”The Weapon of the Word” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Sun AM | Joshua 1

Joshua chapter 1. This morning we'll be

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

back in the book of Joshua. We started

last week just barely got our feet wet a

little bit. And this morning we're going

to continue a little bit farther, a

little bit deeper. We're going to go

through the first nine verses this

morning of chapter 1. And here is the

title. If you're taking notes this

morning, the title of the sermon is the

weapon of the word. The weapon of the

word. We know that the devil is a master

at convincing God's people that they

cannot win. So therefore, they should

not fight. The devil is a master at

making God's people feel like there is

no possible way that you can get through

this. No possible way that you can

overcome this, no possible way that you

can be victorious in this. So you might

as well stop fighting altogether and you

give up on God, give up on church, give

up on what's taking place and because

your battle is too strong, the enemy is

too large, just give up and stop

fighting. He is a master convincing

God's people that they cannot win, so

therefore they should not fight. Now you

and I know this morning that it's not

can we win. The the statement is really

we have won. The victory is already

ours. So what the devil is telling us is

a lie. He is a liar. But he has been

very good at convincing people to give

up since the time that he was kicked out

of heaven. It's exactly what he did to

an entire generation of Israelites. They

come out of Egyptian bondage. God does

great miracles. He parts the Red Sea. He

gets them into the wilderness. And God's

plan was for them to go through the

wilderness and into the promised land.

They were supposed to go over the Jordan

River 40 years before they actually did.

But those 12 spies, 10 were bad, two

were good. The 10 bad spies convinced a

nation that they could not win and

therefore they should not fight.

How did the devil convince them to make

that decision? I believe it's the same

way that he is convincing Christians

today to give up the fight and stop

going forward for Jesus. I'm going to

give you just four simple words. This is

introduction, but you can write these

down. How does the devil convince us not

to fight? I think there's four ways that

he primarily does uh this through and I

think we see this all through scripture.

First of all, he does it through

deception.

This is what he did with Eve in the

Garden of Eden. He deceived Eve with the

fruit. He deceived her. He convinces us

that there is something better than

Jesus out there. He gets our eyes

focused on something and deceives us

into thinking that there is actually

something better than Jesus. The second

way that he does it is through

distraction. He puts something in front

of us that takes our attention off of

Jesus. It may not be something bad. It

may be something that that is is immoral

or or or more morality or neutral

immorality. That's what I'm trying to

say. It doesn't it's not good. It's not

bad. It's it's just a neutral. But if he

can get that thing to distract us from

King Jesus, then it becomes something

that is bad. And he does this far far

far far too often to Christians in the

church. He gets us distracted with

things that are not as important as

Jesus. And it causes us to put Jesus

aside, put church aside, put our Bible

aside, and focus on something that is of

less importance.

Number three, the third way that he does

this is through defeat.

I don't know if there's anything that

makes a Christian want to give up more

than the guilt that we feel when we fall

to temptation and are defeated. I don't

know of anything that makes a Christian

just want to throw in the towel and say,

"Well, I can't do this anymore. I've

failed." We fall to sin. We We mess up.

We make a mistake. And and by the way,

we all make mistakes. Ain't none of us

any better than any anybody else in here

this morning. We all make mistakes.

Nobody's perfect. We all fall.

And that devil gets on our back when we

do. when he says, "See, you're a

terrible Christian. A Christian wouldn't

say that. A Christian wouldn't do that.

A Christian wouldn't act like that." And

we begin to feel the weight of guilt on

our shoulders and say, "Well, I'm just

going to give up then. I don't want to

carry this guilt. If I don't go to

church, I won't feel convicted.

So, I'm going to stop going to church

because I don't want to feel the guilt

of conviction."

The devil causes a lot of people to give

up because he has defeated them. Let me

give you a fourth one. Deception,

distraction, defeat. Here's the fourth

way that I think the devil can get

Christians to stop fighting, and that is

through discouragement.

I think this is perhaps the greatest

tool that Satan has in his toolbox in

eliminating a believer from the battle.

If he can discourage you, he can

eventually he will get you to give up.

