Lord our God, will we serve, and His voice will we obey." It’s easy to claim this. It’s easy to say this. It’s easy to proclaim this to people. But one thing that we have to be mindful of is we have to be prayerful and seek God’s help, that we are able to fulfil it.
Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem, and even wrote here in verses 26 to 28, something from these words in the book of the law of God, and made a memorial, a great stone that represents or that is a witness unto the Lord for what they have promised.
Well, up to here, it was okay. Up to here is good. How we thank the Lord that they are willing. They want to serve the Lord. They want to give themselves unto God. They want to follow the Lord. They want to obey the voice of the Lord. Now let us move forward to the next book. Now we know that the word of God is always one. It’s not that it is, you know, another topic here far from it. It is, in fact, even a continuation of what was given in the Book of Joshua.
Now we see that when they were in the land of promise, in the Canaan, we know that they did not fulfil what they had said. Look at Judges chapter 1. If your Bible’s with you, and I believe you have it here, in verse 17, "And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it, and the name of the city was called Hormah. Also, Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon, with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof." So far, so good. "And the Lord was with Judah, and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley." Okay, starting now, we see that there are some problems. There are now difficulties. They could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of iron.
And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said, and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. And the children of Benjamin did not. (Joshua 1:17-18)
Now take note, first, they were not able; they had some difficulties. They did not seek out God's help. There is no record here that they sought God's help or asked others to help them. And then, when we see in verse 21, the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this day, meaning it was in the time of the writing of the book of Judges that they found out they just retained this people. They did not drive them out as God commanded them to drive them out of their territories.
Look at verse 22: "And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them, and the house of Joseph went to describe Bethel. Now the name of the city before was Luz, and a spy saw a man come forth out of the city, and he said unto him, 'Hush, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will show thee mercy.'" And so they attacked the city, but take note as they continue on. It says here in verse 27, let's jump to verse 27: "Neither did Manasseh." Or in verse 26, it says, "And the man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city, and called the name thereof Beth-el, which is the name thereof unto this day."
Now, in verse 27, it says, "Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, but the Canaanites would dwell in that land." They said they would serve the Lord and obey His voice. The command of God is to drive this out, but they did not do it. And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. You see, it’s like a habit that we know is preventing us from doing the work of the Lord. It’s like a passion or an ambition or something that we like that is there, but we don’t want to take it out. We want to remain. We want to have it. We want to keep it. We want to hug it.
Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them and became tributaries. You see, when they saw that, oh, they did not drive them out, they allowed them to stay, then people also think the other tribes, I believe that they saw this. They also thought, "Why should we drive them out? Why can’t we just put them in as tributaries?" Meaning they will become our servants. They will be those who will take water or firewood for us, and this tribe did it. Why can’t we?
Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob. But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Joshua said, "Put away the gods; just drive them out." But look at verse 33: "Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them." And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain, for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley.
So, they did not work together; they did not labour or help one another. When they saw that one tribe was allowing these people to stay, they also let other tribes allow these people to be in their own territories. And so the Lord had to come to them. Let us look at chapter 2: "And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, 'I made you to go up out of Egypt.'" Take note of this. This is the word of the angel of the Lord, and when we talk of the angel of the Lord, it refers to the pre-incarnate Christ. It is the Mal'akh Yahweh, the messenger of the Lord, the angel of the Lord. This is the pre-incarnate Christ. You see, even in those days, the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Messiah in His pre-incarnate state, was involved, was working with these people.
He came up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I made you, take note, I made you. It is the Lord, your God, here. The angel of the Lord was sent: 'I made you to go up out of Egypt and have brought you unto the land which I swear unto your fathers, and I said, I will never break my covenant with you, and ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars.'" Take note of the next phrase: "But ye have not obeyed my voice. Why have ye done this?"
"I have done all my part; I have given you my word, I have fulfilled it, but on your side, ye did not obey my voice." Previous chapters or pages that we have show they said, "We will obey the voice of the Lord." Now, we cannot point fingers at the Israelites. This is also true for us. Many times He promises, but we fail. And God says in verse 3, "Wherefore, because ye have not done this, and ye did not even ask Me, ye didn't even come to Me for help or repent of what ye have done against Me, and seek My help, wherefore I also, as Joshua already gave this warning to them, will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you."
