He transmitted to Joshua a measure of the spiritual wisdom and honour which he had himself received from God.
He publicly acknowledged before the whole congregation of Israel God’s appointment of Joshua as the leader who was to succeed him.

117:T6ff,

Yesterday we saw how God's judgment on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah serves as a pattern, an example, for all people after them. Another dramatic instance of God’s judgement is provided by the story of Ananias and Sapphira (see Acts 5:1-10). Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, were what we would call religious hypocrites. They sold a possession and brought part of the price to the apostles as an offering to the work of God. This, by itself, was to be commended. However, their sin consisted in pretending that the money which they brought represented the full price of the possession which they had sold. They did this in order to gain the praise and favour of the apostles and their fellow Christians.

However, by the supernatural revelation of the Holy Spirit, Peter discerned their hypocrisy and charged first Ananias and later Sapphira with lying and seeking to deceive the Holy Spirit. Such intense conviction of sin came upon them that each, in turn, fell down at Peter’s feet, dead. This judgement of God had a strong effect on the people who heard of it.

“So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.” (Acts 5:11)

Of course, there is no suggestion that God will always judge this kind of behaviour by professing Christians in such a swift and dramatic way. But the unchanging attitude of God toward lying and hypocrisy on the part of professing Christians is demonstrated by this incident as a warning to all succeeding generations of the Church.

118:Tc99,

Yesterday we read in 1 John 1: 9 how God, when we confess our sins, cleanses us from all iniquity. In John 2:1-2 we read again:

“My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)

These passages teach that if a believer in Christ sins and thereafter repents and confesses his sin, the record of his sin is erased, and he himself is cleansed from all unrighteousness.

This is why the true believer in Christ need not fear final condemnation. God’s provision both to cleanse the sinner himself and to erase the record of his sins means that there will be no record of sin remaining upon which any just judgement of condemnation could be based.

If, then, there is no possibility of final condemnation for the true believer, for what purpose will Christians be judged?

The answer is that the judgement of Christians will be to assess their rewards. The true believer will be judged not in respect of righteousness but in respect of service rendered to Christ.

The reason why the believer will not be judged in respect of righteousness is simple and logical: The righteousness of the true believer is no longer his own but the righteousness of Christ Hi

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