Guest Series | Grace Through Judgement (July 18, 2021) Myles Holmes

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm so thankful for God's word, and I'm so thankful to be with you this morning and opening up God's Word.

If you have a copy of God's word, you can open it up to Joshua chapter 9.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

We're gonna mean Joshua chapter 9 this morning.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

And as you think about Old Testament books, and particularly the book of Joshua, often our minds gravitate to stories, don't they?

They gravitate to stories in the Old Testament, specifically stories where God's uh maybe character or attributes are put on display in some magnificent way.

When it comes to Joshua, we might think of the walls of Jericho coming crumbling down in such an absurd way as the army of Israel just walks around and blows trumpets and defeats the army at Jericho.

We might think of places where God's holiness is put on display.

Like in Isaiah 6, where Isaiah sees a picture of God's glory.

We might go to all these different stories in the Old Testament that display God's love or maybe his sovereignty or his care.

But there's one way that God puts himself on display in the Old Testament that perhaps more than any of the other ways is more troubling to us.

See, all throughout the Word of God we find God's justice, God's judgment, and God's wrath being poured out on people.

And so the question that we find ourselves asking as we work through the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, is this how are we to understand these stories where we read of God's judgment being poured on these people?

How are we to understand God being a God of love and justice?

Perhaps there's many ways we might answer this question.

Sometimes we just avoid it.

We just read really fast through those stories, we pretend like it's not there, we make uh stories like Noah and the Ark into this really lovey-dovey story, and we try to hide the parts of God's wrath and anger.

We might avoid it or we might excuse it.

Sometimes we'll say, Well, that's the God of the Old Testament.

See, the God of the Old Testament is a God of anger, but the God of the New Testament is a God of love.

But I want to propose to you this morning that in these moments together that we shared this morning, let's acknowledge it.

Let's look at what we see in Joshua chapter 9 and acknowledge it together.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

And what we'll find is that when we see and properly respond to God's judgment, we'll find his grace.

Where you see God's judgment, you can find God's grace.

And so I want to invite you this moment in these moments to press into God's judgment together and to see a picture of God's grace that we can only see there.

See, when we run into God judging his people, we are not finding God on a bad day.

It's not like we crossed God at the wrong time.

Instead, we are seeing another glorious picture of our great God.

So let's see that in Joshua chapter 9 together, and let's be led together by God to his grace.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

I'm gonna read this whole chapter for us.

So let's look at your copy of God's word in Joshua chapter 9.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

As soon as all the kings who are beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland, all along the coast of the Great Sea towards Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites heard of this, they gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel.

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning, and went and made ready provisions, and took worn out sacks for their donkeys and wineskins, and worn out and torn and mended, with worn out patched sandals on their feet, and worn out clothes, and all their provisions were dry and crumbly.

And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him, and to the men of Israel, We have come from a distant country.

So now make a covenant with us.

But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you live among us.

Then how can we make a covenant with you?

They said to Joshua, We are your servants.

And Joshua said to them, Who are you, and where do you come from?

They said, We come from a very distant country, because of the name of the Lord your God.

We have heard a report of him and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and the king of Heshbon, and to Og, king of Bashan, who lived in Ashterath.

So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them and say to them, We are your servants.

Come now, make a covenant with us.

Here is our bread.

It is still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you.

But now, behold, it is dry and crumbly.

These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst.

And these garments and sandals are of ours are worn out from the very long journey.

So the men took some of their provisions, but they did not ask counsel from the Lord.

And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

At the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were neighbors, and that they lived among them, and the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day.

Now their cities were Gibeon, Sapphira, Birath, Girath Jirim.

But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel.

Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders, but all the leaders said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.

This we will do to them, let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.

And the leader said to them, Let them live.

So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them.

Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, Why did you deceive us, saying we are very far from you, when you dwell among us?

Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my God.

And they answered Joshua, because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the habitants of the land from before you.

So we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and you did and did this thing.

And now, behold, we are in your hand.

Whatever seems good and right in your sight, do to us, do it.

So he did to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill him.

But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord to this day, in the place that he should choose.

