Joshua 1:8 Pt 4

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. It's been one of those weeks. Oh, come on, how about you? Have you had one of those weeks? What kind of week am I talking about? One of those weeks where it just becomes more frustrating by the second you become more irritated. You become more frustrated, you become more aggravated. You you want to start throwing things, smashing things. You may want to drive yourself to the local, local liquor store.

0:42 If I can even speak correctly, No, I haven't. I haven't visited the liquor store. I have it. I know, I started sounding like I had. No, I'm not. I'm joking. I no one has visited a liquor store. I know I'm sounding like it. But yeah, but it has been very frustrating, and it's been very irritating. And you know what's caused the frustration. You know what's caused the irritation. You know what's caused the desire to drive to a liquor store. You know what's caused all of that. Christianity has driven me to that point. Oh, I know that's going to be controversial, but that's how I feel today.

1:22 It's been very frustrating, and we're probably getting ready to experience a little more frustration and just a minute, but before we do that, I should say good afternoon everyone. It is Friday, June the twenty eighth, twenty twenty four. It is currently one forty one pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, what's been causing the frustration, What's been causing the irritation? What's been causing well, sound like I've been at a liquor store. Well, what's caused all of this is really three very specific things. Number one, a sermon series on Psalm eighty three. That thing has been maddening and irritating. Because now, on one hand, it's a good thing, because that sermon series led us to, you know, work on PSAW eighty three. But the more sermons I've listened to on Saw eighty three, I'm starting to lose my ever living mind because it just I just don't understand why the text is so difficult. It is confusing, It is maddening. The things being said about Saw eighty three many of them are just absolutely factually in error. They're just they're not even correct, and that is so frustrating.

2:49 In fact, the original sermon series on PSAW eighty three, it's now up to I think twenty parts. I think it's up to twenty parts right now. I listened to part eight today. Part seven was just I don't even understand what happened in Part seven. Next thing, you know, it's turning into like a gospel presentation, but not based on any verse in SAW eighty three. Like it was just I don't even know what was going on. Now, I think that was Part seven. And then Part eight, well, I guess part one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, because they're broken down into little short segments for their radio program that those seven parts actually are one part of basically one sermon, Part one of their sermon series on SAW eighty three, So those seven parts really just means one part that's one sermon. So those first seven parts is one sermon on SAW eighty three, and I just don't understand. I don't get it.

3:50 I don't I am so confused. And then I started Part eight, I'm like, what is going on? Part eight turns into a discussion about King James. Only make sure you have a King James only Bible. And then they start making these claims about the King James Bible, and again many of the claims are just absolutely factually incorrect. They say things about the Maseratic texts that just are not fair. They say things about the Alexander what they call the Alexandrian texts, which is a text type which is part of Kodak Sanaticus. Okay, we could get into, you know, biblical manuscripts, but just a lot of things that are being said are just completely inaccurate.

4:36 But the main thing is why does any of that have to do with Psaw eighty three. It would be one thing if you're in Psaw eighty three and you're like, okay, you see this verse. This verse is translated radically different and all of these different translations. The reason it's translated so differently is because these manuscripts have this reading, and these manuscripts have this reading. We reject those manuscripts based off the following reasons. Now, some of the reasons he talked about rejecting some manuscripts was really I mean, it was very conspiratorial that they were produced by Jewish slaves. Well, come to find out, I can't find any evidence to even support that claim that they purposely changed the manuscripts because they didn't like what they said. There's no evidence to support that.

5:30 So it just turned into this kind of conspiratorial thing about biblical manuscripts. But the issue was it was not based off Saw maighty three, even though it's part of a sermon series on Saw eighty three. Again, it would make perfect sense if you're like Saw eighty three, this text is translated this way, others translated this way. Let's discuss the reasons and then make an argument for the manuscripts which the King James version is based on. But it was it was just, hey, you need a King James Bible? Why do you need a King James Bible? And then just making claim after claim that are just factually in error. By the end of that, In fact, I was gonna turn it on and do kind of a review about it.

6:14 But I'm like, what's the point, Like what we're trying to get to Saw eighty three, And this sermon series that has twenty parts on Saw eighty three is not about Saw eighty three. It's I just don't get it like I'm frustrated. But if I'm being honest with you, it's not even so much frustration as much as it is I just am confused, right Like, So now to preach on Saw eighty three, you just can literally to preach. You can just open the Bible, read a verse and then talk literally about anything. Like, I don't get it. But obviously that kind of preaching is far more popular than mine. That kind of preaching. There's enough support for it to maintain a church, to bring in money, to pay the staff, to have a radio station. I mean, obviously that's what people want, which leads me going, I don't I don't even understand anymore what I'm doing. So that's the first thing that's led to frustration.

7:13 The second thing, and speaking of frustration, I'm getting all these weather alerts on my iPad right now because we're in extreme heat, and they're basically like, if you go outside, you will die. Okay, all right, But remember I received in the mail sord of the Lord newspaper and there was an article in here or a sermon in here about revival, and once again they quote these scriptures. Applying them to us makes absolutely no sense. It's just it's just I mean, you can go back and listen to that series. I've done what two messages on Revival. I need to finish the article, but I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't even want to turn on the microphone and finish the article because already it's just like they're quoting verses saying it's about us. The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth kind of concepts, he will teach us, he will bring to memory anything that Jesus has said to us. All of that clearly is not about us, or we would all have one doctrine and there would be one denomination. And so it's just it's maddening. So that was frustrating. So we have the Psaw eighty three frustration, we have the Revival frustration quoting things, you know, verses again applying them to us when they don't. And then we have the Joshua one eight frustration. I can't take anymore, ladies and gentlemen, I can't. And I hate that it's all turning negative, right, I

8:46 really am, I'm you. I don't like the negative. I want it to be positive. I want it to be positive. But the Joshua one eight. Thing is maddening these sermons on Joshua one eight, Like they just they almost acknowledge that Joshua one eight is given. Well they in many cases they want to call them promises, but they're actually commands. Then they say that we can keep it, but they don't even come close to explaining how anyone comes close to keeping it, because well nobody does so then, But so then that means we would not get the prosperity and the success. It's just it's it's maddening. So I offered a a you know, a completely different interpretation of Joshua one eight that, on one hand, Joshua one eight is law. It's simply there to show us that we cannot keep it, that we will never keep it, but Christ did, so we put our faith in Christ. Then his obedience to Joshua one eight is imputed to our account. So then we have spiritual prosperity and success in Christ. So if we're gonna if we're gonna make it about us, we have to approach it from that perspective. But my argument continues to remain Joshua one eight is about the nation of Israel. Joshua cannot be understood apart from Deuteronomy twenty eight, where God makes in a sense what we refer to as the land covenant with Israel. If they go in and do this and do this, they get good success and prosperity. If they don't, they get curses. That's literally Deuteronomy comes right before Joshua. Joshua one eight cannot be understood apart from Deuteronomy

10:20 twenty eight. It's about them, and guess what happened. They did not succeed. They were not prosperous because they failed to obey. Because it's once again a demonstration that we cannot keep God's law. But so far in all these sermons, it's been ignored, the contest context has been ignored over and over. Just we go to Joshua one eight and it's about you and it's about me, and it's just maddening. So between Psaw eighty three, between this article right here on Revival, where again scriptures are just applied to us with no not even questioning when minute that can't be real. If that was true, then everyone would have the same doctrine, believe the same things.

