SPEAKER_00: I have a bit of a confession to make.
SPEAKER_00: I have a book problem.
SPEAKER_00: I love reading books.
SPEAKER_00: I love recommending books.
SPEAKER_00: I love walking into a bookstore.
SPEAKER_00: I love imagining that one day I will have finally enough time to read every single book that I own.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is that I have shelves full of books that have started, but I haven't finished.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else relate?
SPEAKER_00: Some of them still have bookmarks that have been there in the same place for months, in some cases, even years.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, somehow, despite all of this, I know that I have a book problem.
SPEAKER_00: My wife knows that I have a book problem, despite all of this, that doesn't stop me and it hasn't stopped me from ordering more books.
SPEAKER_00: Just this past week, I received three more books in the mail that arrived freshly wrapped inside their wonderful Amazon box.
SPEAKER_00: As if that weren't enough, I have another 20 books probably sitting on my Amazon wish list, waiting for me to hit buy now.
SPEAKER_00: At this point, I'm positive that the Amazon driver assumes that I run a bookstore out of my house.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing: books are the easy version of that.
SPEAKER_00: All of us live with unfinished things, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: We have unfinished projects around the house.
SPEAKER_00: We have unfinished goals, unfinished conversations, unfinished plans.
SPEAKER_00: But then there are the heavier things in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe a career that hasn't developed quite the way that we hoped.
SPEAKER_00: A relationship that needs healing.
SPEAKER_00: Children that we're trying to raise or a struggle with sin that we had hoped and thought would be gone by now.
SPEAKER_00: And that makes things difficult.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is not simply that they remain unfinished, it's what we begin to believe about their unfinishedness, about what that unfinished says about us.
SPEAKER_00: We want to feel like we've accomplished something.
SPEAKER_00: We want to feel like our lives are moving forward, that our work has mattered, that we're not falling behind.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we finish things, even for a moment, we feel this sense of security.
SPEAKER_00: We can point to it and said, We did it.
SPEAKER_00: We accomplished it.
SPEAKER_00: My life is going somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: But when so much in our lives remain unfinished, we begin to wonder, Am I behind?
SPEAKER_00: Did I miss something?
SPEAKER_00: Have I failed?
SPEAKER_00: Can my life still be faithful if I never get to see everything finished?
SPEAKER_00: That's the question that Joshua 13 speaks into.
SPEAKER_00: What does faithfulness look like when there is still so much left unfinished?
SPEAKER_00: And our passage this morning is actually quite a bit longer.
SPEAKER_00: Russell tasked me with looking at Joshua 13 to 19.
SPEAKER_00: For obvious reasons, we're not going to read all six chapters, all six chapters together.
SPEAKER_00: Russell probably wouldn't invite me back.
SPEAKER_00: But these chapters describe how God distributed the land, the promised land, among the tribes of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: They are filled with names, with boundaries, towns, rivers, and property lines.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're going to focus primarily on Joshua 13 to 17, because these opening verses become the doorway into everything else that's going to follow in the next couple of chapters.
SPEAKER_00: So what we will discover is this Israel's future did not finally depend on Joshua finishing the work, it depended on God keeping his promise.
SPEAKER_00: Israel's future didn't depend on Joshua finishing the work, it depending on God keeping his promise to his people.
SPEAKER_00: God secures what we could never finish.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to look at this text in three points, which will become the three points of today's sermon.
SPEAKER_00: First, receive the promise.
SPEAKER_00: Second, rest in the promise.
SPEAKER_00: And third, remember the promise.
SPEAKER_00: So receive, rest, and remember the promise.
SPEAKER_00: So first, receive the promise.
SPEAKER_00: Look again at Joshua 13, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: It begins by saying, Now, Joshua was old and advanced in years.
SPEAKER_00: That's not just a biographical detail.
SPEAKER_00: It actually establishes the tension that runs all throughout the passage.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua is nearing the end of his life, but Israel is not nearing the end of their mission.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, God tells Joshua as much.
SPEAKER_00: He tells them there is still very much land left to possess.
