Alright, so anyway, the reading was from Joshua 17, I messed up.
I'm sorry guys, I'm sorry.
It's been a long week. Alright.
Anyway, for now, you're in Judges aren't you?
So, come with me to Judges chapter 1.
Maybe the Lord wanted us to read Judges 17 for a different reason.
But, Judges chapter 1 please.
Of course, when we look at the book of Judges, it follows Joshua.
They both start with J.
Again, forgive me guys for messing that up.
But, you know, the story of course begins with the Israelites being in Egypt, right?
Before they come to the promised land.
And you need to remember that the story of Israel as a nation is also symbolic of our Christian life.
So, as the Israelites were under bondage in Egypt, you know, that demonstrates how we are before we're saved.
That we're under the bondage of sin.
And in many ways, we're enslaved by this sinful flesh.
And, you know, we simply just cannot find victory.
And we cannot receive salvation by our own efforts.
And then of course, when God caused Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt,
remember the last thing that they did on the very day that they came out of Egypt,
the Lord God caused for the Passover lamb to be sacrificed and the blood of the lamb was placed upon the doorposts of the house.
And if God saw the blood, he would pass over them and they would not be plagued by the death of the first born.
And once that blood was applied, you know, that's a picture of us applying the blood of Jesus Christ on our lives.
And that's salvation once again.
And again, symbolic of salvation.
And on that very day, they left, you know, the nation of Egypt.
They went on their way.
And of course, being saved shows us that we now have a way out.
We have a way forward that we can live for Jesus Christ.
And once we are saved, then the symbolism is that, you know, the Lord God led Moses and the Israelites to Mount Sinai.
And in Mount Sinai, Moses received what? The Ten Commandments.
Okay.
And then, you know, the nation was put under that old covenant system.
And as Moses would teach them from God's word, this is symbolic of us.
Once we're saved, what should we do?
We should pick up the law of God.
We should pick up his words and learn and grow thereby because we are under, you know,
living today, we're under the new covenant of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we also know what God has to say and live our life that is pleasing to our Lord God.
Now, one of the reasons we come to church is so we know that we know what the Lord's word says.
And as a pastor, it's my goal to teach it as faithfully as I can.
But at the end of the day, I can't force you to live the life that God wants you to live.
That's going to be down to each one of you.
And, you know, when it came to, you know, to God's leading of the Israelites,
after he gave them the Ten Commandments and the scriptures as given by Moses,
God's plan for them was to go into where? The promised land, the land of Canaan.
Okay? And the promised land was a place that was flowing with milk and honey.
And, yes, there were Canaanites there and, of course, you know, God would lead the Israelites
and the goal was that the Israelites would defeat the Canaanites.
And so, you know, getting to that land of milk and honey requires a bit of an effort.
It requires a bit of a fight.
And, of course, the land of milk and honey, the land of Canaan,
the land of promise represents a victorious, mature Christian life that we can live.
And when it came to the Israelites, they looked at the people of the land of Canaan
and said, well, we're grasshoppers in their sites.
They're too powerful. We don't think we can defeat them.
And so then what happened?
Then they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
And that's why I said, look, I can teach you God's word, but it's up to you.
You can decide, pastor, I want to live in the land flowing with milk and honey.
I want a victorious Christian life.
Or, it's too hard, oh, just wander in the wilderness.
Look, you're saved. Either way, you're saved, right?
You can be in the promised land or you can be in the wilderness.
Either way, you've already applied the blood of Jesus Christ, you're saved.
But you can decide for yourself, do you want victory?
Do you want success? Do you want blessings of God?
Well, you've got to do what God says, even though it might be hard to do.
To drive the Canaanites out of the land is what you need to do.
Or you can say, well, I just don't have enough faith to live that life.
I'll just live the same basic life that I've always lived.
Yeah, it's better than Egypt, but at least I'm in, you know,
I'm not in the bondage in the same way that I was in Egypt, but there's the wilderness.
There's not much here, but at least I'm saved.
It's up to you. You can decide to live how you want,
but I'm telling you that God wants you to live the life flowing with milk and honey in the promised land.
