Absolute Goal for the Gospel Noble Family – Restoration of the Gospel (10)
The Miracles for God’s Spiritual War (Jos 11:1-9)
(Intro)
It’s good to see you. Greet those around you. Have you had a good week? Today’s title is “The Miracles for God’s Spiritual War”. Science is developing, but our minds are getting weaker. Science cannot satisfy our hearts. Things that are invisible are influencing us. Jesus said in Matthew 12 that if it’s by the Spirit of God that He drives out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When Jesus answers and the Kingdom of God has come upon you, evil spirits will flee. It also says how can anyone enter a strong man’s house without first tying up the strong man. You need to take care of the strong man first, the strong spiritual force first. If you are not with Him, you will go against Him. If you gather people centered around Jesus, then you are doing and following what God desires. Jesus is using the example of evil spirits to teach His disciples. He is teaching them about the spiritual world. He emphasizes these spiritual things. We need to connect today’s scriptures of Joshua 11 and look at today’s message. When people say “spiritual things”, people think we’re talking about ghosts. In Korea, people give ancestral worship during Thanksgiving. They believe that their deceased parents return in spirit. There is a funny story about 3 ghosts. They ask each other if they went to their worship and if they ate well. One said that there was too much traffic. The other said that all his descendants were overseas on vacation. The last one said that they gave worship through the internet. He wanted to eat a meal, but I had to apply to get internet. How can a ghost apply for internet? That’s the joke. Ancestors don’t come back as spirits. They disputed demonology amongst one another. We are talking about evil spirits; we will look at the Bible.
1. Open the eyes to see the reality of spiritual war
(1) God and Satan and evil spirits who oppose God’s people truly exist (Is 14: 12-14, Ezk 28: 14-18, Ja 4:7, 1Pe 5:8)
(2) The life of church saints are in continuation of spiritual war (Eph 6:12)
(3) Do not be afraid or fear because our Father God who is the almighty creator is with you (Js 11:6a, Is 41:10, Is 43:5, Je 1:8, Je 46:28)
Open the eyes to see the reality of spiritual war. In Joshua 11 and 12, it connects a story. There was a leader of a region named Hazor. The Israelites were coming to attack. Hazor unites an army. However, Joshua was with God, so he defeated them. This is what we talked about last week. The War of Canaan signifies the judgment of God. What was the 1st judgment of mankind? It was the Flood. They had no choice but to perish because they were filled with sin. the sin came from Nephilim. Their sin was beyond your imagination. God had to punish them by flood. Next, God punishes the Canaanites. You might wonder if they needed to be punished. Look at Numbers 13. God told Moses to send spies to observe the land of Canaan. What did the spies say? In the last verse, the spies said, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." They were filled with evil spirits and go against God. They worshipped Idols. They were filled with sexual immorality. Satan wants to block the offspring of woman. They are the fruits of evil spirits. Even though it was horrible, God punishes them. They were completely under the control of Satan. The essence of the Canaan Conquest was the war that gave judgment on the evil spirit that filled the land of Canaan. It was related to the spiritual problem. It seemed as if they were killing off people, but it was a spiritual battle. We must hold onto the covenant regarding the spiritual thing through Joshua 11 and 12. God desires us to know the spiritual facts and win the spiritual battle. We need to open our spiritual eyes. The demons go against God and attack the people of God. We are going against the evil spirits. In Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 it talks about this. Lucifer became arrogant and went against God. The angel was anointed with oil but became arrogant. Satan exists. He becomes the father of non-believers and makes mankind become ignorant of God and puts them in curses. People are bound by fate and destiny. People are unsatisfied. It is also related with the life of saints. We have been saved and guaranteed the kingdom of God. However, when we are living on this earth, we can be attacked. It is recorded in James 4. Submit yourself, stand before God and resist the devil. Then he will flee from you. It is also recorded in 1 Peter 5. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil, roams like a lion, looking for someone to devour. And, it is recorded in Eph. 6. Our battle isn’t against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of this dark world. The life of a saint is a spiritual battle. There is something we must keep in mind. God didn’t tell us to go fight. God is with us. Who is God? He created everything and is the almighty master. Nothing is impossible for Him. What’s more vital is that we are sons of God and He is with us. Christ crushed the head of Satan. When we remain inside of Christ, victory is guaranteed. It is because the almighty Father God is with us and this spiritual battle has already been finished within Christ. Believe and have faith. If you do not know it, you will be afraid. That is why God is telling Joshua to not be afraid in the passage. God is telling us to not be shocked because He is our Father God. He would strengthen him and uphold him. Do not be afraid. I am with you and will rescue you. David knew about this. It is recorded in 1 Samuel 17. "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.” People in the Bible overcame the spiritual battle with spiritual strength. Open your spiritual eyes to see the spiritual fact to be able to have a victory. You need to know the spiritual things. You should not be afraid because God is with you.
