Spoiled

today, not going to do that. Colossians chapter 2, we're going to read a couple of verses of scripture for us. Get into what I feel like the Lord has for us today. Says this in number 13. Colossians 2:13, "And you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he made alive together with him, having forgiven on you all trespasses, having wiped away Excuse me, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers, having made it a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." Amen.

To the New Testament church, you ought to be excited about the words I just read. That he took everything, everything that we had done, everything that we had been accused of doing, he took that and he nailed it to the cross, having the power to overcome those things. For just a little while today, I want to preach on the title simply spoiled. There are certain words in scripture that don't immediately mean to us what they meant to the people who had first heard them. I feel like the passage of scripture that I just read to you there in Colossians 2, Paul says that Jesus disarmed principalities and powers, made a public spectacle of them.

The King James version says it this way, spoiled principalities and powers. Now, when we hear that word spoiled, oftentimes we usually think of a little child that has never been ever disciplined in his life. Amen. Yeah. Guys awake? So, we think about a spoiled child, right? We we've all been around that, and usually makes us feel a bit uncomfortable, doesn't it? Now, I grew up in a day and age when it was common to get your tail tore up in the grocery store. Other parents would pass by while you getting beat, they'd be like, "That's right, you listen to your mama." Yeah. They didn't put up with a lot of foolishness.

There's a lot of foolishness going on right now. When we think about that word spoiled, oftentimes we think about a child who who's not behaving the way that they should. Now, I know I probably set some people off. Let me Let me say Let me just say I'm not for beating kids, okay? I'm not for all those things. I do think the word of God says spare the rod, spoil the child. I do believe in the word of God. I don't believe in some of the God word of God. I believe in all the word of God that's there. I believe it's meant to be done in love.

It can be done in love. Has it been mis- misabused? Yes. Has people taken out of context? Yes. Sure. Sure. This isn't my message for today. But it's okay. I just want to make sure I didn't get everybody hate me right off the bat. In the ancient world, everyone understood exactly what the word spoiled meant because everyone understood war. Ancient warfare was brutal. When you read through scriptures and you see what they were doing and you understand the context in which it was written, it was pretty tough stuff to process. Pretty stuff to tough stuff to read and try to get your mind wrapped around because we live in such a sanitized world today.

We We don't often times have the same things that we deal with when we read scripture. Our war today, warfare that we have is often times done by distance, is done by drones. I'm thankful for that because it saves a lot of lives, but that's not what we read about when we read war that took place in scripture was there. The victorious army would have moved through the defeated city collecting what it called the spoils of war. Gold, silver, weapons, clothing, livestock, food, everything of value. The defeated army was stripped of its strength with the victorious army walking away richer than when they began the battle.

The spoils were visible evidence of the victor. They provided to those who had won. That's often times what it was was put into play when when were they were recruiting armies is they would say, "Look, I don't have the ability to pay you now. I can feed you while we're while we're going on this adventure, while we're going out to war, while we're going out to battle. But here's the deal. And when when we win, we're going to divide the spoils. When we win, we're going to march back victorious, not just with the victory at hand, we're going to bring back everything that they had, everything that they've been boasting.

We're going to take that stuff with us. They were going to bring back the spoils of war. So, when Paul says this that Jesus spoiled the principalities and powers, he is paints this incredible picture at Calvary. Jesus didn't barely survive the cross. Listen to me. He did not negotiate a peace treaty with hell. He did not escape the narrowest of margins. No, no, no. He marched into the enemy's territory. He defeated sin. He defeated hell hell death and the grave. He disarmed Satan and he walked away with his keys and victory in hand. Amen. The cross wasn't Jesus Christ's defeat. It was heaven's greatest triumph.

We don't celebrate it near enough. I got to remind somebody today Jesus never fights a battle he's not able to win. He never He never enters into a fight he's not going to win. He is victorious. He's never been defeated in his entirety of of being. Jesus Christ the victorious one. Amen. He defeated every force that stood against us. He broke the power of sin and the fear of death and he paid a debt that we can never repay. The victory belongs completely to Jesus Christ. Amen. Every good thing that's happened in your life has been because God has been merciful and kind to you.

Amen. How many believe he's a good God? How many are thankful that he's a good and a merciful God? Yes. Yes. It belongs to him. But here's where the story all of a sudden takes an unexpected turn. The greatest danger does not always come before the battle. No, no, no. I want us to think today sometimes it comes after the victory. Because with victory often times comes this hidden temptation. The temptation to slowly begin believing that somehow we deserve the credit. That somehow we earned what only God could have accomplished. Joshua chapter 7 is where I want to go and introduces us to a man who was a part of Israel's greatest victory.

One of Israel's greatest victory yet lost everything because he he forgot this simple truth. That is this. Never take ownership of what only God can accomplish. Never take ownership of what only God can accomplish. My are we we people who have spiritual amnesia sometimes? Anybody guilty? I got both my hands in the air. How sometimes we forget just how good God has been to us. Mhm. It's okay. The first victory belongs to God. Joshua chapter 6 is one of the most recognizable victories in all of scripture. Powerful story. Now, to set the tone, I'm going to talk a little bit about history this here if it's okay.