11:07 There would only really be a need for nobody would even need a commentary because the Holy Spirit's teaching you, like the whole thing is just maddening, just crazy. And then Joshua one eight. So there's a part of me on this Friday, June the twenty eighth, I don't even really want to broadcast. I want to go find something else to broadcast about. But you know what, it's Friday. We are fast approaching the end of our study on Joshua one to eight. I've given you all kinds of things to look for, things to do. We're kind of fast approaching the end of that. So I've got to do at least one more, right, We've got to try to get at least one more review. And so I grabbed the sermon's two point oh app and I did a search for Joshua one eight and I found a sermon you and your Bible. Now, immediately I know that this is not going to probably go in a positive direction because it's about you and your Bible. But Joshua one eight is not about you, and it's not about your Bible. It's about Israel and the books of the law that they had and their possession or they would have understood or known about at that time.

12:24 That's what it's literally about but okay, we'll see how this is. Maybe they're going to connect it to Israel and then look for application to us. We will see. But I feel like we've got to do one more now. I'm very concerned that this is forty four minutes long, this sermon. My concern is, on one hand, I feel like I got to do it the whole review, which then we'll turn this into two or three hours. I don't necessarily want that. So what I may do is just do the review so I feel like we get the main idea and then let you go finish the rest. I hope that's okay, because I just think at some point, I mean, there's no point in belaboring the point, right I've given everyone. No one yet has emailed me or contacted me and said, hey, I've been listening to all these sermons on Joshua one to eight, and here are a few that at least we're much closer to your interpretation that you offered. Nobody has. Nobody has given me anything, So that's either one a sign that nobody is participating, or two it's a sign that nobody has found anything. Maybe it's a sign that everyone agrees with the way all these other sermons interpret Joshua. Can I say, Joshua John Joshua chapter one, verse eight, and they disagree with me, which is perfectly okay. That's one of the reasons we do this is so that you can hear different perspectives. But obviously, from my perspective, the way Saw made

14:00 three is being handled by many of the sermons we've reviewed as maddening. Obviously based off my perspective, the way these verses dealing with so called revival have been discussed as maddening, and obviously based on my perspective and interpretation of Joshua one eight, these other perspectives are maddening. Now, you may agree with all the other perspectives, but hey, that's the great thing about this podcast is you get to hear different perspectives and then you get to figure it out. Right. So, I guess we're just gonna jump into this. I guess we're just gonna jump in. Hopefully this will go smoothly. Hopefully, hopefully it goes smoother than my my opening, my introductory part of this, my introduction part of this. I know it probably already caused a little bit of controversy saying Christianity is causing all of this. But I think it's fair to say that there's times. Look, Look, I'm not worried about giving church answers. Look there's sometimes Christianity can drive me mad because of just the way the text is handled, just the way. I don't know. I just find myself constantly not thinking the way the majority of Christians think. And I definitely don't understand how many cases the Scriptures are handled. But I could be wrong about everything, And maybe what we're getting ready to hear is gonna be a uh, you know, it's gonna be wonderful. It's gonna be an oasis and the desert of hermeneutical desert. Okay, maybe it's going to

15:31 be that. Maybe it's gonna be a breath of fresh air. Maybe it's gonna be a nice refreshing rainstorm of hermeneutical excellence. Okay, there we go. All right, are you ready, ladies and gentlemen? We begin and five four three two? Are you ready? Here we go one we begin our sermon review. Now, well, I invite you this morning to take your copy of the Scriptures and turn to Joshua Chapter one Joshua chapter one. At this time, we will dismiss our children three years old through the third grade to their junior church. And if you happen not to have a Bible with you this morning, there is one in the Peu rack right in front of you, and Joshua one eight is on page one sixty seven, one sixty seven. We could have a discussion about junior church. Are you a fan of it? Do you like it? What do you think the purpose of junior church is. I think if you're going to have junior church, what you're attempting to do is to train the kids, prepare the kids to how to listen to a sermon, how to take notes, how to sit still. I don't think you should be taking them to junior church to entertain them, because if you're entertaining them, you're actually then only making it more

17:06 difficult for them to transition back into I guess what we call adult church. I mean there's which I can't I don't like the separating every separating them maybe for or like a Sunday school class, that's but the rest of the time, I want those young kids growing up learning how to listen. Because I've demonstrated to Over my years of ministry, and I've had plenty of times where parents come to me and are shocked that their kids can answer the questions and and and do this. And I'm like, because we we churches treat them like they're stupid. Okay, they're not. Young people. Young adults and teenagers can understand. Stop dumbing everything down. Going okay, now, I know, I know you're sixteen, but you need to go. You need to go to the cool youth room where you can play games and and and at the full Now, how about you're a young per You have a brain.

18:00 You can understand doctrine, theology, church history, and you can engage and listening to the exegesis of scripture and you can participate. All right, So, but I'm not a If junior church is there simply to try to help train and prepare for that transition so that they can sit in the pew, But if all you're doing is entertain and it's fun, why would they ever want then to move to the normal sanctuary where it's just listening to someone preach. So if you're preparing them for that, junior church is great. If you're simply you may actually be making it more difficult for the transition. That's my feelings, but you can tell me yours, all right, But let's continue, Joshua one eighth this morning, just follow along as I read this book of the Law. Shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. God, I pray this morning, as we come to your word, that you would give us the ability to focus. Sometimes during the holiday season, just life gets a little upended. And maybe we've come this morning and we're a little weary,

19:33 a little distracted. We're not in our normal schedule. Maybe, and God, would you help us to set all that aside and truly focus on your word and your truth. God, give us truly a mind to absorb your truth, a heart that is pliable and moldable and willing to receive your truth. And God, I pray that you would effectively use your word in our hearts and lives today. And we asked us in Jesus' name. Amen.

