Joshua 5:1-13 (John Lasken, 7-7-19)

The last two chapters of Joshua record the events as the nation passes from the east side of the

Jordan into the promised land. So now we're in chapter 5. In the setting of chapter 5,

Israel is in the promised land. Now there were a lot of people.

I don't know if you've ever figured out how many people there were. However, this is going to be a pretty sizable camp at Gilgal.

The best we can do is to go back to Numbers 26, and in Numbers 26,

God has told Moses to take a census. That's in verse 1.

And then in verse 52, he says that according to this census, you will allot the land according to the numbers of the census.

So we get an idea that this census is going to somehow relate to how many people. Well, eventually, you get to verse 51.

It adds up to 601 ,730. That's pretty detailed.

That would be the men. So you'd probably double that for the women. And then you add on a factor for children.

It's over 2 million. It's over 2 million people that were on the east side of the

Jordan under Shittim. And then the raging river. Last week, we showed a picture of that raging river was actually stopped, miraculously stopped.

The ark goes, standing on dry ground, and the people pass to the other side.

Eventually, God tells them, take 12 stones out of the river, bring them out, I'm going to have you set them up.

And Joshua, on his own, takes 12 more stones from the promised land and puts them in the middle of the river

Jordan, where the priests are standing with the ark. This would be his own personal reminder of what

God had done. And so now, they've traveled approximately eight miles from the crossing to Gilgal.

It's about another three -hour hike. And these guys had these heavy boulders, and the entire 2 million people travel up to Gilgal, and they're there.

So now they're in camp. And I start to think about what would have been like in camp at Gilgal.

What were they talking about? Well, perhaps they go back to the deliverance out of Egypt, the stories that they would have heard from their parents.

Perhaps they talk about the entire deliverance, the plagues, the Red Sea. And the stories about how they were trapped on one side of the sea, and Pharaoh's armies were coming, and God miraculously separates the waters of the

Red Sea, and they pass through. Were they talking about that? Or were they talking about Kadesh Barnea, where they had initially come to the reaches of the promised land?

And at God's direction, they sent 12 spies in. And we do know the story that the spies came back and said, this is an amazing land, flowing with milk and honey.

But there are giants, and we are as grasshoppers. Were they talking about that?

Because now they have just been on the east side, God stopped the waters, they passed over, and now they're in the promised land.

By the way, those giants are still there. Were they talking about the battles that they had fought along the way, the manna, the provisions, the pillar of fire, the cloud that would have guided them on the way?

The stones are now set up at Gilgal as a memorial.

Are the kids already asking, what's the deal with these 12 stones? Are they already telling the stories of God's deliverance?

Or are they thinking with excitement that we are now in a land flowing with milk and honey?

We're gonna read here as we go in, that they start to eat of the provisions of the land.

But there had to be the question, what's coming up, what's next? The question is, how were they gonna get prepared for what was to come next?

Jericho was standing two miles from where the camp was. And it isn't a hard stretch for me to think that some of them are taking a sneak peek at the city of Jericho, and it was impressively huge.

So are they talking about, well, what about the battle plans? We learned last week that 40 ,000 fighting men from Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh came with.

Now, those three groupings of people were going to make their residence on the east side, but by God's command, the fighting men came.

The fighting men came. In fact, they were the first ones to cross. And so now they're in camp.

It's not a hard stretch to think, what are the battle plans? This is going to require some organization.

They had to have thought, let's get ready, let's get ready for the attack.

But the question is gonna have to be asked, as they're in camp and as they're there, who are these people?

Are they a group that wandered through the desert for 40 years and saw their parents pass away before they could come in?

Are they a group of just of individuals or are they a people that have received the promise from Yahweh?

Is that who they are? Are they a group of people with a task in front of them? Or are they a group of people who are going to rely on Yahweh?

Where is their focus going to be? That is an important question as they're in camp.

1955, there were five young men, Jim Elliott, Pete Fleming, Ed McCauley, Nate Saint, and Roger Udarian.

And they had a heart for the Akha Indians. God had placed it on their heart to go to this people that hadn't been reached.

And so Operation Akha was launched in 1955. They flew over their land, over the shores of the river, and dropped supplies, and eventually felt like they had gained the trust of these people.

And so finally, bravely, relying on God, they decided to actually land.

And we know the story of what happened to those five men. Several years later,

Elizabeth Elliott and Rachel Saint, the widows of two, decided to go back.