So, we have the children of Israel, God's people who were who were held captive in Egypt, and then God sends Moses there to to help walk them out so that God can perform a miraculous miracle of delivering them from the Egypt captivity. And there's so many miracles that take place. It's a long story, but I want to simplify it by saying they eventually get out of the place just like God said they were going to. And he gets them out to a place where he is he is drowned the captive army in front of them. They watched Egyptians and Pharaoh and all of his soldiers drown in the Red Sea.

They see that God is good. They begin to worship God, and we feel like everything's going to go well. And he leads them around about the way over to Mount Sinai where he he he basically says this, I'm I'm summing up a lot of the Bible. He says this, look, here's the deal. I want to be your God, and I want you to be my people. But, in order to do that, I think I've proven that I can get you out of your the trouble that you're facing. I've proven that I I can deliver you, that I'm a God who hears you, that I'm a God who's able to keep his word and back it up.

If I say it, it's going to happen. And in the moment when there was fresh victory, they're like, you are able to do that, God. Yes, you are you are more than able to do these things. And then he says, well, here's the deal. In order for you to be my people and for me to be your God, there's some things that I'm going to require of you. So, I'm going to I'm going to call Moses up to the mountain, and I'm going to give him a few laws and a few commands, a few guidelines and principles that I would love for you to do because I have proven that I can do my part, and what I want is for you to be obedient to the commands I give you.

Last Sunday, I talked a whole lot about those commands and how that we we be obedient in our life. But, I want you to know that was all that was required. But, somewhere along the way, even even if it's short 40 days, everybody say 40. 40 days Moses is on the mountain. About 40 days in, they all of a sudden say, "We don't know what happened to this fellow Moses." Read it. It's It's hilarious. I'm like, he marched you out of your captivity, and he he is now known as the fellow Moses? And they say to Joshua, who's in charge, or excuse me, to to Aaron, who's in charge, "Hey, we don't know what happened to him.

We We need you to make us a god." Now, understand what they just said. We know what God has done. But, for somewhere, we we we've lost that mindset that God has taken care of us. Now, we're having to take action into our own hands. Now, we need you to make us a god who we can worship. 40 days! This isn't like 40 years. 40 days! They've went from God, you're a great God, you're able, you're more than you are more than able to take care of us, to we don't know where the leader went, now we need a god. God comes down God tells Moses, "Hey, look, you need to go down.

I'm about to wipe these people out. They're worshipping a god." Moses goes down, he's upset. Says, "Look, here's the deal. You can't make a god. He was He was trying to give you order. He was trying to bring order to your chaotic world. He's trying to give you rules to live by, and you you before I could even bring them down hot off the press, you guys are already consumed with self." So, I'll bring this point to you today to say, we got to be very careful because we can go from a mountain top experience with God to being self-reliant in a short amount of time.

From God, you are good. God, you are able. God, you provided. God, you answered my prayer. God, you delivered me from a captivity. God, you took care of my addiction. God, you put my marriage back together. God, you provided finances. We We We We love those moments, and we celebrate and we worship God and we worshiped here today. We got to be careful because we can leave the presence of God and all of a sudden convince yourself that we can do it by ourselves. So, to sum up some more of the story, as they're wandering around the wilderness trying to get to the land that God promised them, they get up to the edge of the promised land after God has done miracle after miracle, God has provided provision after provision, God has done so many amazing miraculous things for them.

He says, "Look, I want you to go in and I want to want you to take a a one person from every tribe. I want you to go out and and I want you to just investigate the land that I'm about to give you and just see if it's not the way I said it was going to be. It's going to be a land that flows with milk and honey." The assignment was to just go look at what you're about to get. Be like me telling you this, "Hey hey Scott, I'm going to give you a task today. I'm going to buy you a brand new car.

I want you to go down here to the dealership. I want you to just look around at what I'm going to give you and just come back and tell me about how great it's going to be when I give you that car." You believe that? You on board? Scott says, "Yes." He's going to take a lap in just a minute. This is what he said to them, "I am going to give you this land. It is going to be yours. I, God, have proven that I can do my my part, that whatever I say I'm going to do, I back it up and I do it every time.

Think back about what you've been doing and everything that you've seen and all that I have given you and all that I have done for you. With that mindset, I want you to go in to the land that I'm going to give you and check it out and just come back and tell everybody about how great it is what you're about to get." Now, for those of us who study the word of God, is that how it went when they came back? No. Now, I don't know about you, but that seemed like a pretty simple assignment. Just go and look at what I'm going to give you and come back and tell everybody about how great it is.

And it wasn't like they didn't have a track history with God doing what God said he was going to do. Now, it's really easy for you and I to be very very judgmental as we read through this. I'm going to get to you in a minute. Right now, I'm picking on The spies come back. And two of them are like, yes, you ought to see it. Grapes are like this. Vineyards that are there, houses that we didn't have to build. We're going to go God has given us given us the land. It's just like he said, it is a land that flows with milk and honey.

And then that was two of the 12. The other 10 said, uh There ain't no way we can take it. They're giants there. Big We We look like grasshoppers compared to them. Now, what I don't understand about the Elkins is nowhere in the assignment did it say go evaluate the enemy. Nowhere did it say to them, I want you to determine whether or not you can do this. Cuz I don't believe they were involved in the equation at all. He said, I'm going to give you the land. I want you to go look at what I'm going to get now. I'm going slow for a reason cuz I got to set the tone for the message today.

