Today we're in chapter 8 here in the book of Joshua. We're looking at a chapter that deals with victory after defeat. And so let's begin reading here in Joshua chapter 8. We'll read verses 1 and 2. And we'll get into our city Joshua chapter 8 verses 1 and 2. Then the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise. Go up to AI. See, I have given into your hand the king of AI, his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to AI and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it. Now let's begin by remembering what has taken place. Israel has been defeated. They had taken the fortified city of Jericho. And because God had gone before them, they had been extremely victorious and were very, very high, if you will. They were very excited and enthusiastic. And so they now are going to that second city, a small city, a city that had a small population, was not as fortified and was not going to be as much of a problem to them, at least they thought. And so they went in and they attempted to take the city, but they had been defeated. And they had been defeated by a very small army. In the defeat, 36 men had died. Their army had been routed, as we saw, and the people had been traumatized. And so this defeat that they had suffered there had caused Joshua to fall in his face before God. He was shaken and he was broken. He didn't have a clue what had happened. Why was his army beaten so badly and so easily? And so he began to pray. And as he prayed, God made it clear to him why this thing had happened. He made it very clear, and they discovered this, that someone had taken that which was forbidden, a man by the name of Akin. Akin had taken some goods from A.I. And as we saw, he had hidden these goods in his tent. And once that was discovered, the sin was dealt with and the nation would be able to be victorious. If it had not been taken care of, the nation would have continued to suffer defeat. And so what happens, and this is a principle I want to begin to study with. I want you to see this with me. What happened was Joshua dealt very swiftly with Akin. The family as well as the father were executed.  No, the biblical principle that we can take from that is a very practical one. And you need to note this in your heart. It's a very important principle. I cannot overemphasize this. It's something important for every believer, and that is this. Sin needs to be dealt with swiftly and decisively. It needs to be dealt with swiftly and decisively. Sin is not like a pet that we keep on a chain, that we allow ourselves to be entertained by once in a while. There are people who have sins in their lives that they treat like they're a pet of some sort, like it's just part of them. Sin is not to be treated lightly. Sin is destructive. It has to be dealt with. And unless we get that in our hearts, we're gonna continue to have defeats in our lives. The Lord doesn't allow us to continue in sin. God has such a great love for us that he convicts us. But sometimes when we're convicted, somebody may bring a word to us and say, you know, I'm concerned for you. And sometimes when we're convicted, we take that as condemnation, or we look at people as if they're judging us or they're intolerant of us and don't understand our humanity. In reality, what we're doing is making an excuse to stay in sin. We're making an excuse because we like that sin. We don't want to depart from it. We enjoy it. Oh, it's a small sin. It's very small sin. It's no big sin. It's just a little sin. What harm can it do? We have that attitude. Sin, when it's revealed, needs to be dealt with. Because if it isn't dealt with, it takes over your life. That which at one time may have been a small problem can become a large problem. And all of us who've been in the Lord for a while understand exactly what I'm saying. You understand what I'm trying to say. Because if you don't deal with something that you have, it grows up and it becomes a real problem later on. There's a scripture in the book of Ecclesiastes. It's found in chapter eight, verse 11. And it reads, because a sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully said in them to do evil. We have to deal with things quickly. When the Holy Spirit speaks to you and says, this is sin. Instead of arguing with him and saying, but it's a small, it's not a big deal. It's just a little thing. I'm still growing up. Allow me to keep it. It's a pet. It's something that I'm used to. The Lord will say to you, what do you want to be? You want to be like me? Or do you want to remain as you are? Do you want to be blessed? Or do you want to be chastened? It's up to you. What do you want? And so in the case of AI, AI represents more than simply a city. It also reminds us of our own flesh and how the flesh ought to be dealt with. And so Joshua dealt swiftly with aching and the sin was dealt with. And it was not only done in a decisive way, it was done in a swift way. As a result of that, we already saw this. The people raised up a heap of stones to remind them of what had happened. And the Lord turned from his anger.  God is very compassionate. God is very merciful. God is very quick to forgive. And God will turn from chasing in us when we have repented. And once again, we'll bless our lives. The Bible makes that very clear. In Micah chapter seven, verse 18, the question is asked, who's a God like you? Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. And so God turns his anger away from the children of Israel and God now is going to move amongst them again and he's going to give them victory. That's what we're looking at here in the first two verses of Joshua chapter eight. And so now that the sin has been dealt with, God once again gives Joshua orders. Notice how he begins. He begins with a word of encouragement and he tells them this. He says, do not be afraid nor be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you arise, go to A.I.C. I have given into your hand the king of A.I. His people, his city and his land. Do not be dismayed. Do not be discouraged. God is going to do a work. And so he begins with an encouragement. Don't be afraid, don't be dismayed because after confession of the sin and the dealing with it, God is now once again working on their behalf. The wisest thing again for us to do is when we have a sense of conviction in our hearts that God is not pleased with this. And the way that we'll know what God is pleased with or not pleased with is not simply by going on our feelings, by the way, it's through reading the word of God and seeing the things that are pleasing to him and the things that he forbids for us. And as we do that, we begin to see that God is not pleased and we have a sense of conviction. A lot of times that conviction will come through a Bible study. Somebody will be listening to the word being taught. And as they're hearing the word and it's being divided and presented within their own hearts, they begin to say, that's something I'm guilty of. And sometimes God will use that. He often uses that to bring them to repentance. As a matter of fact, that's how he brings them to repentance. And if they are willing to repent, they can turn from their sin and they can be restored to the Lord. And sometimes people don't understand the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I remember a lady who approached me after a Bible study and she said this to me. She said, you know, pastor, I brought my son today to church and he hasn't been in church for a long time. And so what you were speaking about today, when you started sharing about certain sins and things and began to share about those things openly with us, well, those are the sins that my son is guilty of. And so after church, he walked up to me, she said, and he said to me, did you speak to the pastor and tell him what I've been doing? So she says, and this is the truth, she says to me, so, please, next time, don't say those things that you said today. It's called conviction. You know, it's not as if I'm following that young man around and seeing where he's going and what he's doing. That's the Holy Spirit. And so many times what happens when we're convicted is we try to run from it. We try to avoid it. It's like when I was a little boy, I didn't get very many spankings when I grew up. I know there's some in here who got a lot of spankings and you may have deserved it. I deserved it, but I didn't get a lot of them. My dad just didn't give me spankings. My mom would hit me with her slipper, but my dad wouldn't hit me. My dad just wouldn't. He only gave me, I can tell you, maybe two or three spankings in my entire life. I deserved many more, but when he tried to spank me, I would, he would take me by the hand and he'd say, I'm gonna have to discipline you son. And he would put his hand back to give me a swat. And I would start jumping and I would move and I would jump towards his hand so he wouldn't swing. So he'd hold back and he'd say, stop moving around. And I'd say, no, and I would jump more. My dad would eventually start laughing. He couldn't take it. And then he'd just say, I'll just don't do it again. So I never got spankings, you know? I never got spankings. But as I grew up, the Lord began to discipline me. And I tried to do the same thing with Jesus that I did with my dad. I would hop around. No, that's not, you know, it's okay. No, it's no problem at all. I'll be okay. I tried to play the same thing. And that may not make much sense to some of you, but I took the same tactics of avoiding discipline when the conviction of the Holy Spirit came. And I'd run when I was convicted. I would move out. I would say, oh, that's not right or that's a judgmental thing or they don't understand the grace of God. And I would make excuses to continue in my sin. So I know what I'm talking about when I say, when God's Holy Spirit speaks to you, confess, repent, turn from it immediately and follow him. If you do, he is rich in mercy and he will work in your life. If you don't, he is very patient and he is going to deal with you. And so I learned a long time ago, repent when the Holy Spirit speaks. And that's what's happening here. God is very merciful. Now, if I don't repent, then I'm not going to be blessed. Proverbs 28, 13 says he who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. So if I try and cover it, try to hide it, I'm not going to be blessed by the Lord. Now, since the sin is dealt with, God will once again be with him and they're going to have victory. Now, even as the Lord is saying here in verse one, where he says, I have given into your hand the king of AI, his people, his city and his land, that's something that has already been promised to the children of Israel. Deuteronomy 31, 7 and 8 says Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.   