MAKING VICTORY SECURE
Joshua 12
Introduction: What is in this chapter? As you read it you think why is this in the Bible? All scripture has three levels of interpretation. We must understand how a passage fits historically. What is happening from the perspective of history? These are given to us to have historical lessons to teach us a spiritual application. The book of Joshua is a book of victory. It tells us how Israel went into the land and took possession of that which God had promised Israel for centuries. These stories are to teach us some principles that will help us in our Christian walk. We have to ask the question, “What does God want to teach us in this passage?” We must remember this book is the book of Jesus since Joshua is the Old Testament version of the New Testament name of Jesus. What we need to see is that God is wanting to teach us how our Jesus can enter into the wilderness of our life and help us gain the land which God has promised and establish his kingdom, his rule, his authority over our lives.
How many times have we seen sports teams make spectacular plays, rally to come back in the game only to lose it in the end? How can we gain victory which lasts? How can we continue on in our life of service to the Lord and not wrestle with defeat all the time? Look at Romans 8:35-37 (KJV) 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Think on the phrase here, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” The phrase “more than conquerors” is a single work in the Greek NT. It means we are going to conqueror; we are going to conqueror more. The word means, not just winning, not just gaining the victory, it means “gaining control, or possession.” It means to rule or reign, to exercise authority over, to control. Through Jesus Christ we are to be more than conquerors. We are to be more than just getting out of the mess we are in. We have the power of God to enter into the area where we can control that which we have struggled and been defeated. There is more to victory than just winning. There is winning, then there is possessing.
We look at Joshua 12 and find two things happening. (1) Kings conquerored and (2) land possessed. This chapter is a list of kings conquerored and land possessed. Look at Josua Joshua 12:1 (KJV) Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east. We must win, but we also need to possess. What it says is that God wants us to be more than conquerors.
When we think about our lives, we are really good to trust God when we have a problem. There is a need to not just win the victory, we need to solve the problem. There is a need to posses the land. If you have been a Christian for any time you can look back and find times when God came through and bailed us out. I can. God is so good. He answers prayer. Many can look at crises times in our lives when God came through and we got the victory. What most do not understand is that when you win the victory you need to possess the land or you will find yourself fighting that battle again. Illustration: Let’s say you are out of a job and you find yourself in a bad financial bind. The utility companies are threatening to cut off the electricity, the gas and the water. Your life is in a mess and you don’t know what to do. You have not been successful in finding a job. You have become lax in some areas and ran up the credit card and people had warned you about that. You come to the point that you cry out to God, “Oh God, rescue me!” Then you get an unexpected refund from the IRS or some charity comes to your rescue and you are able to pay your bills and everyone is saying, “Praise God.” If you don’t learn why you got into that mess and learn to go in and take possession of the area of your life that has caused the problem and apply biblical truth, you will find yourself right back in that situation the next month and you will have another crisis. Do you know what happens? You do this enough times you will find that God and His people will stop bailing you out. The reason is the issue is not the problem, it is you and your hard heart. You have not learned the difference between victory and possession. You don’t know what it means to be “more than a conqueror!” We see this happen over and over again. We all have problems. I just don’t want the same problems over and over. Let me show you how this is realized. You find a person make a real commitment to Christ and nothing has happened since. Can I ask a question? Are you winning some victories lately.
- Becoming More than Conqueors.
Look at Ephesians 4:21-32. This passage teaches us a principle that few learn. It is the process of getting rid of a bad habit and replacing it with one that is good. Something has to fill the void that has been created. Ephesians 4:21-32 (KJV) 21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. We are to allow the Spirit of God which resides in us to establish new habits that are godly. Luke 21:19 (KJV) In your patience possess ye your souls. Do you remember where we get patience? James 1. God does not want to constantly bail us out of bad situations. We need to learn to possess our souls. These people are saved but they have not learned to posses their souls. Be more than a conqueror. Look back at Ephesians 4 again. Do you remember the kings in the caves we were talking about several weeks ago? How Joshua sealed the cave and then came back later and dealt with these kings? Joshua had some pressing battles to fight and later he came back and dealt with the kings one at a time. We pointed out that we are to use this as an illustration of how we have some bad habits hidden in a cave somewhere and we need to bring them out and deal with them. It may be an addiction. It may be a bad language. It may be a secret sin. They need to be dealt with. Some of you have never done that. You keep fighting the same battle over and over and never become “more than conquerors.” It is more than just dealing with the kings. They need to be replaced with things that are godly. Ephesians 4:25 (KJV) Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. We need to go further than just stop lying. We need to learn to speak the truth. We need to learn that when our conversation is not truthful then the whole body suffers. The church suffers from our inability to speak the truth. It is more than saying, “Oh God, I don’t want to lie anymore.” That is the elementary level. We need to move further and begin to replace the lying with the truth. God wants you and me to be truth speakers. It allowing the Holy Spirit of God to rule and reign in your life. Look at Ephesians 4:28 (KJV) Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Have you ever stolen something? You may not have but you have stolen time from your employer. Do you see how you overcome stealing? You “labour, working with his hands the thing which is good.” Then you become benevolent and learn to give to those who have need. This is more than a conqueror. You are moving from stealing to having a good work habit and moving to the place of helping others. Ephesians 4:29 (KJV) Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. We like to say, “If you don’t have something good to say, then don’t say anything at all.” That works with 5 or 6 year olds. We are to move beyond that and begin to use our language to edify and build up others and minister grace to the hearers. This is being more than conquerors. You find yourself moving to a new level of life. You begin to function in a new level and put the corrupt communication behind us.
