WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.080 So for a brief time this evening we're going to look together at the passage we read from 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:09.279 the Bible, from God's Word in the book of Joshua. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:15.919 So if you have a Bible with you this evening, Joshua chapter 23, page 197. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:23.719 But before we jump into the text together, I want to begin this evening with a question. 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:29.839 I wonder what you would say your source of confidence is in your life. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:36.960 For many people in our world today, confidence is found in things like physical appearance, 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.719 in hair, in clothes, in makeup, and so on and so forth. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:46.480 For other people, confidence is found in finance and having a stable job and a bank balance 00:00:46.480 --> 00:00:50.140 and all the material possessions that come along with that. 00:00:50.140 --> 00:00:55.439 For other people, confidence is found in people, in family, in friends, and having people around 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:57.439 us. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:02.519 The Bible this evening points us to a source of confidence that is outside of ourselves 00:01:02.519 --> 00:01:08.439 and outside of our circumstances, a source of confidence that will never fail us, never 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:10.679 change and never let us down. 00:01:10.679 --> 00:01:13.840 So as we come together to look at God's Word, we're continuing our series through the book 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:14.840 of Joshua. 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:19.519 And at this stage in Joshua we've jumped over a lot of the dividing up of the land because 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:22.759 a lot of the chapters are very much the same, the land allotted to Judah, the land allotted 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:28.000 to Ephraim, and we wanted to save you seven weeks of land allotment. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.200 So we've come to the end of the book where Joshua is making his farewell address to 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:37.439 the people of God and he wants to pass on some essential truth to these people as they 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:43.000 seek to live in the land and to live in the midst of people and nations in rebellion against 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:47.480 God and all the difficult challenges and temptations that that presents them. 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:52.439 And he wants to remind them where their true confidence should lie. 00:01:52.439 --> 00:01:55.879 So we read in verse one, a long time afterwards when the Lord has given rest to Israel from 00:01:55.879 --> 00:02:00.560 all of their enemies, Joshua is old, well advanced in years, he summoned all of Israel 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:02.359 and he makes this speech to them. 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:05.759 So this is the context to the passage we're looking at this evening. 00:02:05.759 --> 00:02:10.919 Joshua wants to remind the people of these three truths, three truths for being confident 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:14.800 believers in a culture hostile to God. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:19.319 And we need those truths in our own lives today as we live in a world full of people 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:24.799 around us who are not believers and who are in rebellion against God and hostile to Jesus 00:02:24.799 --> 00:02:26.560 Christ and to his kingdom. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:27.639 So three points this evening. 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:32.560 First of all, in verse three, the first one, we should have confidence because God is the 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:35.680 hero who fights for his people. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:39.479 Verse three says, you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:45.079 for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. 00:02:45.079 --> 00:02:49.000 So right at the end of his life, Joshua is looking back and he's reminding the people 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.280 of God first and foremost that he is not the hero. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:57.719 He is not the reason for Israel's success and for all their victories. 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:02.120 And this is really important because he has been the leader of Israel, of God's people 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:03.680 since Moses died. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:09.199 And under his leadership, the people have experienced victory after victory after victory. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:13.680 They have finally come to live in the land that God has promised them and God has given 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:16.000 them the rest that they've been longing for. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.240 And so in many ways, this is a high point in their history, a long time of slavery in 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:26.360 Egypt followed by 40 years wandering around the wilderness and they are finally at home 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:29.520 in the land they've been looking forward to. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:33.719 So it would be easy for them at this point to attribute their success, their victories, 00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:39.719 either to Joshua as their leader or to themselves and their own strength and their own courage. 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:44.400 But the point we see in the book of Joshua time and time again is that God is the hero 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:46.640 in salvation. 00:03:46.640 --> 00:03:50.680 God is the one who brings his people the victory. 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.719 God is a God who fights for his people. 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:58.640 And so by implication, Joshua and the people are not the hero. 00:03:58.640 --> 00:04:00.680 Joshua is saying, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:04.240 I don't want you to think that your success is because of something you've done or because 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:05.640 I'm a great leader. 