2. What happens if you ignore spiritual facts and not engage in spiritual war?
(1) You wouldn’t know the true enemy whom you should fight with (Gen 3:15)
(2) All of your efforts would be in vain (Ecc 2:21, 6:11)
(3) You would receive scars, be discouraged and perish (Ho 4:6)
What happens if you ignore the spiritual battle? Many do not know the spiritual facts, or think of it lightly. Because they fight without knowing the opponent, they will lose. They will not perish, but will taste failure. You will see that from the beginning, God has set our enemy. The word, “enemy”, appears first in Genesis 3:15. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” Some might wonder if we’re supposed to love everyone. They may not be aware of the spiritual fact. We are supposed to love people and reconcile them. However, this is the spiritual battle. You should be angry when the forces of darkness are working because Satan is your enemy. I bless that you will triumph. When you don’t know Satan, everything is in vain. You don’t get the result. You become discouraged and scarred. During the 1st worship, I said that the water from a valley goes to the ocean. You will see the water flow from top to the bottom. It doesn’t matter how clean or dirty the water is, it still flows. Water always flows and goes through or around anything. It will flow through. It will continue to go to the ocean. We have held on to God’s covenant and world evangelization. Some people may not listen to you. The work of salvation is God’s work. When you open your spiritual eyes and see God’s work, He will take care of everything. When you hold onto the Covenant of Christ, He will do everything for you. The more you become discouraged, the more self-centered you will be. The Pharisees lived their walk of faith diligently, but they didn’t acknowledge the spiritual facts. They only focused on legalism and religion. They didn’t recognize the Messiah. They killed Him off. They perished. You and I need to recognize the spiritual facts that are part of the spiritual battle.
3. Learn the method of spiritual war, which Christ has already won
(1) According to God’s method (Js 11:6b)
(2) With the name of Christ Jesus! (Js 11:7, Mt 28:18-20, Mk 16:17, Jn 14:14, Ac 3:6, Ac 8:5, Ac 9:15)
(3) With the power of the Holy Spirit! (Mt 12:28, Ac 1:8, Ac 10:38, Eph 7:17)
Learn the method of spiritual war. In Joshua 11:6, "Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots." You will see that God is giving the method to Joshua. If you fight the spiritual battle according to God’s method, you will have victory. When you are doing spiritual battle, God is in charge so do it with His method. In verse 7, “So Joshua and his whole army came against them suddenly at the Waters of Merom and attacked them” Joshua and his whole army came according the method of God. Joshua went to war. The army belongs to Joshua. It means that with the method of God, need to do spiritual battle in the name of Jesus. What is God’s representative method? It is prayer. Pray with Christ’s name. Then angels will be mobilized. All the evil spirits will be cast away. Jesus said without prayer, you cannot cast aside the evil spirits. In Mark 16, it says that signs will accompany His followers and they will drive out demons. You will cast them aside. The Holy Spirit is of the creator God. When the Holy Spirit is active, the evil spirit will be cast away. You will see the Early Church members took part in spiritual warfare. There was a cripple in front of the temple called Beautiful. People just saw that he was handicap, but, Peter and John were able to see this cripple man’s fate, then, Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Use the name of Jesus. Philip went into a city in Samaria and proclaimed Jesus. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city. Use His name. I experienced this when I did missionary work in South East Asia. I rode for 10 hours. If I pass over 1 mountain, I would arrive at the town. One of my team members was in pain because of his teeth. We couldn’t go to a hospital. If we stayed there, it would become night. We were in a predicament. I was worried. I thought that Satan was attacking us. If were arrive at the town, we would proclaim the Gospel and the darkness would flee. However, the darkness is attacking one of my members. I realized that Satan is trying to stop my ministry. I had assurance. I told all my members to stop and do spiritual battle. We proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ. We did this a long time ago. We praised and cried out in prayer. Afterwards, our team member got better. We went over the mountain and arrived at the town. We did our ministry. I received many answers. Usually, there are magicians or sorcerers in villages and tribes. They are usually doctors as well. They’re demon-possessed. He accepted Jesus Christ. The spiritual realm changed. There was a crippled man from an accident. Then he arose. At the time, I didn’t recognize that it was God. Anyways, I realize that after the spiritual battle, works arose. So the evil spirits tried to attack us. I was able to do spiritual battle. Everyone rejoiced. Do spiritual battle. I came to America with my family in 1999. Many people supported me financially. I got about $2000, which was a lot back then. Many people said they wanted to support me. However, at the time Korea had financial struggles, so I thought that I had to return back to Korea. So I held many jobs at the same time. Nothing was resolved. As I was working, I was exhausted. What am I doing? I came to my realization. In the name of Jesus Christ, I received answers and came to America. I realized that I needed to follow the word of God, and Satan was attacking me. I would pray before God. Starting from that moment, I gave tithe. The company that I used to work for treated me with a meal. I would often receive gifts, so I would donate a 10th. I proclaimed spiritual battle to not be oppressed financially. At that time, God saw that. In my family line, there is a financial curse of poverty. God overturned everything. Do you believe? I have great pride. I gained success. Because of you, I have so much blessings. I am joking around. I have God’s blessings. Those who have entrusted their finances to God, will receive God’s money. I am not telling you to give money, just receive financial blessings. This is the spiritual battle of God. Do spiritual battle against the spiritual poverty in the name of God. Overcome poverty.
(Conc)
When you do spiritual warfare, you have peace. In Joshua 11:23, “So Joshua took the entire land, just as the LORD had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.” Afterwards, he gave it as an inheritance to Israel. Then the land had rest from war. There was peace. When you do spiritual battle, you will have true peace. Until you find true peace, you will do spiritual battle. There is something that God wants. You will receive greater blessings and answers. This is today’s application. Today’s Mother’s Day. God is giving the covenant of spiritual battle to Mother’s. Many remnants will go back to Korea during summer. Until the day they return, do spiritual battle. Mother’s need to pray for their kids to do spiritual battle. You will see all the names on the bulletin. Pray for them. You also need to pray for the Remnants who are addicted to games. Help them to not waste time. Help them to study for the next semester. Help them to have a reasonable lifestyle. Even though they are absent, help them to be in the flow of the message. God, help the remnants to become the Gospel elite. Many you break the forces of darkness that attacks them and makes them fall into video games. In April, I gave a grace period for 80 days. I said that if remnants are addicted to games, if you don’t restore yourself, it will be bad. A few weeks ago, a remnant had to go to the hospital. That remnant played games a lot. God loves that remnant. Doctors don’t joke around. They said that the remnant could die if they continued. He received treatment and medication. I bless that we will not have to go to a funeral. I bless that I won’t have to visit hospitals. Anyways, mothers need to pray for our unknown remnant to do spiritual battle. Help our Remnants do spiritual battle. God will take care of them. When your kids grow up, they will become the spiritual elite.
(Prayer)
God, you gave us your word. Help us to do a new study. Help us to know the spiritual facts. Help them to start the spiritual battle. Help them to receive true answers. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.