Joshua 11: Be Obedient, and Trust God

So it's um it's the mid-90s.

I don't know if you remember those.

You know, maybe you weren't born yet, but it's the mid-90s.

It's a beautiful day in South Africa.

Um the wind is blowing through my my hair.

Yes.

It's when I did it's when I did have hair.

It I know it's hard to believe, but I did.

So the wind's blowing, you can just imagine that.

The wind's blowing through my hair.

You have to have a good imagination, I know.

I'm standing, I'm standing at one of the tallest bridges in South Africa.

I'm standing on the edge of this bridge.

It's 709 feet above the Blocrance River Gorge.

And I'm standing right on the edge.

Mignon's like, what?

Yeah, I was standing on the edge of this bridge.

You can hardly see the bottom where the river is.

And I step off the bridge.

That's the bridge.

And fall second set seconds for second set seven seconds into the gorge, heading for the river headfirst.

With an elastic band on my feet.

I know you thought you thought I was gonna, yeah.

I know some of you may think that's crazy, and um, but I do I have lived to tell the tale.

It was a pretty crazy thing I wanted to do, but I did that.

Um and some of you might think, yeah, sign me up when we're going again.

Um, but it is quite um an extreme sport.

It's a quite the extreme um thing that you could uh try and do when you have a choice not to.

Um but bungee jumping isn't for everyone.

Um, skydiving, all those things that are crazy like that.

It's what you happens is you're putting your life into the hands of a person um who says this this little um uh elastic band around your your ankles is gonna hold you.

Believe me, just follow my instructions and have fun, and you'll make it.

And um, well, clearly he was right, and I did make it.

Now I know that's not exactly the same as what Joshua went through in chapter 11, but what Joshua went through was he he was given instructions and he was asked to trust someone, to trust the Lord, way better than my bungee jump instructor.

But he is trustworthy, and Joshua knew that.

And in chapter 11, we're gonna see, and in the chapters before, we see that God is a trustworthy God.

And when he gives you specific instructions and you follow through on those instructions, it's gonna go well for you.

And so the overarching theme here of Joshua, if you've not been with us going through this series in the book of Joshua, it's about obedience to God.

That's what it's all about.

It's following his instructions and it's also inquiring of God before you make any decisions.

I know about you, but I don't always inquire of the Lord, and I'm not always one that follows instructions.

And but when Joshua does this, when we do this, he will lead you right to where he wants you to be and provide along the way, just like he did with a Joshua.

I mean, parting the Jordan River, he would never.

I mean, come on.

He's walking out, he's taking the people.

He gets to witness the parting of the Jordan River, being victorious in numerous battles against armies that were way bigger than they, cities conquered, spoils of war, all of this because Joshua followed God's instruction.

Chapter 11 in particular teaches vital lessons on complete obedience and trusting God and God's power instead of trusting in worldly things or your or his own strength.

That's what this chapter is about.

It also teaches us to persevere and to have faith in God.

I mean, you think about it, we want everything done now.

I mean, that's why we have microwaves.

We want to pop something in the microwave, we don't want to wait for it.

We are this generation that just wants everything now.

But sometimes God wants you to persevere through something and have faith.

When we persevere, that's when our faith gets built up.

If God just gave you whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted it, there's no trust in that.

Now you've just got a little genie in a bottle and you're just asking him to help you whenever you need to.

But sometimes it's not that he's not gonna help you, but God sometimes wants you to persevere.

Because what he's doing is he's forming your character, and he's forming perseverance and faith.

That's what he's trying to do.

You know, Israel is facing in this chapter a huge threat, a united northern army, as numerous as the sands on the seashore, equipped with advanced chariots and horses.

I tell you guys, they may have been facing modern-day tanks when it comes to giving you kind of an idea of what they were facing.

And the immediate reaction, I don't know about your reaction, but the immediate common sense reaction would be fear and intimidation.

I mean, Joshua, yes, he's close to the Lord.

