We're almost home. Aren't you glad that you can
sing that with absolute confidence that nothing can
change your eternal destination? That's the hope that we have.
That's the power of the gospel. And we believe here that even
Satan himself cannot take away your salvation.
But as much as that is the truth, we have to also
acknowledge that He is intent on stealing the blessings that you
are called to enjoy in that salvation.
He is viciously ambitious to do that, to rob us of all that God
has purchased for us in Christ beyond just our heavenly home.
But the things that He wants us to enjoy and know and live in
today, Satan is after. And I want to remind you of that
because he does this in both obvious and subtle ways.
And today I want to focus on his most, most subtle methods,
particularly one. And it's often more destructive
than people imagine. The enemy of your soul and mine
is dedicated, takes great pleasure in making sure that
God's children live with regret, to live with regret.
And by regret I mean this persistent sorrow,
disappointment, guilt that you might know because of past
failures or mistakes. And before I I try to bring to
your attention how this crippling remorse ties to the
enemy and how our flesh is integrated with that, I want to
also tell you that there is a redemptive aspect to remorse.
It's called godly grief and the Bible tells us that it is meant
to lead us to reconciliation with God if responded to
accordingly. So meet me in the book of Second
Corinthians Chapter 7 and let's look at verse 10 briefly.
Second Corinthians Chapter 7, verse 10 Paul writes for Godly
grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without
regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
It's straightforward, isn't it? The regret of any shortcomings
or deliberate disobedience is meant to produce repentance, a
repentance that. Leads to salvation.
That's what that pain concerning your sin is is designed to you
have a choice with what to do with it.
But God's desire is that it would draw you to his forgiving
arms. And one of the wonderful things
about this verse is that we are told a beautiful thing about
what this repentance leads to. So yes, this grief, regret, call
it what you will, should lead to repentance.
And then once you arrive at that repentance, Paul promises by the
Spirit. That it would not provide any
regret afterwards. Do you see that last part says
here. A repentance that leads to
salvation without regret. Here's what it means by that.
Primarily that when you turn from your sin, turn your face to
the Lord, call upon His compassion, receive his
forgiveness, be saved, you'll not think twice about that
decision. You will never second guess
giving your life to Jesus Christ.
That's what he is saying here. And how could you if you've
truly tasted the joy and peace that Christ offers?
Which makes me also believe that Paul has another meaning with
this this phrase here of a salvation without regret.
That when a person receives this gift of salvation, then they are
called to dwell, live, be free from any regret, any sorrow, a
salvation without regret. I'm redeemed, I'm delivered, I'm
new. And so there is a sense here in
which, you know, A rush of freedom, not just in that
decision, yes, I'm say, but also who I am now, how I'm
identified, how I'm seen by God. And all of us in here can
testify to that freedom, especially when you were first
born again. But why is it that for so many,
that feeling doesn't last? That awareness, that rock?
Solid confidence begins to wane, and let me give you one of the
main reasons. Because the accuser seeks to rob
you of that gift. He is so driven to make the
children of God miserable with regret.
Is it any wonder why in Revelation 12/10 he is
identified as the accuser of our brothers?
And he stands before God day and night, and he accuses us before
God. And don't limit to his ambition
in that he also accuses you directly.
He violates your conscience, He attacks you, He whispers the
lies. That is the essence of spiritual
warfare. And it impacts us in ways that
people overlook because this kind of regret, this sense of
condemnation is able to choke you to such a degree that it
hinders your spiritual progress and it stifles with your
relationship with God. And I want to give you a brief
example of that from the book of First John.
In chapter 3. We're going to different
scriptures. Today.
There isn't 1 main text, but many texts.
So you have to hold your Bible tightly.
And 1st John 319 Look what the apostle John says now.
He's speaking to believers, he says in First John 319.
By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure
our heart before Him, for whenever our heart condemns us,
God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence
before God, and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we
keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.
Two main observations that I want to make from this passage.
Observations concerning the possibilities of the condition
of your heart as a Christian. Number one, we are informed that
it's possible for Christians to feel condemned.
What does he say here in verse 20?
For whenever our heart condemns us.
So it's possible that at any time, not just in the beginning
of your walk, not as you are trying to come to terms with
what the gospel does for you, at any point, even 1020 decades
after you've confessed Christ, condemnation can visit your
heart. Which is why he says here in
verse 19 that our hearts need to be what?
Reassured, reassured. And don't you love how John says
we? He doesn't say you, He includes
himself. We need to be.
If you struggle with that temptation, if if you're not
stable in your security, what is required of you is to reassure
your heart. But it's also possible, and this
is what we should all strive for, for you to live
condemnation free. And that you would never ever
doubt God's goodness and His favor towards you.
That you would never fear that at any point He would disown
you. Seeing where do you get that
from? Look at verse 21, beloved, if
our heart does not condemn us, if our heart does not condemn
us, we have confidence before God.
So what does that tell me again, it tells me that it is possible
for me to have absolute, total, unshakable confidence before God
in my relationship with God. Aim for that.
That's your goal in mind. That's where the Lord wants us
to be. But for so many, it's not that
they settle for a shaky foundation.
