Overcoming Three Types of Regret | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

We're almost home. Aren't you glad that you can sing that with absolute confidence that nothing can change your eternal destination? That's the hope that we have. That's the power of the gospel. And we believe here that even Satan himself cannot take away your salvation.

But as much as that is the truth, we have to also acknowledge that he is intent on stealing the blessings that you are called to enjoy in that salvation. He is viciously ambitious to do that, to rob us of all that God has purchased for us in Christ beyond just our heavenly home. But the things that he wants us to enjoy and know and live in today, Satan is after. And I want to remind you of that because he does this in both obvious and subtle ways, and today I wanna focus on his most most subtle methods. Particularly one, and it's often more destructive than people imagine.

The enemy of your soul and mine is dedicated, takes great pleasure in making sure that God's children live with regret. To live with regret. And by regret, I mean, this persistent sorrow, disappointment, guilt that you might know because of past failures or mistakes. And before I I try to bring to your attention how this crippling remorse ties to the enemy and how our flesh is integrated with that, I wanna also tell you that there is a redemptive aspect to remorse. It's called godly grief.

And the Bible tells us that it is meant to lead us to reconciliation with God if accordingly. So meet me in the book of second Corinthians chapter seven, and let's look at verse 10 briefly. Second Corinthians chapter seven verse 10, Paul writes, for godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. It's straightforward, isn't it? The regret of any shortcomings or deliberate disobedience is meant to produce repentance.

A repentance that leads to salvation. That's what that pain concerning your sin is is designed to you have a choice with what to do with it, but God's desire is that it would draw you to his forgiving arms. And one of the wonderful things about this verse is that we are told, a beautiful thing about what this repentance leads to. So yes, this grief, regret, call it what you will, should lead to repentance. And then once you arrive at that repentance, Paul promises by the spirit that it would not provide any regret afterwards.

Do you see that last part? Says here, a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Here's what it means by that. Primarily, that when you turn from your sin, turn your face to the Lord, call upon his compassion, receive his forgiveness, be saved, you'll not think twice about that decision. You will never second guess giving your life to Jesus Christ.

That's what he is saying here. And how could you if you've truly tasted the joy and peace that Christ offers? Which makes me also believe that Paul has another meaning with this. This phrase here of a salvation without regret. That when a person receives this gift of salvation, then they are called to dwell, live, be free from any regret.

Any sorrow. A salvation without regret. I'm redeemed. I'm delivered. I'm new.

And so there is a sense here in which you know a rush of freedom. Not just in that decision. Yes, I'm saved, but also who I am now. How I'm identified, how I'm seen by God. And all of us in here can testify to that freedom, especially when you are first born again.

But why is it that for so many, that feeling doesn't last? That awareness, that rock solid confidence begins to wane. And let me give you one of the main reasons. Because the accuser seeks to rob you of that gift. He is so driven to make the children of God miserable with regret.

Is it any wonder why in Revelation twelve ten, he is identified as the accuser of our brothers? And he stands before God day and night, and he accuses us before God. And don't limit to his ambition in that. He also accuses you directly. He violates your conscience.

He attacks you. He whispers lies. That is the essence of spiritual warfare. And it impacts us in ways that people overlook. Because this kind of regret, this sense of condemnation is able to choke you to such a degree that it hinders your spiritual progress and it stifles with your relationship with God.

And I wanna give you a brief example of that from the book of first John in chapter three. We're going to different scriptures today. There isn't one main text, but many texts, so you have to hold your Bible tightly. In first John three nineteen. Look what the apostle John says now.

He's speaking to believers. He says in first John three nineteen, by this, we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Two main observations that I wanna make from this passage. Observations concerning the possibilities of the condition of your heart as a Christian. Number one, we are informed that it's possible for Christians to feel condemned. What does he say here in verse 20? For whenever our heart condemns us.

So it's possible that at any time, not just in the beginning of your walk, not as you are trying to come to terms with what the gospel does for you, at any point, even ten, twenty, decades after you've confessed Christ, condemnation can visit your heart. Which is why he says here in verse 19 that our hearts need to be what? Reassured. Reassured. And don't you love how John says we?

He doesn't say you. He includes himself. We need to be if you struggle with that temptation, if you're not stable in your security, what is required of you is to reassure your heart. But it's also possible, and this is what we should all strive for, for you to live condemnation free. And that you would never ever doubt God's goodness and his favor towards you, that you would never fear that at any point, he would disown you.

So where do you get that from? Look at verse 21. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. So what what does that tell me? Again, it tells me that it is possible for me to have absolute total unshakable confidence before God.

In my relationship with God, aim for that. That's your goal in mind. That's where the Lord wants us to be. But for so many, it's not. They they settle for a shaky foundation.

