Let's Make The Best Of A Bad Decision – Part 2 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Joshua cut a bad deal with the Gibeonites, but God used it for the long-term benefit of His people.

And guess what? He can use your bad calls to work out His ultimate purposes. Today, insights on what can come from your bad decisions. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, does God put us in places where we must make decisions knowing that we'll make the wrong ones? Well Dave, that's an interesting way to put a question.

Let me begin at the end and then work backwards. God always knows how we are going to decide, because He knows all things both actual and possible. Now the question of whether or not He puts us in those situations, God also gives us responsibility to stay out of situations where we already know we are going to be tempted to sin. So that's why we also have to add into the factor human responsibility. You know, I've written a book that I think is going to be a tremendous help to all who receive it. It's entitled Conquering the Fear of Failure. It's of course based on the book of Joshua. And what it helps us to do is to understand that in the ups and downs of life, including bad decisions, God is there for us. For a gift of any amount it can be yours. Here's what you do.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember that God stands with us in the midst of all of our decisions. We are too self-confident.

We do not know the future and we do not know what wise decisions are. They should be submitted to the Lord. So Joshua has painted himself into a corner now. He's made the agreement, the assembly, ratified it by an oath. And so what is he going to do? Three days later he discovers that he had been tricked. So does he say to himself, well, you know, it doesn't really apply today because, you know, these folks came under false pretenses.

No. Notice what happens. Three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites in verse 16, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors and the whole ruse falls apart. The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders.

And I'm picking it up now at verse 19. But all the leaders answered, we have given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now. This is what we will do to them. We will let them live, notice this, so that the wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath that we swore to them.

Wow. Joshua is saying, you know, this is serious business. We made an agreement that we regret making and it's going to cost us something.

These folks are going to be a thorn in our side, but at the same time, we're not just going to pull out just because it's inconvenient. Psalm 15 verse four. Blessed is he who swears to his own hurt but does not change. Yeah, you regret it. This was a mistake, but a promise is a promise and an oath is an oath and agreement is an agreement.

And so I'm going to hang in as a result of that. You say, well, Pastor Luther, is there ever a time when it is legitimate to break an oath? Yes. If you make an agreement, say, with the devil, that should be broken. And I'll tell you why. It's because the devil has no right whatever to make any agreement with anyone because he owns nothing.

He comes under those kinds of false pretenses. It would be like someone taking my children and selling them into slavery. I'd say, wait a moment. What do you mean you're taking my children and selling them into slavery?

You don't own them. There's no basis upon which you have a right to do that. So all agreements with the devil should be broken. Now we get into the thorny question of divorce. Yes, in the Old Testament, God said that men are to love their wives and be married.

But because of the hardness of heart, there were some exceptions. And that, of course, is something that is debated today, and it is certainly not my intention to get off onto that difficult subject. But I go back to the letter I read just a moment ago. Here's a man who for seven years was separated from his wife, received counseling, which he did not accept, marries somebody else, knows that it's a mistake, wants to divorce the second wife so that he can go back and marry the first.

And then probably say, you know, I'm doing it for the benefit of my kids so that the kids have a godly legacy. Hello. Excuse me.

Anybody at home here? Simple fact is, my friend, on what basis would he divorce his second wife? He didn't keep his first oath. God help him keep his second oath. As a matter of fact, in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy chapter 24, it says very clearly that even if there is a woman who comes between in a marriage, the man is not to go back to his previous wife.

That is to say, let me be clear about this. If a man divorces his wife and marries another, he is not to go back to that original wife. Even if that second wife should die, God says. Now what you need to do is to stay where you are at and display the grace and the mercy of God in the midst of foolish oaths and decisions. This is what the Bible says. Oh, by the way, there is one other case where an oath can be broken and that is in the Old Testament where it says that a father can break the oath of his daughter if she makes a foolish vow.

And I think that that still has application today. If you have minor children who are in the home and under your authority and they make a foolish vow, you as a parent can take authority over that and break a foolish vow. But I want you to notice it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verses 4 to 5, it says, when thou vowest a vow to the Lord, defer not to pay it because God does not have pleasure in fools. It is much better not to vow than having vowed to break it. God takes oaths seriously. Now what happened as a result of this?

Well, a couple of things. First of all, you'll notice that the Gibeonites now do have an assignment. Verse 21, let them live and let them be woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community. You'll notice that Joshua says you are under a curse. I'm in verse 23.

You are now under a curse. You will never cease to serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God. And they go on to say we are in your hands and then I'd like to just conclude here at verse 26. Joshua saved them from the Israelites and they did not kill them. That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the Lord at the place where the Lord would choose. And that is what they are to this day. Centuries go by. Nehemiah comes back from the captivity and he's rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and in the book of Nehemiah it speaks about Gibeonites who are there helping.