They just think it's almost normal for them to live doubting
their acceptance before God. That that's possible, but it's
not God's desire. And.
Here's one of the most striking things about this passage that
you have here, John, transitioning from the
discussion about your security in God and your prayer life.
Don't you see it in verse 22? Notice what He says and whatever
we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments
and do what pleases Him. That seems out of place.
You're going from talking about your confidence before God to
now talking about the strength of your prayer life.
What's the relationship? Well, if you really meditate on
it, it actually makes total sense.
The former affects the latter. In other words, what motivation
would I have to come before God and pray if I am unsure that He
is not holding my sin against me and even if a person tries and
really pushes. Themselves, to pray in that kind
of a mindset. It's not really the way you're
supposed to pray. At least you find yourself
there. You find yourself living in that
reality and even praying with that state of mind, trying to
feel less guilty altogether. So I'm praying because I'm, I
want to try to earn more points. I want to try to convince myself
and maybe even convince God that I'm worthy of his acceptance.
And what, what you'll end up finding about yourself if you're
praying, maybe you recognize this, if you really reflect on
it, your prayers are really just asking God for forgiveness all
the time. Forgive me, Lord, forgive me,
Lord, please, Lord, forgive me, please.
It's you're almost subconsciously.
The more I ask for him, the more I bother him with it, the more
he'll reluctantly say, OK, fine, here's forgiveness.
And you never move beyond that. You never know what it's like to
enjoy His presence. You never know what it's like to
feel the freedom to ask Him of anything, to communicate with
him. All your desires, all your
concerns, you're just stuck in that place, trying to persuade
God of him just even receiving you initially.
So I want you to see how constant regret, guilt, the
pricking of shame drains you. It's like a parasite that sucks
the spiritual vitality out of you.
And this is just in regard to our prayers.
It has impact on so many other things and that's why I want to
speak about it today. This is really my prayer, that
every person leaving this place with no relief, that you would
know, this anchoring hope that would remain, that you would
have confidence before God. And so that's why I want to
speak to you about three types of regret that Christians can
overcome. And I say 3 because Satan is
much more clever. And this, this flesh is much
more deceptive than we initially thought.
And so the first kind of regret I want to address is to be free
from the regret of the sins of the past, even if such sins were
committed as Christians. The second kind of regret I want
to talk about is the regret of questionable choices.
What do I mean by that? Choices that you made initially
thinking that they were in the will of God, but after some
unfolding, after some more truth was brought to the matter, now
you're doubting. Was that really God's will?
And it haunts you to this day. And the last kind of regret I
want to address. Is the regrets of missed
opportunities, those who are discouraged over what they feel
to be paths that they have bypassed ignored, leaving you
constantly wondering what if, what if?
So let's deal with the obvious one, our past sins.
And I'm assuming as I bring this point to you, that the sins that
we've committed in our former lives, the sins that we've even
committed as born again believers are repented of.
You have relinquished them. You have turned to the Lord and
you've asked for forgiveness. But there is still a possibility
that even if you've done what the Lord has asked of you
concerning those past sins, that you Can't Sing confidently about
you being a child of God and God loving you and wanting the best
for you and wanting to lead you and and writing a story for your
life for His glory. You being drained of energy,
it's this sorrow that sucks the life out of you because as you
lay there in bed, you're you're visited by those sins or there
might be even people in your life that you've even sinned
again against. Just the sight of them causing
you to feel. There's no way that God smiles
over my life after what I've done.
This dark cloud of doubt that's over your head all the time,
wrestling even with the fear of judgement.
If that is you today, I want to let you know you have one main
goal in this life. You have one main goal, knowing
deliverance from that, and it is to be reacquainted with the
fullness of God's forgiveness. You know it, I know you know it.
You can quote, you've probably even counseled other people with
it, and you're not even convinced of it yourself.
That's totally possible. But my aim today is to just give
you a sample of what can happen. Really.
I'm asking that the Lord would, in His power make these truths
come alive in you. To get an idea what facing the
truth of the fullness of God's heart in His mercy should do to
you, what it can do to you, what it offers you.
Here's the thing with us humans when it comes to this idea of
forgiveness. If you're honest, I know you
love the Lord. But if you're honest,
forgiveness more than anything else feels like a duty because
of this flesh, right? And so it's more like, I have to
do this. And yes, it's a command and
we're happy. It's a command, or else we would
try to justify our lack of forgiveness and our bitterness.
But I'm talking about the way it feels.
It feels like this is what I'm just supposed to do.
God is not like us in this area even because to the Lord, it's
not just this obligation, it's not this reluctant
responsibility. You ready for this?
God actually delights in forgiveness.
It's not a duty to God. For you.
It feels like a duty to God. He actually finds genuine joy in
extending it. Really.
Yes, really. He actually, he know there's
this eruption of happiness in God's heart when he invites
people to receive his forgiveness and when they accept
it by faith. We can go to hundreds of
scriptures that can testify to that.
Let me bring you as a starting point to Lamentations in
chapter. Three, let's go there together
and verse 33, Lamentations 333, the prophet Jeremiah says
something astounding about the heart of God, for he does not
afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.
You know what the prophet is doing by the Spirit.
