Category: Sermon

This Sunday, we are starting with a new series called “Why Church?”.

We have been meeting together for the last 7 years as a community. We started as a bible study group with just 6 to 8 people meeting at a home and then moved to a hall where we grew in numbers. For all these 7 years, it has been our joy to serve you.

In recent months, as Jane and I were travelling, meeting, and connecting with people from other countries, we had several occasions to talk about you all. And honestly, every time I think or talk about, you’ll it makes my heart glad.

I remember when my family joined the bible study group, I never thought of becoming or wanting to be a Pastor or an Elder, I simply wanted to serve. But there came to a point when the Lord was leading me to step into this new role, and so I obeyed His calling. Soon after, Jinson also stepped up and ever since God has been faithful in enabling us to lead and serve this community voluntarily while Jinson pursues his full-time job and I pursue my business.

Looking back, I can only see God’s faithfulness, in the way he has led us, protected us, increased us, and he continues to do so.

And right now, we are at a juncture where we need to bring some structure in the way we operate and continue to follow God’s calling in fulfilling his mission of “proclaiming His excellencies by making disciples”. Therefore, we are introducing the process of ‘Church Membership”.

But before we get into that, it’s important for us to have a healthy perspective on what the bible tells us about the church.

Why?

Because there is a varied understanding of the church and its functions among people today, which may or may not be rooted in scripture. And therefore, it is our responsibility to show you from the Word, the purpose of the church as intended and designed by God.

As far as possible, we want to get rid of all man-made ideas, assumptions & rules about the church and align ourselves to understand it from God’s perspective.

In the next couple of weeks, we will talk about

• What is the church & why does it exist according to the scripture?
• What does the scripture tell us about a healthy church?
• What does leadership look like in the church and how does it function?

And finally, on the basis of the above 3 topics, why is Church Membership important?

So, if you are genuinely interested and serious about your relationship with God and one another, I would request you not to miss any of these sermons, or else you will only end up with partial knowledge and incomplete understanding that won’t be helpful.

Today, my job is to show you from the scripture “What is the church and why does it exist?”

A church is not a building or a place, but it is people.

The bible was originally written in Greek, and the word ‘church’ used in the Greek language is the word ‘ekklesia’, and ‘ekklesia’ means ‘an assembly or ‘the called-out ones’.

And the meaning of ‘the called-out ones’ specifically refers to those who have heard, understood, and embraced the truth of the gospel.

What is the gospel truth that I am referring to?

The truth that answers the most important & vital questions about life and its purpose.

• Who am I?
• Why do I exist?
• What’s the purpose of life?
• Why is there sin & suffering in the world?
• How can we attain freedom from sin & suffering?
• How can we experience joy and peace in life?

Every human being on this earth seeks these answers, and we come up with our own philosophies and explanation. How do we know that our explanations and philosophies are true? We only know when it ultimately fulfils the deepest longings of our hearts and fills our life with joy, peace and contentment.

So, let me answer the above questions from the bible and see if it resonates with you?

Who am I? – We are God’s image-bearers

The bible tells us that it was God who made the universe, the stars, the galaxies, and the planets. And it is God who sustains them. So far, no man has an explanation for the existence of these massive objects that are floating around us.

But scientists can tell you this – that if a minutest disturbance or change occurs in the setting of these objects then the earth will be evaporated in a millisecond. Nobody on this earth can deny the existence of a super-power.

**Romans 1:20 – *“*For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”

The bible then goes on to tell us that it was God who made the earth, the creatures, and everything in it. He then made man and woman in his image and likeness.

Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

So, to answer our question, who we are, unlike every other creature on earth, we have been uniquely designed because we are the image-bearers of God himself.

The reason we are creative is because God is a creative God. The reason we have emotions is because God has emotions. The reason we are wise and knowledgeable is because God is wise and all knowing. The reason we love and long for love is because our God is love.

Why do we exist? & what’s the purpose of life? – We exist to glorify the one who made us and by choice enjoy fellowship and friendship with him and to live in peace and harmony with him.

Colossians 1:16 – “All things were created by him and for him.”

He created us in his image so that we could share in his overflowing love, grace and goodness through our relationship with the Trinity – Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

God did not need the world or need people because God has no lack and no need. Instead, God is so full of all that is good, that it overflows and spills out of him. His very nature is to share his goodness, grace and love.

He created us out of love for the purpose of sharing love. We were created to love God and each other. Additionally, when God created us, he created us for good works so that we might experience His goodness and reflect his image in the way we care for the world and for each other. We were created without flaw or sin and God intended that we live this way eternally.

Then “Why are we suffering and not enjoying peace and harmony?” – Because we sinned against him.

The Bible tells us that the first man and women he created, instead of walking in obedience and harmony with God, misused their ‘will’ to choose sin and thereby, rebelled against him by disobeying his command. Therefore, they were cut off from their relationship with their creator God.

Romans 5:19 – ****Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners.

Because Adam disobeyed, we all became sinners in the eyes of God. And according to God’s law, the penalty for sin is death.

Therefore, it’s important to understand that our suffering, in general, is not a consequence of our present actions or circumstances but it is ultimately because of our broken relationship with God.

How can we then attain freedom and peace with God? & How can we attain freedom from sin and suffering? – – by repentance & faith in Jesus

The bible tells us that we can never attain freedom and peace with God with our efforts. None of our good works or our religious activities can bridge the broken relationship with God. Why? because his standard of holiness is far beyond our reach. And only He can draw us near to Him.

The bible tells us in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

The bible tells us that when we broke our friendship with him, he persisted in love. Yes, he was angry with us, but his love for us was even greater. Therefore, to set us free from the punishment of sin, he sent his son Jesus, as a human, to live the obedient and God-honouring life we were supposed to live and take the punishment of our sin on himself and die the most horrible death on the cross.

By doing so, the bible says, Jesus fulfilled what the law required from us, death. And in return gave us the promise of a new life. A life free from the bondage of sin and eternal suffering.

Romans 5:19-21

“Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed him and will make many people acceptable to God.

The Law came, so that the full power of sin could be seen. Yet where sin was powerful, God’s gift of undeserved grace was even more powerful. 21 Sin ruled by means of death. But God’s gift of grace now rules, and God has accepted us because of Jesus Christ our Lord. This means that we will have eternal life.”

The term used in the bible for this good news is ‘Gospel’

So, how can we attain freedom?

Acts 3:19 – “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”

We turn to God by believing in Jesus and his finished work for us on the cross.

That’s it, nothing else is expected from you and me. It is purely because of his grace and our faith in Jesus that we are accepted into his kingdom.

Repent of our sins and believe in Jesus with all our heart mind and soul – And we will be saved. This is what the bible tells us.

The salvation we receive by doing so is called ‘Justification’. And this salvation is not just valid on this earth but in eternity with God in heaven. Once our sin was leading us towards hell but now, because of God’s gracious provision of his son, we will spend eternity in heaven is what the bible tells us.

Now coming to our final question

“How can I experience joy and peace in life?” – by loving Jesus with all our heart, mind and soul.

We experience joy and peace by loving Jesus more than anything or anyone in life. Consider him as the most precious gift we have ever received. When we do that, his love will then compel us to walk in obedience and pursue righteousness all the days of our lives. And that is how we will continually experience joy and peace in life.

Daily reminding ourselves of the Gospel that saved us and changed our status from orphans to the children of the most high God and included into his family.

Now, I know many of you sitting here have already repented and put your faith in Jesus and experience the loving-kindness of God in their lives. You have heard, understood, and embraced the truth of the Gospel, and therefore you are part of God’s church.

Since we are talking about church membership, the first eligibility is that you accept and consider yourself a sinner saved by grace through the finished work of Christ on the cross.

If you have truly done that in the presence of God then God knows your heart and he has already affirmed it, but to men, who cant read your mind or see your heart, we declare in various ways –

#1 – By water baptism – Proclaiming and declaring yourself as a Christian in the presence of God and many witnesses, baptism means to be fully immersed in the water signifying that our old self is buried with Christ and coming out of it as a new self.

#2 – In regularly participating in the Lord’s supper – Participating in the breaking of bread and drinking the vine, remembering Christ’s body that was broken for us and his blood spilled for us so that we can be set free from sin and condemnation.

Now, Church membership is also a manner in which we show our commitment to the local body of Christ, in giving ourselves to be held accountable, to be instructed and discipled in the Lord, to participate in the kingdom work, and to walk with one another as a family united in Christ. Even though the word ‘church membership’ may not be explicitly mentioned in the bible, it is biblical. We will cover that in the last topic of this series.

At the end of this series, we will be handing over a church membership form to you and ask a couple of questions like –

• GOD: WHO MADE US, AND TO WHOM ARE WE ACCOUNTABLE?
• MAN: WHAT IS OUR PROBLEM? ARE WE IN TROUBLE AND WHY?
• CHRIST: WHAT IS GOD’S SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEM? WHAT HAS HE DONE TO SAVE US FROM IT?
• RESPONSE: HOW DO I COME TO BE INCLUDED IN THE SALVATION OFFERED BY JESUS? WHAT MAKES THIS GOOD NEWS FOR ME?
• WHAT WAS YOUR LIFE LIKE BEFORE CHRIST?
• HOW DID YOU COME TO KNOW CHRIST?
• WHAT IS YOUR LIFE LIKE AFTER COMING TO KNOW CHRIST?

To those present here, if you have heard this gospel for the first time, and you’ve clearly understood it as it was explained today, then, all you have to do is repent before God and put your trust in Jesus.

You might want to do that in private or in the presence of another person, that’s your choice, but do come and meet us, if you have not clearly understood or have questions, we would love to help you, pray with you, encourage, and talk with you more about church membership.

Welcome

The passage I’m preaching from today is Romans 8:5-8. I’ve titled my sermon “To live by the Spirit”

Why Roman 8:5-8?

Acts 29

The Epistle of Romans has always been very helpful in helping me understand the basic gospel doctrines, that’s also because it was written by Paul to help the churches in Rome grasp the whole truth of the gospel and its practical outworking in the life of a believer.

In the first couple of chapters, he explains what the gospel is and how we are saved by grace through faith, saved from eternal death to eternal life.

And then, he goes on to remind us that the believer’s pursuit of God doesn’t stop with salvation; it continues as each of us is sanctified—made holy—as we persist in following Him.

Romans 6:17-18 – ”But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,  and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

In our passage from Romans 8:5-8, Paul is helping us understand the work of God by which he continues to sanctify us by explaining the life in the Spirit with life in the flesh.