He's won battles with the Lord, but he's still a human being, he's still a man.

And a common reaction would be fear and intimidation when facing superior opposition.

That would be reasonable, but not for Joshua.

God delivers victory when Joshua, when we trade our fears for God's word and our self-assurance for radical obedience and faith in God's provision.

Now I know that sounds great, and you know, on your best day you might be able to, you know, accomplish that.

But let's look a little closer at the text this morning and let's get to see what it looks like on the ground.

What is Joshua and his people going through?

Who are they coming up against?

So if you open your Bibles up to Joshua chapter 11.

Joshua 11 · chapter mention

When Jabon, king of Hazar, heard this, so I have to give you a little context.

What did he hear?

Chapter 10.

Five Amorite kings attack Gibeon, making peace with Israel.

They attack him because they made peace with Israel.

And Joshua comes to their aid, he defends them.

And God makes the sun and the moon stand still.

That was last week.

And Israel wins a massive victory over the southern coalition.

And so after this, after Jabon, this king of Hazar, hears this, he sends word to Jabab, king of Maiden, the king of Shimron and Ashaf, and the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Ahrabab, south of Kenareth, in the western foothills, and in Napoth Dor on the west, to the Canaanites, Canaanites in the east and west, the Amorites, Hittites, Perizites, Jebuzites in the hill country, and to the Hivites, Blow, Hermon in the region of Mizpar.

They came out with all their troops and a number, a large number of horses and chariots, a huge army, as numerous as the sands on the seashore.

All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the waters of Maron to fight against Israel.

And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them slain over to Israel.

You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.

So Joshua and his whole army came up against them suddenly at the waters of Marom and attacked them.

And the Lord gave into them, into the hand of Israel.

They defeated them and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon, to Merephath, Maim, and to the valley of Mizpar on the east, until no survivors were left.

Joshua did this, did to them as the Lord had directed.

He hamstrung their horses and burnt their chariots.

And at that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazar and put the king to the sword.

Hazer had been the head of all of these kingdoms, and everyone in it they put to the sword.

They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed.

And he burnt Hazar itself.

Joshua took all these rural cities and their kings and put them to the sword.

He totally destroyed them, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded.

Yet Israel did not burn any of the cities built on the mounds except Hazar, which Joshua burnt.

The Israelites carried off for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities.

But all the people, they were put to the sword until they completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed.

And as the Lord commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua.

And Joshua did it.

He left nothing undone, all that the Lord commanded Moses.

So Joshua took the entire land, the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Erebab, and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, from Mount Halak, which rises towards the air, to Balgad and the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.

He captured all their kings and put them to death.

And Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time.

Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon.

Not one city made a treaty of peace with the Ithrites, who took all, took them all in battle.

For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that it might destroy them totally, exterminated them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

And at that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country, from Hebron, Debur, and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel.

Joshua destroyed them with and their towns.

No Anakites were left in Israel's territory.

Only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod did any survive.

So Joshua took the entire land just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions.

And then the land had rest from war.

It's a lot.

Maybe even bigger than what he'd ever experienced before.

But what was his response?

That's what we need to look at.

What was his response in the midst of this?

The reality is they were facing overwhelming opposition.

And there's a storm gathering.

Northern Kings ally under Jabon of Hazor.

They all rally together.

And what you need to know is the Israelites are at a serious technological disadvantage.

And like what technology did they have in those days?

Well, chariots and horses going up against foot soldiers is a serious technological advantage.

And that's what the enemy had.

You know, I was in the army, I was a medic, and as a foot soldier, I can only imagine that scene coming up against this multitude of soldiers and chariots and horses.

I mean, like I said, they may as well have been up against modern-day tanks.

That must have been so intimidating, so fear-striking.

But Joshua was obedient.

You know, sometimes battles in our Christian walk can often grow more intense, complex, and intimidating just when we think we are making progress.