For the vast majority of us in this room today, God has been amazingly good and wonderful to us. I think if we're honest here, the overwhelming majority of us would say he has been better to me than I have ever deserved. The goodness of God that has come into my life, I don't deserve it. What I have done, what I brought to him, what I what I was able to offer him compared to what he has given me, there is no comparison. He is a good God. He has been faithful to me. Just like we sang, all my life you've been faithful. All my life you've been good.

It hasn't been perfect and I've had some storms and I went through some things, but God has never left me by myself. He's never left me alone. He has always proven that he is God and I am not. But then They didn't believe that because of that God gets upset at them. You guys okay with the history lesson? God says, because of your unbelief, because the word of God says that those 10 spies turned the hearts of the people. They melted and said, why have you brought us out here just to kill us? And God says, you know what? You bunch of unbelievers, ain't none of you now listen to me, this is important, ain't none of you ever going to set foot in it.

But I'm a God who keeps his word. I'm not going to give it to you because you're an unbeliever, but I'm going to give it to your kids. Because they're still my people. But for you, I'm going to march you around the desert and for 40 years I'm going to make sure until you and this entire generation dies off and everything be 40 years. They died off. Then he brings them up to Joshua chapter 6 where they're back to the promised land. Now that was a lot of history I covered in a short amount of time. But the deal is they left Egypt, they kind of lost their way, God proved who he was, he proved he was a provider, proved that he was a way maker, that he could be trusted, brings them to the edge of the promised land that he's going to give them their land that he said it belongs to you.

They didn't believe that they could take it. God says, "You know what? Because of your unbelief, you're not going to get it." Marched them around the desert for 40 Everybody say 40 years. 40 years. An entire generation died off. There were funerals every day for 40 years. Everybody 20 and up had to die before that. So there are some people who are still left alive at this point we get to Joshua chapter 6 who remembered. They were still alive. And now they would be 40 years older. They may be 55, they may be 65 years old. But they remember seeing this. Now they're coming up to the edge of the promised land and we we're going to pick up the story in Joshua chapter 6 where they're going back in to their land that God has promised them.

Now one thing God has been the entire time while the unbelieving generation died off, he he has been faithful daily with manna and protection and safety. You guys okay with this? Now we get up to Joshua chapter 6 is one of the most recognizable victories in all of scripture. Israel has finally crossed the Jordan River after 40 years of wandering and has come to an end and the promise has been spoken to Abraham centuries earlier has finally come into pass. Well, ladies and gentlemen, Jericho wasn't just another city. It was a gateway into the promised land. It was heavily fortified. Massive walls had a reputation of being nearly impenetrable.

Humanly speaking, Israel had no business in this battle. Humanly speaking. They had no siege towers. They had no battling rams. They had no military experience. And they were not even given a battle plan that made sense. The battle plan was this. Look, here's what I want you to do. I want you to get everybody up and I want you to march all the way around the city one time. I don't want you to be really, really quiet. Don't don't make any noise. March around it one time and then go back in camp. I want you to do that for 6 days in a row. And on the seventh day, I want you to get everybody up.

I want you to get the trumpets ready. Get the priests ready to blow the trumpet. I want you to march around the city seven times. And then after the seventh time, when the signal's given, I want the trumpets to blow and I want everybody to shout. And the walls are going to fall down. Now, let's be honest. That is bananas. Nobody goes up to a fortified city and say, "Well, now, this is what this is what the plan is. We're just going to march around the city quietly day after day for 6 days. And on the seventh day, we're going to do it seven times." But here's here's what I want you to pay attention to.

If you have your word, open your Bible. It'll be on the wall, but this is one of those ones you need to mark in your scriptures. Joshua chapter 6, verse number 2. And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and the mighty men of valor." Notice the wording. God didn't say, "I'm going to give the city to you." What did he say? I've already given it to you. Think about that for a minute. This is the same God who said, "This is your land" 40 years ago. "This belongs to you." He comes up again to the edge of land and words matter.

Words matter. He didn't say, "I'm going to do this." He says, "I have given you the city, the king. It belongs to you. All I need you to do is be obedient to what I ask and it's yours. I have I'm speaking to somebody today. These words matter. Before the trumpet sounded, before a shout echoed through the valley, before one stone fell from the wall, God declared the outcome. Why? Because he wanted Israel to understand something that we need to remember for the rest of our lives. The battle belongs to him. The battle belongs to God. I don't know what you're facing today, but I want to say this to you, that it belongs to God and it's not yours.

You think it's your fight. It's not your fight. The battle belongs to the Lord. The battle belongs to the Lord. The battle belongs to the Lord. I'm going to say that until somebody grabs a hold of it today. Stop looking at it as something that you have to do and start turning it over to God and say, "God, this isn't my fight. God, this is your fight. This isn't my battle. This is your battle. I'm not going to do this by myself, but I'm going to do it hand in hand, step in step with you, God. I'm asking you to join me, God." >> >> Jericho didn't fall because Israel marched.

