The Mystery Of The Baby – 1 of 3

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Before the battles that Canaan could begin, Joshua needed a fresh cleansing from God and a fresh vision of God.

Do you face tough times in the days ahead? Like Joshua, you can face them with a clean heart and a renewed sense of God's presence. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, what happens when we take on a big task without first making sure our hearts and minds are clean before God? Dave, I'm so glad that you asked me that question because in answer to it, I have to say that when we enter into a battle with guilty hearts, with issues that have not been dealt with, we are distracted and almost certainly we will lose.

Even this morning, I was on a talk show and I was asked this question, why is it that some people don't have boldness in their witness? And I mentioned that it is oftentimes because of a guilty conscience. If we want to win a battle, we need to be cleansed. Our consciences need to be clean. Well, I'm holding in my hands a book I've written entitled Conquering the Fear of Failure, Lessons from the Life of Joshua. And what this book does, among other things, is it helps us to understand that our battle is indeed spiritual and not just physical. I think it's going to be a great blessing to you.

Here's what you can do for a gift of any amount. Go to RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now, of course, I'm going to be giving you that contact info again at the end of this message. Now, let's go to the pulpit of Moody Church as we learn failure, defeat, but also victory. Today's message is going to be very personal.

It's the kind of message that would be wonderful to be able to share across a coffee table. I want you to pretend that it's just you and me and we're talking about our spiritual journey and how we're doing. So since it is personal, let me ask you, how are you doing this past week? For example, how did you do in your battle with sin? Did you have more victories than defeats or did you get to the point where you actually think that there are some sins for which God does not provide deliverance? I'm in contact with a young man in the ministry who is going through a great time of a struggle with sensuality, and it's easy to conclude that God just does not deliver us.

Well, he does, but it's easy for us to think that he doesn't. How's that part of your life going? That's my question. What about your struggle with circumstances? Are you doing okay? Are you finally seeing God in circumstances or do you spend a lot of your time pouting, still chaffing, still trying to strive against things you can't change anyway? Has God been able to get through to you so that you know that those circumstances ultimately come from his hand? You're walking in victory. And then what about your conflict? Yeah, I've got to mention it.

What about your conflict with people? Oh, to live above with the saints we love. Oh, that will be glory. But to live below with the saints, I know. That's another story. Isn't that true? So how's the conflict going?

Are you beginning to see God in your conflicts with people or is it so discouraging because you live with people you can't change? Well, take heart. They do too. They do too.

They live with people that can't be changed. Today what we're going to talk about is walking with God and being in fellowship. And in a sense it's a message for those of you who are, shall I use the old-fashioned word that we used to hear many, many years ago but don't hear today, backslidden in the Christian life? The story takes place in Joshua chapters 4 and 5. And before we get into the text, and I will be reading some select sections, before we get into the text I need to give you a little lesson in spiritual geography when you read the Old Testament.

What do I mean by that? Well, in the scriptures Egypt represents the world. That's very clear because when Israel was in Egypt they were in bondage. They were slaves.

They had the mentality of slavery. How do you get out of Egypt? Well, by being redeemed by the blood of the lamb. They put blood on the doorposts of their houses. And it was through that redemption that they were delivered from Egypt.

How were we delivered? Through the blood of the lamb. Jesus Christ dies and he sets us free from the slavery of sin. So Egypt represents the world. What does Canaan represent? Well, in our hymnody, as you know, we usually think of Canaan as being heaven. But actually, Canaan represents the struggles that we have when we walk with God but we do claim territory and we do make progress. In heaven there will be no Philistines. In heaven we will always be victorious.

We will not have defeats. But that's Canaan. God wants us to walk today in Canaan. It's the book of Ephesians where we claim the promises of God. Let me ask you another question. How long does it take to go from Egypt to Canaan?

Well about 11 days if you take the direct route. But God brought them through the Red Sea. He kept them two years. They were there in Sinai. Then they were going to go in at Kadesh Barnea and decided to disobey God, you remember, in unbelief. And God says you're going to wander in the desert another 38 years, making a full 40 years wandering in the wilderness. What does the wilderness represent?

It represents that stage of spiritual experience where we have lost our sense of purpose, where we are floating spiritually and we just don't have it together and where we are disappointed and discouraged. It's interesting to look at those maps that tell us where they were and all that you can do is say that they were going in circles. Now one thing you discover when you're going in a circle and you speed up because you want to make progress, you get to the point where you started from sooner. That's all they were doing.

I would think that they were naming every cactus and renaming it. Nothing to do for 40 years, 38 particularly, and that's the way it was somehow in the wilderness of our journey. We lose our purpose and secondly, we forget that God is with us. We don't see God. That's why I have to ask you today, do you see God in your circumstances, in your conflicts? Before they would go to bed at night, after they had that snack for manna, manna for a snack I should say, manna for breakfast, manna for lunch, manna for dinner, we need a snack before we go to bed. Good, we've got some manna. They'd always have a discussion.