They just think it's almost normal for them to live, doubting their acceptance before God. That that's possible, but it's not God's desire. And Here's one of the most striking things about this passage. That you have here John transitioning from the discussion about your security in God and your prayer life. Don't you see it in verse 22?

Notice what he says. And whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commitments and do what pleases him. That seems out of place. You're going from talking about your confidence before God to now talking about the strength of your prayer life. What's the relationship?

Well, if you really meditate on it, it actually makes total sense. The former affects the latter. In other words, what motivation would I have to come before God and pray if I am unsure that he is not holding my sin against me? And even if a person tries and really pushes themselves to pray, in that kind of a mindset, it's not really the way you're supposed to pray. At least you find yourself there.

You find yourself living in that reality and even praying with that state of mind, trying to feel less guilty altogether. So I'm praying because I I wanna try to earn more points. I wanna try to convince myself and maybe even convince God that I'm worthy of his acceptance. And what what you'll end up finding about yourself if you're praying, maybe you recognize this if you really reflect on it, your prayers are really just asking God for forgiveness all the time. Forgive me, Lord.

Forgive me, Lord. Please, Lord, forgive me, please. And it's you're almost subconsciously, the more I ask for him, the more I bother him with it, the more he'll reluctantly say, okay, fine. Here's forgiveness. And you never move beyond that.

You never know what it's like to enjoy his presence. You never know what it's like to feel the freedom to ask him of anything, to communicate with him all your desires, all your concerns. You're just stuck in that place trying to persuade God of him just even receiving you initially. And so I want you to see how constant regret, guilt, the pricking of shame drains you. It's like a parasite that sucks the spiritual vitality out of you.

And this is just in regard to our prayers. It has impact on so many other things, and that's why I wanna speak about it today. This is really my prayer that every person leaving this place would know relief, that you would know this anchoring hope that would remain, that you would have confidence before God. And so that's why I wanna speak to you about three types of regret that Christians can overcome. And I say three because Satan is much more clever, and this this flesh is much more deceptive than we initially thought.

And so the first kind of regret I wanna address is to be free from the regret of the sins of the past, even if such sins were committed as Christians. The second kind of regret I wanna talk about is the regret of questionable choices. What do I mean by that? Choices that you made initially thinking that they were in the will of God. But after some unfolding, after some more truth was brought to the matter, now you're doubting, was that really God's will?

And it haunts you to this day. And the last kind of regret I wanna address is the regret of missed opportunities. Those who are discouraged over what they feel to be paths that they have bypassed, ignored, leaving you constantly wondering, what if? What if? So let's deal with the obvious one, our past sins.

And I'm assuming, as I bring this point to you, that the sins that we've committed in our former lives, the sins that we've even committed as born again believers are repented of. You have relinquished them. You have turned to the Lord and you've asked for forgiveness, but there is still a possibility that even if you've done what the Lord has asked of you concerning those past sins, that you can't sing confidently about you being a child of God, and God loving you, and wanting the best for you, and wanting to lead you, and and writing a story for your life for his glory. You being drained of energy, it's this sorrow that sucks the life out of you because as you lay there in bed, you're you're visited by those sins. Or there might be even people in your life that you've even sinned again against.

Just the sight of them causes you to feel there's no way that God smiles over my life after what I've done. Dark cloud of doubt that's over your head all the time, wrestling, even with the fear of judgment. If that is you today, I wanna let you know you have one main goal in this life. You have one main goal knowing deliverance from that. And it is to be reacquainted with the fullness of God's forgiveness.

You know it. I know you know it. You can quote, I'm you've probably even counseled other people with it, and you're not even convinced of it yourself. That's totally possible. But my aim today is to just give you a sample of what can happen.

Really, I'm asking that the Lord would, in his power, make these truths come alive in you to get an idea what facing the truth of the fullness of God's heart in his mercy should do to you. What it can do to you. What it offers you. Here's the thing with us humans. When it comes to this idea of forgiveness, if you're honest, I know you love the Lord, but if you're honest, forgiveness more than anything else feels like a duty because of this flesh.

Right? And so it's more like, I have to do this. And yes, it's a command and we're happy it's a command or else we would try to justify our lack of forgiveness and our bitterness, but I'm talking about the way it feels. It feels like, I this is what I'm just supposed to do. God is not like us.

In this area even. Because to the Lord, it's not just this obligation. It's not this reluctant responsibility. You ready for this? God actually delights in forgiveness.

It's not a duty to God. For you, it feels like a duty. To God, he actually finds genuine joy in extending it. Really? Yes.

Really. He actually he know there's this eruption of happiness in God's heart when he invites people to receive his forgiveness and when they accept it by faith. We could go to hundreds of scriptures that can testify to that. Let me bring you as a starting point to Lamentations in chapter three. Let's go there together in verse 33.

