In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of making bad decisions and how they can become a part of our lives. He uses the analogy of being hewers of wood and drawers of water, which represents serving others. The preacher emphasizes that these bad decisions can be brought under subjection and not easily shaken off. He also highlights the temptation of the flesh to rise up and distract us from God's promises and glory. The preacher encourages listeners to focus on what God wants them to understand and not be consumed by unnecessary information. He reminds them that they are just human and need to bring their flesh under subjection to serve a higher purpose.

This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws. This recording cannot be posted on any website. However, written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019. I want to talk to you this afternoon on the topic, A Covenant That Covers. A Covenant That Covers. And we are going to begin our survey in the book of Joshua. And we will consider the ninth and the tenth chapters of that book. And now as you turn into the book of Joshua, the ninth chapter, I would remind you of a certain word from the Apostle Paul in the book of Galatians around the fifth chapter. He talks to us about a particular war that every Christian person is aware of. The war between the spirit and the flesh. And he says very clearly that this is a perpetual war. We will always be required to wage this kind of warfare, not by our strength but according to the spirit of the Lord. And I want to consider these chapters in the book of Joshua so that we might, by way of illustration, consider the nature of this warfare and how we as Christian persons are given the grace of God to always overcome, to always win. Now, the Bible speaks of the people of Israel, after having waited forty years to enter into the land of promise because of their unbelief, they finally began to move into the promise of God. And as they began to move into that promise, the Bible says that they took some wonderful victories. They took wonderful victories on the one side of the Jordan and then they saw a miracle of God, the Jordan River open and they passed through dryshod as they had passed through the Red Sea. And they came to this side of the Jordan and they began to take victories again. And after having taken a significant victory over the city that was called Ai, there was a people of the Hivites called the people of Gibeon who had heard that God was on the move. They heard that God was choosing to glorify His name once again. That after forty years of what seemed to be a slumber, after an entire generation of what seemed to be a lull in the move of God, they heard that God was on the move again. And the Bible says that fear began to come upon them and they counseled among each other and decided this is what we're going to do. We are going to disguise ourselves. We're going to put on some old clothes, some old shoes. We're going to bring some tattered and torn wine bottles and some moldy bread. And we're going to go to these people and we're going to say, we are a people who are from a foreign land. You don't have to worry about us. I understand that God has told you when you come into the land of promise that you are supposed to take victory over every nation in that land. I understand that you are not supposed to let anything in that land live because the Lord has chosen to judge you. But we are from a foreign land. We're not from right here in the land of Canaan. And we have come to enter into a covenant with you. We have come to join forces with you. We have come to, on some level or another, give you a certain amount of international prestige. You see, because the Bible said very clearly that Gibeah was not a small land at all. But it was one of the mighty lands, one of the lands of the kings. And the people heard this petition and they heard this particular proposal and they decided that it sounds good to me. They are not from where I live. They are from a foreign land. So, yes, why not enter into covenant with them. And of course, the Bible says that after three days they found out that these were the Hivites. One of the seven nations of the Canaanites. And they were one of the seven peoples of the Canaanites. And they were supposed to have destroyed them. But now, they have already entered into a covenant with them, even in the sight of the Lord. Now, some people said, oh, well, you entered into this covenant through false pretenses. They lied to you. So, you don't really need to honor that. Just destroy them. But they said, the elders said, but we have entered into this covenant with them before the Lord. We can't just act like it never happened. But here's what we will do. We will bring them under subjection. We will make them hewers of wood and drawers of water. And they will serve us all the days of their life. Now, this is a picture, an illustration of what we experience when we as Christian people make some bad decisions that become on some level or another a part of our life. They are not the things that we can just shake off. But they are things that we can bring under subjection. Now, going back to the beginning of the story, we see a people who have decided on their own that this thing that's trying to come into my life is far from me. Oftentimes, whenever the flesh begins to try and rise up, as God brings His people into a place of victory, as God begins to bring them into a promise, as God begins to try and manifest His glory in their life, there is a thing that tries to rise up. And what it says is, you know, I'm going to be honest with you. I am something that is not to be