20:14 Now, just a quick question about that prayer. If God gives the heart that makes us willing to receive his truth. If God is the one who does that, He's like, okay, there's a church. I'm going to give everyone a heart willing to receive their truth. If God does that, then why wouldn't God give everyone a heart willing to receive the truth. Why would someone then resist the truth or fight the truth, or or or or push back on the truth. Why wouldn't all Christians just immediately receive it? And just it's always sometimes we pray these things and I'm like, well, if God answered that prayer, then Christians should be basically again almost holy, perfect and godly, almost sinless. It's like, we pray these things and then I'm always like, well, if God is answering these prayers, everyone should understand the Bible. Everyone should know the Bible, everyone should have the same doctrine. Everyone should be holy, everyone should be perfect. And so I sometimes I'm perplexed the things that are praying. Now that prayer is much more you know, reasonable than some of the prayers. But again, if God is the one that gives everyone the heart to receive the truth, then are you saying, like, then he gives every Christian the heart to receive the truth. Well, because what we've heard or even in the article on revival, is that, well, we've got to be willing. God gives us the whole expirit but we've got to be willing to let him then do his work. Well, if God's going to give us a willing heart to receive his word, why doesn't God just give us a willing heart to accept the work of the Holy Spirit? Then we're basically holy imperfect. Sometimes

21:47 it's like we push back and we resist, and other times it's like God makes us willing. It's so conflicting and at times it's almost contradictory. But we'll see where this goes. We we're mainly focused on Joshua one eight. Here I'm entitled the message this morning simply you and your Bible, You and your Bible. Peter Drucker said, this plans our only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. Some of us kind of repulse a little bit on that last phrase, don't we the hard work part? Michael Josephson said this good intentions are simply not enough. Our character is defined and our lives are determined, not by what we want say or think, but by what we do. I have a feeling that this has had to Hey, you've got to be more committed and dedicated to your Bible, that this is just going to like Israel. Maybe an afterthought in this quickly, I don't.

23:11 I don't. Maybe maybe Israel gets a little bit of attention here, but I have a feeling like Israel's about to be completely kicked out of Joshua one to eight and it's going to become about you and me And are you committed to reading your Bible? Are you truly dedicated to reading your Bible? Are you putting forth the work? Are you putting forth the effort? And again, well, then how much time do I have to spend reading my Bible? Before then I will have prosperity and good success? And then what is that prosperity and good success? Because once you define the prosperity and good success and then you tell me how much time I have to spend reading my Bible studying it, then what you're telling me if I meet this requirement, then I get whatever this prosperity and good success is. Now, what we've seen over and over is that on one hand, they want to take the prosperity and good success and make it spiritual prosperity and good success. Well, is that the prosper and good success as promised in Joshua one to eight. I think you go back to Deuteronomy twenty eight. You can define the prosperity and good success in Joshua one to eight by what's promised in Deuteronomy twenty eight.

24:10 But most pastors then completely ignore that and say the prosperity and good success is some kind of spiritual prosperity and good success, but that don't really explain what that looks like. And then they say basically, hey, if you will read your bible, oh oh oh, and if you obey every single thing in it, then you'll get this spiritual success, which means then no one's going to get this spiritual success because no one obeys everything in it. So then the whole thing just becomes I don't know, but we will see where he's going to go. But I get a feeling this is going to be like read your Bible more, read your bible more, read your Bible more. Let's see now, in several arenas of life, it could be that starting tomorrow, the first day of twenty twenty four. You have some plans, maybe some New Year resolutions, and you know, we can we can think about those things, we can want to do them, we can have the best of intentions, but unless we actually do them, it really doesn't matter a whole lot. And certainly, and maybe very very most importantly, it comes to the word of God that you can have great intentions. Hey, this next year, I'm going to be in my Bible. This next year, I'm going to faithfully read my Bible. Maybe I'm going to read the whole Bible. Maybe I'm going to read the New Testament. Maybe I'm going to read an Old Testament. Maybe I'm going to you know, study a portion of a book or whatever it may be. And we can have

25:41 the best of intentions writing into tomorrow, but unless we do them not just tomorrow, but one hundred days from now, one hundred and eighty days from now, a year from now, it really doesn't matter a whole lot. So this morning, my plea, my admonition, is this that when it comes to us and our Bible, that we truly spend time with it this next year. Okay, So the thesis of this sermon seems to be you need to be more dedicated to reading your Bible based off Joshua one eight, which is not about you. It's about Israel, and it's about the land, Covenant and Deuteronomy twenty eight twenty nine following. All right, but that's okay, So let's once again, you know what I like to do, even though I disagree with something, Let's go with his theory and say, Joshua one eight is about you. Forget Israel, they're old news, they're antiquated. Who cares about them? This is about us. See as we get ready to cross over into the promised Land, which is twenty twenty four, I guess because this has preached it sounds like the day before twenty twenty four. As we look at this again, I'm just making this an entire allegory. All we need to do to have prosperity and good success in twenty

27:15 twenty four is obey everything in Joshua whin eight. Maybe that's the way this is gonna go. I don't know. Let's just see. I'm going to try to go along with it and then see where it takes. This. Let's jump in and look at some various things about God's word will eventually come back to Joshua one and verse eight. Number one. Reasons to love the Bible. Reasons to love the Bible. Number one, The Bible is from God. We say, yeah, we know that, but can you let that soak in just a little bit, that these black words on white pages and all put together in sixty six books in one book we call the Bible, it comes from God. May that never escape us, that when we open up this book, that these are God's words to us. What is tewod Timothy three sixteen tell us, okay, I'm just gonna already. Okay, I don't know what this has anything to do with Joshua one eight, but okay, I could make it about Joshua one eight. This book of the Law, those are God's words, and this Joshua one eight is God's word, not to us but to Israel. When we say the Bible is God's word to us, we've got to be very careful how we explain that when God makes promises to Abraham and Sarah they're going to have a baby, that promise is not for you, that you're going to have a baby.

28:47 If for some reason you and your husband are not, you have not been able to get pregnant. That's not necessarily a promise for you in any way, shape or form. When he promises Abraham and his descendants land, that is not a promise for you. I can go on and on and on. When he promises those coming out of Babylonian captivity that I know that the plans I have for you to bless you, those are not promises to you. Those are for those coming out of Babylonian captivity. I can go on and on and on. You have to be able to understand that the Bible may be for our admonition, it may be beneficial, it may be for you, know, to challenge us, but some of the specific words have nothing to do with us. They're about God dealing with someone else, and it's simply descriptive of what happened. It may be a promise, but it's not a promise you can claim. It's not a promise for you. It may be a word spoken, and so it's not a word that you can take for you. I don't know why that is so complicated. So when we say that the Bible is for us, we've got to qualify that.

29:47 It's got to be qualified and explained, Well, wait a minute. The scriptures in general are for us because all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reprove, for correct for instruction, and righteousness. They are profitable. Doesn't mean every word is necessarily directed towards us are applicable to us. All scripture, all of it, every word of it, every phrase of it, every sentence of it, every sentence. All scripture is breathed out by God.

30:27 It comes from God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. It comes from God. For Thessalonians, Chapter two and verse thirteen, we also thank God constantly for this that when you receive the word of God which you heard from us, that sissibly means they accepted it as truth when they received it. I heard it from Paul and his missionary group. You accepted it not as the word of men.

31:10 But what really is the word of God which is at work in you, believers? You initially received it, you said that's truth, But then you accepted it. You embraced it for your own heart, your own life, and it's a book that's at work in you as believers. Do you believe this morning? Do you really believe that God's word works in you. I hope you do, because it does. Do you realize that God's word saves people? What's the word of God? Tell us? Faith comes from hearing and hearing by what the word of God or the word of Christ.

32:02 The word of God gives us counsel. Psalm one nineteen and verse twenty four says, your testimonies are my delight. They are my Counselor's God's word counsels us. God's word gives us hope. Psalm one nineteen and verse one forty seven. I rise before the dawn, and I cry for help. I hope in your words, God's word is at work in you, and it's only at work in you. You see this the way they should have been handled, Right, This is one of those ones that's going to be somewhat I'm not going to be able to do much with. Right. On one hand, the things he's saying, other than that little qualifier about when you say God's word is for us, you got to qualify that a little bit.

