Hello and welcome to our broadcast we're going to begin a series today about battles in the Bible stay tuned As you go through the pages of the Word of God, you'll find all the way from Genesis chapter 14 right through to the end of the book of Revelation, there's a lot of battles that are recorded there. And the Bible says these things happen unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. As we go through the Christian life, we are going to face some spiritual battles. The Bible says we need to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And so these battles are given to us here so that we can be admonished and learn from them on how we ought to handle things in our spiritual battles. In Genesis chapter 14, there's a war of the kings, which is the first war that is mentioned in the Bible. It's a large war by ancient standards, It was immediately following God's covenant relationship with Abraham, and Abraham got together 318 men and defeated everybody in those armies and rescued the captives. As a result of it, we see in Genesis 14, verse number 18, that it was God who gave Abraham the victory. But as you go through the scriptures, you'll find there was the Amalekites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Midianites, and the Moabites, and the Philistines. David had a battle with the Syrians. We see in 2 Samuel 8 and 14, the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. Moses, he had a battle with the Egyptians. And the victory goes to those who go with God. There's over 30 verses in the Bible that'll tell you that. Well, we have the battle that Joshua had at Jericho in Joshua chapter 6, and then the battle at Ai. Then Gideon had that battle with the Midianites in Judges chapter 7 and 8. The Philistines took the ark in 1 Samuel 4 and 11, 1 through 11. There's another battle. Saul had his battle against the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15, and David against Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. And once again, the Bible says these things happen, but they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. And so we're going to look at some of these battles in the Bible and see what we can learn on how to handle our spiritual battles today. I'm looking in the book of Joshua. Joshua is first mentioned in Exodus chapter 17 and verse number 9. And interestingly enough, it says, And Moses said unto Joshua, choose out men and go out fight with them amulek so the first thing we see about joshua is he is fighting joshua is a book of battles and it's written there so we can learn how to handle our spiritual battles today Joshua was about 40 years of age when he came out of Egypt, and he was one of only two adults who survived the wilderness wanderings and went in to the promised land. And that, of course, was Joshua and Caleb. Now, God, as we've said many times before, always has a remnant. He has a few people who are ready to do, no matter what it costs, what God wants them to do. And Caleb and Joshua were two of those men that stood in that particular category. Well, we start out here and we see here that Moses spoke to Joshua and said, you need to go out and fight with the Amalekites. As we come to the Book of Judges, we see now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you. as i was as i said unto moses from the wilderness and this lebanon even to the great river the river euphrates all the land of the hittites and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast there shall not Any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong, and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you vituals, for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. Now, as we've said, the Book of Joshua is a book about battles. They're going to cross over the Jordan. They're going into the Promised Land. Now, contrary to the hymns that we sing, this has nothing to do with going to heaven. They're going to cross over the River Jordan, which is a picture of death to self. And then the Promised Land is a story about the Christian life, the victorious Christian life here on earth. The first thing they do is they fight the Battle of Jericho, and as I said, the whole book of Joshua is a book of battles, and so there's no battles in heaven. It's talking about how to have the victory while we're living here on earth. So what Joshua has to do is claim the territory? He has to have confidence in the Lord and he has to have courage in the battles now again We want to emphasize that God is speaking here to Joshua. He is speaking to the leadership it says now after the death of Moses and the servant of the lord it came to pass that the lord said unto joshua the son of none moses minister he said moses my servant is dead now therefore arise and go over this jordan thou and all this people So Joshua is a leader. Now, we have two basic leaders in the scriptures. One has to do with being leader in the home, and one has to do with being a leader in the church. The leader in the home is the father. The Bible says, A-N-G, fathers. Bring those children up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. The husband is the head of the home, the Bible says. The wife is to submit to him. But he is to be the spiritual leader. He is to be the spiritual leader. And so what we have here is God talking to fathers. There's the lesson that's written for our admonition. If you're a husband, if you're a father, then God looks at you as a leader and will hold you responsible for how your family is going to turn out. not only fathers, but we have leaders in the church. And so we have fathers and husbands in the home, we have pastors in the churches, and if we would learn to do our jobs, things would be a lot better. Our families would certainly be a lot better if dad took his responsibilities, and our churches would be a lot better if pastors took their responsibilities. And so again, in verse one it says, now after the death of Moses, We read here that God said, Arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people. Arise and go. There's the key right there. Arise and go. Get something done. Get over that River Jordan and get on the other side, thou and all this people. then he said in verse three every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have i given unto you as i said unto moses he says from the wilderness of lebanon down through the river euphrates and the land of hittites under the great sea of the toward the going down of the sun he says this shall be your coast Well, that's a lot of property. What he promised them there was about 