Jericho didn't fall because Joshua was a brilliant military commander. No, no, no. Jericho didn't fall because the priests blew the trumpets with enough volume. Jericho fell because God fights for his people. He fights with his power and his promise and his victory. And whenever God wins the victory, God determines what happens with the victory. That's why before they ever entered the city, Joshua gave an unusual command from God. Look at Listen to this, verse number 17. 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 her house because she hid the messengers that were sent.

Listen to verse 18. And you by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things and you make camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. Now to our modern ears this seems a little bit harsh. There's something to explain in there, right? God says, "Look, the city's going to be destroyed, but we're going to save a prostitute." Now, if you've never heard the story, that's going That seems a little weird. But what you need to know is this woman who made her living that way was wise enough and smart enough to understand that God was doing something powerful.

And she hid the messengers there, and because of that, God says, "You know what? I'm going to take care of you." But here's the deal, only if you do what I ask you to do. Isn't it amazing how God is very detailed? He's a detail God. Here's what Here's what I love about it, and this is just just He didn't say to Rahab, "How do you think I should save you?" He didn't say to Rahab, "What do you feel like doing? If If you were going to save you, what would you do?" I'm a little tongue-in-cheek because it's interesting in modern Christianity how we all of a sudden have this liberty to determine what it is I'm going to do, and God loves me and he'll just take care of me.

I have a hard time with that. I have a hard time that you've read the word of God and you walk away that you get to determine how it works. No, it was determined that you got to go shut yourself up in the house, and you put out a scarlet thread. And you don't leave cuz the army's coming to march in, and if you will do these things, you and your house will be saved. If you choose to exit the house, it's on you. We have so many people in Christianity that choose to leave the boundaries and confines that God spells out in his word.

Doesn't mean that God's not able to heal and able to save and not able to do. He's He's able to do all those things, but God is also bound by his word. He's bound by his word. He's not bound by your word. Oh, you can pray in Jesus' name all you want, but if you're not praying according to his word, I don't care how many times you say the name Jesus over it. He's bound by his word. You know, that wasn't in my notes. That was free for somebody. Here's what I need you to know. Throughout scriptures, the first always belongs to God. Everybody say that.

The first always belongs to God. The firstborn belonged to God. The firstfruits belonged to God. The first portion of the harvest belonged to God. Not because God needed it, but because giving God things first acknowledge that he is responsible for everything and we are not. God, this belongs to you. I didn't consume it myself. Go back and read. I know some of you buck against something that happens in the Old Testament, there's a whole lot of principles in the Old Testament that still apply in the new. It is there. Jericho was God's Listen to me. It was God's I know I'm going slow, but you got to get this principle today.

It's It's a good principle that that that you you can apply in your life and live by. Jericho was God's firstfruits in the promised land. And by dedicating the entire city to the Lord, Israel was declaring, "God, this victory is yours. It's not mine." We can't do it by ourselves, Lord. It's a fortified city. I don't have the ability to do this. God said, "Look, I don't want you to When you go into there," he says, "I have given the city. Listen to Listen to the words. I have given the city to you. But when you go in there, you're not to touch any of it.

You're to leave it alone. If you do, it becomes accursed. It doesn't belong to you. You don't get the spoils on this one. It belongs to me." Now, again, remember the context once I told you. Cuz it wasn't about the gold. It wasn't about the silver. It wasn't about worship. It was a reminder of who won the battle and who it truly belonged to. It was about ownership issue. Everybody say ownership. Here's the lesson for us today. One of the greatest dangers we face is forgetting where our victory comes from. Who restored your marriage? Who healed your body? Who helps you out financially? Who allowed your business to be successful?

How did your ministry flourish? None of these things happen apart from the hand of God. The moment we begin believing in our ability and our talent and our effort alone producing the blessing, we've taken the first steps down the same path that a man named Achan did. Every blessing carries a question. Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? How many of you have had a at least one blessing in your life? Yeah. Who did you give the glory to? Was it your ability? Was it your talent? Was it your time? It all belongs to God. God gives it to us to steward correctly. So, the way with it with every victory comes a temptation.

With every blessing comes this temptation. Who gets the glory? And the answer has never changed. The one who wins the battle. An entire nation, this was the truth that was crystal clear. The walls had fallen, the city was theirs, and everyone knew where the victory belonged. But somewhere along the way in this story, again, was a man named Achan. And while the nation celebrated what God had done, Achan quietly reached for something that had never belonged to him. Because that's the danger when we forget who the battle belongs to. The Bible says that after the walls of Jericho came crashing down, the Israelites surged into the city.

Imagine this scene. Again, dust filling the air. Imagine We're We're talking about if you go study out the walls of Jericho, this wasn't a little place. This We're talking about stuff that was wide enough for a chariot to run across the top. Huge walls. Big. Wasn't Wasn't like a fence we see out in the backyard, like a vinyl fence, okay? Huge stone walls fell to the ground. They marched in and there's dust going everywhere. Chaos, people dying, the battle cries that were going out. This is Just imagine this chaotic scene that is everything is unfolding. And finally, the victory sound gets marched or it gets gets announced.

