Living in the Gap | Joshua 20-21

Well, hey. Hey.

Good morning, St. City.

It's good to see you all today. My name is Brandon.

If we don't know each other, I get to serve as the lead pastor

here. And it is my honor, my joy to

open up God's word with you this morning.

It is also the pleasure of my life to be worshiping with you

each and every week here. I'm so thankful for our worship.

Anybody else thankful for them? Yeah.

We gather here on Sundays for the express purpose of worship.

We gather worship, we scatter on the mission each week.

We go about our lives, we go to work, we raise kids, we work

jobs. We do that, and we do that for

the mission of Jesus Christ, helping people realize what He's

done for them and turn from their sin and embrace Him by

faith. That's the mission.

But here on Sundays, we have one audience we're primarily

concerned with, and that's Him. We could care about what he

thinks about worship. We care about what he thinks

about his word. And that's why we open up the

Bible each and every week. In fact, if you could turn in

your Bibles to Joshua chapter 20, That's right.

Joshua 20 · chapter mention

We've been marching through the the book of Joshua offspring

here. If you don't have a Bible, it's

going to be on the screen beside me as well as on the Bibles and

the seats in front of you. It's going to be on page 194.

So you don't even have to worry about like looking to do a table

of contents. It's just right there in the

Bible. You can keep that Bible if you

don't have one. We want to get as easy as

possible for you to understand what God has said for your life.

Hey, we live in a world full of well-intentioned but frequent

broken promises, do we not? And this can be from the highest

of heights to the most personal of experiences, like at the

highest level. I, I really do think politicians

mean like, Hey, I want to raise the the OR, excuse me, raise.

You don't want them to do that. We want them to lower the prices

of houses of the generation at least, like, Hey, can we get in

one of those houses, please? They'll make promises like that.

And I think they mean it, but that the promise that's more

than likely going to be broken as parents will say, hey, you

can have that treat later tonight, little kid, because

that's when you can have it. And then we'll forget about

that. And then they'll the kid won't

forget, though. They won't forget that promise.

They'll make sure we keep our word.

Maybe in college, we'll say, hey, guess what?

I'll, I'll have it done by tomorrow as part of that group

project. You know, I'll get it done then.

You're not getting it done. Then you're not going to text

them back tomorrow. You meant to, you wanted to, but

you know, deep down you're the kind of person who says you're

going to text them back tomorrow.

You won't. It's OK.

We're all, we've all been there. I But I found, I found in a

world full of broken promises, I am the number one culprit.

I am the number one culprit of saying, hey, I want to do

something, but I don't end up following through.

I'll start tomorrow. I'll keep in touch.

I'll have it done by then. Hey, I'll follow up with you.

That's like my life. And I found myself woefully

skilled at breaking promises. I wish I was better.

I wish I was more faithful, wish I was more like God.

You see, I think our experience of promises is a lot like this.

You see, here's how a promise works is a promise with God gets

declared. And then a promise gets

delivered. A promise gets declared, a

promise gets delivered, but here's a problem.

There's a gap between when God said it's going to happen and

when it does that the very idea of a promise is the word is

going forth. The the very words coming out of

somebody's mouth. They're saying, hey, this is

what's going to happen. And in between, when it was

declared and when it's delivered, there's a gap that

we're living inside of. And that is where faith lives.

That's where we spend our life worshipping, walking, and

working for Christ. It's living in the gap of God's

promises that he has declared, promises that are great and

precious and valuable, and they're already been spoken, but

they are not yet fully experienced.

We're living in the gap of him saying that we will be fully

provided for, living in the gap of saying that we will overcome

our sin, living in the gap of saying He is with us.

We experienced here on earth a gap between what God has

declared, what God has delivered.

For Israel, it was 400 years of slavery after Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob. And for us, it's Monday morning.

Like that's where most of this room actually lives, between

what God has said and what God has done.

I think there's three people, types of people here in the room

this morning living in the gap. There's people who have heard

God's promises and believe them. And each and every day they're

trying to live in this gap by faith.

There are people here in this room today who have never heard

God's promises, who have never heard of them, and they're here

right now. They're like, hey, I don't, I

don't believe them because I've never heard them.

Then there's a third person in the room, the people who have

heard what he has declared and don't believe.

