Don't Settle for Less Than God's Best

Are you living as a victim or as a victor?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. Be finding Joshua chapter 17 in the Word of God. We're facing a new year and I want us to face the new year in victory. The book of Joshua is a book of victory and it tells us how to have victory day by day. For the Bible says clearly all these things happen to them, the Old Testament pilgrims, all these things happen to them, listen now, for examples to us. This is not history only. It is history.

It literally happened, but when you understand that it is also devotional literature, you can take these Old Testament passages and shout your way through them and you can find applications for your life in the 21st century. When you look at the Bible and you try to understand the Bible, you have to ask three questions. Question number one, what did it mean then? Now, if you don't understand that, you can't understand the rest. Don't try to make it mean something it doesn't mean. Don't think it can mean two things. It means what it means.

That's all. What does it mean? What did it mean then? But now you ask a second question, a follow question. How does it apply now?

Okay. What did it mean then? How does it apply now?

But you're not finished yet. What did it mean then? How does it apply now?

Now, here you're ready to make it burst to flame. How does it apply to me personally? Now, you haven't really studied the Bible. You haven't gotten into the Bible until you ask that third question.

How does it apply to me personally? Now, what we're going to see here in this 17th chapter is this, that the children of Israel had gone into the Promised Land, and the Promised Land represents in Bible typology a fullness and fruitfulness and joy and victory. They're living in Canaan.

It's a picture of a Christian living in victory, living the Spirit-filled life. But there was something wrong because there were still Canaanites in the land. Now, the Canaanites were demon-possessed people. They represent the power of Satan ensconced to keep us from having the full blessing that God wants us to have. And these people, God's people, were keeping company with Canaanites.

Let's look at it here. Joshua 17, beginning in verse 12, look at it. Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities. But the Canaanites would dwell in that land. Yet it came to pass when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that is, when they could have put the Canaanites out, they put the Canaanites to tribute, but did not utterly drive them out. There was no reason that they did not, but they would not. They would not drive these Canaanites out of the land.

Now, they had some demon-possessed people who were keeping them from their full inheritance, keeping them from total victory. Now, I want you to have victory. And so I want to lay three things upon your heart tonight. And I pray, God, that you'll get them in your notebook. But I pray that you'll get them from your notebook into your head. And I pray that you will get them from your head into your heart.

The first thing I want you to see is what I'm going to call the problem of sinful compromise. Now, God's plan for His people was total occupation. God told Joshua and the children of Israel to take the land from water to water, from sea to sea, and to take it totally every grain of sand they were to take.

They were Canaanites. But God said, you are to drive them out of the land. Sir, lady, young man, young lady, God's plan for you is victory. Are you living in victory? I say, are you living in victory over the world of flesh and the devil? That is God's plan for you. A Christian who is not living day by day victoriously is an abnormality.

And he's ashamed, Almighty God. First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 57 says, Thanks be unto God, which causeeth us, giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Another passage says that God causes us to triumph always in Christ Jesus. We're to have victory over the world. The world is not to conform us in. We're not here to get along with the world. We're here to overcome the world.

And when I say the world, I'm talking about a system set up against our Lord and His Christ. We're here not only to overcome the world, but we're here to overcome the flesh. The flesh is not to be condoned. It's to be crucified. You say, well, I have my little faults.

Temper just runs in my family. You're living in defeat, and you are a disgrace to the grace of God that saved you. You're to have victory over the devil. Some may say, well, I'm not afraid of the devil. The devil's supposed to be afraid of you. You cannot peacefully coexist with the devil any more than you could peacefully coexist with a roaring lion. The devil is described in the Bible as a roaring lion.

Now, think about these Canaanites. They represent the things that keep us from victory. Now, the devil has many people convinced that they cannot live in victory.

There is no sin that you cannot overcome, no temptation so terrible, no problem so big, no devilish power so great that you cannot overcome in the strength of the Spirit of God. Don't get the idea that somehow you are a helpless victim. Here in America, we have bowed down before certain things, and we've said there's no use. The drug problem, alcoholism, immorality, criminal behavior. We come to the place where we say we can't handle it, so we'll just legalize it. That's one way to make the crime rate come down and go up at the same time. We legalize these things. We tell little kids, 13-year-olds, go out with a birth control device in your purse.

I mean, after all, the kids are going to do these things anyway. So what we need to do is just say these problems are too big for us. That's what we're told. I want to tell you something, friend. Condoms will fail. Character will not fail.

Now, here's the whole thing. There was the problem of sinful compromise. Are there some Canaanites in your life?

Seriously. Are there sins that you favor and you think that you can tame them? Are there sins that you fear and you think you cannot overcome them?