He's revealing how the default of God's heart is not one of
judgement and wrath. We think the opposite.
We think that we're unable to shake it off.
Some of us, the Lord's impulses to discipline.
It's to punish, while forgiveness and extending grace
is a grudging chore to him. And yet the prophet Micah tells
us something in the context of pardoning iniquity and
overlooking our trespass if we repent, that he delights in
steadfast love. Micah says that he delights in
steadfast love. That's where his delight is.
That's his disposition. Here's another way to grasp.
I was thinking about this, thinking what's what's the
easiest way to perhaps draw us into experiencing this truth?
I want you, even for a moment now to think about something
that you know automatically, automatically will flood your
heart with some kind of joy that can transport you into elation
that can actually bring you. Out of a time where you're
really in the slumps, it could be the company company of a
beloved friend. It can be the sense of
gratification you know after accomplishing a certain task or
any strange subjective experience that very few people
can understand. Just imagine something that
actually unlocks a sense of joy in your heart.
Now take this in God, forgiving a Sinner, does that for him, but
with a joy that is infinitely more intense.
Than you can even fathom that's how God feels when he what when
he extends mercy and especially when it is believed on by faith
so he doesn't afflict from his heart.
And what makes this more precious and limitations is that
Jeremiah is giving this. Truth in the context of him
having to forcefully remind himself of it.
Look at verse 21. Look at chapter 3, verse 21.
But this I call to mind. And therefore I have hope.
And then down in verse 33, one of the things that he calls to
mind is that he does not afflict from his heart.
You know what that tells me? And it should tell you the same,
that we often lose sight of the fact that God's heart is like
this. We are prone to believe the
opposite. And Lamentations is not the only
book that defines the Lord's tender temperament toward those.
Who are in sin? So go to Hosea in Chapter 11,
please. I hope I prepared you in advance
that we're going to be bouncing to different places in the
Bible. Hosea 11, verse 8.
This is when Israel was steeped in sin.
And the prophet says as he speaks on behalf of the Lord,
how can I give you a boy for him?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Adma? How can I treat you like Zeboim?
My heart recoils within me. My compassion grows warm and
tender. This is perhaps one of the most
explicit passages that unveil the raw emotion that God feels.
God feels. He's not robotic.
He's not mechanical. He has emotions.
And you see it so plain here. And he makes reference to a
couple of places that we're probably not familiar with.
We know Efrain, we know Israel, but what what's and where is
Admah? And what's and where's Zeboim?
Well, if you go to Genesis 14, don't turn there, don't turn
there. But if you were to go there in
chapter 14, verse 2, you would learn that these two areas are
neighboring cities to the infamous Sodom and Gomorrah.
And these two regions were also destroyed alongside them because
they shared in the same sins as them.
And at this point in Israel's history, they were imitating,
they were mirroring the sins of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the region
all together. Now, you and I know what he did
to Sodom and Gomorrah in his perfect righteousness.
And as we come to this passage, we would expect that what's
going to grow warmer, if anything is going to grow
warmer, is his anger and his desire to execute his wrath.
And though we do not overlook God's justice, what's being
emphasized here is that what's growing warmer and more tender
is his compassion, confirming what we read in limitations that
it is not His heart to afflict. And so how do you understand
this passage if you were to translate in simple English?
I don't want to judge. I much rather extend forgiveness
and to make you whole when you repent and receive my
forgiveness. That's what he desires.
His heart recoils within him. It's it's stirring the deepest
parts of who he is. Not that he's uncertain, not
that he's wrestling with his will.
That's not the case. But we're we're we're granted
human like understanding and language to try to relate to
what God is like. And here we see that what's
actually becoming more ferocious and what's stirring him more
than anything else is compassion for what a people who are broken
for this and know are people who are stubborn in their sin.
This is God's heart and he longs for them to know it.
I think this is almost too good to be.
True, and I'm here to tell you it's true.
This is what he wants and this is really difficult for many of
us to believe. So in the very next verse verse,
as though Hosea anticipates us to be hesitant to actually grasp
this, look at what he says in verse 9.
I will not execute my burning anger.
I will not again destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not a
man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.
Now, when you hear the title Holy One, what do you often
associate that with? His purity, His justice once
again, which is true. But in this instance, the Holy
Spirit wants you to link the holiness of God, the
transcendence of God, the otherworldliness of God, with
His willingness to withhold judgment and actually receive
those who deserve His wrath. In other words, by communicating
this, he's saying I being holy and not like you in terms of how
I am willing to forgive. I'm not like man, I'm God.
I'm God. And I want to show you how I'm
so much different for you from you.
I want to forgive this people here, not judge them.
So he is so different from us also in the strength and
availability of his compassion. And this is, again, astounding.
It should cause us to worship, yes, but it gets better because
this is just the surface of God's willingness to forgive.
What happens once He does? What happens when the heart of
faith connects with this willingness to forgive?
And that's where it gets even better.
So I quoted Micah briefly, but I want you to turn there now, and
I want you to notice something. Notice that I'm pointing you to
the prophets. Did you notice this trend?
Those are the same. Books that provide the greatest,
most scathing declarations of judgement.