I know you've been in that situation where you're like you're making these incremental progress and these steps towards getting victory, and then it's like, oh my goodness, seriously?

Another one?

Another battle?

Joshua and the Israelites had made some serious progress in taking the promised land, overcoming amazing obstacles, defeating some formidable enemies already.

But here they are facing a force way bigger than themselves.

And isn't that like us?

When we come up against situations in our lives, a lot of the time they're way bigger than you.

Little old you can sometimes not take on whatever it is God's allowing to come up against you.

And I think we can identify with Joshua just when we think we're making that progress.

And here comes this new battle.

But there is hope.

I gotta tell you, there is hope.

There's hope in this story for Joshua, as you've seen, but there's also hope in your story.

Why?

You might say, well, why is there hope?

Because I feel hopeless right now.

Joshua's coming up against a massive army.

Why do I think you have hope?

Because Joshua and you and I, we serve a God way bigger than any army that an earthly king can put together.

That's the God that you serve.

He's way bigger than anything that can come against you.

Sometimes you just need to be reminded about that because little old you feels like little old you coming up against a massive army.

We have that same God, the same God that came to Joshua's aid.

He is not changed.

You might think, oh yeah, he did all those things back in the Old Testament.

No.

He's not changed, guys.

He still is mighty, he's still as faithful, he's still very capable of delivering you from whatever battle you are facing right now or will face in the future.

But we need to understand something first.

God gives Joshua divine reassurance.

That's what I'm reminding you of this morning.

God's already given you assurance.

He says, I've got you.

I'm gonna be in the midst of that with you.

So he says to Joshua, he commands it.

He doesn't just ask it, he commands Joshua.

Because you know what happens when you ask.

It's like, well, I could do it or I couldn't do it, right?

But I say, John, I'm not asking you.

You've probably done this with little John, right?

It's like there's a difference when you tell your kids, when you're asking your kids to do something, and when you tell them, Joshua, I need you to do this.

I put my daddy face on, my daddy voice.

And I'm not asking.

I'm telling.

And here, God is not asking, He's telling.

He says, do not be afraid of them.

He's not giving them an inch.

He's like, do not be afraid of them.

I've got you.

But just imagine looking out at that army, numerous as the sands on the seashore.

I don't know that when last you went to the beach, but that's a lot of that's a lot of people, that's a lot of warriors.

Seashore?

There's no room.

I don't know if you've looked at the sand.

There's like there's very little room in between those little granules.

There was no room on the horizon.

There was just chariots, horses, and the enemy.

That's what he's facing.

And then God comes in and he gives him this assurance.

He says, I got you, buddy.

He says, Do not be afraid of them.

Numerous as the sands on the seashore.

I'm not gonna lie, guys, I would be terrified.

And it's probably one of the reasons why God specifically says to Joshua, do not be afraid of them.

I've got you.

And I'll deliver them to you.

God doesn't say, you know, consider not being afraid.

Because as soon as you leave room for a little bit of fear, it's all over.

You know.

Like when I was on that bridge, Lord, there was a lot of fear, but I couldn't hesitate.

If I'd slipped, or if I didn't jump properly, I it would have not gone so well.

Um, but thank the Lord it did.

By the way, my mum and my sister were there watching.

Um, and I think Michelle said she was crying all the way, but sorry, Shell.

But one of the things that we need to understand is that God leaves no room for fear here.

He tells him, he gives him assurance.

You know, when when you tell your kids, when you tell a friend that you've got them, but you've been for there for them for the last 10 years or 20 years, you've always got their back.

When your kids know that you they can count on you, this is Joshua.

This is the God.

He's coming in and saying, Joshua, I got you.

I've been with you before.

I got you through the river, I got you through all those other battles, I've got you, buddy.

But he doesn't say consider not being afraid.

It doesn't give him an option to maybe be a little afraid.

He gives him a command and says, do not be afraid.

That's what you guys have got to realize.