You find this throughout the text, especially in the book of Numbers and so forth where it gives us some of these details. Two topics. Number one, is the Lord with us or not? That was always number one.

Number two was shouldn't we appoint a different leader and go back to Egypt? Now I'm talking to those of you who have left your first love. You belong to that category of backsliders. You've been redeemed by the blood of the lamb. You've been redeemed out of Egypt, but you're wandering in the desert. The thing that you have lost sight of is God. All that you can see is sand, unending gravel and purposelessness. Today I want you to be able to see God again.

And now we're going to go into the text. They're brought across the Jordan River and where do they come? Chapter 4 verse 19.

On the tenth day of the first month, the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And that's where Jericho, Joshua I should say, set up the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan and he said to the Israelites, in the future when your descendants ask their fathers what do these stones mean, tell them that Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground and tell them about the faithfulness of God. Now what does Gilgal mean? In Hebrew it means circle. But God says I'm going to take that place that means circle and invest in it a new meaning. And he's going to invest the meaning of, you know, the idea of a circle, we think of a wheel, we think of something rolling. You'll notice in chapter 5 verse 9, so the Lord said to Joshua, today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you so the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

It means to roll away. What disgrace had to be rolled away? Well the disgrace of Egypt. In Egypt they were slaves. They did not decide what they were going to do, others decided that for them. Here they are under people who served strange gods and they had to be subject to them.

It was not just the slavery, it was the mentality of slavery that had to be taken away. Some of you, remember this is personal, some of you may have in your past some disgrace that has never been rolled away and it continues to hamper you in your Christian experience. It could be a divorce, it could be immorality, it could be some disastrous decision that you have made and you wish that it would depart but there it stands. Today I have been praying that God will give you the grace to see it rolled away. One day I met a woman who had a tattoo on her arm and it was very evident, it was very visible and so I had the nerve, sometimes maybe too much nerve but I did have the nerve to ask her where it came from and she said I was dating a fellow who was an alcoholic, was not a good man and she said he did that to me, he left that tattoo there and she said now I'm married to someone else, I wish I could get it off but she said I can't. There's some of you listening to this message who have a tattoo on your soul, it's that disgrace, it's the shame and because of that you're in the wilderness of your experience and God says I want to roll all that away so that you can get on with blessing in the land of Canaan. Well now with that background what was there at Gilgal, what helps us in our spiritual journey? First of all Gilgal was a place of remembrance, I spoke about this last time, you remember there were twelve stones that were taken out of the Jordan River and then they were taken and they were set up at Gilgal and that was a monument to God. If you read the text you discover that there was another monument actually in the middle of the river which Israel could not see after Jordan began to flow again and that symbolized death. God says I'm going to symbolize death over there and this is resurrection. You see what the Jordan River spiritually speaking symbolizes is a death to self. We finally come to the same place that George Mueller did when he said there came a day when George Mueller died.

Listen to me very carefully, the struggles that you and I have, the lack of victory over sin, the excuses that we make for our desert experience, the pouting and the criticism, all of that sometimes comes as a result of the fact that we have not died to self and Jesus said that except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abides alone but if it dies it bears much fruit. That's what the Jordan is all about but it was a place of remembrance, they put up a monument to God. Now I've been in various capitals of the world and I think I've seen probably hundreds of monuments. I've seen monuments in Kiev, in Moscow, in Washington and then in that beautiful city, perhaps one of the most beautiful in the world, Ottawa, Canada. I've seen monuments there as well.

It is, it is, it is. But I have never seen a monument to God, a monument to people, a monument to events but not a monument to God. This was a monument to his faithfulness. Let me ask you a question, do you have some monuments to God?

I don't use a diary very often, I occasionally write into my diary usually when I'm very depressed or feeling very, very good about something which means that my diary probably is rather thin but there are some things in it. There are times of discouragements that I have written about. I remember one time being on vacation and I wrote out all these things given fully to God. It was concerns and discouragements that I was going through at the time and it's wonderful to be able to look back upon that and to say God took care of all that, that is a monument to God's faithfulness.

These stones, they would point east toward the Jordan where they came from, they would point west toward the promised land and if those people ever decided to turn back and go into the desert these stones would cry out after them and be a reminder to them that God is faithful. I speak to you today whose soul is no longer warmed in the presence of God. Those of you who have lost contact, you've been redeemed but you're in the desert. Do you remember God's faithfulness? Do you remember the joy that you had when you were converted? Do you remember the joy that you once had in answers to prayer? Are there some things in your life that are a monument to the faithfulness of God and you can say yes he has been with me?

Think about those things. Gilgal was a place of remembrance. It was also a place of renewal. It is here that they finally decided that they would circumcise the males among them. Now in the desert they did not do that. By the way chapter 5 verse 1 notice it says now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.

This is a parenthesis in my message but it may be the most important parenthesis you hear today. Isn't it interesting that the minute you die to self the minute you put down the weapons of a rebel and you realize that our struggles are usually God trying to grind us down and to submit to his will the minute you begin to do that all of the enemies and here we're talking about the devil symbolically speaking though he is not just a symbol you understand but these kings represent him he begins to become terrified. There is nothing that would frighten the devil as much as a congregation that came to the end of itself that was broken before God like water that is spilled on the ground that cannot be regathered where we simply say God we are before you for whatever.