And it came to pass when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept. They wept, and they called the name of that place Bokim, and they sacrificed there unto the Lord. But we cannot see, and we cannot find, and we do not have a record here that they repented of what they had done, asking the Lord to help them. "We will do it, Lord; we will fight against these people. We will cast them away. We have done evil before Thee, we have not obeyed Thy voice, we will now submit unto Thee and do what Thou hast given us, what Thou hast instructed us to do."
This is a continuation of chapter 24 of Joshua. "And when Joshua let the people go, the children of Israel went every man into his inheritance, to possess the land." And the people—take note of this—this was a continuation. "The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua." Take note of this: "The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that He did for Israel."
Meaning, when Joshua was there and the elders were there, they were looking after the people. They pleased Joshua; they pleased the elders. But when Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, and they buried him, that's in verse 9, look at verse 10: "And also that generation after Joshua, there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel." They knew not the Lord. Why? It’s a big question mark. Why did this next generation not know the Lord?
And here is this note that we have to take note of for us as servants. That is our responsibility as we promise to the Lord that we will serve, that we will teach what we know, what we learn, and to our children, and to encourage them that they may also teach what they have known to their own children. To encourage them that these teachings, that these doctrines, that these lessons that they have learned, will be passed through to their next generation, that they will know it. Because that was the failure. They did not teach what they had known, what they had learned. They did not pass it, they did not give it, they did not show it. They did not demonstrate this, pronounce this to the next generation. That’s why the next generation knew not the Lord. They didn’t even know the works of the Lord. They probably have heard of the Lord, they probably have known Jehovah, they probably have heard of all those miracles, but they personally were not having a relationship, they did not even know who this God, that their parents, their fathers, their mothers worshipped. There was a cut.
And so we know that the next verse is quite sad: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim" (Judges 2:11). Now, many times there are godly parents, but there are ungodly children. For us who are first-generation Christians, we may say our parents were unbelievers, and now we became believers by the grace of God. But it's our responsibility and our accountability to continue on teaching and sharing this with our children that they may serve also and tell what they have learned to the next generation. We don't have the assurance. It's only by the grace of God, remember. But we must be responsible, and we are not guilty before the eyes of God. We are not guilty before God, that we have done that which is really necessary, needful for us to pass these teachings and doctrines to the next generation.
They may not believe. Don’t blame the parents for some children who are wayward. If the parents did their best to teach their own children. There are those we know of many families who were godly, even pastors, and leaders of the church, but their children are wayward. How much they have done their best to teach the children. They just went away. And we cannot question God. We cannot question also the parents. They just, by their own will, do all things. We can just entrust them to the Lord and continue to pray for them, that somehow, in the next years or in some parts of their lives, they will return unto the Lord. But we as parents, we who know the Word of God, we know what the Lord wants us to do, must not fail God in teaching and sharing this to our children.
But here, it is obvious that they really did not pass, because nobody knew it. The whole generation, the next generation, the other generation after them, they knew not the Lord. They never even knew the works which He had done for Israel. "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim" (Judges 2:11). "And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them" (Judges 2:12). So now, those people that they did not drive away, these are now thorns, these are now people who try to tempt them to get the hearts of their own children, to love them, and so they forsook the Lord, they served Baal and Ashtaroth. "And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them. And He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies" (Judges 2:14). "Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed" (Judges 2:15).
One thing, if we read the book of Judges, we will not continue on with the whole book, but what we learn is that God is still faithful. He continues on to provide them judges, and whenever they repent, God delivers them out. But the problem was, when they are delivered out, later, the next generation also sins against God, and that’s always the case. People, we always fail. There are many times that we promised God, we say, "I have to do this. I have to offer this. I have to give my time to the Lord." But later we fail. The only thing, the necessary thing that we have to do is to repent, to confess our sins, to confess our failures, to confess what we have failed before God and ask for His help, ask for His blessings, ask for us to be restored back unto Him. That is the only way. We should not harden our hearts. We should not keep our hearts away, saying, "I have not done this, I will never come to the church, or I have not done this, okay? I’m not worthy of the church anymore. I’m not worthy of a burden. I will not attend anymore the church. I will not attend the Bible study. I will not pray, because I have done this." The more that we will be getting farther and farther away from the Lord. The moment God convicts us, the moment God shows us that we are wrong, the moment that God shows us that we have sinned against Him, we have to kneel down and cry and ask the Lord to forgive us. God is just and faithful to forgive us of all our sins and wash and cleanse us from all our iniquities, if we confess our sins (1 John 1:9). That’s our God. He’s willing. He welcomes everyone. We should bow down before Him and acknowledge that we are weak people. We need Him. There’s the strength that we need. He is God who is able. He is faithful. Yes, He is going to punish us if we continue on living a life apart from Him. But if we will return unto Him, He is our God who is willing, always, to bring us back and welcome us into His loving arms.
