Latest / Saint City Chapel / Living in the Gap | Joshua 20-21

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Living in the Gap | Joshua 20-21 · Saint City Chapel

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Well, hey. Hey.
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Good morning, St. City.
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It's good to see you all today. My name is Brandon.
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If we don't know each other, I get to serve as the lead pastor
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here. And it is my honor, my joy to
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open up God's word with you this morning.
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It is also the pleasure of my life to be worshiping with you
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each and every week here. I'm so thankful for our worship.
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Anybody else thankful for them? Yeah.
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We gather here on Sundays for the express purpose of worship.
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We gather worship, we scatter on the mission each week.
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We go about our lives, we go to work, we raise kids, we work
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jobs. We do that, and we do that for
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the mission of Jesus Christ, helping people realize what He's
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done for them and turn from their sin and embrace Him by
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faith. That's the mission.
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But here on Sundays, we have one audience we're primarily
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concerned with, and that's Him. We could care about what he
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thinks about worship. We care about what he thinks
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about his word. And that's why we open up the
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Bible each and every week. In fact, if you could turn in
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your Bibles to Joshua chapter 20, That's right.
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We've been marching through the the book of Joshua offspring
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here. If you don't have a Bible, it's
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going to be on the screen beside me as well as on the Bibles and
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the seats in front of you. It's going to be on page 194.
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So you don't even have to worry about like looking to do a table
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of contents. It's just right there in the
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Bible. You can keep that Bible if you
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don't have one. We want to get as easy as
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possible for you to understand what God has said for your life.
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Hey, we live in a world full of well-intentioned but frequent
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broken promises, do we not? And this can be from the highest
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of heights to the most personal of experiences, like at the
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highest level. I, I really do think politicians
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mean like, Hey, I want to raise the the OR, excuse me, raise.
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You don't want them to do that. We want them to lower the prices
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of houses of the generation at least, like, Hey, can we get in
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one of those houses, please? They'll make promises like that.
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And I think they mean it, but that the promise that's more
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than likely going to be broken as parents will say, hey, you
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can have that treat later tonight, little kid, because
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that's when you can have it. And then we'll forget about
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that. And then they'll the kid won't
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forget, though. They won't forget that promise.
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They'll make sure we keep our word.
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Maybe in college, we'll say, hey, guess what?
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I'll, I'll have it done by tomorrow as part of that group
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project. You know, I'll get it done then.
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You're not getting it done. Then you're not going to text
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them back tomorrow. You meant to, you wanted to, but
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you know, deep down you're the kind of person who says you're
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going to text them back tomorrow.
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You won't. It's OK.
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We're all, we've all been there. I But I found, I found in a
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world full of broken promises, I am the number one culprit.
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I am the number one culprit of saying, hey, I want to do
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something, but I don't end up following through.
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I'll start tomorrow. I'll keep in touch.
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I'll have it done by then. Hey, I'll follow up with you.
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That's like my life. And I found myself woefully
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skilled at breaking promises. I wish I was better.
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I wish I was more faithful, wish I was more like God.
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You see, I think our experience of promises is a lot like this.
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You see, here's how a promise works is a promise with God gets
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declared. And then a promise gets
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delivered. A promise gets declared, a
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promise gets delivered, but here's a problem.
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There's a gap between when God said it's going to happen and
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when it does that the very idea of a promise is the word is
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going forth. The the very words coming out of
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somebody's mouth. They're saying, hey, this is
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what's going to happen. And in between, when it was
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declared and when it's delivered, there's a gap that
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we're living inside of. And that is where faith lives.
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That's where we spend our life worshipping, walking, and
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working for Christ. It's living in the gap of God's
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promises that he has declared, promises that are great and
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precious and valuable, and they're already been spoken, but
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they are not yet fully experienced.
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We're living in the gap of him saying that we will be fully
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provided for, living in the gap of saying that we will overcome
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our sin, living in the gap of saying He is with us.
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We experienced here on earth a gap between what God has
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declared, what God has delivered.
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For Israel, it was 400 years of slavery after Abraham, Isaac,
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and Jacob. And for us, it's Monday morning.
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Like that's where most of this room actually lives, between
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what God has said and what God has done.