And I'm not saying that good Christians

who are doing what God wants don't don't

have a bad day. You ask my wife, I have

a bad day every now and then. She'll be

honest and tell you. But you cannot live

in discouragement. You've got to pick

yourself up and get going again.

Otherwise, the devil will convince you

that you're doing no good, that this

Christian life is a waste of time, that

your church family doesn't care about

you, that the things you're facing, the

battles you're facing are too big. So,

you just need to give up, take a break,

have a rest, and throw in the towel.

And he's been doing this for a really

long time. But I came this morning not

to talk about Satan and his tactics. I

came this morning to tell you that God

has given us a weapon with which we can

fight these tactics. Yes, he has some

tactics. Yes, he has some lies. Yes,

he's discouraging Christians. But you

don't have to be a victim to the devil's

methods. He has given us a weapon, the

weapon of God's word with which we fight

him. And he is already a defeated foe.

So if we fight him with the weapon of

the word of God, he is defeated. This is

what Jesus did when Jesus was tempted in

the wilderness. We spoke about it a few

weeks ago. When Jesus was tempted in the

wilderness, how did Jesus fight the

temptation of Satan? He fought him with

the word of God. He quoted scripture.

You and I have a weapon that you hold in

your lap that we fight the devil with.

You do not have to be defeated this

morning. You do not have to be

discouraged this morning. You do not

have to live the victim of sin and

failure this morning. You can rise

above. You can be victorious. You don't

have to be deceived. You don't have to

be distracted. The devil's tools can be

powerless against the Christian. If that

Christian is grounded and fighting from

the word of God, we have a weapon.

Look at Joshua chapter 1. Let's read the

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

first nine verses

beginning in verse one. Now after the

death of Moses, the servant of the Lord,

it came to pass that the Lord Say the

next word with me. That the Lord

>> Okay, that was the worst I think I've

ever heard. Let's do it again. Let's try

a little bit louder now. Ready? The

Lord.

>> All right, we can do it twice that good.

Here we go. The Lord.

>> All right, we're getting there. You rake

now. The Lord spake. I want you to

notice that word. Unto Joshua the son of

Nun, Moses's minister, saying, Moses, my

servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise,

go over this Jordan, thou and all this

people, unto the land which I do give to

them, even to the children of Israel,

every place that the soul of your foot

shall tread upon. That have I given unto

you, as I said unto Moses, from the

wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto

the great river, the river Euphrates,

all the land of the Hittites, and unto

the great sea, toward the going down of

the sun shall be your coast. There shall

not any man be able to stand before thee

all the days of thy life. As I was with

Moses, so I will be with thee. I will

not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be

strong and of a good courage. For unto

this people shalt thou divide for an

inheritance the land which I swear unto

their fathers to give them. Only be thou

strong and very courageous that thou

mayest observe to do according to all

the law which Moses my servant commanded

thee. Turn not from it to the right hand

or to the left that thou mayest prosper

whethersoever thou goest. Verse eight is

the key to our sermon today. It's the

hinge of this passage.

This book of the law shall not depart

out of thy mouth, but thou shalt

meditate therein day and night, that

thou mayest observe to do according to

all that is written therein. For then

thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and

then thou shalt have good success.

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and

of a good courage. Be not afraid,

neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord

thy God is with thee, whethersoever thou

goest. I want to ask you a question this

morning that has been pondered and

debated a lot. And I'm sure this morning

we could have a lot of fun conversations

around this very question.

I want you to think about yourself going

to a deserted island. You're going to be

on this island for an extended period of

time. You don't know how long you're

going to be there. There are wild

animals on this island that will seek to

destroy you.

You get to take one weapon

with you.

You don't have to answer out loud, but

just think about it. What weapon are you

choosing?

What weapon are you taking with you?

Let's take it just a little bit further.

Let's give you a little bit more help.

Can we do that? You get one weapon and

you get one person.

What are you taking with you? Who are

you taking with you?

It's an interesting question and you're

probably thinking through people and

things

and if you're if you want to you can

tell me after church who and what you

would take.