SPEAKER_00: Now, think about everything that Joshua has already seen up to this point.
SPEAKER_00: He had watched God bring Israel all through the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he was there at the Exodus.
SPEAKER_00: So he remembers God delivering Israel out of Egypt and walking with them through the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: He had crossed the Jordan with them into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: He had watched the walls of Jericho fall.
SPEAKER_00: He had led campaigns in the promised land in the south and in the north.
SPEAKER_00: Earlier chapters summarize enormous victories.
SPEAKER_00: By almost any human standard, Joshua had accomplished a great deal.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, God doesn't say, Joshua, you've finished everything.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't look back and say, Joshua, look at everything you've accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Joshua, there's still a lot of land.
SPEAKER_00: Now that could sound like an accusation, but it's not.
SPEAKER_00: God isn't shaming Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: He's not calling him out.
SPEAKER_00: He's not telling him that he's been a failure.
SPEAKER_00: He's simply pointing out a truth.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua's assignment was always larger than Joshua's lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: You know, some promises are bigger than one person.
SPEAKER_00: Some callings are bigger than one season.
SPEAKER_00: Some work has to be handed off to the next generation.
SPEAKER_00: And what that means is that we have to learn to distinguish between something being unfinished and something being unfaithful.
SPEAKER_00: Those are not the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I myself have felt this tension while planting this church, La Trinidad.
SPEAKER_00: When I first imagined planting a church, I had a timeline in my head, like most church planters do.
SPEAKER_00: I assumed that by a certain point we'd be doing weekly worship, that we would have reached certain milestones, that more of the building that we're renovating would be finished, that more leaders would already be in place, that we would have more teams ready and available to serve.
SPEAKER_00: But instead, there have been moments when I've looked around and I've thought we should be further along by now.
SPEAKER_00: I thought we would be further along down this road.
SPEAKER_00: But God has had to teach me that my imagined timeline is not the same thing as his promise.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that there is still much left to do doesn't mean that he hasn't been faithful.
SPEAKER_00: It may simply mean that his work is larger, slower, and deeper than I expected.
SPEAKER_00: See, my calling is not to complete everything immediately, it's to receive the assignment that God has given me today and to trust him with what remains.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I've learned this lesson in another area of my life too, which is parenting.
SPEAKER_00: My wife Nancy and I have three kids.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that I've learned is that there's never a moment when you can just stand back and say, finished.
SPEAKER_00: Just when you think you figured one stage out, another one begins.
SPEAKER_00: Just when you think you finally understand one of your children, they grow, they change, they evolve, and suddenly you're learning all over again.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we pray for them, we we teach them, we correct them, and yet every day reminds me that I'm not the author of their story because faithfulness and finishing are not the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: See, Joshua had to receive that truth.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, his life mattered, yes, his obedience mattered, yes, his leadership mattered, but the promise, God's promise to give his people Israel, the land, didn't depend on Joshua personally completing every battle.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua had to believe something that must have been incredibly difficult for him to believe in that moment at that time.
SPEAKER_00: God was asking Joshua to trust that he himself would finish what Joshua himself never could.
SPEAKER_00: The promise didn't depend on Joshua's ability to complete every battle, it depended on God's commitment to keep his word.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's the first invitation of this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua is called to receive the promise, to trust and believe that God will accomplish what he promised, even if Joshua doesn't live to see every single part of it fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: But that's much easier said than done, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: If we're honest, that's easier to admire than to do.
SPEAKER_00: It's one thing to say trust God's promises, it's another to actually trust them.
SPEAKER_00: Because our hearts don't naturally rest in promises.
SPEAKER_00: We want proof, we want progress, we want visible results.
SPEAKER_00: And so, can Joshua really trust a promise like this?
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps more importantly, can we?
SPEAKER_00: Number two, rest in the promise.
SPEAKER_00: Now notice that the book of Joshua doesn't answer that struggle, that tension, by pointing Joshua back to Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: He points Joshua back to God.
SPEAKER_00: Listen again, verses six and seven.
SPEAKER_00: This is God speaking.
SPEAKER_00: I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel, only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: Did you notice who the subject of the sentence was?