Now the book of Oshua is about the nation of Israel being sent on mission by God to inherit the land that God had promised to them.

And so the sovereign and powerful God is leading Joshua.

Kids, you would love the book of Joshua.

There's so many battles, there are kings, there are castles, there are armies.

And it's this amazing story of Israel being led on conquest, defeating city after city, as God puts his power on display.

Now, at this point in Israel's life, they've seen both God's power, as he's miraculously delivered them from their strong enemy, but they've also seen their weakness.

As they've sinned and seen the effects of their sin leading to defeat.

And now, as God continues to lead his people through Canaan on conquest, he is going to show us as a church, as a body of believers, how we can find his grace.

And so I want you to notice the first point from chapter, Joshua chapter 9 this morning is this I will find God's grace when I properly pursue him.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

I will find God's grace when I properly pursue him.

Now look at me with look at look with me at Joshua chapter 9, verse 1.

Joshua 9:1

And we read that as Israel is storming through Canaan, they're becoming famous.

They're becoming the talk of the town.

And news is traveling so that the kings of these four major cities decide that something needs to be done to this army that's seeing victory after victory that is coming this way their way.

See what Israel is doing here in Canaan is they're executing the judgment of God on these nations.

And so they go to war with these nations, and city after city, king after king, Israel is seeing victory, and they are taking possession of the land that God has promised them.

And so these four kings, they they look and they start to see Israel, this force is coming towards them.

Throughout Joshua, as God's judgment is being executed, we also see people responding to God's judgment.

And so I want you to see here three proper, improper responses we can have to God's judgment.

If you're taking notes, you can write these down.

We see three improper responses to the judgment of God in the book of Joshua.

And the first is actually a few chapters back in Joshua 5.1.

I want you to flip there.

It's probably one or two pages backwards in your Bible.

And notice that this is not the first time that Joshua and the Israelites have been the talk of kings.

Look what it says in 5.1.

It says, As soon as all of the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all of the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over.

Listen to this, their hearts melted, and there is no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

See, in Joshua 9.1, we see the kings see what God is doing through Israel and begin to fight against Israel.

But in Joshua 5.1, we see the kings flee.

And so one improper response we can have to God's judgment is the response of fleeing.

Maybe you're here this morning and this would perfectly describe your relationship with God.

Maybe you you know that there is a penalty for sin.

Maybe you know that you have sinned and you've fallen short of the glory of God.

And you know how righteous God is, and you know how sinful you are, and you don't think there could ever be any way out for a person like you, so you are fleeing God.

But your sin continues to haunt you.

Well, there are other ways we might flee God.

Maybe we flee God through ignorance.

In fact, I would say that of most of the people that I have had a conversation with about Christ, this is probably the most uh prevalent way that people flee God.

See, you can flee God by not knowing about Him.

And most people I talk to, it's not just that they don't know Him.

See, they don't know about God, they don't know about Jesus Christ, they don't know what the Bible says.

But with most people I talk to, the reality is that they just don't care to know Him.

And so they choose to be ignorant.

So one way you can flee the wrath of God, the judgment of God, is thinking, is by thinking that what you don't know can't hurt you.

Now let's think about that.

We've probably heard that phrase before.

Have you ever heard someone say that before?

Well, what they don't know can't hurt them.

I'm just here to declare that that phrase is false.

There are many things that you don't know that can't hurt you.

And so if you and I, maybe we're neighbors and we're standing on our street and I see that there's a car coming towards you, and I say, hey, maybe you should step out of the way, there's a car coming towards you, and you say, I choose not to know that piece of information.

I choose to be ignorant.

Well, what's gonna happen?

That car is gonna come and hit you.

And you will have then and there, for the moment that you're still alive, have learned that what you don't know can hurt you.

And so, friend, if you're here, and perhaps you've heard about this person named Jesus Christ, but you don't know him, and you've never taken the time to study him.

Can I encourage you to do one thing?

Can you at least know enough about Jesus Christ to reject him?

Don't be content with just maybe hearing or thinking about him at Easter and Christmas.

Dive into who Jesus Christ is, and what you will find as you open the Word of God and study for yourself is that the Christian worldview makes the most sense of the world.