We've got to realize as believers, God is saying, don't be afraid of the enemy.

And God communicates the same message over and over in the Bible.

Isaiah 41, verse 10, it says, So do not fear, for I am with you.

Isaiah 41:10

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

That's why I was praying this morning.

I'm like, Lord, I don't know how I'm gonna get to speak.

My voice is just going.

But I said, Lord, I know you've got me.

Why would you make me fail?

So, Lord, get me through this.

Joshua, in the early chapter, verse 9, in the first chapter, he says, Have I not commanded you?

This is God reminding Joshua, have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous.

God doesn't want you to feel intimidated by the enemy.

He says, Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

That's a promise.

That's not God just giving you an empty promise.

He's I've got you, but I want you to do your part.

And your part is do not be afraid, do not be dismayed, do not be discouraged, for I am your God.

I've got you.

In John 14, 27, Jesus says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.

I think God is trying to tell us something this morning.

When we face huge opposition, huge challenges, which I know each of you, each of you have faced, and maybe you're in the midst of that right now.

We are not to give in to fear.

We are to be strong and courageous and not be afraid, not be discouraged, and you'll say, why?

Because the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

That's what God told Joshua.

It's like, I have got you, and I will be with you wherever you go.

Didn't Jesus say that too?

I'll send another, a helper, the Holy Spirit, He'll guide you, He'll strengthen you, He'll encourage you, or be with you.

That's what God's saying to you this morning.

I don't know what it is you're going through or have been through, but God says, do not be afraid.

I've got you.

God is really trying to speak to us this morning.

And saying, Don't be an intimidated church.

Don't be an intimidated, fearful person.

That's not what the Lord has for you.

He says, you need to be strong and courageous.

You don't might have muscle, that's not what he's asking for.

He's asking for character and strength in believing in him.

But you have to do it.

He can't do it for you.

God knows we will face enemies in our lives.

He knows we will come up against challenges that are way bigger than what we could ever imagine or that.

Our personal strength can overcome.

That's why he's given plenty of evidence that he's not leaving us wanting.

He's not going to abandon you.

It's not like your dad or some friend that abandoned you.

He's not like that.

He's faithful.

He will deliver you.

He'll come to your aid.

I promise you, just you have to be strong and courageous.

And you have to not let fear come in.

In verse 6, God doesn't just give Joshua a command.

It's one thing saying, Gina, do this.

Not asking you, I was saying, do this.

But if I give you a promise, say, Gina, when you do this, I'm going to be right there with you.

You don't have to do it on your own.

How much more are you encouraged to go and do something if you know that someone's got your back?

Someone's with you in it.

And that's here with Joshua.

God doesn't just give him a command, he also gives him a promise.

God guarantees Joshua victory by a specific time.

He says, tomorrow about this time.

He's not vague.

God's not vague when he says he's going to do something vague.

He will do it.

You just need to show up.

He promises victory, but Joshua is not to be afraid.

That's Joshua's part.

And also to not trust in his own strength.

See, here's a strategy that God gave him.

He says, God tells Joshua to hamstring the horses and burn the chariots.

Why on earth would you hamstring the enemy's horses and their chariots?

Why would you not use that against the enemy once you've captured them?

But there's a reason why God wants us to do that.

He wants us not to rely on our own strength and our own resources.

And if Joshua had done that, then maybe, maybe he would have been able to say, wow, I was pretty smart.

I used their chariots and their horses against them.

But he said, No, I want you to destroy them.

God targets our tendency to trust in our own strength, our worldly securities, you know, the things that we rely on outside of God.

Say, yeah, you know, I can weather this storm because of, I have this, or no, God wants to strip that away.

And he says, I want you to rely on me.

Yes, I will use those things.

But you don't use those things before you lean in on God.

Disabling the chariots meant Joshua had to trust God's in God's strength, not his own.

Not any military upper hand he may gain through that.

Joshua's army, their might, but complete trust in a God that would deliver them.