But this morning you do realize that we

have been put in a strange land. We are

foreigners in this world and there is an

evil beast, a roaring lying who is

walking about seeking whom he may

devour. There is an enemy that is trying

to attack Christians who are strangers

and foreigners in this world. This world

is not our home. Heaven is our home.

We're here for an extended period of

time. We don't know how long we're going

to be here.

But I came to tell you that we do have

one weapon and we do have one person.

The weapon is the word of God and the

person is the Holy Spirit of Jesus

Christ. And with those two tools at our

side, we do not have to live defeated.

We do not have to live uh downtrodden.

We do not have to live discouraged. We

can have victory because of the weapon

of the word of God. I want to show you

five blessings this morning from our

text that we just read that come from

having the weapon of the word of God.

Number one,

comfort.

Comfort. Do you notice when the text

starts? Where is the setting? Where does

the text start? After the death of

Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came

to pass that the Lord spake. All right,

what are we talking about? The Lord is

going to speak to Joshua. So, this is

very literally in the most literal

sense, the word of the Lord to Joshua.

God is going to speak to Joshua. When is

God going to speak to Joshua? After the

death of Moses. Who was Moses to Joshua?

Well, Joshua served Moses. We know that

from verse number one as well. He said,

uh, the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son

of Nun, Moses's minister. Joshua was a

servant to Moses. He served Moses. He

helped Moses. He was an assistant to

Moses. And now Moses has died.

Moses has passed away. God has Moses has

completed God's plan for him and God's

course for him.

Joshua's mentor,

Joshua's friend,

the man that Joshua leaned on. If Joshua

had a question, he went to Moses. Moses,

I don't know how I'm supposed to handle

this situation. Moses, I don't know how

we're supposed to battle plan for this

enemy. Moses, I don't understand how

this is going to work. For 40 years,

they walked in the wilderness, and

Joshua's main uh asset was Moses. And

Moses is gone. Not only was he a mentor,

not only was he a boss, but he was a

friend to Joshua. I I would say almost

as a father figure. You work for someone

who is your elder for 40 years. Can you

imagine the relationship that these two

had?

And now Moses is gone.

And I'm going to assume something. I I

hope that I'm not doing a disservice to

the text here,

but as a human and Joshua being a human,

I have to think that there was quite a

bit of grief.

Joshua probably became pretty sad and

perhaps this is not in the text, so if

you disagree, that's fine. But perhaps

Joshua began to think, "This is the end

for me, too." I think that's a natural

response. You've worked for the same guy

for 40 years. God is finished with

Moses. God must be finished with me.

There's going to be somebody new who's

going to come on the scene. There's

going to be somebody new who's going to

take it a different direction. Somebody

new is going to stand up and lead the

people. God's probably finished with me.

I'm just going to check out. I'm going

to sit down. I'm going to live out the

rest of my years.

I'm going to be f If I was Joshua, these

are thoughts that I would think.

God's done. It's time for a new

generation. It's time for new people.

It's time for for something new and

fresh. I'm just going to hide in the

shadows. I'm not going to be busy. I'm

not going to do I'm not I'm just going

to check out. Moses is dead.

And that's when God speaks to him and

says, "Joshua,

you're right. Moses, my servant, is

dead. He's gone.

I I I have done what I needed to do with

Moses, but I am not yet done with you,

Joshua.

I don't know for sure how Joshua

responded in that moment to the voice of

the Lord. But I have to think that it

was the most comforting voice he had

heard. Moses is dead. Questions are

everywhere. What's going to happen next?

Who's going to be the next leader?

What's going to take place next? Who's

fighting? Who's leading? Who's the one

who's going to take us over the Jordan

River? what what is happening? And all

of a sudden, out of all the chaos and

the grief and the heaviness and the

weight, there's a voice that speaks to

the heart of Joshua.

And maybe you've experienced loss in

your life. Maybe you've experienced

chaos in your life. Maybe you've

experienced seasons where where you just

felt like, "God, you must be done with

me now. I've done everything. I've tried

everything and and it just seems like

I'm just spinning my wheels, and this

must be the end. I have more questions

than I have answers. There's chaos all

around. Can I tell you how to find some

comfort in those moments? Listen to the

word of the Lord.