But if you read the Prophets carefully, you'll note that at
the end of each one of their books, there is a message of
hope. Read it, you'll never Unsee it.
No, no matter how scathing, you always end on a note of hope,
and it's no different with Micah in Chapter 7, verse 19.
Micah 719. He will again have compassion on
us. He will tread our iniquities
under foot. That's how the ESV renders it.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Let's break this down slowly. For Micah to say he will again
have compassion on us is a reminder that his reception of
the repentant is readily available.
He'll, he'll do it. He'll do it.
Again and again and again and again.
He is always willing to receive the repentant again and again.
It's not short lived. It is long-suffering.
And when that compassion is called upon and humble
penitence, Micah tells us something that the Lord will do
with your record of sin. The ESV says that He will tread
our iniquities under foot. So let's follow that imagery.
A person realizes they've sinned, they confess their sin,
and the Lord takes your sin. He places it on the ground and
with his mighty feet. The earth is his footstool by
the way. He treads on it until that
record of sin becomes fine powder, unrecognizable,
destroyed, disintegrated. And if that wasn't enough, what
does Micah say he does? He bundles up.
All of that, every fragment of your record of sin.
And with his mighty arm he throws it into the depths of the
sea. Why does he do that?
So it can be out of sight and so that it can be out of reach.
That's why he does that. You say, well maybe with some
sins, but not my sin. We convince ourselves like this,
do we not? OK, well, look what he says.
You will cast what? Some of our sins all name it.
He's willing to tread it, and he's willing to bundle it, and
he's willing to cannon it into the depths of the sea.
There's not one sin that you can name that he is not willing to
do this for any sin. All are sin.
No matter how dark, no matter how much it's permeated your
record, your history, He is willing to tread it.
He is willing to put it beneath his feet.
And if he puts it beneath his feet, what does that mean?
Just to begin with? It means that it's out of out of
his sight. He's not studying it.
He's not contemplating. It's there.
It's, it's, it's beneath him. And then he doesn't even keep it
there. He plunges into the depths of
the ocean now. Micah's words here should remind
us of a lyric in a song of the Bible.
It's not in the Psalms. It's actually one of the first
songs of the Bible altogether in redemptive history, the Song of
Moses when the people were just delivered from the Red Sea, and
the tyranny of Pharaoh in Egypt. Let me quote this to you from
Exodus 15, verse 4. Pharaoh's Chariots and his host
he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the
Red Sea, cast into the sea. Can I ask you a question?
Was Pharaoh's army a threat after they were cast into the
sea? No, you know why?
They were non existent? They were totally and absolutely
eliminated. They can no longer harass the
people of God. They can no longer threaten the
people of God because they were destroyed by God.
It's no different. With your record of sin now, how
ridiculous would it be for you being an Israelite in that day,
being a part of that awesome testimony, that generation that
was rescued from slavery? How weird would it be that
coming through that Red Sea and God bearing your enemies for you
to look out and to see Israelites sitting on the shore
and quivering while looking at the ocean, wondering is this
really it? Is this?
Is this it? You can't see?
A chariot you can't see. Pharaoh's uniform, they're at
the bottom of the ocean. So how weird would it be for you
to look at somebody or to be that person to think?
I don't know. It's done.
They're destroyed. Move on.
And here's the problem. Many Christians choose to sit on
the shore of their memories, staring out into the ocean of
the past and regretfully ruminating over forgiving sins
that God intended for you to forget about.
So if your sins have been cast into the depths of the sea, you
know what you should do. Imitate the Israelites in Exodus
15. Sing with relief and rejoicing,
and March on. It's done.
And that happens every single time you repent.
It was AW Tozer who said that the regret of a sinful past can
only dissipate when we recognize that in Christ that past doesn't
exist. You're remembering something
that the Lord forgot about. Not that he's not omniscient,
but he chooses not to dwell in it.
He chooses not to use it against you, Isaiah tells him.
But he takes our sins, and he casts it behind his back.
It's not before him, so it's behind his back.
It's beneath his feet. It's in the depth of the ocean,
and it's tormenting you day and night.
How can that be? You have to be reacquainted with
the fullness of God's forgiveness.
I can assure you that the more you saturate your mind with this
truth, the less you'll be convinced that God is dangling
your sin over your head, that you can at any moment expect Him
to strike you with judgement in this life.
And more than that, this false notion that He's going to
surprise you at the end of your life with eternal denial because
of the severity of your sin. If you have repented of it, you
forget it. And if you continue to struggle
with that feeling of guilt, because I, I, I know, let's be
real. Let's be real, right?
Some of you know these things, but you're still going to
wrestle with that feeling. So let me offer some advice,
some advice that I thought was beneficial.
You must, as you pursue this familiarity with the fullness of
God's forgiveness, right? Because it's not instantaneous.
It's not like you read a page and then everything just
disappears. No, it takes time, the renewal
of your mind. So as you work with that
process, and you might still be visited by those feelings of
regret, guilt, shame, whatever the case may be, fear.
Learn to discern the difference between guilt as a feeling and
guilt as a fact. Big difference.