And I want to talk to all three of you today because I believe

that God, through Joshua chapter 20 and 21, wants to show you

Joshua 20 · chapter mention

something about himself. He wants to tell you who he is.

He wants to show you how to live in the gap.

Would you pray with me? And then let's get into God's

word together. Lord, we are grateful that in

the gap there is a God who is with us, a God who is near, a

God who is good. And today, God, I pray that you

would help us discover just how faithful you are to your word,

that when you say you're going to do something, you do it.

And that while we sit in the gap, while we wait, while we

anticipate, while we hope for the not yet will be trust in the

God who keeps his promises in Jesus name, Amen, Amen.

Let me give you this big idea that we're going to see you

together in the text today that kind of summarizes chapter 20

and 21, why the author was writing not just these two

chapters, but actually the whole book of Joshua.

This is the theme verse of Joshua.

You just saw it on the bumper video.

It's this idea that not even one promise of God has failed.

If you'd like to take notes, I hope you do.

It helps you to understand God may re reference it throughout

the week as you're going through the details of it.

But hey, listen to me. Not even one promise of God has

ever failed. He's batting 1000 at keeping his

promises. His free throw percentage is

perfect, never missing. Not even one promise of God has

failed. Well, what has he promised?

Let's discover that together. Let me show it to you in the

Bible. We're in Joshua chapter 20.

Joshua 20 · chapter mention

If you're there, say I'm there, right?

It says this big old 20 verse one.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, say to the people of Israel,

appoint the cities of refuge of which I spoke to you through

Moses, that the manslayer who strikes any person without

intent or unknowingly may flee there.

They shall be for you a refuge from the adventure of blood.

OK, let's stop and explain what's going on here.

You're like, wait a second, Manslayers cities, what's going

on in here? Let me explain all those key

terms first. Manslayer, this is somebody

who's an unintentional killer. Keep in mind that there's no

police force back then. There needs to be justice still.

So this is the kind of person who unintentionally has killed

somebody in our modern times. Good example, this might be like

Alec Baldwin on the set of that movie where he accidentally the

prop gun didn't work and he actually shot and killed

somebody on accident that that's manslaughter.

There is blood on his hands, but he didn't commit murder.

The intentional taking of life. That's these people.

And the problem is in in that culture and in that time there

was a person called the avenger of blood.

This is how they took matters in their own hands, how justice was

enacted. The avenger of blood was the

person in the family who was authorized to take blood when

blood was spilled. It was perfectly legal,

perfectly valid, perfectly just. And God is kindness to the

people of Israel saying hey, when it's an unintentional

taking of life, that there should be a place for those

people to go so they don't die. That though they might have

sinned, though they might have shed blood, and though that has

spilled on ground, they don't need to die for that sin.

Rather, they can go to a city of refuge.

He has just allocated over the previous eight chapters all of

the land to all the 12 tribes of Israel.

And this one tribe, the Levites, remain.

And he's saying the Levites, the priests, hey, you're going to

have among you these cities of refuge where these people who

have committed unintentional sin can go and find rest and relief

from the avenger of blood. Though it was unintentional

doesn't mean it's inconsequential.

And so the cities of refuge are God's way of protecting more

people and preserving life. Look back at the text.

So these people, they shall be for a refuge from the avenger of

blood that manslavers for shall flee to one of these cities and

shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and then

explain his case to the elders of that city.

So God understands what some people are going to do here.

He's like, hey, there's going to be some people who take life and

pretend that it was on accident. So you have to plead your case

before the city and they're going to have a trial of whether

or not it was on accident, whether it was on purpose.

And if the event of blood pursues him from verse 5, they

shall not give up the manslayer into his hand because he struck

his neighbor unknowingly and did not hate him in the past.

He shall remain in that city until he has stood before the

Congregation for Judgement, until the death of him who is

high priest at the time. Look up at me.

What this is saying here is when the manslayer goes to the city,

when the accidental, the person who's spilled blood accidentally

goes to the city of refuge, their freedom comes the day of

their high priest dying. That sounds interesting, doesn't

it, that what sets them free? That's what their sentence is,

as long as a high priest lives. So I think some of these guys

are praying for some old high priest.

You know, like, let me run to the scene with some old high

priest. I can be free sooner.

But they're there until the death of him who's at the high

priest of the time. Then the Manslayer may return to

his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled,

where his family is. So here's what they do.