The setting of all of this, I think, is

important because God's voice provides

first of all comfort. Joshua, Moses, my

servant, is dead.

That's okay.

I give life. I take life. I am the King

of Kings. I'm still in control. I'm not

done with Israel.

I'm going to speak to you. So this

morning, maybe you're facing something,

some circumstance, some situation, some

chaos.

Would you take time to listen to the

voice? You have a weapon. Don't let the

devil use your circumstance to

discourage you. Listen to the word of

the Lord. So number one, we see comfort.

Number two,

we see commands.

Notice what he says in verse number two.

He said, "Moses, my servant, is dead

now." Therefore,

arise, go over this Jordan.

Don't let transition scare you.

Moses has passed away. There is a great

transition of leadership that is taking

place in the nation of Israel. Joshua is

going to come on the scene. Joshua is

the next leader. Yes, Moses has died.

Yes, things are changing. Yes, things

look different. Yes, it's a new

generation. But it's still the same God

and he still has the same plan. And he

still has the same promises. Don't let

transition scare you. Walk into

transition with a holy God who knows

what he's doing.

Joshua, it's time to move forward.

Joshua, it is time to get going. We have

wasted enough time in the wilderness.

It's time to go over this Jordan. Notice

what he said. He said, "Arise." That

means get up. Get up.

Don't Don't sit around any longer. You

know what arise uh seems to tell me? If

if God is telling him to get up, it it

seems to indicate that he is not up. He

is down. He is seated down.

Perhaps he's sitting in in a lonely

place where he's just thinking over his

thoughts and trying to figure out what's

next and all of the questions. And God

said, Joshua, get up. You've thought

about it long enough. Now it's time to

take action. Arise. Get up. And then

what'd he say? He said, arise. And then

he said, go over. So get up and get

going. It's time to take some steps of

faith, Joshua. It's time to move the

nation of Israel into what's next.

Joshua, we've sat around long enough.

Yes, Moses is dead. Yes, things are

changing, but I'm still God. I've still

got a plan. I've still got a purpose.

So, let's get up and let's get going.

Now, where is Joshua supposed to go? He

said, "Arise

and go over this Jordan."

So, God's command brings with it the

presence of a problem.

The Jordan River is overflowing its

banks. There's no bridge. There's no

boat. We've got 1 million people sitting

in a wilderness ready to claim God's

promises. We've got a leader who has

stood up and is ready to get going. And

then he hears the next word. This

Jordan. Well, God, how am I supposed to

get over the Jordan?

Have you seen the Jordan River? This is

not the time of year when we need to be

going over. How am I supposed to get all

these people over the Jordan River

that's overflowing its banks? That's

that's flooding everything. There's no

way for us to cross over.

God said, "I've got a land on the other

side. I've got promises on the other

side. I've got blessings on the other

side. Joshua, don't worry about how

you're going to get over yet. Just get

up and get going. Listen, if you want to

see God do a miracle, you're going to

have to first take some steps of faith.

Now, we know what happens when they get

to the Jordan River. The priests step

in. We'll read about it here in a couple

chapters. Priests are going to step in

and the water is going to part and God's

going to do a great miracle. But if

Joshua had never moved, if Joshua had

said, you know, Lord, I'm just not I

don't feel like it right now.

Moses has died. I'm grieving right now.

This is not a good time, God, to make me

get uncomfortable.

No miracle. At least at the very least,

a delayed miracle.

We want to see God do great things. It's

going to take some steps of faith. Steps

of faith lead to miracles. Miracles

never show up without steps of God's

people taking steps of faith and saying,

"God, we're going to step out. We're

going to do what you want." There's some

commands here.

Arise. Get up. Get going. Don't be

discouraged, Christian. Listen to the

word of the Lord. The blessing of of the

Bible is that it gives us commands. It

guides our life. It shows us the

direction we're supposed to go. It leads

us through uh this life, through the

difficult days, through the grieving

days, through the the guilty days. It it

guides us along and it brings us to the

banks of Jordan rivers.