What he is particularly implying in these verses is that every born-again believer ought to set their minds on the things of the spirit and that when we set our minds on the flesh we are not pleasing God resulting in not letting him do his satisfying work in our lives that will eventually bring life and peace in our lives.

In my sermon today, I want to share 3 reasons why I believe Paul is saying this –

Our walking in the Spirit is evidence that we have been justified.

Romans 8:5 states ***”*For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”

In these verses, we see a clear distinction being made between those who are saved and yet to be saved.

When God made us he intended us to live a life of fellowship and friendship with him, to love him, worship him, honour him and fulfil his purpose on this earth. Instead of walking in humble obedience, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve sinned against God and the wrath of God came upon us.

Tun with me to

In Romans 5:12 Paul writes – Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

Today, what makes this life on earth so hard and full of pain and sorrow is not the mere consequences of our present actions and unpleasant circumstances in our lives, but it is the result of our broken relationship with God that took place in the garden of Eden.

But even though we sinned, rebelled, and broke our friendship with God, God remained faithful and continued to pursue us through generations making provisions for us to know him & have fellowship with him, and eventually, made a provision for us to mend our broken relationship with him by offering his only son Jesus to take our place on the cross paying the penalty of our sins.

Let’s read …

Romans 5:15-16 – For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

In response to God’s grace and mercy, when we confess & repent of our sins, and trust in Jesus and his finished work on the cross, we are fully accepted, loved, and welcomed into his family. And what a wonderful privilege it is.

Galatians 4:4-6 – *But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ****to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ***And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

In Romans 8, verse 5, a clear distinction is made between those who live according to the flesh and those who live according to the spirit. Those who live according to the spirit are clearly those who’ve confessed their sins and have put their trust in Jesus. Therefore, our walking in the spirit is evidence that we have been justified.

Brothers & sisters, this is a very serious question we need to ask ourselves. Just because we are born in a Christian family, or being brought up in a Christian surrounding, doesn’t affirm that we are a believer. Just because we’ve said a prayer of confession in the presence of a priest or pastor doesn’t affirm we are a believer. Just because we go to church, sing Christian songs and read a few verses in the bible daily doesn’t affirm that we are a believer.

The mark of a true believer, according to the scripture is a life where the spirit of God is alive and active. Actively revealing and increasing the awareness of our sinfulness, actively revealing and increasing our awareness of God’s Holiness – and eventually leading our hearts to look at the work of Christ on the cross that helps bridge the gap between both these realities in our life.

All other Christian activities we do are good and needed but at the core of our lives if we’re not been led by the spirit in the manner mentioned above that we have to ask a serious question to ourselves. Am I really saved?

If not, then I urge you, brothers and sisters, to think seriously about it and needed please come and talk to us. We would love to sit and talk with you.

The second reason Paul is implying that a believer should set their mind on the spirit is that…

A mindset on the flesh is hostile to God & leads to death.

Romans 8:6a, 7 – For to set the mind on the flesh is death. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

Hostile to God means “In opposition to him, rejecting him & violating his commands”.

Here’s one way we can know the difference. If we are continually living a life that opposes God, rejects him and violates his commands then it is clearly an indication that the spirit of God is not alive and active.

But for believers, in whom the spirit is active.

The reality is that a lot of times our minds are so focused on the carnal things of the world. The mind is the battlefield where the flesh and the spirit are at war because it does not want to be crucified and surrendered to Christ, our King.

We see here though that when we set our minds on the things of the flesh, that is when we are carnally minded, gratifying the sinful desires of our flesh, whether physical or emotional and thereby, being in rebellion against God, only leads to death.

Consider what we value as important because if what we value is carnal things and we don’t concern ourselves with the eternal things that matter, it’s because we haven’t let Jesus take HIs rightful place in our hearts.

Paul tells us here to examine ourselves and be honest before God!

In Colossians 1:21 Paul says – We were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds” – describing our past sinful lives.

But now that we are in faith, and in the process of sanctification, we still do have tendencies of opposing God, rejecting his instructions, and pursuing our own desires. In doing so we act and respond to life as though our minds are still set on the flesh forgetting these lifeless pursuits that only leads to emptiness, discontentment, and shallow Christian living.

Often times we see such patterns and habits in our lives that lead us to pursue the things of the flesh, whether it’s comfort and pleasure or love for money, or desire for power over others.

But after spending all our time and energy, when we reach dead ends, experiencing broken hearts, broken relationships, and failures in such pursuits – only to realize how meaningless they were, and failed to give the satisfaction and fulfilment they promised.

Think about the guilty feelings after watching porn, or after committing sexual sin.

The empty feeling after getting drunk with alcohol and after giving in to the world’s ways of pursuing the false pleasures.

Think about the loneliness of life that hits us when we only are only pursuing wealth and money instead of treasuring the people in our lives, loving them & nurturing them in the Lord.

Paul is implying that a believer should set their mind on the spirit because in doing so we are reminding ourselves that we are not hostile to God anymore but are in complete agreement with his holy presence and are open to obeying him and walking in his ways because we truly believe that only pursuing God and his kingdom will give us the ultimate joy and satisfaction in life.

The third reason why Paul implies that a believer should set their mind on the spirit is that…

A mindset on the spirit brings life and peace & is pleasing to God

**Romans 8:6b – *”*but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace”

As believers, we have not just changed our status from “death” to “life.” but we have changed roads from “the road to death” to “the path of life.”

As the Holy Spirit now indwells in us, The Spirit helps us pray and intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will. He also leads us into repentance and produces a fruit of righteousness as we yield ourselves to Him. Believers are to submit to the will of God and walk in the Spirit.

Romans 8:26-27 – In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Here Paul is saying that as now we have been given a new life in the Spirit (John 3:6), we must continue to walk every day in the Spirit by submitting to Him, being sensitive to His leading in our lives, and allowing Him to be the driving force in influencing us in all aspects.

Where the flesh leads to death, meaningless and joyless pursuits, the spirit leads us to enjoy and experience life in abundance How? Because when we walk each day in the Spirit, we become fruit bearers, walking in love, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, and peace that passeth all understanding.

In our renewed state when we set our minds on the spirit and focus on God, he enables us to walk in obedience and seek his will which eventually will glorify his name on this earth.

Therefore, in the light of the above three points, for an unbeliever in Christ – I urge that as you desire freedom from the oppression of sin and want to experience true joy and fulfilment from life, you repent of your sins and accept Christ as your personal Lord and saviour.

And for a believer, to daily remember the Gospel and point your hearts to Christ and his finished work on the cross & lean on to the spirit’s leading in your life at all times.

Conclusion

As I conclude, I hope and believe that you have fully understood the difference between living in the flesh and living in the spirit and that you will daily remind yourself of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit working in us that enables us to fight against the temptation and struggles of the flesh and live a victorious life in Christ.

Good morning church! Just wanted to welcome everyone who has joined us this morning both in person at the hall and also online. Our prayer is that all of us would meet Jesus in a very real and personal way this morning as He speaks to us through His Word. If you’ve been tracking with us at the Gathering, we’ve been going through this series from the book of Joshua titled “Our Promise Keeping God” over the last 5 months. Today we arrive at the final sermon from this series as we cover the last 2 chapters of Joshua.  As we’ve just read, these 2 chapters are the final recorded sermons that Joshua preaches to the people of Israel. I’ll read a small excerpt from Joshua 23:4-8:

4 Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the Lord your God promised you. 6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. (v4-8)

(Pray)

One of the things that’s common to most organizations is that they’ll regularly schedule policy training where they’ll give you an overview of the company, they’ll talk about the company culture and then they’ll also list down their expectations on how you are expected to conduct yourself during your tenure as an employee of the firm.  And alongside the expectations, they’ll probably also mention what would happen if there was a breach or violation of the company policy. And this is something that isn’t just done on the first day of joining the firm, but it is done frequently with employees. And it’s interesting how in similar ways the Israelites are being given a sort of regular policy training. The only big difference is that this is not merely talking about serving a human organization or a human master, this is much more serious because it’s talking about serving God! And even as we try to understand what that meant for the Israelites, let’s not forget that this is a totally relevant question for us today because it’s not just the pastors, evangelists or people in ministry who are called as servants of God, every person who calls himself a follower & believer in Jesus is called to be a servant of God. And if we are all servants of God, then we ought to know “what it means for us to serve God” “What is the policy document for serving God” “What are the expectations of being servants of God”? To help us answer this question, today’s passage gives us 3 points:  

1. The choice to serve God – we all have a choice to serve

14 “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh 24:14-15)

One of the most familiar Christian plaques or verses that’s put up in people’s homes is v15 which says
“as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”. Now that’s definitely a nice, encouraging verse to be put up in a home but it sometimes is easy to miss the context in which this verse was said. Towards the end of Joshua’s sermon, he confronts the people with a choice they have to make. He tells them that they need to either choose to wholeheartedly serve the God of Israel (Yahweh) or choose to serve the idols of the nations around them. It’s either this or that. There is no in between space.  But what’s so interesting is that before confronting them to make a choice, Joshua prefaces the conversation by reminding them about God’s faithfulness shown to them through the ages.

The journey is traced back right from Abraham (Israel’s forefather). God had taken Abraham out of a lifestyle of pagan worship and revealed Himself to him. And though Abraham was too old to be a dad – 100 years old, God blessed him to have Isaac and through him formed an entire nation. And later after 400 years when the Israelites were enslaved by Egyptians, God delivered them out of their hands. But it wasn’t just against the Egyptians, God fought for His people against all the other great nations – nations who were greater than them in might and in number. And here’s how it’s summed up in Josh 24:12,13:

12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not laboured and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

God’s heart was that when the people remember God’s faithfulness, generosity and kindness lavished upon them, they would be moved to wholeheartedly obey and serve God. God’s faithfulness is the context in which the people are confronted to make a choice to serve God. If you’ve been coming to the Gathering over a period of time, you would have noticed that it’s pretty much the same message that we preach week in and week out. It’s the same simple gospel message that we try to preach through every passage of Scripture. And why do we do it? We definitely want to be faithful to Scripture but also because we realize that if people need to truly obey and serve God out of right motivations, they can only do so if they remember the faithfulness, generosity and kindness of God. And so every week as we hear the Gospel, all of us (including us preachers) are confronted with the question: choose this day whom you will serve? Will you serve the God of the Bible who is so faithful, generous and kind to you or will you serve the relationships, jobs, money, comfort, pleasure and the stuff in your life?