And so all the people of war that's being spoken of here, all the large fighting force is called by God to go in and to do battle. Verse two, it says you shall do to AI and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, only its spoil and its cattle, you shall take as booty for yourselves, lay an ambush for the city behind it. And so when they took Jericho, they weren't allowed to take any of the spoil for themselves, they took the gold, the silver, bronze and iron, but they consecrated that to the treasury of the Lord. The city, including the population, as well as all livestock were utterly destroyed. But this time, they're given permission to take the spoil and livestock for themselves. The spoils of war will belong to them. And so he says, it's going to belong to you and so I want you to lay an ambush for that city. Verse three, so Joshua arose and all the people of war to go against AI. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. He commanded them saying, behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And it will come about when they come out against us at the first, as at the first, that we shall flee before them. For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, they're fleeing before us as at the first, therefore we will flee before them. And so AI at this time, according to verse 25 has a population of 12,000 people. That's still a small city, but Joshua has learned his lesson. Remember in the first campaign, he'd been advised to take a small force. He'd been advised to take a force of some 3,000 men, but this time he's bringing 30,000 proven military men. And he has a basic strategy. He divides his forces into three sections. He has men prepared to sack and burn the city. He has what is called a decoy group. And he has 5,000, you'll see this in verse 12, who are going to be lying in wait. Now, in verse seven, it says, then you shall rise from the ambush, seize the city for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. It will be when you have taken the city that you shall set fire, set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the Lord, you shall do, see, I've commanded you. So God had caused Israel to be defeated in their first campaign, but now he's saying, I'm going to give you victory. Even though you have overwhelming numbers, you will still be receiving a victory through me. You see the Bible says in Proverbs 21, 31, the horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the Lord. And so they've learned their lesson. They're going to rely on the Lord in their battle. And so he's given him a battle plan. In verse eight, it will be when you've taken the city that you shall set the city on fire.  Well, verse nine, Joshua therefore sent them out. And they went to lie in ambush, stayed between Bethel and AI on the west side of AI. Joshua lodged that night among the people. Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel before the people to AI. And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near. And they came before the city and camped on the north side of AI. Now there was a valley between them and AI. It was called Chino Valley. And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and AI on the west side of the city. And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. And so the armies camped out northwest of AI. They're posting themselves, they're waiting to attack. While that's taking place, Joshua prepares the other contingents for the parts that they're soon to play. Verse 14, it happened when the king of AI sought that the men of the city hastened and rose early and went out against Israel to battle. He and all his people at an appointed place before the plane, but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city and Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them and fled by the way of the wilderness. So all the people who were in AI were called together to pursue them and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. There was not a man left in AI or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel. The plan works and as this plan is now working, Israel is about to destroy AI. They think they're about to defeat Israel once again. They come out after him. As we just noted, Joshua pretended that they were running away, drawing them after them and it left the city open. These people of AI had a certain attitude. It was an attitude of pride and sufficiency. And the Bible tells us in Proverbs 16, 18 that pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. And they're about now to be destroyed and they're thinking and they're overconfident but they're not aware that it's about to take place that the trap is about to spring. Verse 18, the Lord said to Joshua, stretch out the spirit that is in your hand toward AI for I will give it into your hand and Joshua stretched out the spirit that he had in his hand toward the city. So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place. They ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand. They