And if we have grounded oursel in the

word of the Lord, then when we come to a

problem, we have no problem stepping in

in faith because we know what the Bible

has said. So it brings commands. Number

three,

comfort, commands. Number three,

covenant.

There's a covenant here in verse number

two, the end last part of it down

through verse five.

But God's word brings to you and I great

promises, exceeding great and precious

promises. The New Testament says, and

God is going to remind Joshua through

his word that there are great promises

ahead for the nation of Israel. Notice

what he said. He said, Moses, my

servant, is dead. Verse two, now

therefore arise, go over this Jordan,

thou and all this people unto the land

which I do give them, even to the

children of Israel.

You remember in Genesis 12 when God made

a covenant with Abraham?

500 years ago, God made a covenant with

Abraham. And now 500 years later,

the nation of Israel is getting ready to

see that God keeps his promises. What

God promised Abraham, a land, a seed, a

blessing, God is now about to fulfill

it. Hey, let me remind you, nation of

Israel, God's going to keep his

promises. And let me remind you church

this morning, God will keep his

promises. What God has promised the

local church. What did God promise?

Well, one of the things is that he said

I will build my church. Not I might, not

I could, not I can. He said I will build

my church.

This isn't in my notes, but I feel

inclined to just step out and say this.

When churches

when we see all these churches faltering

and failing, I think it's like 1,700

churches a year will close their doors.

I I just want to say that's not God's

fault.

He said, "I will build my church and the

gates of hell shall not prevail against

it."

There is very rare occurrences where I

think in God's will and in God's timing,

God is finished with a local church in a

place. I think it has to do more with

culture moving than God moving. And I

have illustrations of that where pop

areas used to be well populated and now

they're not and so a church has closed.

That would be I think the only

exception.

God isn't finished with his church. We

need more churches. God isn't done with

his church. So So if Jesus has promised

his church, I'm going to build my church

and the gates of hell shall not prevail

against it. And the church is not being

built and the gates of hell seem to be

prevailing against it. Whose fault is

that?

Right? That's on you and me. We're not

following God's will. We're not taking

steps of faith. We're not seeking what

God has for us because God said, "I've

got a promise." And God keeps his

promises.

And God has given Christians and the

church, many promises in the New

Testament. God made promises to Israel.

God has made promises to the church. The

church is not Israel. Israel is not the

church. We're two distinct uh two

distinct things in God's mind, but we're

all God's people. If you're saved,

you're God's people. And God has made

distinct promises to the church. And I

want to remind you this morning, he's

going to keep his promises. Notice what

he gives the nation of Israel. I'll show

you just a few things. We'll move along.

He said, "Unto unto the land in verse

two, unto the land which I do give

them." He's going to give them the land

even to the nation of Israel. And notice

he says, "Every place and that the soul

of your foot shall tread upon that have

I given unto you as I gave as I said to

Moses from the wilderness and this

Lebanon even under the great river, the

river Euphrates and all the land of the

Hittites under the great sea toward the

going down of the sun shall be your

coast." He said, "I'm going to give you

this promise of provision. This land

that I promised to Abraham, I'm going to

I'm going to keep my promise." And then

he says, "Promise of protection." In

verse 5, he said, "There shall not any

man be able to stand before thee all the

days of thy life. Don't fear the giants

of the land of Canaan. Nobody's going to

be able to touch you as long as you are

walking with me." And then he gives them

a promise of of his presence.

At the end of verse 5, he said, "Nobody

can be able to stand before thee all the

days of thy life. As I was with Moses,

so I will be with thee. I will not fail

thee nor forsake thee." A promise of his

presence. So there's a covenant. as a

reminder of the covenant that he made

with Abraham. He said, "I'm going to

keep my promises." And if you don't

remember anything else from the sermon

today, I pray you'll remember this

that in this book are exceeding great

and precious promises.

And you may feel like God's forgotten

about you. But I want to remind you that

God has not forgotten. God keeps his

promises. Don't give up. Don't be

discouraged. Don't be defeated. Get in

the word of God. read about what he's

promised you and then trust him that he

will keep his word.

Number four,

what's another blessing that we get from

the word of God? We get courage.