But not only is there a choice to serve but there’s also an

• The inability to serve God

19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” (Josh 24:19-20)

I wonder what the people thought when they heard Joshua respond like this. “Well, thank you Joshua for that piece of encouragement. We are trying to be committed, we have all the right intentions to be faithful, but somehow you don’t seem to be convinced”. But we need to understand why Joshua said what he did.

Firstly, it’s because he recognized that the God we serve is a holy God! “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at the wrong (Hab 1:13)” One commentator said it in this way “that God’s hatred of wrong is pictured by His not being able to look toward it. If He looked toward them, they must perish”. Also, it’s the fact that God is a jealous God. Now, this seems like a contradiction – how can God be holy and jealous at the same time? It’s not referring to envy in our hearts when we are envious of each other. It’s referring in terms of fidelity and loyalty in a close relationship. One of my friends once used this illustration which helped me understand this well. If my daughter goes up to anybody else and calls them “dad”, that would make me angry and displeased. Why? Because that relationship is unique and can’t be shared with another. The same goes in a marriage where it’s a unique covenant relationship between the husband and wife and that relationship cannot be shared with another.

And then it goes on to say that “God will not forgive your transgressions or sins”. Now that doesn’t mean that God is going to harbour unforgiveness against us.  But rather that God cannot leave our sins unpunished. God cannot overlook our sins. His Holy character will need to respond justly to our sins. He will pour out His anger against us for our sins. Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sins is death – being eternally damned and separated from God forever”.

Secondly, it’s not just God’s character that Joshua is referring to but also our weakness and inability to be faithful to God with the consistency and perfection that He requires.

Some of us are perfectionists and go-getters, we are so disciplined and are able to achieve whatever we put our minds to. We think that if we discipline ourselves really well, we are able to serve God as He expects. And we need to be humbled to know that even the best of our efforts are filthy rags before a holy God. (Isa 64:6) our best efforts are simply not good enough for a holy God.

Some of us are people who probably think that we will do the bare minimum to go past the mark and God in His grace will understand. We think that our best intentions are enough for God. And we need to realize that even our best intentions are not good enough to serve God.

Why? The problem goes deeper than what we see on the surface – it’s with our sin infected hearts and that’s what renders us incapable to serve God as we should.

That’s why many times we fail to live up to the grand promises & commitments we make to serve God during our gatherings. It’s not because we’ve not tried hard enough or because we’ve not exercised self-discipline as we should have or because our intentions are not strong enough. If we were able to do it by ourselves, then we wouldn’t have required a Savior. And that’s why our inability to serve should point our attention to something outside of ourselves to come and help us. It should lead us to the 

• The gracious provision to serve God

“And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good  land that he has given to you.” Josh 23:14-16

The OT covenant was a conditional one which provided blessings to God’s people based on their faithfulness and brought curses to them based on their unfaithfulness. Because we all have sinful hearts, it’s virtually impossible for us to secure blessings for ourselves based on faithfulness. So the OT covenant had limitations due to our sin infected hearts, and that’s why we needed a gracious provision from God to enter into a new covenant with God:

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord (spiritual adultery). 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts (heart change). And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord (close fellowship). For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (full pardon and cleansing)” (Jer 31:31-34)

This gracious provision didn’t come through a decree or words on a tablet. This gracious provision came through a Person – God’s own Son Jesus Christ. This gracious provision of the new covenant could be brought into effect only through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus – Jesus Christ lived the life we needed to live with the consistency and perfection as required by a holy God & then He died the death that we deserved as our substitute. He was buried and after 3 days He rose again defeating sin, Satan and death once and for all so that whoever may repent of their sins and fully trust in Jesus’ work would now no longer face God’s curse but enjoy eternal blessing forever.

Let’s take a minute to introspect on what this could mean for us. I think for some of us we’ve we have been carrying the burden of our relationship with God on the basis of how faithful, how sorted, and how committed we’ve been. So we are constantly oscillating between security and insecurity, trying so hard to achieve the blessing of God and constantly fearing the curse of God if we mess up. I think we need to realize that there is a better covenant already in place through the loving work of our Savior Jesus Christ. Through the cross of calvary, Jesus removes the curse from us by becoming the curse for us (Gal 3:13). And through faith in Jesus, He has granted us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3). What would it mean for us today to embrace this gracious provision? 

Some of you might be aware of the name Derek Raymond. Even if you’re not too familiar with the name you would have definitely seen his video on social media. In the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona, Derek Redmond was in good form for the 400m sprint. He posted the fastest time in the first round and went on to win his quarter-final. In the semi-final, Redmond started well, but in the back straight about 250 metres from the finish, his hamstring tore. He hobbled to a halt and then fell to the ground in pain. Stretcher bearers made their way over to him, but Redmond decided he wanted to finish the race. He began to hobble along the track. He was soon joined on the track by his father, Jim Redmond, who barged past security and onto the track to get to his son. Jim and Derek completed the lap of the track together, with Derek leaning on his father’s shoulder for support. In so many ways this can capture visually what it looked like for us in our attempt to serve God. With all our best efforts and best intentions, we still can’t reach the finish line due to our debilitating sin infection. And yet there is this gracious provision where Jesus Christ God’s Son ran up to us when we couldn’t run anymore and then carried us to the finish line on our behalf so that we can serve God in the freedom, love and joy as we ought to. How amazing is our Lord? How amazing is our Savior who would do this for us?

Good morning church! Just wanted to welcome everyone who has joined us this morning – both in the hall and also online on Zoom and Facebook Live. We are so glad that you’ve joined us & we pray that you would encounter and meet with the Lord Jesus in a very personal way through the service. If you’ve been tracking with us over the last few months at the Gathering, we’ve been studying through the book of Joshua in a series titled “Our Promise Keeping God”.  Week after week we’ve been seeing the same theme being repeated again and again – that our God is One who always keeps His promises. He never fails to deliver on any of the promises that He makes to His people. And so today we arrive at Joshua chapter 22 where they have finally possessed the Promised Land, land allotments have been completed & are now experiencing a season of rest. What is God calling them to do now?

At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. 3 You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. 4 And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 5 Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (v1-5)

Medically it’s recommended to go in for a health check-up once every 2 years after you turn 30. The frequency of taking the health check-up should increase to once a year after you turn 60. During the health check, they perform a whole range of tests checking your blood sugar, cholesterol and other levels to assess your physical condition and suggest lifestyle changes wherever they may apply. Similarly, if you’ve been a believer for some time – it could be a few months or many years, wouldn’t it be important to assess your spiritual condition and understand where you’re at? If it’s important, then what’s the spiritual health check going to look like? What are the basic health markers? And I think today’s passage gives us at least 3 health markers and checks which are basic but so important to a believer in their relationship with the Lord:

1. Obedience – Loving Obedience

5 Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (v5)

To give a small background, at this point the conquest of the Promised Land was completed & the entire nation of Israel was experiencing rest and peace from war after 7 long years. The eastern tribes (Reuben, Gad and half tribe of Manasseh) had already won their inheritance on the eastern side of the Jordan (during Moses’ time) and were preparing themselves to return back home. And Joshua summons them and gives them a parting speech before they head back. And think about all the things he could have told them – and he instead tells them to be “very careful to observe the commandment of the Lord”. In fact, the word “observe” in the original Hebrew language actually means “guard”. They were called to very carefully guard the commandments as something precious handed down to them. Imagine something extremely precious and valuable is given to you. Think about all the things that you would do to ensure that it was handled with care & protected from damage. And that’s the way in which we are called to “very carefully” observe and guard the commandments of the Lord.  

But for many people the instruction stops there – they’ll say “I get it. I have to carefully obey God’s law. I have to keep the rules. I have to do things by the book”. But it’s interesting that the verse doesn’t stop at rule-keeping and rule maintenance. In fact, it takes it one step further by talking about our motivations before obedience. It tells us that “we need to love the Lord our God”, “We need to cling to Him”, and “We need to serve Him with all our heart and our soul”.

Think about what all these things mean in our walk with God. It means that God doesn’t want us to obey out of a sense of obligation or guilt or fear of consequences. God wants us to obey Him out of a deep sense of love and trust for Him. In a sense, I wonder if through this verse God is communicating that if we obey God out of joylessness or a lack of love or a lack of trust, that in no way brings honour to God.  Think about 2 scenarios – what if I would go up to my wife and tell her that I’ll listen to her and do things to serve her because that’s what a good Christian is supposed to do. And in another scenario where I listen to and serve my wife because I truly love her. Which of the two do you think brings more honour to my wife? The second one right? And so it is with God. Jesus said in John 14:15 – “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Therefore, it’s not just obedience which matters, but love which motivates obedience which matters.

And so this becomes a very important health check for us as believers? Are we just obeying God out of a sense of dry, joyless obligation or is it coming out of love and trust for God? Take a look at all the different things that we do throughout the day or week. It could be your daily time of prayer, or time with your church community in GC, DNA group or Sunday service. What do you think motivates you? Is it an obligation or guilt or fear of consequences that motivate you? Or is actually love and trust for God? If we are honest, I think all of us in some way or the other do end up viewing obedience as an obligation. And that’s why we need to recognize our need to repent not just for the wrong things that we do, but also for the right things that we do out of the wrong motivations.

But it’s not just obedience which is a health check but also

• Sensitivity – Sensitive to the seriousness of sin

21 Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, 22 “The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows, and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the Lord, do not spare us today 23 for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself take vengeance. (v21-23)

After the parting words from Joshua, the people from the eastern tribes head back home. But right before they cross the Jordan to go on the other side, they build a huge altar which was a copy of the altar in the tabernacle. Now the western tribes get really concerned by this & immediately sent out a delegation involving the priest and 10 chiefs of the remaining tribes to confront & make war with the eastern tribes.

The assumption was that this altar was being set up to offer sacrifices to one of the idols belonging to the Canaanite nations around them. Now the Canaanite nations would often set up altars in random places – mountains, hills, under the tree to their pagan gods. And so Yahweh – the God of the Israelites explicitly commanded them to only offer sacrifices in one single place – the altar near the tabernacle. That was also a distinct way in which they were to testify to the rest of the world that Yahweh was unique and hence required sacrifices to be offered in that specific place.