What I feel doesn't determine my
fate. Tell yourself that as you're
trying to memorize and as you're trying to connect, as you're
trying to build the case of what God is like and what he is like
for you and towards you. And you still might be wrestling
and still might be clutching at your soul and you're thinking,
Tell yourself this feeling of guilt doesn't confirm my status
before God. And you know that from a human
to human level that somebody might have forgiven you, but you
still wrestle with what you've done to somebody, right?
But it doesn't determine your relationship with that person,
especially if they've forgiven you.
So this, these emotions, these things that don't align with the
truth, I will manage it by reminding myself that what God
says, and that's my first John 3 is all about if my heart
condemns me. God is greater than my heart and
He knows everything. Regret over sinful past.
Let's talk about regret and overcoming the regret of
questionable choices #2 I'm talking about the range of
decisions that we believe were in God's will.
But as unfavorable experiences follow, or as more light was
shed on the matter, you begin to feel the suffocating
realization. Maybe I missed it.
Maybe this was not God's will all along.
I arrived at the wrong conclusion and this is how this
works. The more costly or permanent a
decision is, the greater the sense of regret becomes.
We don't feel so guilty or regretful about things that you
can reverse overnight. And so this can happen with
money and time spent for an education that you realize is
not beneficial. This can look like you moving
and having to leave behind so many things because of a
promising opportunity, even a ministerial 1.
And you realize that this was not what I expected.
It can look like any opportunity you thought was going to be for
your good, even God's will, and it disappointed you.
This even happens when people get married and wonder if they
made the right choice. Did I really marry the right
person? If that's you, please hear this,
please. If you sought God, if you sought
godly counsel, if you aligned your thinking and your planning
according to God's word, no matter what the outcome of that
decision was, you working with the light that God has given you
in the moment, in that season should relieve you in that you
have no reason. No, you don't even have a
second, a right for a moment to live in regret.
Do you know why? Because I think that you've done
all that. And to still be tormented by the
possibility of missing the will of your heavenly Father actually
goes against everything Jesus taught about the character of
our heavenly Father. So let me remind you a verse in
Luke 1111. Here we are in the New Testament
and look what Jesus said about the Father by making a contrast.
And Luke 1111 what father among you?
If his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish, give him a
serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, we'll
give him a scorpion? Never forget this.
Jesus never wastes his words and his teaching.
Everything that he says is intentional and is meant to be
studied and carefully regarded. Let's just ask 2 simple
questions. What does a fish?
And. An egg have in common.
It's not some deep mystical thing, by the way.
Very simple. They're nutritious.
They're good for you, right? You may not like fish, but it's
good for you. May not like eggs.
Good for you. OK, what do scorpions and
serpents have in common? Not good for you.
Dangerous for you. I know some people that have
them as pets. God bless you.
Generally, they're harmful. They can hurt you.
So a crisis conveying that is, if a child asks for something
profitable and beneficial, no good father would give him
something harmful instead. So let's connect this with this
truth. If I'm a child of God who
earnestly seeks for the will of God.
In any matter, I have no reason to fear that He will lead me
down a path that is perilous, wasteful, or injuries because
that's not who he is. That's not that's not his heart.
And I can't express you. I can't even put into words the
glorious rest that that this is provided in every area of my
life, especially if after choosing something or deciding
something or moving forward in a certain direction, it brought
about pushback or or unfavorable experiences.
This truth that I'm presenting to you should make you
absolutely unshakable because here, here's how it looks like.
Lord, I know. I know that I've surrendered my
life to you and I know that I've brought this matter before you.
And Lord, you know that I, I wanted the best.
I wanted your will. And I've sought it from godly
leaders. I've sought it from godly family
members and friends. And though I cannot make sense
of what's transpiring here because I know that I've laid it
at your feet, because I've put you always before me, I'm going
to trust you in this. I don't get it, but I'm going to
trust you in this. And the relief in part comes
from you giving it to him before anything even started.
That's why it's so important to be prayerful.
That's why it's so important to it's not just so that you can
get what you hope to get. It's so that when things don't
look like what you expected, you can be at rest.
Amen. That's right.
So be relieved, no matter what it looks like, no matter.
I don't know how this happened. I didn't expect this, but did
you see God about it? I did, absolutely, no question.
Then be at rest and don't live in regret.
I'm sure it gets a lot more complicated than that in many
scenarios, but that's just a general commentary and hopefully
it brings some kind of help. But I know that there might be
some people excluded, or at least feeling excluded.
You know why? Because the source of your
regret is not I prayed about it, but doesn't make sense is I
didn't even pray about it to begin with.
I'll be honest with you, preacher, I didn't see God at
all. I was thinking carnality.
I was thinking in the flesh. I was thinking my will, not
God's will. I moved ahead.
Is there still hope? For me, would it amaze you if I
say, yes, there is hope for you? I, I want to let you know that
there is an example in the scripture of a man of God, not
just a man, a man of God who in a moment's time made a very
serious, permanent, lasting choice without seeking God about
him. And the story goes to show that
even though he moved ahead, he realizes wrong.
He chose to still seek God after the fact.
And God did something wonderful with this man's story.
Turn with me to Joshua Chapter 9.
