Worshipping from a Place of Victory
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Tonight, we are talking about worshipping from a place of victory. The Bible tells us that Jesus has already paid the price, He has already won the war, and yet, we get defeated time and time again.
There are many reasons why people get defeated, and I cannot address them all tonight, but I pray that you will take these principles, apply them to your life, and learn to worship from a place of victory.
Why are we to worship from a place of victory?
Well, think about how we pray, and think about how we worship. We spend all our energy worrying if God will give us victory, and yet God has already said that He has won.
That’s what He tells Joshua. In v. 2, He says to Joshua, “I have given you the city.”
The walls of Jericho were tall, but the hand of the Lord is much stronger than any Jericho that you will face in your life.
In order to worship from a place of victory…..
I. Worship by Promise
I. Worship by Promise
As Christian people, we are a confessional people. We confess one Lord, one baptism, and one salvation. When we are confessing, we are admitting to Jesus that we trust in Him. This is something that is between us and God.
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
We are also a people of profession.
This means that we don’t just confess one Lord, one baptism, or one salvation, but that we publicly declare it. To be a professing Christian means to be a bold witness for the Lord, unashamed of His life, death, and resurrection.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
But not only are we a people of confession, not only are we a people of profession, we are a people of promise.
At the end of the book of Joshua, we see that God will accomplish everything that He said that He would. When God said that they would inherit the land of Canaan, He meant it, and He followed through.
Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
So, we are saved by confession and profession, and we worship by promise.
God has already promised that Joshua was going to have victory if he was willing to be obedient. And because Joshua was obedient, the Lord was able to use Joshua the way that He wanted to use him.
Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.
And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.
A. Impossible Situations are Not Impossible to God
A. Impossible Situations are Not Impossible to God
God has called the people of Israel to do something impossible. He has called them to conquer the entirety of Canaan, and now they are facing the walls of Jericho.
We know how the story goes. v. 1 tells us that Israel has now placed a seige on the city of Jericho, and they aren’t letting anyone in and they aren’t allowing anyone to leave. They have them trapped there.
However, there are two major problems with conquering Jericho. There are two walls that run parallel to each other surrounding the 8 acre city of Jericho. There was the inner wall, and the outer wall, and about 15 feet in between them. It was easy to lay seige to this city, but to conquer it seemed like it was never going to happen.
The reason we know that it was intimidating to the people because the spies came back in Numbers 13 talking about the challenges that they were going to face.
Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large;
The faithless spies came back in a spirit of defeat. Even though God promised them victory, they didn’t believe in the promises of God, therefore they didn’t have victory.
We cannot make that mistake in our lives.
We must learn to worship God by promise. That means, when God declares it, we can believe it.
Now, knowing what God has promised us and actively worshipping in those promises are two different things.
I heard another preacher say that believing a promise is like accepting a check, but living by those promise is like endorsing it then cashing it.
Application
Application
Now Jesus tells His disciples John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Well, He tells Joshua the same thing in v. 2. “I have already given you victory!”
The only thing that Joshua had to do after that point was live in victory.
Well, if God has promised us that He has overcome anything that we can face, how does that play out in the real world.
B. God Overcomes Impossibility by Using Less-Than-Ordinary Methods
B. God Overcomes Impossibility by Using Less-Than-Ordinary Methods
You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.
And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”
Time and time again we see that God will take something that is overtly dissapointing and use it for extraordinary purposes. Where all others thought that Israel might have built ladders, large towers, or even battering rams, God called them to march around the city one time for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day.
We tend to think that great victories require acts of greatness, but that’s not true. What victory requires more than anything is sheer obedience to the Lord. And not just obedience when it makes sense, but obedience when it goes against what we might consider to be wise.
For, “my thoughts are not your thoughts says the Lord.”
What is taking place here is more than just a plan to test the obedience of Joshua, but it is a plan that is being put into place to show the power and the might of God.
Can you imagine the fear of all of Israel’s enemies after today?
They’ll say, “At first we thought we were all scared for no reason because all they did was march around the wall…but then, all they did was march around the wall and they defeated Jericho. If they can defeat Jericho by walking, what chance do we have?”
God performs great acts of victory in ways that seem like defeat to the world.
Application
Application
This is what I hear from people..