considered a part of you. I am not near to you. I'm not dear to you. I'm way out here somewhere. And so, you don't have to worry about the commandment that God gave you that suggests that anything and everything that the Lord has already determined to destroy must be destroyed from within your provinces. In other words, it's that kind of a thing that says, this is far from you. There are things, for instance, that we might see on television. And we say, you know what, I can somehow entertain myself with that because that's far from me. Far be it from me to ever do that kind of a thing. Far be it from me to ever live that kind of way. This thing is far from me. And maybe we, you know, at the office just listen to a little bit of gossip. We hear, you know, the juicy tidbits about what so and so is doing and what such and such is engaging in. But we say, that's far from me. Far be it from me to ever engage in this kind of lifestyle or in that kind of lifestyle. It's not that bad for me to be remotely entertained by it. Because it's so far from me that I'll never actually do it. Sometimes somebody might be in an office situation and they're kind of, you know, giving, you know, an eye to somebody of the opposite sex. Of course, they're married, I'm married. But far be it from me, it's never going to go beyond that. You see, they live so far out there. Now, I've dealt with all of the deep issues of my heart. I've destroyed, you know, the seven nations of the Canaanites. But this is a far people. You see, they came and they had their tattered garments and they had their molded bread. They're not a part of my life, they're just out there somewhere. It's alright for me to be remotely entertained by it. Because it's far from me. But the Bible suggests that after three days, they realize that this thing is not as far from me as I thought. It's right here in my heart. I want to suggest to you that in this particular instance, these godly people made a covenant with covetousness. You see, the Bible says that they made three very particular errors. The first one was that they looked at the surface of the thing that was being offered to them and never really considered the substance of it. They simply looked at their clothes. They looked at their wine bottles. They looked at their bread. Instead of really looking into their faces, instead of really listening to their words, if they had listened to them long enough, they might have found out that they had an accent that gave them away. But instead, all they did was look at the very superficial elements, the same way we do when we look at the world. That's what the psalmist says, I think in the 73rd Psalm, where he said, I looked at the world and everybody seemed to be prospering. I almost stumbled, he said, in my walk to the house of the Lord. Because I looked at all of these people and they all seemed to be doing better than me. I looked at the advertisements and everybody seems to be better looking than me. Everybody seems to have whiter teeth and a brighter smile. Everybody's driving a bigger car. And I feel like I need that. The Bible says, for instance, when the Lord began to stretch forth His hands against the world, the context of that situation was that the children of God began to look on the children of the world and they just looked and they saw that this woman was pretty or whatever and without even considering the substance, they simply looked on the face or they looked at the superficial elements, the surface elements and just took wives of anyone that they wanted. The lust of the eyes. And then the Bible says that they took of their provisions. Now, I'm going to tell you, brother and sister, it wasn't the moldy bread that we're talking about here. The Bible says that they came from a mighty nation. I'm sure it was sort of like the case where Isaac is trying to figure out which one of his sons is which. Remember, he was blind and Jacob is talking to him and trying to act like Esau and Isaac is saying, you sound a little bit like Jacob to me. And then Jacob whips out the stool. And all of a sudden, all of his discernment is out the window. You know what I mean? So while they were holding that moldy bread, they were probably saying, I don't know, you sound like the highbites to me. And then they pull out this big chunk of gold. Boom! And all of a sudden, they said, but then again, you know what I mean? The British sound a lot like the ones from Wales, like the ones from Ireland. I don't know, maybe you are from this place. And they took of their provision. The lust of the flesh. Far be it from me to ever live like those people in the world who say greed is good. But if they got a couple of extra dollars, I'm not going to say no. Far be it from me to ever engage in the way of the world. I'm never going to kiss anybody else's wife and nobody else's wife is going to kiss me. But I don't mind being entertained by cutting on my television. And watching this married man kiss this married woman and weeping because it's so romantic. Far be it from me. The lust of the flesh. And then the Bible says that they never inquired of the Lord. Because when people are pulling out fancy clothes and large wedges of gold and so on and so forth, sometimes we don't want to hear what God has to say. Somebody is telling you, if you just cook the books a little bit, you'll have the biggest car you ever wanted. Nobody else in the office is saying anything. If you don't say anything, if you just kind of get along and get on board, you'll have as big a car as we do. Far be it from me to ever be a thief or a liar, but I just ain't going to say anything. I'm just not going to do anything. Far be it from