We get comfort. We get commands. We get

covenants. We get courage. Look at verse

six.

He says in verse six, "Be strong and of

a good courage." Then in verse 7, only

be thou strong and very courageous. And

then we'll see it again in verse 9, be

strong and of a good courage.

And then two times before verse 8, one

time after verse 8, God is going to uh

going to motivate Joshua to be strong

and of a good courage. Be strong and

courageous. The idea is that you're

holding on to something that is pulling

you along.

I'm going to cling to I'm going to cling

to something that makes me strong, that

makes me safe.

You get the imagery.

God said, "Hey, be strong. Be strong. Be

very courageous." And two times before

verse 8, one time after verse 8. So, so

that that leads me to focus in on verse

eight. How then am I supposed to be

strong and very courageous? What am I

supposed to hold on to? How am I

supposed to be strong in this world?

Notice verse 8. This book of the law

shall not depart out of thy mouth. But

thou shalt meditate therein day and

night, that thou mayest observe to do

according to all that is written

therein. For then thou shalt make thy

way prosperous, and then thou shalt have

good success. Courage comes from the

word of God. You want to be a courageous

Christian, read the Bible. We have a

weapon, the word of God. We ought not

fear what man can do to us. We fear God.

We don't fear government. We fear God.

We are strong and courageous.

This book of the law shall not depart

out of thy mouth. You want to keep going

in the face of fear, this book of the

law shall not depart out of thy mouth.

You want to fight guilt, this book of

the law shall not depart out of thy

mouth. You want to fight grief, this

book of the law shall not depart out of

thy mouth. You want to fight loneliness,

this book of the law shall not depart

out of thy mouth. You want to fight your

family relations and family problems,

this book of the law shall not depart

out of thy mouth. You want to fight

through and with the local church, this

book of the law shall not depart out of

thy mouth. You want to fight that

besetting sin that that is constantly

bombarding you, this book of the law

shall not depart out of thy mouth. You

want to fight distraction, this book of

the law shall not depart out of your

mouth. You want to fight for your

marriage, this book of the law shall not

depart out of your mouth. You want to

fight for your kids, this book of the

law shall not depart out of your mouth.

You want to fight for your family, this

book of the law shall not depart out of

your mouth. You want to fight for

purity, this book of the law shall not

depart out of your mouth. You want to

fight immorality, this book of the law

shall not depart out of your mouth. You

want to fight for justice in our

country, this book of the law shall not

depart out of your mouth. If we are

going to do anything for the cause of

Christ, we must do it through the word.

This is our weapon. This is what we

fight with. This is what gives us the

victory. We need nothing else except the

word of Jesus Christ.

And so whatever you're fighting today,

whatever you're going through today,

let me encourage you to have courage. Be

strong. And how are you strong? You are

strong by resting and reading and

studying and adoring and loving the

precious holy word of God.

Can I tell you time in the word is never

wasted time.

Never.

Time in the word will encourage you. It

will motivate you. It will strengthen

you. It will help you.

The devil will not be able to defeat you

if you have Bible to fight him. The

devil will not be able to discourage you

if you have Bible with which to fight

him. The devil will not be able to

distract you if you are so focused on

the word of God that nothing else

becomes more important than this.

We need people who will fall in love

with the Bible.

I'm convinced that what's missing from

most of our churches that we see

in modern Christianity

is Bible.

We we we come together, we have a little

song service and a little motivational

speech and we send them on our way and

make sure nobody's late for lunch.

The people don't understand the Bible.

I've asked myself a question. How can

there be so many churches in the Bible

belt of the United States of America and

yet so much biblical illiteracy?

And I think I know at least the answer

in part. It's because God's men, pastors

and preachers have started preaching

opinions and their ideas and what they

want instead of just opening the Bible.

We've started preaching stylistic

messages instead of Bible messages.

And I have made this commitment many

times to our church. But as long as I am

pastor, I will repeat this commitment. I

will do my very best as a pastor of this

church to preach the Bible.

You may not always like it, but you know

what you're going to get when you come

in here.

We need some Christians who will fall in

love with the Bible.