“I wish God would give me more money. If I had a better job and more money, then I’d be able to get ahead and I’d be happy.”
The only way that I can respond to that is, “What are you doing with the money that God has already given you to manage?”
Here’s the truth…God will never give us more if we aren’t using what He’s already given us.
In the same way, someone might say, “I’m praying that God is going to grow our church! If He would bless us in that way, we’d know that He’s with us.”
Again, my response is, “What are you doing with the church that God has already given us?”
I think of the story of the talents. Jesus tells a parable of a man who gave his servants something called a talent which is a unit of money. To one he gave 5, to another two, and to another one.
Here’s how that story goes…
He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’
His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
“But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.
So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.
So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
This represents so well what I am trying to say. That God will never give us more unless we learn to use what we have for His glory. Even the most low-risk stewardship of putting money in a bank and drawing interest is better than wasting what God has already given you in your life.
Here’s what Jesus says at the end of this parable..
‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
The secret to vibrant and wholesome worship in your life is to rest in the promises of God. To rest in the promises of God we have to know them, apply them, and continue in them everyday.
Whatever God has given you to do, whatever He has blessed you with, take it seriously, and He will bless you with more.
I don’t know who said it, but I do like it, “We have all of God that we want.”
So, in your life, worship God based on His promise that He will overcome everything in our lives.
II. Worship By Faith
II. Worship By Faith
When we say faith, we are talking about trust.
When we trust in someone, we do what they say without a second guess. We don’t argue with them, we believe that they know what they are doing because we trust them. Therefore, to say I trust in God means that I am willing to take action.
Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.”
And he said to the people, “Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord.”
So it was, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.
The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets.
Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.”
A. Worshipping Without a Word
A. Worshipping Without a Word
Did you know that you don’t have to talk to worship? This is because worship is not about the words we say but about the commands that we obey.
Talking is not required to display faith. In this passage of Scripture, it was silence that was the display of faith.
Yes, we are a people of both confession and profession, but there is also the matter of the heart. To make a confession or a profession with a doubting heart isn’t a confession or a profession at all. It’s just empty words.
In v. 10, they were commanded to spend six days worshipping in silence.
How were they worshipping? They were being obedient to do what God told them to do.
B. Worshipping in the Waiting
B. Worshipping in the Waiting
Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets.
And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days.
But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times.
Here is what God was trying to teach them as they obediently walked around the walls of Jericho and waited for God to act.
We are a people that need to learn this principle. That God is not in a hurry when it comes to accomplishing His purposes. If we’re not careful, we will get to the place where we don’t see immediate results and then we’ll begin to lose faith in what God has told us to do.
Or, even worse, we’ll try to make it happen ourselves because we know it’s going to happen anyway!
Imagine what kind of story this would be if on the 3rd day of walking, a rogue group of Israelites got frustrated and decided they didn’t want to wait on Joshua to tell them to shout. So, instead, they go and they get the battering ram and the ladders, they begin to beat down the gate and they began to climb the walls.
I’ll tell you what would have happened, they would have suffered defeat.
In the very next chapter, that is chapter 7, we’re going to see the cost of disobeying the instructions of God.
Instead, here is what Isaiah says in the 28th chapter.
Whoever believes will not act hastily.
Let me help you…if God has already established it, and if God has really called us to it, we won’t have to force it. It will be the most supernatural and unimpressive thing that you could imagine, and yet, it will all make perfect sense in the end.
What we have to do in our lives is understand that in times of waiting, God is not letting anything go to waste.
He is actively working each and everyday. It’s our job to do what we know we ought to do and leave the rest up to God.
This all boils down to trust…
And what we have to trust is that God’s plan is a plan that is far beyond anything that we could ever dream of ourselves.
But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
That is, there are long seasons of waiting in every Christian’s life, and to try and get around those seasons of waiting will lead to defeat.
Therefore, we have to learn patience, and we need to learn to worship even while God has us in a season of waiting.
Not only does worshipping by faith mean to be obedient, not only does it mean learning to wait…
C. Worshipping in Victory
C. Worshipping in Victory
And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city!
Now, when we are trusting the Lord over a circumstance, over an ailment, whatever it may be, we need to understand that we are worshipping God from a place of victory and we are not asking Him for the victory.