Are there sins that you fellowship and you've made peace with them? The second point is this, the problem of self-confidence. We've talked about the problem of sinful compromise, but that is compounded now by self-confidence. Look, if you will, now in this same chapter, verses 14 and 15. 14 And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people?

Forasmuch as the Lord hath blessed me hitherto. Now, here's a people who are living in self-confidence. Now, they were living in sinful compromise. But at the same time, the irony of it, they're boasting about their greatness.

The same thing is true about so many of us. You see, pride is bad enough. But pride that lifts its head from the mire of failure is terrible. Here these people were, failing to be, do, have, and say what God would have them be, do, say, and have.

And they're saying, look how great we are. Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before failure. There's nothing that will put you more out of the reach of the devil than genuine humility. And if you're proud, you're going to find God as an enemy.

The Bible says, God resisteth the proud. He gives grace to the humble, James 4, verse 5. And what is grace? Grace is the desire and the ability to do the will of God. Now, these people so long ago were boasting about their greatness.

We are great people. And they failed to drive out these Canaanites. Don't you think that's a little bit of irony? Let me give you some New Testament irony that will match the same thing. In Luke chapter 9, I was stricken by this reading through Luke 9 one time. There was a demon-possessed boy. And the disciples are saved to cast the demons out of this boy.

And they failed miserably, ignominiously. And then Jesus came and cast the demons out of this boy. And the disciples could not do it. Look, if you will, in Luke 9, verse 40 and 41. The man said to Jesus, I besought thy disciples to cast him out.

And they could not. And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. And Jesus healed this boy. Now, that was the failure of the disciples. And these disciples did fail because Jesus said by prayer and fasting, they could have done the same thing. But now that's in Luke 9, verses 40 and 41. But now look in Luke 9, verse 46, and listen to this. Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be the greatest? Here they are, failing, pitifully failing. And then they're talking, who's going to be the biggest shot in the kingdom?

Who is going to be the greatest? I tell you, that is absolute irony. The same irony that we find over here in Joshua chapter 17. You say, I thought we were supposed to have self-confidence.

That's the last thing we need. We need confidence in Almighty God rather than standing on our big feet, sticking out our big chest and saying, look who I am and how great I am. I've seen men so full of themselves and so big that God could not use them. I've never seen a man so small that God could not use him.

Now, here's the third thing and I'll be finished. The problem of senseless clutter. Now, what all of this is about is this, that the tribe of Joseph and these others came to Joshua and said, now Joshua, look, we are a great people and we want to grow. We want big things done for us and we don't have enough room.

Why? There's so many trees and so many Canaanites. Joshua, what we want is more land. Now, notice what Joshua said here in Joshua chapter 17, verse 17. And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh saying, thou art a great people and has great power. Thou shall not have one lot only.

Now watch this. But the mountain shall be thine, for it is a wood. Plain English, it is a forest. And thou shalt cut it down and the outgoings of it shall be thine, for thou shalt drive out the Canaanite, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong. Now, what was Joshua's solution to these people? These people who had a land infested with Canaanites. Canaanites they favored, Canaanites they feared, and Canaanites they fellowship.

These people who are so boastful, these people who said we are great people. What did Joshua tell them to do? Joshua said, you see that mountain over there? You want more land? You want a bigger inheritance? Get you some axes and cut down those trees that clutter that mountain. There's plenty of room here, but you're going to have to clear out those trees. Joshua is saying, why should you have more land until you've dealt with the land that I have given you? Until you have cleared what I've given you?

What he's saying is first things first. What are you doing with the opportunity that God's already given you? How many of you would like a bigger Sunday school class? What are you doing with the class that God has already given you? We have some preacher boys here tonight.

How many of you would like to have a bigger church? What are you doing with the opportunity that God has given you? You want a bigger job. What are you doing on the job that you have?

You want more money. What are you doing with the money that you have? What would you do if you had a million dollars? I'll tell you what you do if you had a million dollars.

You do the same thing with a hundred dollars that you have. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in that which is much. Then people say, well, I want to be a missionary. Well, you think 2,000 miles of ocean is going to make you a missionary?

If you're not winning souls here, why should you go overseas and do nothing? What Joshua is saying, look, you're asking for more opportunity. You're asking for a bigger place.

You see that mountain? Go clear it up. Now, let me show you the twofold primary priority.

Now, I'm talking about not settling for less than the best. First of all, we must clear out the harmless things that clutter our lives. Clear out the harmless things that clutter our lives. Nothing wrong with trees, trees of youth.