Here's what Joshua does with a high priest of the Big One to

say, let's set apart Kardashian Galley in the Hill Country of

Naftali and Shechem in the Hill Country of here and girieth Arba

that is Hebrew in the Hill Country of Judah and beyond the

Jordan east of Jericho. They appointed Bezer in the

wilderness on the table Land from the tribe of Reuben and

Rammeth and Gilead from the tribe of Gad and Golan, and

Bastion from the tribe of Manassa, summering 3 cities on

the east side of Israel, three cities on the side of the West.

And if you want, you can study the names of those in your own

time. It's actually a fascinating

study. They all mean something really

cool. These were the cities designated

for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning

among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent

could flee there so that he might not die by the hand of the

avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation.

This is God keeping his promise. This is God keeping his

promises. This is 1 promise that could

have gotten overlooked could have gotten missed, but instead

God's going to keep his word that he said back in numbers.

He said hey, I'm going to establish these cities for

people and I'm going to keep my word that it exists and it's not

just going to be for Israelites. It's before.

Did you notice that the stranger meaning anybody's welcome in on

this Outsiders, insiders. Mercy is available for all.

If I got down this, that God promises to me this mercy for my

sin. What has God promised if not

even one promise of God has failed?

Here's a promise of God for you. There is mercy for your sin.

There is mercy for my sin. There is mercy for our sin.

Now that word mercy is a very church where?

So let me make sure you understand what the Bible means

by that. There's two sides of the same

coin. There's grace and there's mercy.

And I'm going to give them to you in the form of a crossing so

you understand what they mean. Grace is what I receive and

mercy is what I escape. So grace is this.

It's God's riches at Christ's expense, God's riches at Christ,

because that's what grace is. It's getting the riches of God,

the wealth of God, the treasure of God.

You get it because Jesus paid the bill.

Maybe an illustration for that. Imagine you stole $1 million.

You linked up with Danny Ocean and the gang.

You went to Vegas, you erotic casino and you stole $1,000,000.

But you got caught and you're before a judge.

And if the judge says hey, you're guilty, but I'm going to

not going to punish you, that's mercy.

But what grace is, is if the judge says, hey, you are guilty,

not only can you keep that million, here's 5 million more,

that's grace. You got riches at the expense of

somebody else. And that's exactly what these

cities of refuge are pointing to it a place where guilty people

could run and find mercy. Mercy is what I don't receive

that I do deserve. It's escaping.

So right on this acronym, mercy is escape.

My escape requires Christ's yes, my escape, my avoidance of that

which I deserve. It's at the yes of Jesus.

It requires Jesus to say yes and dying for us so that God could

withhold that which our sin has purchased for us.

Jesus stood in our place and said yes to the punishment so

you and I could walk free, so you and I could escape, so we

could experience the mercy of God.

God promises mercy for all who run to him.

We don't have to have to run to a city.

We're not running a Casa Grande. We're not having to run to

Dallas. We're having to run to Chicago

or even Jerusalem. There's a real person that we

run to, and his name's Jesus, and he is a place and promise of

mercy for all who call upon His name.

So we're here in the gap now. We've been promised mercy and

some of us haven't felt like we've been delivered mercy in

our life. We're standing in the gap and

what's on the line with God's mercy is simply this is God who

he says he is. Every time God makes a promise,

it's his character that's on the line.

It's his reputation on the line because he says, hey, I am a

promise keeping God. Exodus 34 verse 6 says this.

Exodus 34:6

When God is introducing himself, when he wants us to know what

he's like, he says this, I am Yahweh, Yahweh, the Lord, the

Lord God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and

abounding and steadfast love and faithfulness.

He's saying this is who I am, not only who I am, it is what I

do. I am merciful to every

generation. So while we're waiting in the

gap and we're waiting for God's mercy to reach our life, we have

to remember this is who God is. And if he was merciful in the

cities of refuge, he'll be merciful to you and I that if he

never fails, he never fails to keep a promise, He's not going

to fail to keep a promise to you because God does not lie.

So he can't lie to you. He's telling you this morning, I

am the God who is merciful, and there is mercy for your sin.

Would you run to me, the Redeemer for sin, and you give

it to me so that I might make you clean?

Because if the question isn't whether or not we deserve mercy,

the question in the gap is whether or not God is who he

says he is. And I'm happy to report He is.