That sin is a very real thing, and that salvation is offered to you in Jesus Christ, and that you'll no longer have to flee.

The first response we can have to God's judgment is that of fleeing.

But the second we can have is seen in Joshua 9.1, and that's that of fighting.

Maybe we're not fleeing God's judgment, but we're fighting against God's judgment.

And so notice that the kings in Joshua 9.1, they fight against God.

They've seen Israel's weakness.

In fact, just two chapters previous to this, Israel had suffered defeat because of their sin.

And so in chapter 10, they're actually going to mount an attack against Israel, thinking that this is the critical time to attack, thinking this is the time when they are weak.

See, these kings fell in danger of believing they could oppose the plan and the mission of God.

And it is possible for Christians to do that as well.

It's possible for those of us who are in Christ to fight against the work that God is doing.

Maybe it's by ignoring sin that God keeps convicting you about, that God keeps bringing up in your life.

You're fighting against God's plan for your holiness.

Maybe it's by refusing to serve in that ministry that you know that you are gifted to serve in, or you know that you are able to serve in.

Maybe it's by not allowing other Christians to speak the truth and love into your life.

See, understand, you will never find God's grace if you fight God's work.

Now, the last improper response, three improper responses we see, and they have to all start with F, right?

We can flee, we can fight.

But the last improper response to God's judgment we see is that of faking.

And so look at what the Gibeonites do in verses three to five.

In verse three, they heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and I, and so it says in verse four that they acted with cunning.

And they started preparing all these materials, and they became uh master actors, and they played the part of foreigners, and they pretended that they came from a land far away, and so they took their dusty and crusty clothes, their old and moldy food, and they packed it all up and they came to Israel with a plan and a story.

They were there to deceive.

They were there to pretend that they were foreigners, but the problem was they weren't.

See, Gibeon was only seven miles away from where the Israelites currently were.

See, it's possible to see God's judgment against his enemies and believe that you can trick God into friendship.

And just as the Gibeonites decided to fake it until they made it, many of us can do the same.

And so take this moment to reflect on your life.

Are you a genuine person?

Are you an authentic person?

Do you feel like you can be real about your weaknesses, about your sin struggles with those that are around you?

Or do you have to put on a fake faith and a fake spirituality and a mask?

Do you have to fake it before God?

You know, one of the ways that I see this happening, and I'm so tempted even to uh fake it in my own life, is that it can be very possible for us to ride on the coattails of previous victories in our life.

One of the ways that we can fake it before God is by having this identity of something, of someone that we once were, but no longer are.

Maybe there's a time in your life where you really were on fire for sharing the gospel.

And you shared the gospel with everyone you possibly could.

You were on the bus, you were talking to people about who Jesus Christ is.

You were at work, you were sharing Christ with your coworkers, and you really considered yourself gifted at evangelism and passionate about evangelism, but now you find yourself not really sharing Christ as much, but still pretending like you are that gifted evangelist.

Still acting as though this is a passion of yours.

And in this very moment, God is calling you to authenticity before Him, to recognize who you truly are.

See, what we're being taught in Joshua is that God must be properly pursued.

But here's the amazing reality.

The Gibeonites, they didn't need to deceive their way into God's kingdom.

They didn't need to deceive their way into eternal life.

And the amazing truth for us is that God has sent his son to show us the way so that we no longer have to flee, we no longer have to fight, we no longer have to fake it.

God's own Son has shown us the way, and he came with a simple message, and the message was this repent and believe.

Repent and believe.

This is the way to eternal life.

No more fleeing, no more fighting, no more faking.

Repent of your sin and believe and be baptized.

This was Jesus' message, and it was simple.

First thing we must do to find God's grace is properly pursue him.

But the second thing we see in Joshua chapter 9 is that I will find God's grace when I constantly consult him.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

I constantly consult him.

And so in these next verses, we see Joshua confronted by the Gibeonites.

Now notice how they come to him in verse 6.

They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.

They get right to the point.

Now, first we see the lie.

See what they say?

They say, We've come from a distant country.

Now we know this isn't true.

We know that Gibeon is actually a neighbor of Israel at this point.