entered the city and took it and hastened to set the city on fire. And when the men of AI looked behind them, they saw and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that. And the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. Now, when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of AI. Then the others came out of the city against them. So they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side, some on that side and they struck them down so that they let none of them remain or escape. But the king of AI, they took alive and brought him to Joshua. So in verse 18, it speaks of him raised in a javelin. That's a signal, the signal for the army to enter and sack the city. But not only was it a signal for them but could also have been an outward symbol of confidence in God's promise that God was gonna give them this particular city. Now, as we read a moment ago, the army is alert and it's prepared. As soon as he gives the signal, they move quickly. There's no hesitation. There's an immediate response to the signal and their faith provokes them to move quickly to secure what God has promised them. When the Holy Spirit is prompting us and there's a sense and there's an obvious sense that he's saying, you need to move. You need to move. You need to do what the Holy Spirit is saying. It takes a while to begin to understand what it means when the scripture speaks concerning the communion of the Holy Spirit. It takes a while and some experience with the spirit of God.  You're gonna know that it's the Holy Spirit who's speaking.    The way you're gonna know that it's right or wrong is simply by being in the word of God.  And as you see the ways of God revealed, you begin to say, so this is how God works. And then the time comes when you're standing somewhere and the Holy Spirit begins to speak to you and says, I want you to share your faith with this person. And you begin to argue with the Lord and say, no, that's gotta be my flesh. You'll begin to learn the difference between the flesh and that spirit. It's taken me a long time and I have to tell you, I'm continuing to learn when the Holy Spirit is prompting because I still have a difficult time distinguishing between the leading of the spirit and my own fleshly impulses sometimes. But this has been going on for the majority of my Christian life. I guess it's something that will continue until I'm in glory with the Lord and I finally see him face to face and hear him clearly. So it's always a step of faith. There have been times when the Holy Spirit has tried to prompt me to do something and I have quenched his spirit. I was in church, my cousin Ray is seated next to me. The pastor gives an invitation. I sense the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart and he says, tell Ray that you'll go up there with him if he's afraid to go up by himself. And I turn and I look at my cousin who was seated to my right and I think the Holy Spirit just told me to tell him I'd go with him. And I remember looking forward and looking back at the pastor and saying to myself, that can't be the Lord, that's presumption. But what I was really thinking is this, if I go forward, the people are gonna think that I'm getting saved and I've already been saved all of three years and so I don't wanna go forward. I would not humble myself. It was really a pride issue. And so I'm looking at my cousin and the pastor saying that the Holy Spirit is calling you to get saved today, come forward and I won't move. So we drive home after church. I'm in my parents' kitchen. My cousin Ray is seated across the kitchen table from me. He looks at me and he says this. He said, today, when the pastor said to come forward to give your heart to the Lord, he said, I wanted to go forward. He said, I was hoping that you would say that you would go up there with me.  No, I didn't. Just seeing if you're here. Literally. It just bothered me so bad. Lord, I quenched your Holy Spirit. You were telling me to turn and say, I'll go with you. You were. Now we led him to the Lord there at the kitchen table. I should hasten to add that. But I didn't listen. We were at a Christian concert. Four friends were supposed to meet Marie, me and her brother. It was at the, at a theater in the round kind of environment. So it was a circular arena. And we got there early. Our friends were coming from some other location. We had never settled on where we were going to meet one another.  Now her brother did not know the Lord. And as we're walking around this large arena, the Holy Spirit prompts my heart. And he says to me, tell him that you will be connecting with your friends at seven o'clock. And I say to myself, that's just gotta be me. There's no way this young man doesn't know the Lord. And if I am presumptuous and say something like that, no, I can't do that. That's just gotta be me. But I heard the voice of the Lord say, tell him. So we walk around, I never say anything. Marie's walking the other way and we connect as we got around. So Marie comes, I connect with her. She says to me, did you see them? And I say to her, no. When I say no, I didn't see them. We hear a knock on a glass door and we look at the door, which is about seven feet away from us. All four of our friends are standing at this glass door, asking us to open it so they can come in. I look at my watch, it's seven o'clock on the dot. And once again, I failed to listen to the voice of the Lord. So you guys probably ought to leave about right now because I got a habit of that.  