32:53 Other than that, the things he's saying, obviously I would be in complete agreement with. And this is good stuff, And I would tell you to write it down, put it in your notebook. The frustrating part is why did you start by quoting Joshua one to eight. This is a topical message. Just say, hey, before we go into twenty twenty four, everyone, you have next to you a Bible. Hopefully you brought a Bible. Pick that up. You need that. In twenty twenty four we need to spend more time in it because it is the word of God. So today I'm going to do a topical message talking to you about the significance and the importance of God's word. Let's start with number one. The first reason the Bible is so important is because it is God's word. And then quote the scriptures. Just leave Joshua one eight out of it. Joshua one to eight is about Israel. Joshua one like, just don't even go there.

33:44 So many times and I've got it's bizarre how this will happen. Sometimes I will turn on this microphone into a podcast episode, right, and it's topical or it's thematic. I'm dealing with a topic, or I'm dealing with an issue, and I'll get emails. You didn't quote one scripture, you didn't do do you want me just to randomly quote a scripture. Just randomly quote a scripture. I've done that in churches where I've preached it. You should have done this with a scripture. You just want me to just go find a scripture and just quote it. It'll make you feel better. Look, if I'm gonna quote a scripture, I need to understand. Okay, wait a minute, how am I quoting this? Is this anything to do with the original context? Am I ripping this out of context? Because I have a topic I just need to now find a scripture. You don't go find a scripture just because your topic needs one. You go to scripture because the scripture is what you're going to deal with. If I'm not gonna be necessarily dealing with the scripture, I may make a reference to it maybe, but I gotta be very careful on how I make a reference to it. Joshua one Aid mentions this book of the Law great, but I know nothing about context has been established, nothing about the who, what where? When.

35:00 It's just utilized to be the back kind of the starting point for a topical study. Why not just do the topical study. You're going to quote scripture in the topical study. Why even bring in Joshua one eight. That would be my shoe. Now he says, we're going to return to Joshua one eight. Okay, we will see, we will see. I don't want to have to start skipping through this and try to find a place, but we'll let this go. I think this is going to be a lot of good stuff that he's going to say that, of course we would agree with. Of course, So you want to definitely write this stuff down, and hopefully it'll be a challenge to all of us to you know, take the word of God, to treasure it, to care about it, to want to partake more in it. That will all be good. But I just I wanted was Joshua one eight. That's all I wanted. All Right, let's see what we find here. If you are in it and allowing it to work in you, it's incredibly important. Okay, Now this issue comes up. Does God's word work in you? But only if you allow it?

36:15 Now remember the opening prayer, God make us willing to receive your word. Well, if God can make you willing to receive it, why can't God make you willing to allow his word to work in you? So does God's word work in you only if you allow it? Are you in charge? See this is so weird. On one hand, God make us willing to receive it. On the other hand, Hey, God's word will work in you only if you allow it, only if I allow it. So God is at the mercy of me. So the Holy Spirit can be in me. I can be reading the word of God, but nothing can happen unless I allow it. So any lack of spirituality or growth or victory over sin, it's your fault because you simply won't allow God to do his work.

37:06 But if you're gonna pray that God will make us willing, why then wouldn't God just make us all willing to allow him to do his work and then we can just passively sit by and then He will do the work and then will be perfect. So if I allow God to do his work, well can I be perfect? Well? No, you can't be perfect. Well wait a minute, I'm allowing God to make me perfect. Well no, he still can't get you to perfect. So then is that a is whose fault is that? Then God doesn't want me to be perfect? And if God doesn't want me to be perfect, then any imperfection in me would be God's fault, since he doesn't want me to be perfect. But God's word is so so valuable. It comes from God. Secondly, the Bible is completely reliable. It's completely reliable, John seventeen seventeen. So sanctify them.

37:59 In the what truth your word is truth? God reminds us that what we have in front of us is truth. It's not a lie, it's not made up. It's not just some men writing whatever they want to write. It's from God and it is truth. You know. Peter says this in Second Peter one, sixteen and nineteen. For we did not follow cleverly devised miss when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. What's he talking about. He's talking about being an eyewitness to the transfiguration. For when we received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And notice what comes next. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. He saying, look, we had an incredible experience seeing Jesus Christ transfigured, see him in his glory.

39:23 But you know what, there is something that is even more certain than for Peter, for him to say, hey, this is what I experienced, and he points to the Word of God and he's saying, hey, the word of God is more certain than my experience, and that's certainly true for every single one of us. And he says this to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place. He's saying, look, this trumps any human experience. It's reliable. And I'm telling you you need to pay attention to God's word. You need to consider it carefully. It's a reliable book. Thirdly, the Bible is a significant means of spiritual growth. It's a significant means of spiritual growth. Se in Corintheen is three eighteen and we all with an unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord. Let me just pause right there. We've talked about this before, but let me just rehearse it again. Okay, what's that mean? It just simply means that we can take the Bible and we can clearly and plainly see truth about God, about Jesus Christ as we read our Bible. Okay, couple of things I know we're supposed to be about Joshua one to eight.

40:50 Now this is where he gets confusing, all right, so try to follow Christian logic. God is powerful and we're working in you. The Word of God is powerful and working in you. The Bible is significant to your spiritual growth. However you have to allow it. So is it which is more powerful me allowing or disallowing or God his word and his spirit. On one hand, we say God is the one who does this. God is the one who does this. It's God's power in you. But at the same time, it seems that according to Christian logic, I am more powerful than all of this other stuff because I can stop it and it's very tracks.

41:39 But then why wouldn't God then just overcome my will unwillingness for it to work. But it's so convoluted sometimes. But he said Second Corinthians, this is kind of a hermeneutical challenge here. Now I wanted Joshua one to eight, but we may have a hermeneutical challenge. You know what that's gonna lead to it may lead to a week of study. All right, here we go, let's find it, I think, he said, Second Corinthians, chapter three, verse See here did he say verse sixteen? I? Uh, okay, was it verse six? I mean, I'm gonna back this up just a little, hopefully I don't mess this up too much. I'm gonna back this up. Let's say if we can find out exactly watch scripture he quoted spiritual growth. It's a significant means of spiritual growth. Se Corinthians three eighteen. And we all tewod Corinthians three eighteen. It's a number you always know. If I'm gonna try to remember a number, I'm going to get it wrong. I cannot remember numbers. Can't remember any anything about numbers.