Okay?
So, anyway, under Moses, God would not lead Israel into that promised land.
That would come under Joshua.
Okay?
And then Joshua would be the one, of course, that would lead the Israelites into the promised land.
And yes, there were battles to be fought.
Okay?
Please don't think that living that successful victorious Christian life is just this easy process.
No. It requires a bit of a battle.
Okay?
And the biggest battle that you're ever going to fight is the battle that you fight every single day,
between your flesh and the spirit.
Because there's a part of you that is selfish.
There's a part of you that likes to sin.
There's a part of you that says, I'd just rather live my own life and not live the life that God wants me to live.
That's your flesh.
And then you've got the other part of you that says, no, I love the Lord.
He saved me.
I want to do what God's asked of me, and I know it's hard,
but I know I can have victory over the Cainites.
I know I can have that land flowing with milk and honey.
But, of course, in order to live that life, we need the help of our Lord God.
So you're there in Judges 1, and let's just read a few verses here.
Judges 1 and verse number 1.
It says here,
What we see here as they decide to go and take over the land,
that God had a certain inheritance for each of the tribes of Israel.
And they were to choose the land that they wanted to inherit.
But in order to inherit that land, they had to drive out the Cainites.
They had to go to war.
But I want you to notice that God says, I have delivered the land into his hand.
So in order to fight, brethren, in order to have the victory,
we need God to fight with us.
We can't do it in our own flesh.
And then verse number 3 says,
So we have Judah and Simeon deciding, hey, let's go fight together.
You help me, and I'll help you when it comes to you driving the Cainites out of your land.
And again, this is the importance of church.
Yes, you can be saved, and yes, you can say,
I'm never going to step foot in church because they're full of hypocrites.
Yeah, okay, you might have some level of victory,
but the greatest victory is when we're able to come together
and we can motivate and encourage one another.
You know, the fact that you're even here in church this morning encourages me.
And my hope and desire as I preach God's word is that I encourage you.
And that as we love one another, we serve and fellowship with one another
and speak highly and pray for one another.
This is how we can have victory together as a group.
And we can have the land flowing with milk and honey
and serving our Lord God together.
And look at verse number four.
All right, so again, it's the Lord that's helping these tribes have victory.
And notice they slew 10,000 men.
What is this a picture of when we're driving the Cainites out of the land?
What is this symbolic of?
Well, in order for us to live that successful, victorious Christian life,
brethren, we need to drive the sins out of our life.
Look, we've been saved from our sins, don't get me wrong.
Okay, the punishment of our sins was put on Jesus Christ.
He bore the punishment from God so we wouldn't have to bear the punishment in hell.
But you know what, as we live our life,
is there anyone here that would say, I never sinned, Pastor.
I, I've never sinned. I don't sin today.
What a liar you are, okay?
We have Cainites in our land, okay?
And we need to drive them away, 10,000 potentially.
You know, Cainites that we have in the land of promise.
And what's stopping us from living that victorious life?
It's our own sinful conditions.
Now, drop down to verse number eight.
Judges chapter one, verse number eight.
It says,
...and set the city on fire.
And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Cainites
that dwelt in the mountain and in the south and in the valley.
Drop down to verse number 18.
It says also Judah took Gezer with the coast thereof
and Ascalon with the coast thereof and Ekron with the coast thereof.
Is Judah having victory?
Yeah, but notice, you wouldn't, you'd see, notice that it's a process.
Okay, he's had victory over Jerusalem
and now he's had victory of this coast and then that coast and then this coast.
You see, as they went into the promised land, it wasn't all automatic.
You see, the moment you're saved, you're not just going to be,
now everything's wonderful, I'm just, you know, I've got all victory over my sins
and I'm just living the perfect Christian life.
That's impossible.
The Bible says the moment you're saved, you're born again, you're a baby.
You're a babe in Christ.
And just like a babe needs to grow, it takes time.
Does it not take time for a baby to grow?
Is the baby an adult the very first day they're born out of mum's womb?
No, they're not an adult.