And so when the priest and chiefs of the remaining tribes meet with the eastern tribes, they keep citing examples in the past when the Israelites rebelled against God and brought punishment on the whole congregation of Israel. (24,000 people died at Peor / Achan and his entire family were killed – more than that the anger of the Lord remained on Israel until restitution was made). It was the awareness and sensitivity to the seriousness of sin which made them respond with such urgency and extreme action. In v21-23, we see that the eastern tribes also were in agreement with the seriousness of sin. In fact, they go on to say that if they were found to be in reality breaching & violating the faith, then they should not be spared but destroyed by the Lord Himself. So both the eastern and western tribes had this in common – they were both on the same page when it came to being sensitive to the seriousness of sin.

And this is definitely one of the health markers for a believer. A true believer in Christ cannot have a “chalta hai” attitude toward sin because the Holy Spirit has opened his / her heart to realize that we are in a relationship with God who is Holy:

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness (persistent, unrepentant sin), we lie and do not practice the truth. (1 John 1:5-6)

Although there are times when we harbour unconfessed sin in our hearts and are desensitized to the seriousness of sin, let’s be sure that if the Holy Spirit resides in you then at some point or the other, you will be convicted of the fact that God is Holy & in turn your need to repent of that unconfessed sin. A true believer won’t be stuck on an “I don’t care how my sin grieves God and others” for too long because of the Holy Spirit.  And that’s why sensitivity to the seriousness of sin is a very essential health marker for a believer.

If I were to push further (you can answer this question in your mind), what are some areas in our lives where we see a “chalta hai” attitude to sin right now? Are there places where we don’t see the fear of the Lord in our hearts? Again this is one of the place which I believe all of us can identify if we are being honest. There is hope though in 1 John 1:9, tells us that 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But not only are health checks in terms of obedience and sensitivity but also in our

• Intimacy – Longing to be with God

26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, 27 but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we do perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’ 28 And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.”’ (v26-28)

These verses come to the crux of why the eastern tribes built a replica of the altar on the coast of the Jordan. It was not to forsake the Lord by worshipping another pagan god, it was not to kindle the anger of the Lord, but it was in fact because they wanted to continue accessing and experiencing intimacy with Yahweh! What they put out was a very reasonable answer – they said “it might be okay for now because our generation helped you all to conquer the land and get the inheritance but in generations to come, it shouldn’t be a case where your descendants deny us an opportunity to come and worship the Lord and offer sacrifices stating that the Jordan River is a barrier and we don’t have any portion of the Lord”. And so they build this altar as a “Witness” to help both the western and eastern tribes remember that Yahweh is their God and both can access God (imperfectly though) through the altar setup at Shiloh which was the place designated for the tabernacle. And when the western tribes realized this was the purpose and reason for the altar, it seemed good and their eyes and they in fact blessed God in response to this!

And this whole thing is taken to another level for us as believers. Think about it – OT Israelites had to travel to one single place (imperfect place) to offer sacrifices (imperfect sacrifices). But for us as NT believers, Jesus has offered Himself (perfect sacrifice once and for all on the cross) so that we don’t have an imperfect intimacy with God but a perfect one which God creates by residing within us through the Holy Spirit. How amazing it is that we have direct access into God’s heart, mind and purposes through the wonderful finished work of Jesus? And this is permanent – let’s remember and not place specific. So when we meet on Sundays or for GC – it’s not that the hall or the house is the only place where we can experience intimacy with God. No, intimacy can be experienced at all times because God lives in us. The Bible calls us the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). Why do we gather then? To help each other grow in our intimacy with the Lord as we lovingly serve each other.

I want us to just take a minute to think about the wonderful privilege that we have as believers compared to the OT Israelites or anyone else today who goes from church to church, temple to temple, religious place to religious place trying to grasp a glimpse of the presence of God. And here we have the privilege of experiencing intimacy 24/7 with the One True God through our Lord Jesus. Let these thoughts just sink in for us. And then I want us to honestly answer – how do we approach God daily? Is it using a performance mindset – God, these are all the good things that I’ve done, so I now deserve to be around You. Is that how it is? Or maybe sometimes it’s the reverse – we think about all the terrible things we do, we are so aware of our sin, and so we automatically disqualify ourselves from approaching God because we don’t have the good works to show. Both are not the gospel. You know what? Jesus Christ – God’s own Son as the perfect High Priest went into the presence of God and brings us near to God on the basis of His perfect shed blood. And that’s why we have a relationship with God. And that’s why we have intimacy with Him.

Today’s sermon is part of a series called “Our promise-keeping God” from the book of Joshua. And the passage we will be looking at is Joshua chapter 21 – the title is “Finding Rest in God’s Providence”.

As in the last couple of chapters, even this passage continues to list down the inheritance the rest of the Israelites got from the Lord.

The chapter begins by telling us that “the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. And they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, “The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock.” So by command of the Lord the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance.”

This chapter is particularly describing the land and inheritance that were shared among the Levites by the other tribes.

The immediate thing that stood out for me in the first 3 verses is the manner in which the people are communicating and conducting business with each other. There is an order in which things are being implemented where the respective leaders and heads are given due respect by involving them in the decision-making process – all of them ultimately following the Lord’s command.

The main leader and hero here is Joshua, the military genius who led Israel through 7 years of war. The second hero is Caleb, the daring strong-armed genius. And all the other brave men who fought with Joshua. Their efforts have won the victory over their enemies and now the land that was conquered has been distributed among the many tribes of Israel.

Though there were these men who were responsible for winning this battle verse 43-45 tells us …

Thus, the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their 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 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 to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

Though men can achieve and perform great exploits with their strong will, desire and efforts – it would be absolute foolishness to ignore the fact that behind every success or new accomplishment is the hand of our Sovereign God who is ultimately responsible for what happens to us on this earth.

Israel’s success was God’s plan, and so were their failures. And it is the same with us today.

We can achieve great things in life with our self-efforts and think as though everything is our doing, but at some point in life, everything we experience in this world, the land we own, the possessions we acquire, and the money in our bank account will feel vain and meaningless if we fail to acknowledge God and his works in all our life.

If you don’t believe me, listen to the words of King Solomon who got to enjoy all the good things on this earth says in Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

The question we should be asking is “Is it worth pursuing the things of the world at the cost of losing connection with the giver of life and his plans and purposes for our lives?”

Eventually, most of us will get to a place where we simply cannot make sense of life’s circumstances. Everything around us can feel like chaos! Whether it is a major tragedy that came suddenly or a series of closed doors that forces a change in the direction, we will need to respond.

For some, the response will be despair. For others, it will be a place of rest.

Of all the verses in chapter 21, my favourite is verse 44. It says “And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers”

While the world looks to karma, luck, and self-effort, believers should put their hope in God’s sovereignty and learn to rest in His Providence.

What is providence?

The protective care of God over our lives.

I like this description of providence I read in an article. I’m gonna read it as it is written

Divine Providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe. The doctrine of divine Providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. He is sovereign over the universe as a whole (Ps. 103:19), the physical world (Matt. 5:45), the affairs of nations (Ps. 66:7), human destiny (Gal. 1:15), human successes and failures (Luke 1:52), and the protection of His people (Ps. 4:8). This doctrine stands in direct opposition to the world’s idea that the universe is governed by chance or fate.

For the Israelites, to be in a place of rest was to be in a place where God is now watching over their lives.

And how did God offer his providence?

By giving victory over their enemies

verse 44b – Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands

By remaining faithful to his promise

verse 45 – Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

What a great God He is. Isn’t He?

Can you see God’s loving heart for his people?

Today, our circumstances are different, we’re not fighting for any land, or are we surrounded by blood-thirsty men who are out there waiting to kill us. We have a different enemy though and we live in an oppressive, demanding, and broken world.

But God hasn’t changed, his desire for us as his children, even today, is to offer his providential rest.

He offers that …

1. By giving us victory over the ultimate enemy of our soul
2. By remaining faithful to his word to keep and preserve us from eternal damnation

By giving us victory over the ultimate enemy of our soul

Colossians 1:13-14 – “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

The Israelites may or may not have known the real battle was never “against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12

God was and is in the business of redeeming us from the enemy of our souls.

In the garden of Eden, since the time when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and rebelled against him, Satan had taken charge of our souls. Our sinful hearts drew us away from God, we became restless wanderers and seekers of self, living Godless lives.

By the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Christ Jesus, he reduces us from the dominion of darkness and brings us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 4:1-11

4 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.[a] 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said,

“They shall not enter my rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterwards, in the words already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God[b] would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

11 Let us, therefore, strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Brothers & sisters, unlike the Israelites, we are now united in faith with God through Christ, and therefore have access to enter God’s rest.

All of this is made possible only because the ultimate enemy of our soul has been permanently defeated on the cross.

If you consider yourself as a child of God, then Satan has no power over, no claim over your soul, no claim over your body, the shackles of bondage are broken, and you are totally free in Christ because that fellow has been defeated on the cross.

By remaining faithful to his word to keep and preserve us from eternal damnation

The second providential blessing for the Lord is his faithfulness towards us.

verse 45 confirms the fact that God will remain faithful to his word – Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

To those who are been redeemed from the clutches of the ultimate enemy, Paul writes in Romans 8:35-39

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake, we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Brothers & sisters, if we have truly repented of our sins and put our trust in Christ we have God’s word as an assurance that he will remain faithful till the end.

He is and will be like the Father of the prodigal son who waits with his arms wide open to welcome his children back into his arms. No matter how far we try to run away from him, his love will pursue us and compel us to get back to him.

This too is God’s providence for us.

In the light of this knowledge we have about our heavenly Father and what he has done for us, here’s what our response should look like.

Strive to enter his rest

Hebrews 4:11 – Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

The word translated as “strive” in verse 11 means to concentrate one’s energies on the achievement of a goal – and the goal is to diligently believe in Christ and to walk in obedience.

We should daily evaluate and answer the question “What sort of Christian life are we choose to live?”

After receiving God’s forgiveness and lavish love, are we still living a defeated life? as though Christ’s death on the cross doesn’t mean anything to us.

As someone observing our lives from the outside, will they see us resting in God’s providence of His son Jesus? or will they see another human striving and struggling to make things happen on their own strength and efforts without acknowledging God.

The same verse that urges us to strive to enter God’s rest also warns us that there is a possibility of slipping into disobedience and making a mess of our lives.

In our Christian walk, we will encounter difficulties such as fear, exhaustion, human enemies, demonic opposition, and various other kinds of persecution that test our faith. And therefore, diligent faith and obedience are necessary in order to withstand such difficulties and enter God’s rest.