Not just pick it up on Sunday morning

and dust it off and bring it to church

with you and then when you go home

Sunday afternoon, sit it back on the

shelf and let it collect dust for

another week. No. Read it, pick it up,

use it. Someone once said that if you

see a man with a Bible that's falling

apart, that man is probably not falling

apart.

Because a Bible that is falling apart

means it has been used and that man is

strong and courageous.

And we look at families today that are

crumbling. We look at churches today

that are crumbling. And where where is

the problem? What have we missed? We

have missed building it on the

foundation of God's word. This is the

most important thing that you can do in

your day. Pick up your Bible and spend

time with Jesus.

Pick it up every single day and spend

time with Jesus. Find time. No, don't

find time. Excuse me. Make time.

Make time

for the word of God. Why is it so

important? Because the devil is doing

everything he can to distract you and

deceive you and defeat you and

discourage you. And if you don't pick up

your weapon, you're going to find

yourself discouraged and defeated and

ready to give up and walk out and quit

on God and quit on religion and say, "It

just doesn't work for me." Maybe you

should pick up your weapon a little bit.

Fight back a little bit.

See if God doesn't give you some

courage, some victory.

Let me give you one more.

Number five,

companionship.

companionship. Look at verse nine.

God says, "Have not I commanded you?"

He's going to remind him of some things

that he's already said. He said, "Be

strong and of a good courage." Reminder

to be strong and courageous. And then he

said, "Be not afraid." A reminder to not

to fear no man, but to fear God. Then he

says, "Neither be thou dismayed." A

reminder to just trust in God. And don't

worry about all the things around you.

Don't be anxious. Don't be dismayed.

Just trust God.

And then he's going to end verse nine

with this promise.

You see the little word for

that's connecting us to what has already

been said. He's reminding him. He's

summarizing the whole first eight

verses. Be strong. Be courageous. Be not

afraid. Trust in God. Go forward. You

can do this. Why?

He said, "For the Lord thy God is with

thee whethersoever thou goest." You

don't just have a weapon, but this

morning you have a person. Yes, you may

feel like you're in a wilderness in your

life. Yes, you may feel like this world

is is just bombarding you, one thing

after another, grief and guilt and sin

and chaos and and bad circumstances and

bad situations. But guess what, friend?

Don't give up. Be strong. Be courageous.

Why? Because you have a companion. You

have a weapon that God has given you

that can defeat every temptation of

Satan. But you also have a friend who

walks with you. Let me give you some

verses. I'm going to rattle these off

quickly. Deuteronomy 20 and verse number

four. For the Lord is your God. He it is

that goes with you to fight for you

against your enemies and to save you.

Isaiah 41:10. Fear thou not, for I am

Isaiah 41:10

with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy

God. I will strengthen thee. I will help

thee. I will uphold thee with the right

hand of my righteousness. Proverbs

Proverbs 18:24

18:24, a man that hath friends must show

himself friendly, and there is a friend

that stickketh closer than a brother. In

Romans 8 and verse 30 37, the Bible

says, "Nay, in all these things we are

more than conquerors through him that

loved us." 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 14.

Now, thanks be to God, which always

causes us to triumph in Christ, and

maketh manifest the savor of his

knowledge by us in every place. John 16

and:e 33 these things have I spoken unto

you that in me ye might have peace in

the world you will have tribulation but

be of good cheer I have overcome the

world Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

finally my brethren be strong in the

Lord and in the power of his might.

Hebrews chapter 13 and verse number 5.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

Let your conversation be without

covetousness and be content with such

things as ye have for he hath said I

will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

You can come. We're done. Here's the

message this morning. You can go out

into this world. You can fight whatever

you've got to fight that on Monday. You

can fight on Tuesday. You don't have to

be discouraged. You don't have to be

downtrodden. You don't have to be

defeated. You don't have to give up.

Please don't give up. Just keep going.

Pastor, I don't think I can keep going.

I don't know how I'm supposed to keep

going. It's one thing after another in

my life. Hey friend, Jesus came and

Jesus lived on this earth. He was

tempted then like in just the same way

you and I are tempted, yet without sin.

