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The Will to Win | Joshua 7 & 8 · Saint City Chapel

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Good morning. How are you feeling today, St.
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City? Hey, I tell you what, I am fired
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up about our first Easter. I hope you get you one of these
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cards at the tent after service that you would be in prayer for
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the people in your life that need to be here and here.
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Jesus Christ has come to planet earth to die for the sins of all
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who call upon his name. It is the best thing going is
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that Jesus Christ grace is available to any and all who
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want it. So I want to invite you to join
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in on the Easter egg hunt. Man, what an opportunity we got
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to go to a Target or wherever, get some Easter egg, get some
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candy. Let's be generous.
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Let's be cross shaped in our generosity.
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Let's pour it out on this for the sake of this neighborhood,
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for this city. As your pastor, may I just say
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it fills me with such encouragement and joy to see us
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all linking for the mission of the gospel here in Tempe and
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beyond. So please grab some cards,
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invite some people. We are pumped to do it.
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But hey, let's get into God's word.
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We'll be Joshua Chapter 7 Today we're in the middle of a series
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called Not Even 1, highlighting the theme verse of Joshua that
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not even one of God's promises has ever failed.
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It'll be on page 182 in the Bibles in the seat for you.
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If you see Bibles on the floor, I promise we respect the word of
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God. We just don't have like little
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inserts for them on the chairs. But those are actually it's for
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you to get your eyes on the Bible.
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But also if you don't have a Bible, feel free to grab it.
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Take it. It is now yours.
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Congratulations gift to you. That Bible.
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It's yours. We're going to be Joshua Chapter
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7 and chapter 8 today. So we got to get through a lot
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of the text. But before we do, I got
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something I got to get off my chest.
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Y'all, some people out here, maybe, maybe you, some people
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would say that they do not mind losing.
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I don't believe you, I just don't.
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I believe that everybody either likes to win or hates to lose.
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It is one or the other that it is not.
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Maybe you're not the most competitive person in the room,
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but I think inside each and every one of us that we have
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what I would call what my friend Alex growing up would refer to
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as that TWTW, the will to win. We called that TWTW.
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And we would use this all the time going about our life like
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we would be, you know, driving across town, you know, up to
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shenanigans, hood rat stuff with our friends.
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You know, that's what we do out in high school.
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And we would see two people on the streets and they would be
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driving their cars And all of a sudden we would see them like
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race in the middle of a street, their cars as if they were in
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Fast and furious Tokyo Drift. And he would point out, he goes,
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they got that TWTW. You know, that will to win.
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They're trying to beat the light, they're trying to beat
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the person next to him. We would do it when we would see
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little 7 year olds that would coach flag football.
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There would just be some of them that I mean they get emotional
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with defeat, like I mean tears, screaming because they wanted to
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win. They had the will to win.
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It would be like card games in study hall.
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Instead of doing our homework, we would often times play euchre
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and we would not want other people to be our partner because
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they didn't have that TW TW. That TWDTW is a big deal because
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athletes feel it, businesses feel it.
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Even the uncompetitive people among us today still want to win
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in some area of their life. But with Joshua Chapter 7 and
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Chapter 8, it's going to show us something surprising today.
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That just because you have that will to win that TWTW doesn't
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mean you experience spiritual victory.
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That just because you want to win, it means you can still lose
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spiritually. Here's a main thought for us
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this morning. A big idea.
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Spiritual victory is 1 on the battlefield of obedience.
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How does spiritual victory happen?
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How do we win as Christians? How do we have that TWTW?
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Well, spiritual victory is 1 on the battlefield of obedience.
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That's what we're going to learn in two chapters of the Bible.
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We're kind of speed reading it a bit today.
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Bible maxing, perhaps? College students, We're trying
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to get through two chapters. We're trying to let it know that
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it is profitable for your life and get you through the main
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themes of these two chapters of Joshua.
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But before we do, I want to pray one more time for us and for our
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hearts and our minds as we interact with and engage with
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God's words. Would you join me as I pray?
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Lord, this moment, these people are for you, and they are your
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people, and I am just but a messenger.
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So would you make me so gloriously small, so you can be
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so infinitely big, that your words and your power and your
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might would be on grand display, and it would remove me as much
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as possible in the process that they would behold the glory and
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the majesty of Jesus Christ as revealed to us in two chapters
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of the Bible. God, would you give heat where
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hearts have grown cold? Would you bring light where
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minds are dark, so that people would know who Jesus is and what
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he's done for them in Jesus name, Amen.
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Amen. All right, Joshua Chapter 7, the
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big bold 7 on page 182. Just to catch you up, if you are
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new to the story of Joshua, Joshua is the successor to a man
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you might have heard of called Moses.