me. But then they come with the car and there it is, right there, boom. Right there in your heart. That's where the Hittites were, or rather the Hivites were. They were right there in the land of promise. Right here in our heart. Now, because they chose not to inquire of the Lord, it manifests the pride of life. And this is the nature of the flesh. This is the nature of that kind of thing that tries to come against the Christian person. As we are entering into this wonderful promise of God. And it's something that we must always be careful of. They said that we're far from you, somewhere out there on the periphery. You never really have to worry about us. Every now and again we might stop by. We might ask, you know, for you to come and visit us once a year or twice a year or whatever the case might be. Just so that we can acknowledge that we have covenant relationship, but we're way out there somewhere. And so we say that to issues of the heart. Far be it from me that I should ever do this. Far be it from me that I should ever do that. And then all of a sudden, boom, there it is. There it is. In this case it was the issue of covetousness. They wanted their provision. They wanted the prestige. They wanted the protection. All of those things that appertain to covenant relationship. They wanted that from the world. And so their flesh began to manifest itself on that area. When they realized what they had done. Some people said, well, we were lied to. They came to us under false pretenses. And we don't have to even acknowledge that there is such a thing as this covenant. There is no relationship between me and the flesh. They might have even said, I'll tell you what I'll do. The next time there's an altar call, I'm just going to run to the altar. I'm going to say a prayer and act like nothing ever happened. Act like I didn't develop this habit. Act like I haven't interacted with the way of the world on such a level that I haven't interacted covenant with some habit or another. Act like it just never existed. I'll never have to deal with this again, thank you very much. Which is why so many people think that God is unfaithful. Because they for some reason believe that they can enter into some kind of an agreement with the flesh even in the sight of God. And then when they realize how close that thing is to their bosom. That thing that they thought was so far away. They say, well, let me run to the altar somewhere and boom, let's just act like it never happened. That's what they wanted to do. Saul did that and God judged them for it. He waged war against the Gibeonites when God said not to. And God judged them for it. But Joshua was a penitent man. And a broken man. And he said, I'm not going to lie to God and I'm not going to lie to myself. This is an element of my existence. And now I have to deal with it. The Lord spoke to Cain one day and he said, Cain, sin is crouching at your door but you must overpower it. Paul said at a certain point that I beat my body, I buffet my body and make it my slave. So that I won't be one of those people who preach to a whole bunch of other people and then find myself a castaway. Because Paul was saying, I go wherever God sends me. As we heard earlier today, he said, when I'm among the Jews, then I live like a Jew. In other words, what he was saying, he was talking specifically in that particular context about his diet and so on and so forth. But what it manifested was the fact that God was using him to meet the needs of a lot of people. To win a lot of people. He said, when I was among the Jews, I didn't eat pork. When I was among the Gentiles, you know, I ate whatever they laid in front of me. When I was among the weak, speaking about those people who were vegetarians, then I didn't eat any meat at all. You know, search the scriptures and understand the context in the book of 1 Corinthians. He said, in essence, God is using me to win many souls. I am moving into the wonderful promise of God. God is being glorified in my life but I realize something. I still have a flesh. There is still an element of my being that must be beaten down every day. Jesus said, take up your cross daily and follow me. And so, we see Joshua saying, here's what we're going to do with the Gibeonites. We are going to bring them under subjection. And we are going to make them our servants. And in essence, what you have now is a person who is engaging in this war that Paul talked about when he speaks of the Galatians. This war against the flesh that is a regular war. It is a continual war. You see, the flesh is, when God's grace is manifesting Himself in us, the flesh is subject to the individual. God allows us to bring it under subjection but it is always there. I'll give you an illustration. In the days of old, whenever a Roman general would take a mighty victory, there would be this parade that was made for him. This procession, this victorious procession. And he would march along in all of the pomp and ceremony that appertains to great victory. But there was a slave, a servant, who was actually taken in the battle. One who was subdued, who had no real power. But he was a sign of the battle that had just taken place. And while all of the people were cheering and acknowledging the great victory of this general, this servant, this slave, would get up really close to his ear. That was his responsibility. And he would whisper in a voice that shouted, if you will, louder than all of the applause of the people's roundabout. And would say, remember, you are just a man. Remember, you are just a man. You see, when the flesh is brought under subjection, when we buffet our bodies or our flesh and bring it under subjection or