If you'll open your Bibles to
Joshua chapter 15, we're going to look at verses
from three chapters. Our Heavenly Father, bless our
study this morning, and may the message contained in conform our hearts more closely
to Christ, more closely to the truth, cause us to grow in grace. In Christ's name we pray, amen. The first verse that we're going
to read is Joshua chapter 15, verse 63, and it says, could not dislodge the Jebusites. Now the Jebusites were the ones
who inhabited the area which later became Jerusalem. They
were living in Jerusalem. To this day, the Jebusites live
there with the people of Judah. And then verse 10 of chapter
16, they, did not dislodge the Canaanites
living in Gezer to this day. The Canaanites live among the
people of Ephraim, but are required to do forced labor. And then chapter 17, verses 12
and 13. Yet the Manassites were not able
to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to
live in that region. However, when the Israelites
grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor,
but did not drive them out completely. there is an appearance of a contradiction
in these scriptures. God had commanded the Israelites
to go into the land and drive out or kill everyone there. And he promised that he would
be the one to do this. That is, they would really not
be going forth in their own strength but in the strength of the Lord.
But here we have a record that says that they were unable to
drive out everyone in the land. The Jebusites couldn't get them
to leave. In Ephraim, it says the people
were determined to live there. Same with Manassas. tribe of
Manasseh. Does this mean God failed in
his promise? He commanded them to drive out
or kill everybody, and that he would go before them to get it
accomplished, and yet it didn't happen. No, we know this, there
is never a failure on the part of God. He always does what he
promises he will do, and there's never any contradiction
in the scriptures. When it looks like there is one,
we need to look further for the cause of the apparent contradiction. The only conclusion we can come
to that reconciles these things is that the people failed to
trust God. Now, we've seen this sort of
thing before. When people go forth in their
own strength to accomplish something, when they trust in themselves,
in their own wisdom and their own power, God does not go with
them. And they inevitably fail. So
we must assume that's what happened. Remember, the conquering of the
land didn't happen in a day or a week or even a month. It spread
out over several years. And no doubt as they were going
from place to place and this, you know, coming upon this city
and destroying it, you know, and here and there, they were
experiencing a great deal of success. But as time went by,
they were not careful to keep their original understanding
that none of this was being accomplished in their own strength. It's very
easy, is it not, when we see God commonly doing things for
us, as he promised, to suddenly, I wouldn't say suddenly, it probably
happens gradually, we come to believe that it is we that are
doing it. That by our own wisdom and understanding
of how to get things done, followed up with our power exerted in
Following our own purpose, we go out and we begin to fail. We find troubles, difficulties
that we cannot overcome. All of this has at its root unbelief. Unbelief. They say, well, do
believers have unbelief? Certainly we do. Our Lord said
to the disciples, O ye of little faith. That means they were believers. I mean, you can't call someone,
say someone has little faith if they have no faith. So he
said, O ye of little faith, why did you doubt? And what is doubt? Is it nothing more than the mixture
of faith and unbelief? We exist as That is, each believer
in this world exists almost as though they are two different
people mashed together into one, because they are a mixture of
faith and unbelief. They are a mixture of wanting
to do what is right and having a passion for things that are
not right. We see that in Romans chapter
7, Paul says, I don't understand what I do. The good that I want
to do, I don't do that. The evil I don't want to do,
that's what I end up doing. And this spills over even into
the purely spiritual issues. Now, in these several verses,
we see an illustration of the life of the believer. and an
illustration of the religion of the world. Now, let's begin
by noting how this illustrates the pattern of the world's religion. And I think the easiest way is
simply to note this, that they went forth in their own strength,
in their own power, and were overcome But they eventually
grew in strength, and when they finally were able to accomplish
something in their own strength, what they accomplished was simply
to bring the people, you know, the Canaanite people, into subjection,
slavery, and to make them pay tribute. And this caused them
nothing but trouble. for the rest of their existence
in the promised land. These Canaanites living among
them constantly tempted them into idolatry, which they followed
and then experienced God's discipline in hand. This happened over and
over and over again. If they had trusted God completely
and had wipe them all out, they wouldn't have had that temptation
in their face all the time. But now, worldly religion relies
upon the flesh. And note this about the Jews
here. Their unbelief paid off financially. Unbelief did bear some fruit
for them. They got more money and they
got servants. But as I said, these servants,
trouble to them. The money they got didn't help
them out. Now I remember back Oh, well,
I'd have to say the 70s is, you know, I turned 15 in 1970 and
that's when you kind of start noticing things. But this is
when the religious right was beginning to rise and things
like the moral majority were starting. And you see as the
religion of the world was coming out of the dark places in which
it normally hid, you can see that their biggest concern, it's
in two things, power and profit, power and profit. The religion of the world has
no spiritual power. That's because it is of the world
and there's nothing in this world of Spiritual power, that is,
spiritual power meaning the power of God. There are spirits in
this world that have power, and no doubt those spirits are quite
willing to help out worldly religion. But I'm speaking of that spiritual
power upon which the church relies for everything. But as mass media began to grow,
first with radio, then with television. There were religious people who saw the possibility of putting
together huge ministries by which they would be able to exert power
over others and collect a great deal of money. There was a preacher in the 70s,