What was on their mind? What was their focus? I mean, it could have been anger and the need for revenge.

It could easily have been that. Their husbands were taken away, seemingly early in their life.

Or were they struck with grief, and so they needed answers, and they would be seeking for the wise. Or were they going in there focused on whatever

God's mission was gonna be? They were going to meet opposition when they landed.

And so undoubtedly, there would be fear. Undoubtedly, this would be a very difficult time.

They needed to rely not on how their preparations were, but on how God's preparations would be.

They needed to understand that God needed to be their guide. They needed to focus on what

God would accomplish through their being there. And we know the end of the story, how through them, the

Akkas were reached for the word of God, an amazing story. So Israel's in the camp at Gilgal.

They knew that things were gonna happen. They knew that Jericho was standing right there. And by the way, they knew there was no going back.

Remember that river that we saw last week? It's still raging. So there's no way to go back. They're gonna need to go forward.

They needed to be prepared, but they, most of all, needed to understand that whatever success, whatever victories they were gonna have, were gonna be based on their relying on their identity as Christ's people, as God's people.

They needed to focus on God, not the task. They needed to focus on God.

Let's pray. Lord, as we open your word and we see how the nation of Israel is prepared, how they accept their identity, how the victories ahead would be cemented solid through their identity.

I pray that we get challenged ourselves as we are in the world, as we are faced with the struggles of the world.

As Elizabeth Ellett and Rachel Saint focused on God and what God could accomplish, so the nation of Israel will need to do that.

And so will we. So I pray, Lord, through these words, through this passage, we are taught your way, in Jesus' name, amen.

As we go into chapter five, they're two miles from camp.

The camp is two miles from Jericho, but the story doesn't start there. The story actually starts in the surrounding regions, in the land, if you would.

Now, 40 years earlier at Kadesh Barnea, the nation had sent 12 spies in.

Now, remember as we go up to it, the provisions that had occurred by God along the way.

How God had protected them from famine through Joseph in Israel, in Egypt.

And we know how they became slaves, and we know how God delivered them, and we know how God parted the Red Sea, and we know how

God brought them to Kadesh Barnea. But at Kadesh Barnea, they seemed to have forgotten all that God could do, and all they could see.

Although it was a land flowing with milk and honey, although it was a good place to be, all they saw were giants, and they saw themselves as grasshoppers.

They saw the circumstances of the task. Their vision at that point in time was not on what

God has already done for them, would promise to do for them, but their focus was there.

And so now the nation is in the land, and guess what? The giants are still there.

The nation is at Gilgal, and the scene is set up. Let me start out the first verse in chapter five.

As soon as all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the

Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan for the people of Israel, until they had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

So Joshua 5 opens up with a review of the people in the land, and their view, what the people of the land thought of when they looked at Israel.

Now as Israel comes to the land, it is occupied. The land was not vacant. The land is occupied.

And this passage is specifically going to identify the Amorites and the Canaanites.

Now, Deuteronomy 7 had already predicted what was going to happen, and it talked about when the Lord your

God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and get this, it clears away many nations before you.

This is God's job. The Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations, more numerous and mightier than you.

Now he lists two of them here in Joshua, but we do know that there are

Hittites throughout the land, and we know that they are mighty, and we know that they are more numerous. But we also know from Joshua chapter 2 that these kings, these mighty, numerous -peopled kings, their hearts have melted.

Remember the story, the spies come in from Shittim, and they go across.

Two spies go into the land, they end up in Jericho, and they end up in the home of Rahab, remember that story?

And she tells them that because of you, the stories that they have heard, how

God parted the Red Sea. Now, that's over 40 years earlier. Because what

God did for you and to the other Amorite kings of Og and Shehan on that side of the

Jordan, that the entire nation is in fear of you. Because of you, for the

Lord your God, he is in heaven above and on earth beneath.

So now we have the nation having gotten delivered through the

Red Sea, and that word has gotten there, and these mighty kings in fear of who these people are, now the

Jordan has been parted, and now they're in Gilgal, and they're getting ready to go to Jericho.

And if I read here in chapter five, verse one, that the Canaanites and the

Amorites' hearts melted because of what happened at the

River Jordan. So the word has spread around. I don't know how long it took for it to spread around, but the word has spread around that there is a group of people, and their

Lord is preparing the way before them. It says, according to that passage, the kings of the

Amorites and the Canaanites were in fear. Now, who are these people, the

Amorites and the Canaanites? This goes all the way back to Noah, okay?

Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth. Shem, one of his sons,

Arphaxad. That line goes to Abraham. That's the line that brings us to Christ, okay?

Ham is the father of Canaan, who is the father of the Amorites. So it's a different line coming out of Noah, but it's these people that are descendants that are in the land.

And it says that their sins have not yet been fulfilled, and God is going to cast judgment on them.

God is gonna have the nation of Israel, first of all, claim their land, and second of all, execute the judgment that needs to be executed.

So here we have the nation of Israel in camp, and here we have these multitudes of kings in the land.

On the surface, Israel is about to face some pretty powerful fighting forces, who are not gonna give up the land necessarily willingly, but it's there.

And on the other hand, we have Israel, who have fought battles, but they're a group of 2 ,000 people who have crossed the wilderness, and now they're encamped at Gilgal.

That's what it looks like on the surface, and if you were to put the odds, I would put the odds in favor of the nations that were already there, that were experienced in battle.

But in actuality, there were two types of people in the land, you see. There were those who were for God and with God, and then there were those who weren't.

In the land was a group of people that had received the promise from God, all the way back to Abraham, that this was to be your land.

There was only one group in the land that had the promises of God. So there was only one group who was really superior because they had

God, who was superior to all. Israel is in camp, so who is their identity?

As they're sitting there talking around the campfire, as they're sitting there thinking, there's

Jericho. As they're sitting there thinking, 40 ,000 of our brothers came over from Gad, Manasseh, Reuben, to fight with us.

Are they thinking about their capabilities, or are they thinking about their identity as a backup to it?

1974, I was serving in the Navy, and the Soviet Union was pretty powerful.

In fact, there were two main wars going on at that time. There was the Vietnam War, and that was the guns and bullets war.

And then there was something called the Cold War. The best I could describe the Cold War to a group of second graders was, assume that there is a playground, and there's a bully on the playground.

And everybody is afraid of this bully, and this bully gets whatever this bully wants, cuz nobody can stand up to him.

Then assume that a new family moves into town, and there is somebody who is strong enough and brave enough to stand up to that bully and says, as long as I'm here, you are not going to take advantage of the little kids.

And that's what the Cold War was. The Soviet Union, at that point in time, the Communist regime attempting to take over, and the

United States saying, as long as we're here, you're not going to do that. And so these two forces would go against each other all the time.

Now in 1974, the Soviet Union launched a brand new ship, the best that they had, the Kiev. She came out of the

Black Sea and went into this anchorage in the middle of Greece called Kithra. And there were about 15

Soviet warships in Kithra. And our country wanted to learn as much as we could about the

Kiev. So my ship was told, go in and anchor in Kithra in the middle of all of the

Russian ships and tell us what you can find out. We were outnumbered.

Seriously, if something happened, we were a good ship, but we were outnumbered. Why did we succeed?

Not because we were one ship. We succeeded because we had the United States behind us.

The Israelites are going to fight a battle against very significant foes.

And it's not because of who they were, and it's not because of whatever they've done. The reason that they would be able to go is because their identity was in Christ.

Their identity was in God. And so they're in camp. So Israel now is set up.

They can succeed, they can succeed because God is their way.

There's an analogy that's often drawn that says that as the book of Joshua unfolds, the nation of Israel crosses the river

Jordan and is able to occupy the promised land.

And the analogy is often drawn that says, as an individual, I come to Christ.

I become his child, the crossing of the river, if you would. And what's left in front of me is life and the struggles and the things of life, the obstacles of life.

So the analogy is often drawn. And you go through the book of Joshua, and you see when they rely on God, they succeed.

And when you see when they don't rely on God, they fail. And so that analogy can be drawn. In our life, we are going to encounter obstacles.

The question is, do we look at those obstacles from the world's point of view?

Do we look at them through the flesh? Do we think that we have what it takes to overcome these obstacles, or are we going to rely, are we going to have a

God view through all of these? So Israel is in Gilgal. The kings of the

Amorites and the Canaanites are in fear, and God is the one who's preparing the way.

Now comes the time for the nation to solidify their understanding of this identity.

The people that are there, these two million people, these 600 some odd thousand adult males, have traveled through the wilderness to get here.

And in that time, they have never practiced the act of circumcision. And so they have entered into the promised land, basically an unclean people.

God has sent them there, but basically an unclean people. Continuing in verse two, at that time the

Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives, and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.