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I think there's three people, types of people here in the room
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this morning living in the gap. There's people who have heard
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God's promises and believe them. And each and every day they're
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trying to live in this gap by faith.
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There are people here in this room today who have never heard
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God's promises, who have never heard of them, and they're here
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right now. They're like, hey, I don't, I
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don't believe them because I've never heard them.
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Then there's a third person in the room, the people who have
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heard what he has declared and don't believe.
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And I want to talk to all three of you today because I believe
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that God, through Joshua chapter 20 and 21, wants to show you
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something about himself. He wants to tell you who he is.
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He wants to show you how to live in the gap.
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Would you pray with me? And then let's get into God's
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word together. Lord, we are grateful that in
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the gap there is a God who is with us, a God who is near, a
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God who is good. And today, God, I pray that you
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would help us discover just how faithful you are to your word,
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that when you say you're going to do something, you do it.
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And that while we sit in the gap, while we wait, while we
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anticipate, while we hope for the not yet will be trust in the
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God who keeps his promises in Jesus name, Amen, Amen.
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Let me give you this big idea that we're going to see you
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together in the text today that kind of summarizes chapter 20
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and 21, why the author was writing not just these two
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chapters, but actually the whole book of Joshua.
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This is the theme verse of Joshua.
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You just saw it on the bumper video.
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It's this idea that not even one promise of God has failed.
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If you'd like to take notes, I hope you do.
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It helps you to understand God may re reference it throughout
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the week as you're going through the details of it.
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But hey, listen to me. Not even one promise of God has
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ever failed. He's batting 1000 at keeping his
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promises. His free throw percentage is
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perfect, never missing. Not even one promise of God has
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failed. Well, what has he promised?
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Let's discover that together. Let me show it to you in the
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Bible. We're in Joshua chapter 20.
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If you're there, say I'm there, right?
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It says this big old 20 verse one.
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Then the Lord said to Joshua, say to the people of Israel,
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appoint the cities of refuge of which I spoke to you through
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Moses, that the manslayer who strikes any person without
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intent or unknowingly may flee there.
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They shall be for you a refuge from the adventure of blood.
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OK, let's stop and explain what's going on here.
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You're like, wait a second, Manslayers cities, what's going
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on in here? Let me explain all those key
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terms first. Manslayer, this is somebody
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who's an unintentional killer. Keep in mind that there's no
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police force back then. There needs to be justice still.
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So this is the kind of person who unintentionally has killed
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somebody in our modern times. Good example, this might be like
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Alec Baldwin on the set of that movie where he accidentally the
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prop gun didn't work and he actually shot and killed
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somebody on accident that that's manslaughter.
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There is blood on his hands, but he didn't commit murder.
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The intentional taking of life. That's these people.
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And the problem is in in that culture and in that time there
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was a person called the avenger of blood.
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This is how they took matters in their own hands, how justice was
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enacted. The avenger of blood was the
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person in the family who was authorized to take blood when
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blood was spilled. It was perfectly legal,
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perfectly valid, perfectly just. And God is kindness to the
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people of Israel saying hey, when it's an unintentional
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taking of life, that there should be a place for those
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people to go so they don't die. That though they might have
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sinned, though they might have shed blood, and though that has
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spilled on ground, they don't need to die for that sin.
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Rather, they can go to a city of refuge.
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He has just allocated over the previous eight chapters all of
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the land to all the 12 tribes of Israel.
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And this one tribe, the Levites, remain.
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And he's saying the Levites, the priests, hey, you're going to
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have among you these cities of refuge where these people who
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have committed unintentional sin can go and find rest and relief
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from the avenger of blood. Though it was unintentional
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doesn't mean it's inconsequential.
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And so the cities of refuge are God's way of protecting more
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people and preserving life. Look back at the text.
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So these people, they shall be for a refuge from the avenger of
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blood that manslavers for shall flee to one of these cities and
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shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and then
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explain his case to the elders of that city.
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So God understands what some people are going to do here.
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He's like, hey, there's going to be some people who take life and
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pretend that it was on accident. So you have to plead your case
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before the city and they're going to have a trial of whether
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or not it was on accident, whether it was on purpose.
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And if the event of blood pursues him from verse 5, they
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shall not give up the manslayer into his hand because he struck
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his neighbor unknowingly and did not hate him in the past.