And then in no time, in fact, in a matter of a few days, Israel would be knocking on Gibeon's door.

But the Gibeonites understood this.

And so they came to deceive Joshua.

And Joshua didn't understand.

Now, next we see the purpose of their lie.

Look what it says in verse 6.

They say, We've come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.

Isn't this true about lying?

If you struggle with lying, there's always a purpose to your lying, isn't there?

I mean, there are some people who are chronic liars, maybe they lie for no reason, but for most of us, we lie for a purpose.

We think that if we lie, we can get ourselves into a better position than God could put us in.

So the Gibeonites come with that very purpose.

They want to put themselves in a better position.

So they say to Joshua, make a covenant with us.

See, we're foreigners, we're not from around here, so just promise us that you won't mess with us.

They want Joshua to spare them, to promise to spare them before he discovers who they truly are.

Now, at first, Joshua rightly responds.

But the Gideonites are clever.

They not only brought provisions, they brought a whole story.

They're masterful, not masterful liars.

So they continue to develop the story.

They say in verses 12 and 13 that they were sent from far away.

And they bring provisions.

And now in verse 14, the men are looking at these provisions and they're studying them.

They're looking with their human eyes, they're trying to understand with their human mind and their human perceptions exactly what is going on here.

We know they do they're doing that because look what it says at the beginning of verse 14.

It says, Um, so the men took some of their provisions.

Now let's ask ourselves what did the Gimeonites bring?

Well, they they brought stale and moldy bread.

They brought their crusty and unwashed garments, and if any of You are in charge of laundry in your house, you know that this is something that, unless you have to, you don't want to mess with.

And so there's Joshua and the Israelites holding the Gibeonites underwear, inspecting it, and trying to confirm if this is a true story or not.

And as they look at this, as they look at their clothes, as they sniff the moldy, stinky bread, they decide that this is a true story.

It must be true.

From all human appearances, their story seems right.

But look at the problem in verse 14.

But they did not ask counsel from the Lord.

See, Joshua, he never consulted God.

And see, the problem was he was making judgments to the best of his human ability when he had the opportunity to access a greater and higher wisdom.

There's such good application for our lives here.

See, we lead ourselves astray.

We lead ourselves to sin.

We lead ourselves to foolishness when we fail to consult the Lord.

It is possible that when it comes to decisions in your life, instead of having your ears to the Lord, you have your eyes to the world.

And yet this is how God wants us to live in constant consultation with Him.

God loves for us to be dependent in this way.

This is why I love that old hymn.

You probably know it so uh in such a familiar way.

What a friend we have in Jesus.

All our sins and griefs to bear.

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.

Is that not true, church?

But listen to this.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit.

Oh, what needless pain we bear.

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

See, you damage yourself when you do not consult the Lord in everything.

And so here's the question: what should have Joshua done?

What should he have done?

How do we consult the Lord?

How do we make a decision as to what we are to do?

Do we have to wait for what feels right?

I remember having to make a decision when I was a teenager, and I'd hold open the Bible, I'd pick up the Bible and I'd flip it to a random page, and I'd point at a verse and I'd say, That's for me.

That's what God has to say to me.

Maybe that's what we have to do.

Maybe we have to wait to hear an audible voice from God.

Well, scripture actually gives us three signs, three tools actually that we have access to if we are to consult God constantly.

And the first is this we have scripture.

If you want to consult God, the first thing that you must turn to is scripture.

See, God has given us a book.

And when we need instruction on how to live our life, when we need wisdom for a situation, the first thing we must do is look at the book.

The instruction manual.

We like to think that we can do it ourselves, that we don't need it.

But wisdom always prevails when you have the instruction manual in your hand.

All the details you need are there.

And God has given us this book, that this book that is about his man, his son, the man, Jesus Christ.

And he has instructed us how to live.

So we're in seeking counsel.

The first thing we must look to is God's word, not only for instruction, but also so that God can shape us so that our desires are no longer our own desires, but are his.

See, as we read God's word, we're transformed from one degree of glory to another.

So that making decisions for the glory of God becomes easier because no longer do I want what I want, I want to live in the image of Jesus Christ.

