We are continuing our study in the book of Joshua this morning, and we've been in the book of Joshua for many months now, and we're coming near to the end. In our text today, at the end of all the battles, we saw last time God fulfilled His promises, He brought peace to the land, and here we see Joshua bless the two-and-a-half tribes and send them home to their families. We see God give them rest. 

What I want to highlight and talk about is a rich application for us in our time concerning the rest that God gives us in Christ. It's been a long battle, a long campaign with many ups and downs for the people of Israel, taking the land, driving out the inhabitants, and what we've seen in every step of the way is that it is God who wins the battles, it is God who drives out the enemies, it is God who gives the victory. Just as we were singing, it's not I, but Christ in me. That's the tremendous new covenant principle that we're going to talk about this morning, but we see that pictured here, all the way back in Joshua 22. It's God who gives the victory, it's God who's done all these things, it's God who gives the rest and fulfills His promise. 

And now we see that it is God giving rest at the end of all these battles—a consummation of the plan and the purpose of God. It's God who blesses us so richly, gives us the resources, the abundance, the grace to live in the land that He has promised. He has delivered us and we are called to walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, enjoying all of these amazing blessings that He has given us by His grace. 

The Lord had a plan and a purpose for His people, Israel. It's interesting, it was not a smooth and seamless journey, was it? All this time we've been studying the book of Joshua. Because of the rebellion of the generation that came out of Egypt, because of the wandering in the wilderness, their corpses falling there, even after they crossed the Jordan with Joshua leading now and Moses dead, still there were defeats and setbacks because of the unbelief of the people, the sin of Achan, the disobedience, the failure to trust the Lord. They suffered some losses in battle and failed to take some cities. 

But the Lord is patient. The Lord is long-suffering, willing to work within the will and choices of His people to use them to accomplish His plan through them. It was true in the book of Joshua and in all the great things that God accomplished there by His grace and power, the end of which was rest and peace in the land, possession of the land. 

And it's true in our day as well, as God gives us the privilege of serving Him, living for Him, being His witnesses in this world. We see Him patiently working in our lives by His grace and power, to accomplish His will and do what is best for us, what is good for us as our loving Father. It's not always smooth, because we fail to believe, we fail to trust, we fail to look unto Jesus. But God is gracious, God is patient, amazingly patient, my brothers and sisters. And He has accomplished our salvation. 

He has accomplished victory over sin and Satan and hell through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He has given us the rest, the fulfillment of what we only see pictured in the Old Testament books like in Joshua. And He has blessed us with amazing riches: all things that pertain to life and godliness. Think about that. 

God's put a desire in our heart, He's poured His love out into our heart by the Holy Spirit who was given to us to love the brethren, to love lost men, desiring to live a holy life. He's given us, and He's blessed us with everything that we need to have that be a reality in our life. Just as Joshua calls on the tribes of Israel to walk in obedience to the Lord—holding fast, looking to Him—so now the Lord calls us to walk worthy of our calling. 

Those words in Ephesians mean equal weight, consistent with who we are on the inside. God calls us to possess our possession—all that we have, all that we are in Christ—and to live one day at a time by His grace through faith, by His life and power in us, living out through us to accomplish His purpose for His glory.

Let's look at our text, Joshua 22. I'm just going to read the first nine verses. Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not left your brethren these many days up to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren as He promised them. Now therefore, return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on the other side of the Jordan. But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. Now to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half of it, Joshua gave a possession among their brethren on this side of the Jordan, westward. And indeed, when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.” 

So the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession which they had obtained according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

I've given you four points on your outline this morning: 

1. The Lord has given you rest. 
2. Take heed and hold fast.
3. Much riches.
4. Unity in truth and witness.

Well, first we see in our text, the Lord has given you rest. Verse 4 again says, “And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren as He's promised them. Now therefore return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on the other side of the Jordan.” 

We rightly make a profound distinction between the Old Covenant and the New and the plan of God in the course of salvation history. The essence of the Old Covenant law of Moses is this: obey and I will bless you. And the essence of the New Covenant instituted in Christ is, I have blessed you, now obey; now walk and abide in me and look to me and believe me and trust me and see me produce fruit out through you.

There's some very important practical distinctions between the Old and the New. We see this illustrated in the promise of the New Covenant all the way back in Ezekiel 36, you're familiar with that passage. At verse 25, God said, “‘Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your heart of flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them.’” 