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He shall remain in that city until he has stood before the
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Congregation for Judgement, until the death of him who is
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high priest at the time. Look up at me.
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What this is saying here is when the manslayer goes to the city,
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when the accidental, the person who's spilled blood accidentally
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goes to the city of refuge, their freedom comes the day of
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their high priest dying. That sounds interesting, doesn't
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it, that what sets them free? That's what their sentence is,
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as long as a high priest lives. So I think some of these guys
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are praying for some old high priest.
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You know, like, let me run to the scene with some old high
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priest. I can be free sooner.
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But they're there until the death of him who's at the high
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priest of the time. Then the Manslayer may return to
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his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled,
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where his family is. So here's what they do.
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Here's what Joshua does with a high priest of the Big One to
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say, let's set apart Kardashian Galley in the Hill Country of
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Naftali and Shechem in the Hill Country of here and girieth Arba
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that is Hebrew in the Hill Country of Judah and beyond the
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Jordan east of Jericho. They appointed Bezer in the
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wilderness on the table Land from the tribe of Reuben and
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Rammeth and Gilead from the tribe of Gad and Golan, and
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Bastion from the tribe of Manassa, summering 3 cities on
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the east side of Israel, three cities on the side of the West.
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And if you want, you can study the names of those in your own
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time. It's actually a fascinating
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study. They all mean something really
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cool. These were the cities designated
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for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning
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among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent
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could flee there so that he might not die by the hand of the
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avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation.
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This is God keeping his promise. This is God keeping his
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promises. This is 1 promise that could
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have gotten overlooked could have gotten missed, but instead
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God's going to keep his word that he said back in numbers.
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He said hey, I'm going to establish these cities for
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people and I'm going to keep my word that it exists and it's not
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just going to be for Israelites. It's before.
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Did you notice that the stranger meaning anybody's welcome in on
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this Outsiders, insiders. Mercy is available for all.
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If I got down this, that God promises to me this mercy for my
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sin. What has God promised if not
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even one promise of God has failed?
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Here's a promise of God for you. There is mercy for your sin.
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There is mercy for my sin. There is mercy for our sin.
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Now that word mercy is a very church where?
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So let me make sure you understand what the Bible means
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by that. There's two sides of the same
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coin. There's grace and there's mercy.
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And I'm going to give them to you in the form of a crossing so
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you understand what they mean. Grace is what I receive and
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mercy is what I escape. So grace is this.
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It's God's riches at Christ's expense, God's riches at Christ,
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because that's what grace is. It's getting the riches of God,
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the wealth of God, the treasure of God.
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You get it because Jesus paid the bill.
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Maybe an illustration for that. Imagine you stole $1 million.
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You linked up with Danny Ocean and the gang.
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You went to Vegas, you erotic casino and you stole $1,000,000.
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But you got caught and you're before a judge.
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And if the judge says hey, you're guilty, but I'm going to
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not going to punish you, that's mercy.
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But what grace is, is if the judge says, hey, you are guilty,
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not only can you keep that million, here's 5 million more,
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that's grace. You got riches at the expense of
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somebody else. And that's exactly what these
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cities of refuge are pointing to it a place where guilty people
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could run and find mercy. Mercy is what I don't receive
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that I do deserve. It's escaping.
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So right on this acronym, mercy is escape.
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My escape requires Christ's yes, my escape, my avoidance of that
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which I deserve. It's at the yes of Jesus.
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It requires Jesus to say yes and dying for us so that God could
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withhold that which our sin has purchased for us.
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Jesus stood in our place and said yes to the punishment so
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you and I could walk free, so you and I could escape, so we
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could experience the mercy of God.
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God promises mercy for all who run to him.
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We don't have to have to run to a city.
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We're not running a Casa Grande. We're not having to run to
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Dallas. We're having to run to Chicago
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or even Jerusalem. There's a real person that we
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run to, and his name's Jesus, and he is a place and promise of
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mercy for all who call upon His name.
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So we're here in the gap now. We've been promised mercy and
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some of us haven't felt like we've been delivered mercy in
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our life. We're standing in the gap and
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what's on the line with God's mercy is simply this is God who
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he says he is. Every time God makes a promise,
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it's his character that's on the line.
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It's his reputation on the line because he says, hey, I am a
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promise keeping God. Exodus 34 verse 6 says this.