Second thing that God's given us, He's given us is Scripture, but the second thing He's given us is counsel.

See, God has placed you in a church.

For many of you, He's placed you in a small group.

Where there are people who are constantly speaking the truth in love into your life.

And one of the most foolish things that I see have seen time and time again in my short time in ministry of the church is that people make life-altering decisions without consulting people who are discipling them, who know them so intricately, who know their strengths and weaknesses.

And there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors.

The writer of Proverbs says, in the abundance of counselors, there is victory.

And so God's placed people in your life, and it's your responsibility to go to them for counsel, to ask them for help.

Three tools we have scripture, counsel, and the last is prayer.

And I'm convinced that one of the reasons that often the path forward for us in life isn't clear is because God loves when we are dependent on Him in prayer.

And there are many times in my life where I have not known what to do, and I've gotten on my knees and I've prayed to the Lord.

And as I've prayed day after day, as I've yearned in prayer, the path has become clear.

And I'm sure you can account victories in your own Christian life of that happening.

And so, Christian, as we've seen God so faithful in our lives, let's continue to seek him in prayer and see him help us as we make decisions for his glory.

See, we find God's grace when we constantly consult him.

Third thing I want you to see in the book of Joshua is that we we find God's grace when we faithfully follow him.

We find God's grace when we faithfully follow him.

Now, at this point in verse 16, the Gibeonites have left, and the mission of Israel moves forward.

Israel is on conquest, taking the promised land, military victory after military victory.

But in verse 16, they realized what had happened.

You see what it says in verse 16?

At the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were neighbors and that they lived among them.

Joshua and Israel come to this realization that they're not foreigners, they're actually neighbors.

Take a moment to imagine what this news would be like for Israel.

See, Israel really has experienced the highs of being a nation and the lows of being a nation.

Imagine how they would have felt at Jericho when Joshua comes to them with this crazy plan.

Hey, we're gonna march around these walls with trumpets, and then after many days of doing that, all day, the walls are gonna fall down.

Could you imagine being Israel in that moment?

I don't know, Joshua, but then when it happens, could you imagine the joy, the glory you'd have in God seeing him act in this powerful way?

And immediately after that, Joshua Joshua and the nation of Israel would sin against God.

And they would suffer defeat at I because of their sin.

You can imagine now that they're a little shaky.

They've experienced high highs and they've experienced low lows, and they've just come to Gibeon to realize that they made another mistake.

That they granted peace to a nation that they shouldn't have.

They're standing before in front of another battle, realizing that there's been another failure.

That the mission of God's come to a halt because all because Joshua and the leaders of Israel did not consult the Lord.

So the people of God, they come to, the people of Israel come to realize what had happened.

And you can understand what they say at the end of verse 18.

It says, Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders.

Kids, you know what it means to murmur?

Have you ever murmured in your life?

Maybe that's a weird word.

It means to complain, doesn't it?

Have you ever complained?

Put your hands up if you've complained before.

Yeah.

None of the kids, though.

We must have a great kids' ministry going on in here that's defeated the sin of complaining.

I see some of the parents do not believe that that is true.

Well, Israel was complaining.

Israel was complaining about the leadership.

In fact, this is not the first time that Israel complained and murmured.

Israel, maybe could be best defined as a bunch of complainers.

All throughout the wilderness journey, we see Israel time and time again complaining.

Sometimes these absurd complaints that even some children have made.

I remember making it when I was a child.

Oh, I would rather die than be where I am right now.

Kids, have any of you ever gone so far as I've gone where you pack this, you know, the stick in the red bag that you run away with?

I've packed that bag before.

I'm out of here, mom, I'm out of here, dad.

And Israel is complaining against the leaders.

And they've done this time and time again, but this is one of the few instances in Scripture where Israel was right.

See, the leadership had failed.

The leaders of Israel had not done what leaders are supposed to do.

What are we to expect from leaders of God's people?

Well, the leaders of God's people are supposed to lead God's people God's way.

That's a good principle, isn't it?

God's leaders leading God's people God's way.

In fact, I think the role of a leader is really well summarized by 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verse 12.