Look at what we find in Ephesians 4:30-32 (KJV) 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
- Blessings that are counted. There is a second lesson to learn and that is part of possessing is counting your blessings. Now back in Joshua 12 we find some things that we need to learn. In Joshua 12:2-6 we find the list of victories won under Moses. Now note with me Joshua 12:6 (KJV) Them did Moses the servant of the Lord and the children of Israel smite: and Moses the servant of the Lord gave it for a possession unto the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. These are the victories won under Moses.
Now look at Joshua 12:7-8 (KJV) 7 And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions; 8 In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: These are victories gained under Joshua. Here is what we need to see in this passage. There were victories under Moses, there were victories under Joshua, there were victories in the mountains, the valleys, in the plains, in the springs, in the wilderness, in the south country, etc. etc. There were many types of victories and God was in every one of them.
The book you hold in your hands is an important book. I believe God wrote it and every word is “pure” (Psalm 12:6). Now if God wrote this book and He saw fit to make a list like the one you find in Joshua 12:9-24 of every one of the battles won by the people of Israel. I think we can learn from this the importance of “counting our many blessings and name them one by one.” This should be a reminder to us that God answers prayer. That should strengthen us and increase our trust in Him. It should remind us that it is more than God bailing us out of a mess. It is God making me more than a conqueror. Did you notice that some of the places listed here are places that one time had been a blessing.
- Bethel, verse 9. This means “the house of God.” This was a key place in the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was the place where they met with God. By the time Israel came into the land it had become the home of a trinity of giants. These were evil, pagan men. It had to be taken again.
- Jerusalem, verse 10. Do you remember when Abraham had gone out to fight against the kings to rescue Lot and his belongings in Genesis? A strange sounding fellow came from the city to bless Abraham by the name of Melchizadek. He was the priest of the most high God. There was a time when Jerusalem was given to God, even before Israel became a nation. What happened was that it was not possessed long term and fell into the hands of the enemy and had to be taken again.
- Kedesh, verse 22. It means “a holy place.” By the time Israel came into the land it was not so holy. These places were not possessed long term and had to be conquered again. This happens to us when we do not possess our possessions. We see God make us conquerors but He wants to make us “more than conquerors.”
Are you tired of living a life that just bounces off of the walls? Are you tired of moving from here to there? You do not have to live like that. Are there going to be hurts and problems – there sure are. But you do not have to live life being jerked all around from here to there. You need to trust God for the victory but you need to move in and posses those areas. When you possess them they remain with you and stay fresh. Sometimes people cling to the past. They cannot turn loose of the past. Well let me tell you how it used to be. What about now? Have you noticed that God keeps many long lists? You find God making lists of people, places, this and that. Did you know God keeps lists of our lives? If you don’t keep a specific list of victories in your life, God does. Do you remember the ten lepers Jesus healed (Luke 17:11-18) and only one came back to say thank you? God wants us to remember. That is why we see piles of rocks and landmarks that God sets to remind Israel of the victory in that place. Did you know that one of the kings in your cave is the “king of a negative focus.” Some of you cannot go through a day without complaining about something that happened. You gripe about this, about that. Do you know why? There is a king of negative focus in your life. Do you know why? You have never gone back and possessed some of those victories God has given to you. You have never gone back to God and said “thank you for what you did in my life.” This is a basic part of worship. Why don’t you go home and make a list. “Count your many blessings, name them one by one.” You don’t have to go back to the beginning of your life. Just go back a month, a year. Do you know what we do when we make a list? Well I got saved, and have a good family, and from there it gets a little foggy. Start last week. What are the victories God gave you last week? If you are having a problem bringing some up, you may have a problem. Your worship is probably not what it needs to be. Your walk with God is probably not what it needs to be. Try the last month. Can you go to your prayer journal and see the things God has done for you? Yet there is more than just the victories. Can you go in and “posses” those victories? What needs to be replaced that was formerly there? Do you have a king of negative focus? Then replace that king with praise and thanksgiving. Learn to be grateful to God and others. Make it a point to thank people, to encourage people, to express appreciation to people rather than making it all about you and your problems. If you do not posses these areas you will have to come back to God over and over again and have God bail you out.
Victory that lasts is where we replace what is evil and bad and replace it with what is good, godly and biblical. You may want to begin to count your blessings. There may be someone here who has never become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can I invite you to put your faith and trust in Him and become a follower of Him. We need to learn that God is not about religion, ritual and things of this nature. It is about a God who loves us and wants to have fellowship with us. He became man that He might die on the cross and raise from the dead so you and I could have eternal life.