make it our slave, then it serves a purpose. It says to you and it says to me, remember, you are just a man. You are just a woman. There's just so much of this stuff that you can watch before what you think is far from you is right here. There's just so many things you can turn a blind eye to before you find blindness setting in. There's just so many times you can refuse and I can refuse to inquire at the Lord before we lose, as we heard this morning, our capacity to discern. You see what the flesh says as it whispers into our ear, when it is brought under subjection, because it lies when it's not. But when it's brought under subjection, it says, remember, you're just a man. That flesh starts rising up in you and you know how much you need a Savior. You know how much you and I need to cry out to God. And that's why I wanted to talk to you this afternoon about a covenant that covers. Because even though they made a foolish covenant with the flesh, they very, very, very fortunately, and by the blessing of God, they were under a much greater covenant. You see, God had covenanted that He would bring them into the land of promise and He would bring them to a place of stability. And thank God, even though we make some foolish decisions sometimes, God has made a promise that He would bring us into a place of stability and to an established place. Now, if they had decided to act like the issue with the Gibeons never existed and they had tried to kill the Gibeons in their own strength, they would have had some hard times ahead. But now they came and they acknowledged, God, we did this in Your sight. We are not going to try and hide from You. We are not going to try and lie to You and say, Lord, I never did it. No, Lord, I did it. And I did it in Your sight. And now I have to depend upon the fact that Your covenant with me through the Son is more powerful than any foolish covenant that I made with the world or with the flesh. And God's covenant is more powerful. You see, the only way we can bring these Gibeonites under subjugation is by virtue of the covenant that God has made with us through the Son. Firstly, it is a covenant of communion. God opens the door and says, I covenant to commune with You on the deepest levels conceivable. In other words, when you've made a covenant with something that you thought was so far from you and you realize it was so close to you, so dear to your heart, you can come to me and acknowledge your sin. The Bible says that if we confess our sin, that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and also to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Bible says that we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. So we go to Him and we say, by virtue of the great covenant that You have with me, I need the covenant that You have with me to be able to supersede and surpass whatever covenant I made with the flesh. Remember, my brothers and sisters, what happened in the days of Esther, where the king had made a certain statement. He sent out a certain decree because somebody had lied to him. And he sent out a decree that all of the Israelites should be destroyed. And when he found out the truth, he said, you know, I can't simply undo this decree. But what I can do is I can send out a decree that's even more powerful than that decree. A decree that can nullify that decree. Now we have the covenant with God that enables us to commune with Him no matter what our circumstance, no matter how foolish a decision we made. We can come to Him in brokenness and repentance as we heard this morning. We can come and we can turn and we can say, God, this is what I have done. But I bring it to You now. I acknowledge my fault. I acknowledge my sin. I'm not going to act like I can wish it away or will it away or destroy it in my own strength. I say, by the power of the covenant of God and the capacity that I have to communicate with God, the devil cannot shut my mouth. He cannot shut me off from God. As long as I can go to God and bring my petition to Him, then He can subdue my flesh. He can bring it under. He can bring it under. But this is also a covenant of commitment where we commit, for instance, to communicate with God. Where we say, Lord, while I have the opportunity to be entertained on this level or that level or communicate on this level or that level, I commit to communing with You. Do you remember their big problem was that they did not commune with the Lord. Now, I don't think for one minute that they did not go through their ordinary rituals. They probably offered whatever offering they offer in the morning and they probably said whatever prayers they pray. Throughout the course of the day, they were just going through their ordinary business. But they did not communicate with God. You see, brother and sister Christian, we must commit to communing with God. That's much more important than having a habit of going to church or having a habit of reading our Bibles or having a habit of praying. But a commitment to communion where we say, God, You tell me where to go. You tell me what to do. You tell me how to live. So that every conversation that I have is based upon the fact that I am also in direct communion with God. So if I'm having a gossip session here and there's me and there's my neighbor, I'm going to have to look at it with my mind's eye as though God is also a member of that party. You know, as I'm sipping my Starbucks and dipping my donut, you know, I'm going to also think to myself that God is also in the midst. And is this the kind of communication that He enjoys? Everything I see with my eyes, now I have to see through the cross of Christ. You ever see one of those pieces of paper that have a watermark on it or something like that? I mean, you have it on dollar bills and everything. You know, you have to look through it to see whatever else is under it. There should be that kind of a watermark in our vision. So that everything that we look at, we look at through the cross of Jesus and reminding ourselves of what price He paid so that we might be alive today. Communion with God, but a commitment to communion. And then I want to say that it is also a covenant that involves the idea of consistency. You see, it's not God today, the world tomorrow, God today, the world tomorrow and so on and so forth. It's God every day. God all day, every day. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And we're always asking God, Lord, what do you want me to understand in this generation? What do you want me to see? Even when I think about the news, not everything that they want to show you on the news is worth seeing. You don't have to see everything that they want to show you. There are certain things, brother and sister, that you just don't need to know. I know that sounds a little bit strange in our over-inflated information data and, you know, society where everybody's got a little bit of this and everybody's got a factoid here and a thought there and so on and so forth. But the truth of the matter is, brothers and sisters, you and I don't have to know everything that's going on in the world. And we don't have to see pictures of every dead and bloated body. You don't have to know everything that's going on. There must be this kind of prayer that says, God, what do I need to read and what do I need to avoid? Just because a thing says this news or that news doesn't mean that the Christian person has to engage it. So we have to ask ourselves, God, am I consistent in my communion with you if I read this thing? Am I consistent in my communion with you if I read that thing and so on and so forth? And, of course, when we're talking about things like watching television or going to the movies, we're talking about complete inconsistency for the most part. I mean, you can barely even watch a zoological program anymore without people telling you that there's no God. When I was a kid, I used to love watching shows about lions and tigers and bears and stuff, because that really made me happy, you know, but now you can't even watch it. Without people just cramming this evolution down your throat, telling you that there's no God, there's no hope. Be careful, my brothers and sisters. Things that you think, far be it from me. I don't care how many times somebody tells me that there's no God on some sitcom. I know that there's a God. See, I have a Bible. The idea is if they say it long enough, and you listen long enough, you will begin to doubt the Lord. Remember that servant. Remember the flesh. You are but a man. There's just so many times you can listen to some situation comedy tell you that there is no reason to fear the Lord, before the fear of the Lord begins to dwindle in your own soul. There's just so many times. Let the flesh serve you. Let it tell you as it begins to rise up. When you find yourself laughing at some joke that you know you shouldn't be laughing at, at the office or whatever. As it begins to rise up, let it say to you, there's just so many times you can listen to this joke, before you start telling it. Before you start losing that sense of holiness, consistency. And it's a covenant of condition. A covenant that says, if you try and act like you never made any covenant with Gibeah, you try and act like this is just not a part of you, you and I can engage in anything we want and everything is going to be okay. Then you're going to find yourself in a rather difficult situation. We're going to find ourselves in a place where God, who wants to override this decision, is not able to. Because we won't acknowledge it. We won't admit it. We won't come to God and say, Lord, I made a stupid mistake. I sinned against the Lord. I engaged in a covenant with covetousness. Instead we say, well, let's kill it before God sees it. Let's just sweep it under the rug before God notices. But David said, where can I go? Where can I hide from God? Where can I hide from His gaze? It's like a little child who thinks that they can hide something from you, you know, behind their back. The thing is twice their size. And they got it behind their back and they're hoping, you know, like my little daughter trying to hide a surfboard back there. You know what I mean? You and I cannot hide from the Lord. Everything is transparent. Another thing I notice that children tend to do is when they try to hide from you by closing their own eyes. You know what I mean? And we do that. We allow our discernment to completely dissipate so that we can't even tell that we are committing sin, thinking that somehow if I don't know it, God doesn't know it. If I can't discern it, God can't discern it. But now the Lord says to His church, bring it to me. That's the condition. Don't hide from me. Don't lie to me. Now I want to suggest to you, my brothers and sisters, that when we allow the fullness of God's covenant to manifest Himself in our life, then God will subdue our flesh under us. And it will serve us in the sense that it will always remind us, remember, you need God. Every time we find ourselves beginning to rise up in the flesh, it will say, remember, you need God. You better go and pray now. There are times when your flesh has served you in that way. You know what I mean? It begins to rise up. You're in a situation, you know, you're about to argue and you're like, I got all my points. I got my ducks in a row. I know I can win this one. And