Forward in the Fight [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

The Father may not tell you all of the details about the next struggle that you or the world might face, but He has gone to extraordinary, supernatural, infinitely sacrificial lengths that you could know for sure that He's with you. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Forward, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout our entire program today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org.

That's pastoralan.org or call 877-544-4860, 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. Resist the devil, writes James, and he'll flee from you. Life with Jesus can be an exhilarating and reassuring experience of constant triumph over evil forces. But the battle never ends. And the sooner you accept that, the more peace you're going to have.

The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Jebusites, the battle doesn't end. And that's okay because what you can know, what you can know as a Christian, what God destines for you to know in your spirit, eclipses what you can't know. In other words, the certainties of the gospel by the assurances of the Holy Spirit and the promises of God's word, those certainties are much higher and better than the uncertainties of the world. And the key to peace and joy in this world is not to try to take all the uncertainties of life and get all those circumstances worked out so you don't have to worry about anything.

No, the key is to be so saturated in the certainties of God and the Holy Spirit that that trumps all of the uncertainties. That's God's plan. Notice this, verse seven again, the Lord said to Joshua, today I'll begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel.

Why? That they may know that I was with Moses and I'll be with you. This same phrase occurred at verse four, which we didn't read, but preceded this. There shall be a distance between you and the ark of the covenant about 2000 cubits in length.

Do not come near it. That is the ark in order that you may know the way you shall go. Look again at verse 10, Joshua said, here is how you shall know. Uncertainty creates anxiety, but knowing assurances creates peace and faith. And early in my Christian life, I misunderstood some things about faith. Almost for an earlier season of my life, I always was told so much, God loves faith and you need to have more faith.

And both those statements are true. But what it led me to believe was that faith was sort of this hard thing that required a lot of mental assent, maybe even some mental gymnastics to overcome all of my doubts and sort of prove myself to God that I will trust Him, even though the evidence is against it. That's not faith.

That's not the way it is at all. Instead, if you look at the big story of the Bible, what you'll realize is that God is a Father and He loves faith, loves it. Without faith, the writer of Hebrews says it's impossible to please God. This is what pleases God, you having lots of faith. And so God the Father, who's so pleased when He sees that you have faith rather than fear, He hates it when you're anxious. He loves it when you have lots of trust and you're at peace in this world.

He loves that. And so this Father has gone to extraordinary lengths to help you know for sure that He loves you and to know for sure that He's fighting for you, to know for sure that in Christ you're His forever. Think about the story. In the beginning, God is fellowshipping with Adam and Eve in an uninterrupted intimacy and joy. Adam and Eve sin, they rebel directly against God.

And what does God do when humanity has rejected Him? Verse 8 of Genesis 3, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. God didn't run away from them when they sinned, did He? The man and his wife, continuing verse 8, they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. God didn't hide from them, they hid from Him. And the Lord God, verse 9, called to the man and said, Where are you?

He hasn't run off in his anger against them. He has come towards them and pleaded with them to quit hiding. Think of the call of the Father of the people of God. Abram called up out of the ear of the Chaldees, and we know that Abraham's faith was reckoned as righteousness to him, but the honest reading of the story is that Abram requires a lot of reassurances. In fact, though he's called in Genesis 12, he is needing reassurance by chapter 15. He says at verse 8, Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? And so God had him cut a covenant. It was to take an innocent animal, slaughter it, take the carcass and put it like a gauntlet so that normally both parties would pass through and make vows to each other. But instead of Abram making a vow to God, God put Abram into a deep trance and a blazing fire pot passed through the blood. The symbol of the Holy Spirit's present passed through the sacrifice. Wow. And at verse 13, the Lord said to Abram, listen to this, know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs.

Know this. What about when he called Moses? He appeared to him in a burning bush.

That'll get your attention. He began to receive Moses's skeptical questions. Who am I? Moses said, and the Lord said, I'm going to be with you. And he said, who will I tell them?

Sent me. And he said, tell them Yahweh. And for the first time ever, God revealed his personal name. Tell them I am who I am sent you.

How will they believe me? Put that stick of yours onto the ground. And it became a snake. Pick it back up. It became a stick again.

Stick your hand into your cloak. It became leprous. He pulled it out, put it back in.

It was healed again. He said, I'll turn the Nile to blood. Well, well, what about the fact that I'm not eloquent? I'm going to send your brother with you. I want you to know for sure. I'm going to do what I've promised.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages like people aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions, Pastor Alan and his wife, Ann, lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple grace-filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future.

To help you grow, when you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. What about David? He was the youngest in the field.

He was forgotten. He wasn't even considered when Samuel the great prophet came to anoint the new king of Israel. And the Lord said to Samuel, it's none of these older brothers.

And so Samuel said, is there no one else? And so it was he sent for David who was just a shepherd, a youngster in the field. And he came in and Samuel verse 13, first Samuel 16, took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And look at this, and the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. When Jesus came, what did he do? He took these unreliable disciples and he spent every day with them so they would have a front seat to all of his miraculous power. And he would interpret and teach and fellowship with them so that they could know that he was the Messiah. And when he was resurrected, Acts 1 verse 3 says he presented himself alive to them after suffering by many proofs.