And everybody's screaming and shouting that God has done what God said he was going to do. It belongs to us. The city The victory belongs to him. And in all this chaos, everybody's looking around and seeing all the the blessings that are around. Again, remember they have been for for those who were alive when they didn't go into the promised land for the first time, had waited 40 years. They've been in the desert for 40 years. They march into a city. And for that day and age, it was a modern city. It was a wealthy city. It was a well-furnished city. So, they're going in there seeing houses and they're seeing they're seeing gold and seeing silver.

They're seeing Babylonian garments. They're seeing all this stuff that was there that they had never seen before. They've been wearing the same shoes and the same shirt for 40 years. Some of you wear the same shirt for 4 days and you're looking for another shirt. 40 years. So, let's put ourselves in Achan's position when he walks in and he sees the matter of fact, I think he will he does a good job describing it himself. He says this in in Joshua chapter 7, "When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels, I coveted them and took them.

And they are there they are hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with the silver under it." Notice the progression. Notice that verse. Look at it right there. He says, "I saw, I coveted, I took. I saw, I coveted, I took." There's the pattern of temptation. Long before sin ever reaches our hands, it captures our eyes. And long before it changes our behavior, it changes our desires. James would later write it this way in James chapter 1 verse 14, "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full-grown, it brings forth death." The battle was never really about the gold.

It's never really about the temptation, ladies and gentlemen. It is always it it is always about your heart. Where you at? The most important part of ourselves is hidden deep inside the spiritual world of subconsciousness and mental attitudes. Proverbs 23:7 says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." It wasn't that he acknowledged that it was nice. It wasn't that he said to himself, "You know what? I really wished I had that." It'd be nice to have a little extra gold and silver in my pocket. There was There's no There's no sin in acknowledging the temptation is there. It's when you go against what God had already declared you shouldn't do.

But it gets deeper than that, cuz it's not just that he partook, but it's what he did preceding that. God fed them every day. God proved that he was faithful. God had showed himself to be a someone he could trust in, but the problem with Achan wasn't a lack of provision. It was a lack of remembering the source of his provision. He seen something that he wanted for himself and said, "Look, I have the ability here on my own to take this." By doing that, God had already declared that you shouldn't, but Achan was saying, "I know better than God." Somewhere between the shouting at Jericho and the picking up of the Babylonian garment, Achan forgot whose victory it was.

He began thinking, "I've earned this. It's been a long time. I deserve this." Isn't this Listen to the language, okay? I I'm going to read this the the way I typed it because I think it's important. "I've earned this. After everything I've been through, I've marched around these walls, I fought this battle, surely I deserve this little piece of victory." The temptation still whispers to you and I today that you've worked hard and you sacrificed and you've earned this. No one will ever know what's one compromise. Listen to me. But the enemy rarely tempts us with something that looks evil. But he tempts us often times with something that looks deserved.

I'm going to say it again. If you're a note taker, I want you to listen to me. The enemy rarely tempts us with something that looks evil, but he tempts us often times with something that looks deserved. Pastor Kevin, you don't know what I've been through. You're right, I probably don't. I know some stories, but I don't know all stories. I don't know what you faced in life. I don't know what difficulties you went through in life. I don't know how you were raised. I don't know your background. I don't know your church history. I don't know those things. Here's what I do know. Is this is common amongst all who breathe, and that's all of us in this room, is that we have this amazing ability to be very consumed with self.

And about self-preservation. We love to sit on the the throne of our lives and rule the day. And we can justify it any way we want to. We're really good about coming up with reasons and excuses why I do what I do. We can We can pull back and recall times when people said something or done something or or and somebody mistreated us or abused us. And I'm not justifying any of those things because there's horrible things that have taken place. Even inside the church there's been horrible things that have taken place. But look at look at me. God's not horrible. God's not evil. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He's a God who's faithful. He's a God who go Well, if he loved me, then why'd he let me go through those things? Listen to me, I want you to tell you something I'm going to tell you something. Humanity, sin is what's broken in the world today. It started back in the Garden of Eden. God set things up in a perfect way, but the only way that we could choose to love, if you heard me say this many times, is he had to give you and I the freedom to choose. He didn't force us. He said, "It's your choice." But by doing that, he also gave us the option to not love him.

And that was the choice that was made in the garden by Adam and Eve. And sin entered the world. And I want you to know it's still running rampant today. But thanks be to God, he didn't leave us by ourselves. That he provided a way of escape. Look, what he did at Calvary is perfect. It doesn't need to be improved on, but we're still in a broken world. We're still living in a world that that it is full of broken people. And that means even in church there's brokenness in the house of God. Amen. You know why? Because people are here. As long as people are here there's a potential of things to go wrong, but I can't use that as an excuse for why I can be disobedient or choose to myself what I will do and won't do.

I don't get to negotiate with God. God's not God's not this is not a democracy where we can sit around the table with God and say, "You know what, God? I like a few of these things. I like about 80 of your commandments, but a couple of them I'm just not not in favor of, so I don't choose to do those." Here's the thing about God. He acts like God. He acts like he gets to decide because he does. And I'm not. So there's some things he's going to do and there's some things he's not going to do. He's never going to go against his word.