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When God is introducing himself, when he wants us to know what
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he's like, he says this, I am Yahweh, Yahweh, the Lord, the
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Lord God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and
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abounding and steadfast love and faithfulness.
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He's saying this is who I am, not only who I am, it is what I
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do. I am merciful to every
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generation. So while we're waiting in the
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gap and we're waiting for God's mercy to reach our life, we have
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to remember this is who God is. And if he was merciful in the
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cities of refuge, he'll be merciful to you and I that if he
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never fails, he never fails to keep a promise, He's not going
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to fail to keep a promise to you because God does not lie.
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So he can't lie to you. He's telling you this morning, I
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am the God who is merciful, and there is mercy for your sin.
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Would you run to me, the Redeemer for sin, and you give
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it to me so that I might make you clean?
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Because if the question isn't whether or not we deserve mercy,
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the question in the gap is whether or not God is who he
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says he is. And I'm happy to report He is.
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He's exactly who he says he is. And the next question is, will
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you run to His mercy? Will we run away from it?
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His mercy is available to all. Run to Him.
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So believe or listen to me. Full mercy is coming.
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Full mercy is coming. Right now you could experience
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the mercy of God. His mercies are new every single
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morning. And you can turn to God and say,
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thank you God for not giving me what I deserve.
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But you can await the day and anticipate the day and hope for
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the day where there His mercy is fully realized.
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And thank God that he was merciful to me, that that mercy
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should make you worship believer every single day that God
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extended it to you, He revealed it to you that you have mercy
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for your sin. But listen to me, if you were
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here today and you did not know that God is the merciful God,
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that he's not punitive, He's not vengeful in this way, but rather
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listen to me. Everything God says comes true.
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So if he says he's merciful, he will be merciful.
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And there is consequence for your sin.
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But there is a way to escape it. Would you run to Jesus?
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Would you experience the mercy of Jesus?
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Don't run somewhere else. Run to him.
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Because every other city there's walls with Jesus.
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There's just an open door. Come on in, My arms are open.
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Welcome home. That's what the Redeemer saying
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to you today. If you have sinned, don't run
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somewhere else, run to Jesus because there is mercy for your
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sin. That's the first promise, the
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second promise that will find the text today.
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God promises presence for my soul.
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Mercy for my sin is a big deal because now we're right
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relationship with God and to be in a right relationship with
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God, there's something spectacular that happens is God
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comes and lives with you. Now He makes his home your
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heart. And so God promised his presence
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for my soul. He's going to show it to us in
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picture. Now I don't want to scare you.
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I'm not going to read 40 to 2 verses.
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Oh, you should read 40 to 2 verses.
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I want to highlight for you the theme that I think these verses
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capture for us. Verse 20, Chapter 21.
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Verse one. Then the heads of the father's
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houses of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest, and to
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Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the father's houses of
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the tribes, the people of Israel.
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And they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, hey, the
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Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell
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in along with their pasture lands for our livestock.
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So by command of the Lord, the people of Israel gave to the
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Levites the following cities and pasture lands that out of their
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inheritance go down to verse 8. These seas and their pasture
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lands the people of Israel gave by lot to the Levites as the
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Lord had commanded through Moses.
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If you were to total up all the cities through verses four and
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seven and the remaining 40 verses, what you would find is
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that there was 48 cities given to the Levites, 48 cities.
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This is because God wanted to keep His promise from Numbers
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chapter 18, verse 20. That's a verse you might have
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overlooked, but God didn't overlook it.
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He wanted to keep His word. He was watching over it just so
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he would be able to perform it. And so Numbers 1820 says the
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Lord said to Aaron, He said, hey, you will have no
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inheritance in the land. You're not going to get a bunch
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of real estate. You're not going to get a bunch
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of property, nor will you have any share among them.
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Here's what God says to Aaron. Here's what He's saying to you.
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I am your share and your inheritance.
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I am your share, I am your inheritance.
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Because it wasn't about the land, it was about the Lord.
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The Levites received no land inheritance because God Himself
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was their inheritance. He was their portion.
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He was enough for them. Now the Levites are just with
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the 12 tribes of Israel. They had three.