Do thy will I have resisted thy will but today I die to self will the devil would quake and fear. Well I told you Gilgal was a place of remembrance it was a place of renewal they finally obeyed God. Verse 2 they circumcised the males.

Now why had they not done that before? You know it's difficult when you're in the desert because that was a symbol of the covenant of God. It's difficult to rejoice in the promises of God when you're walking in unbelief and in a backslidden state.

It's hard to talk about the promises of God you say well where are God's promises all that we see is unending sand we don't see God in those situations. But the minute they began to obey God something else happened. The Passover was then observed.

You'll notice it says verse 9 God says now at last that you've had a renewed obedience I've rolled away your disgrace. Verse 10 of chapter 5 on the evening of the 14th day of the month while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The very day after the Passover they ate some of the produce of the land unleavened bread and roasted grain.

Isn't that interesting? They said now we can actually rejoice this is only the third time they celebrated the Passover. Once in Egypt, once after they crossed the Red Sea and now again. Why? Why not celebrate the Passover in the wilderness? Well again it's hard to celebrate the Passover. It's hard to rejoice. It's hard to rejoice in your redemption when you're walking around in that land of disobedience and joylessness.

It's hard. Remember the story of a woman who was planning to commit suicide. The pills were already in her purse but she thought that she would go to church one last time just to say goodbye to God. She thought I'm just going to go there and say goodbye and then it's it.

She even cleaned her house very nicely so the family would not come back to a mess. She walked in and you know I don't know Jerry do you remember we don't we haven't sung it in 25 years but you know that song oh say but I'm glad I'm glad we used to sing it way back when you and I were boys. Little diddy oh say but I'm glad I'm glad she walked in and she heard these women singing that and she became so angry she felt like shouting oh say but I'm mad I'm mad and somebody saw her distressed and took her into the prayer room and said we're going to stay here and we're going to pray with you until that depression leaves and I did leave and years later I wrote her a letter because of something I was writing and she said even though I still have physical problems the depression never returned.

What is my point? It's hard when you're in disobedience it's hard when you are depressed to sing the songs of Zion. It is hard to celebrate and the people were experiencing that now they were called to a new obedience and so they could celebrate the Passover and also the produce of the land and they didn't need manna any more. I love this because right there under the nose of the enemy because remember now Jericho had not yet been conquered that's in our message next time right there under the nose of the enemy they already began to enjoy the blessings of Canaan. Well my friend I don't want to give the impression that all depression is simply a result of sin there may be other causes but I do need to emphasize this that when we recognize we're in a spiritual battle and take God's Word seriously and fight there is victory and certainly we see that in the life of Joshua what an awesome book of the Bible this is as it takes us from Gilgal where they cast away all of the defeats of the past and they began anew and of course you have the taking of Jericho and you have failure you have someone who had sin in the camp and as a result they lost what an opportunity for us to learn. Well I'm holding in my hands a book I've written entitled conquering the fear of failure lessons from the life of Joshua. Now for a gift of any amount this book can be yours here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now I'm going to be giving you that contact info again I want to remind you that the title of the book is conquering the fear of failure lessons from the life of Joshua.

Go to rtwoffer.com of course rtwoffer is all one word rtwoffer.com or you can pick up the phone right now and call us at 1-888-218-9337. It's time again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question you may have about the Bible or the Christian life. Today's question deals with some technicalities about spirit beings Dr. Lutzer.

Sharon emailed us and this is her story. My husband listens to you all the time he is a Sunday school teacher a director of a prison ministry and he loves the Lord. In one of your messages you stated that Satan was an angel my husband keeps saying he was not an angel but a cherub.

I even heard him talking to the radio I couldn't believe that he had something to say in opposition to you it just doesn't happen. Well Sharon thank you so much for your email and would you tell your husband this that he is right in this sense that when the Bible speaks about the cherub or the cherubim which is the plural form it does not say expressly that they are angels but every theologian that I know puts cherubim in the same category as seraphim. These are different grades and different ranks I should say these are different ranks of angels. Now you take for example the cherubim they are mentioned in the book of Genesis they are asked to keep the way of the tree of life later on they show up in the book of Ezekiel and the other places in Scripture and it seems as if they are always vindicating the holiness of God over against the pride of man.

So Sharon you tell your dear husband that he may be right that I cannot point to a text that says that the cherubim are actually angels but every theology book that I know puts them within the angel category because their description fits. Meanwhile tell your husband to keep talking to me on the radio whenever I make a mistake. God bless both of you and I hope that you'll keep listening. Thank you Pastor Lutzer and thank you Sharon for keeping Pastor Lutzer right on target. If you'd like to hear your question answered go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or you can call at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win comes to you from the Moody Church in Chicago. Next time more on the necessary preparation before those walls of Jericho could be miraculously brought down. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.