He lived a perfect spotless life. He

hung on Calvar's tree. The nails went in

his hand. The thorns went through his

brow. He hung on Calvary. And it was you

that he hung there for to pay for your

sin. Why? So that you can live this life

in victory. You don't have to be afraid

of what's going on in Washington. You

don't have to be afraid of what's going

on in Richmond. You don't have to be

afraid of what's going on in your

family. You don't have to be afraid of

what's going on in your bank account.

You can have a victorious Christian

life. Not because you are anything, but

because he is everything and he's

already won the victory for you. All you

have to do is stay close to him and hold

on to your weapon and he's going to get

you through.

Psalm 23 says, "Yay, though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of

death, I will fear no evil." Why not?

For thou art with me. Thy rod, thy

staff, comfort me. And then he goes a

step further and he says, "We're not

just walking through it as quick as we

can, but you're going to prepare a table

in the midst of the valley. You're going

to set the table and and you're going to

sit down and I'm going to get to sit in

the middle of chaos, in the middle of

bad circumstances, in the middle of

terrible situations, in the middle of

questions, and I get to commune with my

partner, with my companion, with the one

who will never leave me, never forsake

me."

And then he ends the psalm in Psalm 23

and he says, ' And that's not all of it.

He said, 'Y yeah, surely goodness and

mercy will follow me all the days of my

life. They're going to pursue me. No

matter how hard I try, I can't get away

from God's goodness. He's so good and

he's so gracious.

He just keeps running after me.

He just keeps walking along with me.

I want to encourage our church this

morning that you can live in victory.

You do not have to be worried and you do

not have to live an anxious life.

You can live a victorious life.

Our church can live a victorious life

because Jesus has already won the

victory.

And Jesus prays for us in the book of

John. Jesus prays for his church. He

prays for his people. And he prays

specifically, God, not to take them out

of the world because he knows we have a

purpose here. But he said, God, be with

them,

while they're in the world.

Help them while they're in the world.

And God answered that prayer.

When Jesus ascended up into heaven,

some of his last words to his followers

was, "I'm going away, but don't worry.

There is a comforter who will come.

There is one who is coming back down.

who is going to walk alongside you,

who's going to help you, who's going to

be your companion, who's going to be

your partner so that you don't have to

give up. Yes, there is a roaring lion

walking about seeking whom he may

devour. Yes, there's a wild beast out

there. He wants to distract you and

discourage you and defeat you and

deceive you.

You don't have to lose this battle. You

can wake up tomorrow with a smile on

your face because Jesus is still king.

The word of God is still powerful and

you still have a companion walking

alongside you.

So, let's go get them.

Let's get out there. Let's go tell

somebody that Jesus has the answer.

Let's go invite somebody to church.

Let's not give up. There are great

blessings ahead. Maybe it may be a

little uncomfortable. Oh, we may have to

take some steps of faith into some

Jordan rivers that we don't understand

and we don't see how God's going to

part. But if we'll just hold on to God's

hand and hold on to our weapon, God

said, "I've got some blessings for you."

There's some battles, but there's even

greater blessings.

So, church, are we ready to go?

Don't be discouraged this morning.

Maybe this morning you say, "Pastor

John, I

I have been tempted in recent days

to give up on God's word,

to to maybe give up on my church family,

to step away.

But I don't want to step away." And this

morning, I have been encouraged

to hold on to the hand of my savior and

hold on to the weapon of the word of

God.

If that's you this morning, here's what

I'm going to ask you to do. Maybe a

little different while she plays this

morning. If that's you, you say, "I I

want to hold on to God. I want to hold

on to the Bible. I do not want to give

up. I'm going to keep going." I'm going

to ask you just to stand up and come

down here to an altar. Just stand up.

Make a commitment to God and say, "God,

this is me saying, "I'm gonna keep

holding on. I'm not giving up. I'm not

about to quit. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it's

difficult. Yes, I've been tempted. But

I'm here this morning and I am not going

to give up. If you're here and you're

with me this morning, would you just

stand up, come down here to an altar,

and tell God exactly what's on your

heart and mind while he plays.