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Levi had three kids and you'll see them right there just kind
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of headlining the the area. You Amira rights, the
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Gershwites, the Coethites, and then you have this other tribe
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named Aaron, because Aaron was one of the Coethites and he, his
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kids all get to be the priests. We're all the other three
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descendants. They get to be the workers, They
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get to be the worship leaders, the salt company directors.
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They could be the ones working in the temple, in the synagogue,
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and in the church. So these four clans are
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separated. Aaron gets 13 cities, Poets gets
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10. Gershwin gets 13, Mirrorites get
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12. It's distributed evenly and
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apportioned to how much they have, how many people they have
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in a land. And God wants us to signal to us
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something that's different about the Levites, something that's
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different about you and I even. It's foreshadowing what it's
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like to be a part of the church that the Levites tell us.
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See what God truly wants for all of us.
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He wants us to live with Him as our portion, that He is our
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inheritance. He's the thing that we're
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chasing after in life. For the Levite, being with God
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was the greatest treasure. His presence was the best gift
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for their soul. The promise wasn't necessarily a
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role, it was God himself. We get to experience that same
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gift, that we who are far away from God can be brought near.
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We who wanted nothing to do with God could want everything to do
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with God. We who carry a role in
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responsibility in the church, we who are the church, his bride,
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the Saints, the called out ones, that's all that means.
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The people who are set apart by God.
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We could have a ministry to God. It wasn't just one tribe that
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got to do it, but all who call upon Jesus can have a ministry
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with him, the priesthood of all believers.
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It's a gift because we get to minister to God together.
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Tim Keller, who is an author and pastor, that I really
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appreciate. He's up in heaven now with
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Jesus. He said this, and I think this
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quote is helpful in understanding.
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He said, hey, life is a journey. Life is a journey from weariness
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to rest, from alienation into his presence, isolation into the
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city of God, from weariness to rest from alienation into his
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presence, from isolation into the city of God.
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That life is just living in the gap.
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That's the journey. One day at a time, one step at a
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time, walking with God in the gap.
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The promise was declared. It was not yet fully delivered.
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What are we to do? We're to hold tight to the
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promise that His presence is for my soul, His presence is with
23:53
me, and not look for the peace of His presence in all the wrong
23:56
places, chasing career and identity and family as the means
24:01
to fulfilment. They will fall short.
24:05
You'll find yourself spectacularly disappointed in
24:08
your family and your friends and your work and your bank account
24:11
as being the great fulfillment of your life.
24:15
There will never be enough. Never enough hugs, never enough
24:18
dollars, never enough people, Never enough to fulfill the
24:21
emptiness in your soul. You need your portion.
24:24
You need the living water of God to be in your heart and in your
24:27
life. You need God's presence for your
24:30
soul, and that is not just for salvation, that is for our
24:35
sanctification so that we might be changed, that we might look
24:39
more and more like Jesus. Listen to me, believer, You were
24:42
made to be a priest for God. You were made to work for God.
24:47
You made to do things for God. And here's what I mean by that.
24:50
I don't mean every one of you supposed to be employed by a
24:53
church and wear a black collar and the white thing that that
24:57
other animations wear. I don't wear that.
25:00
I don't wear the clerical collar.
25:02
I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that every
25:04
single one of us was made to be in relationship and in God's
25:08
presence and to work for Him in some way, shape or form.
25:12
That some of us are going to be marketers for the glory of God.
25:15
Some of us are going to be students for the glory of God.
25:16
Some of us are going to be moms for the glory of God.
25:18
Some of us are going to be dads for the glory of God.
25:20
Some of us are going to be employed by the church.
25:22
Some of us are going to be team leaders and kids classroom
25:25
leaders and parking lot attendants.
25:27
Some of us are going to be set up and tear down.
25:28
We are going to carry a role and a responsibility.
25:31
And listen to me, if you are doing that so that you would be
25:35
comforted, so that you would be validated and you were doing
25:37
that apart from God's presence, you will be disappointed because
25:40
it will not fulfill you. But, but, but, but, if God's
25:45
presence is our comfort, and our comfort isn't our comfort, then
25:50
our souls will be well. They will be filled from the
25:55
well of salvation with living water.
26:02
So come play a role. Participate.
26:05
Don't spectate in the church. Don't come to watch.
26:09
Come to minister. You'll find that the promise of
26:13
God to be present for your soul will be wonderful.