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This is about 1400 years before Jesus walks the face of the
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planet and a few things have happened.
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He's been appointed most successor.
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They have met this woman named Rahab who's a prostitute in the
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city of Jericho. She saves a couple of their
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spies. They cross the Jordan River to
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go conquer her city called Jericho.
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Last week in chapter 6, we learned that the Israelites
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after walking around the city, that God completely annihilates
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the city of Jericho and they take it by divine force, divine
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demolition you could say, and Rahab and her family are spared.
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This is the story of Joshua thus far.
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And with the battle of Jericho, you have two people highlighted
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in between the battle. You have Rahab in chapter 2 and
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you have Aiken who are about to learn about in Chapter 7 and we
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get to verse one. It says this, but the people of
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Israel, after conquering the city of Jericho, they broke
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faith in regard to the devoted things.
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I want you to underline that. We're going to talk about that a
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good deal here in a moment because here's what happened.
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Aiken, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, son of Zara of the
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tribe of Judah, what did he do? He did a no no.
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He took some of the devoted things and the anger of the Lord
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burned against the people of Israel.
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So Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI.
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Now this is not a ChatGPT. This is not clawed.
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Like I feel like I'm one of the first preachers ever to have to
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explain that. That is a difference in the
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text. It is an ancient city called AI,
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which is near Betheven east of Bethel.
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And he said to them, go up and spy out the land.
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And the men went up and they spy out the city of AI.
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They returned to Joshua. They said to him, hey, don't
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have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand
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men go up the hill and attack the city of AI.
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Do not make the whole people toil up there for they, the
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people of AI are few. So about 3000 men went up there
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from the people, and when they get there they lose.
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They fled before the men of AI and the men of AI killed about
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36 of their men and chased them before the gate as far as
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Shabarim and struck them at the descent.
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And the people of Israel, their hearts melted and became as
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water. Up until this point, that phrase
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has only been used of the Canaanite people, of the people,
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not of God. But now the people of God are
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feeling what the Canaanites felt.
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They're saying, whoa, our hearts are melted.
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We are fearful. We are dismayed.
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We are in big, big trouble. Now, this city of AI, it's about
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15 miles away from Jericho. It's smaller.
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It's literally only about a couple acres.
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Like it's not that big of a city of the people of Israel.
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Joshua sends them up and though their army is the one who they
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felt like maybe conquered Jericho, they're realizing real
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quick it is not them that conquered Jericho.
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It was their God that they capture that city not because
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they were big and strong and powerful, but because their God
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was. And they get to this new city of
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AI and they're realizing, wait a second, though, we might want to
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win. At AI, though, we think we've
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only experienced victory since the wilderness.
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We just experienced defeat and loss and it didn't go the way we
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thought it would go. And I think this is helpful for
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us that if we're going to experience spiritual victory on
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the battlefield of obedience, then here's the question I want
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to answer with us today is how do I win in my walk with God?
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Because if there's a way to lose, I want to know how to win.
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I want to have that TWTW with my walk with God.
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How do I win my walk with God? Well, let's say it like this.
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If I want to win spiritually, first, don't hide my sin.
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If you want to win spiritually, if we want to win spiritually as
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a people of Saint City, what do we have to do?
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We have to be a people who do not have secret sins, who do not
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have hidden sins because it has grave consequences, life
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altering consequences. If we want to win spiritually.
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If you want to win spiritually, do not be a person who hides
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your sin. Akin who he'd heard in those
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first couple verses. Here's what he disobeyed back in
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chapter 6, verse 18. But you keep you, people of
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Israel, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction.
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God set aside portions of Jericho for himself, the first
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fruits of their treasury and their coats and their goods.
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He said, hey, those things are devoted to destruction.
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The Hebrew word for it is called the harem.
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It just means this thing, it's set apart so that God can
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destroy it. He wants it, therefore it is
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his. He technically owns the whole
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city, but he wants this part to be designated and devoted to
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destruction. Aiken gets inside of Jericho and
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he goes into somebody's closet. Apparently he's like, oh, I like
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me that coat. So he takes a guy's coat.
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Not only does he take a man's coat, he takes a pile full of
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money. He says, I like that silver.
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I like that gold. I'm going to take all that that
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was supposed to be set aside to God, but it was devoted to
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destruction. But I want it.
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So not only does he take it, but as you read the chapter on, go
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to verse 12 with me, Joshua rose.
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Oh, excuse me, I'm in chapter 6 still.
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Then verse 10. Then the Lord said to Joshua,
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get up. Why have you fallen on your
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face? Israel has sinned.