He's exactly who he says he is. And the next question is, will

you run to His mercy? Will we run away from it?

His mercy is available to all. Run to Him.

So believe or listen to me. Full mercy is coming.

Full mercy is coming. Right now you could experience

the mercy of God. His mercies are new every single

morning. And you can turn to God and say,

thank you God for not giving me what I deserve.

But you can await the day and anticipate the day and hope for

the day where there His mercy is fully realized.

And thank God that he was merciful to me, that that mercy

should make you worship believer every single day that God

extended it to you, He revealed it to you that you have mercy

for your sin. But listen to me, if you were

here today and you did not know that God is the merciful God,

that he's not punitive, He's not vengeful in this way, but rather

listen to me. Everything God says comes true.

So if he says he's merciful, he will be merciful.

And there is consequence for your sin.

But there is a way to escape it. Would you run to Jesus?

Would you experience the mercy of Jesus?

Don't run somewhere else. Run to him.

Because every other city there's walls with Jesus.

There's just an open door. Come on in, My arms are open.

Welcome home. That's what the Redeemer saying

to you today. If you have sinned, don't run

somewhere else, run to Jesus because there is mercy for your

sin. That's the first promise, the

second promise that will find the text today.

God promises presence for my soul.

Mercy for my sin is a big deal because now we're right

relationship with God and to be in a right relationship with

God, there's something spectacular that happens is God

comes and lives with you. Now He makes his home your

heart. And so God promised his presence

for my soul. He's going to show it to us in

picture. Now I don't want to scare you.

I'm not going to read 40 to 2 verses.

Oh, you should read 40 to 2 verses.

I want to highlight for you the theme that I think these verses

capture for us. Verse 20, Chapter 21.

Verse one. Then the heads of the father's

houses of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest, and to

Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the father's houses of

the tribes, the people of Israel.

And they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, hey, the

Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell

in along with their pasture lands for our livestock.

So by command of the Lord, the people of Israel gave to the

Levites the following cities and pasture lands that out of their

inheritance go down to verse 8. These seas and their pasture

lands the people of Israel gave by lot to the Levites as the

Lord had commanded through Moses.

If you were to total up all the cities through verses four and

seven and the remaining 40 verses, what you would find is

that there was 48 cities given to the Levites, 48 cities.

This is because God wanted to keep His promise from Numbers

Numbers 18:20

chapter 18, verse 20. That's a verse you might have

overlooked, but God didn't overlook it.

He wanted to keep His word. He was watching over it just so

he would be able to perform it. And so Numbers 1820 says the

Lord said to Aaron, He said, hey, you will have no

inheritance in the land. You're not going to get a bunch

of real estate. You're not going to get a bunch

of property, nor will you have any share among them.

Here's what God says to Aaron. Here's what He's saying to you.

I am your share and your inheritance.

I am your share, I am your inheritance.

Because it wasn't about the land, it was about the Lord.

The Levites received no land inheritance because God Himself

was their inheritance. He was their portion.

He was enough for them. Now the Levites are just with

the 12 tribes of Israel. They had three.

Levi had three kids and you'll see them right there just kind

of headlining the the area. You Amira rights, the

Gershwites, the Coethites, and then you have this other tribe

named Aaron, because Aaron was one of the Coethites and he, his

kids all get to be the priests. We're all the other three

descendants. They get to be the workers, They

get to be the worship leaders, the salt company directors.

They could be the ones working in the temple, in the synagogue,

and in the church. So these four clans are

separated. Aaron gets 13 cities, Poets gets

10. Gershwin gets 13, Mirrorites get

12. It's distributed evenly and

apportioned to how much they have, how many people they have

in a land. And God wants us to signal to us

something that's different about the Levites, something that's

different about you and I even. It's foreshadowing what it's

like to be a part of the church that the Levites tell us.

See what God truly wants for all of us.

He wants us to live with Him as our portion, that He is our

inheritance. He's the thing that we're

chasing after in life. For the Levite, being with God

was the greatest treasure. His presence was the best gift

for their soul. The promise wasn't necessarily a

role, it was God himself. We get to experience that same

gift, that we who are far away from God can be brought near.

We who wanted nothing to do with God could want everything to do

with God. We who carry a role in

responsibility in the church, we who are the church, his bride,

the Saints, the called out ones, that's all that means.

The people who are set apart by God.