26:20
It'll be a gift to your life. This is the second promise God
26:24
is giving to us in this text. And 3rd and finally, God
26:27
promises rest for my future, Rest for my future.
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We're at the end of 21 now. Joshua is wrapping up all the
26:38
land being given to all the tribes now, and now all 12
26:41
tribes are taken care of. The leave.
26:42
I got their land. They're aware that God's
26:45
presence is their gift. The Manslayers have the city of
26:49
refuge. And here's how Joshua recaps not
26:52
only the story of conquest, the story of Joshua taking down,
26:58
crossing the Jordan River and taking down the city of Jericho
27:01
and taking down armies like they've overcome water and walls
27:04
and weapons. And he gets here to the
27:06
conclusive verse, the theme verse of the book.
27:09
He wants you to see this idea. Thus the Lord gave Israel all
27:14
the land, and they swore together fathers, and they took
27:18
possession of it, and they settled there, and the Lord gave
27:21
them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to to their
27:25
fathers. Not one of all their enemies had
27:30
withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into
27:34
their hands. Not one word of all the good
27:37
promises that the Lord had made the House of Israel had failed.
27:40
All came to pass. All came to pass.
27:45
All enemies, all land, all sides taken care of.
27:50
Why? Because not one word of God, not
27:54
one promise of God has ever failed.
27:59
Joshua didn't just want the people to have that confidence.
28:02
God wants you to have that belief that not one word of God
28:07
has ever failed. The Lord gave all the land He
28:10
swore to give. He gave them rest on every side,
28:13
fulfilling His promise of Deuteronomy 12 we had on the
28:15
screen. I believe yes we do.
28:18
But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land the Lord
28:22
your God is giving to inherit, and when He gives you rest from
28:24
all your enemies around so that you may live in safety, this is
28:30
God keeping His word from four years ago.
28:33
He's saying, hey, 40 plus years ago I thought, I'm going to do
28:36
this. Guess what, I'm going to do it
28:37
now. There was a gap between the
28:40
promises declared in Deuteronomy and the promise delivered in
28:45
Joshua and Joshua and all the people of Israel had to go
28:49
through the gap going, man, God, you said we could have all the
28:52
land. You said we beat all the
28:53
enemies. But guess what?
28:56
They're big, they're scary. Their walls are ginormous.
29:00
Their biceps are huge. This river is big.
29:04
How are we going to cross it? Not one word of God failed.
29:11
He wants you to have that same confidence that the Old
29:15
Testament is helping us see that God is a promisor.
29:19
It is who He is, and it's what He does and He has.
29:22
He can't help it. He's like addicted to bringing
29:25
his promises. Genesis Chapter 9 he promised
29:28
Noah he would never again destroy the world by flood.
29:31
Genesis chapter 12 he promised land and innumerable descendants
29:34
to Abraham. Exodus chapter 6 he promised to
29:37
deliver Israel from slavery to Egypt.
29:41
Deuteronomy 28 He promised blessings to Israel for keeping
29:44
the law. Joshua chapter 1 he promises
29:47
victory to Joshua over all the land of Canaan.
29:49
Second Samuel 7 he promises an everlasting throne to David's
29:53
descendants. What is God doing?
29:55
What is God demonstrating? Why is the Old Testament for us,
29:58
believer? It wants you to know.
30:00
It wants you to believe. It wants you to bleed in the
30:03
hope that Jesus Christ is the one who keeps his promises.
30:07
Every single one, every promise God has ever made.
30:10
It's yes, and it's that's right. And Jesus is coming to earth and
30:14
saying, guess what? I am the God who keeps his
30:17
promises. Not one word, not one dot, not
30:21
one apostrophe gets overlooked. And that gives me rest for my
30:29
future because He's promised me that one day when I'm up there
30:33
in heaven with Him, there's going to be no weeping, no
30:35
hurting, no pain. He's promised me that my sin
30:38
nature can be gone one day. He's promised me that I will be
30:42
resurrected and have life eternal with Him.
30:45
Those are promises that have been declared but not delivered.
30:48
I'm living in the gather that promise right now.
30:50
But listen, I have a sure hope. Not a hope so hope, but a know
30:54
so hope that one day I will see Jesus face to face and I will
30:58
live with Him forever in immortality.
