If you will, turn with me to Joshua chapter 8. We covered most of these verses last week, but I want to look at the last several verses, beginning with verse 30, Joshua chapter 8. Now this is after the The battle of Ai, all the people had been slaughtered. Israel pulled them out, ambushed them, destroyed the king. Ai was now in their possession. And it says in verse 30, Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. As Moses, the servant of the Lord, 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 hath lifted up any iron. That is, he didn't chisel it out, he didn't try to make it beautiful, he just used the whole stones. And they offered thereon, burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrifice peace offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. And all Israel and their elders and officers and their judges stood on the side of the Ark, and on the side before the priests, the Levites, which bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, as well as the stranger as he that was born among them, half of them over against Mount Gershom, and half of them against Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that's written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which just were read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the strangers that was conversing among them. Our lesson this morning is about the way of worship. In our last study, we looked at a city under siege, Ai. This city was part of the covenant promise of God to Israel. It belonged to God and He gave it to Israel. But it was inhabited by strangers, inhabited by heathen men, sinners. It belongs to God who gave it to Joshua. And listen to this. See, he says in verse 1, given unto thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city." He gave it all to Joshua. I've already given it to you. He didn't have it. He didn't possess it. He wasn't standing in it. But God said, it's yours. It's yours. And God has a people given to him by covenant promise before the world began. And he means to have it. He's going to have it. But it's populated by sinners. In this case, sin itself. Populated by those who live there. There's a king, his children, and his servants. Describing the king and the kingdom, our Lord said in Luke 11, 21, He said, When a strong man, armed, keepeth his palace, His goods are at peace. Everything seems fine. Everything seems right. Everything seems good. That's the way it was in Ai. They planted, they harvested, they had stores, they had food, they had a religion. Everything seemed right. Everything seemed good. Everything was going just fine. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, He taketh from him all the armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his foals." That was another mark of this battle at Ai. When God took Ai through the children of Israel, unlike Jericho, He divided the foals. He gave it all to them. You can have it. They're just certain things, and those things, the gold and silver, would be gathered in to the priests and so forth. Satan works in this world in the hearts of men, all men, all women. They don't realize it. See, what we call a regular life, you know, you got people who they murder, they steal, they do all these things, and we look upon them as sinners as we ought to. They are sinners. But then there's another group over here, and they've made professions of faith, and they go to church, and they live a clean life, and they pay their bills, and they do all these things. But they're sinners too. Actually, they're worse sinners than the others, if our Lord's Word is correct. Oh, you say they have to be better off than them. No. No, actually, they're worse off. He said it'll be easier on those in Sodom and Gomorrah than it was on those who heard the truth but opted to keep their own religion and defy God. But my point is that Satan works in this world in the hearts of men, all men, all women, all mankind. They walk according to the prince of the power of the air. That's the spirit of false religion is what he's talking about. The religion, what men call godly religion, Christian religion in our day, is nothing in the world but anti-Christ. It's contrary and against everything that Christ taught. It's against his doctrine, it's against his way, it's against his person, it's against his father whom he represents. It's anti-Christ. It's not anti-good works. It's not anti-social. It's anti-Christ. And they walk according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And Satan's a smooth operator. He deceives, he lies, he gives men and women what they want, or at least sets the possibility of it before them. I remember the old Pastor, I guess you'd call him, I don't know what he called himself, at the Crystal Cathedral out in California. Something good's gonna happen to you today, he's telling me. Can you imagine somebody hanging off the back of the ark? Something good's gonna happen to you today. Talking to a condemned world. It's the same thing. It's exactly what he's doing. He twists the truth. All around makes men and women believe that they're serving God, earning His favor, doing God a service. Our Lord told His disciples, there's coming a day when men will kill you and think that they're doing God a service. And didn't they think that when they killed crucified Christ? They thought they were doing God a favor. They looked on Him as a deceiver. And this is the real story of Joshua and Ai. The problem is the old king was defending, that old king was, that they were defending, that the people in Ai were defending. He didn't belong to God. He wasn't a godly man. He held legal documents, but God had a covenant long predating him, or even Satan who worked in him. Much more solid, much more evident than anything he could produce. But God's elect belonged to Christ, and he means to have them. And though the people appear a meager bunch, and their weapons seem foolish to men, preaching a gospel's foolishness to those who are perishing, yet in the purpose and power of God, the old king has to die, and everyone under his control. Now, stay with me. I'm talking about the kingdom that's within you being pictured by this kingdom. Everything in you, Satan uses. It belongs to him. He's using it to promote his purpose. That's what he's doing. And he's so sly at it. He's such a smooth operator, you don't even know what's going on. I never did the whole time I was in religion. I didn't know what I was doing. I did it in ignorance, same as Paul said. There is in every son of Adam a kingdom, a rule, a