What an interesting story. What does it tell us about bad decisions? Three lessons that can be burned upon your mind, your heart and even written in the flyleaf of your Bible if you have enough room to do so. Number one, God does not abandon us when we've made a bad decision. God doesn't abandon us. God didn't say to Joshua well you know you've made this bad decision and so in no way am I going to be with you or guide you or help you. No, as a matter of fact it is a curse that the Gibeonites were under but isn't it beautiful that along with a curse there is blessing that you're going to have these people actually help serve in the temple, eventually the temple here in the wilderness in the tabernacle and they are going to have be as servants and helping worship happen. That's a marvelous thing. There you can see the grace of God can't you because God does not abandon his people when they make bad decisions.

Let's take a better example maybe even of the principle or one equally as well. I'm thinking of Kadesh Barnea. The children of Israel come and they see the land and they spy it out and the spies come back and all the spies except two say we can't go in and two of them Caleb and Joshua say yes we can and all the people say we're scared we're not going in. Now you know what God could have done? The Bible says that God was angry and says it says in effect that God's anger was kindled against his people. God was really really upset about their decision.

God could have said well you know if you want to make your bed you lie in it I am finished with you guys just go your own way after all that look at that you disbelieve me. It's not what God does. What does he do? He guides them in the desert. He gives them manna every single morning. He gives them water in the desert. He causes the desert to have springs of water and then because they didn't have enough animals from which they'd be able to get enough clothes for those 38 years in the desert what does he say? He says your clothes did not wear out.

You could wear the same coat day in and day out and it would not get worn and your sandals did not wear out. God says I take care of you in the desert. This is where some people go wrong. They make a bad decision. God blesses them in spite of it and they say well you know maybe maybe this wasn't unscriptural after all.

No not necessarily. It's just the mercy of God. It's just that God does not abandon his people. God says I will walk with you through this bad decision. Joshua I'll be there with you and these folks are going to be a thorn in your side but they're also going to be a blessing and they're going to be a help. They're going to be both and that's what happens when we make wrong decisions.

That's number one. God does not abandon us. Number two God takes the consequences and this is a longer a little longer to say God takes the consequences of our decisions and that is bad decisions and uses them and weaves them, that's even a better word, weaves them into his plans and purposes.

He takes the consequences of bad decisions and weaves them into plans and purposes. Look at this. Your Bible is open to the 10th chapter now because we've read to the end of 9 and this is the great chapter where the sun stood still.

Did you know why this happened? It's because Joshua had made a treaty with the Gibeonites and had to defend them. You see what happened is the other people in the land got together and they said you know the Gibeonites have made a treaty with Israel and so what we're going to do is we're going to gather a coalition of kings and armies and we're going to fight against Gibeon and try to rub them out but Joshua was bound by a treaty so what does he do? He fights in behalf of the Gibeonites and that's why today we have that remarkable story of whatever happened when the sun stood still and there's some debate exactly what happened that day but there's no doubt it was a great miracle and Joshua stood there and said sun stand thou still in Gibeon and moon in the valley of Agilon and so we have here this remarkable answer to prayer and this remarkable victory and that's all part and parcel you see of God's purposes.

He weaves it into his plans. I suppose that the person who is best known in all of history as an adulterer was David. David commits adultery. Bathsheba should never have been his wife.

He even murders a man to cover his sin. Solomon is born of Bathsheba. We could argue you know strictly speaking Solomon should not have been born etc etc because David should have never had Bathsheba but Solomon is born and what does God say to Solomon? God says Solomon I love you in fact it says the Lord loved him and later on he says you know I'm loving you because of your servant David's sake your father David my servant.

God and David had this thing going between each other there's no question about it but but notice God God blesses it you know Jephthah does that name ring a bell to you do you say boy it's been a long time since I've read in the book of Judges but I do remember that Jephthah is a judge that was used by God you know what it says of him Jephthah was the son of a prostitute. You see what God does is he takes all of the human failure and all of the bad decisions and he weaves them you see into his own his own piece of cloth in fact if we had more time and someday I'd like to do a series of messages on bad decisions if we had more time I would show you that right from the beginning God has always been doing that he's been taking messes that we hand to him and doing something with them. Let me give you a third encouragement God stands ready to help you not just in decisions that you have made that have been bad but decisions that other people have made for you because today I speak to some people who are the victim of other people's bad decisions.

You'll notice for example that the Israelites here they grumbled at their leaders but the leader said hey look we made the oath and so what we have to do is to stick with it. You see there are times when we make decisions that other people that impact others negatively. I think for example of the time of Joshua and Caleb they wanted to enter the land and you remember the rest of the people said no so God condemns them to 38 years of wandering and Joshua and Caleb had to become a part of that motley group that complaining group for 38 years they could say you know this isn't our fault we wanted to go in God says yes but you know what you are suffering some of the fate of these people because you're a part of them that's the way life is. But here's the good news to you today my friend God is just as ready to help you in bad decisions that others have made for you that impacts you as he is in bad decisions that you have made for yourself. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is indeed more grace in God's heart than there is sin and failure and hopelessness in your past.