Obedience ought to be immediate. It's something that when the Holy Spirit speaks, we need to say yes. There have been times when I've been given an invitation here and the Holy Spirit is saying prolong it. There's somebody else. And I did that back in 1998. I've been doing it for years. But I remember the Holy Spirit saying, there's somebody else. There's somebody else. Do not stop. There's somebody else. And I gave three or four invitations on an Easter Sunday at a park. I y'all a part. And as I gave this final invitation, and I knew this is the last invitation, I gave four invitations that day. I look and the last person coming forward was my sister, Rebecca, with my dad and my mom. And my sister, Rebecca, was coming to faith in Christ. I didn't even know she was here in California because she lives in New Mexico. I didn't even know she was here. I didn't even know she was at church. All I know is that she had lived 27 years as a lesbian and that day was being set free and was born again in Jesus Christ and her life was transformed from that point. She's never returned to it. And she's serving the Lord. She's one of the best Christians. And I say this honestly, she's one of the best Christian women I know in this world. She loves the Lord. God transformed her and that is because the Holy Spirit said, give another invitation. Give another invitation. And these people are there waiting to get saved. See, so we need to obey when you sense that. And you know it's aligned with the scriptures, what God's word says. We need to move quickly and obedience is always going to be blessed by the Lord. The army was alert, the army was prepared. There was no hesitation. There was an immediate response to the signal. Their faith provokes them to move quickly and they secure what God had promised them. Now in verses 20 and 21, it says that the men of air I looked behind them and they saw the smoke of the city. So the pursued now become the pursuers. The trap has worked and Joshua sees the smoke rising. He knows the city is taken and he turns on his attackers. In verses 22 and 23, the others came out of the city against them. They were caught in the midst of Israel. So Israel destroys the army and Israel now captures the king. And in verse 24, it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of AI in the field in the wilderness where they had pursued them. And when they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to AI and struck it with the edge of the sword. So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women were 12,000, all the people of AI. For Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of AI. Only the livestock and the spoil of that city, Israel took his booty for themselves according to the word of the Lord, which he had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned AI and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. The king of AI, he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day. So it came to pass that they took care of the inhabitants, including the king. AI has destroyed, spoils taken, king executed, no future problems, and he receives a proper punishment as that king is put to death. If they wouldn't have killed the king, he might have gone out and raised up an army, he might have gone out to some other people and brought them against Israel. So they destroyed the king and they buried him and he received proper punishment for the way that he was, the kind of man that he was. Now what can we learn from this? I want to give you some very practical things as we look at this. The first thing that I want to share with you, what can you learn? One, we need to learn the reality of our enemy and we need to recognize his potential to bring damage to us. We need to know what our enemy is. Now, the Bible speaks concerning enemies that we have. There's Satan who is an incredible enemy. He's a foe. There's the world. The world indeed is opposed to God. It's the spirit of the age. It's a death system that is energized by Satan and is in opposition and hostile to the things of God. We live obviously in a world that has been attacked by the enemy and a system that he has developed that is anti-Christ to the nth degree. I mean, some of you read in the news, perhaps or saw it broadcast that in a city, in a school, in a city in Alabama that they didn't want to use the word Easter because they don't want to offend those who don't believe in Easter because one parent had said, I'm offended that you use that word and so they're taking the word out of the school so nobody can use it. And we hear these things and we think that's no big deal. No, the bottom line is this and I'll say this very briefly if I can, which I really can't. So here we go. I will say this. Those who would deny that there is an anti-Christian flavor in the United States are not seen very clearly. I'll put it that way. University in Florida has an assignment. Some of you have heard of this, had an assignment. They're trying to teach tolerance. So the professor gives the assignment and it's out of a textbook to his students for them to write the name Jesus on a piece of paper. How many of you have heard this already?  