By the way, the second time refers back to when the nation was coming out of Egypt, and they were circumcised the first time as a nation.

Circumcision, of course, started way before that in the time of Abraham, when they were circumcised as individuals.

And then Joseph goes down, and then the rest of his family comes down. But as they're coming up, they had never been circumcised while they were in captivity in Egypt.

And so as they were being prepared to leave, they circumcised the first time as a nation. It says here, circumcise them a second time.

So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel. And this is the reason why

Joshua circumcised them. All the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt.

Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born in the wilderness had not been circumcised.

For the people of Israel walked 40 years until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt perished, because they did not obey the voice of the

Lord. The Lord said to them, you will not see the land. Down to verse 7, so it was their children who he raised up in their place that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised.

They had not been circumcised on the way. Verse 8, when the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in place in camp until they were healed.

The Lord said to Joshua, today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of the place is called

Gilgal to this day. The nation comes out of Egypt circumcised.

Those who are born in the wilderness are not circumcised. So the narrative of this story tells us about Joshua, about how

God commands him to make flint knives. He says, all of those who were born are uncircumcised.

Circumcise them, stay in camp. And then it says, to remove the reproach of Egypt.

Now what's going on here, the reproach of Egypt, taking us all the way back to before the release, was that bondage that they had.

They were an unclean people in Egypt. And so they were under the slavery of the masters.

What is being talked about here is that the people had lost obedience to the covenant.

They were no longer a covenant people until they were circumcised. What the people needed to do in Egypt was to return to their identity through circumcision.

Now God acted through his grace and his love to deliver them. Then they were circumcised, okay?

And then they became obedient. But it's that identity, which the people are carrying with them through the wilderness, that they have been unwilling to get rid of them, that's gonna get in the way.

John Bunyan writes a story called Pilgrim's Progress. It's a great story. The story of an individual's procession through life.

It's a story of an individual named Christian. He starts out on his journey attempting to get to the celestial city.

But as he starts out, there is a pack, a burden on his back, that he doesn't know how to get rid of.

And he has a guide along the way who is going to help him get to where he needs to go called

Evangelist. But he's gonna have these other individuals who are gonna try to distract him on the way.

Worldly wise man is one of them. He says, go here, do this.

Or legality saying, go here and do this. But Evangelist keeps telling him, head towards the wicked gate.

Head towards the wicked gate. There's only one path, stay on that path. Eventually, Christian gets to that path.

And eventually, he gets to a town called Deliverance. And the backpack is relieved. And it's not until that backpack is released, that he is free now to walk without an unnecessary burden.

For the Christian, circumcision no longer is exactly what it was in the

Old Testament. It is not the removal of the foreskin. If you go into Romans 2, it says that circumcision for the believer is a circumcision of the heart.

It's that bondage that you have to the flesh that needs to be circumcised off of the heart.

If you go to Colossians 2 .11, it teaches that we are circumcised by Christ putting off the sinful nature.

The nation of Israel is in camp at Gilgal, and they're ready to move forward. But the first thing they've got to do is get rid of what doesn't belong.

And for them, that's circumcision. For them, that is accepting the covenant and performing their act.

For the believer, it is being circumcised of the heart and putting off of the sinful nature.

Unless we accept the circumcision of the heart, we are not gonna be free to walk in his way.

We are going to be held bondage to things that we shouldn't be carrying, like Christian with a burden on his back.

The reproach of Egypt for us is the reproach of the flesh. Those things that we do, that we enjoy doing, that we think don't matter because maybe we can control them.

But the victory for Israel was only gonna be accomplished after they got circumcised.

For us, the victory is made sure when we accept the circumcision of the flesh.

So Israel obeyed. All the males were circumcised. Now, for them, let's be honest, there was pain.

This would have been painful. But they healed.

The pain was temporary. Those things that you're holding on to that need to be circumcised out of your heart.

It's not fun to remove those out of your heart. It seems painful for a season to remove those things that you enjoy doing and that you think you can keep separated from your relationship with God.

But if we want to be identified with God, we've got to do that. We've got to accept the temporary pain of sacrificing those things, and we've got to turn ourselves to God.

So having finally obediently accepted and being circumcised, having put on their new identity,

Israel is now ready to celebrate their new existence. And so we go on in Joshua 5, and I start reading in verse 10.

While the people of Israel were in Campton Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho.

And the day after Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.