Rex Humbard, and his wife made this remark, religion is big
business, and the outfit that has the prettiest line of balloons
will draw the biggest crowd and make the most profit. Now, that's
remarkable that one of these, they came to be called televangelists,
but one of them would be honest enough to admit write out loud
what they were about. Almost every TV evangelist, and
I'm using them as an example because they are kind of the
epitome of worldly Christianity. Every TV evangelist asks for,
quote, faith partners to donate to their cause. They're con men,
and they know how to draw people in, They know how to subject
people to their own will, that is to the preacher's will, and
extort from them the money that gives them extravagant lifestyles. Now these TV evangelists, they
want faith partners, and that's just That's just appealing to the
religious nature of man. And you know, they're saying
to them things, you know, you are people of faith. And we want
you to join with us, be a partner with us, a faith partner. Show
how much faith you have. And somehow or another, showing
how much faith they had always involved a line that said, pay
to the order of. Send a check. These men, they begged for money
and they were beggars, that makes them beggars, and the reason
that they were beggars is because their God is a beggar. You know, having grown up in
the free willism that provides the foundation for the world's
religion, I saw, just right there in front of me, them describing
a God who begs, who needs something from people, who has to say,
without you, I can't get it done. I want to save you, but you have
to let me. Now, it's not like I heard God
saying those words, but the preacher is God's spokesman
said those words. They would say, you know, God
wants to save you, but you must let him do it. And they even find some rather
subtle ways to say it, ways that make it look like, you know,
like they're praising God. The daughter of probably the
most prominent evangelist of the 20th century, Billy Graham,
his daughter said this, God is a gentleman and he will never
go where he's not wanted. Well, if God never goes where
He's not wanted, He's not going anywhere in this world, is He? Because we never want Him unless
and until He invades our hearts. He doesn't stand outside our
hearts and ask us to grant Him permission for so long as God
only invites, so long as God only you know, asks for permission. We say no. It's only when he, by his sovereign
power, breaks down the door of our hearts. And I realize, you
know, when they talk about God standing at the heart or the
door of your heart, they're referencing, I believe it's in Revelation
chapter three, verse 20, behold, I stand at the door and knock
if any man open. I will come unto him and sup
with him. But they're taking that completely out of context.
Because that's in the middle of a bunch of letters written
to seven churches in Asia. And he was not talking about
knocking on the doors of people's hearts. He was talking about
these churches. They were going on, many of them,
in the strength of the flesh. And he's saying to them, you've
put me out of your church. I'm on the outside knocking on
the door. This is supposed to be my house. Why are you treating
me like I'm a guest who must ask for permission to enter? So we know that when it comes
to this matter of salvation, God never puts himself in the
position of a beggar. But these TV preachers, their
God was a beggar, so they became beggars, playing on the natural
bent of men to be recognized for their works. These churches
have a determined campaign to boost membership by speaking
to them, by giving them virtuous names
like faith partners. You know, they'll preach a message
on Daniel, maybe, and they'll say, we need some Daniels to
help out. You know, well, everybody wants
to raise their hand. I'll be that, I'll do this. In 1954, a large Baptist denomination
who wanted to grow, they had a motto or slogan. for their 1954 convention, and
it was this, a million more in 54, and every one a tither. Isn't that something? Here is
a group of people who claim to be the conservatives, who claim,
you know, they were among those that held to the scriptures and
all of this, and when they come up with a slogan, their annual
convention, there's nothing about Christ in it, nothing about God
in it. It's about getting a million
more members in that denomination and making sure every one of
those millions is a tither. Now, the tithe was a law of the
Old Covenant. It was a law imposed upon unwilling
slaves forcing them to give 10% of what they made. The church
does not operate on the basis of tithing. When it comes to the giving in
the church, Paul gave us instruction on it. He said, everybody gives
what they're able and they give what they want to. I think I've, well, I know I've
mentioned this many times. The reason that people love the
idea of the tithe, it's not because it forces them to give 10%. It
just lets them say, well, once I've given my 10%, I don't have
to do anymore. But there may be some who can't
afford to give 10%, and there may be some who can afford to
give much more, but all of the commandments of the new covenant
of the gospel are founded upon first our love for God. Consequently,
Paul says God loves a cheerful giver, so he doesn't want anybody
giving more than what he wants to give. He doesn't want grudging
givers. He's not interested in that. So we tell people, don't give
any more than what you want to give, and then Because there
are some of such tender heart and, you know, they feel a sense
of obligation in giving. He says, don't give more than
what you have and what you can give. But you can be sure of this,
at least in most cases, where tithing is set forward as an
obligation laid upon the people of God, it's because The leaders
are covetous and want to see to it that that 10% is made available
to them. Now, as far as worldly religion is
concerned and how this represents worldly religion, worldly religion carries out
its practices. They actually just collect, in
keeping with this story, all they do is collect a bunch of
Canaanites because that's all that the flesh can attract. And, you know, while we might
want to say that there is no worldliness in what we do, the
fact is, So long as we're in this world, we are going to have
worldly principles, worldly ways of doing things are going to
be a part of our experience. Now at this church, our desire,
what we really want to do is always to preach Christ, to trust
the power of the gospel, to accomplish what needs to be done. And we
strive to do that, yet we must confess not everything we do.