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Not because of anything I've done, but because of what He did
31:04
on a cross. Paying for my sin so that I can
31:07
have eternal life that is a rest for my future.
31:11
That it might look bad right now, but it's going to be so
31:16
great then that I might be living in the gap of broken
31:22
promises and a broken world and hardship and fear and difficulty
31:32
and disillusionment. But my soul doesn't have to be
31:38
in turmoil. It can be at rest for my future.
31:41
Why? Because God keeps his promises.
31:46
Joshua's written. So you'd believe that.
31:48
That when in the gap, you're invited to rest in, to live in
31:52
the hope of his promises. Every so often I'll just go on
31:57
Zillow and, you know, see what's happening, you know, in these
31:58
valley, you'll get a little little peak, see at what's going
32:02
on, see what home price are doing.
32:04
Dreaming a little bit like, oh, that, that, that house over
32:07
there that that's definitely on my we're going to change the
32:09
range a little bit. Just like you can dream for a
32:10
moment, you know, and the thinking about Zillow is Zillow
32:15
is an illusion most of the time, right?
32:18
It's like, I'm not actually going to live there.
32:20
I'm not actually going to dwell there.
32:22
I'm not actually going to live on that street.
32:23
I'm actually going to have that kind of the bedroom or that pool
32:25
or that backyard. I think sometimes when we're in
32:29
the gap, we get on spiritual Zillow.
32:32
We think to ourselves, Let me just imagine to myself this,
32:35
where can I live? Where can I rest?
32:37
That's not God, That's going to be better than where I'm at
32:39
right now. We dream up a preferred future.
32:42
We hope and something else that where we are actually called to
32:45
live, we're actually called to rest.
32:48
We're actually called to dwell. You're called to rest in God's
32:53
promises. Your hope is in who he is and
32:58
what he has done. Not in some imagined future that
33:02
you're asking for, but in what's actually concrete.
33:11
It's way more sure of a foundation because where you
33:14
live matters. And went on the mission, went on
33:19
the walk with God in the gap. If you think that you have to
33:24
live here, this side of heaven where all God's promises are
33:28
fully delivered, you're going to live disappointed.
33:33
Your expectations are going to go unmet.
33:35
You're going to find yourself again and again going back to
33:40
Zilla, wishing for something different.
33:44
But you have something good. You have something sure, you
33:47
have something steady. God's promises never fail.
33:52
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion of
33:55
the day of Jesus Christ. You keep putting yourself under
33:59
the waterfall of grace and let God keep changing you from the
34:03
inside. I know you're weary.
34:04
I know you're discouraged and who you still are.
34:06
But listen me, You're not what you could be.
34:09
You're not what you should be, but you're not who you were.
34:13
He who began a good work will bring it to completion of the
34:15
day of Jesus Christ. Your rest isn't just past tense.
34:18
It's right here, right now, believer.
34:21
You can be encouraged. You can rest in the future.
34:23
God finishes what he starts. You can rest in that He's in
34:28
control. That for those who love God,
34:30
He'll work all things together for good for those who are
34:32
called according to His purpose. So that we might be conformed to
34:36
the image of His Son, so we might look more and more like
34:38
Jesus. That's what good is good, is
34:42
that we would look more like Jesus until the rest you're
34:45
running from at times is the rest you were made for.
34:50
Being on the altar, being transformed from the inside out.
34:54
Life change and some of you, your rest for your future isn't
34:59
found in Jesus at all. You know it, you're here curious
35:03
about it, and praise God, you're here.
35:05
That's why we gather is to tell people about Jesus, tell them
35:07
the good news of gospel, that you can have a real rest in your
35:11
soul. You can have a real rest for
35:13
your life. You don't have to be wired for
35:15
insecurity and anxiety and depression and anger and just
35:19
total disappointment in life, but rather you can have a true
35:22
joy, a true hope, a true love that God himself came and died
35:26
for you such you could have rest in life forever.
35:32
God loves you enough to die for you even while you were still
35:36
Sinner, even while you're at your worst, He loved you enough
35:38
to die for you. And so how do you enter into
35:41
true rest? Three steps into true rest.
35:43
If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, I want to make
35:45
it really simple. How can you find true rest?
35:49
It's first admit. Admit that you're a Sinner.