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
What Jesus said to His disciples is that He’s already won! It’s the same thing that Joshua tells God’s people. “The Lord has already given you the city!”
Do you know the reason we are a confessional faith?
We are a faith of confession and of profession because we are claiming the promise that God has given us in His word. That’s all we’re doing. We’re not claiming victory based on our word or our actions, we’re claiming victory based on God’s word.
What we are doing is we just agreeing with God by repeating and believing what God has already accomplished.
Now, sometimes people try to take messages like this and apply it to their dreams and their aspirations…well, your dreams and you aspirations may or may not come true…but one thing that will come true is that you can conquer what God has already said that you can conquer.
He said to Joshua, “I have given you the city.”
God says to us, “I have given you salvation.”
We can boldly declare that, and we can boldly claim that, and we can do it in faith.
So, in the Christian life, we worship by promise…we worship by faith…
III. We Must Never Compromise
III. We Must Never Compromise
We will compromise on preference, we will compromise on opinion, but one thing that we cannot compromise on is the Word of God.
That was God’s criteria for Joshua, and that’s God’s criteria for us!
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
In other words…Joshua, don’t you compromise on the authority and wisdom of My words.
In order that we don’t compromise as a church, there are some principles that God shows us.
A. We Cannot Compromise In Success
A. We Cannot Compromise In Success
Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.”
The walls are down, God has given them the victory…and to compromise now would be a total failure.
And yet, God gives us victory in our lives, God saves us, redeems us, and once we find that success, we get relaxed and we begin to compromise in the mission that God has assigned us.
God says here in verses 17-19, “Everything in this city is to be dedicated to me.”
Achan disobeyed this command, he compromised, and in chapter 7, Israel is defeated and the family of Achan is judged.
We find the success that God has given us, and we try to steal His glory. When the blessings come, it’s as if our faith in God disappears. We must be just as intense in our obedience to God in the success as we are in the failure.
B. We Must Not Compromise to Sin
B. We Must Not Compromise to Sin
In fact, not only must we not compromise to sin, we must destroy it in our lives!
And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
There are many people who have a problem with this in the Bible. They seem to forget that this was war, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience.
They also seem to forget that God is the judge of both the living and the dead…and that one way or another God is going to destroy all sin that is on the earth.
Now, church, God takes sin very seriously. Sometimes we don’t, but God always does. What we think is not that big of a deal is something that is contemptible to God.
We cannot compromise on sin. That doesn’t mean that we will ever be perfect, but it does mean that we will not tolerate sin, especially the sin in our own lives.
Just like God purged the city of Jericho from the stain of sin, we must also ask Him everyday to purge the sin from our heart. If we don’t compromise is just around the corner.
C. We Must Not Compromise in Our Faithfulness
C. We Must Not Compromise in Our Faithfulness
But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, “Go into the harlot’s house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.”
And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel.
It would have been a great sin and a great tragedy if Rahab would have been forgotten and died in judgement.
But God is a God of faithfulness and would have never allowed her to be forgotten. What Rahab did was respond to God in faith. And the Bible says that those who call on God in faith will be saved.
Therefore, if God is faithful to us, we ought not compromise in our faithfulness to Him.
Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
Now, since we are simply stewards of God’s blessings, we must be faithful. It is require of us.
To be faithful means to be
Reliable and consistent.
Truthful and accurate
It means to have loyalty
Most importantly, it means to be full of Faith and full of trust. That is, to have inner conviction and outward reliability. It is a matter of both the heart and of our actions.
We must not compromise in success, we must not compromise to sin, we must not compromise in faithfulness…and what this means is to..
D. Guard Our Hearts
D. Guard Our Hearts
But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.
And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
They burned the city…God didn’t even want sin to have an opportunity to manifest itself in the camp of Israel.
And yet, we think that we can be in places where sin abounds and it not overtake us. But friend, here is what the Bible says.
Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
To listen to, to watch, or to go places that are actively promoting sin is not a wise way to guard our hearts.
Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?
That is, can you be around sin and not sin? No.
We must do all that we can to avoid those sins that have taken over our life. The way that we remain uncompromising is we protect our heart.
The way that we protect our heart is we are honest about what sin is.
The way that we can be honest about what sin is staying true to God’s word.
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We are talking about worshipping from a place of victory. God has already given us the city…it’s up to us to obey.