SPEAKER_00: It's not Joshua, it's God.
SPEAKER_00: I myself, and that little phrase changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the surprising part of this passage.
SPEAKER_00: God tells Joshua to divide the land, to assign the land to the tribes before Israel has fully conquered it.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: The enemies are still there, the battles aren't over, there is still very much land to possess, and yet God says, go ahead, divide it, set it apart, assign it to the different families and clans and the different tribes.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the inheritance ultimately rests on God's promise, not Israel's progress.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't say to Israel, hey, when you've finally defeated everything, when you've proven yourselves, when you've earned it, then this land will become yours.
SPEAKER_00: He says, in effect, God says, give it to them now.
SPEAKER_00: Because I myself will finish what's left undone, what's unfinished, what remains to do.
SPEAKER_00: Think about buying a house.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a moment at closing when you sign the papers and you receive the keys.
SPEAKER_00: At that moment, that house belongs to you.
SPEAKER_00: There might be walls left to paint, there might be plumbing that may need repair.
SPEAKER_00: There may be boxes sitting in every room for the next six months.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you still have boxes from your last move.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, there may still be projects that you will not finish in that house for years, but you don't renovate a house in order for it to become yours.
SPEAKER_00: You renovate it because it already is yours.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua is handing Israel the keys before every room has been cleared, and that is grace.
SPEAKER_00: But this is exactly where we struggle, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Everything around us, everything in this world, tells us a different story.
SPEAKER_00: School says, earn the grade.
SPEAKER_00: Work says earn the promotion.
SPEAKER_00: Social media says earn the attention.
SPEAKER_00: The fitness world says earn the body.
SPEAKER_00: Even religion can whisper, earn God's approval.
SPEAKER_00: Everything tells us the same story.
SPEAKER_00: Prove yourself, become enough, finish enough, and then maybe you'll belong.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're honest, many of us quietly bring that same mindset into our relationship with God, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: We begin to think if we pray enough, if we serve enough, if we grow enough, if we defeat enough sin, then maybe God will finally be pleased with me.
SPEAKER_00: God will finally answer that prayer.
SPEAKER_00: God will finally bless me.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, each of us falls into the same trap every single day of believing that our inheritance, our blessing, our acceptance before God ultimately depends on us.
SPEAKER_00: And yet we fail, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Every single day, even this morning, we fail to trust, we fail to believe, we fail to obey, we fail to follow God's standards and to live up to his commandments.
SPEAKER_00: We fail.
SPEAKER_00: And so what hope is there for us?
SPEAKER_00: Broken, weak, frail, fallen sinners who failed to receive and rest on that promise.
SPEAKER_00: What hope was there for Israel?
SPEAKER_00: Well, here's a bit of a spoiler alert.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua would eventually die with enemies still standing.
SPEAKER_00: In the last chapter of Joshua, you get sort of a sad picture.
SPEAKER_00: All of these battles, all of these victories, all of these campaigns, all of these decades of fight after fight after fight, and there are still enemies left standing.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the good news that Joshua couldn't yet see in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: One day, another Joshua would come.
SPEAKER_00: And we know him by the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They're actually the same name.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua in the Hebrew is Jesus in the Greek, and both names mean the Lord saves.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what Jesus came to do.
SPEAKER_00: See, the first Joshua led God's people into an earthly inheritance that he could never secure forever.
SPEAKER_00: But the greater Joshua came to secure an eternal inheritance that can never be lost.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua distributes this land that he didn't purchase.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus purchased our inheritance with his own blood.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua begins his final assignment hearing there remains yet very much land to possess.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus finished his final assignment on the cross and said, It is finished.
SPEAKER_00: See, the gospel says that your inheritance, your blessing, your acceptance before God never depended on your ability to finish the work.
SPEAKER_00: You can't.
SPEAKER_00: You won't.
SPEAKER_00: But that's good news because it depends on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus never fails.
SPEAKER_00: We just saying he is a firm foundation.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 3, Paul says that Christ is a promised offspring through whom God's promises to Abraham are fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: A few verses later, he tells us that Christ became a curse for us so that the blessing promised to Abraham might come to the nations.