It's been in the press this last week. So the assignment is to write the name Jesus on a piece of paper and then to put it on the ground and all the students are required to step on the name of Jesus. Now that just happened in a Florida university, Florida, Atlanta. One of the students refused to do it. He said that that violates my conscience and my religious beliefs. And so the professor doesn't do anything about it. So he goes to his supervisor, the student goes to the supervisor and so he says by telling me to step on the name Jesus, a name that I actually hold in high esteem is to violate my religious rights. And so his reward for his exercising his freedom of religion and speech is he suspended from the class. And so there's an apology made today but the student is up for ridicule. Now that's allowed in not just one university. Those are things that happened. That was in a textbook.  So those who would argue that there isn't an anti-Christian wave are really not aware of what's taking place, it's been documented. There are books written, there are classes that actually are able to study the reality of the anti-Christian flavor in the United States. Some of you work in work environments where there is hostility for the faith that you have in Jesus Christ.   Now what do you think would have happened and this is obvious it would never happen but what do you think would have happened if the teacher would have said write Muhammad on a piece of paper and stomp on it. They don't do that. You won't find Buddha, you will not find that. You will never find Muhammad treated like that in the United States because that professor knows that somebody might come and deal with him for doing that. And so Christians have a tendency of it's not turning the other cheek by the way, it's just kind of like just going along with the program because we don't want to be offensive. Bottom line is there are times when you need to do what this student did, you need to say that's offensive to me and it's proper to do that. You can do it with respect. The apostle Paul was forbidden to preach. He got to the point where the Roman government took the case and the apostle Paul went to defend his freedom to be able to proclaim a message and there are times that you have to do that. So we know that, we know that the system that we're living in is anti-Christ. It's anti-family. Recently I was sharing just this last Sunday, Sunday night, how if you began just to look at family and definition of family and you can usually see the cultural definition of family by watching the programs that people will create to be watched on television. And that's how you know what the cultural definition of family is by simply watching what is being portrayed today as a family. So if you go back to the 50s, I'll do this briefly. If you go back to the 50s, you had Father Knows Best, you had Leave It To Beaver, you had shows like that, Ozzie and Harriet and things of that nature and all of these Lucille ball and Lucille show and things like that and the families were defined in a certain way, right? I mean, they were.  In the early days, they didn't even sleep in the same bed. If you looked at, if you've watched Lucille ever, I mean, you're real bored and you do, if you ever watch Lucille, it's interesting, they always have two single beds. They didn't even have them next to each other. So when little Ricky was conceived, that was a miracle. And how'd that happen? So because it was a very modest era. And so you can see that Ozzie and Harriet, was the father a strong figure? Yes, did he have advice? Absolutely, was he respected? Yes, was there fun in the family? Of course, but that was our model. You would see that when I grew up. Then you just fast forward and you get later on into the history and you begin to see a model of the family. So you have Roseanne, you have things like all in the family. You have cartoons like The Simpsons and now you have the new normal and you have the modern family. And what people are not noticing is the definition of family has been changed. So an entire generation has been raised up who do not see a family the way I as a Christian do. They just don't see a family that way. What is a family today? A family could be two guys, two women. It can be a friend living with somebody else. It can be anything where love is present in the house. And that's people's definition of family. Your definition of family is scriptural. A husband, a wife, when God blesses them to have children, raising children. That's the family. See, but the point I'm making is you have an enemy named Satan who is going after you, who energizes a system that redefines all of God's priorities. It's called the world. But you also have an enemy that is so close to you. It's called the flesh.  