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They have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them.
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They have taken some of the devoted things they have stolen
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and lied and put them among their own belongings.
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Akin doesn't just sin personally, he sins against a
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holy God. He goes against what God has
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says, and he learns a painful lesson here, that the pain of
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concealing your sin is far worse than the pain of confessing it.
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The chapter will go on to say that he goes and he buries it
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underneath his literal tent. There's a hole in the ground, a
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secret basement of sorts, of all the plunder he took that wasn't
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his to have, but it was God's to have.
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And he buries it inside his tent and his family knows about it.
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And he's going to learn gravely that the pain of concealing your
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sin is far worse than the pain of confessing it.
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He's actually, the writer of the book, is trying to help us see
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that you have Rahab, who has faith and is saved from
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destruction. Meanwhile, you have an Israelite
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named Akin who disobeys and is destroyed.
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That's how serious sin is. That's how serious disobedience
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is. That's why it's a battlefield of
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obedience is because there's casualties in a war and the
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world gets understandably upset at Christians who hide their
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sin, who are hypocrites with secret sins.
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If you are new to Saints City, let me just tell you, we are a
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place full of people who sin. There's not a single perfect
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person in this room. In fact, no perfect people are
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allowed at Saint City because we only worship one of them and his
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name is Jesus. OK, He died for your sins so
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that you wouldn't have to live in bondage.
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You can live in freedom and unto Him forever more.
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But the world gets upset with Christians because we will say
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one thing like we have no sin, but the Bible says we would
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deceive ourselves if we say we don't have sin instead we have
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it. So why do we try to hide it?
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I think it's so interesting here.
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Is that akin sins against perfect and holy God?
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I think there's a few attributes I want to highlight about God
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that I think we miss in the middle of our moments of sin and
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disobedience. First verse 11, go back to it
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with me. Israel has sinned and they have
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transgressed my covenant that I commanded them.
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They have taken some of the devoted things.
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First attribute of God I want to highlight for you is that God is
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omniscient, which means He knows everything.
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There's not a thing he doesn't know or a thing he has
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forgotten. He only knows because he only
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knows. He is the knower of things.
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And Aiken thought he could hide his sin, but he can't hide it
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from a God who is omniscient. He has taken the devoted things.
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Aiken thought it was hidden. It was not hidden.
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There's a God who he sinned against who is omniscient.
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But not only that. Verse 12.
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Therefore, the people of Israel cannot stand before their
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enemies. They turn their backs before
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their enemies because they have become devoted for destruction.
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I will be with you no more. It's one of the saddest
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sentences in the Bible. Anytime God's presence leaves
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somebody in the Old Testament because of their sin, it's
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tragedy. But an attribute here that you
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have to understand about God is His righteous jealousy.
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You see, He's the greatest thing going on planet earth.
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He is the Lord Almighty. There is no one as sweet as Him,
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no more as loving as Him, no one as powerful as him.
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And God, when He says to not do something, He expects to be
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obeyed, and he wants your full affection.
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And by aching going to those goods, by going to that coach,
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by going and stealing that pile of money, by trying to hide it,
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he was saying to God subtly, hey, God, guess what?
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I love these things more than I love doing what you say.
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I love these things more than I love you.
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And God is right to be jealous. He's the only one who can be
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unsinfully jealous because jealousy is wrongly wanting
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something that is not yours to have.
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God is right in wanting your affection.
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He's right in wanting your worship because he's fully
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deserving of it and a can sinned against a God who told him to
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destroy the devoted things. So he's omniscient.
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He's got righteous jealousy. Verse 13 he's got holiness is
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who who he sinned against. He tells the people, Hey,
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consecrate yourselves for tomorrow.
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For thus says the Lord, there are devoted things in your
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midst. O Lord, you cannot stand before
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your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among
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you. God's holiness is His utter
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perfection. He is set apart.
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He cannot be near sin. He's incapable of being
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otherwise. It would compromise the reality
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that He is holy. He can't be near sin.
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His presence can't dwell there in His presence, His Holiness.
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Excuse me? In order to get into the
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presence of a holy God, you need a holy one to go before you.
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You need a sacrifice for your sin because the wages of sin,
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the payment for sin is death, and God is holy.
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And when you sin against him, you are not just sinning against
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another person, you are sitting against an eternally infinite
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holy being. Your sin is that serious.
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Verse 15, we learn He has the authority, He who was taken with
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the devoted things shall be burned with fire.
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He and all that he has because he has transgressed the covenant
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of the Lord and because he has done an outrageous thing in
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Israel. That is a strong phrase.