42:55 I cannot remember. Okay, I just can't. All right, by here we go, Second Corinthias, three eighteen. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord he's his. Hermeneutical interpretation is when it says we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. That's us opening our Bible. He is interpreting Second Corinthias three eighteen to be a reference to us looking into our Bible. What do you think? Do you think that's a good interpretation or questionable interpretation? What do you think what would you base that off of? Is this say, hey, if you look into the scriptures, boom, you're going to see it. And he seems to imply that it's easy to understand now all we have to look at it, and it's easy to understand all of these truths. Now again, I will always challenge that, because if it's so easy to understand all the truth, then why are the thouls of denominations? And nobody can literally agree on anything but is second Christia's three eighteen. See, this is what happens when you do a topical message and you just quote scripture, scripture, scripture, scripture, scripture. You just throw it as a proof text, but there's no dealing with the actual text. I got questions about it, all right, but let's see what else he says about it. With an unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord. Let me just pause right there, We've talked

44:29 about this before, but let me just rehearse it again. Okay, what's that mean? It just simply means that we can take the Bible and we can clearly and plainly see truth about God, about Jesus Christ. As we read our Bible. It says this, we all, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being what transformed into the same image, from one degree of goloe glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. What is Paul reminding us of? Okay?

45:10 I had to look up some things about this verse as I was as I was listening. Here's one source two Corinthias three eighteen, and the Bible reads, but we all, but we all unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. The New King James version. This verse is often interpreted as describing the transformative power of God working in the lives of believers. It speaks to the idea as Christians focus on God and as glory, they're being changed and to become more like Him through the work of the Holy Spirit. While the verse does not specifically mention looking into the Bible, the concept of beholding the glory of the Lord and being transformed can be seen as applicable to how believers engage with scripture. By studying the Word of God, Christians seek to understand his care, teaching, and will, which can lead to spiritual growth and transformative transformation in the life.

46:06 Therefore, while Second Corinthians three eighteen does not explicitly refer to looking into the Bible, it conveys the broader idea of turning our attention to God and allowing his spirit to transform us into His likeness. Please note allowing there's the allowance again we have to allow, which can certainly include engaging with and applying the teaching of the Bible in our lives. So there's at least one source that seems to go along with that concept. Do you think that's the concept? Do you think do you think that works right? Again? I'm just we have to question things. That's what we have to do. So Second Corinthians three eighteen. I may do a little bit more work on it. We may return to that maybe in an devotional message at some point, But okay, but we wanted to get to Joshua Win eight. Let's see if we can get close. He's saying, Look, when you're in your Bible, you're reading it faithfully and carefully seeing Jesus Christ, You're seeing truth about God the Father. It changes you. And from one step to the next, to the next to the next, you are growing into the image of Jesus Christ. And I think most of us who are believers here this morning, I would trust, would say, Hey, that's what I want.

47:23 I want to be more like Jesus in twenty twenty four. How can you do that? Practically speaking, it's the word, it's the work of the spirit of God. But practically speaking, it's getting your Bible and it will change you. So if we read our Bible, it will change us. It will just change us. But you've already in a sense given us the idea. It will only change us if we allow it. So the Bible will change if I allow it. So then is it the Bible changing me or me changing me? Because I'm the one obviously in control of the entire process. So then do I get the credit or does God get the credit?

48:10 Well, well, God's word the changing you know because I allowed it? And then what makes me willing to allow it? Is that just me choosing to allow it? Or does God make me willing to allow it? And if he makes me willing to allow it, why doesn't he just make all Christians willing to allow it? And if he doesn't make a Christian willing to allow it to change them, then then would that be on God? Or would that beyond people? These are beyond the person? So is it just you? Just I decide to let God's word change me? Now? Can I allow God's word to change me to perfection? And a few say, well, no, you can't get the perfection? Then why can't God's word change me to perfection? If I'm allowing it, Well, then you're not really allowing it. Well how can you tell me what I'm allowing or not allowing? Oh, this becomes very you see how it just starts kind of going in circles. It could be some of us here this morning have really not grown a lot over this past year. Maybe we haven't grown a lot in a while. And if you're honest, I think a significant piece of that could be that you're not regularly in your Bible. It grows us spiritually. Peter also says in First Peter two, too, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, that it that by it you may grow up into salvation, or literally that it will grow you. I think most

49:45 of us are probably familiar with the Little Children's song. Read your Bible, pray every day. If you know it's say it with me, and you will what grow, grow grow. You know that is truth to help children understand some basic things, But that's truth for all of us. Read your Bible, pray every day, and you will grow, grow, grow. Fourthly, this morning, the Bible has multiple benefits. It has multiple benefits. Let's go through some of these. The Word of God is like a mirror. This is a pretty familiar one for most of us, particularly from the Book of James James one twenty two or twenty five. He admonishes us to be doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face and a mirror. For he looks at himself, and he goes away, and at once forgets what he was like, But the one who looks under the perfect law, simply the word of God, the law of life, liberty and perseveres. You stay there. You stay there as long as necessary, being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

51:15 You know this book, as we open it up and we read it, it's like a mirror, and it shows us some things about ourselves, and let's be honest, sometimes those things aren't real pleasant. It reminds us that our attitude is sinful. It reminds us that our thought processes are anything but godly. It reminds us that our unwillingness to forgive is displeasing to God. And we have a choice to make. We can look in that mirror and we can do something about that, or we can simply walk away and do nothing. Now, this is an interesting theological question. When we look into the mirror of God's law, we know what it's going to reflect back, our inability to keep the law, our guilt. Under the law, we are condemned, and it should drive us to Christ. So we go to Christ confess, and then we rely on his imputed righteousness. But most preachers teach. Know you look into the law and then you do something about it. Can I do something about it? Can I look into the law of God and say, Okay, I'm going to stop this, I'm going to stop this. I'm going to stop this. I'm going to clean this up. And can I get to perfection? Can I get to perfection?

52:44 Can you look into the mirror of God's law, see your flaws and then clean yourself up until you get to perfection? Everyone acknowledges you can't get to perfection, meaning then you can look into the mirror every single day and try to clean and try to clean, and try to clean, and try to fix and try to put on makeup and try to cut your hair and do this and do it. You can try all you want to clean yourself up, but you're always going to be guilty. Every time you look into the mirror of God's law, you will see your guilt. I don't care if it's an internal guilt or an external guilt. Every day you look into the mirror, you see your guilt. So what can you do? Find yourself trying to work harder, or you run immediately to Christ and accept the forgiveness that comes in Christ, and you hope. Your hope then is on the imputed righteousness, not an infused but an imputed one. That's a radically different approach, which is harmful to us and displeasing to God. God's word is like a mirror. But God's word is also like food. Matthew four to four Jesus, when he was being tempted in the wilderness, he answered, it is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. We obviously need physical sustenance, but more than physical sustenance, we need spiritual sustenance. We need the word of God. The Psalmists and Psalm one nineteen says in one O three says,

54:16 how sweet are your words to my taste? Sweeter than honey to my mouth. I'm just gonna guess that sometime over the course of this past week, most of us have enjoyed at least one really good meal, maybe on Christmas Day, maybe several good meals over this last week, and we've just really enjoyed the food. Have you enjoyed the food of God's word? Can you honestly say as much as I enjoyed that roast beef, that ham that turkey, that chicken, whatever you had on Christmas Day. Oh man, I've really enjoyed my Bible, I've really taken it in is and see once again these passages or that's the mirror that shows you your failure. You're going to have to run to christ I mean, come on, I still want to find the Christians who love the Bible more than they love food. Come on, now, how would you even measure that? How would you even measure?