Striving to enter God’s rest today is working hard to look away from ourselves, to look to  Jesus, to trust in God’s promises, every minute of every day.

Striving to enter God’s rest is working towards living out Psalm 23 every minute of every day:

God is your shepherd; you lack nothing in Christ. He leads you in His paths – and they are good and restful, even if they pass through frightening and dangerous valleys. He delights in you and honors you as His own – and those who try to harm you, those who hate you and abuse you, will have to acknowledge that. His goodness and love will pursue you your entire life – and He will in the end bring you into His eternal rest as part of His beloved family.

1. Make it a habit to go to him repentant & humble because he is faithful to forgive and restore us back every time we sin and make a mess of our lives – He’s a God who keeps his promise.

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He promised and he will keep his word for sure.

When we fall into habitual sins, our response should be to keep aside our pride, and instead of pretending and performing we should humble ourselves and confess our sins to God and others.

A homeless man was offered a free ship ticket from one country to another, it was month-long trip, throughout his journey he stayed with the servants on the ship, working hard day and night so they can offer him the leftover food from the day and survive the trip.

On arrival, he met the captain of the ship and the captain asked him, “Where were you all this while?”, I looked for you everywhere, especially during food time.

The man looked at the captain and said, I was living with the servants, helping them around so I can get some leftover food.

The captain looked at him and said, “You fool, didn’t you know your ticket included food and stay in the finest room on the ship”. It was I who sent you the ship ticket to take you to a better place and on the way meet all your needs. Brothers & sisters, consider your Christian walk a privilege, for the captain of the ship is the creator of this universe, a father who loves us and welcomes us into his presence, offering us a free gift of salvation and renewed life. Come rest and enjoy.

Happy Resurrection Day to everyone!

A warm welcome to all of you.

It is such a joy and privilege to be in God’s presence with his beloved people. I am once again glad that God has enabled me to preach from his word.

As we always say, we’re not standing here because of our smartness and eloquence but only because of the grace and mercy of God that he chooses to reveal himself through his word and through insignificant people like us.

Today, being the Resurrection Day, we will look at a passage that describes the resurrection event of Jesus to help us GRASP its relevance in our lives and to help us respond in faithful OBEDIENCE.

After Jesus was brutally killed – Afflicted, Humiliated, Rejected & Separated, the bible tells us that his body was buried in a tomb with a big stone rolled at the entrance and guarded by the roman soldiers.

Our passage today from John 20 begins by telling us that …

“On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb”

I want us to pause here for a moment and understand what’s going on. To Mary and the people, it may have simply appeared that the stone at the tomb had been taken away. There could have been various explanations for that.

In Matthew 28:11-15 Matthew tells us what the roman guards and the Jews did –

*While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ****And if this comes

to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ***So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

Unlike whatever the story has been told to this day, brothers & sisters, I want us to understand that Jesus’s resurrection from death was one of the most significant events in human history. Jesus’s resurrection from the dead completed the glorious mission that the Father had intended.

Why is the Resurrection of Jesus a significant event?

Jesus’s Resurrection is a significant event because …

It was the display of God’s immense power

To believe in the resurrection is to believe in God. Why? Because if God exists, and if He created the universe and has power over it, then He has the power to raise the dead.

If He does not have such power, He is not worthy of our faith and worship.

Only He who created life can resurrect it after death, only He can reverse death into life, and only He can remove the sting and gain the victory over the grave

*1 Corinthians 15:54–55 – When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” ***“O death, where is your victory?    O death, where is your sting?”

In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God reminds us of His absolute sovereignty over life and death.

Jesus’s Resurrection is a significant event because …

It validates Jesus’s claim as a Son of God

Matthew 16:1-4 – And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

The phrase “sign of Jonah” was used by Jesus as a metaphor for His future crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. It meant that as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and came out the third day, so will the Son the God.

Jesus answered with this expression when asked by the Pharisees for miraculous proof that He was indeed the Messiah.

When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, he validated his claim as a Son of God.

Jesus’s Resurrection is a significant event because …

It brings hope to this dying world

*1 Peter 1:3-4 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ***to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The bible tells us that when God created the world, the heavens, and the earth, animals, and birds – he also created man and women in his image and likeness. God’s original plan for man and women was to live in fellowship and friendship with him and thereby inherit the earth by bearing children and living in absolute harmony with God and each other.

But instead of walking in obedience to him, when the serpent tempted them, they were driven by selfish ambition to become like God and they chose to rebel against their creator God and decided to fix their lives their own thing.

The day Adam and Eve choose to disobey God, they lost harmony with God – A Holy God couldn’t stand the unholy men and drove them out of his presence. They and even the children they bore ended up as God-haters, selfish and mean, and to this generation, that is the state of every child, man, and woman born into this world – Disharmony with God – Hopeless and sinful.

In Romans 1:28-32, Paul shows God’s response toward disobedient people

Romans 1: 28-32 – And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

I wonder what if God had decided to turn away from us forever and let us continue in sin. Have you wondered what would have happened to us if God had taken away all his gracious provision on earth from us?

We would have killed and butchered each other to death.

But God chooses to stick around with us. He chooses to love us. He chooses to be committed by keeping his part of the friendship.

The bible tells us that while we were sinners, he sent his son Jesus on earth, to live the obedient life we were supposed to live, earn righteousness from God and exchange it with our sinfulness on the cross of calvary, thereby giving us an opportunity to restore our broken relationship back to God.

If we confess and repent of our wrongdoings and trust in the finished work of Jesus we can be renewed and restored.

Jesus’s resurrection is a significant event because it completes the task for which he was sent on earth – to restore us back to the Father.

He did this for insignificant people like us – the ones who should have been afflicted, humiliated, rejected & killed because of our separation from God.

Mary Magdalene, who first came to the burial place of Jesus, the first person Jesus met after his resurrection, was a demon-possessed woman – Luke 8:2 tells us that Jesus healed her from evil spirits and her infirmities.

The disciple she first ran to, Peter, was a betrayer, he denied Jesus 3 times just a couple of days back.

The other disciples of Jesus acted foolish and dumb when they reached the tomb and did not understand what was happening. verse 9 says, they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

Friends, just like these guys, we too belong to the insignificant category. Possessed, failure, selfish, sinful, foolish, dumb, forgetful, good for nothing category.

But here’s the beauty of God.

Only a divine visitation from Jesus is capable of opening our eyes to see him, embrace him, and believe in him.

John 20: 11-16 – But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,[b]  “Rabboni!”. – I SEE YOU!

Friends today could be your divine moment where Jesus is revealing himself to you.

And there could only be two responses from us –

One – We say I see you Jesus, but I choose to walk away because the world looks more fascinating to me, I think I like the darkness more than the light or

Two – We say, I see you Jesus, and I choose to trust in you because this world and the things of this world are fading away – Everlasting life, joy, and peace are only found in you because this is why I was created for – To know you and to be known by you – So here I am.

Our response should be … Jesus I confess I am a sinner and I repent of them … I need a savior to deliver me … therefore I put my trust in you.

Finally, if you have responded to Jesus and his love and found that liberating and peace-giving, then we all be like Mary.

John 20:18 – Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Today, we get to hear the good news of Jesus because a bunch of disciples who witnessed the resurrected Christ went out and announced it to the world – almost every one of them was killed and martyred for their faith and bold proclamation. They were faithful in spreading the good news of Jesus, no matter what – Only because they saw and valued their life in eternity with Jesus as more precious than anything else in this world. It is our turn to do the same.

Let’s pray!

Good evening everybody! Even as I welcome everyone who has joined us in person at the hall and those who have tuned in online, I just want to say that I’m so thankful for the opportunity to gather in person during Passion Week after almost two years.

It’s so good to see everyone & together remember what the Lord has done for us during the events of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. As followers of Jesus Christ, these two events form the centerpiece of our Christian faith.

If we exclude the events of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, it leaves us with no base / no foundation for our Christian faith. And so that’s why it becomes so essential to us what happened on that Good Friday two thousand years back and how that impacts us even today:

37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he[h] breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son[i] of God!” (Mk 15:37-39)

In the year 2004, a film by the name of “Passion of the Christ” was released around Passion Week that year. This film was unlike most of the other Jesus films that were made till then. While the other previous films focused on the Life of Jesus and then the cross towards the end, this one specifically focused on Jesus’ last 12 hours until His crucifixion.

And they tried to realistically capture the horror and pain that Jesus could’ve probably endured on the road to the cross. In terms of reactions to the movie, ended up being the highest-grossing Christian-themed film of all time! Growing up this was one of the few movies that as a family we did end up going to. I remember coming out of the theater disturbed and saddened by the treatment and injustice inflicted on Jesus.

Like me, there were many others all around the world who watched the movie and were so saddened realizing what Jesus had to go through. However, for most people, it stopped feeling sorry for Jesus. And I think the same can be said about many people’s church experience on Good Friday, they’ll read these passages describing the horror and pain of Good Friday and they will probably experience deep sadness and grief when they think about Jesus but it stops there.

And that made me ask this question: “What difference does Good Friday make to us?” I think there can be at least 2 responses to that question. Either we respond by feeling sorry for Jesus or we can respond by worship and surrender. Either we can merely grieve the pain that Jesus went through or we could recognize how that was a gracious gift from God to save us. What’s it going to be for us this evening?

1. Affliction

21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. (v21-23)

The first thing that stands out for us immediately from this passage is that the journey to cross for Jesus involved extremely intense, agonizing physical affliction. There was a lot of physical pain which needed to be endured. In v21 we see how a man from Cyrene named Simon was forced to carry Jesus’ cross.

Why was that required? Because by that time Jesus was probably weakened and unable to carry his own cross due to the intense scourging and torture that took place the night before. Just a few verses before, it mentions that they had twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head.

They kept striking his head with a reed which led to a lot of blood loss. And that’s why Jesus wasn’t able to carry his own cross on the way to Golgotha. Furthermore, in v23 it tells us that Jesus declined to drink the wine mixed with myrrh. And I wondered what that meant? As a did some research I realized that that mixture was actually like a drug offered to criminals so that it could numb the pain that they were experiencing.

And the suffering on a cross wasn’t like being killed with a gunshot or sword which causes instant death. Dying on the cross meant slow, agonizing death. Most people would die either by loss of oxygen or exhaustion. That’s why some of the Roman writers of that day criticized this way of torture saying that “No Roman citizen should ever suffer this kind of death on a cross”.