2 Chronicles 20:12

When the leaders of Israel face a great enemy, they declare, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

See, a great leader has their eyes on the Lord, not on the world, not on the things of this world, but on the Lord.

Now let's hit pause on this because this is very instructive for those of you who lead.

Whether you're an elder here, whether you're a small group leader, whether you're a leader of a ministry, whether you're a leader in the home, your main responsibility is to seek God's grace yourself.

If you are not seeking God's grace, you cannot lead those that you are leading to God's grace.

The greatest priority in your own ministry is your own holiness, your own devotion to the Lord, your own pursuit of the Lord.

And yet it's so easy to take our eyes off of God and set them on what the world will think.

Listen, I'm a at Redemption Durham, I'm the director of the youth ministry, and I face this tension I feel on a daily basis.

Because as a youth director, you're told by even many people in the church, but especially by the world, you're told that there are things that youth need.

You're told that the youth they need to be entertained.

They're not going to stay in the church if you just tell them about Jesus, they need to be entertained, they need to love coming to youth.

We need to play games, we need to watch movies, we need to do all these things.

And yet I'm looking to the scripture and I see something different.

I see actually that if if youth are in Christ, there's actually no category for them in scripture apart from Christian.

And I see that what they actually need is the means of grace, the same thing that adult believers need.

They need the word of God.

They need to be discipled and to learn how to follow Jesus Christ.

And so I hear one thing from the world that says, Well, we need to entertain, we need to keep them in the church.

And I hear one thing from God that says, Well, they need to hear the word of God.

And I'm constantly pulled in these two directions.

And the question that is asked of me is, who will you faithfully follow?

Will you faithfully follow the world's way, or will you faithfully follow God's way?

And church, the responsibility is ours.

Christian, the responsibility is yours to faithfully follow the Lord.

This is also a good opportunity for us to praise God for the leadership at Redemption Durham.

I'm so thankful that in the short time that I've come to know and even become friends with the leaders here, that I can see that their eyes are set to God.

Church, you need to know that your elders are looking to God.

I'm so encouraged by things, little glimpses I see, uh, like the priority we have before you get here to pray and to pray for you, even by name.

Like the priority to have a prayer meeting every Tuesday morning at 6 a.m.

on Zoom.

How inconvenient is that?

How burnt out on Zoom are we?

And yet the leaders of your church have made this a priority.

We need to set our eyes on God.

Church, I'm so thankful for your leaders.

Can you, in your heart right now, just rejoice in the leaders that God has given you who are faithfully following Jesus, who are faithfully setting their eyes on God, who are faithfully following him.

Now I want you to notice something important here.

Yes, Joshua had failed by following his own human wisdom, but notice what he does.

In verses 19 to 21, after failing to consult the Lord, he does what is right.

He keeps his vow to the Gibeonite people.

See, even when the uh the Israelites in this time are hungry to see God's judgment given out to these people, they've got their sword in their hands, they're ready to go.

Joshua says, Stop.

He does the right thing.

Now surely Joshua knew it, the law declared about keeping an oath.

In Chronicles 23, 21, it says, If you uh if you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it.

For the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.

This was the law that Joshua had.

And so after failing to consult the Lord, Joshua commits to doing what is right.

This is what it means to find God's grace by faithfully following.

To be faithful is to consistently do what is right, even when you've messed up.

And so many of us struggle with that.

You can see it if you just look at the diets that we've been on.

Any of you ever been on a diet you commit January 1st?

I'm gonna follow this diet to the T.

I'm going keto, I'm not eating anything else.

January 3rd, there's timbits at the office.

Oh well, I'll just have one.

And one leads to two, leads to three, leads to you stopping at Tim Hortons on the way home and getting a 20-pack, leads to you not being on the diet anymore on January 4th.

But the people who succeed are the ones who they get back on track.

And this is what God is calling from you.

He doesn't care about your Timbit diet, but he is calling for you as you faithfully follow him to continue to pursue him, even after failure, to find forgiveness in the cross of Christ and to carry on.

And this is what Joshua does so well.

He fails and yet he then does what is right.