00:04:05.640 --> 00:04:09.480 When we look back through the book and through the chapters we've looked at over the last 00:04:09.480 --> 00:04:14.080 few months where they cross the Jordan, it's God who dries up the river and allows the 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:15.360 people to cross. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:19.639 In the battle against Jericho the people march and blow their trumpets but it's God who brings 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:20.639 down the walls. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:25.080 And in all the other battles recorded for us in the book it's clear time and time again 00:04:25.080 --> 00:04:28.800 that the Lord God brings his people the victory. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:34.280 And so God's people should have confidence in God, the God who brings the victory. 00:04:34.280 --> 00:04:37.160 Not only because of what he's done but because of what he will do. 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:40.340 Verse five is talking about the enemies that remain in the land. 00:04:40.340 --> 00:04:43.520 He says they're the Lord your God will push them back before you. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:47.719 They will drive them out of your sight and you shall possess their land just as the Lord 00:04:47.719 --> 00:04:50.039 promised you. 00:04:50.039 --> 00:04:53.959 So Joshua's first concern here in this speech is he doesn't want the people to get the wrong 00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:55.319 idea. 00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:59.639 He wants them to recognize that God is the hero in salvation. 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:03.639 And we take a step back from the book of Joshua and we look at the big picture of the Bible, 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:05.680 the whole story of salvation. 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:10.919 We see that God time and time again is the main character in redemption. 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:16.840 The Lord acting on behalf of his people is a central biblical truth. 00:05:16.840 --> 00:05:20.360 And so it's a truth that's at the heart of our faith today. 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:23.240 It's a truth that's at the heart of Christianity. 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:26.640 The gospel is not about what you've done for God. 00:05:26.640 --> 00:05:30.160 It's first and foremost what God has done for you. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:32.879 God acting on our behalf. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:37.600 So when our faith feels weak, when we feel maybe distant from God, when we feel weighed 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:43.760 down by doubt or discouragement or burdens in the face of all the everyday struggles 00:05:43.760 --> 00:05:48.400 we have in the Christian life as God's people, when we feel we're going to be crushed by 00:05:48.400 --> 00:05:55.439 the weight of life's pressures, the gospel reminds us that God is for us, that God has 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:57.120 acted on our behalf. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:00.920 God is a God who fights for his people. 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:05.480 And so that should be a huge source of confidence for God's people in the face of all kinds 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:09.400 of opposition and difficulty. 00:06:09.400 --> 00:06:13.360 And so if we're a Christian this evening, we know that Jesus Christ has secured the 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:15.360 victory for us. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:17.879 He has conquered sin and death. 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:23.040 He has made it possible for deeply flawed and sinful and weak people to come to know 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:27.319 a God who is holy and righteous and perfect. 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:32.920 And so we can enjoy the forgiveness and hope and new life through Jesus. 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:37.000 Paul echoes this kind of confidence in the passage he read in Romans in chapter 8. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:40.120 He says, if God is for us, who can be against us? 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:45.080 You see, Christian faith is not just wishful thinking. 00:06:45.080 --> 00:06:48.680 It's not just a blind optimism for the future. 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:53.600 It's not some kind of crutch we hold on to just to get us through the tough times. 00:06:53.600 --> 00:07:01.200 Faith is a complete and utter confidence in the God who secures the victory for his people. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:05.279 Paul went on in that passage to say, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:09.120 Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or any of these things? 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:14.560 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:18.959 For I'm sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:24.919 things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be 00:07:24.919 --> 00:07:30.919 able to separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:36.080 So what God has done on our behalf through Jesus has to be our foundation for confidence 00:07:36.080 --> 00:07:39.000 in the Christian life. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.840 In the little while, even if we're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper together, in 00:07:42.840 --> 00:07:49.560 the Lord's Supper we stop and we reflect and we remember everything Jesus secured for us, 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:52.280 everything Jesus did on our behalf. 00:07:52.280 --> 00:07:55.879 The Lord's Supper is this amazing picture. 00:07:55.879 --> 00:08:01.079 It points us to the reality of his death and everything that comes along with that, all 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:04.399 the blessings and benefits we have through that death. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:08.519 And in the eating and the drinking we are so mindful that nothing, nothing can come 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:12.800 between us and God because of what Jesus has done for us. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:14.279 Nobody can snatch us out of his hand. 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:19.719 No crisis in life can come between us and the Son of God who loves us and gave himself 00:08:19.719 --> 00:08:20.719 for us. 00:08:20.719 --> 00:08:25.439 And so there's a huge amount of encouragement in this first point in Joshua's speech that 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:28.079 God is a God who acts for his people. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:30.480 God fights for his people. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:35.159 But there's also a huge challenge for us this evening because God knows that as human beings 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:42.679 we are so quick to slide into complacency and self-reliance and forgetfulness. 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:49.679 God knows that his people are liable to wander and stray from him. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:53.679 David in Psalm 30 is a good example of this kind of self-reliance when things are going 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:59.039 well, he says, as for me and my prosperity, I said I shall never be shaken. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:04.079 It's so easy for us when things are going well in life to forget the God who has done 00:09:04.079 --> 00:09:05.639 so much for us. 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:09.639 It's easy for us to forget his salvation. 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:15.839 It's easy for us to forget the cost of Jesus' death. 00:09:15.839 --> 00:09:20.439 We must remember as a church, as St. Columbus, as the people of God today, everything God 00:09:20.439 --> 00:09:21.679 secured for us. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:24.919 It's God who has acted for us in the gospel. 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:29.439 But it's easy for us to think that it's all about us and our performance. 00:09:29.439 --> 00:09:33.159 But the Bible reminds us that it's God who turns a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:38.039 It's God who takes people out of darkness and into light. 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:43.199 By his grace he chooses to use us as instruments and as tools. 00:09:43.199 --> 00:09:48.559 But we have to remember that unless the Lord builds the house, the labors build in vain. 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:51.639 So where is our confidence placed this evening? 00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:55.960 The first point in Joshua's final speech points the people to look at God as the one 00:09:55.960 --> 00:10:01.159 who has fought for his people, the one who brings his people the victory. 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:07.199 Secondly, we're encouraged to think about the people who cling to their God, people 00:10:07.199 --> 00:10:08.199 who cling to their God. 00:10:08.199 --> 00:10:09.639 Look at verse 6 to verse 8. 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:13.559 Therefore, he says, be very strong to keep and do all that's written in the book of 00:10:13.559 --> 00:10:17.600 the law of Moses, turning from it neither to the right nor to the left, that you may 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:21.519 not mix with these nations remaining among you, or make mention of the names of their 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:27.559 gods, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. 00:10:27.559 --> 00:10:30.919 So in other words, if the emphasis of the first point was very much on what God has 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:36.759 done for his people, the second point in the passage is to look at how God's people should 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:41.720 respond and how God's people should live in light of what God has done and what God has 00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:42.720 said. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:47.439 And one of the key themes we see running through the whole book of Joshua is the importance 00:10:47.439 --> 00:10:48.439 of obedience. 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:53.440 And I wonder what we think of when we hear the word obedience this evening. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:58.200 I think for many people in our world today, obedience conveys quite a negative sense. 00:10:58.200 --> 00:10:59.320 It sounds quite heavy. 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:01.960 It sounds quite oppressive. 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:07.440 Maybe it makes us think of God as some kind of distant or cruel taskmaster. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:09.560 It sounds burdensome. 00:11:09.560 --> 00:11:14.860 But obedience in Joshua is presented to us as a response of love. 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:20.039 And Joshua says to the people to cling to the Lord their God in verse 8, the word that's 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:24.360 used there for cling is actually used first way back in Genesis for the bond between 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:27.720 a husband and a wife. 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:29.980 It's like to hold fast. 00:11:29.980 --> 00:11:32.800 The word speaks of permanence. 00:11:32.800 --> 00:11:38.039 Isaiah uses the same word to speak of metal that's been welded together. 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:43.800 Israel is pictured as the Lord's bride who clings to him. 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:49.559 And so Joshua urges the people then to live faithfully for God, to obey the law, to remain 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:53.319 loyal to him in the midst of all the unbelieving people around them. 00:11:53.319 --> 00:11:59.279 But he does that in the context of this incredible relationship of love. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:04.679 Because in a marriage, a husband and a wife give everything to each other. 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:08.159 In a marriage, you don't just give the other person a one day a week acknowledgement that 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:10.919 they exist. 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:13.319 You give everything to them. 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:17.360 And so Joshua says the people's obedience to the God who has given them so much is incredibly 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:18.360 important. 