Extreme kind of torture. And then for us to realize that Jesus though He was the Son of God chose to bear the whole brunt of physical affliction for us. He was willing to be physically afflicted for His people.
But not only do we see His affliction but also His

2. Humiliation

24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour[d] when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.[e] (v24-27)

I remember in early 2000 one of the popular trends was wearing a cross around your neck. Many celebrities would sport across as part of their wardrobe. Being influenced by that, even I started wearing a cross around my neck.

And there was this one uncle in the church who once challenged me with a question asking: Is this a fashion statement or a faith statement? Although now in culture, the cross has become a cultural statement, in the ancient Roman world, the cross signified humiliation.

In v24 when it tells us that Jesus’ garments were divided among the soldiers, it was actually a description of being stripped down & vulnerable. And that was one of the main purposes of the cross – was to publicly shame and make an example of the criminal so that no one would dare to do the same the next time. V26 reveals to us what Jesus was charged with.

He was charged with high treason because of the false accusation claiming that He came to challenge the authority of Caesar by making Himself a king of this physical kingdom. This is why V27, it tells us that Jesus was crucified alongside two robbers equating him to the same level as though he committed crimes worthy of capital punishment.

And we realize the gravity of what is happening, Jesus who is the Son of God perfectly glorious and covered in majesty, He who is worthy to be praised by His creation for all time now willingly gives Himself to be humiliated for His people

But not only do we see His affliction and humiliation, we also see His

3. Rejection

29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

Right through history, we read many inspiring stories of people being able to endure extreme hardship because there were people to stand with them in support. There were people to cheer them on. And when we come to v29-32, we get a picture of how lonely Jesus was at that point. Virtually everyone who interacts with him is rejecting him.

Even those who were being crucified with Jesus reviled Him as well (v32). And who is the One who is being rejected, mocked, and scorned after all? He’s not an ordinary human being, He is the Perfect, Righteous Son of God who existed from eternity past, He is the One who created and formed us and now He’s being rejected by those whom He created.

He came to his own,[b] and his own people[c] did not receive him. (John 1:10) I kept thinking about it, if I were in Jesus’ place, I would’ve quit and abandoned the cross thinking “these people don’t care, why should I care? These people don’t deserve my sacrifice, they deserve to be destroyed because of the way they are treating me”.

And yet we see our Lord Jesus boldly endure the rejection of the people He came to save because He knew there was no other way to save them.

But not only do we see His affliction, His humiliation, and His rejection, we also see His

4. Separation

And when the sixth hour[f] had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.[g] 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v33-34)

Out of all of the sufferings that Jesus experienced on the cross – physical affliction, humiliation, and rejection, this was the one that was the heaviest to bear. V33 tells us that for 3 whole hours, darkness covered the whole land. And this darkness was a picture of the sins of the entire world which were now being placed on Jesus.

Isa 53:6 – “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all”.

All our lies, all our lust, all our greed, all of our envy, all of our impatience, all our anger, all of our foul language, all our wickedness, and the judgment for it was placed on the One who knew no sin.

2 Cor 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin…

And as the weight of sin and guilt was placed on Jesus Christ, He was also facing the Holy wrath (Holy anger) of God meant for all of those sins. Because God is Holy and Just, He cannot just overlook sins, He has to punish people for their sins. And to realize that Holy and Just anger was now directed toward His own Son who was paying the price for our sins.

Isa 53:10 – Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him, he has put him to grief, when His soul makes an offering for guilt.

And in v34, Jesus cries out saying “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Why did Jesus say that? God the Father and Jesus the Son experienced intimate fellowship/relationship from eternity past. All that they’ve known was a close relationship, there wasn’t a single moment when they were not in fellowship and favor.

But now when the sin of the world was placed on Him & while the wrath of God was being poured out for those sins, the Father turned His face away from the relationship. The close fellowship and favor that they always enjoyed were cut off because of our sins.

And as I was thinking about this – I just realized that I could never understand what it took for the Father to “crush” the Son for our sins. I realized that I could never understand what it meant for the Father to turn His face away from His Son because of our sins. I realized that I could never understand what it meant for Jesus Christ to be spiritually separated from God. But all I know is that it was done for you and me.

Here is our Savior Jesus Christ who was willing to experience separation from the Father (close community – close intimacy) for His people.

But in this passage, we not only see the affliction, the humiliation, the rejection, and the separation, we also see

5. Provision

37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. (v37)

In v37 and v38 we see a paradox playing out. On one hand, it describes the death of the Son of God. And in v38 it talks about a provision that has been made for us. A new way that has been created for us to enter into the presence of God.

This curtain that is being described in v38 was a long, heavy, thick curtain that separated the holy place from the holiest place in the temple. The holiest place symbolized the Holy presence of God and no one except the high priest could enter that place that also only once a year when he came to offer a sacrifice of atonement for his sins and the sins of the people. There was a clear barrier between the people and God which was indicated by the curtain.

But now that Jesus paid the entire payment and bore the entire wrath meant for our sins, it meant that the way was opened for us to enter into God’s presence. Because Jesus was afflicted for us, we know we can experience relief in the presence of God. Because Jesus was humiliated for us, we know we won’t be shamed in the presence of God.

Because Jesus was rejected for us, we know we will be accepted in the presence of God. Because Jesus was separated from God for us, we know that we will never be cut off from the presence of God. And that’s why the writer of Hebrews uses these words to describe how we should approach God: with boldness, confidence, and full assurance!

I want to stop and ask us a question today: When you think about approaching God daily, what are the thoughts and feelings that run through your mind? Is it fear of facing punishment? Is it the uncertainty of how God’s going to respond to you? Is it wondering if God is going to shame you or reject you? And that’s why Good Friday is Good news for us.

Because if you have turned from your ways and put your trust in Jesus’ perfect life and death for you, then you can be assured on the promise of God’s very word, that you can approach him with boldness, confidence and full assurance.

But not only did Jesus endure affliction, humiliation, rejection, separation and make provision for us, it also demands our

6. Confession

39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he[h] breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son[i] of God! (v39)

What’s astonishing is that it’s not a Jew who is saying this, it’s a Gentile, pagan worshipping, Roman soldier who says this. When the centurion saw this, he recognized something else was going on in contrast to all the other executions that he witnessed. His response was in worship where he said “Truly this man is the Son of God”.

And I want to return back to the question that we asked right at the beginning: what difference does Good Friday make to you and me? At this very point, either we could be indifferent saying that this doesn’t concern me. Or we could feel sorry for what Jesus had to go through and stop there. Or we could be grateful and filled with a heart of worship because we realize what was done on that cross was for us!

Sometime back at work I went through this phase where I ended up making back-to-back errors at work. And these were not small errors, but they were big errors. Stakes were very high and the repercussions could be very severe.

Especially after the second error, I was filled with so much fear, shame, and confusion as I awaited what was going to happen to me. And at that point, my boss called me up and had a conversation with me. And by then I had already resigned to the fact that I was going to bear the brunt, and to my shock, he told me that he was going to take the responsibility on himself.

And my immediate response was “Why? I did this, I deserved it. It’s not fair for you to take the blame”. And he just responded back to me by saying “that’s what managers are for, we take responsibility for our team”.

And my heart was filled with so much gratitude because I experienced kindness that I never before experienced in the corporate world. And at that very moment, God just brought this to mind “now you’ve just seen what grace looks like in your workplace, now think about what it might have been for Jesus – the Son of God to bear the entire brunt for your sins”.

And I can remember how my heart was filled with so much of gratitude for Jesus? I think this passage confronts us with the question – what difference does Good Friday make to us?

And even as you’re pondering on that question – let me also add one last thing and close with this thought. In v40-41, it mentions the names of a few women. And the gospel writers mention their names very specifically and intentionally because they would end up being the first witnesses of the risen Christ 3 days later.

And so let no one think that the story of our Mighty and God and Savior ended in a tomb. Sunday is coming when He rose victoriously from the grave and showed us that He is the Living God who will be with us forever – not even death could hold Him back.

We are preaching through a series called “Our Promise keeping God”, as we are studying from the book of Joshua.

Last week we went to chapters 12 & 13, today we will cover chapters 14 through 19 and I’ve titled the sermon is “Responding to God’s Faithfulness”.

The context of these chapters is that Israel has conquered most of the land God promised them and now the land is been divided and distributed among the different tribes.

As we read through this account, what stands out to us is the Faithfulness of God towards his chosen people, **God keeping His promise**.

Let me remind you that God was showing this favor to Israel not because they were special people who looked different than others or had some special qualities about them – But purely because of his love for them and for the purpose of his glory.

7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers – Deuteronomy 7:7-8

The people of Israel were just like us – God-haters, rebellious, selfish, mean, idol worshippers, and corrupt in all their ways, yet because they were God’s chosen people, people whom he had predestined to be his children before the foundations of the earth was build – He pursued them and continued to shower his loving-kindness – again, and again, and again.

Today we all have gathered here to worship that same living God – the God of Abraham, Issac & Jacob. Brothers & Sisters, please don’t think of it as a coincidence – We are here only because of his loving-kindness towards us – because before the foundations of the earth were laid he predestined you and me to be his beloved children – We are here because he pursued us, his loving-kindness, grace, and mercy were upon us. Not because we are special in any way, but because God chose to be faithful to us.

In chapters 14 through 19, we see God keeping his part of the promise to Israel as he is alloting them the land- so that they can settle and make a living after many years of pain and oppression. Watching God do that should fill our hearts with hope and joy.

Why? – Today, some of you may be experiencing pain, oppression, failure, and defeat – but even in the midst of the chaos, we see God’s faithfulness in small little blessings he brings our way, just like he showed his faithfulness when they were in the wilderness.

Last year when Jane was admitted to the hospital, going through the surgery, I remember one night we decided to count our blessings and there was an unending list of things we could thank God for – our children, their health, provision of finances to meet our needs, our families who stood and prayed for us, church family who loved and cared for us, friends all around the world who showered their love etc, this list was too long.

Yes, he shows his faithfulness and grace in many ways, but the greatest of all blessings we get to enjoy is the freedom in Christ. While we were sinners, the God who created us, choose us & loved us sent his only son Jesus to save us from eternal death and give us eternal life. Jesus came and lived the righteous and obedient life we were supposed to live, fulfilled God’s righteous laws, and exchanged it on the cross with our unrighteousness, granting us freedom from the penalty of sin.