And fulfill his promise.

Joshua in verse 7 to 15, he says, if you look there, he says, Joshua responds with prompt, prompt, so it's not, there's no hesitation here.

He promptly responds with radical obedience.

Joshua moves swiftly and acts in exact alignment with God's word.

He doesn't add to God's plan or strategy, follows God's exact plan.

He obeys Moses and God down to the last detail.

He left nothing undone, it says, of all the Lord commanded.

You guys need to understand partial obedience is disobedience.

God's not asking you, like one day you'll follow him and the next day you may not.

Or, you know, I'll trust you in this, but God, man, I can't trust you in this.

This is too big.

Nothing is too big.

No disease, no life circumstance, no difficult relationship, no mass of unforgiveness that you've been carrying for the last 20 years.

None of that is too big for God.

But the thing is that Joshua does not add to God's plan.

He follows through.

True faith executes divine instructions even when they seem counterintuitive.

You're sitting there thinking, why would he?

I was reading that.

It's like, why would he destroy the chariots?

Well, we know.

Even when you cannot see how God can help you overcome in a particular circumstance, he can.

What he is asking of you is obedience.

Not to come alongside him and give him a helping hand.

God doesn't need a helping hand.

I mean, sometimes he does ask us to, you know, to come alongside.

But here he's not asking, he's just like Joshua, you need to trust me.

I have a promise.

I told you I would give you this land.

I'm gonna give this enemy to you.

You just need to not be afraid and be and be obedient.

That's what he's looking for this morning in all of us is total obedience and total control of our lives, not partial, not compartmentally, not like okay, you can have this bit, but you can't have this bit.

God wants it all.

He wants you to totally rely on him, totally trust him, and not trust in your own strength or your own strategy or your own resources that you might think would be really good.

And you might be asking why, because when we do, he gets all the glory, not you.

Can you see that?

If Joshua had said, yeah, but Lord, look, I added that plan, you know.

We we did this as well.

No, he's not asking you to add to his plan, he's given you a plan, follow it, be obedient, and don't be afraid.

God wants all the glory.

The problem is, we, you and I, are glory seekers.

You might say, well, no, I don't want glory.

I don't like being up front.

I definitely don't like being up front.

You know that about me.

I don't like being in this position.

You're totally exposed, you're totally vulnerable, you have to completely rely on God.

I don't like that.

But I am a glory seeker, I'm a humble one.

But I like, I like to be said I did a good job.

So I would appreciate your text after the service and say I did a good job.

But we are glory seekers.

We want what belongs to God.

We want to be able to take credit for how good we are, how how good our lives are, how good things turned out yesterday.

It's like, no.

God is not willing to share his glory with you.

I'm sorry.

Maybe when you got saved, someone told you he's willing to share a little bit of that with you.

He's not.

He's willing to share the promise, that's for sure.

He's willing to give you the power and the strength, yes.

He is willing to share his power with you.

But he's not willing to share the glory.

We want to take credit and take the glory for when God delivers us.

But that glory is God's alone.

And all we need to do is embrace the victory and give him the glory that is due.

That's what we need to do.

I know it's tough to read through the Bible and hear accounts of where God commands complete destruction, right?

It's it's hard.

Complete eradication of an enemy.

I mean, let's not even go into the detail, but that is hard to hear.

But it's part of his plan sometimes.

But if he had not commanded that and sent his people into the promised land, Joshua's enemy would continue to be his Achilles' heel, continue to undermine God's rule and reign, and they would not have been able to receive what God had promised them.

God wants our obedience.

He wants your obedience.

And he wants to be in control of your life.

He wants to have full access to every part of you.

It's not like this part is for me, or this little thing that I do here.

Well, that's that's that's the little thing I like to do.

He wants complete access.

I'm not sure about you, but historically, I haven't always given God full access to every area of my life.

Like, wow, shocking.

It's the pastor.

He should have everything figured out.

It's not true.

I'm still figuring out.