55:28 Almost every single person listening to my voice eats probably three times a day. Not that's probably not even including snacks. You probably eat more than three times a day. How many times a day do you engage in any meaningful, serious, systematic study of God's Word? I think so many times. Like I know, preachers constantly use this illustration. We should love God's word more than money, more than food, and we should, but we don't. And we I know, we try to convince ourselves we do, but we don't. It's hard enough to get Christians to read their Bible. It's almost impossible to get them to study their Bible. It's for most Christians, it's difficult to even get them to show up to church Sunday school Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday. You're lucky they'll show up to one service.

56:19 And if you give them anything to do, like we'll go home and read this or go home and study that, nobody will participate. The numbers are always all. Every study shows how Bible engagement is always abysmal. Biblical illiteracy is always inside the church. But even if you take the very best Christians, come on, now, come on, which do you love more? The Bible or food and money? Which do you spend most of your time thinking about pursuing and taking in food and getting money. I mean, I don't know how we can just ignore those facts. Like I understand all pastors use this illustration. I've used it countless times, but at some point you've got to go, well, wait a minute, we're never pulling this off. Now, why do we never pull this off? Because we're just unwilling? Well, wait a minute. He prayed at the beginning for God to make us willing? Well, can God make us willing? Can God give us a desire for the scriptures more than food? I mean, I've heard pastors rant and rave about this, and I mean, there's no nice way to say it. You know, they're two hundred and fifty three hundred pounds to clearly haven't missed a mail. Now, they may have a medical condition, but I'm just saying they look extremely overweight. Now, I don't care if they're overweight. I could care less in any way, shape or

57:51 form, does not in my business. But I'm saying it's hard for me to go, well, wait a minute, we're supposed to love God's word more than food. And then guess what in every church? Have you ever noticed it? And almost every church you come into Sunday school, there's donuts and there's coffee. You every time. If there's gonna be a church event, there has to be food. If there's gonna be a fellowship, there's gonna be food. If there's gonna be a potluck, there's gonna be an ice cream social. And guess what will be cut short for you to go participate in the picnic or the potluck or the fel It's always we're gonna cut short the preaching of God's word. Why does every church event has to have food? Why? I mean, if the church is supposed to love God's word more than food, then people should say, well, after the sermon.

58:44 When we get together for the fellowship, let's do more Bible study. No, no, no, no, we got to have food. Why I thought we're supposed to love the bob. See, it's something we just pay lip service to. We pay lip service to. Look I can, I can, I'll just be I'll be blunt about my own life. Plenty of times growing up, I went without food so that I could save money so that I could buy music. I would say, nope, not gonna eat, not gonna eat, not gonna eat, not gonna eat. I canna eat. I'm not gonna spend money for lunch for lunch at school.

59:29 I'm gonna skip lunch. Nope, nope, nope, So that on New Music Day I could be at the record store to buy music. Did that countless times? Countless times go without food so I could buy music. I don't know if I've ever gone without food so that I could focus on scripture. Maybe sometimes, but not. It would be rare, nothing like the consistency and the dedication I had so that I could purchase music. But I've never seen the church go without food for anything. Youth events food food, food, food, food. It doesn't matter. Every event food food food, food, food, food, food, food, get together and shove food down our throats. Oh, but we love God's word more than food.

1:00:16 We love God. Come on now, now, I understand the illustration, but I think what we're supposed to. I think what we have to do is just say, well, wait a minute, nobody does this, and I'm gonna be like, exactly, it's the law. Guess who would have loved God's word more than food? Who said? I think he said it was his bread to come and do the will of God. Jesus Christ fulfills all of those demands, and Christ his obedience to it is imputed to me. So in Christ and my position, I love God's word more than food and gold and silver and practice. We don't even come get. We can pay lip service to it all day long. We don't pull it off, can't. I think? In my what thirty something years and teaching the twelve methods of Bible study, I've told the story. How many times have I ever had someone do all twelve methods of Bible study and turn them into me? All twelve? Maybe once in my entire life? Maybe? And I've taught those Bible study methods all over at every church I've ever been in.

1:01:34 I've taught taught it on the internet so many times you can't at the beginning, you'll get away. Oh, I'll do the devotional method. Oh I cannot wait. Maybe I'll do the chapter summary method, and then that's it. Then they maybe they'll get to the next one. Maybe they'll do a biographical method. Maybe they'll do a topical maybe they'll do one. But most of the cases they never even complete the studies because they require work. Well, wait a minute. You should love God's word more than you love food, more than you love money. Now what that should do is convict us and say, my only hope is Christ. But I think we pay a lot of lip service to that. I really do food as nourishment for my soul. It could be this morning that some of you are starving.

1:02:27 Oh not physically, you've enjoyed some good meals, but spiritually you're starving because you haven't eaten from the Word of God in a long time. Oh, you say, but I come to church regularly, and that's great, and I'm glad for that. But when's the last time you got in your Bible and you read your Bible and you kind of studied something and you dug through it just on your own. Are you eating the food of God's word on a regular basis? You know, the word of God God is also like light, and we talked about this recently with the fact that Jesus says I am the light of the world. It's on one nineteen it says, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. You know, the Bible enabled us to navigate this darkened world. It shows us where to go, where not to go. It's a light to us.

1:03:27 And then fourthly, the word of God is like a sword. Remember any Ephesians chapter six where Paul gives the spiritual armament and he says in verse seventeen, and take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Literally the word there is machaira. It's not referring to the big broad sword that the Romans Sould would sometimes use, but it was a smaller sword, sometimes between six and eighteen inches, that they would carry on a belt on their person in a sheath, and when it came to hand to hand combat, that was the preferred weapon. Do you take the machaira the sword of the spirit. Do you have it at the ready when temptation comes to do battle with your sword? Do you just hope for the best. Do you just say, oh, I failed, I'll do better next time, or do you do battle with the word of God. Let me give me some practical ways in which this might look.

1:04:56 I don't think we're going to get to Joshua when eight ladies and gentlemen. I don't. Well, I'll look at some of his practical ways which this is supposed to work. I have lots of questions about this, because, yeah, does temptation come from outside or does temptation come from inside? If it comes from inside, then you would take the sword and be fighting your own sinful nature. So does spiritual battle using your sword? Is it fought against external temptation? Or is it fought against the real source, which is inside of you? And what would that look like? I think most pastors apply it to an external source. But the real source is internal. It's the internal sinful nature that still exists even after you're saved, even though so many Christians act like it's no longer there, even though all the evidence clearly indicates that it is. But let's see which direction he goes, internal or external. You might be tempted to say, in your own mind and your own thinking, moral purity is just old fashion something that my parents, my grandparents, my great grandparents, they kind of adhere to. But come on, you know, this is twenty twenty four almost. You know that's old fashioned stuff. But what does the Bible say for Stessonians four, three and four. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. It couldn't be clearer. God says, this is

1:06:29 my will. He spells it out that you abstain from sexual immorality. And when we are tempted to believe or act in any way opposed to that, we've got to do battle with God's word. And I do like the fact that he does make that more internal when our mind says so, he is dealing with the internal source of this. Right, when we start thinking, hey, I can do what I want. Right, do you face any form of sexual impurity that is an internal issue, an internal struggle that we have to battle with? Okay, I do I do appreciate that. Again, this is not getting us anywhere near Joshua one to eight but I do appreciate that. I'm not saying that you just code a verse and everything is okay. But you got to go to battle and you got to ask God to say, help me believe this, help me to know this is your truth. Help me to apply this to my life. How about it doesn't matter what I say. Well, God's words says something different, doesn't it Ephesians four twenty nine. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as it fits the occasion.