Lamentations three thirty three. The prophet Jeremiah says something astounding about the heart of God. For he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men. You know what the prophet is doing by the spirit? He's revealing how the default of God's heart is not one of judgment and wrath.

We think the opposite. We think that we're unable to shake it off, some of us. The Lord's impulse is to discipline. It's to punish, while forgiveness and extending grace is a grudging chore to him. And yet the prophet Micah tells us something in the context of pardoning inequity and overlooking our trespass if we repent, that he delights in steadfast love.

Micah says that he delights in steadfast love. That's where his delight is. That's his disposition. Here's another way to grasp it. I was thinking about this, thinking what's what's the easiest way to perhaps, draw us into experiencing this truth?

I want you, even for a moment now, to think about something that you know automatically, automatically will flood your heart with some kind of joy, that can transport you into elation, that can actually, bring you out of, a a time where you're really in the slums. It could be the company company of a beloved friend. It can be the sense of gratification you know after accomplishing a certain task or any strange subjective experience that very few people can understand. Just imagine something that actually unlocks a sense of joy in your heart. Now take this in.

God forgiving a sinner does that for him, but with a joy that is infinitely more intense than you can even fathom. That's how God feels when he what? When he extends mercy and especially when it is believed on by faith. So he doesn't afflict from his heart and what makes this more precious and limitations is that Jeremiah is giving this truth in the context of him having to forcefully remind himself of it. Look at verse 21.

Look at chapter three verse 21. But this I call to mind, and therefore, I have hope. And then down in verse 33, one of the things that he calls to mind is that he does not afflict from his heart. You know what that tells me? It should tell you the same, that we often lose sight of the fact that God's heart is like this.

We are prone to believe the opposite. And Lamentations is not the only book that defines the Lord's tender temperament toward those who are in sin. So go to Hosea in chapter 11, please. I hope I prepared you in advance that we're gonna be bouncing to different places in the Bible. Hosea 11 verse eight.

This is when Israel was steeped in sin and the prophet says, as he speaks on behalf of the Lord, how can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Adma? How can I treat you like Zeboyim? My heart recoils within me.

My compassion grows warm and tender. This is perhaps one of the most explicit passages that unveil the raw emotion that God feels. God feels. He's not robotic. He's not mechanical.

He has emotions, and you see it so plain here. And he makes reference to a couple of places that we're probably not familiar with. We know Efraim. We know Israel, but what what's and where is Admah? And what's and where is Zeboiim?

Well, if you go to Genesis 14, don't turn there, don't turn there. But if you were to go there, in chapter 14 verse two, you would learn that these two areas are neighboring cities to the infamous Sodom and Gomorrah. And these two regions were also destroyed alongside them because they shared in the same sins as them. And at this point in Israel's history, they were imitating, they were mirroring the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah and the region altogether. Now, you and I know what he did to Sodom and Gomorrah in his perfect righteousness.

And as we come to this passage, we would expect that what's gonna grow warmer, if anything is gonna grow warmer, is his anger and his desire to execute his wrath. And though we do not overlook God's justice, what's being emphasized here is that what's growing warmer and more tender is his compassion. Confirming what we read in Lamentations that it is not his heart to afflict. And so how do you understand this passage? If you were to translate it in simple English, I don't want to judge.

I much rather extend forgiveness and to make you whole when you repent and receive my forgiveness. That's what he desires. His heart recoils within him. It's it's stirring the deepest parts of who he is. Not that he's uncertain.

Not that he's wrestling with his will. That's not the case. But we're we're we're granted human like understanding and language to try to relate to what God is like. And here we see that what's actually becoming more ferocious and what's stirring him more than anything else is compassion for what? A people who are broken for this and no, a people who are stubborn in their sin.

This is God's heart, and he longs for them to know it. I think this is almost too good to be true, and I'm here to tell you it's true. This is what he wants and this is really difficult for many of us to believe. So in the very next worse verse, as though Hosea anticipates us to be hesitant to actually grasp this, look at what he says in verse nine. I will not execute my burning anger.

I will not again destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not a man, the holy one in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. Now when you hear the title holy one, what do you often associate that with? His purity, his justice once again, which is true. But in this instance, the Holy Spirit wants you to link the holiness of God, the transcendence of God, the other worldliness of God with his willingness to withhold judgment and actually receive those who deserve his wrath. In other words, by communicating this, he's saying, I, being holy, am not like you in terms of how I am willing to forgive.

I'm not like man. I'm God. I'm God. And I wanna show you how I'm so much different for you from you. I want to forgive these people here, not judge them.

So he is so different from us, also in the strength and the availability of his compassion. And this is, again, astounding. It should cause us to worship, yes. But it gets better because this is just the surface of God's willingness to forgive. What happens once he does?

What happens when the heart of faith connects with this willingness to forgive? And that's where it gets even better. So I quoted Micah briefly, but I want you to turn there now. And I want you to notice I mean, notice that I'm pointing you to the profits. Did you notice this trend?