35:52
Romans 323 All have sinned and fallen short, the standard for
35:56
perfection, and you've fallen short of it.
35:57
You would know that. So everybody just needs to admit
36:00
to themselves, I am not perfect. I need God, I need salvation.
36:07
And if you would believe Romans 5/8 that God demonstrated His
36:10
love, that while you were still a Sinner, while you were still
36:13
very imperfect, Christ died for you.
36:16
If you would admit it and believe it and confess with your
36:20
mouth that Jesus is Lord. Romans 10 to 13 is a promise for
36:24
you. Everyone, everyone, everyone.
36:32
No matter the story, no matter the doubts, no matter the
36:37
difficulties, everyone who calls upon Jesus Christ will be saved.
36:43
They will be delivered. They will be free.
36:48
They will find rest. I pray that you would call upon
36:53
them to be saved, that you would find the ultimate rest for your
36:56
future because the best move you can make today is a spiritual
36:59
one that you would live or God wants you in the rest while in
37:05
the gap. Before I close, I just want to
37:10
close with this today. I, I'm convinced that here in
37:14
this room today, there are people, those three people who
37:17
are hearing all this in different ways, who hear and
37:20
believe who and never to now are wondering if they believe and
37:25
people who have heard and don't believe.
37:28
But I believe that the Spirit of God is at work and I believe
37:31
he's changing people right now. But I also know that there is a
37:36
bunch of people right now who feel burdened by the gap.
37:43
The promise has been declared. It has not yet been delivered
37:50
that they need to be encouraged that before them are walls,
37:55
before them are weapons, before them is the struggles of life.
38:01
And they feel it, and they are exhausted from it.
38:06
They are struggling to believe in the promises of God.
38:11
Now, humility, Here's what I want to ask of you.
38:13
I just want to pray for each and everyone of you who's in that
38:15
spot. In fact, let's just have a
38:17
moment together as a church family of prayer.
38:19
If you, that is you, if you find yourself, you're like, man, I am
38:22
the person living in the gap. And I don't just feel like I'm
38:25
living in the gap. I feel like I'm stuck in the
38:29
gap. I have very little hope, very
38:32
little trust, very little leaf that God's going to keep his
38:35
promise to me. If that's you, may I just invite
38:39
you to stand so we can pray for you.
38:42
It could be one or two people. It could be 50 people.
38:43
It could be all the whole room. I don't know, but if that's you
38:46
and you're feeling like you're stuck in the gap, burdened by
38:48
the gap meaning prayer, where I just invite you to stand right
38:51
now. Perfect.
39:10
We're going to pray for you guys.
39:12
Lord, thank you. Thank you for the people who
39:15
have stood and who have admitted and even humbled themselves.
39:18
Like right now, God. They feel stuck and trapped in
39:22
the gap that they know what you've declared over their life,
39:28
but they have not seen you deliver from the promises they
39:31
feel like are theirs to have. There's waves that they can see.
39:39
There's wind that they can't. There is walls in their hearts
39:43
and in people and relationships that are so difficult, God, and
39:46
they're so discouraged. They're so disappointed because
39:53
they believe in who you've said yourself to be.
39:56
They believe that your promises are good, but God, they haven't
39:59
yet experienced it. They don't feel the full force
40:03
of the reality that not one of your promises has ever failed.
40:06
God, I pray you give them a hope today.
40:08
I pray you give them a strength today.
40:10
I pray you give them a wisdom today.
40:11
I pray you give them a love today, a joy today, a patience
40:15
today, a hope to God. Would you give them all those
40:17
things and more to keep living in a gap with strength that they
40:21
would not give up, They would not lose heart, but they will
40:24
turn to you. And then they'd say, God I.
40:26
We need you that this declaration of dependence upon
40:29
you, God, would bring joy, it'd bring life, it'd bring a smile
40:35
in the midst Thank you for our brothers and sisters.
40:45
Thank you for all the people here in the room who are joining
40:47
me in prayer for this. Now I pray God that we would be
40:49
a people who believe in your promises, who take you at your
40:52
word because you are the Holy One who we lift up, who we
40:56
adore, who we trust, because God, you are a God who keeps
41:00
your promises. Not one of them has ever failed
41:02
and not one ever will. Who?
41:04
We believe that with all our heart, in Jesus name, Amen.