We could have a ministry to God. It wasn't just one tribe that

got to do it, but all who call upon Jesus can have a ministry

with him, the priesthood of all believers.

It's a gift because we get to minister to God together.

Tim Keller, who is an author and pastor, that I really

appreciate. He's up in heaven now with

Jesus. He said this, and I think this

quote is helpful in understanding.

He said, hey, life is a journey. Life is a journey from weariness

to rest, from alienation into his presence, isolation into the

city of God, from weariness to rest from alienation into his

presence, from isolation into the city of God.

That life is just living in the gap.

That's the journey. One day at a time, one step at a

time, walking with God in the gap.

The promise was declared. It was not yet fully delivered.

What are we to do? We're to hold tight to the

promise that His presence is for my soul, His presence is with

me, and not look for the peace of His presence in all the wrong

places, chasing career and identity and family as the means

to fulfilment. They will fall short.

You'll find yourself spectacularly disappointed in

your family and your friends and your work and your bank account

as being the great fulfillment of your life.

There will never be enough. Never enough hugs, never enough

dollars, never enough people, Never enough to fulfill the

emptiness in your soul. You need your portion.

You need the living water of God to be in your heart and in your

life. You need God's presence for your

soul, and that is not just for salvation, that is for our

sanctification so that we might be changed, that we might look

more and more like Jesus. Listen to me, believer, You were

made to be a priest for God. You were made to work for God.

You made to do things for God. And here's what I mean by that.

I don't mean every one of you supposed to be employed by a

church and wear a black collar and the white thing that that

other animations wear. I don't wear that.

I don't wear the clerical collar.

I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that every

single one of us was made to be in relationship and in God's

presence and to work for Him in some way, shape or form.

That some of us are going to be marketers for the glory of God.

Some of us are going to be students for the glory of God.

Some of us are going to be moms for the glory of God.

Some of us are going to be dads for the glory of God.

Some of us are going to be employed by the church.

Some of us are going to be team leaders and kids classroom

leaders and parking lot attendants.

Some of us are going to be set up and tear down.

We are going to carry a role and a responsibility.

And listen to me, if you are doing that so that you would be

comforted, so that you would be validated and you were doing

that apart from God's presence, you will be disappointed because

it will not fulfill you. But, but, but, but, if God's

presence is our comfort, and our comfort isn't our comfort, then

our souls will be well. They will be filled from the

well of salvation with living water.

So come play a role. Participate.

Don't spectate in the church. Don't come to watch.

Come to minister. You'll find that the promise of

God to be present for your soul will be wonderful.

It'll be a gift to your life. This is the second promise God

is giving to us in this text. And 3rd and finally, God

promises rest for my future, Rest for my future.

We're at the end of 21 now. Joshua is wrapping up all the

land being given to all the tribes now, and now all 12

tribes are taken care of. The leave.

I got their land. They're aware that God's

presence is their gift. The Manslayers have the city of

refuge. And here's how Joshua recaps not

only the story of conquest, the story of Joshua taking down,

crossing the Jordan River and taking down the city of Jericho

and taking down armies like they've overcome water and walls

and weapons. And he gets here to the

conclusive verse, the theme verse of the book.

He wants you to see this idea. Thus the Lord gave Israel all

the land, and they swore together fathers, and they took

possession of it, and they settled there, and the Lord gave

them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to to their

fathers. Not one of all their enemies had

withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into

their hands. Not one word of all the good

promises that the Lord had made the House of Israel had failed.

All came to pass. All came to pass.

All enemies, all land, all sides taken care of.

Why? Because not one word of God, not

one promise of God has ever failed.

Joshua didn't just want the people to have that confidence.

God wants you to have that belief that not one word of God

has ever failed. The Lord gave all the land He

swore to give. He gave them rest on every side,

fulfilling His promise of Deuteronomy 12 we had on the

screen. I believe yes we do.

But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land the Lord

your God is giving to inherit, and when He gives you rest from

all your enemies around so that you may live in safety, this is

God keeping His word from four years ago.

He's saying, hey, 40 plus years ago I thought, I'm going to do

this. Guess what, I'm going to do it

now. There was a gap between the

promises declared in Deuteronomy and the promise delivered in

Joshua and Joshua and all the people of Israel had to go

through the gap going, man, God, you said we could have all the

land. You said we beat all the

enemies. But guess what?