Those are the same books that, provide the greatest, most scathing declarations of judgment. But if you read the prophets carefully, you'll note that at the end of each one of their books, there is a message of hope. Read it. You'll never unsee it. No no matter how scathing, you always end on a note of hope.

And it's no different with Micah in chapter seven verse 19. Micah seven nineteen. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. That's how the ESV renders it.

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Let's break this down slowly. For Micah to say he will again have compassion on us, is a reminder that his reception of the repentant is readily available. He'll he'll do it. He'll do it again, and again, and again, and again.

He is always willing to receive the repentant again and again. It's not short lived. It is long suffering. And when that compassion is called upon in humble penitence, Micah tells us something that the Lord will do with your record of sin. The ESV says that he will tread our iniquities underfoot.

So let's follow that imagery. A person realizes they've sinned, they confess their sin, and the Lord takes your sin. He places it on the ground and with his mighty feet, the earth is his footstool by the way. He treads on it until that record of sin becomes fine powder, unrecognizable, destroyed, disintegrated. And if that wasn't enough, what does Micah say he does?

He bundles up all of that, every fragment of your record of sin. And with his mighty arm, he throws it into the depths of the sea. Why does he do that? So it can be out of sight and so that it could be out of reach. That's why he does that.

You're saying, well, maybe with some sins but not my sin. We convince ourselves like this, do we not? Okay. Well, look what he says. You will cast what?

Some of our sins? All. Name it. He's willing to tread it and and he's willing to bundle it and he's willing to canon it into the depths of the sea. There's not one sin that you can name that he is not willing to do this for.

Any sin, all our sin, no matter how dark, no matter how much it's permeated your record, your history, he is willing to tread it. He is willing to put it beneath his feet. And if he puts it beneath his feet, what does that mean? Just to begin with, it means that it's out of out of his sight. He's not studying it.

He's not contemplating it. It's there. It's it's beneath him and then he doesn't even keep it there. He plunges into the depth of the ocean. Now, Micah's words here should remind us of a lyric in a song of the bible.

It's not in the Psalms. It's actually one of the first songs of the bible altogether in redemptive history, the song of Moses, when the people were just delivered from the Red Sea and the tyranny of pharaoh in Egypt. Let me quote this to you from Exodus 15 verse four. Pharaoh's chariots and his host, he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. Cast into the sea.

Can I ask you a question? Was Pharaoh's army a threat after they were cast into the sea? No. You know why they were nonexistent? They were totally and absolutely eliminated.

They can no longer harass the people of God. They can no longer threaten the people of God because they were destroyed by God. It's no different with your record of sin. Now, how ridiculous would it be for you being an Israelite in that day, Being a part of that awesome testimony, that generation that was rescued from slavery? How weird would it be that coming through that Red Sea and God bearing your enemies for you to look out and to see, Israelites sitting on the shore and, quivering while looking at the ocean wondering, is this really it?

Is this is this it? You can't see a chariot. You can't see Pharaoh's uniform. They're at the bottom of the ocean. So how weird would it be for you to look at somebody or to be that person and think, I don't know.

It's done. They're destroyed. Move on. And here's the problem. Many Christians choose to sit on the shore of their memories, staring out into the ocean of the past, and regretfully ruminating over forgiven sins that God intended for you to forget about.

So if your sins have been cast into the depths of the sea, you know what you should do? Imitate the Israelites in Exodus 15. Sing with relief and rejoicing and march on. It's done. And that happens every single time you repent.

It was AW Tozer who said that the regret of a sinful past can only dissipate when we recognize that in Christ, that past doesn't exist. You're remembering something that the Lord forgot about. Not that he's not omniscient, but he chooses not to dwell in it. He chooses not to use it against you. Isaiah tells but he takes our sins and he casts it behind his back.

It's not before him. So it's behind his back, it's beneath his feet, it's in the depth of the ocean and it's tormenting you day and night. How can that be? You have to be reacquainted with the fullness of God's forgiveness. I can assure you that the more you saturate your mind with this truth, the less you'll be convinced that God is dangling your sin over your head, that you can at any moment expect him to strike you with judgment in this life.

And more than that, this false notion that he's gonna surprise you at the end of your life with eternal denial because of the severity of your sin. If you have repented of it, you forget it. And if you continue to struggle with that feeling of guilt, because I I I know. Let's be real. Let's be real.

Right? Some of you know these things. But you're still gonna wrestle with that feeling. So let me offer some advice. Some advice that I thought was beneficial.

You must, as you pursue this familiarity with the fullness of God's forgiveness. Right? Because it's not instantaneous. It's not like you read a page and then everything just disappears. No.