300,000 square miles, but they only claimed about 30,000 of it. But at least they went across and they did go over and they got on the other side of the river. Well, God gave him some pretty good promises here. He says in verse 5, not any man will be able to stand against you. He said, I'll be with you. And he said, I will not fail thee or forsake thee. And so we have the promise of victory over the enemy, promise of God's presence, promise of God's power. It doesn't get any better than that. You just have to get on with the job. So Joshua, he needed to claim the territory, he needed to have confidence in the Lord, and he needed to have courage in the battle, as leaders need to do today. Joshua said, if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose ye this day whom you will serve. And so it's simply a choice. Are you going to claim the territory? Are you going to have confidence in the Lord? Are you going to have courage? Well, there's an interesting thought. He says in verse 6, be strong and of a good courage. He says in verse 7, only be thou strong and very courageous. Now let me ask you a question. Can you be strong just because somebody commands you to be strong? Can you have courage because somebody commands you to have courage? God said, Be thou strong and very courageous. Even if God commands you to have strength and God commands you to have courage, can you have it? Actually, what God is saying here in verse number seven, if you observe to do according to all the law, which Moses, my servant, commanded thee, observe and then do it, and then he says in verse seven, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Then he said in verse 8, This book of the law shall not be part of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, then thou shalt have good success, then you will be strong as a byproduct, then you will have courage as a byproduct of observing what the Bible says, doing what the Bible says, doing all of what the Bible says, turning not And he said meditating in the Bible day and night. Now he's talking to the leadership here. He's talking to the pastors. He's talking to the parents, and especially the fathers. And he is saying, you need to observe. You need to do what you observe. You need to do it all. You don't need to turn. And you need to meditate, to meditate therein. Think it over. Paul the Apostle preached, and he said those Bereans, the first thing, they had a ready mind to listen. And the second thing was they went home and they searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things be so. Let me ask you a question. Do you remember what your pastor preached on last Sunday? Well, you ought to remember it because you should have been going home and searching the Scriptures every day to see if what he says is so. You just go there and have your little 45-minute sermon and hope he doesn't go overtime. You're not gonna grow that way you need to get into the Word of God need to get the Word of God in you Meditate and then then you will have good success Then you will have the courage then you will have the strength to face the battles. So meditate or no progress spiritually Meditate or no spiritual strength. No courage. No discernment. No understanding the truth of the matter is in verse 88 it says here If we do these things, then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, then thou shalt have good success." That word success has been translated understand 12 times, understanding 5 times, wise 12 times, and have skill 2 times, if we meditate in the Word of God so as to observe it to do it. Well, you might say, I'm just too busy to get into studying and meditating every day. Well, that is just a statement that comes from a deceitful heart. Why don't you just say the truth? I have no interest in the Word of God. It's simply a burden for me to study it. I have an interest in other things that I want to do. And if that is the case, I would examine myself to see whether I'm in the faith. And so the Lord said to Joshua, he said, I'll be with you, whithersoever thou goest. Jericho was only the first battle. Immediately following that battle, there was a confederation of kings that came together to destroy him. One battle was so vicious that the Lord had to have the sons stand still so Joshua would have more time to do the battling. Well, we read in verse number 10, then, here's the response, there's no committee meeting, there's no vote, there's no delay. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people saying, pass through the host and command the people saying, prepare you vituals for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. Now, the first thing he said you need to do is prepare vituals. Get some food together. What are we talking about here? Well, the Bible says we need to be nourished up in the Word of God. You can't go into these spiritual battles unless you're strengthened with the Word of God. And as we said, he said, be strong. How do you get strong? You eat. You eat. You get nourished in the Word, that's how you do it. You get in the Word and you let the Word get in you, and then the byproduct of that is strength. So he says, prepare vituals, get the nourishment that you need. We're gonna pass over this Jordan, we're gonna possess the land which the Lord thy God has given us. And he didn't say prepare a boat, you know, we got this, we got this Jordan River, we got to get across this." But he didn't say, prepare a boat. He said, prepare you vituals, get you the food. God will take care of the Jordan. All you got to do is determine whether or not you are going to claim the territory, whether you're going to have confidence in his promises, whether you're going to be conditioned, that is nourished in the Word, and then take your position as the commander-in-chief. If you're the father, if you're the pastor, then take your authority, get out there, and one of these days, one of these days, we're going to answer to God. why we didn't do it as leaders. Well, finally, we not only have the commanders, but at the end of the story, we have those who will get into compliance with the leadership, the followers, and they said down here in verse number 16, according as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so we will hearken unto thee, only the Lord Thy God be with thee as he was with Moses. The people said, we're with you. Let's go. And they went across into the promised land. Well, when they get on that other side, the first thing they're going to do is fight the battle of Jericho. We'll look at it in our next broadcast. Be sure and tune in.