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:21.520 And the language reflects the reality that it's going to be hard. 00:12:21.520 --> 00:12:25.720 Be very strong to keep and do all that's written in the book of the law, turning aside 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:27.879 neither to the right nor to the left. 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:30.280 It's something that requires strength. 00:12:30.280 --> 00:12:36.360 Be very strong, Joshua says, because God knows it's hard for us to live faithfully for him 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:42.080 in a world that is not a world of rebellion. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:46.000 One of the greatest enemies of faith we were thinking about a few weeks ago is the problem 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.960 of our own forgetfulness. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:50.759 God knows that we're forgetful. 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:56.600 The language that the passage uses of turning aside off the path is something we can resonate 00:12:56.600 --> 00:12:57.600 with. 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:03.720 There's so many things in life that seek to draw us away from living for God. 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:08.040 One of the main problems God's people run into as the biblical story unfolds is not 00:13:08.039 --> 00:13:13.599 so much the threat of foreign nations and aggression from foreign rulers. 00:13:13.599 --> 00:13:16.120 The problems come from the insight. 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:18.679 The problems for Israel are internal. 00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:22.480 When you go into the very next book in the Bible, the book of Judges, you see these cycles 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:24.480 of forgetfulness. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:28.439 See a God who redeems his people, saves them, they live for him, they forget. 00:13:28.439 --> 00:13:33.599 They turn aside to the idols and false gods of the nations around them. 00:13:33.599 --> 00:13:36.759 And then judgment comes. 00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:39.799 God's people are incredibly forgetful. 00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:44.439 But the reality is that that same pitfall is there for us as Christians today. 00:13:44.439 --> 00:13:49.000 One of the greatest dangers in the Christian life is forgetting who we are as believers. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:54.480 When we go about our lives in the busyness of work or the pressures of uni or family 00:13:54.480 --> 00:14:02.000 life and all the chaos in our lives, we can so easily forget who we are as God's children. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:07.559 We need to remind ourselves and ground ourselves every day in the truth that our salvation is 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:11.080 not a result of our own power or our own strength. 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:15.480 Just like the people of God in Joshua's day, we need to remember that God acts on behalf 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:18.159 of his people. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:22.759 But Joshua does go on to highlight to us the dangers of compromising. 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:26.360 He says if you turn back and cling to the remnants of the nations around you, you're 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:28.919 going to have all kinds of problems. 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:33.879 In verse 12, it's the same word, cling, that appears again, sort of serving as a contrast 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:36.000 of choices for them. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.399 In other words, he's saying to them, who are you going to serve? 00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:41.199 Who are you going to live for? 00:14:41.199 --> 00:14:46.360 The God who has given you all of this or the world around you? 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:50.639 In chapter 24, in the next chapter, he goes on to emphasize this point. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:52.919 He says, who are you going to serve, Israel? 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:56.919 As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 00:14:56.919 --> 00:15:02.360 So recall to be a people who cling to our God, who live for him, to give him our unwavering 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:07.559 loyalty and allegiance, to hold fast to him like in a marriage. 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:12.679 And verse 11 ties together for us this idea of love and obedience. 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:18.199 Joshua says, there be very careful to love the Lord your God. 00:15:18.199 --> 00:15:22.559 One Old Testament scholar called Dale Ralph Davis commenting on this passage, he says 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:27.239 it's not simply a question of loving the law, but of loving the law giver. 00:15:27.239 --> 00:15:31.519 If people love the law giver, they will seek to do what he wants. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:35.399 Jesus in the New Testament, when he's asked to sum up the law, he says, you shall love 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:40.119 the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 00:15:40.119 --> 00:15:42.919 This is the great and first commandment. 00:15:42.919 --> 00:15:49.000 So there's a strong connection between loving God and obeying God. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:52.039 He that loves me keeps my commands. 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:56.079 So we've looked at the God who fights for his people, who acts on our behalf, the people 00:15:56.079 --> 00:15:58.120 who cling to our God. 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:02.959 Third and final part of Joshua's speech, we see the promises that never fail. 00:16:02.959 --> 00:16:07.000 We can have confidence because God is a God who is utterly faithful to his promises. 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:08.599 Look at verse 14. 00:16:08.599 --> 00:16:11.000 And now I'm about to go the way of all the earth. 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:15.399 And you know in your hearts and your souls, all of you, that not one word of all the good 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:20.179 things the Lord your God promised concerning you, not one word has failed, all have come 00:16:20.179 --> 00:16:22.879 to pass for you. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:26.359 This is a key theme we've seen in the book of Joshua in this series. 00:16:26.359 --> 00:16:30.799 God is a God who makes and keeps promises. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:35.120 See God is absolutely committed to you, to his people. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:38.279 He will absolutely do what he says. 00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:43.120 Few things I think in life can be as damaging or destructive to our relationship or to our 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:50.039 confidence in another person as a broken promise, as someone who goes back on their word, and 00:16:50.039 --> 00:16:57.120 someone breaks a promise that can have a devastating effect on trust in our relationship. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:02.159 But we're presented with a God who is absolutely faithful to his promises. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:06.960 Way back in Genesis, God chose a man called Abraham, and he made this threefold promise 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:07.960 to him. 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:11.000 He promised to give him a land, a new home. 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:15.240 He promised to give him a people, a family to live in the land with, and he promised 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:19.319 him a blessing through a relationship with God. 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:21.720 And now here they are in the land. 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:27.759 What was a man and a small family has grown into a nation, and God has taken them and 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:30.980 blessed them and kept his promises. 00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:35.960 So Joshua is reminding the people at the end of his life that God is faithful. 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:41.599 And sometimes all we can do as a believer is come back to God's promises. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:47.519 Sometimes all we can do when we hear a devastating diagnosis or when we face the death of a loved 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:53.480 one, a friend or a family member, when we're struggling with all the battles and pressures 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:58.559 in our lives, sometimes all we can do is come back to God's promises. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:03.519 The Bible is absolutely full of his promises. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:07.639 He promises us that our salvation is secure in John chapter 10. 00:18:07.639 --> 00:18:11.160 He promises to give us a way out of temptation. 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:13.359 He promises to give us wisdom if we ask. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:18.159 He promises to finish the good work he has begun in us. 00:18:18.159 --> 00:18:24.399 The apostle Paul says that no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ. 00:18:24.399 --> 00:18:28.699 It is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. 00:18:28.699 --> 00:18:30.139 He anointed us. 00:18:30.139 --> 00:18:36.039 He set his seal of ownership on us, and he put his spirit on our hearts as a deposit, 00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:38.759 guaranteeing what is to come. 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:44.119 The amazing thing is the gospel reminds us that we can cling to Jesus today because he 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:47.160 has set his seal of ownership on us. 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:51.680 He has promised that he will always cling to you. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:54.680 Hebrews chapter 13, he says this, I will never leave you. 00:18:54.680 --> 00:18:56.480 I will never forsake you. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:00.000 So we can say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.279 I will not fear. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:03.960 What can man do to me? 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:07.240 So we have confidence in the God who fights for us. 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:13.960 We cling to him as his people, and we have confidence that he is faithful to his promises. 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:17.400 The book of Joshua reminds us that God is the promise keeping God. 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:20.240 We can take God at his word. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:25.160 It may he enable us to cling to him this week in all that we do to ground ourselves in his 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:30.480 words and in his promises, and to love him and live for him in all that we do. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:34.359 Let's pray. 00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:39.079 Lord God and Father, we do thank you and praise you this evening that you are a God who is 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:41.919 utterly faithful to your people. 00:19:41.919 --> 00:19:47.000 We thank you, Lord God, that not one word of your word will fail. 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:51.559 We thank you, Father, that you are a God who will finish what you have started in us. 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:55.719 We thank you, Father, that we can come to your word and we can trust in you absolutely. 00:19:55.719 --> 00:20:00.079 Father, give us a confidence in you this week in all that we do. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:04.960 Give us confidence to live boldly as your people, to live for you and love you and obey 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.720 you and serve you in every sphere of our lives. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:12.720 Help us, Lord God, this evening to know how loved we are through what you've done for 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:14.240 us in Jesus. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:20.480 Help us as we take the Lord's supper together to reflect and to be so aware of the amazing 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:24.199 privilege it is to call Jesus our Savior. 00:20:24.199 --> 00:20:27.839 Lord, help us to adore you, help us to worship you. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:33.319 Father, we pray that you would, in everything, enable us to do it to your glory. 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:58.599 In Jesus' name, amen.