right about the time the flesh is about to rise up, there is this reminder. Remember, you need God. It says, shut up and pray. It says, you can't handle this on your own. Now, I want to suggest to you, my brothers and sisters, as you go into the tenth chapter, that Gibeah used to be a friend of five other nations in that immediate community. And those nations got a bit upset. In fact, one of the kings of that nation found out that Gibeah was now a servant of Joshua and the people of Gom. And I'm imagining that they probably had a conversation that went a little like this. You know, you and I have always had a relationship. It was a timorous relationship. We didn't trust each other. We didn't like each other very much. But we dealt. We engaged. Then we got along just fine. Just like the devil would say to our flesh. It'll say, you know how we used to do. We didn't like each other very much. We had a very timorous relationship, but we had a covenant. We had a friendship. And now you mean to tell me you're allowing yourself to be brought under by this? This people of Israel, just because they believe that they're coming into some promise. You're allowing yourself to be brought under? No. No, I will bring you under. I am not going to sit by. This is what the enemy says to our flesh. When God, by His grace, begins to allow us to subdue the flesh. The enemy says, no, we used to be partners. Have you ever read that book, The Holy War, by John Bunyan? It talks about Mansoul. This is like this fortress, Mansoul. And it's kind of like this spy inside Mansoul. There's this idea of the flesh as a spy. Almost a double agent, you know what I mean? Because it's telling us, it's giving us everything that we want. And it's allowing us to have all kinds of fun. Meantime, it's interacting with the devil. Now, when we, by the grace of God, begin to subdue the flesh. The enemy says, oh no, no, no, no, no. We have a covenant. We had a deal. And I am going to bring you under subjection. He says to the flesh, I'm going to use you again. I don't care how this person has begun to believe God for the promise. I don't care how this person has begun to subdue the flesh. I don't care how this person has begun to fully benefit from their covenant relationship with God. I am going to bring you back under subjection. Now, the person, of course, is living a wonderful life now. They're in this wonderful promise. They believe in God. They're fully benefiting from all of the benefits of covenant. And not only that, but because the flesh has been brought under subjection, they are no longer, as we heard today, they're no longer sweating and toiling. Remember, the Gibeonites were now the ones who were the hewers of wood and the bearers of water. So, the Israelites no longer... See, the thing about it is when we allow the flesh to have its run in our lives, then life is toilsome and burdensome. And we're sweating every day. And you walk up to the Christian person and say, How are you doing? And they say, Oh man, I tell you, I'm just making it and so on and so forth. I know, you know, we're physical people. We get tired sometimes. But when I hear that coming from the soul, I am so tired. I am so burdened. I am so overwrought. My thought is one of two things. Either they're allowing Gibeon to just have its run so that Gibeon is not serving the way it should. Or they're trying to kill Gibeon in their own strength. In other words, they're allowing the flesh to do whatever it wants or they're trying to destroy the flesh in their own strength, by their own religion, whatever the case might be. And they're constantly tired. But now, they have brought the flesh under subjection. And they are acknowledging the wonderful works of God. And the devil says, No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, you might have had a victory today, but I'm going to get you tomorrow. I'm going to get you, he said. But Joshua was smart. Joshua said, as I mentioned this on Friday, it's been on my heart for a long time. But Joshua said, Oh, I know how to defeat that. Sometimes the devil will tell you, Oh yeah, you're having a good time in church today, but I'll get you tomorrow. Joshua said, I know, I got a good remedy for that. So, he simply looks up to the sun. And he says, Sun, stand still. He said, Why should I worry about tomorrow? This is the day of the Lord. Why should I worry? This is the Sabbath of God. This is the day in which the Lord has chosen that we should rest in Him. Why should I worry about tomorrow? I'm not going to hear any lie from the devil telling me he's going to do this tomorrow, he's going to do that tomorrow. No, I'm going to say, Sun, stand still. Until God gives me complete victory over every one of these kings that set themselves in array against me. By the covenant of God, by the grace of the Most High, I have brought my flesh under subjection. And the devil has no say-so in the matter. The Bible says that he said in the presence of the Lord, Sun, stand still. And when he did, he began to wage war. He said, I've already waged war against my flesh by the grace of God and I have brought it under subjection. Now it's your turn, devil. I'm going to fight against you too. Because I will not fall to sin again. I will not be a slave to sin one more day. Never again I will no longer be a slave to sin. That's what the Bible says, that's what Paul says to us in the sixth chapter of Romans. You will no longer be a slave to sin. Does that mean that you don't have a sinful nature that will try to rise up every now and again? And every now and again try to bring some rebellion? No, what it means is that it will never win. It will never win. And when it peeps