Remember the parable of the prodigal son, how he had done wicked things against his father, but his father was waiting, looking for him daily, looking forward for the son to come. He knew that he would come again. He knew that he would be back. Why? Because he’s his son. And truly, if we are children of God, we surely will go back to Him. We will not wander farther and farther away. We will not leave the faith. We will not leave the church. We will not hide ourselves. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13).
And so all of us, not only you, but the more for us, in the ministry, the more that we daily confess our sins, because we know we have failed God many times. If you think that you have failed God in your life, the more you don’t have to say, "Oh, it’s better for him." He is faithful. You have to understand, we all fail God. It’s only God who is perfect. He’s the only God who is faithful. He is the God who is all wise and good, and that’s why we come to Him. We don’t have to be proud to think that we can do it. We don’t have to be proud at all. "I have been a Christian for so long, for 30, 40 years. I can do it." We have to rely on the Lord. We may proclaim, declare, "We will serve the Lord, our family will serve the Lord." But we need God’s help. We need the help of God. We need God in our sight. And we need one another. We need the help of one another. That’s why we are told to serve as a family, because we cannot do it alone. If you, a husband, are trying to do your best to serve the Lord and your wife is dragging you away, it is so hard. That’s why we have to be one. We have to talk, we have to come together, we have to honestly say, "This is what we desire as a family, we have to serve the Lord." Let us explain, let us tell the children openly. That is our desire, as a husband, as a father, or as a mother, tell the husband, tell the man, tell the children, "We have to do it." And tell them and encourage them that we will be one in the Lord. Communication is important in the family, that we should be one. That’s why there is open communication. When we continue on to preach, talk of a brother, he says, "It’s the best time, it’s the best window for me to teach my children." We have limited time. When they go to secondary school, to high school, why, it’s difficult really to ask for them even a few minutes for devotion. But while they are still young, we can do it. And let them know the Word of God. "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). And when he grows old, when he’s old, he will remember all what we have taught them, what we have given them, what we have shared to them. Thank God for one parent who shared a while ago. They said, "We cannot have much time, we can just read a few verses, gather together."
4o mini
In our ways, in our case, we use the junior RPG for the children. We cannot use the adult. They cannot understand. But for us, older people, we go down to their level, to read junior RPG, children's devotional, so that they will understand. And even when we were cold, we were reading this, 365, what, stories of the Bible, that read book, that teaches the many stories of the Bible. Each day, there is a passage, a story to be given. That was for the children, but we have parents who have to go down to their level for them to understand. Devotional, praying together that we be one in the Lord because we cannot do it alone. And that is a way also by which we can pass to them, teach them, let them learn of the word of God. I pray we will be desiring to do this. We don't want to miss that opportunity, that window that God has given us. As Christian parents, we have to do it. And with patience, you know, I'm an impatient person. It was one time that my wife was in the hospital for a surgical procedure. I was left alone to take care of the three kids. And you know, girls, there are so many things to do or prepare, and they are still young and they were sometimes playful, someone is still sleeping. And they had to report to the office into the laboratory, and here we are, the two girls who are doing nothing. I had to bring them to school. They did not listen to me. It's two girls, you know? You think they are, you know, older children? Oh, they were also naughty children when they were young. I had to carry them. Oh, come, let us go. Until there was almost time. You know, I cried before them. I didn't know why, but, you know, when you deal with our children also, we know how to deal with them according to the needs, girls, you don't have to whack them always, like girls. My boy, he got it. But, you know, but this, I cried. That's why when I saw Brother Derek, I said, "Oh, this brother, I salute you, brother. How can you take care of these two children alone? For me, I think one day I will be with the kind of children I have, I would be mad. I mean, be crazy for one day keeping them." That's why I thank God for my wife, who always takes care of them. I was asking my daughter a while ago, "Is it only Brother Derek bringing the two children?" She said, "Yes." "Ah, I can't do it. I just one day or a few hours, I'll be. Maybe I don't know what I'd do." But we need to, of course, we need the strength of God. It's by the grace of God. But we need us parents. I thank God that they are here as children, even though the mother cannot come. We have to help one another. And that's the desire that God has for us as a family. We have to fill in the gap, we have to help one another, we have to be encouraging one another. That is the need for wives, when they have their husbands, they are not spiritually mature, they have to encourage them, to lead. We don't have to show off that we are more spiritually or we are spiritually mature, more than our husbands, and we lead devotion. We have to let them lead. We have to let them understand that they are the leaders, the leader of the family. He may not be able to expound the word, but he can read it. And the voice of the father in the family, reading the scripture is, for me, a powerful thing that can help children to understand that they have had a leader in the family. God has appointed this head, and it's important for us to deal with our children in such a way. So I pray, this is the note for us as servants. If we truly want to serve the Lord, yes, we volunteer, we say, "Yes, Lord, we want to serve you," but we should not forget that we will tell and explain and teach this to our children that they may teach also their own children. We should not stop, that we are so engaged in the work of the ministry, but leave out our children. We are so engaged with the work of the church that we forget about our children. They are important because without that continuation, if we don't teach them, they will end up like what the Israelites did. A generation came that they knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel (Judges 2:10).