Even as I'm standing here, I'm like, okay, Lord, show me what areas in my life have you still not fully showed that you don't have access to.

I haven't always given him full access to areas where maybe I've held an offense, been hurt.

Um in the past I've wrestled with holding on to things, not allowing God to come in and do a complete overhaul of an area of my life.

And I've suffered the consequences.

I know you have.

When you've been disobedient, um you've suffered the consequences.

And one of the things I didn't have peace because I held on to an offense when I shouldn't have, should have given it to the Lord.

Whether it was against my father in the past, or even in the years of being a pastor in the church, people hurt people.

I'm telling you.

You guys can be mean and have sharp teeth.

We all have been there.

Don't sit there and think, oh, I've never done that, Pastor Mark.

You've probably been mean as well.

You've got a mean streak in you, if you're allowed to, to go untethered, unchecked.

We all do.

We say things that are unkind.

We do things to people that, and a lot of time it's to people we love.

And we hurt people.

And bitterness and disappointment, they're so real, right?

You can say amen to that.

It's not guilt admitting guilt, it's just it's disappointment and bitterness are real.

And they can totally come and undermine you.

And undermine God's victory in your life.

You need to know there's an enemy that roams about.

And the enemy will use disobedience or sin in your life to shame you, to torment you, to discourage you, to isolate you.

And in the end, his goal is to defeat you, to destroy you.

That's his only job every morning.

How can I destroy?

How can I destroy David?

Man, how can I what can I use in David's life?

Man, oh yeah, there's that thing.

He's not giving that over to me.

I can use that.

I can take him down.

I can make him feel like he's not worthy to come up here and play the drums.

Because he's I can I can grab that little thing.

Or John, you know, something you did in your past, and you're like, how can I get up on stage?

That's the enemy.

You gotta understand, he is a liar and a deceiver.

Do not believe anything he says to you.

And don't play with him.

You see, an enemy, especially in Joshua's case, wasn't interested in negotiating with him or sharing power in that kingdom.

That enemy wanted to destroy Joshua and God's people and rob them of what God had promised them.

That's the same with the enemy.

That's what he wants to do with you.

He wants to destroy you and rob you.

You are no different.

Your enemy, the devil, is not up for negotiating with you.

You may think you can negotiate with him, but that's not interested.

Or sharing power with God in your life, he's not.

God's not up for that.

Or interested in seeing you realize God's plan, he's not interested in that.

Or the promises that God's spoken over your life.

Devil's not interested in seeing that come to pass.

Oh, he's only interested in your total destruction.

I know that sounds harsh, but that's what he's after.

You might be thinking, well, I just live this quiet little life.

Okay, that's fine.

But he is after you, man.

There will be a time when he will come after you.

And I'm not trying to speak fear into you because I told you.

God said, do not fear.

He's not someone to fear.

God has overcome him already.

There's this little thing, or maybe not such a little thing, that happened on the cross.

Jesus defeated him.

He's a defeated foe.

He's just running around scared now, trying to make you scared, trying to rob you of your courage and your strength that God is saying, Rise up, Christian, take hold of my promise, and do not be afraid.

I've got you.

He will use any means available to him.

He will use anything in your life: a sin, uh, unforgiveness, whatever it is, that's why we cannot play around with sin.

We cannot afford to be disobedient or allow the enemy to have a foothold in our lives.

We can't give him an inch.

He'll take it all.

We ought to be ruthless with him, ruthless with sin and allow God to come in and totally destroy it.

That's what Jesus did.

He came to come and give us freedom, to set us free, so that we can have peace.

So that we're not warring against him.

So we're not sharing power with God.

It's it's all his.

And we're not undermining God's plan by playing with sin or holding on to unforgiveness.

Guys, just seriously, just let that go.

You know what?

That person who hurt you, they may, you may never reconcile.

Just forgive them.

It's for your benefit.

You know, I was in a worship service once and I was worshiping, and I had so much anger and unforgiveness to my dad.