Yes, of course, the Israelites were pleased with the good gifts God was granting them but the greatest gift they were experiencing was God’s presence dwelling among them, the ark of God that symbolized the presence of God was moving with them, it allowed them to periodically offer sacrifices and receive God’s forgiveness.

As Israel was been blessed by God, what was God expecting in return?

As we have been experiencing his faithfulness today, in Christ, have you wondered what is God expecting from us in return?

I believe we can find two clues in these 6 chapters.

Accepting God’s providence & provision with joy and contentment

If we consider the total mass of the land that was distributed among the people, I believe not every piece of the land had the same properties, some were fertile land right next to a stream of water, some were on the hills, some were in the forest, etc.

Therefore, most of the land distribution was not decided based on what Joshua or the leaders thought was right, but it was chosen by casting lot. It was God who decided who gets what? So that there was no quarrel among them.

Joshua 14:2** – Their inheritance was by lot, just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine and one-half tribes.

And among the twelve tribes, the tribe of Levi was not even allotted any land.

Joshua 14:4b – And no portion was given to the Levites in the land, but only cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for their livestock and their substance.

Why? Because they were set aside to be servants in God’s temple. Their portion came from the sacrifices that were offered in the house of God.

And in all this providence & provision God made for the people of Israel he expected them to be content, satisfied and joyful.

Brothers & Sisters, isn’t that what God would expect from us as well today.

The parable of the talents narrated by Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30 tells that not everyone has been given the same measure of talents.

15 – To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.

The parable also tells us that when the master comes back he will ask for an account, and he will search the attitude of our hearts by measuring our faithfulness in handling the good gifts he has offered us.

We accept the providence & provision of God with joy and contentment because we know he is a fair God and he shows no partiality towards us in any way.

In Joshua 17:14-18, we see an interesting incident where Joshua characterizes God’s fair heart towards the people of Joseph.

14 Then the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am a numerous people, since all along the Lord has blessed me?” **15** And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” **16** The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.” **17** Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only, **18** but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”

In the parable of the vineyard which Jesus narrated in Matthew 20:1-16, we see the owner gives the same wage to every worker of the day, even to those who worked only half a day. The last shall be first and the first shall be last.

Beloved, God chooses to distribute what belongs to him according to his perfect will for us and we expect ourselves to be content and happy within at all times.

In fact, what he wants us to treasure the most in our hearts is His son Jesus, and the spiritual fulfillment and satisfaction he gives to us every day of our life.

The world we live in today is driven by competition that creates cravings to want and have more than what’s already been given to us by our loving Father.

The Internet and Social media is the tool the enemy is using to create such cravings and desires, distracting us from experiencing and living within the means God has already provided for us.

Of course, we can’t run away from the new technology advancements, they are good in some sense and do add value and exposes us to many good things which were not accessible earlier.

I have been there many times, and I know what it is like.

And therefore, to be rooted and grounded in the Gospel is much more needed & important for us in today’s generation. Because the Gospel opens our eyes to the brokenness of this world and reminds us of our true identity in Christ. It reminds us that our identity is not in the things we possess or the places we live in, but in Christ alone is our hope, he is the only true treasure we need for the longings of our soul.

1 Timothy 6:6-12 – But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Brothers & sisters, in response to God’s faithfulness to us, let us learn to accept his providence and provision with joy and contentment.

The second expectation he would have from us is to ..

To walk in obedience to his word

Brothers & sisters, Obedience matters to God.

I want you to read with me Joshua 14:6-14

6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-Barnea concerning you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. 8 But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; **yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. 9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. 12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

13 Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba.

In these verses, we see Caleb’s obedient and willing heart to serve the Lord. He reminds Joshua of the times when he obeyed the servant of the Lord Moses’s instruction to wholeheartedly, and the promise Moses made to him. And in verse 11 he again expresses his willingness to be sent for war if need be. In return, Joshua blesses him and allocates him the land his heart desired.

In response to God’s faithfulness to us he expects Obedience from us.

Why? Because …

• Obedience to God proves our love for Him (1 John 5:2-3)

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

• Demonstrates our faithfulness to Him (1 John 2:3-6)

3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him
ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

• Glorifies Him in the world (1 Peter 2:12)

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

• Opens avenues of blessing for us (John 13:17)

17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

My dear friends, we have all seen and experienced God’s faithfulness to us in innumerable ways, the greatest one is the redemptive work of Christ on our behalf.

Then,

• Why is it difficult to flee from sin when it’s easy now since we are not in bondage to sin?
• Why is it difficult to stop engaging in the evil & lustful thoughts in our minds when we can engage with God?
• Why is it difficult to turn away from that dishonorable images, social media posts, reels, and videos when we can turn away and imagine the cross of Calvary where our loving savior died for our sins and iniquities?
• Why is it difficult to forgive one another when we have received forgiveness from our heavenly father?
• Why is it difficult to love when we have received the agape love of God in abundance because of Jesus?
• Why is it difficult to follow him and do his will when Christ sacrificed his heavenly glory and came to dwell among us, to be ridiculed, dishonored, tortured, and killed for our sake?
• Why is it difficult to confess our sins to one another and repent when he had surrounded us with brothers and sisters, elders and leaders to watch over our lives?

Isn’t it because we are forgetting to value and cherish his faithfulness towards us.

Because we choose to ignore him.

• When we wake up in the morning we choose to pick up our phones instead of going on our knees and meditating on his spoken word to us.
• When we are confronted with challenges and setbacks in our life, workplace, schools & colleges we choose to apply our own wisdom and understanding instead of seeking God and his will.
• When we go to bed, instead of closing our eyes thinking and thanking God for the day we choose to close our eyes on the last movie or television program or something on the mobile we watched.

Friends, our obedience matters to God, and unlike the Israelites, we have been given the Spirit of His Son Jesus to help us in these matters.

Romans 8:1-4 Paul writes

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

As we now partake in the communion, let’s remember his faithfulness towards us.

Good morning church! Wanted to welcome everyone who has joined us in-person and also online this morning. How is everyone doing? One of the things that we really want to see happen more than anything else is to see our hearts hear and respond to God’s Word this morning. If you’ve been tracking with us at the Gathering, you would’ve figured that we’re going through a series titled “Our Promise Keeping God” from the book of Joshua.

We’re almost half way through our series, and now we’ve arrived at chapter 12 & 13 where we’ll see how the Israelites are ready to inherit the Promised Land.Before we begin, would you join me as we pray and ask God to help us understand and apply this passage to our lives today?

What comes to our mind when we think about the word “inheritance”? In Hindi they use the word “viraasat” to describe inheritance. We’ll probably think of property, wealth, possessions being handed down to one’s children or successors. Interestingly in the Bible, when God refers to the Promised Land, He refers to it as an inheritance that He’s kept for the Israelites.

What we will see in today’s passage is that the people of God will need “grace” to be able to enjoy their inheritance. They’ll need God’s grace from start to end. It’s a “gracious inheritance”. But it’s not just the Israelites who need grace, but the Bible tells us that in Jesus we have been given an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

This inheritance is kept in heaven for us (1 Pet 1:4) and so I hope that we too realize through the course of this time that we can only enjoy and unlock our spiritual eternal inheritance by grace only.

So 3 things which will help us enjoy our gracious inheritance:

1. We need grace to receive our inheritance (Josh 12)

One of the things that will stand out to you from chapter 12 is that there are a bunch of names of kings and places. If you’re like me who is not too much into history, it’s sometimes hard to read through a passage that’s only talking about names and places. But we need to ask ourselves, why did God put this passage in Scripture in the first place? What was God trying to tell the Israelites at that time and all of us now through chapter 12?

By reminding them of 33 kings that were defeated, 33 cities who had armies much larger and greater than that of the Israelites, and this generous area of land which is flowing with milk and honey, God wanted His people to recognize that they needed His grace to be able to receive the inheritance.

Sometimes it’s hard for us to understand this concept of grace, because we are so used to seeing how people get rewarded for their competence in the world today. So the Israelites would’ve done something right which is why God gave them an inheritance, we might argue. Maybe they did something significant or maybe they were more righteous than the others. Let’s quickly look at these two aspects.

• They weren’t given an inheritance because they were significant

6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers (Deut 7:6-8)

• They weren’t given an inheritance because they were righteous

5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deut 9:5)

In fact in the 40 year journey through the wilderness, the lives of the Israelites were not defined by faithfulness and loyalty to God but rather by stubbornness, rebellion and constant grumbling.

And so it was pretty clear that it wasn’t the significance or righteousness which made God chose the Israelites but rather His love and covenant promises which were made to Israel’s forefathers centuries before this.
How does this apply to us today? It could be that right now we are going through a season where we see momentary victories over certain sinful habits or maybe we are experiencing a season of spiritual growth, and it’s very easy for us to pat ourselves in the back and think that either it’s because of something significant that we’ve accomplished in life, or that we’re special in some way or because we are more righteous than some others that God has chosen us and given us an eternal inheritance.

It’s purely because of God’s love and His covenant promises in Jesus which is why God gives us an eternal inheritance. Some others might listen to this and think – “Hey I’m not really going through a season of spiritual victory and growth. In fact it’s the opposite where spiritual life seems like a daily struggle where I find myself go back to those sinful patterns”.

And if you’re in that place, let me tell you that God’s grace also addresses your need right now. Just think about it – right now God is not demanding you to do something significant to be able to come to Him, neither is He asking you to try to be righteous on your own and then earn the right to come back to Him.

No, God’s saying that His choice to give you an inheritance is purely based on His love and His commitment to you in Jesus. And that should free you to realize that you can come to Him and repent today.

But not only do we need grace to receive our inheritance, we also

2. We need grace to keep our inheritance

13 Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day. (Josh 13:13)

This particular verse might seem a little out of place in the middle of chapters that have spoken at length about the Israelites uncompromising obedience and many successful victories. And the immediate question that probably comes into our minds is why would the Israelites not drive out the Geshurites and Maachathites?

Maybe the Israelites thought “these Geshurites and Maachathites don’t seem to be causing too much of an issue here. They are not like the other nations who gang up together and start a war against us. They are minding their own business and plus we are already comfortable with the land that we’ve already conquered, so why simply get into another unnecessary battle here.

What we see here is that although the Israelites became very comfortable with the land, but God was more concerned about their hearts. The reason why God wanted the Israelites to drive out these other nations from among them was because these other nations would end up influencing them to follow their wicked and idol worshipping lifestyle.