So, it's important for us parents to let the children be involved in the ministry, or be involved in even simple things that they can do for the work of the Lord. We have to, even in folding weeklies, that's what we did before in sweeping, in arranging the hymnals, minor things, but they know, "I must do it for the Lord." And when they will grow, they will learn to love, to serve the Lord. I was assigned to clean the van, wash the van. When I started FEBC, and sometimes because of pride, I thought, I was before, I just asked people to, you know, clean these things and wash my... Now I'm the one cleaning. And so, it was hard for me at first, I was murmuring, complaining, you know, that heart of, you know, proud people who think that I was somebody, and now I'm just a cleaner. And so, I asked my son to come with me. Now he is, and then clean the van. Now when he became a student of FBC, he was also assigned to clean the van. Thank God, he knew it because he had done it before. We have to involve our children in the ministry. We have to let them know they are part of the work of the Lord. We have to let them be involved because they have to take this to the next generation. It is not just us who are serving now. We want them to continue the work. They may not become pastors or they may not become elders or deacons in the future, but we have to let them be part of the ministry. They have to see that they are to serve the Lord. And they pray that is our desire for our children coming in. Bringing your children into this camp is a way of telling them, we have this kind of ministry. We have this kind of activity and we pray that in the near future, they love to think of church camps, to think of YPG camp, or to think of any gathering because they have been, since childhood, they know what it means and how they come together, learn God's word, and they long for it.
And that's why we thank the Lord. We know there are some who cannot come because of some important matter. Like those students in the unity, they cannot come. But thank God for our young children that they can come. They will learn. We may thank God, they are just playful. They're running around. They don't know anything. They may think that everything is just coming here to play and eat or what. But their presence and they see their parents singing, reading the Bible, listening to the word of God. They will learn. And I pray that is our desire. We should not despise these things. We should not despise the privilege that God has given us. We don't know what is in their minds. The blessing of God upon them will surely encourage them to continue on doing the work of the Lord. And I pray God will help everyone. And so, in this message, or in this theme, we want to serve the Lord as a family. We have to go back to the Bible again as our basis. We cannot find any other source. There are so many books on the internet now, how you can serve, there are so many steps, there are so many guidelines. "Do this and do that, bring your children and have this." But the best book, the best prescription, the best textbook that we can have in serving the Lord as a family is the Bible. And to bring them from the Book of Genesis down to Revelation is a very good way of telling them this is God's word for us. And of course, we have to show them the pattern, we have to fear the Lord. We have to love the Lord, and I must continue on to remind them that not only fearing the Lord, loving the Lord, but we have to teach the word of God to our children, to teach them diligently in every opportunity that we can have, so that they will learn God's word. And then let them be involved as part of the family, the family of God.
Let us be part of the ministry, to be baptised as children, let them be part of a member of the church, or to be involved in the ministry, to partake of the Lord's Supper when they become communicant members, to remind them of the spiritual significance of the Lord's Supper. They may learn this as the way by which we serve the Lord, and give them opportunities and privileges to serve the Lord, things that they can do. Our children today, they are so good in IT, they are so good in computers. Even without being taught, they just somehow know, when they're born, somehow have knowledge of all these things. They know how to open the phone, they know how to scroll the phone. Let them use that skill. Let them use that talent for the Lord. Many opportunities exist by which we can serve the Lord through this.