SPEAKER_00: And then in Galatians 4, he says that because of Christ, we have received adoption as sons and daughters of God.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear what Paul is saying?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't just show us how to trust the promise.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't just a good example or a good teacher, he secured the promise.
SPEAKER_00: He is our redeemer, the sacrificial Lamb who gave up his life for us.
SPEAKER_00: See, Joshua couldn't finish.
SPEAKER_00: Israel couldn't finish.
SPEAKER_00: And neither can we.
SPEAKER_00: So what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: It means you can stop striving.
SPEAKER_00: Stop trying to earn the Father's love, his inheritance, and instead rest.
SPEAKER_00: Rest in his promise.
SPEAKER_00: Not because your faith is flawless, not because your obedience is complete, not because your life is finally finished, rest because Christ has finished the work that was required to receive God's promise.
SPEAKER_00: Rest.
SPEAKER_00: But that raises another question.
SPEAKER_00: If Christ has secured our inheritance, why does the Christian life still feel so unfinished?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we still struggle with sin?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we still wait?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we still grieve?
SPEAKER_00: Why does there still seem like there's so much land in our lives left to finish, to possess, to conquer?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the answer is that although Jesus has secured our inheritance, we don't experience that inheritance in its fullness.
SPEAKER_00: We live in between the promise accomplished and the promise completed, which means that we need constant reminders of what is already true.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what Joshua 14 to 19 give us.
SPEAKER_00: And so, number three and last point, remember the promise.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in chapter 14 of Joshua, the pace of the book changes dramatically.
SPEAKER_00: Read it later at home, and you'll see.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually really, really interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Battle after battle gives way to boundary lines.
SPEAKER_00: Excitement gives way to geography.
SPEAKER_00: Tribe after tribe receives its inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to a sample of these passages.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua 14 says, These are the inheritances that the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua 15, this is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua 16, the territory of the people of Ephraim by their clans was as follows.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua 18, the lot of the tribe of the people of Benjamin according to its clans came up.
SPEAKER_00: And then chapter 19, the second lot came out for Simeon, the third lot came out for the people of Zebulun, the fourth lot came out for Issachar, the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the people of Asher, the sixth lot came out for the people of Naphtali, the seventh lot came out for the people of the tribe of Dan.
SPEAKER_00: It almost feels repetitive, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: But that's exactly the point.
SPEAKER_00: Every tribe, every clan, every city, every boundary, every inheritance, no one is forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: You know, most of us skim these chapters because they feel like ancient real estate documents, but every boundary is another reminder that God keeps his promises down to the smallest detail.
SPEAKER_00: Because the geography is preaching theology.
SPEAKER_00: My parents have a home in El Salvador that, you know, Lord willing, will one day be handed down to us, my siblings and I.
SPEAKER_00: And you'd better believe that when that day comes, every single detail will matter.
SPEAKER_00: I will want to know exactly where the property begins, exactly where it ends, exactly what belongs to the family.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because when it's somebody else's property, the paperwork might sound boring, but when it's your inheritance, the details all of a sudden become precious and come alive.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's Joshua 13 through 19.
SPEAKER_00: God isn't just handing out property, he's reminding his people, I'm doing exactly what I told you I would do.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God knows something about us.
SPEAKER_00: We forget.
SPEAKER_00: We forget his faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: We forget his promises.
SPEAKER_00: We forget his provision.
SPEAKER_00: We forget how many times he's carried us before, how many answers, how many prayers he's answered.
SPEAKER_00: We forget.
SPEAKER_00: Which is why the Christian life is actually full of remembrances.
SPEAKER_00: Every Sunday we gather around God's word.
SPEAKER_00: We baptize, we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we sing, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: It's not because God forgets, but because we do.
SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the best pieces of pastoral wisdom that Russell shared with us this past year to those of us that were in the HCPN cohort, was a simple practice that he says he sometimes follows.
SPEAKER_00: He says that every now and then he'll pick someone random from the church an evening of the night, and he'll call them.