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I think when we get to a text like this and we see God
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executing judgement, we get a little like off a rocker, a bit
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like kind of uneasy, like, wait, God.
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I wouldn't have put that in the Bible if I were you.
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That feels like it's disjointed. It feels like that's not the God
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that I understand him to be. I don't know if you guys watch
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Survivor, but it's one of my favorite shows.
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And what happens every season in Survivor is a bunch of people
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get on an island and they film it 24 hours a day, seven days a
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week until the conclusion of the days that they're supposed to be
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on the island. And what's interesting to me is
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there's a room that happens after they film it all, where
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the editors put together an edit of the story they want to tell
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for this season of Survivor. So some people get what we call
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a villains edit where they're looking really mean and
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deceitful and bad. You get a hero edit where you're
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like, oh, this person is pure. You get the Comic Relief at it.
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You get all these edits. And I think sometimes as
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Christians, we look at God and we get kind of squeamish about
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the Bible. Like God, why would you talk
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about your judgement like this? Why would you do it?
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Why would you not edit this out? Listen to me.
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God is making no apology for the reality that hey, here's who I
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am and here's how the world works.
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He's saying, hey guess what people, we are sent.
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You are sinful before me, you are unholy before me.
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There is not even one good person.
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But guess what? I want to make a way so we can
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have relationship again. I want to offer you obedience so
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we can be in relationship again. He's saying to you, hey guess
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what? All of humanity stands condemned
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under my judgement because I am holy and you are not.
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Not one of you is. And he doesn't edit this out
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because all of us stand under judgement.
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So He is always right to execute His judgement whenever he sees
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fit. And in his his patience and his
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grace and His love and His mercy, that withholds the
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judgement. So when God does what he's about
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to do, when he's about to annihilate a whole city and he's
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about to kill off Akin for his sin, guess what?
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He is right to do so. He has the authority to do so.
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You sinned against him and by letter of the law, the wages of
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sin is what death. This is who God has taught us
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for who He is. So you have to understand God to
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understand what's happening in Joshua, because if you
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misunderstand God, you would think He's unloving, unkind, and
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unjust to take life. But it is His life to take and
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it is to judge. In fact, that's the right.
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The last category of his character I want to highlight
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for you. It is His right to judge.
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Joshua says in verse 25, why, Aiken, did you bring trouble
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upon us? The Lord brings trouble on you
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today. And Israel stoned him with
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stones, and they burned his family with fire and stoned them
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with stones. Sin is more serious than you can
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even possibly realize. Even something as seemingly
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small as swiping a coat and some silver from the Lord has grave
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consequence. And God is showing us something
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here, something He knows to be true, that you are as sick as
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your secrets. Aiken realized just how
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devastatingly consequential sinning against God was, and
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he's serving as a warning for us and for any who'd read this
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passage. It is God's loving kindness to
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show us this is what happens when you sin against God is you
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are becoming devoted to destruction.
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You become the harem. That's what you become.
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So there's no need to hide your sin.
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He's saying, bring it to me and I will deal with it.
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I will make it paid for. I will foot the bill for your
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sin, but don't think you have it in yourself to fix it.
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In fact, I think the enemy whispers lies into all of our
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ears about sin here. Lies that we believe, lies like
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sin is not a big deal. That's not that big a deal that
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I watched that it's not a big deal that I said that it's not a
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big deal that I felt that, that I thought that it's just not a
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big deal. Which plays into the second lie
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that we believe that nobody else is affected.
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We think to ourselves that sin doesn't act.
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It only affects us. It doesn't affect others.
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But look at this. Look back at the text with me
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Akin the son of Karmi, the IT says in verse one, the people of
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Israel broke faith. The whole nation of Israel, the
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people of God were affected by one man's sin.
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I just don't think we have a high enough view of what sin
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does. It affects people whether or not
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you see it. Your sinful choices have grave
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consequences. And I think we also believe the
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lie that nobody will find the sin out, it's not a big deal,
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nobody else is affected, and that nobody else is going to
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find out. I've got this covered.
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I'm smart enough to hide it. I'm smart enough to cover it.
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I'm smart enough so nobody else sees it.
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Numbers chapter 32, verse 23. Here's a promise God has kept.
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Remember, not even one of his fails.
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Here's a promise He made Israel. Be sure your sin will find you
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out. Be sure, be certain, be
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confident that God will reveal your sin.
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It's not an if, it's a when nothing that is hidden won't
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come to light in our backyard, I'll often go check with a
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black, black light flashlight for the critters of Arizona
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known as scorpions. I've learned first hand that
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those are a little bit dangerous to young kids.
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So I go out and I'll go mark for.