Another translation says by many convincing evidences. When he was going to depart and he was telling his disciples ahead of time, did he say to them, it might be sort of easy for you to believe now, but when I leave, it's going to get real hard because you won't be able to see and touch me anymore. And so right now, faith is easier, but it's going to be really hard. And so the father is going to be really testing your faith and it's going to be really, that's not what he said. John 16, 70 said, I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you. And at Pentecost, when Peter preached the message, while the Holy Spirit is being so powerfully poured out that people of every kind of nation are speaking in other languages and proclaiming the glories of God. And Peter in the midst of that preaches and says at verse 33, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the father, the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. Look at verse 36, let all the house of Israel, therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. God doesn't get us born again and then say now believing is going to be really hard and I'm going to put you through a fiery trial to see if you can trust me.

That's not the father's heart. Instead, Paul says, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel, your salvation and believed in him, you were sealed in the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. I go through all of this to convince you the father may not tell you all of the details about the next struggle that you or the world might face, but he has gone to extraordinary, supernatural, infinitely sacrificial lengths that you could know for sure that he's with you. And that's what this story is about, God being with you, because when they are going to cross over through the Jordan, the Lord commanded the priest to carry the ark. Verse 8 of Joshua 3, as for you, command the priest who bear the ark of the covenant when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan. So the priests are to take the ark because only the priests in the old covenant could handle the holy things. You know the ark of the covenant that contained the tablets of the law and Aaron's rod that had blossomed and a little container of manna and was gilded all over and the golden atonement cover where the high priest on the day of atonement would sprinkle the blood of the lamb that was overshadowed by golden cherubim's wings. And this ark represented the holy manifest presence of God. They knew that God was everywhere. The psalmist had proclaimed it. Where could I ever go from your presence?

You are there. But the manifest presence of God, assuring that his glorious victory was always at hand, they would carry it into the Jordan and then the Jordan would part. Not simply the raising of a staff like at the Red Sea where the waters part as a sign and a wonder, but instead the presence of God would be in the midst of their trouble.

The presence of God would be in the midst of the barrier to the promised land. And then as the priest stood there with the ark and 12 representatives, one from each tribe of Israel came and stood there, they would be assured, I will most certainly be with you and drive out the enemies one battle after the other. You have become, according to Peter, a royal priesthood.

You're the priest. And every single one of you in Christ is 100% authorized to enthrone God. And in a very real sense, wherever you go, God is going. Because the Holy Spirit is with you always, in the midst of your troubles. The bliss of the promised land in the end, therefore, though they're battles, is no is no different than the bliss of heaven itself. Because what makes heaven heaven is the presence of God. Sometimes we talk so much about heaven as the place where we have no more struggles and no more tears and no more sickness and no more misunderstandings and no more hatred.

And all of that's wonderful. But that's not what makes heaven wonderful. Heaven's wonderful because of God's presence. John Piper has written a book called God is the Gospel, in which he writes, when I say that God is the Gospel, I mean that our highest, best, final, decisive good of the Gospel, without which no other gifts would be good, is the glory of God in the face of Christ, revealed for our everlasting enjoyment. The saving love of God is God's commitment to do everything necessary to enthrall us with what is most deeply and durably satisfying, namely himself. Since we are sinners and have no right and no desire to be enthralled with God, therefore God's love enacted a plan of redemption to provide that right and that desire. The supreme demonstration of God's love was the sending of his son to die for our sins and to rise again so that sinners might have the right to approach God and might have the pleasure of his presence forever. God himself is the Gospel. In other words, if you could have heaven, meaning no more worries, no more struggles, no more battles, no more tears, no more sickness, but Christ wasn't there, would you take that?

Of course not. What is higher and better is the presence of Christ. So life has got its battles, and there's a little part of me when it gets tough, I'll be honest with you, I'm just trying to find that moment on the bleachers with Andy Grohlnick again. And then I shake it off and go, that's not really this world, is it? And when you're facing a big battle and a big struggle and you feel that temptation, like the answer to my life is to just get to that place where there are no more battles, then just remember this, that they would face the Canaanites, the Jebusites, the Hivites, the Hittites, the Girgashites.

I don't even know who the Girgashites are. I just know it's one battle after the other, and God is with you. And that's the Gospel. Pastor Alan Wright, our good news message from the series Forward, it's Forward in the Fight. Please stay with us.

Pastor Alan is back in the studio, sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages, like people, aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the Gospel of grace. In six video sessions, Pastor Alan and his wife Anne lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple, grace-filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future.

To help you grow, when you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful, transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The Gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. Well, we can certainly agree and identify with some of those last words you said, battle after battle, fight after fight. And I hope we can hold on to the fact that God is with us just as surely. Just remember that the name Joshua, the leader, Moses' assistant, who is the one who leads the people in the conquest of the promised land. Just remember that name Joshua, that's actually Jesus' name.

In Hebrew, he's Yeshua. And so there can't be a clearer picture than this, that when you think of being in a spiritual battle, you must think of being in the spiritual army of Yeshua, and he is the head of it. And so whatever he wins and wherever he steps and all of it, all is yours as well.

And so you can keep that in mind. And every battle that you fight in the spirit, you're fighting it in the resources of Yeshua in Christ. So yeah, the battleground is also a promised land. The promised land is also a battleground, but you are every step of the way guaranteed that Jesus is going to secure the victory.

So that's our confidence. So we're unusual people, these people of faith. We fight battles that we already know are won, but we still fight them. And we fight it with love. We fight it with prayer. We fight it in the Word. We fight it by putting on the whole armor of God every day. Your promise lands a battleground, and you are guaranteed victory in Christ. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.