You guys know this.

And I was giving praise and worship to God, and God said, What are you doing?

How can you stand in my presence and receive my forgiveness and grace when you're not willing to extend it to your dad?

Guilty as charged.

You are guilty if you're carrying unforgiveness towards someone.

I'm not saying go and be buddy buddy and hang out with them if they've if they're just a rotten person.

But forgive them and ask God to heal you so that you can move on and that you're not sitting with that anymore.

Like God wants you to be set free.

He doesn't want you bound and chained down.

That's what the enemy wants to do.

I'll just put another chain on him.

I'll just put that on.

I'd just undermine them over here.

That's what the enemy wants to do.

No, you know what, guys?

I know we're not perfect.

We are not perfect.

We make mistakes, we make poor choices, but so did Joshua.

When he got back on track, though, and he inquired of the Lord and followed his instructions, the victory came and the blessing came.

So if you're off track, don't worry about it.

Get back on track.

Inquire of the Lord.

Ask him, Lord, what am I supposed to do?

This text in 16 to 23, it emphasizes total and complete fulfillment of God's mandate across the mountains and the valley.

God wants to have complete victory in your life.

So that then the land rested from war, so that you can stop wrestling, so you can stop warring, so you can be at peace.

Faithful perseverance, faithful obedience, and giving total access to God in our lives brings us into rest and the inheritance that Christ has secured for us.

God does not fail when we're facing the enemy.

This devil.

The Holy Spirit is with you, and you do not need to fear.

In closing this morning, as the worship team gets ready, I want you to do an inventory here this morning.

Identify areas in your life where you haven't given God total access yet.

Areas where maybe you're being disobedient, where you're not inquiring of the Lord, you're just going off half-cocked and doing your own thing, or not trusting in his provision.

Check yourself.

The areas in your life where you are bound by fear, check those areas.

Where you're isolated in shame because of sin.

Let's identify those areas this morning, guys, and bring them to the foot of a cross so that we can embrace the victory Jesus paid so dearly for us to have.

So that when we embrace the grace and forgiveness he has for us and the promises of salvation, the victorious life he has for us, you gotta understand Jesus is the only way.

It's the only way forward.

Do not let the enemy make you feel like you're not worthy this morning.

You spent all your chances.

Don't let him intimidate you.

Remember he is a liar and a deceiver.

But don't do anything he says about you.

Don't believe it.

Ephesians 6 11 says, commands, it actually commands believers to put on the whole armor of God.

That you may be able to stand up against the schemes of the devil.

You are not worthless, you are not beyond redemption.

And God still has a plan no matter what you've done to mess it up so far.

Believe what Jesus says about you.

You are precious, you are chosen.

He desires to have a relationship with you.

And do not fear.

Be obedient.

And know that he's got you.

Trust his plan for you.

Look at the birds of the air.

Do they not sow or reap or store away in bonds, and yet your heavenly father feeds them?

Are you not much more valuable than them?

In the parable of the lost sheep, and I'll close with this, Jesus describes a shepherd leaving 99 sheep to find just one that went missing.

Showing how much individual worth a person has to God.

God is seeking you this morning.

Let him find you.

When you are facing your giants, facing your enemies, trying to overcome sin, be courageous.

And know that God is with you.

And do not fear.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you this morning for getting me through.

Thank you for your word, God.

When we read it, we are encouraged, Lord.

You've got us.

No matter what battle we are facing, you're right there with us.

You're in the midst of it, Lord.

And you will get us through.

You will help us to be overcomers.

And God, if there's someone out there that doesn't feel worthy of your grace, your forgiveness, I pray that you'd put to silence the voice of the enemy in their lives.

And that they would hear your voice clearly, clearly saying, Come to me, I've got you.

Let's clean this act up and let's get on with the good stuff.

Thank you, God, that you do not give up on us and that you are in total control.

May you have all the glory, Lord.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.