In context here, this is a promise given to the nation of Israel, and we see that this New Covenant is a covenant made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Turn over to Jeremiah 31; let's look at that passage. Jeremiah 31, verse 31, “Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,’ says the Lord.” 

So clearly here we see a distinction. He made the covenant when they came out of Egypt with Moses, the law covenant. The days are coming, he says, when I'm going to make a new covenant with Israel. So these two things are clearly distinct. Verse 33, “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will remember no more.’” 

We see this new covenant applied to the church in Hebrews 8. The author makes clear that the old covenant has been made obsolete, has vanished away. Jesus ended the old covenant when He instituted the new covenant in His blood. And Romans 11 teaches us clearly that we Gentiles in the church do not support the root, but the root supports us. We are wild branches who were grafted in by God's grace. We are blessed out of the new covenant made with Israel. 

And those promises in Ezekiel and Jeremiah will ultimately be fulfilled in the nation Israel as God keeps His promises. But now, we see a sort of a pre-fulfillment of these new covenant promises in the church as we are blessed out of the covenant made with Israel. What I want you to see in our text is that despite all these important distinctions—and there are more we're going to consider in our study this morning—both covenants were based in the promise of God. 

Even as we see here in Joshua, the fulfillment and blessing of God is always the culmination of His promise, of His Word, and based in the faith of His people to trust Him and to walk in obedience. Look at verse 4 of our text again. “And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren as He promised them. Now therefore return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on the other side of the Jordan.” 

As He promised, it says. So what's going on here? God is fulfilling the promise given to the two-and-a-half tribes by Moses of their portion on the other side of the Jordan. They went into the land, they fought with their brothers, drove out the inhabitants after a long time of battle. And now it was time for them to possess their possession, the fulfillment of God's promise. 

And what should be the result of this grace, this mercy of God? What should be the response of His people as they see their inheritance fulfilled, realized? Verse 5 of our text says, “Take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 

I love this instruction here, particularly these words: hold fast to Him. Take heed. Hold fast. There's such an important application in principle here for us, even in this new covenant time. We looked at the promises of Ezekiel 36, Jeremiah 31, and my brothers and sisters, we see, as I said, a pre-fulfillment of these promises now in the church age. Ultimately, the fulfillment will be in Israel. 

But all these things are true for us in the church today. And the essence of this promise is regeneration—the new birth, our death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus. What did God promise in this new covenant time? Regeneration. I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean. A new heart, a new spirit, the Holy Spirit permanently indwelling each believer. And we learn the fullness of this promise in John 14 when Jesus said, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we will come to make our home in you.” 

Paul tells us in Romans 8 that if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. Every believer at the moment of faith in Jesus experiences this new birth, this regeneration, this indwelling of God Himself to live in us and live His life out through us. These are the promises that God has brought to pass in the church age that He has given to us in salvation. 

So much like the tribes on the other side of the Jordan, we have amazing riches as a gift from God. Verse 6 of our text says, “Joshua blessed them, sent them away, and they went to their tents.” Now to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half, Joshua gave a possession among their brethren on the other side of the Jordan, westward. And indeed, when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them. 

How did he bless them? Listen. He spoke to them, saying, “Return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.” 

So the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead. They're going to go home. They've been gone so long; they left their women and children and some of the men behind, and they're going back to the land of their possession which they had obtained according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses. 

Much riches. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? The way the Bible... I mean, the Bible doesn't overemphasize things, so you know, I always think of 1 Peter where he talks about the diaspora—those who were dispersed by this horrible persecution in Jerusalem out into the Gentile areas—and he goes, though you may have to suffer for a little while, you know? Much riches. Take a lot—lots of gold and silver and clothing. Much riches. 

God gave them all things they needed to go and live in the land and possess their possession, to walk with Him, to hold fast to Him, to obey Him in all things, to bring glory to Him and to live a long life of blessing on the earth. How much more has He given to us in Christ? It's not necessarily gold and silver, right? Although we would have to testify if we're honest that He's blessed us in this place, in these United States, with much more of that than we deserve. 