That was the main problem. God knew that if the Israelites entertained the Canaanite nations, they would forsake the God who redeemed them, and who by grace gave them this land as an inheritance. God knew that their affections would be turned away from God.

And I think this same issue speaks into our hearts today as we tend to become very comfortable with the level of obedience and holiness that we presently have. If you had to honestly answer this question in your heart, what would you say are some areas in your life where you’re aware that you let the guards down in your pursuit of holiness and holiness?

Maybe it’s busyness – maybe you’re just too busy with a lot of stuff that you don’t have time to do the things that actually matter – things that help keep your affections toward Jesus like spending time in God’s Word and prayer. And we forget how these spiritual disciplines are necessary to fuel our affections for Jesus.

Or maybe it’s the content that we consume – we convince ourselves that we are strong believers and we are able to discern what’s right from wrong, but deep down that’s beginning to impact your affections for Jesus.

So before we get into the action points, I want us to realize that it’s first and foremost a heart problem & that’s why we need our Savior Jesus even today. We preach the gospel to ourselves daily because our heart needs the rescuing work of Jesus today.

Do we need a resolve to address this problem of getting too comfortable with our current level of obedience / disobedience? Yes, we need resolve but let’s understand that none of us has the resolve. We desperately need Jesus to change our hearts today and that’s why we pray. Because we need grace to keep our inheritance as well. If it were left to our ability of keeping the inheritance, we would’ve lost it already.

But not only do we need grace to receive, and not only do we need grace to keep but we also need

3. We need grace to see God as our inheritance

33 But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them. (v33)

In the midst of all the land allotments, what’s kind of interesting is the instructions that are given to the tribe of Levi. Unlike all the other tribes, they are told that they won’t have a physical space for inheritance. Their Lord is their inheritance!

Which meant that they had to be dependent on God for their provision & protection daily. In terms of provision, a portion of the sacrifices of the people were to provide for the tribe of Levi. The other aspect about our inheritance is that it’s something that we enjoy. And so when God is telling the Levites that He is their inheritance, He is telling them that out of every other tribe – the Levites in a special way will be able to experience joy while ministering in the OT tabernacle or temple.

I’m not sure what went through the minds of the Levites as they saw all their fellow Israelite tribes being allotted lands, but I’m sure they would’ve wrestled with this question – “Though I don’t have a physical land, would I count this as my highest privilege and greatest joy to know that God is my inheritance? Would that be enough for me?”
And that’s a challenging question which can challenge us today as well, “if we didn’t get our physical needs met as we expected, if we didn’t get the healing that we prayed for, if we didn’t get the job that we prayed for, if we didn’t get the person to marry as we prayed for, if we didn’t get the comfortable life and success as we hoped, if none of this were granted to us, would we still count it as our highest privilege and greatest joy to know that the Lord is our inheritance and possession? Would we say that this is enough and satisfying for us?”
In Matt 13:44 Jesus tells us of a parable about the kingdom of heaven. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

And it’s so interesting, the only reason why the man was able to joyfully sell all that He had to buy the field was because He understood the value and preciousness of that treasure.

When we realize that the God of the universe, who is Holy and Perfect beyond measure, who is Powerful and awesome in deeds, Loving and merciful in character chose to come near us (though we didn’t deserve it because we were sinners), and when we realize that God didn’t spare anything – in fact He gave up His Son on the cross to die for our wickedness and sins. And Jesus died and was buried and on the third day He rose from the dead so that whoever would believe in Jesus, would now receive this inheritance which is what – God Himself! When we realize that this is what God did to give Himself to us, then we can say that “My God is enough”.

Good morning everyone, I’m happy to see the many faces here and I wish I could see the faces of those who are online. But whatever it is, it’s good to have you all here.

And I hope you’re all doing well. I’m guessing the past week must’ve been challenging for many of you, and I believe that many of you must be having some good stories to share.

Whatever the place you find yourself in, you’re here and this is probably the best place to be on a Sunday morning. Not necessarily the Gathering Church, but with God’s people, gathering together to sing and hear God’s Word being preached, and to participate in the Lord’s Supper.

Before I pray, I also want to acknowledge the terrors occurring in Eastern Europe. The Ukrainian people are suffering, and it’ll have a ripple effect across the world. Whenever you pray, pray for the people who are suffering, pray that evil will not continue, and pray for God to bring peace and justice in those regions.

Let me pray before I start.

So, what is happening in Joshua 7? The Israelites are given a directive from their leader Joshua to attack and conquer the people of Ai. Joshua’s spies do some reconnaissance and conclude that only a few thousand men are required to defeat them, because the people of Ai are few in number.

But what happens? The people of Israel are routed. They run away from their enemies and return with their hearts melted and like water.
Why does this happen? The first verse in this chapter gives us the answer. What does it say? “Israel broke faith with regard to the devoted things for Achan from the tribe of Judah took some of the devoted things.

What are these devoted things again? In v18 and 19 of the previous chapter, it says 18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”

The Lord commanded not to take the devoted things but Achan did. Joshua 7:21 spells out for us Achan’s confession. It reads, “when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.””

So why was the Lord angry? Because Israel broke faith. How did they break faith? They took some of the devoted things for themselves.

Now in response to this defeat, Joshua prays to the Lord as you can read in v6-9. What is God’s response to the prayer? “11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.””

I want you to bring to your attention two consequences of Israel’s sin: one, in verse 12 it says, Israel turned their back before their enemies, and in the same verse God says “I will be with you no more”.

The reason I bring these two consequences is because it has some bearing on our lives too. The time and the circumstances of the Israelites were so different from what we are experiencing today. Yet there is one thing in common. There is one way we stand in solidarity with the people of Israel. It’s our common nature of sin.

Since we have the same fallen nature, that is why I’m saying that the consequences of sin mentioned in verse 12 has some bearing on us.

The First Consequence: Separation from God

So ultimately, the reason for the whole mess was sin. We can call it in different terms, like covenant breaking, breaking faith, transgressing the covenant, rebellion, etc. But it boils down to this one thing: sin.

This sin was a direct transgression of the covenant that the Israelites had with the Lord God. God always said in the Old Testament, as long as you obey I will be with you.

Because of this sin, Israel experienced her first defeat, if we look at the book of Joshua. The first six chapters were a display of Israel being on a high. Last week we heard the miraculous story of Israel and Jericho. The walls came crashing down just by people marching around it.

Because of this sin, God said I will be you no more.

Why is God so averse to sin? Because every sin is a mockery against His holy name. In Habakkuk 1:13 it says of God “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil”. He is the God who sits “enthroned on high and looks down on earth and heaven” (Ps 113:5-6) with the angels singing “holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty The whole earth is full of His glory” (Is 6:3). He is the God who looks down on the rulers of the world who conspire to go against Him and laughs at them. (Psalm 2:4). This is who God is therefore any sin is a Mockery of His majesty.

You should know that God’s attitude towards sin has not changed. He is still averse to it, He still hates it.

He is not only averse to sin but God cannot allow it to go unpunished. That is why, every sin needs to be paid for. And that is exactly how God reacts to the sin of Israel through Achan. In verse 15 of Joshua 7 the Lord says, “In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households. And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man. And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’””

The Lord knew what was up. He knew that Israel sinned and He probably knew that it was Achan who did it. Because God is holy and just, He cannot let stand sin nor can He let it go unpunished. And the degree of punishment depends on the kind of sin committed and against whom it is committed. So, what happened to Achan? V25 And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.

You should have been the one who was dragged out, questioned, shamed, guilted, and ultimately stoned to death.

But God was going to have none of that.

Instead of you, someone else was dragged out, accused, cursed, beaten, mocked, pierced, and ultimately killed so that you could be free. That one is Jesus Christ, who on the cross said, it is finished. The work has been done, redemption has been won and the war is over.

Psalm 103:10-11 says
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

I would end this point by saying the first consequence of sin is of no consequence because Jesus stepped in and saved us from our sin and from the wrath of God.

If you’ve been struggling with sin, and yearning for righteousness, the Bible says that Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Matt 5:6). Those of you who are striving to live righteous lives, continue to do so because your labor in the Lord will not be in vain (1 Cor 15:58). And finally those of you who consider yourself too big of a sinner, gone too far off, a wayward rebel, the Christ calls you. The Bible says that Jesus came not to call the righteous, but the sinners (Matt 9:13). So if you’re a sinner, good, because Christ came for sinners, and He calls you.

The Second Consequence: Unconfessed Sin can lead us to be Ineffective in our Christian lives.

Remember I highlighted verse 12 which said that Israel turns their back before their enemies because of their sin.

Like Achan, who hid his sin that led to Israel losing a battle, in a similar way we can lose our spiritual battles if we allow sin to be hidden.

There could be a variety of sins like anger, unkind words, disrespectful conversations, obscene talk, gossip, indulging in different kinds of sexual immorality, binge watching movies and TV shows, over eating, excessive consumption of alcohol and other vices.

And if there are any among you who can identify with these then bring it out to the light. Don’t let it eat away at your life, don’t allow the devil to have a foothold in your life and render you ineffective in your walk with the Lord and your service to His work and your church.

Instead of hiding your sin, bring it to the light. James 5:16 says confess your sins to one another. 1 John 1:9 says if you confess your sins God who is faithful and just will forgive you.

These are all examples of sinful behaviors we exhibit.

But these sins are just what is seen on the outside, taking Achan’s example. These sins are a result of a deep fallenness within us. Inside of us there is work of lust, bitterness, enny, malice, anxiety, idolatry, covetousness, and so on and so forth.

These are of greater danger. The reason Achan sinned was because he coveted the treasures. He didn’t trust in God’s command, provision, or all sufficiency.

So, you should be on alert about what’s going on in your heart. What are you thinking about? What are you saying to yourself? Are you setting your mind on things that are pure, noble, lovely, praise worthy?

Whatever it is, confess it. Confess to whom? First, confess to God, in fact pour out your heart before God. Remember, He doesn’t deal with you according to your iniquities but with grace, so you can be assured before God.

Confess also to others. God has given us a body of believers to help us. Many a time, He works in us through a brother or sister in Christ. I would say to anyone who is the listener of such confessions to reserve judgment, be compassionate, and most importantly listen more than you talk. Remember how much the Lord dealt with kindness towards you and reciprocate that same kindness to the one who is confessing.

If you’re here and you want to talk, be open about your sin, or you want to talk about your wandering heart, we’re here. The pastors are here too. We also have something called DNA groups which are built for such kinds of conversations. Leverage these meetings for your own good.