And that's what drives you. And that's what is constantly battling against what God would have. Our greatest enemy, even though Satan is a great enemy and the culture we live in is obviously anti-Christ, the greatest enemies are flesh. There are those Bible commentators who use the city of AI as a picture of our carnal flesh and how that in AI, the pride of Israel was dealt with because Israel had thought it could overcome in its own strength. And you can never overcome your flesh in your own strength. You never can. Galatians 5.17 says, the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. Romans 8, 5 through 7 says, those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death. To be spiritually minded is life in peace because the carnal mind is enmity. That means hostility, it has hostility. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So we need to remember we have spiritual enemies and not the least being our own flesh that resists the things of the spirit. So one, we need to learn to recognize the reality of the enemy and we need to battle that. Secondly, we learn to need to examine, the need to examine reasons for personal defeats. The key reason for us not being victorious is that we rely on our own strength. Joshua had been told that the city was small and would not take much to defeat it. So he entered in with presumption. In our spiritual battles, we need to remember that without Jesus, we can do nothing. Someone once said, we are apt to say, it is not at all likely that having been through the greatest crisis of my life, I would now turn back to the things of the world. Do not try to predict where the temptation will come. It is the least likely thing that is the real danger. Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness because that is where the least likely temptation will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones. Be aware of that. An unguarded strength is actually a double weakness. Bible in 1 Corinthians 1012 says, if you think you're standing strong, be careful not to fall. Now, if we will have victory, we need to become aware of our own weaknesses. We need to come to understand how easy it is for us to fall and we need to keep our eyes on the Lord. Paul said it like this in Romans 7.24. He said, oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? There needs to be this sense within us, guys. If you're going to be used by the Lord and if you're going to grow, you need to actually say, God, I need your deliverance and I need your strength on a daily basis. And there are some today who actually think that that's kind of rigid, but that's a fact. That's what has always guarded the strongest believers through the ages is an awareness of their own weaknesses and the reliance on God. In John 15.5, Jesus said it like this, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing. So we need to be aware of the cravings of the flesh and we need to be aware of how our flesh wants to dominate and we need to understand that we cannot control or eradicate our flesh by simply trying hard. J. Vernon McGee said it well when he said, it's like pouring French perfume on a pile of manure expecting to transform it into a sand pile in which our children can play. Our flesh, he says, is like manure and we try to make it seem better by working harder when the Bible says the opposite. I am made strong when I recognize my weakness. I am made strong when I put my confidence and trust in him. I am defeated when I go out in my own strength thinking that I can do it myself. That's the lesson you learn from AI. And then third, we learn to rely on the work of Jesus in our lives, understanding that he is the one who sets us free. We have not been just set free but we also have been given the power to live as though who have become free. In him, it's what Paul says in Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So you rely on Jesus Christ. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Without me, he said you can do nothing but Paul says with him, I can do all things. And so we learn the lessons of AI. We need to depend on the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be aware of why we have been defeated in the past. We need to trust in him and see God do the work and he will do that work. Now in verse 30, Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. As Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel as it is written in the book of the law of Moses an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded any iron tool and they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. And so they had received previous commands in the law of Moses and they were to use what are called whole or uncut stones. There's a couple of reasons for that one is it kept the worship very simple. And secondly, it didn't give place to man's flesh man's showmanship. So they would take that which had already been formed and they would place that as a memorial and they kept the worship simple and they didn't allow the flesh to get in the way. That's a very good lesson. If I were speaking to pastors right now and I may have one or two here with me but I would say this, that's a lesson we pastors need to learn. That's a lesson I need to learn as a pastor is to keep worship simple and don't make it a performance. Keep it simple and make sure it's Christ centered. Sometimes people don't understand that but that's the bottom line. In true worship, simple worship and worship that is not fleshly is always acceptable to God if it's coming through Jesus Christ. And then finally in verse 32, there