But truly the riches in Christ are so much more than the carnal blessings. They are immense spiritual blessings. And this is where we see a tremendous application from our text now in this New Covenant time. I don't think there's a truth that is more important that I could preach on. I know we emphasize these truths often, but that's because it's safe for us to hear the same things again and again. And if I had known Sharon was going to be here, I may have designed the message this way, but I guess God had it for us. 

So here we find the possessions that we have in Christ—the fulfillment of the promises of God in the New Covenant and all things that pertain to life and godliness. Turn over to Colossians 3 with me, please. Colossians 3 at verse 1, that first word should be “since”—it's not implying doubt. “Since then you were raised with Christ. Seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” 

Look at verse 3: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” You died. Does that strike you? Does that stun you? What does that mean you died? Turn over to Romans 6, Romans 6 at verse 1. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Certainly not. “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized or placed into Christ, united to him, were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death. Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. 

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

If you turn over to Romans 7 at verse 5, Paul says, “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” 

You see, in Joshua 22, God brings fulfillment of the promise. He's blessing them and giving them much riches, and then He's telling them in response to go home and live a life that is thankful to Him—that is set on Him, that's holding fast to Him, that's walking according to His ways, trusting Him. There’s a tremendous parallel here with what we have in the New Covenant, because something greater has happened in this time when we believe Jesus. We now live in the New Covenant, we do not serve by the oldness of the letter, the law covenant, but now in the newness of the Spirit. 

And in essence, the instruction that we see in the New Testament is that we are new men in Christ—that we are new creations, that we are now alive to God and therefore we must live like new men. We died. The old man in Adam, who we were as every man born in Adam, we were lost, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, we were totally controlled, dominated by indwelling sin, the sin principle, the sin beast that lives in us. You know, I was amazed to watch Silas, my little one-year-old grandson the other day, as a vivid illustration of the sin beast that lives in every man born in Adam. 

In the winter, we make a big deal to the little ones not to touch the wood stove, and of course, if they do, they learn a painful lesson. But the other day, Silas was running around the house. I was sitting on the couch, and he went up to the wood stove and he stopped and looked me in the eye and he went. And, of course, the stove is cool, with no fire this time of year, so he felt no pain. I went over, I scolded him, I told him no, I moved him away, I sat back down, and he walked right back over to the stove, looked me in the eye, reached out and touched it. I smacked his hand, I scolded him again, right back to it—right back to it, as if he just couldn't control himself. I had to remove him entirely from the situation. 

The sin beast is in that cute little boy, and it controls him; it causes him to sin outwardly as every man in Adam. The problem is not that men do bad things. It's not as religion teaches us that you do bad and you do bad and you become bad, so therefore the cure is to do good and do good and do good so you can become good. The truth is that the problem for man is that he is bad on the inside. His outward actions, his sinful acts are merely a manifestation of who he is on the inside. 

So what really must happen for the man in Adam is a death—a death and a new birth, a recreation, a regeneration to a new kind of life. We need to have our hard drive changed, right? And for the man who believes Jesus, this is exactly what happens by the grace and power of God the moment he believes. Go back to Romans 5:19 because I want to look at Paul's foundation here for what he's saying in Romans 6. 

Romans 5:19 says, “For as by one man's disobedience”—that's speaking of the sin of Adam—“by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.” That's Christ's act on the cross—his death, burial, and resurrection. Moreover, he says, “the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death.” That's what we've just been talking about, as sin reigned in death—not just for me, but also for Adam and the whole of humanity. 

Even so, grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul lays the groundwork here; he's contrasting the man in Adam with the man in Christ. The man who is in Adam is made a sinner in Adam; it's who he is. But in Christ, we are justified unto new life, it says. We are made righteous. 

And Paul says, “Moreover, the law entered.” Why did God give the law? Why did He give it to Moses? So that sin might abound, so we might understand our sin and understand our need for a Savior and turn to Jesus in faith. Paul said earlier in chapter 5 that there was a vast expanse of time between Adam and Moses when there was no law. God gave a law to Adam: “Don’t eat of the tree,” right? The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—that was a law. He transgressed that law. From Adam until Moses, there was no law, and yet men continued to die. Why? Because death and sin come to every man in the lineage of Adam. 

It's not the breaking of the law that causes death; it is the fact that we are sinners in Adam. We are condemned in Adam; we are sinners on the inside, corrupt, dead in sins, dead in our spirit, separated from God. That was true of every one of us. But notice Paul's words: “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more—so that,” now don’t miss those purpose words, “so that,” as sin reigned in death. 