See, I want you to see God's grace for you right here and right now, despite your failure.

God is calling you to repentance.

Maybe this has been a season for you where you just feel particularly far away from the Lord.

Maybe you don't feel like you're doing anything right.

Maybe you feel like you haven't been keeping up the disciplines.

You just feel far from the Lord.

And you need to know that your God is a God of grace who is calling you now to receive forgiveness in Him.

That the moment you turn to God, there is forgiveness for you through repentance.

And you can walk out of here in this very moment, having been forgiven, living the right way, walking God's way, faithfully following Him.

You can find new power to follow Him.

Now, this leads us to our last point that I'll find God's grace when I selflessly serve.

I'll find God's grace when I selflessly serve.

Notice that the Gibeonites are spared from God's judgment through their deceit.

In verses 22 to 27, Joshua brings them into the nation of Israel and curses them with these menial tasks for the rest of their duration.

Now we look at these tasks, they're to be cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation for the rest of the day.

But I want you to notice something really important.

That it is much better to be tasked with these slave-like tasks, these menial tasks for the rest of their duration than the original plan was.

See, the original plan was for them to be destroyed.

And what God is displaying here is his grace for the people of Gibeon.

He has saved them from judgment and brought them to serve at his very presence.

In fact, the people of Gibeon would serve at the altar, the very presence of God, for the rest of their duration.

They were saved to selfless service.

They were saved by God's grace to serve Him.

Now, the salvation, it brings up an important question for us to answer.

See, the Gibeonites, they they sought God the wrong way, didn't they?

You cannot make it into the kingdom of God by deceiving your way into it.

And so does that mean that it doesn't really matter how you seek God?

Does that mean that it just as long as you believe that wrath's gonna be poured out on you, you'll be saved even if you don't pursue God in the right way?

Answer is no.

There is a right way, and there is a wrong way to seek the Lord.

And we need to know that this text, Joshua 9, is not about justification.

This text does not answer the question, how can you be saved?

This is not the example we go to when we're sharing the gospel with someone and showing them how they can come to receive eternal life.

There is a right way, there is a wrong way.

But the reality is this text is showing us something really important about God.

It's showing us first that God is gracious to those who seek Him.

He's gracious to those who seek Him.

See, through Joshua, God extends grace to an enemy nation.

The nation that Israel was supposed to kill and defeat, God extends grace and life to.

And this story sounds so familiar to us, doesn't it?

Because in this story, we really aren't Joshua, we really aren't Israel.

We are the Gibeonites.

If you are in Christ, you need to know that a greater Joshua has extended grace and mercy to you.

That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this world to extend grace and forgiveness to an enemy nation, to sinners who would live in enity against God.

Like the Gibeonites, we stood awaiting a day when God's judgment would be poured out on us.

But God sent a greater Joshua in Jesus Christ so that we could see his grace.

This greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, would not require any deception.

He would come again with the simple message: repent and be baptized.

Confess your sins, believe in the message of the gospel, and he would extend grace and forgiveness to all who would come to him.

No deception required.

You can be a friend of God, you can be invited to the family of God.

Not only is God gracious, God is faithful.

He sticks to his word.

See if Joshua, if the weak leader Joshua is faithful enough to stick to his vow to spare the Gibeonites, Christian, how much more faithful is God to you?

To stick to his vow to save you?

He has promised for those in Christ that he will lead you to eternal life.

He has promised to carry you to eternity.

And the second Joshua, Jesus Christ, is so much greater than the first.

The one who is gracious to us in salvation, who is lavishing his grace on us now, will be faithful to us for all eternity.

Church, let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your grace.

We thank you that your grace is not hidden high up on a mountain that we cannot reach.

Lord, your grace is right before us now.

Even as we sing this song, even as we open up your word and hear your word and your revelation to us.

God, we see your grace all over the place.

And you say in Scripture that it's been lavished on us in Jesus Christ.

So that we are rich in grace.

Father, thank you that those who seek you will find you.

And I pray that we would be a people who seek you.

That we would be a people who properly pursue you.

That we would be a people that faithfully follow you.

God help us, we pray.

I pray this all in the name of your son.

Amen.