in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses which he had written. Then all Israel with their elders and officers and judges stood on either side of the ark before the priest, the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as he who was born among them, half of them were in front of Mount Garzim, half of them in front of Mount Ebal. As Moses, the servant of the Lord had commanded before that they should bless the people of Israel. Afterward, he read all the words of the law, blessings and the cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the congregation of Israel with the women, little ones, strangers who were living among them. This would be the law of the land Israel needed to be reminded of the conditions of the law and it is the entire council of God that keeps us safe. That's one of the reasons why I love Calvary ministry. Let me tell you a quick story and then we'll close with prayer. Story time. I don't think I've ever told you this. This is a new one. I got married by a pastor who was very dear to me and to Marie. He was not a Calvary Chapel pastor. He was a Pentecostal pastor and he had done counseling with me and I loved him very much. So when Marie and I decided to get married, I asked him to perform the wedding ceremony and he did. So he was very dear to us. And so I didn't see him much after we had gotten married. On occasion, I might have said hello to him but one day he called me at my house and he said to me, David, you know the church that I planted? He had planted a church in Hacienda Heights and Marie and I at one point went to visit him, be part of his Sunday morning just to see him because we loved him. He says, you know the church that I planted here in Hacienda Heights? I said, yes. He says, I wanted to ask you if you would come and be my youth pastor. This was back in 1979. I would like you to be my youth pastor. His name was Noel. I said, Noel, I appreciate the invitation but just this week I attend Calvary Chapel. I'd been in Calvary Chapel in this particular Calvary Chapel since 77. I said, just this week, it was presented to me that I was gonna be ordained and made a pastor here in this church that I attend Calvary Chapel ministry. You see Noel, about a year and a half later Noel went home to be with the Lord. Actually what he did is he left the church behind and then shortly thereafter Noel went home to be with the Lord. And I know that had I taken the position there as an assistant youth pastor that the church that he planted in Hacienda Heights would have been a church that I more than likely would have been pastoring as a successor to him. So I decided against going to this church in Hacienda Heights that he had planted because I wanted to be in Calvary Chapel ministries. Why did I wanna be in Calvary Chapel ministries? Because Calvary Chapel has a reputation of taking you through the Bible. Verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. That is Calvary Chapel. That's what we do. I did not want to get into a system of topical studies of a variety of things and ways to get people into the church. I didn't wanna go into man's methodology. I wanted to keep worship simple and untainted by man's flesh. And there are a lot of works that sadly and I'm not condemning my brothers or sisters about this it's just a fact that I've forgotten that simple truth. For me, teaching the whole council is biblical. That's what you just saw where it's a Joshua read the whole law to the children of Israel. He made sure that they knew God's requirements for them. We're living in a day when people want their felt needs met. So whatever their felt need that night may be they wanna hear a message on that because we need to have this fixed right now.    That's why I encourage you to read every day. That's why I don't want you to do this kind of you know, Bible roulette where you just open the Bible up and point your finger down in the scripture. What do you have to say to me today? You know, I knew of somebody. I heard of somebody who did that. That's how he read. God, do you have a word for me today? And it says, Judas went out and hanged himself. And he said, and he says, oh no, no, Lord, that can't be you. I'll look at another one, go out and do the same. You know that we don't play Bible roulette. You go through the word of God. Is it tedious? Sometimes it is. Is it wise? Absolutely, why? Because we get the whole council of God and we're able to live a life that is pleasing to God. These are lessons you learn by just going through the books one at a time, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. And that's why I'm a Calvary Chapel pastor and that's why I didn't go to become a pastor though I loved this man with a very deep of love, very great affection. I could not be in a system that was not gonna teach the word of God. I have to be teaching the word of God. That's what I get from the word of God. A little here, a little there. You just give the word. The people are fed, they grow, they become healthy sheep, healthy sheep, beget sheep. Their life is spiritually invigorated. They have answers from God and they're blessed by him. And that's what you see in the last few verses of Joshua. He read the whole counsel so they would know God's counsel for them.