Title: A mindset of victory
Theme: To know the principles to receiveing victory.
Text: Ps 60:12
And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. {flat: Heb. under it} (Joshua 6:2-5 AV)
Psalms 60:12 NIV "With God we will gain the victory"
Most know the story of Jeicho. God gave Jousha instructions on how to defeat the Canaanites. Before them was this great city of walls that seem to be impregenable. It seemed and the Canaanites thought that no one could defeat them. But God surprised them with something. For six days did Israel march around the city. First the armed men then the preists next the ark of the covenant finally the people. For six days this happend once a day until finally on the seventh day they marched seven times and with the seventh tiem they gave a shout and the wall fell flat so that they could walk over them.
What power. But most of all what victory. God give them the victory. From this story we learn of the victory of God. But this story does not begin here. It begins almost 40 years and 1 generation before. This is where I want to begin
Today I want to look at the prepartion to receiveing the victory.
This moring I would like to look at some principles that we must realize before we gain begin to recieve a victory from God.
I. The victory is already won
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. (Numbers 13:1-2 AV)
Now we know from Deut 1:20-22 that it was not God’s original plan to send the spies. He only did it to appease the unbelief of the Israelites. But notice what he tells them.
Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give"
Notice the victory is already one. God sends these spies out to seach a land that to them was not theirs but God says it will be theirs. The victory over this land is theirs. God has given it to them and if God is for us who can be against us.
He is telling them that no matter what the spies report the land is theirs. Not because of what they see but because of who they serve.
The first principle to receiving a victory from God is to understand that he has already won. The battle has already been fought. It began almost 6,000 years ago with the fall of Adam. For centruies it seemed to go back and forth between God and Satan until God put a finallity to it. When Christ died it seemed to be the end of all but with the ressurection it began a new. Now the victory has been won. Isaiah understood this when he wrote of Christ:
Isa 53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. {wounded: or, tormented} {stripes: Heb. bruise}
II. What seems impossible for man is not impossible for God
And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. (Numbers 13:25-29 AV)
I can imagin the 12 spies coming back from the land of Isreal. They are carrying the wonderful fruits of the journey. Hands full of grapes and pomagranets. Honey and water. The crowd begins to form and just stare at what they have brought. They probably get fired up and ready to go and gather some of this. But they stop.
10 spies are calling out. They say sure this is great but there is more in this land there is walled cities and men that look like giants. Many nations or there the nations of the Hittites and the Jebusites the Amorites and the Canaanites already to fight. To get this fruit there has to be a fight and I just don’t know if we can when.
The faith of these 10 spies were just weak. It caused them to see things differently. What they did not understand was what is Impossible for man is possible for God
This is what Jesus was saying when he said
Mt 19:26 But Jesus beheld [them], and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Something in your life may look like an impossible mountain to climb or an impossible valley to cross but with God all things are possible. Jesus said in
Mt 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
III. Sometimes we just have to trust God
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. (Numbers 13:30 AV)
Caleb knew his God. He knew the power of his God. He did not care what the battle was before him he wanted to take this land. This spirit did not die either. When he got to the promise land 40 years older he still wanted to fight. Why? he knew his God and the power and the might of his God.
Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass. {Commit...: Heb. Roll thy way upon} (Psalms 37:5 AV)
IV. The majority is not always right
But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. {men...: Heb. men of statures} And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:31-33 AV)
Praise the Lord that when David came to fight against the Gaint he did not see a giant he saw a man who cursed his God he saw a hinderance to God’s people he saw a man who was in his way. I can imagin his brothers tring to discourage him. All the people tring to dicourage him from fighting. This poor unlearned, unexperienced boy tring to fight a giant. But David knew who was on his side.
V. The fruit of the reward is well worth the fight.
And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. {brook: or, valley} The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. {brook: or, valley} {Eshcol: that is, A cluster of grapes} (Numbers 13:22-24 AV)
Oh what they could have poseessed if they would have continued. Now they had to wait forty years and the people rejecting it would never experience the promise land. They could have had the great fruit but instead they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness eating the same old food. It must have been tough.
If we could only understand that the rewards of the victory is greater than the fight. Yes sometimes there will be a battle. It is a battle sometimes to be a Christian. We know Christ told us to take up our cross and follow him and this is all we can think about but the rewards is much greater. In this life, peace, blessings, mercy, love, compassion and all the relationship with the almighty. Then in the life to come, eternal life, eternal relationship and closeness with the almighty.
Conclusion:
God has given us the power to overcome any thing in our lives all we have to do is trust him. Maybe there are some week areas in your life that you need to talk to the Lord about.
I. Victory is already won
II. What seems impossible for man is not impossible for God
III. Sometimes we just have to trust God
IV. The majority is not always right
V. The fruit of the reward is well worth the fight.