Now, I know this is my second Sunday talking about this, but I can't get past this this this day and age in which we live in which we're allowing our superior knowledge to convince us of things that we are deserving of and things that I no longer have to be obedient to. Now, I'm going to tell you this. You can make your own choice. But when it's all said and done, you will be held accountable to this. Not to your opinions, nor mine, but to his. We will be judged by this. So I suggest you get to know it not just for knowledge sake, but so that you can apply because there's a lot of educated idiots in the world.

There's a lot of educated idiots in Christianity. I didn't say bad things like I said last Sunday. I didn't say bad things. I didn't say the S word. There's a lot of people who have just enough Bible that they're dangerous. Look, just because you know the word of God doesn't make you any any better any better. The devil knows the word of God. The devil can quote it back to God. But it doesn't mean he comprehends it nor understands it. Just because you have some verses memorized doesn't make you better than anybody else. If you don't live it. Look, I can read the manual about how to fly a plane.

But I dare dare say there's not going to be any of you going to jump in the cockpit with me and say, "Let's go up. I've read the manual." And I know no pastor game. Well, what's the problem? I know what the manual says. I got this. Come on. No. Pass. Hard pass. I don't understand. Well, because you haven't lived it. I want somebody in the cockpit that knows what they know. I want them to have went through a few things, ups and downs. I want to know that they've landed it once or twice. I don't want to just take a chance just because you know what the manual says.

How about you learn how to live it out in your life every day? Be practically minded and be able to apply the scriptures. Let the word be a lamp into your feet and light in the path you walk. What about that? >> >> Temptation says you deserve this. That's why this story is not about greed, ladies and gentlemen. This story is about ownership. Achan reached for something because he believed that he had the right to it. But he forgot the one unchanging truth. You can never claim ownership to what only God can accomplish. Every blessing and every opportunity and every open door and every victory and every soul that finds an altar and every life that's transformed and every prayer that's been answered and every miracle that takes place, it all traces back to the hand of God because he's a good and a faithful and a true God.

The greatest danger isn't that we deny God with our words, it's that we will slowly begin taking credit with our hearts that somehow it depended on us when it never does depend on us. Because pride doesn't usually announce itself. It quietly moves God from the center of the story and replaces him with us. At first, no one knew what Achan had done. Listen to me. This is where I'm going to get down and really get deep with this for just a minute. The celebration continued and the camp moved on. Life seemed normal, but hidden sin has a way of refusing to stay hidden. Achan buried beneath the floor of his tent was soon affecting an entire nation.

As I've heard it said many many many many many times, time is a tattletale. Chapter 7 opens with what it should have been another celebration. Jericho was behind them and the hardest battle had already been won. The next city on Israel's journey was Ai. Well, there's a story right there, isn't it? Ai, that sounds familiar. Mhm. Maybe we should build a sermon on that. Compared to Jericho, Ai wasn't much of a city at all. Joshua sends spies to survey it, and they came back confident. They said this in Joshua chapter 7 verse number 3, and they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or 3,000 men go up and attack Ai.

Don't weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few." Pastor, I got this. It's okay. I've got this. You don't you don't have to send everybody. I've got this. That's what he was saying. He's like, "Look, look, don't don't don't don't stress over this. It's this It's a little town. Like, we just we just marched into Jericho." Did you notice? Don't let all the people go. Notice how the terminology went from talking about what God said he was going to do to like, we went and evaluated the situation. We It's not necessary that we send full forces. Not one time did they say, "Hey Joshua, have you talked to God about this?

Before we go marching off with all confidence that this is going to be something easy for us to take care of, have you inquired of the Lord?" But instead, they come bouncing out of a victory moment. They come bouncing out of a out of a of a of a miracle that God had done for them, and all of a sudden they have the ability in their own mind to take care of the next one. It's little. I got We We We'll go to God for Jericho. But for Ai, we got this one. We don't even need all of the troops. Are you following the the the the mindset that is here?

And of course we know how the story goes. They go marching over there and all of a sudden they come back with a tail tucked between their legs and 36 of them are dead. And Joshua was upset cuz they come back. He's expecting to hear him to come back and say, "Man, we took care of it. We whooped them. It's no big deal. Ai has taken care of it." But they come back and say, "They They overrun us. We lost 36 people. 36 men died." And Joshua was like, "How did this happen?" Verse number 11, God answers and says, "Israel has sinned. For they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them.

For they have taken some of the cursed things and both stolen and deceived and they also put it among their own stuff." Do you notice it wasn't Achan has sinned? Cuz what happens, okay? When there's sin in the camp, it doesn't just affect you. It's always bigger than just you. Temptation says you deserve it. Temptation says you worked hard. Temptation says they they said bad things. Temptation said Temptation's always showing you what you deserve and always makes it about you. But here's the deal, it never shows you that your decision going against God always impacts more than just you. You don't live as I said last Sunday, you don't live in a vacuum.

Your decisions have consequences both for the good and the bad. For the good, you make right decisions in your household, it affects your household. You make decisions bad in your household, it affects the household. It I I'll say this way, it makes a difference inside the church. God said Israel has sinned. Why? Because sin is never a private as we think. One man's hidden compromise became 36 families' heartbreak. One man's private decision affected an entire nation. That's the deceptive nature of sin. The enemy always tells you it's your life, it's your decision, no one else will ever know, but sin is never stayed inside the boundaries we try to build around it.