SPEAKER_00: Not because there's a crisis or because he needs or wants anything from them, but simply to ask, How can I pray for you tonight?
SPEAKER_00: You know, I've started doing that occasionally, and it's been incredible.
SPEAKER_00: Almost every single time the response is the same.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor, I can't believe you called.
SPEAKER_00: Did somebody tell you something?
SPEAKER_00: I really needed this.
SPEAKER_00: Why does that matter so much?
SPEAKER_00: Because being remembered communicates love.
SPEAKER_00: It's why anniversaries and birthdays take on such a special significance.
SPEAKER_00: Being remembered communicates love.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua 13 through 19 is God calling his people and saying, Judah, I remember you.
SPEAKER_00: Benjamin, I haven't forgotten you.
SPEAKER_00: Simeon, Naphtali, Zebulun, Dan, you're in my mind and in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't forgotten a single promise that I made to you.
SPEAKER_00: A few weeks ago, uh, I was telling uh David we hosted a community loteria night, which is like Mexican bingo.
SPEAKER_00: And your church has helped make this season of ministry possible through your support.
SPEAKER_00: So let me tell you a little bit about what your generosity has helped to create.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there was food, there were games, there were children laughing, there were neighbors talking, there were police officers and community members sitting around the same tables.
SPEAKER_00: But underneath all of that, there was something much deeper.
SPEAKER_00: See, we wanted every single person who walked through our doors to experience this.
SPEAKER_00: You are seen.
SPEAKER_00: You are welcome.
SPEAKER_00: You matter, there is room for you here.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's what people who know their inheritance do.
SPEAKER_00: They stop competing for a place and they start making space for others.
SPEAKER_00: And so let me leave you with two very practical invitations this morning.
SPEAKER_00: First, you know, this week, when you're tempted to measure your life by what still remains unfinished, stop.
SPEAKER_00: Take a pause, take a breather, and instead write down three specific ways that God has already been faithful to you.
SPEAKER_00: Three times in your past when he's answered very specific prayers, not three things you've accomplished, but three ways that he's kept his promises.
SPEAKER_00: Train your heart to rehearse his faithfulness instead of your failures.
SPEAKER_00: But second of all, become a reminder of God's faithfulness for someone else.
SPEAKER_00: You know, send a text, make the phone call, invite someone to dinner, pray with a friend, notice the people that are maybe standing alone before or after church, reach out.
SPEAKER_00: Take that first step.
SPEAKER_00: Like Jesus took a first step toward us.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't wait for us to turn toward him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't wait for us to take a first step toward him, he crossed heaven and earth to approach you.
SPEAKER_00: So will you do the same?
SPEAKER_00: Remind someone that they haven't been forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what the church does.
SPEAKER_00: We become living reminders of the God who never forgets his promises.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's the greatest irony in this passage.
SPEAKER_00: That the chapters that we are most tempted to skip are the very chapters reminding us that God never ski over his people because God secures what we could never finish.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, this morning, as we listen to these words, how easy and simple it is to believe the lie, that our lives, even our growth as Christians, depends on us.
SPEAKER_00: No doubt Joshua looked at these battles, these giants, the enemies yet to fight.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps there was fear and trepidation in his heart, just like there is fear and trepidation in our hearts when we see all the areas in our lives where we haven't been faithful, where there have been things remained unfinished.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, Father, just as you reminded Joshua and Israel, you remind us that you yourself will accomplish what you set out to do, because that is who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You are the faithful God.
SPEAKER_00: Father, as Paul reminds us, if you didn't withhold your son from us but gave him up on the cross to die for us, how will you not give him and us all things?
SPEAKER_00: Father, remind our forgetful hearts, even as we approach the table this morning, the bread and the wine, reminding us that you gave up everything, even your son, for us.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to remember that we don't approach it because we've earned it or because we deserve it, but because our faithful Redeemer has opened a way and a path for us into the Holy of Holies, into heaven itself, where he is seated at your right hand and is interceding for us even now.
SPEAKER_00: And so we approach humbly and gratefully through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We lift up our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.