And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people, but they ate of the fruit of Canaan that year.

Verse 10 indicates they kept the Passover. I talked earlier when we were doing communion. Exodus 12 gives us the regulations for Passover, what needs to be done, how it needs to be done.

Specifically in verse 48, it says that no male who is uncircumcised can partake of the

Passover. One of the requirements for partaking the

Passover for the males was to be circumcised. That's why I know that the nation that was finally encamped at Gilgal, those individuals had never practiced

Passover, cuz they weren't circumcised. Now whether their parents did it or not, I don't know, but this was their first time to actually experience the

Passover. The timing is amazing. Passover was to be on the 14th day of the first month.

Guess where they are? On the 14th day of the first month. God has provided for them, has brought them across the river at flood, and has brought them into the promised land, and encamped them at Gilgal.

And they have gone through the circumcision, and they have healed, and it's the 14th day of the month, and they can celebrate the

Passover. And the fruit of the land is now ready for them. Passover is significant because it is the opportunity for the nation to remember the deliverance, what he would provide before them.

Exodus 23, 15 said, nobody can come empty handed. And Joshua 5, 11 says, the fruit of the land was already ready for them.

God has provided them. They could now celebrate who they were and what

God has given in the provision. Their identity is ready, and they celebrate. So God's now going to provide for Israel in ways that he did in the wilderness with manna, with water, with quail, he is going to provide for them with the fruit, the milk, and the honey of the land.

They relied on God for their existence. They're relying on God for the existence now, but he's provided for them.

And so now they are going to partake of the land. Now I want you to understand two things.

They still have to work the land. This isn't just an all -inclusive resort, but they would receive the blessings of the land.

Reading out of Deuteronomy 8, for the Lord, your God, is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out of the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones and iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

It's available. It's gonna take some effort, but there are going to be blessings. For us today, the old sacrificial system, the old festivals, it's all fulfilled in Christ.

We don't need priests anymore. It's not a yearly sacrifice anymore, but we do get to celebrate, and we did celebrate this morning at the

Lord's table. We can remember, we can celebrate what God has given. Do this often as you do it in remembrance of me.

Now we do that here at communion, at the table, but this should be a lifestyle, what we do, the

Lord's prayer, the things that are in the Lord's prayer. Give us this day our daily bread,

God's provisions daily. We receive from him daily. Scriptures, John 15, we're actually grafted into a vine.

He gives us, he's given us his Holy Spirit. So the blessings that Israel has received, and that they are receiving, and that they are partaking, they are now ready to move forward in ways that are gonna be amazing.

You, my brother and sister, we are ready to face the trials and what there is in life, because we have

God, and we have what he gave. So the narrative now is going to turn to the next step as we go on.

The nation is now ready. Their identity is good. We've seen what's going on in the land around them.

They're partaking of God's blessings. And so the narrative is gonna go on as we go into Joshua 5.

With Joshua, the leader, taking a look and seeing what's gonna come next.

Now, if we go back to Joshua chapter 1, the promises that were given.

Arise, go over Jordan. Every place where your feet trot, I will give to you.

No man will be able to stand against you. And then he says, be strong and of good courage. Observe all of my law.

Do not be afraid. Don't let the book of the law depart out of thy mouth. These were all given before the spies.

These were given to Joshua. And so as we start in chapter 13, when Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked.

Behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said, are you for us or are you for our adversaries?

Now, I feel for Joshua cuz he's got a heavy responsibility. He's got 2 million people.

He's got fighting men ready to go. They've done the circumcision. They've had the provisions of God, but Jericho is sitting there.

Something has got to be done. He is the leader. He is now established as the leader. And what is he going to do?

And he's out there doing a recon mission, looking at what's out there. And he sees an individual with a drawn sword.

And the first thing he's thinking, all right, game on. And so he goes up to the guy and he says, who are you for?

Are you for us or are you for our adversaries? Joshua is now focused on what has to happen.

And he said, no, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped him and said, what does my

Lord say to his servant? The commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you're standing is holy.

And Joshua did so. In the twinkling of a moment,

Joshua's focus went from, what do I gotta do next? Seeing a person with a sword, okay, well, let's line up the alliances to all of a sudden,

I am in the very presence of God. What Joshua needed more than anything else at that moment was an assurance of God's presence.

Jericho was a fortress. It still is a fortress. Jericho probably didn't have the weapons, and that still is true.