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And I think it's so fascinating that if you go out with a black
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light, they might think they're hidden, but the second you pull
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out that black light flashlight, they are exposed.
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They are no longer hidden. They are no longer a threat
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even, and I will gladly go take a blowtorch to them or a boot.
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I will do something to eradicate them from my presence.
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Get out of here. Be gone, scorpions.
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When we believe those lies, we're forgetting who God is.
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Listen to me. God sees and hears everything,
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and He has the power and authority and judgement seats to
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do something about it. You know what that creates in
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US? It's something the Bible calls
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the fear of the Lord. That's a good thing.
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That's not a bad thing. Some of you were like, maybe you
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would fall in Jesus. Like, wait, I think the Bible
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says. I've seen it on like an
24:32
Instagram post before. Do not be afraid.
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Yeah, generally do not be afraid.
24:35
The Bible's about to say that in chapter 8, verse one, too.
24:38
Don't be afraid. But there is a holy fear that
24:42
exists and it's a fear of the holiness of God because anytime
24:45
you get near the holiness of God is a Sinner.
24:47
Guess what, you are deserving of punishment and judgement.
24:50
But God is saying, guess what, you don't have to be afraid of
24:52
me in the sinful sense, but in the holy sense that guess what,
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I am king of kings, I am Lord of Lords, I am higher than you.
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I have thoughts that are higher than yours.
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And if you would hear my voice today, he says, guess what?
25:05
You have to know that sin is that gravely consequential.
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Do not hide it, it will get exposed otherwise.
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God says to you like he says in Chapter 7 verse 12, I will be
25:17
with you no more. Don't hide your sin, deal with
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it. Don't hide your sin.
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Don't leave it undisclosed to God and to others.
25:28
That's what I mean by hiding it. Deal with it.
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That is a path to spiritual victory.
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That is a path to obedience. That TWTW is good when it comes
25:40
to obeying God. So here's the way we try to deal
25:44
with it though that Akin and the people of Israel deal with it.
25:47
Look at now at chapter 8, chapter 8, verse one and the
25:53
Lord said to Joshua, do not fear and do not be dismayed.
25:56
You've taken care of Akin. You've taken care of the sin in
25:58
the camp. Now take all the fighting men
26:01
with you and arise go up to AI and your pizza phrase you said
26:05
about Jericho to Joshua here. See, I have given you past
26:09
tense. It's already happened.
26:11
It's as good as done. The city is yours.
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I have given into your hand the king of AI, his people, his city
26:19
and his land. And you shall do to AI and his
26:23
king as you did to Jericho. And it's king only its spoil and
26:26
its livestock. You shall take us plunder for
26:28
yourselves. Here's how I want you to.
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I want you to lay an ambush against the city behind it.
26:33
What do we learn about God here? What do we learn about winning
26:35
spiritually here? How do we win in our walk with
26:37
God? I think chapter 8's going to
26:39
show us something in these first 2 verses that's helpful on how
26:41
to win spiritually. It's second, don't look within.
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If I want to win spiritually, I don't just not hide my sin, but
26:50
also I don't look within. Joshua's going to serve in
26:53
contrast now to the people of AI.
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He's going to serve as an example of what it looks like to
26:59
appeal to God's mercies and depend on God for salvation
27:02
rather than his own wisdom, his own might, his own strategy.
27:06
He's saying, hey, God, what do you want me to do?
27:08
And I'm going to do it. Whereas the people of AI are
27:11
going to think they're big enough, strong enough, powerful
27:12
enough to overcome God's might and power and his judgement.
27:18
Joshua looks to the Lord for rescue, whereas the people of AI
27:22
look at their own selves for strength and might.
27:25
They looked within another way to say this would be
27:28
self-reliance, which is the number one roadblock to
27:33
following Jesus. So verse one, the Lord says to
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Joshua, don't be feared to be dismayed.
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Take all the fighting men with you and arise.
27:44
Go up to AI. See, I've given into your hand
27:47
the king of AI. Do you know what attribute
27:49
you're seeing there of God? His mercy, His mercy.
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God didn't owe this to Joshua, the people of Israel.
27:59
He could have wiped out this generation and started over
28:02
again and fulfilled his promise with another generation.
28:03
He could have done that. But his mercy says, hey, it's
28:07
new today and guess what? This city, it's still yours.
28:12
We're going to keep taking the promised land, the land that I
28:14
promised your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
28:17
It is going to be yours. And I've given you in, given
28:20
into your hand, the king of AI, his people, his city, his land.
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And that is God's mercy, which strengthens us believers.