It always reaches further than we intended and cost us more than we want to pay. Always, always, always. I know I stand in a room today who willing to say with their hands, "You know, it cost me way more than I ever imagined." It did. It cost me more than I imagined. I had that that was a price that was way more higher to pay than I would have ever bargained with. It can go. The influence people who may never know what the decision was made about when we uh find ourselves being disobedient to God. That's why Paul warned in Galatians 5:9, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." It only takes a little bit of yeast to make a big impact.

Hidden compromise never remains hidden. As I said before, it eventually finds its way in open because time is a tattletale. But, I want you to know something else. God wasn't trying to destroy Israel. Listen to me. Listen to me this part. Stay with me for the next just a couple minutes. I'm I'm getting ready to wrap up, okay? It was never God's intention to try to destroy them. Instead, he was trying to restore them. Before another battle could be won, before another promise could be possessed, God had to deal with what was buried beneath the surface because God loves his people too much to let hidden sin remain hidden.

It's still true today, Center Point. Conviction isn't God's rejection. It's God's mercy. If you feel convicted, that's God's mercy in your life. Don't don't think it is something as as judgment, all right? Don't let it feel like that condemnation is raining down on you. Instead, realize that God's being merciful to you because he's still drawing you back into a opportunity to have a right relationship with him. When the Holy Spirit shines a light into an area of our lives, he's not trying to embarrass us, he's trying to free us. He's not trying to expose us or condemn us. He's exposing it so that he can heal us.

Sometimes the greatest evidence of God's love isn't that he overlooks our compromise, it's that he refuses to let us live with it. Eventually, Achan stood before Joshua and confessed everything, the garment, the silver, and the gold. The secret was finally out, but when Achan described what had happened, he revealed something much more deeper. He said this, "I saw, I coveted, I took." "I saw, I coveted, I took." And here's the sad part about this. It cost him not just his life, but his entire family. The word of God says that they took him and his family and his and his livestock, and then dragged them outside, and they stoned them to death, and then they burned them.

Why? Because sin has to be dealt with. It can't stay covered up. It cannot stay there. They were careful not to leave Achan inside the camp. Something had to be done. His greatest sin was believing that he had the right to something that God had already claimed. Isn't it interesting how success has a subtle way of rewriting history? God knew this. The book of Deuteronomy basically is a big rehash before they go into the promised land of God you going using Moses to tell them again, "You got to be careful because you're fixing to head into a place that I'm going to give you. Listen to me." Musicians can come.

I'm going to get ready to wrap up and God's going to do something special today. The book of Deuteronomy is basically this, I can sum the whole book up for you is Moses standing up in front of the people and say, "Look, God has proven that he can keep you. He's brought you back after these 40 years, after that generation died off, he's brought you right back to where we started again. He's going to give it to you, but there's going to be a temptation, okay? There's going to be a temptation cuz there's always a temptation with every victory. With every victory in your life, please listen to this.

With every victory in your life, there's the same temptation that was spelled out in the book of Deuteronomy. I'm going to summarize it, but you can read it later. It's Deuteronomy 8 verses 11 through 17, but I'm going to shorten it down. Beware, this is Moses speaking to the people before they go into the promised land. He says this, "Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them, when your silver and your gold are multiplied, your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, then you'll say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'" Why would he say that?

Why would God of all Why would the God who created us say those words? Could it be that he knows us better than we know ourselves? Could it be that he already has it in his mind, "I know what you're going to be tempted to do." is I'm going to do this for you. And when you get in there and you get to enjoy the good things of the land, and I'm so thankful he allows us to have blessings in our life, right? I'm I'm glad I'm thankful for them, but in our abundance of blessings, we have to be conscious that we don't lose sight of who gave it to us, because our default setting is to remember that we did it.

It was done by my hand, when the reality is if there's any mean anything good happened in my life, it's because God did it through me. Not that I did it on my own. After the walls fall, after the prayers answered, after the miracles happen, that's when pride quietly whispers, "Look at what you've accomplished." Listen to pastor for just a minute. Every victory in my life has God's fingerprints all over it. Every open door, every answered prayer, every soul that's been baptized, every life that's been changed, every blessing my family has experienced, every opportunity I've got, I cannot honestly point to one of them and say I did this, because it that would be a lie.

God did it. God did it. If I'm anything, it's because God has done something with me. On my own, I'm a I'm a wreck, guys. I'm a wreck. I'm I'm terrible. I I I pray to God almost every day and say, "God, I don't even know why you love me. I wouldn't love me. Most days I don't love me very much. I know me. I know how I how I am. I know what I think. I know what I do. But he's merciful and kind and gracious and good and faithful beyond belief. So, anything that's happened, had it not been for the grace of God, had it not been for his mercy, had it not been for his faithfulness, I wouldn't be standing here today.

And the reality is, neither would you. That's why Paul asked the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 4:7, reading from the New Living, he says this, "For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn't given you? What do you have that God hasn't given you? What a humbling question. Your salvation, he purchased it. >> >> Your gifts, he gave them to you. Your strength, he sustains it. Your family, he entrusted them to you. Your ministry, he opened the door. He called you. Your future, it's still in his hands. Everything we have, everything we are, everything we hope to become, ultimately belongs to Jesus Christ, because the one who won the battle has the right to the victory.