It takes time, the renewal of your mind. So as you work with that process and you might still be visited by those feelings of regret, guilt, shame, whatever the case may be, fear. Learn to discern the difference between guilt as a feeling and guilt as a fact. Big difference. Big difference.

What I feel doesn't determine my fate. Tell yourself that. As you're trying to memorize and as you're trying to connect, as you're trying to build a case of what God is like and what he is like for you and towards you, and you still might be wrestling and still might be clutching at your soul and you're thinking, tell yourself this feeling of guilt doesn't confirm my status before God. And you know that from a human to human level that somebody might have forgiven you but you still wrestle with what you've done to somebody. Right?

But it doesn't determine your relationship with that person. Especially if they've forgiven you. So these these emotions, these things that don't don't align with the truth, I will manage it by reminding myself that what God says. And that's what first John three is all about. If my heart condemns me, God is greater than my heart and he knows everything.

Regret over sinful past. Let's talk about regret and overcoming the regret of questionable choices, number two. I'm talking about the range of decisions that we believe were in God's will, but as unfavorable experiences follow or as more light was shed on the matter, you begin to feel the suffocating realization. Maybe I missed it. Maybe this was not God's will all along.

I arrived at the wrong conclusion. And this is how this works. The more costly or permanent a decision is, the greater the sense of regret becomes. We don't feel so guilty or regretful about things that you can reverse overnight. And so this can happen with money and time spent for an education that you realize is not beneficial.

This can look like you moving and having to leave behind so many things because of a promising opportunity, even a ministerial one, and you realize that this was not what I expected. It can look like any opportunity you thought was going to be for your good, even God's will, and it disappointed you. This even happens when people get married and wonder if they made the right choice. Did I really marry the right person? If that's you, please hear this.

Please. If you sought God, if you sought godly counsel, if you aligned your thinking and your planning according to God's word, no matter what the outcome of that decision was, you working with the light that God has given you in the moment, in that season, should relieve you in that you have no reason. No. You don't even have a second, a right for a moment to live in regret. Do you know why?

Because to think that you've done all that and to still be tormented by the possibility of missing the will of your heavenly father, actually goes against everything Jesus taught about the character of our heavenly father. So let me remind you of a verse in Luke eleven eleven. Here we are in the New Testament, and look what Jesus said about the father by making a contrast. In Luke eleven eleven, what father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

Never forget this, Jesus never wastes his words in his teaching. Everything that he says is intentional and is meant to be studied and carefully regarded. Let's just ask two simple questions. What does a fish and an egg have in common? It's not some deep mystical thing by the way.

Very simple. They're nutritious. They're good for you. Right? You may not like fish, but it's good for you.

You may not like eggs, good for you. Okay. What do scorpions and serpents have in common? Not good for you. Dangerous for you.

I know some people that have them as pets. God bless you. Generally, they're harmful. They can hurt you. So what Christ is conveying that is if a child asks for something profitable and beneficial, no good father would give him something harmful instead.

So let's connect this with this truth. If I am a child of God who earnestly seeks for the will of God in any matter, I have no reason to fear that he will lead me down a path that is perilous, wasteful, or injurious. Cause that's not who he is. That's not that's not his heart and I can't express you, I can't even put into words the glorious rest that that this is provided in every area of my life, especially if after choosing something or deciding something or moving forward in a certain direction, it brought about pushback or or unfavorable experiences. This truth that I'm presenting to you should make you absolutely unshakable.

Because here how here's how it looks like. Lord, I know I know that I've surrendered my life to you, and I know that I've brought this matter before you. And Lord, you know that I I wanted the best. I wanted your will, and I've sought it from godly leaders. I've sought it from godly family members and friends.

And though I cannot make sense of what's transpiring here, because I know that I've laid it at your feet, because I've put you always before me, I'm gonna trust you in this. I don't get it, but I'm gonna trust you in this. And the relief in part comes from you giving it to him before anything even started. That's why it's so important to be prayerful. That's why it's so important It's not just so that you can get what you hope to get, it's so that when things don't look like what you expected, you can be at rest.

So be relieved. No matter what it looks like. No matter I don't know how this happened. I didn't expect this. But did you seek God about it?

I did. Absolutely. No question. Then be at rest and don't live in regret. I'm sure it gets a lot more complicated than that in many scenarios, but that's just a general commentary.

And hopefully, it brings some kind of help. But I know that there might be some people excluded or at least feeling excluded. You know why? Because the source of your regret is not I prayed about it, but it doesn't make sense. Because I didn't even pray about it to begin with.

I'll be honest with you, preacher. I didn't see God at all. I was thinking carnality. I was thinking in the flesh. I was thinking my will, not God's will.

I moved ahead. Is there still hope for me? Would it amaze you if I say yes? There is hope for you. I I wanna let you know that there's an example in the scripture of a man of God.