They're big, they're scary. Their walls are ginormous.

Their biceps are huge. This river is big.

How are we going to cross it? Not one word of God failed.

He wants you to have that same confidence that the Old

Testament is helping us see that God is a promisor.

It is who He is, and it's what He does and He has.

He can't help it. He's like addicted to bringing

his promises. Genesis Chapter 9 he promised

Genesis 9 · chapter mention

Noah he would never again destroy the world by flood.

Genesis chapter 12 he promised land and innumerable descendants

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

to Abraham. Exodus chapter 6 he promised to

Exodus 6 · chapter mention

deliver Israel from slavery to Egypt.

Deuteronomy 28 He promised blessings to Israel for keeping

the law. Joshua chapter 1 he promises

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

victory to Joshua over all the land of Canaan.

Second Samuel 7 he promises an everlasting throne to David's

descendants. What is God doing?

What is God demonstrating? Why is the Old Testament for us,

believer? It wants you to know.

It wants you to believe. It wants you to bleed in the

hope that Jesus Christ is the one who keeps his promises.

Every single one, every promise God has ever made.

It's yes, and it's that's right. And Jesus is coming to earth and

saying, guess what? I am the God who keeps his

promises. Not one word, not one dot, not

one apostrophe gets overlooked. And that gives me rest for my

future because He's promised me that one day when I'm up there

in heaven with Him, there's going to be no weeping, no

hurting, no pain. He's promised me that my sin

nature can be gone one day. He's promised me that I will be

resurrected and have life eternal with Him.

Those are promises that have been declared but not delivered.

I'm living in the gather that promise right now.

But listen, I have a sure hope. Not a hope so hope, but a know

so hope that one day I will see Jesus face to face and I will

live with Him forever in immortality.

Not because of anything I've done, but because of what He did

on a cross. Paying for my sin so that I can

have eternal life that is a rest for my future.

That it might look bad right now, but it's going to be so

great then that I might be living in the gap of broken

promises and a broken world and hardship and fear and difficulty

and disillusionment. But my soul doesn't have to be

in turmoil. It can be at rest for my future.

Why? Because God keeps his promises.

Joshua's written. So you'd believe that.

That when in the gap, you're invited to rest in, to live in

the hope of his promises. Every so often I'll just go on

Zillow and, you know, see what's happening, you know, in these

valley, you'll get a little little peak, see at what's going

on, see what home price are doing.

Dreaming a little bit like, oh, that, that, that house over

there that that's definitely on my we're going to change the

range a little bit. Just like you can dream for a

moment, you know, and the thinking about Zillow is Zillow

is an illusion most of the time, right?

It's like, I'm not actually going to live there.

I'm not actually going to dwell there.

I'm not actually going to live on that street.

I'm actually going to have that kind of the bedroom or that pool

or that backyard. I think sometimes when we're in

the gap, we get on spiritual Zillow.

We think to ourselves, Let me just imagine to myself this,

where can I live? Where can I rest?

That's not God, That's going to be better than where I'm at

right now. We dream up a preferred future.

We hope and something else that where we are actually called to

live, we're actually called to rest.

We're actually called to dwell. You're called to rest in God's

promises. Your hope is in who he is and

what he has done. Not in some imagined future that

you're asking for, but in what's actually concrete.

It's way more sure of a foundation because where you

live matters. And went on the mission, went on

the walk with God in the gap. If you think that you have to

live here, this side of heaven where all God's promises are

fully delivered, you're going to live disappointed.

Your expectations are going to go unmet.

You're going to find yourself again and again going back to

Zilla, wishing for something different.

But you have something good. You have something sure, you

have something steady. God's promises never fail.

He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion of

the day of Jesus Christ. You keep putting yourself under

the waterfall of grace and let God keep changing you from the

inside. I know you're weary.

I know you're discouraged and who you still are.

But listen me, You're not what you could be.

You're not what you should be, but you're not who you were.

He who began a good work will bring it to completion of the

day of Jesus Christ. Your rest isn't just past tense.

It's right here, right now, believer.

You can be encouraged. You can rest in the future.

God finishes what he starts. You can rest in that He's in

control. That for those who love God,

He'll work all things together for good for those who are

called according to His purpose. So that we might be conformed to

the image of His Son, so we might look more and more like

Jesus. That's what good is good, is

that we would look more like Jesus until the rest you're

running from at times is the rest you were made for.