But, I got to leave you with this, okay? I got to leave you with this, because it gets a little bit deeper, and we forget this next we forget this next point, but it ties in so beautifully. The Lord showed me this in studying this week. When Paul wrote that Jesus in an opening scripture to you spoiled the principalities and powers, he wasn't simply celebrating what Jesus Christ did. >> >> What he was celebrating is what Jesus Christ redeemed. The victor always claims the spoils. And after a great victory, the king would gather everything that now belonged to him. >> >> The spoils became a testimony of his goodness and greatness, and that the battle had been won.

Can I tell you something beautiful today in the services as we get ready to close? When Jesus walked out of the grave on that resurrection morning, he didn't just conquer sin. He didn't just conquer death. He conquered He didn't just conquer hell, but he claimed a people. Peter would later write this in 1 Peter 2:9, "But, you are a chosen generation, >> >> a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." >> >> Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6, "You're not your own, but you were bought with a price." We are his spoils.

Think about that. I don't belong to me, >> >> and you don't belong to you. But the one who wears the victor's crown claims the spoils. I am not my own. I am not to make my own decisions for myself. If if I understand how the battlefield works, he's the victorious one when he marched out of the grave carrying the keys to hell, won back the victory so that you and I have an opportunity to go back to the tree of life again, that we can live for eternity with him. He purchased the right for him to be able to determine what he desires for me to do.

So, I go back to that point again. I am not my own. I'm not I'm not my own man. I know that goes contrary to our culture and our society, but I'm not my own. I don't belong to me. I belong to the king, the king of kings and the lord of lords, and so do you. But here's what I know, is that at some point or another, every one of us in this room has dealt >> >> with those secret sins. Every one of us have been like Achan. We seen things that temptation said we deserve it. And without fully going to God and asking his opinion, we just take it.

And we know it's wrong. You know why I know we know it's wrong? It's because we don't openly go out and show it. What do we do with it? We hide it. Anything you have to hide, no good. It's no good. If you automatically feel like you have to hide it, that should be the biggest indicator you don't need it. Why did Achan hide it in his tent? Cuz he knew. He knew all along it wasn't supposed to be his. It belonged to God. Now, here's how I'm going to end this message today. Is there are circumstances and situations that are in this room right now that have been left undone and you have prayed and you have prayed and you have prayed and for whatever reason God has not chosen to do something and I feel like I came here today to tell you it's because you still have stuff buried in your tent.

And somewhere along the way you've convinced yourself that it's okay, but it's not. It's not. I promise you, not only does it keeping you back, but it has potential to destroy >> >> your family. Oh, Pastor Kevin, it's not such a big deal. Well, if it's not such a big deal, then why are you hanging on to it? If it's not such a big deal, then why are you keeping it buried? Why are you keeping it hidden? Answer that question. Cuz here's what I know. If you are unaware that we're living in the last days, >> >> you must have blinders on.

Now is not the time to be playing church. Now is not the time to be a Christian by t-shirt only and bumper sticker only. Now is the time to be serious about living for the king. >> >> Cuz he's coming soon. Pastor Kevin, I heard that my whole life. Me too, 50 years old. 50 years I've been hearing it 50 years, but I've never felt like I feel today. I've never seen what I've seen today. I've never known what I know today. The king is coming. I'm not using this as a scare tactic. I'm simply trying to wake you up. Listen to me, Achan.

>> >> Listen to me. It's time to get that stuff out of the tent while you still have the chance to run to a merciful God who has the ability not only to forgive you, but listen to me, this is even better. The ability to restore you. Jesus, I come before you now on the end of this message. Delivering the burden that I feel like you gave me for this church today. God, I know I didn't necessarily do the best job preaching it, but God, I tried my best to convey your truth to your church. Praying in this moment, Lord, that you would allow us to do an honest evaluation of where we are.

To think about the things that we're keeping hidden >> >> and somehow justifying that it's okay. God, I'm I'm speaking I'm speaking to that one right now, >> >> Lord. Let your drawing power bring them back into a right relationship with you. God, give them courage today to take a right step. >> >> Help us, Lord Jesus. Help us be right with you. In Jesus' name. This is the kind of message that I feel like every one of us have to do a little self-evaluating. So, this altar's open. And here's what I want you to know. >> >> I want I want I want I want I want I want to stop this thought right now.

Anybody who comes down here, doesn't mean you're a sinner. Doesn't mean you're you're living in sin, okay? I want to take that away. I rebuke that in Jesus' name. Coming to the altar is an opportunity for you to say, "God, please look inside my life. Help me see. Help me know, God. Maybe I'm deceiving myself. And I'm not willing to take that chance." >> >> So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to the altar, too. I prayed and I prayed. I covered this message in prayer. I prayed this morning. God's presence so sweet in my office, but look, just to show you >> >> that it's okay, I'm going to go to the altar first.

And it's open for whosoever wants to come. Let's let God do what God does best. As I say often times, let him take the brokenness of our life and make it beautiful again. It's prayer time.