Not just a man, a man of God, who in a moment's time made a very serious, permanent, lasting choice without seeking God about it. And the story goes to show that even though he moved ahead, he realized he was wrong. He chose to still seek God after the fact, and God did something wonderful with this man's story. Turn with me to Joshua chapter nine. I wanna talk to you about what is known as the Gibeonite deception.

Joshua was the leader of the nation of Israel, and he was called to lead a generation into the promised land and as the vessel of God's judgment to destroy all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. Why? Because century after century after century, this people group ignored God, hated God, despised God, and grew worse and worse in their sin. And so the Lord said, that's it. They must be destroyed.

I'm using this nation as an instrument to bring about that judgment. So the mandate was clear. Everyone who lives in this land, who is outside of covenant with God, must be judged accordingly. Now, this group called the Gibeonites learned about it. They learned about what the God of Israel has done, they learned about the early conquest of this nation, and so they were fearful.

And So they came up with a cunning plan and here was the plan. We're gonna pretend as we introduce ourselves to Joshua and his people that we are from a distant land. And they put on this whole show really. They brought like old looking food and they dressed like they were worn and they traveled for so long, and they came persuasively telling Joshua, hey, we heard about your God and and we love what we see and we're not from here, by the way. We'd love to make a peace treaty with you.

Joshua and the leaders were at first a little suspicious, but they gave in. They eventually gave in, especially when they interacted with the physical, the material, the what was on the surface, and were given this commentary in Joshua chapter nine verse 14. So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. So why is that there? To tell you that what's about to transpire is due to this mishap.

Due to this failure. They did not ask counsel from the Lord. It's not because they weren't smart enough. It wasn't because No. One main reason, they didn't stop and say, Lord, is this is this of you?

Lord, should we move forward with this? Lord, is there something that I'm not seeing that you see that you want me to be aware of? They didn't do that. They trusted in themselves. They trusted in their senses.

Verse 15. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. And the leaders of the congregation swore to them. You learn later on this chapter that they swore in the name of the Lord. It wasn't just, hey, we can be friends.

It was, we're invoking the name of God in this covenant. That's serious. I know it's not serious today. People throw around people make vows and it doesn't mean anything. No.

No. No. No. Back then, you would rather die than break your word. Especially if you invoke God's name.

But look what happens in verse 16. At the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them. And so there was a problem. The people of Israel were upset with their leaders. The leaders were upset with the Gibeonites.

So they confronted them. Now, let me pause here before I move on. This is why this is so significant. Number one, this covenant that was made was built on deception. It was built on a lie.

This was not a good start. The Gibeonites pretended to be something they were not and the Israelites only learned about who they truly were after they made an unbreakable treaty. Can you imagine? This is not an item that you bought that you have to go and return in thirty days. This is permanent.

And we're dealing with God's grand narrative plan for the people and for the Messiah. This is a major blunder. So this relationship was built upon a fraudulent foundation. Secondly, it was a covenant that was established that was not sanctioned by God. God didn't approve of this.

What was supposed to happen to the Gibeonites is what was supposed to happen to what happened to Jericho, what happened to Ai and everybody else. They were supposed to be annihilated. Instead, they became partners with them. And I wanna just say this, what happened with the Gibeonites in Israel is how some marriages have been formulated. God's will was not sought.

You were just in love, supposedly. You were just infatuated. You were just after the physical. You were just after the security. You were just after the companionship, but you never sought God's will.

You didn't pray and ask. In fact, you were probably scared to because you thought he's gonna say no, so I'm gonna get ahead of him. And like this covenant, one or both parties relied on self in assessing the legitimacy of the other. You trusted in your senses, your ideas, your ability to maybe redeem that person. You're not the savior.

God's the savior. Husbands and wives make terrible saviors. Only Jesus can save. And like this covenant in Joshua chapter nine, one or both parties have made heart shattering discoveries only after they got married. Who are you?

Or maybe you've said this, you're not the person I married. Right? In heated moments. Or maybe you've told yourself that when you left the house on your way to work, like, what what is this? And really in summary, the relationship wasn't blessed by God to begin with.

And I'm referring to marriage because I can't think of anything more permanent in terms of covenant decisions in this life. So I'm not picking on married people here. It can be in anything, but what can be more lasting than this, at least it should be lasting. So coming back to this story, you would imagine that the way forward for Israel is to do what? This is done.

I don't care if it's been three days. I'm not waiting a day longer. You lied to me. You are not who you say you were. So this is over.

But you know what you discover? That Israel understood the power of an oath and they understood that if they were to break this covenant, they would incur God's wrath. Also, they much rather stay in this covenant and knowing that they would bring honor to the Lord in doing so. And that's what they chose to do. And I think even in this historical account, you have a universal principle for God's people.