I want to talk to you about what is known as the Gibeonite
deception. Joshua was the leader of the
nation of Israel, and he was called to lead a generation into
the Promised land and as the vessel of God's judgement to
destroy all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan.
Why? Because century after century
after century, this people group ignored God, hated God, despised
God, and grew worse and worse in their sin.
And so the Lord said, that's it, they must be destroyed.
I'm using this nation as an instrument to bring about that
judgement. So the mandate was clear.
Everyone who lives in this land who is outside of covenant with
God must be judged accordingly. Now, this group called the
Gibeonites learned about it. They learn about what the God of
Israel has done. They learn about the early
conquest of this nation. And so they were fearful.
And so they came up with a cunning plan.
And here was the plan. We're going to pretend as we
introduce ourselves to Joshua and his people.
That we are from a distant land. And they put on this whole show
really. They brought like old looking
food and they dressed like they were worn and they traveled for
so long. And they came persuasively
telling Joshua, hey, we heard about your God and and we love
what we see. And we're not from here, by the
way, We'd love to make a peace treaty with you, Joshua.
And the leaders were, at first, a little suspicious.
But they gave in. They eventually gave in,
especially when they interacted with the physical, the material
that what was on the surface. And we're given this commentary
in Joshua Chapter 9, verse 14. So the men took some of their
provisions but did not ask counsel from the Lord.
So why is that there to tell you that what's about to transpire
is due to this mishap, due to this failure, They did not ask
counsel from the Lord. It's not because they weren't
smart enough. It wasn't because no one main
reason they didn't stop and say Lord is this is this of you.
Lord, should we move forward with this?
Lord, is there something that I'm not seeing that you see that
you want me to be aware of? They didn't do that.
They trusted in themselves. They trusted in their senses.
Verse 15 And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant
with them to let them live. And the leaders of the
congregation swore to them. You learn later on this chapter
that they swore in the name of the Lord.
It was just say, hey, we can be friends.
It was we're invoking the name of God in this covenant.
That's serious. I know it's not serious today.
People throw around, people make vows and doesn't mean anything.
No, no, no, no, back then you rather die than break your word,
especially if you invoke God's name.
But look what happens in verse 16.
At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with
them, they heard that they were their neighbors.
And that they. Lived among them.
And so there was a problem. The people of Israel were upset
with their leaders. The leaders were upset with the
Gibeonites. So they confronted them.
Now, let me pause here before I move on.
This is why this is so significant.
Number one, this covenant that was made was built on deception.
It was built on a lie. This was not a good start.
The Gibeonites pretended to be something they were not, and the
Israelites only learn about who they truly were after they made
an unbreakable treaty. Can you imagine?
This is not an item that you bought, that you have to go in
return in 30 days. This is permanent, and we're
dealing with God's grand narrative plan for the people
and for the Messiah. This is a major blunder.
So this relationship was built upon a fraudulent foundation.
Secondly, it was a covenant that was established that was not
sanctioned by God. God didn't approve of this.
What was supposed to happen to the Gibeonites is what was
supposed to happen to what happened to Jericho and what
happened to AI and everybody else.
They were supposed to be annihilated.
Instead, they became partners with them.
And I want to just say this. What happened with the
Gibbianites in Israel is how some marriages have been
formulated. God's will was not sought.
You were just in love. Supposedly you were just
infatuated. You were just after the
physical, you were just after the security.
You were just after the companionship.
But you never sought God's will. You didn't pray and ask.
In fact, you were probably scared to because you thought
he's going to say no. So I'm going to get ahead of
him. And like this covenant, one or
both parties relied on self in assessing the legitimacy of the
other. You trusted in your senses, your
ideas, your ability to maybe redeem that person.
You're not the Savior, God's the Savior.
Husbands and wives make terrible saviors.
Only Jesus can save. And like this covenant in Joshua
Chapter 9, one or both parties have made heart shattering
discoveries only after they got married.
Who are you? Or maybe you've said this.
You're not the person I married, right?
In heated moments, maybe you've told yourself that when you left
the house on your way to work. Like what?
What is this? And really, in summary, the
relationship wasn't blessed by God to begin with.
And I'm referring to marriage because I can't think of
anything more permanent in terms of covenant decisions in this
life. So I'm not picking on married
people here. It can be in anything.
But what can be more lasting than this?
At least it should be lasting. So coming back to this.
Story you would imagine that the way forward for Israel's to do
what? This is done.
I don't care if it's been 3 days, I'm not waiting a day
longer. You lied to me.
You are not who you say you were.
So this is over. But you know what?
You discover that Israel understood the power of an oath,
and they understood that if they were to break this covenant,
they would incur God's wrath. Oh, so they much rather stay in
this covenant and knowing that they would bring honor to the
Lord. In doing so, and that's what
they chose to do. And I think even in this
historical account you have a universal principle for God's
people. This is this is it.
This is the crescendo of this point, that even though you may
have not initially sought the will of God, God's guidance in
any decision, you can still choose to move forward with the
desire to honor him. That from this moment on, I will
honor the Lord. I will do my best to seek his
pleasure and his delight and His will.
And if you choose to do that, especially with irreversible
commitments, God will do amazing things.