Being on the altar, being transformed from the inside out.

Life change and some of you, your rest for your future isn't

found in Jesus at all. You know it, you're here curious

about it, and praise God, you're here.

That's why we gather is to tell people about Jesus, tell them

the good news of gospel, that you can have a real rest in your

soul. You can have a real rest for

your life. You don't have to be wired for

insecurity and anxiety and depression and anger and just

total disappointment in life, but rather you can have a true

joy, a true hope, a true love that God himself came and died

for you such you could have rest in life forever.

God loves you enough to die for you even while you were still

Sinner, even while you're at your worst, He loved you enough

to die for you. And so how do you enter into

true rest? Three steps into true rest.

If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, I want to make

it really simple. How can you find true rest?

It's first admit. Admit that you're a Sinner.

Romans 323 All have sinned and fallen short, the standard for

perfection, and you've fallen short of it.

You would know that. So everybody just needs to admit

to themselves, I am not perfect. I need God, I need salvation.

And if you would believe Romans 5/8 that God demonstrated His

love, that while you were still a Sinner, while you were still

very imperfect, Christ died for you.

If you would admit it and believe it and confess with your

mouth that Jesus is Lord. Romans 10 to 13 is a promise for

you. Everyone, everyone, everyone.

No matter the story, no matter the doubts, no matter the

difficulties, everyone who calls upon Jesus Christ will be saved.

They will be delivered. They will be free.

They will find rest. I pray that you would call upon

them to be saved, that you would find the ultimate rest for your

future because the best move you can make today is a spiritual

one that you would live or God wants you in the rest while in

the gap. Before I close, I just want to

close with this today. I, I'm convinced that here in

this room today, there are people, those three people who

are hearing all this in different ways, who hear and

believe who and never to now are wondering if they believe and

people who have heard and don't believe.

But I believe that the Spirit of God is at work and I believe

he's changing people right now. But I also know that there is a

bunch of people right now who feel burdened by the gap.

The promise has been declared. It has not yet been delivered

that they need to be encouraged that before them are walls,

before them are weapons, before them is the struggles of life.

And they feel it, and they are exhausted from it.

They are struggling to believe in the promises of God.

Now, humility, Here's what I want to ask of you.

I just want to pray for each and everyone of you who's in that

spot. In fact, let's just have a

moment together as a church family of prayer.

If you, that is you, if you find yourself, you're like, man, I am

the person living in the gap. And I don't just feel like I'm

living in the gap. I feel like I'm stuck in the

gap. I have very little hope, very

little trust, very little leaf that God's going to keep his

promise to me. If that's you, may I just invite

you to stand so we can pray for you.

It could be one or two people. It could be 50 people.

It could be all the whole room. I don't know, but if that's you

and you're feeling like you're stuck in the gap, burdened by

the gap meaning prayer, where I just invite you to stand right

now. Perfect.

We're going to pray for you guys.

Lord, thank you. Thank you for the people who

have stood and who have admitted and even humbled themselves.

Like right now, God. They feel stuck and trapped in

the gap that they know what you've declared over their life,

but they have not seen you deliver from the promises they

feel like are theirs to have. There's waves that they can see.

There's wind that they can't. There is walls in their hearts

and in people and relationships that are so difficult, God, and

they're so discouraged. They're so disappointed because

they believe in who you've said yourself to be.

They believe that your promises are good, but God, they haven't

yet experienced it. They don't feel the full force

of the reality that not one of your promises has ever failed.

God, I pray you give them a hope today.

I pray you give them a strength today.

I pray you give them a wisdom today.

I pray you give them a love today, a joy today, a patience

today, a hope to God. Would you give them all those

things and more to keep living in a gap with strength that they

would not give up, They would not lose heart, but they will

turn to you. And then they'd say, God I.

We need you that this declaration of dependence upon

you, God, would bring joy, it'd bring life, it'd bring a smile

in the midst Thank you for our brothers and sisters.

Thank you for all the people here in the room who are joining

me in prayer for this. Now I pray God that we would be

a people who believe in your promises, who take you at your

word because you are the Holy One who we lift up, who we

adore, who we trust, because God, you are a God who keeps

your promises. Not one of them has ever failed

and not one ever will. Who?

We believe that with all our heart, in Jesus name, Amen.