government, if you will. And sin has reigned unto death. Even so, grace is going to reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And when the gospel comes in power, the sinner slain, God takes away his refuge of lies, strips him of his armor, leaves him before the sword of the Lord defenseless. And what is this armor Luke talks about being stripped of? Well, it's a spiritual armor. That's why it don't do you any good. If it did any good, we'd all carry guns, but it ain't going to do any good. And it's not going to do any good if you look back at their day, even with swords and spears. In Ephesians 6, he describes the armor of God given to his people. It's a spiritual armor. It's truth. It's the breastplate of righteousness, imputed righteousness, and the preparation of the gospel. He not only prepares, preparing the messages, but people People also learn the lessons, or at least I hope they do. I hope somebody listens. And being grounded and settled, we have the mind of Christ. It's a spiritual armor to stand against, he says, against the wiles of the devil. It's not for fighting against people, but with principalities and powers and against rulers of the darkness of this world. ministers called his ministers, transforming themselves into ministers of Christ. And the working, he says in 2 Thessalonians 2, is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. Isn't it a lying wonder? I knew people when I was growing up, and they were just absolute rebels. They lived in the bar. They was notorious sinners. Everybody knew who they was and stayed away from them. And then all of a sudden they joined the church, their life cleaned up, kids cleaned up, paid their bills, got out of debt, lived a life before men. That's a lying wonder, isn't it? You say, surely God's power's in this. No, man's will was, but not God's power. That's how he works. He works in ways that absolutely, you'll swallow it up if you don't know the difference. The very lick would be deceived if it was possible. Sure it would. It's so, these lying wonders, you just can't, you can't hardly doubt it. Some from disease. The Lord took my cancer away. Well, that may be true, but He didn't, and he did it because I did this and I did that. That's just, that's another lie. As God's people wear God's armor, so Satan's army wears his. Self-righteousness, education, written documents, titles, doctor, master, reverend, and so on. The list just goes on and on. God's elect are born in a city, occupied, and from the day of their birth, they're influenced and told by people and by Satan what to believe. And these are all people you love. This is your dad or your mother or your grandfather, grandmother, somebody, somebody you love, and they're teaching you, and you've got no reason to doubt them whatsoever. I've said this about my own father, and I loved him. He was sincere in what he did, but he was sincerely wrong. And that's the case with most. God voted for you, somebody said, and Satan voted against you, and you have the deciding vote. Life on my free will, man's rights. As I said, I love my dad, and he was raised in the Nazarene religion, very self-righteous. And he was a good provider, he loved his family, but in time I learned the truth, and he didn't. And he got angry. I thought, boy, when I come home, think about what good news this is. God chose you and gave himself for you, he justified you, called you by his grace, give you faith in Him, and you believe, and you're set as you're ever gonna be for glory, and you come home and tell somebody, that's good news, isn't it? It is to a sinner. And boy, you come home and tell somebody you love this, and you're all excited, and you tell them, and boy, they're just standing there like that, and he's ready to be, he's mad on fire. He thought I'd joined a cult. Why? It's contrary. Contrary, it's Antichrist. But in time, God convinced him of the truth, and I believe saved his soul. Years and years in religion, you built this impenetrable fortress. That's what happens. You get a hold of just enough pieces of scripture to justify what you believe. And boy, they can spit them out. Believe me, they can spit them out. The young man who don't know much about the Bible, he got no answer. You know, they used to tell me, now wait a minute, wait a minute, you're talking about election. It's not God's will that any should perish, but that all should come to repent. That's not what the verse says. He's long-suffering to us, His people, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repent. And on and on it goes. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And on and on it goes. And they grab pieces and parts of these scriptures and throw them out. And boy, you're just standing there. You got nothing to say. We're ignorant. Ignorant. But they built this impenetrable fortress. And Paul said, we have to put on the armor of God. This is going to be a battle. They went into AI, just kind of half-hearted. God didn't tell them what to do or when to do it. They just got up and said, we're going to take AI the same way we did Jericho. They walked up there and 30-some of them died. And AI chased them out. And then they sought God's counsel. God told them what to do and when to do it, and they went up there and they took AI. Well, that's just the way it is. God's got his means and his ways, and we need to humble ourselves to him. And here was a real shocker. They found themselves still in AI. That's a shocker, isn't it? God saved your soul and then you find out you're still a sinner. You're still in AI. And in AI we've got grain that we didn't plant, houses we didn't build, land we didn't buy. In Luke 11, he talks about dividing the spoils. What spoils? A mind that was once enmity against God, now you have the mind of Christ. You have that mind, a good mind. You have the spoils. You've got a heart that knows and loves God and His people. And in fact, he finds himself a partaker of the inheritance of the enlightened saints. That's all those standing upright in Ai. Now in the last six verses of Joshua, chapter 8, we have a multitude of God's elect who have been led to victory in standing in their inheritance, being instructed by Joshua concerning worship. The hymn writer wrote, O worship the King, all glories above, and gratefully sing his power and his love, our shield and defender, the ancient of days, pavilion and splendor, and girded with praise. The Holy Spirit paints a beautiful word picture of God's saints assembling for worship here in the book of Joshua. Saints who fought and some that didn't. Saints and their wives and their little ones all gathered to worship. Let me give you five things this morning just briefly concerning the worship of God pictured in these six verses. First of all, we have what true worship is all about. Worship is not a bunch of folks gathering together in hopes of getting something from God. But that's what most churches do. That's what most people practice. True worship is about giving the honor due to the name of God, giving Him all the glory. It's to offer, the apostles said, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for all that He's done for us, and all that He's yet doing. That's what worship is. Hebrews 13, 15 says, by Him, that is, that's Christ. Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks unto His name. That's what we do. We gather in here, we look back on what God's done and what He's doing for us right now, and we give Him praise. We give Him the glory. Now listen to me. Don't lose sight of this. All the elements concerning worship have to do with Christ. Has to do with Christ. He's the author, Hebrews 13.10. He's the priest, Hebrews 9.3-14. He's the gospel. Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. And he's both the subject and the object of worship. He's the altar. We have an altar that we come to that those who serve the altar are not worthy to come to. In that old Armenian church I grew up in, we used to have an altar called. We had this old bench up front. And Pastor would step out from the pulpit like this and he'd say now, Any of you think you need prayer? Well, who's going to say no? Anyway, he'd talk and talk and talk. How did he get you down here? And he'd say, this old bench here, it's just a bench. It's just an altar. And he said, it's just a place where men meet God. He said, there's no efficacy in this bench whatsoever. Just a place where men meet God. Well, let me tell you something. You find that place where men meet God, There's more efficacy there than you know what to do with. I'll tell you whose altar is Christ. You come to Him. That's where men meet God in Him. No man knoweth the Father saved the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him. That's where you come to meet God. Don't ever lose sight of this. Everything concerning worship has to do with Christ. And He's the altar in that old Our men in church, they had that old altar there. Oh, you think about it, what pagan ideas of worship that men have, coming to a bench. He said this altar is to be built of whole stones, stones upon which man's hand did not shape or contribute anything. just as they were formed of God. And Christ is the rock of our salvation. He's our altar. Christ is our altar. He's laid in place by men. Is He not preached, and do you not in the mind of Christ lay that altar, you see that altar and how it's laid, what it represents, all about it, know these things. And preachers set the gospel of Christ before men and women, and they lay that altar. And they lay on that altar the unblemished Lamb. And His blood is shed And it sets the way that God saves sinners. On this altar, Joshua said, is to be offered, now listen, burnt offerings and peace offerings. Offerings of praise and gratitude. That's what these offerings represent. And thirdly, I want us to see the wellspring of worship. Love and gratitude. It's not music that raises our spirits to worship. It's love and gratitude. Music might be a means of that if we sing the proper words, but music is how we sometimes express it. But it comes forth from an understanding heart, and the real marrow of it is love and gratitude. Show me a heart that understands God's mercy and grace in Christ, and I'll show you a heart prepared for worship. And then fourthly, let me show you worship with God in the midst. Israel was called upon to gather themselves between two mountains, Mount Ebal, which means bald or barren, and Mount Gerizim, which means cut off. Six tribes at the foot of evil, six tribes at the foot of garrison. And the Ark of the Covenant is in the midst. The priest gathered around it. It's all set right in the midst. This is showing us God in the midst of worship. And then there were two pillars two pillars of stones on which the Law of Moses was written. And I've got good reason I read, I don't know how many different writers on this because I was perplexed by it. I've got good reason to believe that he's not talking here about the whole first five books of the Bible. He's talking about the Ten Commandments and their blessings and cursings attached to it. The law is honored and exalted by the sacrifice of Christ at Mount Calvary. That's what's being represented here. The place of the school. And all Israel gather at God's altar in thanksgiving and praise for deliverance from the curse. And the law now stands as evidence of all their salvation, not the curse of the law. This law is honored and exalted. This law no longer stands with a spear or a sword in its hand, but the law is honored and exalted. It's lifted up. God is in the midst where two or more gather together in my name, there am I in the midst. That's worship. And then lastly, they gather in God's presence where God leads them. God told them where to worship, didn't he? and he provided the place in his providence. They were gathered together in a battle concerning receiving their inheritance. So how does all this apply to us? Well, the receiving of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that's how it applies to us. The gospel is where the battle settled, and hearts are raised up in love and gratitude to God. We're still standing while the rest of them are laying face down in the mud. And wouldn't you have to examine your heart and say, why am I still here? Have you not asked yourself that question concerning your salvation? Why me? It's faith received through the preaching of the gospel that marks out God's elect. It comes not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. Assurance in Christ, assurance that the preacher sent of God, assurance that his message is of God. And he's to be led of God. And that's to be wise concerning the purpose of his grace. Why it's concerning His means of grace and why it's concerning His providence of grace. To be led of God, one must know who they're being led of, who's doing the leading. Is this me or God? And many a man's been left in misery thinking he's been led of God. God help this poor ignorant preacher to apply to himself God's word and this gospel and to teach them that know God the way of worship. Praise him, praise him.