And then, we have to be reminded always of why we need to serve. It's important that we recall God's goodness upon us, God's grace upon us, God's mercy upon us, how He saved us, delivered us out from the bondage of sin and the condemnation of hell, and eternal lake of fire. It is good for us to remind our children of this. We are now in an age where they say, "You don't have to tell children about death. You don't have to tell children about hell. That will discourage them. That is not developing self-esteem, that will not let them be encouraged in living out their skills or abilities." We once taught our children how to pray, and in that prayer, there was a phrase that said, "When I will die, in that phrase, please bring me and carry me towards Thy kingdom." And one Christian lady told us, "Don't talk about death to the children. That will just discourage them. That will not be a way by which you are encouraging these people. Remind them of the wonderful things of this life, how they can live. Don't think of death, punishment, hell, and the eternal lake of fire."
But we need to do that. We have to remind our children in this way so that, as early as they can, they will know and have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. They will receive Christ as their Lord and Saviour. And, of course, we have to show them how to live it out in practice. We ourselves must show how to serve the Lord in the fearful, reverent service, in how we righteously serve the Lord, and how we give ourselves in our service as a reasonable service.
There are some people who will just tell, or parents will say, "Oh, go to Sunday school," or "Attend this." But they are in the house; they are not even participating. Fathers who will say, "Don't smoke," but they are smoking. "Don't drink," but they are drunk. It's like that. We have to show them. We are servants in this business, in the King's business. We are to be examples, and we should show them that if this is the case, if we are even willing to give up something in order to be used in the ministry, let them know. So that, when the time comes that it is needful for them to serve the Lord, they will also be willing to offer themselves. Let us show them how to really practice and live out what it means to serve the Lord.
And, of course, we have to encourage them to be part of the ministry, whatever ministry that they can participate in. We also have to ask them and teach them how to continue on trusting in the Lord by reading the Scriptures, praying, and asking God to help us, because we are weak people. As parents, we must also be honest with them. We fail, we are weak, we trust the Lord, for without God's grace, we cannot do it. And we have to show them that we really need God in our service.
Let us continue moving forward to serve the Lord as a family, going back into the Scriptures. These messages are not enough for us to know everything about how to serve, but the Bible is with us. I pray we will be encouraged to read the Bible together as a family. Read the Scriptures, pray together, to be strengthened to serve Him. May the Lord help us, and in the coming months and years in our lives, there will be a next generation—not that they knew not the Lord, but a next generation that knew much of the Lord, and knew the works of God that He had done to you, to me, and they can recall, "This is what God has done for my parents, He is so good to them. He has done so much for them. He has done these things for them." And we, too, have experienced them. And they will show that to the next generation, so that they will continue on until that time the Lord Jesus Christ will come, until the time when the Lord Jesus Christ will bring us up with Him. May the Lord help us, guide us, and bless us.
Let us pray.
O glorious Father in heaven, we thank You for how Thou hast blessed us with Thy Word, and we know, Lord, that these are not enough how we want to know more of Thee and know more of Thy Word. Thy Spirit can teach us, and we pray, Lord, that this camp will not be an end to itself, but we will continue on, moved by the Spirit, to labour together, to serve Thee with Thy Word to guide us, and with the whole family, to be involved in the ministry. Father, be merciful and gracious to Bethel BPC, to the pastor, to the deacons, to the members, to the families, to the fathers, to the mothers, to the children, to everyone in this church, and to the friends. We pray, Lord, that You will grant Thy mercy and grace upon them to bless them, and to use them, O Lord, even to give glory unto Thy name. In these last days, where we see so much of the deceptions and seductions of this world, and so many are falling away from the faith, O Lord, may Thou wilt preserve Bethel BPC, that there is always a light in this part of Australia, in this land down under, that there is always this light that will shine forth to show that Thou art our God, our God who is faithful, our God who is gracious, who is willing to save those who will repent and acknowledge and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.
We pray that You will continue to encourage the believers here to move forward, even to work, for the night is coming when we cannot work anymore, and we don't have time to serve Thee. While we have the strength, the privilege, the opportunity, and the church to serve, O Lord, may Thou grant us the heart to serve Thee as a family. We pray, we ask, and give You thanks for all these things. In the mighty name of Thy Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.