28:28
God's mercy is one of the most strengthening forces this side
28:32
of heaven. Grace and mercy kind of go hand
28:38
in hand. Grace is getting something you
28:41
don't deserve, OK, but mercy is not getting something you do.
28:46
You do deserve it, but you don't get it.
28:48
It's withholding. They deserved the people of
28:54
Israel under Joshua deserve to not get the promised land.
28:58
They deserved judgement and God withheld it.
29:02
And he said, you know what? Here's the land of AI, and then
29:10
we see God's creativity. Verse 5, lay an ambush against
29:14
the city behind it. This is really interesting
29:17
because the rest of the chapter is going to highlight for us
29:20
just how the sequence goes. Like he says, hey, here's how
29:22
the ambush is going to work. Joshua, you're going to come at
29:24
from the front with some people. Then you're going to act scared,
29:26
then you're going to run away. And meanwhile, there's going to
29:27
be people right here when they go and chase you, when you
29:30
retreat, they're going to set the city on fire.
29:32
And that's God's plan. God's like, hey, here's how I
29:35
want to win this battle. And so the people of Israel
29:38
executed the men of AI that are trapped between the two
29:40
Israelite forces and they get defeated and Israel does what
29:43
God says. They kill the remaining
29:46
inhabitants. They listen to God and execute
29:48
his judgement through them, which is not our responsibility
29:51
anymore. By the way, this is the book of
29:53
Joshua in the Old Testament. God has made our enemies
29:55
different nowadays where we get to love them and pray for them.
29:58
Those who persecute us, totally different categories before
30:01
Jesus's arrival. Sorry, that's the Bible.
30:03
Side note, just want to make sure we know we're not waging
30:05
holy war. That's not our job.
30:08
But this time, unlike Jericho, God explicitly allows Israel to
30:11
take some of the livestock and the spoil.
30:14
That's the only difference between AI and Jericho.
30:19
And what we see here on grand display is God's power, which we
30:23
are intended to yield to. We are intended to yield to his
30:28
power. I think a lot of the world
30:31
follows DJ Khaled's the theologian, I might add, DJ
30:34
Khaled, his mantra for how life goes, that all I do is win no
30:40
matter what. Got money on my mind, I can
30:42
never give it up. Yeah, I think the world actually
30:45
thinks that all they do is win. I think that's the way the world
30:49
often thinks, that he captures it actually really helpfully.
30:52
And I think he actually captures what the people of AI thought is
30:55
they beat Israel the first time, they're going to beat him again.
30:58
And I think that if you were in the city that day, you would
31:01
have heard things like this, that the people of AI, but their
31:06
famous last words, thinking that they were victorious, that
31:10
they're like, you know what, I'm working on myself right now.
31:13
I don't got to worry about turning to this God of Israel
31:15
yet. I don't, you know, need to
31:18
become a better version of me. I need to become a better
31:20
version of me. I don't feel like that God helps
31:22
me do that. That they're sitting there going
31:24
through their life in the city of AI and they're convincing
31:27
themselves of self-reliance. They're looking within saying,
31:30
you know what? We've lasted this long without
31:32
this God. We can keep lasting without this
31:35
God that if we beat them, they, oh, they weren't so big, they
31:38
weren't so strong, they weren't so mighty.
31:40
What the heck? We shouldn't be afraid of them.
31:42
We shouldn't be afraid of their God.
31:45
And they looked within, not realizing that it was God's
31:48
grace and patience giving them a chance to, like Rahab, turn from
31:52
their sin and repent and say, God, no, you are the strong one.
31:56
You are the mighty 1. You are the powerful one that
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we're intended to listen to and obey.
32:07
Every other world religion thinks this way.
32:12
AI is a picture of what it looks like to believe in anything
32:17
other than Jesus for salvation. My growth will save me, My
32:23
effort will save me. My strength will save me.
32:29
There's another religion that's very prominent here locally that
32:32
claims to be Christian, and in their literature it says that it
32:37
is by grace through faith that you are saved.
32:40
After all you can do. Listen to me.
32:45
That is not good news. That is not the gospel, because
32:48
there you can never do enough to be saved.
32:51
It is not of your own doing, but God being rich in mercy because
32:55
of the great love which He loved us, made us alive together with
32:58
Christ. And it is by grace through faith
33:01
that you have been saved. And this is not of your own
33:03
doing. It as a free gift of God so that
33:05
no one may boast. Listen to me.
33:08
This is the good news of Jesus. This is how you become alive.
33:11
This is how you get spared from destruction.
33:13
This is how you are spared of God's judgement upon your life
33:17
for all of eternity. You turn to him and say God, I
33:21
need you to save me. I need you to rescue me.