1:07:53 It's appropriate for the occasion that it may give what grace to those who hear. It matters what we say, it matters how we talk. That the idea of corrupting talk the literal word there is rotten fruit or vegetables. Don't let garbage come out of your mouth, but what comes out of our mouth should be good for building people up. That we are ministering grace to other people. We've got to do battle with the sword of the spirit. When we're at tempted to think, Hey, I can say anything that I want to whomever I want, whenever I want, how I want. God's word has something different to say. How about this some sense or no big deal.

1:08:51 Yeah, we got the big ones. You know this list over here, whatever that may be. But there's this list over here, they're no big deal. And what's God's word? Say abstain from every form of evil, every form of evil. It could be that in your mind you're struggling, really struggling to forgive someone, and you just simply have concluded, I don't want to forgive. I don't have to forgive. I'm not gonna forgive. If Heesians four thirty two, be you kind, tenderhearted. This is all really really excellent, very convicting. I'm convicted. I don't know if you are, but this is very true. We have to take the word of God and fight all this stuff inside our mind, the way we think, the way we feel, what we desire, what we do. It is a we take the word of God. We fact. I like the fact that he's making it. It's us. It's our internal thinking, it's our internal desires, it's our internal it's not the external. I like that very very very very very much. Makes it very much more convicting, very much more real, very much more applicable, and very much more philological.

1:10:13 So I love this is convicting. I'm convicted, You should be convicted. We should all be convicted on this. Remember I said that one of the frustrating things about this is this is going to be some really good stuff that you should write down. So now I've asked some questions about some of it and my frustration with sometimes the double speak within Christianity, but overall this is all very excellent stuff. And agree. My frustration is there's nothing to do with Joshua one eight. Okay, but all right, I know we're at seventy minutes. We'll go a little bit longer just to see if he even touches Joshua one eight. Forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you, we got to do battle. You know, it could be this morning that you have been truly deeply hurt by someone. And I'm not just talking about some passing kind of thing, but you've suffered immensely and it takes a great amount of grace from God to be able to forgive, to let that go, to loose that. Also, it could be this morning that you're just kind of loathing in some petty offense some you know, something that somebody has done just in passing, and you've just kind of hung onto that and you're wallowing in self pity, and you've got to let that go

1:11:45 and forgive because it's displeasing and dishonoring to God. And we've got to do battle with God's word. You may conclude in your mind and your heart, whatever the circumstance may be, there's no hope. I'm just the end of my rope, and there is no hope. And what's God's words say? Why are you cast down, oh my soul? And why are you in turmoil? Within me? Hope in God? For I shall again praise Him my salvation. Can I just be super honest with you this morning? There was a morning this past week I was struggling in my spirit. I went to this passage and just rehearsed it and quoted it and went over it in my mind and just went to battle in my own spirit with the word of God. Folks, that's what we have to do. We have to use the sword of the spirit and go to battle, and by God's grace, come out victorious on the other side. Let me give you just one more and we'll move on. God does not love me. It could be that you've just included that somehow in your mind, or you come to a spot where you're just struggling and say, man, I don't even know if God loves me. I don't know if he cares about me, And Romans eight thirty eight and thirty nine says, for I am sure. I'm confident.

1:13:13 I'm positive that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth or anything else in all creation will be able to watch separate us from the love of God. Nothing, nothing will cause God to stop loving you. We've got to go to battle and use the sword of the spirit. I love love, love, love, love His whole approach to spiritual battle, the sword fighting inside of us, fighting inside of us, fighting because that's where the enemy is. The enemy is inside, It's the call is coming from inside the house. That's what we have to fight. The issue is us. We like to make the issue other people. The issue is us.

1:14:04 The issue is our own struggles, our own desires. Now we have to, though, also acknowledge, and I know nobody wants to hear this. The very depressing reality is you can fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, but it's gonna be failure, failure, fail your failure in some way, shape or form, because we're in a perpetual state of disobedience. No matter how much you're down there fighting, no matter how how much you're swinging the swords, you're never gonna get to perfection. So there's always going to be failure. That's why, ultimately, the word of the Lord while we're fighting, one of the things that has to do is the word of the Lord has to show you you need to go to Christ. You need to take this battle to him because in him, the battle is over. In him, you are perfect. In him, his obedience to all of these things you're fighting is complete, and you are perfect and holy in him. You have to run to him. I think that's a part that often gets overlooked because you can fight say i'm gonna stop this, and I'm gonna stop. You may stop four things, there's gonna be twenty other things, and even if you stop doing them externally, you may be still guilty of them. Internally. You will just find yourself drowning.

1:15:13 It's like you're gonna fight and fight and fight. It's like, I don't know if you've ever seen some classic zombie movies where they get rid of a zombie and there's ten more, and you get rid of it, and then there's twenty more, and there's thirty more, and then finally, no matter how many you get rid of, they keep coming until you're finally overrun and you're destroyed. Well, in some ways, that's how it is with fighting sin. You can fight. Ultimately the word of God, the sword should have, will have to show you you need to go to Christ because that's where the only place you can find rest and hope. Everything else you're going to be defeated to some level. Unless you can get to perfection, you're in a perpetual state of defeat. That is the complicated part of Christianity.

1:15:53 I'm not saying that means we don't we stop fighting, but at some point we have to. Even if I'm like, WHOA, look at me. You know I've stopped doing that, Well, that is a good thing. We need to stop all the things he mentioned. But even if I stop one, I'm doing another now. That can lead to then not caring about any of them, and that can be very complicated in Christianity. So we have to find the right balance. I don't have the right balance, and I don't have the right answer. I just know some point I've got to run to the foot of the cross, because that's my only hope. Now, we're gonna just see if he's going to go directly to Joshua. If not, I'm going to start fast forwarding and see if we can find anything he says about Joshua. The sword of the Spirit is our offensive weapon against temptation, against discouragement, against doctrinal heresy, against wrong thinking, against wrong attitudes, against wrong actions. We need to absorb the word of God.

1:16:46 We need to understand it, we need to review it, we need to apply it. We've got to use the sword of the spirit. Well, there's some benefits that we've looked at. It's a mirror, it's food, it's light, it's the sword. One more, the word of God provides stability for us. Okay, I'm going to do a little fast forwarding here, see if we can get anything to Joshua. Here we go. There needs to be stability in your life and God's okay, that's not helping us too much. Let's go a little bit further. All see if this gets us anywhere close. I'd encouragement to keep going in our Christian life.