But when he encountered this person, and this person spoke to him, I am the captain of the

Lord's army, Joshua got his focus right. He saw the man with the sword, but then he saw that that man was with God.

Now, if you go forward about 558 years, there's a story of Elisha.

And he's in a valley, and he's with his servants, and they are surrounded by hosts of enemies. A fighting force, and the servant says, we're toast.

And Elisha says, open my servant's eyes, would you please? And the servant looked around, and surrounding them was a host of God's army.

That's the vision. You see, the nation of Israel is coming in as a ragtag group of 2 million people who have been through the wilderness, but now they're in the promised land.

Where God is going to be the power source. So Joshua responded with worship and in fear.

These words are an encouragement to Joshua. They should be an encouragement to you and to me. Don't see the task, see the

God behind the task. Realize your identity is not defined by who you are, what you can do, or how you're gonna take care of things.

But your identity should be identified in what is your relationship with God, cuz he is the one who is supreme.

So how do we apply this to who we are? For the nation, it's pretty simple.

They have an opportunity to move forward. And it's an amazing opportunity because God is there.

For us, it's the same story. We have an opportunity to go forward. And it's an amazing opportunity cuz

God is gonna go before us. Joshua 5 describes God's hand in preparing the way that we're giants.

Back at Kadesh Barnea, they were impenetrable giants. Today, they're giants whose hearts are melting.

We have the nation of Israel who had to cleanse themselves, who had to obediently go through the covenant act of circumcision.

And they kept that covenant act. Their identity is now lined up with what God wants them.

Israel had the chance then to celebrate the Passover and to partake at the land.

Joshua learned that even facing the challenges of a city like Jericho, there's

God. Four things I want to apply to you today. Number one,

I want you to recognize that God has brought us to this point in our life. God has brought us to where we are, and he is faithful.

He is faithful in his blessings for us. You see, I don't have to be the one that defeats the opposition.

I need to be part of it, but I'm not the one that defeats the opposition. I get to rely on God, because I am his child.

There is absolutely no opposition that I am gonna face that he can't take care of. And by the way, the foe,

Satan, has already been defeated. Think about how Jesus dealt with Satan when he was tempted in the wilderness.

Think about how Jesus obediently went to the cross, defeated it, defeated it.

The foes are defeated. They are not beyond you if you are relying on God.

The second, be willing to remove any and all elements in your life that are in the way of your fellowship with God.

Remove them, get them out, even if removing them feels uncomfortable, even if it feels painful, because it's something that you want to hold on to.

Get rid of those things that are not in line with God, even if there's temporary. Only once the process of cleansing is in process will

I be free of those constraints that are holding me back. Look to the ministries, look to the opportunities.

Don't look to the things you want to hold on to. Three, take of his provisions. Be fed by his spirit.

Celebrate what he has done for you. He promises you a life of abundance. He has said,

I have come, that you might have life and that you might have it in the full. Abide in him.

Be fed, grow, bear fruit. Don't be satisfied with what the world will try to tell you is good enough.

Because good enough is not good. What God has is good. And four, look at God.

Don't be overcome by the enormity of the task, the obstacles, whatever comes before you.

There are hosts of God's army that are there and that God brings to you.

Let go of the task and surrender to his will, to his lead. He knows a better way.

In closing, I want to say this. By surrendering my identity, by putting on his identity, however difficult, however painful it may be,

I can, I will experience life and victory. I will experience his kingdom.

My life will be better, your life will be better, your hope will be sure.

Now if you're here today and you have never accepted Jesus as your

Lord and Savior, you cannot claim this identity. But the good news is that today you can accept him as your

Lord and Savior. And you can claim his identity. And this power will be available to you too, today.

You can do that. If you are ready, after the service, talk to myself, somebody who maybe brought you here.

Talk to them about what it means to surrender yourself and to become a child of God. Get that identity.

Now if you are saved, my challenge to you today is to make a decision to be his child, his worker, his salt.

Not doing it on your own, but doing it at him. Experience life, experience it to the full.

Worship team, if you would come forward and let's pray. Lord, the nation of Israel was encamped in the promised land.

You had brought them there. That there were still things to get in order. Their identity needed to be made sure.

Yes, Lord, you had prepared the way. You had melted the hearts of the kings. But the nation of Israel started to experience you, celebrate you, the provisions.

They needed to see not the task, not the obstacles, but you that are

God and supreme over all. So with us, Lord, open our eyes to see you in the world as you lead us.