33:25
I need you to deliver me. You don't look within, you look
33:29
to the Lord, because if you are looking in for salvation, you
33:33
will not find it there. You cannot save yourself.
33:39
It breaks my heart to read the story of AI and picture the
33:42
people in our life right now who are devoted to destruction
33:45
because they believe that lie that they can save themselves.
33:51
Salvation is found in no one else, only Jesus Christ and His
33:55
blood. That's it.
34:00
Can't look within. We have to look to the Lord.
34:03
And if we want to win spiritually, here's the third
34:08
and final thing. We have to trust in Him.
34:11
It's a trust in Him. It's a faith in Him, in who God
34:16
says He is, in doing what he says for us to do.
34:20
It's trusting His wisdom. Joshua goes out into the
34:23
battlefield in verse 18 and God told him to shout stretch out
34:26
the javelin. Excuse me?
34:28
He's like, hey, stretch it out and put it down when I tell you
34:30
to. So that's what Joshua does.
34:33
I picture like Peter and Narnia, except saying for Narnia, he's
34:36
like for Israel. And then like the whole city
34:39
collapses and he holds it out there awaiting God's judgement
34:44
upon the city. And in verse 34 and 35 at the
34:47
end of the chapter, something awesome happens.
34:51
And afterward, Joshua, after they've beaten the city, after
34:54
they've set it ablaze and they've executed God judgment,
34:56
they've listened to him word for word, following his wisdom,
34:59
obeying what God has said, winning the spiritual victory,
35:03
because they obey God again and again and again and again and
35:07
again. Look what he does next.
35:09
And afterward, after the victory, what does he do?
35:11
He worships. He reads all the words of the
35:15
law, the blessing and the curse according to what is written in
35:18
Genesis through Leviticus, through Numbers and Deuteronomy.
35:22
He reads the whole book. That's how I know this.
35:25
Look at verse 35. There was not a word of all that
35:28
Moses commanded that Joshua did not read.
35:31
That would be like me getting up after Easter Sunday and going,
35:34
hey, service is not done yet. Let me read for you the book of
35:38
Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
35:41
Did I miss one? Thank you, Miss Leviticus.
35:44
See, keeping you on your toes out there, I would read 5 books
35:48
of the Torah for you. That's what Joshua, as the
35:51
spiritual leader says, you know what?
35:54
We're going to make sure we know who God is, what he says to do,
35:58
and we're going to worship even after the victory.
36:02
And there's a phrase there that you might have missed.
36:08
He reads it before all the assembly of Israel.
36:10
The women are there, the little ones, and listen to this and the
36:15
sojourners who lived among them. That's the Bible giving you a
36:21
hyperlink to this idea. God was saving more than this
36:25
Israel, even then, that in Genesis 12 when he asked
36:28
Abraham, when he told Abraham he's going to make him a
36:30
blessing to all nations, that there were people, there were
36:34
people from AI who were spared of the wrath of God.
36:37
Why? Because they realized they
36:39
couldn't look within. They had to look to God.
36:41
There were sojourners like Rahab among them, aliens, people who
36:46
were not of Israel. And he says, hey, here's who we
36:50
are, here's who our God is, here's how we live.
36:53
And he tells it to all of them and they all turn to God in
36:57
trust. Do you know what trust looks
37:01
like? It looks like Jimmy Chitwood.
37:04
Now, I just said a name that I would guarantee most of you have
37:07
no idea who I'm talking about, and that's OK Come explain.
37:10
Jimmy Chitwood is the best basketball player that you've
37:12
never heard of because he's from the movie Hoosiers.
37:14
Now, Hoosiers is an old basketball movie that maybe your
37:17
dad or your grandpa depend on your age or you like.
37:20
My dad's favorite movie was Hoosiers growing up.
37:22
So I've seen it a couple times. And in this movie, The sports
37:24
classic, the whole championship comes down to one play, one
37:27
shot, one player, Jimmy Chitwood.
37:30
And then in the huddle, they're trying to determine how they're
37:32
going to win the game, how they're going to win the state
37:34
championship in Indiana. And Jimmy just says one phrase.
37:41
I'll make it. And he says it in the most like,
37:44
Indiana farm boy way too, like, I'll make it.
37:48
So the whole team does what they're supposed to do in that
37:50
moment. They put their hope into action,
37:55
into one man, and that's the picture of the gospel, of what
38:01
it looks like to trust in Jesus for salvation.
38:03
Jimmy said I will make it, but Jesus said I'll make a way.