is completely according to the gospel. Why? We're still dragging
this flesh around with us. You know, on the one hand, like
Lot, we are distressed, we are vexed with the conduct of the
world. It's difficult and we are, you
know, upset with having to be in this world. But you know what
upsets us even more? when we realize how much of the
world is in us. It's one thing to be a child
of God in this world. It's another thing to realize
that even as a child of God, so much of the world is in us.
And you know, everything that we do in the power of the flesh,
all it's going to accomplish is attracting more Canaanites. You know, Paul talks about every
man's work being tested by fire. And he doesn't mean every individual
within the church. He was talking specifically of
preachers. And he says there are some who,
by their efforts, they get gold, silver, precious jewels. And
those are true converts is what they are. And it says, others,
because they rely on the flesh, because so much of their ministry
is dependent on what they are able to do in the flesh, they
collect wood, hay, and stubble. Well, you put both of those to
the test of fire, what happens? The wood, hay, and stubble burns
away. Now, any congregation is going to have
some of both. Every preacher, no matter how
much he may strive to do everything under the power of God's Spirit
and not rely upon the flesh, there is going to be some reliance
upon the flesh and likely some of the results that come about
through that ministry are going to be wood, hay, and stubble.
And so every man's ministry is going to be some of wood, hay,
and stubble and some of gold, silver, and precious jewels.
Here's the thing. The wood, hay, and stubble is
not fruit that lasts until eternal life. They may have been part
of the church. They may have been very active
in the church. So far as anybody could tell, they were the real
thing. But the fire of God's judgment
will put it to the test, and they'll just burn up. Now, we
do what we can to avoid attracting fleshly fruit. But seeing that we in ourselves
are a mixture of spirit and flesh, that we have spirit, which is
of the world to come, which is heavenly. We also have flesh,
which is of this world. Consequently, and it's gonna
be this way until we die. Consequently, in every life of
each individual believer, There are going to be things done in
the Spirit and things done in the flesh, and everything done
in the flesh will perish. That which is accomplished by
the power of the Spirit of God, by the grace of God, that bears
fruit unto eternal life. And I don't mean it bears fruit
in giving unto eternal life in the sense that those works give
the man eternal life. I mean that those fruits have
an eternal life about them. And as much as we would like
to rid ourselves of every natural and worldly principle that rules
in us. The fact of the matter is, as we read here in verses 12 and 13 of chapter 17,
the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns for the
Canaanites were determined to live in that region. As much
as we would like that the gospel, gospel principles, spiritual
principles would take over every aspect of our mind and thinking,
so long as we're in this world, there's going to be parts of
our thinking that we'll never be able to occupy with spiritual
thoughts, because the flesh is determined to stay. That's why Paul said in Galatians,
the flesh wars against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh,
so that you are not able to do what you want. Now I think that
Paul, when he said you're not able to do what you want, he
meant that believers, they want to do the right thing in their
heart of hearts, in their spiritual being, they want to do the right
thing. but they're not gonna get it done, not perfectly. But
the fact of the matter is, we are both spirit and flesh, and
neither one of those natures is going to be satisfied in this
world, because neither one of them is going to give up. That's why we may learn to be
content in this world, but we will never be satisfied. We must
learn that no matter how hard we strive to think and act spiritually,
that's not going to happen to perfection. That doesn't mean
we quit trying. We do what we can. We seek the
Lord. We think upon His Word. We walk
in the Spirit. as much as we're able, but even
as we do that, we recognize we'll never do it perfectly, for the
flesh is always here. In other words, while these verses
give us an example to avoid, they also describe to us a condition. that exists in each individual
believer and in every church in this world. There are some
things which are the product of the work of the Spirit of
God, and there are some things which are the product of the
work of the flesh. And that's just gonna be how
it is. We strive to make it purely spiritual, But recognize, until
we pass from this life where the Lord comes for us, by whatever
means, it's going to be this mixture. There are going to be,
there's going to be unbelief in us. There's going to be this
flesh, just like those Canaanites, going to refuse to leave. We're
going to become complacent about it sometimes. But here is the
blessed truth to think on. Despite our failures, God himself
never fails. We may not drive them all out,
but according to his promise, eventually God will. And there will be no Canaanites
in the land. And we will not be operating
under fleshly principles, but entirely spiritual. All right.