Now we understand that, don't we? We understand who we were in Adam; we understand sin reigning; we see that all around ourselves. But do we really grasp what he says next? In the new life, in Christ, having been born again, grace reigns unto righteousness, and the end of that is eternal life. In Adam, sin reigned in death. Every man is dominated, controlled by the indwelling sin, dead in his spirit, and this ends in eternal death—eternal separation from God. But in Christ, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. 

So it's by grace—it's not by works that we're saved; it is a gift of God in Christ, it's by promise. Christ is the fulfillment of the promise, just like the land was a fulfillment of the promise given to the two-and-a-half tribes. He died for every sin, and through faith, His righteousness is imputed—it's credited to me—and I become righteous in Christ. 

I now live in grace; I stand in grace; and God's grace is the power that imparts life to me that works out this righteousness in my life and causes me to walk in His statutes and do them. But isn't this a dangerous message? Paul anticipates this question. Have you ever talked to someone about grace? It's grace. By grace we're saved. Well, if it's by grace, then good enough, sin all we want, right? Paul had that same argument. If it's by grace, then can I sin all I want? 

And that's why he writes Romans 6:1-11. “What shall we say then? What do we say to this truth of salvation as a free gift by grace through faith? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” I mean, the more we sin, the more grace there is, so should we just get on with the sinning to magnify God's grace? Certainly not. No, no, no, no, no, Paul says. “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” We died. 

This is a common objection by the religious man, the man in Adam. In Paul's day and ours, if grace abounds, we can sin all we want, but Paul says if you think that way, then you don’t understand salvation. You see, we cannot continue in sin as we did in Adam. Why? Because we died. 

Our old man died—the man in Adam—controlled by sin. That same sin that crouched at the door, desiring to rule over Cain, that beast that is in every son of Adam. Our old man was crucified with Christ so that—for the express purpose—that this body would no longer be dominated by sin; that I would no longer present my members—my eyes, my tongue, my mind, my hands—to sin controlling and dominating me, but now I would present them to God in righteousness. 

But Paul says that old man was crucified so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless. We died with Christ, were buried and raised to newness of life with Christ; we are wholly united to Him; we have a new heart, a new spirit, and Jesus Himself lives in us—never leaving us, never forsaking us. My friends, God has given to us much riches. 

He gave a lot of riches to those guys when he sent them home, but not like the riches we have in Jesus. Much riches—all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, Paul says in Ephesians. All spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. He's given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Back there in Joshua 22, he blessed them with great riches, but nothing like what we have in Christ. 

And what did he tell them? He told them to go home and to hold fast to God—to hold fast to the Lord, look to Him; to walk in obedience; to trust Him. What's he tell us? He tells us to live according to His truth, to His word, to these great and powerful blessings—these truths of who we now are in Christ. He tells us to live out who we are by His grace and power as we hold fast to Him, as we look to Him, as we abide in Him one day, one moment at a time, by faith.

These great truths of regeneration, death to sin, death to the law, death to death itself—God's life and power in us—these are the basis for our new life in Christ. Do not lie to one another. Why, Paul? Why should I not lie? “Since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and you have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” 

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 6; I want you to see a really crucial passage understanding the Christian life. 1 Corinthians 6:9. You know in Corinth they had a lot of trouble with this; they were living like the world, they were living like who they were; they were involved in all kinds of horrible sin. How does Paul instruct them? 

If you have a sin in your life—a brother who's sinning who comes to you; he has a sin—how will you instruct him? “Boy, brother, you can't do that anymore. It's against God's law; it's really bad; you shouldn’t do that. Peace be with you.” What's the basis? Why shouldn't he sin? Why shouldn't he continue? 1 Corinthians 6:9, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals or sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the Kingdom of God.” 

Now look at verse 11. What does Paul tell them? These are the things they were still doing as believers. This is the point of the chapter. What's he say? “And such were some of you; but you were washed, regeneration, right there—sprinkling clean. You were washed; you were sanctified; you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” 

What's Paul telling them? This is no longer who you are. Understand who you are. Understand what God has done in you in salvation. He's taken out that heart of stone. He's quickened your spirit. He's given you a new heart. He's put His Holy Spirit...Jesus lives in you. Later in that chapter, Paul will say, “Don’t join yourself to a harlot; you join yourself to a harlot, you join Jesus to a harlot because He lives in you.” 