This is this is it. This is the crescendo of this point. That even though you may have not initially sought the will of God, God's guidance in any decision, you can still choose to move forward with the desire to honor him. That from this moment on, I will honor the Lord. I will do my best to seek his pleasure and his delight and his will.

And if you choose to do that, especially with irreversible commitments, God will do amazing things. The possibilities are endless. And that's exactly what Joshua does. Israel chose to move forward. And the amazing thing is, you quickly see that the Lord does not abandon Israel.

He actually works with them. In fact, he continues to write their story. Though this is a major mistake, a significant one, God doesn't miss a beat. He sees the heart of these people and he and he continues to walk with them, he continues to provide for them, he continues to guide them. And And I wanna show you one instance where this is really beyond what we would think.

Look at Joshua 10. Very next chapter. We don't have to wait two chapters. The very next chapter, what happens? The neighboring nations find out that Gibeon made a peace treaty with Israel.

They were infuriated. You betrayed our people for this people that's invading us and so there's a coalition that was created and now they come to fight against Gibeon. Gibeon cries out to Israel saying, we're on the same team. You gotta help us. And because of the covenant, they helped them.

A war breaks out. The leaders of Israel, Joshua in particular, makes an incredible prayer request that the sun would stand still so they can have light, so that they can fight. And here's how this account concludes in Joshua ten fourteen. There has been no day like it before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. There's been no day like this.

This is a unprecedented miracle, and it happened in the context of one nation, God's people, defending a people that they shouldn't have made a covenant with to begin with. That's God's mercy. You know what God could have done? Oh, well, well, well, look, you got yourself in trouble now, You brought in Gibeonites and now the people wanna fight Gibeon? Well, since you made a covenant with them, good luck.

Let's see how you fend for yourself when you don't seek me. Go for it. That's how some of us think. You look back saying, I don't know how I got myself here. I know I didn't see God's will, and now you think that you're just living out a lesser version of God's will for you if there's anything really left.

And what I see here is that God came through in an amazing way, in a very unlikely covenant. He can rewrite your story. And if you didn't ask for his authorship in that decision, he's still willing to, in your humble acknowledgment and confession, to bring back his authorship into your life and to write the story for testimonies that you never thought would be possible. Regret about questionable choices. Let's come to the final one, overcoming the regret of missed opportunities.

The nature of this regret is not so much about a wrong or lesser decision or choice, but about not acting at all. And so it's a remorse that involves feelings of disappointment, sadness over things that could have been. You've missed it. Experiences that could have been had. Potential paths that were not taken.

And the most familiar to believers who felt like, they've missed opportunities is when they are later in life awakened to what it means to follow Christ, to really be sold out to the Lord, and they reminisce on what they've done with their earlier years walking with Christ and felt like they wasted it. They were caught up in carnality, distracted by worldliness, living, not a spirit filled life. And so there's some people who look back thinking, I wasted those years. I I wasted what could have been. What could I have been today?

What would I look like now? What my what could have my ministry been like if I just from the start honored him? If I had not been so foolish. There are some people who constantly live in regret to the point where it keeps them in the same place. And I wanna offer you a verse that will, I think, perfectly summarize the entire message and this is where we are ending today.

Paul's words are in the book of Philippians chapter three and beginning in verse 13. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. Here's the great apostle highlighting a crucial element to knowing great significant spiritual progress. Do you know what it is? Don't dwell on the past.

This one thing I do, like, he made it an ambition, a priority in his sanctification. I regularly, consistently decide not to dwell on yesterday. And usually, this is quoted to comfort those who are haunted by failure. But what makes this even more amazing is that Paul mainly is talking about his past success. I do not consider that I've made it my own.

What what's that? What's your what's the goal you're talking what's the object that you're saying that you you don't fully possess? And he brings it up in verse 10, I believe. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I've already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

So it's as though he unfolds it earlier and he expects you to know what he's talking about in verse 13. So the it, the thing that he says, I haven't made this fully mine, but I know that if I dwell in the past, I won't arrive here. That it is two things, knowing Jesus Christ fully and becoming like Jesus completely. Look at verse 10 again. That I may know him and the powers of his resurrection.

And then he says later on in the same verse, becoming like him in his death. And it goes on in verse 12. Not that I've already obtained this. What's this this? Knowing him and becoming like him.

Not that I have already made it my own. Verse 13, but this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind is training forth to what lies ahead. Paul understood that both discontentment and contentment with your past can keep you from knowing greater testimonies, greater experiences, greater feats in the faith. And so he said, I'm not gonna let discontentment, what I failed to do, and I'm not gonna let contentment, what I did accomplish, all my credentials, all the revelations I received, all the people that I impacted, none of that also will keep me from running ahead. I I asked you to imagine looking at an Israelite after the Red Sea incident and how crazy it would be to see him there, quivering or maybe in a fetal position looking out to the ocean wondering, how long are they gonna come back for me?