But if you want to build a farm or you want to put out pasture land or you want to build a house or whatever you need, then you've got to clear the ground. Now, the reason that many people are not living in victory is their lives are cluttered. You don't have enough time for prayer. You don't have enough time for Bible study.

Is that what you say? Well, if you don't have enough time for prayer and Bible study, you're doing something you ought not to do. Can you say amen to that? I don't know what it is, but I will guarantee if you don't have time to read your Bible and pray, you're doing something God never assigned you to do. There's something cluttering your life. And what is cluttering your life may not be a harmful thing, overtly harmful.

It may not be a sinful, wicked thing. But if it is cluttering your life, you need to get rid of it. There's enough time in every day to do gracefully everything God wants you to do. You say, well, pastor, then I need to find time.

No, you don't. You need to take time. You need to make time. And the way you make time and take time is to clear the clutter out of your life.

It might be television. It might be church work. It would be better for you to stay home from church to study your Bible and pray than to miss your Bible study and prayer and come to church. There's enough time to do everything that God wants us to do. But what we have to do sometime is just get the clutter out of our lives. Some people are so busy doing good, they don't have time to be godly, to get alone with God.

You don't waste any time when you're at Jesus' feet. What I'm saying is step number one, you must clear out the harmless things that clutter your life, verse 15, and then clean out the harmful things that corrupt your life. They're the harmless things that clutter your life.

Harmless, then they're the harmful things that corrupt your life. But which comes first? Which comes first, cutting down trees or fighting Canaanites?

You may be surprised. But God's order is first, cut down the trees and then drive out the Canaanites. That's what God says.

First the trees and then the giants. In other words, what God is saying is get the clutter out of your life. Get down to worship. Worship comes before work. Worship comes before warfare.

These things that clutter your life when the good becomes the enemy of the best. And what you do then is establish a beachhead. You say I'm going to make time for the things that count. I'm going to have a beachhead to fight against these Canaanites. Now, would you be all that you ought to be? Do you want to live in victory this coming year?

Are you compromising? Are there Canaanites that you favor, little harmless sins, you think this is good for me? Are there Canaanites that you fear, saying I'll never have victory in this area?

Are there Canaanites that you fellowship with, you've just made peace with them, you live this way and now you've become accustomed to it and been conformed to this world? And at the same time, is there that self-confidence? You think you're great and big and fine and don't see your great need. Are there things that clutter your life? Are there things that you need to say this goes and this goes and this goes? It may be a tree, a harmless tree, but it keeps me from being what I ought to be. You see, listen, God's plan for you, I want to say it again, God's plan for you is victory. Victory is not just some slogan. It's not just some preacher talk.

I'm telling you that you are to live in victory day by day by day, constantly, conspicuously, continuously living in victory. Where are the Canaanites in your life? The ones you're keeping company with? Are there some Canaanites that you favored?

You say this is my little pet sin, and actually I think it works out pretty good for me. Are there Canaanites that you fear? Are there areas where you've just given up hope and you think I'll never be victorious? Are the Canaanites that you fellowship?

You've just become at home with them. Sins, habits, what used to amaze us now just amuses us. We say things, read things, watch things that would have shocked us years ago, but now we fellowship with Canaanites. Have you maximized what God has already given you? Have you taken advantage of all the blessings that God has for you? Do you have a mountain that needs to be cleared out? Get the clutter gone so you can establish a base of operation to drive out the Canaanites. I want to tell you again, worship comes before work or warfare. Get the clutter out of your life. Take time to be holy. Lord, speak to every heart.

Begin with my own. Lord, forbid that I should ask for more responsibility or greater opportunity or more blessings. The Lord, I've already appropriated what you've given me if I'll just clear out the clutter.

Lord, don't let me make peace with Canaanites, but to possess the land that you've given. What I pray for myself, Lord, granted others will pray for themselves. In your holy name, amen. What a profound message from God's Word for us today. And if you have questions regarding your victory in Jesus, we'd love to offer you an insightful resource on our website. It's our Find God's Love page.

There you'll find answers you may need about your faith. We have a response section where you can share how this message or others have made a difference in your life. Just go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says Find God's Love.

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Or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio. Or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Well, do you want to live in the victory that God has planned for your life? It's time to get rid of the clutter and clean out the things that corrupt your life. Adrian Rogers said, There is no sin that you cannot overcome, no temptation so terrible, no problem so big, no devilish power so great that you cannot overcome in the strength of the Spirit of God. We hope you and yours stay safe and healthy in this new year and that you'll join us again next time for more timeless truth right here on Love Worth Finding. Well, Adrian Rogers also said, If you woke up this morning and you're still here, God still has a plan for your life.

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