The possibilities are endless. And that's exactly what Joshua
does. Israel chose to move forward and
amazing thing is, you quickly see that the Lord does not
abandon Israel. He actually works with them.
In fact, he continues to write their story, though this is a
major mistake, a significant. One God doesn't miss a beat.
He sees the heart of these people and he and he continues
to walk with them. He continues to provide for
them. He continues to guide them.
And I want to show you one instance where this is really
beyond what we would think. Look at Joshua 10 very next
chapter. We don't have to wait 2
chapters. The very next chapter what
happens the neighboring nations find out that Gibeon.
Made a peace treaty with Israel. They were infuriated.
You betrayed our people for this people that's invading us.
And so there is a coalition that was created and now they come to
fight against Gibeon. Gibeon cries out to Israel,
saying we're on the same team. You got to help us and because
of the covenant. They help them.
A war breaks out. The leaders of Israel, Joshua in
particular, makes an incredible prayer request that the sun
would stand still, so they can have light, so that they can
fight. And here's how this account
concludes in Joshua 10/14. There has been no day like it
before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for
the Lord fought for Israel. There's been no day like this.
This is a unprecedented miracle. And it happened in the context
of one nation. God's people defending a people
that they shouldn't have made a covenant with to begin with.
That's God's mercy. You know what God could have
done? Oh, whoa, whoa, look, You got
yourself in trouble now, huh? You brought in the Gibeonites,
and other people want to fight Gibeon?
Well, since you made a covenant with them, good luck.
Let's see how you fend for yourself when you don't seek me.
Go for it. That's how some of us think.
You look back saying I don't know how I got myself here.
I know I didn't seek God's will. And now you think that you're
just living out a lesser version of God's will for you if there's
anything really left. And what I see here is that God
came through in an amazing way in a very unlikely covenant.
He can rewrite your story. Even if you didn't ask for his
authorship in that decision, He's still willing to, in your
humble acknowledgement and confession, to bring back his
authorship into your life and to write the story for testimonies
that you never thought would be possible.
Regret about questionable choices.
Let's come to the final one, overcoming the regret of missed
opportunities. The nature of this regret, it's
not so much about a wrong or lesser decision or choice, but
about not acting at all. And so it's a remorse that
involves feelings of disappointment, sadness over
things that could have been, you've missed it, experiences
that could have been had, potential paths that were not
taken, and the most familiar to believers.
Who felt like. They've missed opportunities as
when they are later in life awakened to what it means to
follow Christ, to really be sold out to the Lord, and they
reminisce on what they've done with their earlier years,
walking with Christ and felt like they wasted it.
They were caught up in carnality, distracted by
worldliness, living not a spirit filled life.
And so there's some people who look back thinking, I wasted
those years. I, I wasted what could have
been, what could I have been today?
What would I look like now? What, what could my ministry
have been like if I just from the start honored him, if I had
not been so foolish. There are some people who
constantly live in regret to the point where it keeps them in the
same place. And I want to offer you a verse
that will, I think, perfectly summarize the entire message.
And this is where we are ending today.
Paul's words in the book of Philippians, chapter 3 and
beginning of verse 13. Brothers, I do not consider that
I've made it my own. But one thing I do, forgetting
what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.
Here's the great apostle highlighting a crucial element
to knowing great, significant spiritual progress.
Do you know what it is? Don't dwell on the past.
This one thing I do like. He made it an ambition, a
priority and his sanctification. I regularly, consistently decide
not to dwell on yesterday and usually this is quoted to
comfort those who are haunted by failure.
But what makes this even more amazing is that Paul mainly is
talking about his past success. I do not consider that I've made
it my own. What what's that?
What's your, what's the goal you're talking?
What's the object that you're saying that you you don't fully
possess? And he brings it up in verse 10.
I believe that I may know Him and the power of his
resurrection. And may share his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death. That by any means possible.
I maintain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I've already obtained this or am already perfect, but
I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me
his own. So it's as though he unfolds it.
Earlier and he expects you to know what he's talking about in
verse 13. So the IT the thing that he
says, I haven't made this fully mine, but I know that if I dwell
in the past, I won't arrive here, that it is two things
knowing Jesus Christ fully. And becoming like Jesus
completely. Look at verse 10 again, that I
may know him and the powers of his resurrection, and then he
says later on in the same verse becoming like him in his death,
and it goes on in verse 12, not that I've already obtained this.
What's this? This knowing him and becoming
like him. Not that I have already made in
my own verse 13, but there's one thing I do forgetting what lies
behind and straightening forth to what lies ahead.
Paul understood that both discontentment and contentment
with your past can keep you from knowing greater testimonies,
greater experiences, greater feats in the faith, and so he.
Said I'm not going to let discontentment what I failed to
do, and I'm not going to let contentment what I did
accomplish. All my credentials, all the
revelations I received, all the people that I impacted, none of
that also will keep me from running ahead.
I asked you to imagine looking at an Israelite after the Red
Sea incident and how crazy it would be to see him there
quivering or maybe in a fetal position, looking out to the
ocean, wondering how are they going to come back for me?