its head up every now and again, if you see it manifest itself in some way, you go to God and you say, God, I was foolish. I did not inquire of the Lord, but I come before you right now. And I say in Jesus' name, God, let there be victory in my life, complete and utter victory. And I say in the name of Jesus, Son, stand still until we defeat every lie of Satan that says to us that we must be slaves to sin again. You and I will never be slaves to sin again. Because we daily crucify the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit. We buffet our body and make it our slave. See, that's the thing about the flesh. If you don't make it your slave, it will try to make you its. Now, the devil comes with his lie. And says, let's buddy up again to the flesh. He says, you know you want to. It's gonna happen tomorrow or the next day or the next day. And you say, no, no, you don't seem to understand. I've prayed to the Lord. And I've said, Son, stand still. Don't you see this is just one day. God's day. This is the day of the Lord. This is the final day. This is the Sabbath day. This is the Lord's day. And I will not be a slave to sin. I will not give my members over to folly. I will walk in victory. And I in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the grace of God. And according to the covenant that covers, I will defeat every lie of the devil. Because God has said it. I want you to say a thing in your heart right now as we go to prayer. I want you to look into the heavens. And see the awesome power of God. And I want you to say along with Joshua. Son, stand still. I'm not worried about tomorrow now. I'm not worried about the lie of the devil and all of the things that he says he's gonna do when I leave the church. And how tomorrow's gonna be. How when I get on the job, it's gonna be like this. Or how when I get home to my husband or my wife, it's gonna be like that. No, no, no, no, no. Son, stand still. This is the Lord's day. And the devil doesn't have any right in it. In one day, they decimated the kings that came against them. And the sun did not go down until they had victory. Now I want you to say in your heart, my brother and sister. Son, stand still. This is the Lord's day. I will not be a slave to sin. I will not be a servant to my flesh. But by the grace of God, I will bring it under subjection. I will not lie about its existence. It will serve me in that it will always say to me in my ear, no matter what kind of victory I take. Remember, you're just a man. Remember, you're just a woman. And you need your God every single day. Would you stand with me, please, my brothers and my sisters? Hallelujah. Glory to His holy name. Glory to the name of Jesus, our Savior. We want to pray today. We're gonna ask you to come up. Very simple altar call. You are coming up to make a statement. Sin will not have dominion over me. Very plain, very simple. I will not allow sin to have dominion over me. I will present my flesh before the Lord and say, God, I need your covenant to cover all of my weakness. I need your covenant to cover every bad decision I've made in the past or any bad decision I might make. I need your covenant to cover me, O God. I want to take victory over the lie of the devil, over the influence of the flesh, until Jesus be glorified in my life. If you want to pray that prayer today, on the ground floor, in the balcony, the annex, begin to come to the front. We're gonna pray. And we're gonna see a victory in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Hallelujah. The Lord bless you, my brothers and sisters. I want to remind you as we pray that we don't come to an altar like this to say, oh, what I'll do right now is I'll completely divest myself of my sinful nature. And now I don't ever have to deal with any of the issues of my life again. What we're saying is, no, Lord, I'm bringing my reality to you. And I'm asking you, by your grace, to cause me to bring it under subjection. This is what the Lord has promised. And not only that, but he's going to defeat the devil in your sight. And he's going to rob the devil of every one of his lies. And you're gonna know, and I'm gonna know, a life where God's truth is so prominent that every time the devil tries to lie, it is just completely obliterated by the awesome power of God's truth. Spirit of Jesus, we thank you so much for your goodness toward us. We thank you that we are able to come before you and to say, Lord, we've made some decisions that have affected us on some level or another. And try as we might, we can't shake certain propensities in us, but we can bring them under subjection. We will no longer be slaves to sin. We are a born-again people. A people who have entered into the promise of God. And so we say, Lord, in Jesus' name. We pray along with Joshua and say, Son, stand still. And let every lie of the devil be utterly brought down. Let it be cast into the ground. Lord, when Joshua took that wonderful victory, he brought those kings before him and he put his foot on their neck. And he told his people to put your foot on their neck. Because this is what God is going to do to your enemy. Your foot will be upon his neck. You will no longer hear his lies. You will no longer believe his deception. And your flesh will be brought under subjection because of the great covenant of God. And the grace of the great king. Father, we thank you that we are your people. That we have entered into the land of promise. And that we receive everything that appertains to the great covenant that we have with you. We love you, Lord Jesus. And we bless your holy name. Amen. Amen. God bless you, my brothers and sisters. This is the conclusion of the message.