Okay. Now, imagine this. Imagine a runner in a race and you're in the stands and everybody's running in their own respective lanes and they're ahead, they're focused. And there's one guy, maybe a guy that you know and as they're running they have their head behind them looking behind. The whole time, you're thinking, what are you doing?

Or you're driving and you're not looking through the windshield, you're looking at the rearview mirror the whole time. What's the same for both of those? What's the same possibility for the runner who's running like this and the person who's driving like this? It's dangerous. It's not the way you drive.

That's not the way you run if you wanna actually know success. And here's what Paul is saying, I don't look back. Not that he forgets, but he doesn't dwell. He doesn't allow to have a grip on him. He he shoes it away when it tries to sit there.

Whether that be discontentment or contentment. And here's what's so amazing. If his man was willing to do this with his achievements, how much more should you and I be willing to do it with our failures, with our missed opportunities? Paul said, there's so much more ahead. I'm not gonna dwell on what I did or didn't do before.

I'm just focused on today and I'm focused on tomorrow, and I trust in the goodness of God enough to believe that he has something for me today, And he has something for me tomorrow. And so I'm gonna take advantage of it by his grace. And with whatever time I have left, I will give it to him believing that he can make much of it. So don't give a moment, a moment's time of regret even with missed opportunities. You know why?

Because God has so much for you now and so much for you ahead. And you need that energy that you're wasting thinking about yesterday for what he has for you today and tomorrow. Oh, I can keep going, but I think I'm content here. Hopefully, you are as well. Life.

Lord, we thank you for this time. We we worship you. Lord, these truths were showcased. The references were made, but only the reality and the experience of them can can you make real in our lives. So we ask that you would do that.

Lord, with all our imperfections, all our neediness, or all our forgetfulness, we pray that in this moment, we would receive something from you that would, change us. As we've been praying throughout the service, change us. So, Lord, receive our worship and our thanks, for you are the God of second chances and more than second chances. And For this, we give you glory. In Jesus name.

Amen. If the praise name come, let's stand. Let's worship the Lord and honor him. I went back and forth wondering if I should add this, little excerpt in the in the sermon, but I thought it'd be better maybe to conclude with it. I love the story of Joseph.

And one of the reasons for that is because he he points to Jesus in so many ways, in so many scenes. It's Christ. It's so obvious. And I argue that you even see him in the final chapter of the book of Genesis. Jacob dies, his father, and the brothers who remained with Joseph in Egypt listen to this in Genesis 50 verse 15.

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. You know what's so amazing about that? Joseph already forgave them, didn't he? He wept on their necks. He embraced them.

He took care of them. After all the goodness that he had shown, the brothers still doubted in the fullness of his forgiveness. That's you and me with Jesus. At least some of us, It's always a temptation. Second guessing whether or not Christ actually forgave us.

So what happens? They come up with this strange plan. They lie. When you live in fear, it makes you do crazy things. When you doubt the goodness of God, it makes you do crazy things sometimes.

Notice what happens in verse 16. So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you. That's not true. There's no such thing of Jacob asking the brothers to do that or giving them kind of, you know, this assistance.

And so they say, now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. Here's how Joseph reacted. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. It didn't please Joseph to see that they were still guilty. It broke his heart.

You know, some people actually think that they're actually pleasing God by mourning over their past sin over and over again. And some people remain in that place under the guise of spirituality, like, yeah, I'm a wretched sinner, and I want God to know I'm a wretched filthy sinner. Yes, we all are in our nature. But he forgave you. Now you're a saint in Christ.

And so here you have Joseph weeping. He's not pleased with this. Verse 18, his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants, but Joseph said to them, do not fear. And this is him, obviously, in his humanity speaking, for I may have the place of God, as for you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. I focus on those first three words, do not fear.

You're forgiven. If Joseph and his humanity and fallenness was willing to extend that forgiveness and reassure his brothers who did what? Who did what? Who wanted to kill him? Who sold him into slavery?

How much more the greater Joseph who looks at you and me if we've asked him for forgiveness initially and he says, do not fear. It's it's done. It's over. Move on now and enjoy me and enjoy the blessings I have in the same way Joseph blessed and preserved and prospered his brothers. Leave here lighter, I pray.

Leave here with a song in your mouth, I pray. Leave here at rest in Jesus. That's my prayer. Lord, we thank you for this time. We trust that you'll use this message for your glory, and we pray that, we would never be the same.

We love you. In moments of doubt, moments when our heart condemns us, help us discern between feeling and fact, and help us remember in the goodness if we are the fullness of your heart, the depth of your mercy. And even if we fumble and stumble in this life as believers, as your children, help us know that you can redeem questionable choices and even missed opportunities. You are beyond good. Words can't, express what you mean to us.

Help us love you the way you deserve. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. And amen.