OK, now imagine this. Imagine a runner in a race and
you're in the stands and everybody's running in their own
respective lanes and they're ahead, They're focused, and
there's one guy, maybe a guy that you know, and as they're
running, they have their head behind them, looking behind.
The whole time you're thinking, what are you doing?
Or you're driving and you're not looking through the windshield,
you're looking in the rearview mirror the whole time.
What's the same for both of us? What's the same possibility for
the runner who's running like this and the person who's
driving like this? It's dangerous.
It's not the way you drive. That's not the way you run.
If you want to actually know success.
And here's what Paul is saying. I don't look back.
Not that he forgets, but he doesn't dwell.
It isn't allowed to have a grip on him.
He shoes it away when it tries to sit there, whether that be
discontentment or contentment. Here's what's so amazing.
If his man was willing to do this with his achievements, how
much more she and I be willing to do it with our failures, with
our missed opportunities. Paul said there's so much more
ahead. I'm not going to dwell on what I
did or didn't do before. I'm just focused on today and I
focus on tomorrow. And I trust in the goodness of
God enough to believe that He has something for me today and
He has something for me tomorrow.
And so I'm going to take advantage of it by His grace.
And with whatever time I have left, I will give it to Him,
believing that He can make much of it.
So don't give a moment, a moment's time of regret, even
with missed opportunities. You know why?
Because God has so much for you now and so much for you ahead
and you need that energy that you're wasting thinking about
yesterday for what he has for you today and tomorrow.
Oh, I can keep going, but I think I'm content here.
Hopefully you are as well. Life, Lo, we thank you for this
time. We, we worship you, Lord, these
truths were showcased, the references were made, but only
the reality of the experience of them can can you make real in
our lives. So we ask that you would do
that. Lord, with all our
imperfections, all our neediness, Lord, all our
forgetfulness, we pray that in this moment we would receive
something from you that would change us as we've been praying
throughout the service changes. So Lord, receive our worship and
our thanks for you are the God of second chances and more than
second chances. And for this we give you glory
in Jesus name, Amen. The praising we come, let's
stand, let's worship the Lord and honor him.
I went back and forth wondering if I should add this little
excerpt in the in the sermon, but I thought it'd be better
maybe to conclude with it. I love the story of Joseph and
one of the reasons for that is because he points to Jesus in so
many ways in so many scenes. It's Christ.
It's so obvious and I argue that you even see him in the final
chapter of the book of Genesis. Jacob dies.
His father and the brothers who remained with Joseph in Egypt.
Listen to this. In Genesis 50, verse 15, when
Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said it
may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil
that we did to him. You know what's so amazing about
that? Joseph already forgave them,
didn't he? He wept on their necks, He
embraced them, He took care of them.
After all the goodness that he had shown, the brothers still
doubted in the fullness of his forgiveness.
That's you and me. With Jesus, at least some of us,
it's always a temptation, second guessing and that Christ
actually forgave us. So what happens?
They come up with this strange plan.
They lie. When you live in fear, it makes
you do crazy things. When you doubt the goodness of
God, it makes you do crazy things sometimes.
Notice what happens in verse 16. So they sent a message to Joseph
saying your father gave this command before he died.
Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of your
brothers and their sin because they did evil to you.
But that's not true. There's no such thing of Jacob
asking the brothers to do that or giving them kind of, you
know, this assistance. And so they say, now please
forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your
father. Here's how Joseph reacted.
Joseph wept when they spoke then they didn't please Joseph to see
that they were still guilty. It broke his heart.
You know, some people actually think that they're actually
pleasing God by mourning over their past sin over and over
again. And some people remain in that
place under the guise of spirituality.
Like, yeah, I'm a wretched Sinner, and I want God to know
I'm a wretched, filthy Sinner. Yes, we all are in our nature.
But he forgave you. Now you're a St. in Christ, and
so here you have Joseph. Weeping, he's not pleased with
this verse 18 his brothers also came and fell down before him
and said, behold, we are your servants.
But Joseph said to them, do not fear.
And this is him obviously in his humanity speaking for I many the
place of God As for you meant evil against me, but God meant
it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept
alive as they are today. I focus on those first 3 words.
Do not fear, you're forgiven. If Joseph and his humanity and
fallenness was willing to extend that forgiveness and reassure
his brothers who did what, who did what, who wanted to kill
him, who sold him into slavery, how much more the greater Joseph
who looks at you and me. If we've asked him for
forgiveness initially and he says do not fear it's, it's
done, it's over, move on now and enjoy me and enjoy the blessings
I have in the same way Joseph blessed and preserved and
prospered his brothers leave here lighter.
I pray leave here with a song in your mouth.
I pray leave here at rest in Jesus.
That's my prayer where we thank you for this time.
We trust that you'll use this message for your glory, and we
pray that we will never be the same.
We love you in moments of doubt, moments in our heart condemns
US. Help us discern between feeling
and fact and help us remember in the goodness of who you are, the
fullness of your heart, the depth of your mercy.
And even if we fumble and stumble in this life as
believers, as your children, help us know that you can redeem
questionable choices and even miss opportunities.
You are beyond good words. Can't express what you mean to
us? Help us love you the way you
deserve. In Jesus name we pray, Amen and
Amen.