38:10
Don't you see? There is no other way to be
38:12
spared God's judgement other than through Jesus Christ and
38:15
His blood. Because God is so holy that your
38:17
sin cannot hide from Him. He is so just that sin must be
38:20
dealt with, it must be judged. But God is merciful, He is
38:24
gracious, and He sends Jesus 1400 years later to enter into
38:29
creation. He says, hey, guess what, I'm
38:31
going to make a way. I'm going to live the life they
38:33
couldn't live. I'm going to die the death they
38:34
should have died and I'm going to do it so they might have life
38:37
with me forever more. I'm going to send to heaven
38:39
never to die again. And this is the way of Jesus.
38:42
And he says if you put your full trust in me, if you put your
38:45
full weight of your eternity and your faith in my salvation,
38:49
guess what? You will not be devoted to
38:51
destruction. You will have life and life
38:53
eternal. This is why we're teaching
38:54
Joshua 7:00 and 8:00 because I want you to see there is hope
38:57
for every akin. There is hope for every Rahab,
39:00
and his name is Jesus Christ. He is the only hope for eternity
39:05
for you, and you must turn from your sin and embrace Him by
39:09
faith. You cannot hide your sin or look
39:12
within. You must trust in Him and Him
39:14
alone for salvation. This passage is a loving
39:17
passage. Why?
39:18
Because it's a warning passage for anyone who would not trust
39:21
in God. You have to trust God.
39:26
And if your life looks no different than the world around
39:28
you, if God is mostly an afterthought, if church is a low
39:31
priority, if His Word is not something you crave, that I
39:35
would wonder if you actually trust Him.
39:41
Work out your salvation with holy fear and with trembling.
39:46
Do you trust God? That's how you win spiritually
39:53
is by trusting in Him to do 2 things First, deal with your
39:57
sin. And we'll close with these two
40:00
thoughts. You trust in Him to do 2 things.
40:02
First, deal with your sin. This is the idea of confession
40:04
and repentance. Because once sin is dealt with
40:08
numbers, excuse me, Joshua 726 Then the Lord turned from his
40:11
burning anger. He was no longer angry, but he
40:13
was gracious and merciful and loving toward them.
40:17
Confession is this. It's naming and owning your sin
40:19
to God and others. That's a confession is it's
40:22
naming it, calling it what it is.
40:24
It's not a struggle, it's a sin. It's not a weakness, it's sin.
40:31
That's how serious it is. You name it that to God and to
40:34
others, and repentance is the idea of this, to turn away from
40:37
that sin and toward Christ. Running away from the sin and
40:41
running towards Jesus, that's repentance.
40:44
The best place to do that, St. City is what we call community
40:46
groups. If you want to get one, go to
40:48
the Next Steps tent, the orange tent after the service.
40:50
They will happily get you connected to our staff team.
40:52
We'd love to get you in a group so you can name your sin, you
40:54
can confess it, and you can repent of it regularly so that
40:56
you don't have to have hidden sin in your life.
40:59
We wanted to set you free from that.
41:01
She trusted him first to deal with our sin, pay for it with
41:03
his blood on the cross, but second to bring victory through
41:07
obedience. Spiritual victory is 1 on the
41:11
battlefield of obedience. First Timothy 47 drop down that
41:15
reference. It says for us to discipline
41:17
ourselves for godliness, to train to strive for godliness.
41:21
That means it's going to take some intentionality on how to
41:24
obey God. So This is why it's so important
41:27
that we're in the Word. It's why it's so important that
41:29
we spend time praying. It's why we spend time fasting
41:32
and praying and journaling. Like these are all things that
41:34
God has asked us to do. These are spiritual disciplines,
41:37
meaning you're choosing what you want most over what you want now
41:41
so that you might have what you ultimately want, which is
41:43
godliness in your life. Or another way of saying that is
41:46
more obedience. I want us to be the greatest
41:50
obeyors in the city of Tempe of God that when people hear about
41:55
Saint City, they go wow, they take God's word seriously and
41:57
they listen to it and they do what he says to do and perhaps
42:02
you're like, man, I just it's hard for me to get in the word
42:06
because I'm tired or because of my job or because of my family.
42:11
Listen to me. Don't make those excuses.
42:15
Obedience is serious and spiritual victory is 1 on the
42:18
battlefield of it. Get in God's word, get to know
42:21
him and love him. Your life will be filled with
42:24
triumph and victory as a result. That's God's promise for us.
42:29
I want us to all have that TWTW spiritually that will to win.
42:34
We go after the things of God with all we've got.
42:37
We're not trusting in ourself. We're not hiding our sin.
42:42
We're trusting in Him and obeying Him because spiritual
42:45
victory is 1 on the battlefield of obedience.
42:48
Would you join me as I pray, Lord?