Remember we looked at that passage not long ago in Ephesians 3:14-21, and there are those purpose hinoclauses linked together, and the end of that is that God is able, right? God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or think. How? By the Holy Spirit imparting strength to our inner man as Jesus settles down and is at home in our lives and is able to fully function out through us. 

That's the abiding branch and the vine principle of John 15. Jesus was not at home and comfortable when those Corinthians were joining themselves to a harlot, and He was there, right? Jesus is not comfortable when we're off in the world and we're living like the world and we're distracted and we're not holding fast and we're not abiding and we're not renewing our mind to the truth of His Word and reckoning these things to be so. 

Such were some of you, but you were washed. Your new men live like new men. That's the message. We are new and we have a new life. I love that passage in Ephesians 4 where he says, “put on tender mercies.” Think about this: wouldn’t you like your life just to be like this—every time you spend time together and everything? Tender mercies, thankfulness, forgiveness, speaking words for necessary edification, glorifying God, working with our hands, minding our own business so we might have something to give Him who has need. 

Different—not like the rest of the Gentiles. Don’t walk like the rest of the Gentiles; that's not who you are—not like who we were, but rather in consistency with who we are. And Paul says in Romans 12 that it’s our logizomai, logic—it’s our reasonable service. You believe that? Do you believe it’s reasonable for you to live a holy life every day? Why? Because God has made provision. 

Every provision has been blessed to us in Christ. He’s fixed what was wrong on the inside, and now by His power and might, He can produce holiness through us. We should expect that; God expects it. Pursued by His power, His life in and through us as we walk by faith. 

I just want to pick up kind of the rest of our chapter in 22. We see an interesting story in the rest of our text in Joshua, and I don’t want to take the time to read it again; Mark read that for us. But the tribes on the other side of the Jordan, when they went home, built an altar. And there was a misunderstanding—a real problem—and the children of Israel thought they were seeking to establish false worship apart from God's command concerning the tabernacle. 

Now I want you to notice that in response to this, their brethren that they just blessed and had fought with them for all this time—and they'd driven out the enemies and they'd possessed the land—they blessed them, sent them with all the riches, sent them home, and they get home, and they hear they built an altar—false worship, breaking the law of God, rebelling against God. What is their response? They set out to kill them. 

God takes false doctrine, false worship very seriously, as should we. But they go and they meet, and they come to understand the motive for the altar as a sign of unity of witness between the tribes on either side of the Jordan. Jesus prays in John 17 for us that we might be one as He and the Father are one. This is not the case in the church today, at least the professing church. We see anything but unity in the church. 

Many have worked for unity, but usually by compromise. God desires unity among His people as Jesus and the Father are one. You know, Jesus and the Father don't have any doctrinal differences. He wants us to be one as they are one. But it's never unity at the expense of truth. There can be no unity apart from truth, and there can be no witness without the truth. 

When there was a great aberration here—a perceived rebellion with this altar—the rest of the nation set out to kill them, to make war. That's serious, my friends. And unity and witness can only come on the basis of truth—never with compromise of the truth. We are to be God's witnesses. But the essence of that is speaking the truth in love. Speaking the truth. It's God's Word—it's God's Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. And to depart from the truth is to depart from unity and witness. 

Well, I pray that we might each grasp these profound truths we've considered this morning—who we are, what we have in Christ, how God has brought the promise of Christ, the New Covenant fulfillment to pass, how He's blessed us with so many riches. We see in this picture of the tribes going back to their land, the riches, the blessing—we have all spiritual blessings in Christ. 

My friend, we don't lack anything that we need to live in the will of God. And I pray that we might just dare to believe Him—to reckon these things to be so, to trust Him to live His life in and through us as we abide in Jesus and as we see Him produce much fruit for His glory as we possess our possession.

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful—so thankful for Your promise, for Your grace, Your mercy. We're thankful for Jesus. We're thankful for Your Word, Your truth—from beginning to end and all the wonderful principles and examples and pictures and just understanding that we gain in studying these Old Testament books and seeing them fulfilled in the new. Father, we thank You for the fullness of salvation that we experience now in this New Covenant time through faith in Jesus alone. In His name we pray, Amen.