1:17:31 It provides stability for us. So there's many, many positive benefits to the Word of God, but there's also some responsibilities regarding the Word of God. The Bible clearly says this. We've got this Bible in our hand. We have probably many copies of the scripture, but what are we to do with it? Two Timothy two fifteen. We are to do our best to present yourself to God as one. Okay, so we're still not getting to Joshua. I'm jumping up ahead a little bit more. Here we goist this.

1:18:15 Sometimes we're pretty lazy when it comes to us and our Bible. We just somehow want to kind of, as it were, put this under our pillow, just believe, Oh it'll somehow soak in. I'll get it somehow someway. You know, as a young person, I would hear evangelists speak, I would hear other preachers preach, and I would think, man, God must have just gifted them somehow. They just know their Bible. You know that's not true. They spent time in their Bible. They spend time reading their Bible, spend time memory their Bible, spend time meditating in their Bible, and that's what we all need to do. That we need to give maximum effort to present yourself. It's the picture here that Paul is painting is Okay, we're still not in Joshua. I thought maybe he was going to Joshua meditate on your or day and night kind of, you know, But no, I'm gonna fast forward it now. I'm gonna go I mean, there's not much sermon left, so clearly he's not gonna go to Joshua one eight and connect this to Deuteronomy twenty eight or anything like that. I'm just gonna try to see if we can find anything on Joshua. Oh how I love your law. I will meditate on it all day long. Most of

1:19:45 us are familiar with the idea of meditation. It's the idea of moaning or humming or muttering. It's to be so engrossed in something. And we've probably all done this at a time or two where you're just muttering to yourself about something. You're not paying any attention to who's around, who's listening, who's watching, but you're just kind of almost talking to yourself, just engrossed in something. It's mentally rehearsing and digesting the truth of God's word. How does this work? It's not hard. It's really not hard at all. How about some forty six to one see if we can work through this just as a simple exercise of how to meditate. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. God Elohem, that's the name of God in that particular verse, just simply refers to, generally speaking, the might and power of God. God is not was okay, well, and he says it's not hard to meditate on something day and night. That would be literally physically humanly impossible. So then we have to kind of water that down.

1:21:06 All right. Obviously we're not going to get to Joshua one eight. We're not going to get to Joshua one eight. We're not We're not. So I would challenge you to go listen to all of that. It's called You and Your Bible, Todd Curtis. It's on the sermon's two point oh app Please download it, Please listen to all of it, because there's some really good stuff there about our Bible. There's this is one of those it's going to be a little frustrating. I would agree with probably almost everything that was said there to some level. I would ask some very difficult, you know, some questions, because I'm always asking questions and challenging a little bit. Some of the double speaking Christianity drives me crazy, not so much from him, just because Christianity says one thing and then like, well, wait a minute, does it? Does it not? All these different things. But overall, that's kind of just a very good topical method on the Bible, why the Bible is important, and why we need to be doing with it.

1:22:01 That's a really good thing, a good challenge for twenty twenty four. It's a good challenge for twenty twenty five. That's a good challenge for the month of July. So it's really good. We can be convicted by much of that, and we should be convicted by much of that. We should take the word of God and be are we actually using the word of God to fight anything or we've just become so apathetic and complacent that we just kind of said, hey, this is the way it is, and I'm just going to live my life the way I do. That's and I'm not going to do anything about it. How do we how do we pursue that there's much to be convicted there? I am convicted by it. So I'm grateful for this sermon. It just wasn't on Joshua one to eight. That wasn't on Joshua, which is what we were hoping to accomplish. But remember that's why we do the sermon reviews the way we do them, because I don't want to know what's in the sermon. I want to just listen with you in real time. Now, in this particular case, I thought it was going to get us somewhere. It did not. It got us in a completely different direction, which was convicting and challenging. So still we benefit, we still benefit from it. We don't really get us. It doesn't help us in our kind of our new interpretation of Joshua one eight in any way, shape or form. And of course he just immediately took it and made the rest about us, which of course that's not what Joshua one eight is about. So again that's a little frustrating. But the good thing is he didn't spend I mean, maybe at some point in the sermon he gets to Joshua one eight, and maybe right there in the meditation part he's in Joshua one eight. But you know again, I think it's gonna be He's going to very much present it as if he goes there, Hey, you can

1:23:33 do it. It's he even says meditating is easy. Well, then if it's easy, then okay. I want to find the Christians who do it day and night, and then so then we water it down to it. I think it's law. Israel didn't do it, We don't do it. No one does it, but Christ did. And in Christ, his obedience is imputed to me. Now that doesn't excuse my lack of doing it, But I think we have to be somewhat realistic a lot of these things. We don't love God's word more than food and silver. We don't love God with all of our heart, mind, body, and soul. We're not as holy as God is holy. I mean, I can go on and we don't meditate on his word day and night. We don't memorize it. We can go on and on and out. We don't study the We don't study to show ourselves approved that we fall short, and almost well everything in the Bible we fall short every single thing. Okay, we fall short.

1:24:26 Pray without ceasing, we fall short of everything. Now. I know we like to water those things down, but we're not supposed to water the law down. We're supposed to let the law main in its intensity, so we are broken, and then we can run to the full sweetness of the gospel. That's the only way everything works, and that's why the proper distinction between long gospel is so important. All Right, I feel like we've spent eighty five minutes. Well, I don't feel that that's a fact. We're now at eighty five minutes right now, and I feel like maybe we didn't really get a much accomplished. But that's kind of what we do with the sermon reviews. I'm listening to a sermon, and you listen to it with me, and we discuss it. In this particular case, if it was a random sermon that would have worked out probably pretty good. We probably wouldn't even I probably wouldn't have even given it much thought that he quoted Joshua one eight at the beginning, because he just quoted it and moved right along, and we would have just looked at that more as a topical message. About God's word. We probably would have walked away pretty positive about it, right, I think so, I mean, I think there's much to be convicted by in that. So go back listen to all of it, you and your Bible, Todd Curtis, make good use out of it, write down some good notes, and do something positive with that sermon. I know it's supposed to be about Joshua one eight, but that's okay. That's okay because when

1:25:59 we're choosing random sermon, we never know what we're going to discover. That's the fun part of this. It's frustrating. I'm not gonna lie to you, obviously, I feel like, man, the whole purpose of this was to continue to challenge our approach on Joshua one to eight. But we never know what's going to happen. And I know you're gonna say, well, you should listen first. No, then this becomes a it becomes like a stage production. It's rehearsed, right, I'm listening. I like my reactions to be real and real time, so it's not rehearsed. I'm not picking sermons just because I want to attack or criticize. I'm picking sermons because they're trying to listen to a sermon. Well, I got to listen to a sermon, so that's good. The negative is just it didn't do exactly what we intended it to do. But hey, I don't know. I was convicted. Were you convicted? Well then let's take the positive from it.

1:26:49 You can email me news I F at yahoo dot com. News I F at yahoo dot com. Everyone have a wonderful day, godless