God helps us. Let me simply say that there is one right decision that we can make. There's always one right decision and for this I need to go to the New Testament. If you're listening here today and you have never trusted Christ as your savior and you come with emptiness and you come with a mess. Well I want you to know you've certainly come to the right place and if you come to Jesus you've come to the right person. So what you do is you come even as you are now there's a right decision you can make for as many as received him to them he gives the authority to become the sons of God even to them who believe on his name. So for those of you who don't know Christ as savior there's a right decision. The fact that you are alive and that's one of the requirements that we have for you to attend Moody Church here.

We maybe don't have many but being alive is one of them or you're listening to this by way of radio that also requires the same essence. The fact that you were alive means no matter how boxed in you are in fact this broadcast may be going to people who are prisoners or whatever literally hemmed in because of bad decisions I want you to know that there is still one decision that you can make and that is to receive Christ as savior and to say I believe in him. For those of you who know Christ you know what God wants to do. He wants to use that bad decision to teach you lessons that perhaps you could never possibly learn in any other way. The lesson of dependence, the lesson of brokenness, the lesson of humility, the lesson of patience, the lesson of saying oh God here I am do with me as seems good in thy sight. God is waiting to hear that from me and from you and from everyone. As children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend I brought my broken dreams to God because he was my friend but then instead of leaving him in peace to work alone I hung around and tried to help with ways that are my own. At last I snatched them back and cried how can you be so slow?

My child he said what could I do? You never did let go. Along with a curse there is blessing. Along with failure there is grace and I extend to you today the arms and the promises of Jesus. Let go do as seems good in thy sight and he'll walk with you through that experience. Let's pray. And our Father today we do want to thank you that you don't abandon us. You don't abandon us you don't simply say all right that's enough.

Even failed marriages, bad marriages, marriages that should have never happened. Once we acknowledge our sin and confess and yield and submit Father even there thy grace is sufficient. And so we pray Father make us a people who are constantly recognizing that that you help and we thank you Father for this story that reminds us that those who have failed can still be blessed. Now before I close this prayer you need to talk to God don't you?

Why don't you take out a moment to talk to him? Those of you who have brought failure even to this meeting through the thoughts and the memories of your mind would you give that to God? Those of you who have never received Christ as Savior even in your seat you can say yes I believe on Jesus I trust him I'm in a corner I'm in a tight place but thank God that he is there with you able to help you. You just talk to God. Father hear the prayers of your children hear their cry reveal yourself to us in mercy we ask in Jesus name.

Amen. And I say to you from my heart be sure to cleave to God come before him lay all of your decisions before him the good the bad the ugly leave it with him and he'll show you the next step. I've written a book entitled conquering the fear of failure and chapter number 10 is entitled living with a bad decision it's actually based on the book of Joshua. Now what I want to emphasize is that we are making this resource available to you for a gift of any amount here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. We here at the ministry of moody church media desire that you walk with God and as you frequently hear me say we trust that you'll be faithful all the way to the finish line.

Right now go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. The fear of failure and other fears are ever with us but so is God and as we look to him beyond the walls we see his blessing. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life.

Dr. Lutzer today's question comes from Ralph who lives in Connecticut. I am in deep sorrow my heart is breaking because I hope to spend the rest of my life with my girlfriend and I do love her. Two evenings ago when I didn't hear from her I was concerned she might be in an accident I called the hospital to my relief she was not there.

I left work early and went to her apartment began knocking on the door there was no response but then she text messaged me and said stop please I was confused as to why she would say this then I discovered she was with her ex-boyfriend. I can't describe how I feel I had just introduced her to my parents I had showered her with my love I can't speak about this the pain is too deep I need healing please send me a sermon for broken hearts. Well Ralph I'm not so sure that I have a sermon directly related to broken hearts but I do have wonderful hope for you. First of all let me say this I think it was good that the true character of this young woman was revealed before you married her.

Clearly she's not one whom you can depend upon she is not trustworthy and I would suggest that your relationship with her is going to have to be broken because if you can't trust you really can't love. Now what about your broken heart well I have a verse for you it says in Psalm 147 that he heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds and Ralph the good news for you also is the very next verse says that he determines the number of the stars and calls them by name so I conclude from my heart to yours today saying this that the God who created all things the God who made the stars also heals broken hearts give him your heart and give him time and he will do it. Good words for Ralph and thank you Dr. Lutzer if you'd like to hear your question answered go to RTWOffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337 that's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614. Running to Win comes to you from the Moody Church in Chicago to help you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. Ever asked God for something big? Next time how God honored one man's faith to the amazing extent of making the sun stand still. Thanks for listening for Pastor Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.