It takes a good 20 years and even after 20 years,
you pretty much say a 21-year-old is pretty immature these days.
They still need to develop mentally.
Well, hey, after you're saved, they still develop, there's a process, there's a growth.
You might have victory over one area, but there's still areas that you need to defeat.
And if we're all honest, we all recognize there are areas in our life that are weak.
There are areas of our life that we need victory.
There are areas of our life that are still bothering us.
There are still Canaanites, there are still parasites infecting my life.
There are still these sins that I struggle with, pastor.
You know, it's not all going to happen automatically.
It's a process, a little bit by little.
You know, as you mature and you grow in the Christian life,
you ought to live a bit more holy than you have before,
as you continue to grow and be more righteous than you were before,
but it's a process.
And we're all at different phases in this process as we defeat the sins
and the things that plague us in our lives.
But look at verse number 19.
And the Lord was with Judah.
Brethren, the Lord is with you.
You know, these battles that you have, this selfishness, the pride, the sins,
the sins that you struggle with every day.
The Bible says the Lord is with us.
And then it says here, and he, that being Judah,
and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain.
So he's having success in the mountain.
Okay, great. Judah's growing.
Judah's inheriting more of its land.
But notice the next words.
But could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley
because they had chariots of iron.
Hey, they had success in the mountains,
but they're losing the battle in the valley.
Why? Because the enemy had chariots of iron.
The title for the sermon this morning is chariots of iron.
Chariots of iron.
Again, but could not drive out the inhabitants.
Judah's having an amazing victory.
They're winning everywhere they go,
but finally they meet the enemies in the valley and they just can't win.
Chariots of iron.
You know, there are some sins that you and I have had victory over.
I'm sure.
There are areas of our life that we've matured and grown,
and we've, you know, we're more holy than we were before,
but I guarantee you, each one of us,
you've got a sin buried deep down in you that you think I just cannot defeat.
Pastor, I've tried.
I've gone to God.
I've said, God, help me have victory.
You know, when the temptation comes,
Pastor, I try to fight it, but I cave into my temptation.
I seem to lose over and over and over.
I know the Lord is with me,
and I've seen him have victory.
I've seen him do great things in my life, Pastor,
but there is one sin.
Well, there are several sins that I have in my life that I just,
this is a chariot of iron.
The chariot of iron in the days of the Bible here were the tanks.
You know, I can defeat the footmen,
I can defeat the men on horseback,
but when it comes to the tanks in my life, Pastor, I just, I lose.
And I think, if we're honest, we probably have some of these sins,
these chariots of iron in our life.
They're hard, even with God.
Judah's having a hard time defeating these chariots of iron.
Now, let's go to Joshua 17,
where the reading was should have been from Brother Nathan.
Joshua 17, please. Joshua 17.
Maybe I'll get Nathan to come and read it again.
Nah, that's alright.
Joshua 17 and verse number 14, please.
Joshua 17.
Now, we need to have victory over these chariots.
And it's hard.
It's a hard battle.
Just like Judah, they feel like they just can't do it.
It's just, it's too powerful.
And look, again, we all struggle with different sins, you know.
Maybe if you were an alcoholic in the past
and you love to drink the alcohol,
and to me, that's not a battle that I just, I hate it.
I hate the smell, I hate the taste.
I have no desire for that, you know.
But maybe for some of you, you love the alcohol.
And for you, yes, maybe you've temporarily had a bit of a victory.
But I desire it, Pastor.
It's a chariot of iron is what it is.
It's hard to overcome.
You know, for me, it's other sins.
It's for you.
You know, we all have different weaknesses.
We all have different chariots that we're trying to defeat.
And again, it just seems like every time the temptation comes,
whatever that temptation is,
I just seem to cave in time and time again
to the point that I'm just too embarrassed to go to God
and say, God, forgive me again,
because it's 1,000 times that I've tried to have victory
and 1,000 times I've failed.
And what happens when you fail over and over again?
What happens?
You feel like giving up, don't you?
You feel like, oh, man, I just can't have this land flowing with milk and honey.
You even forget the victories you've had.
You know you've grown.
You know you've matured.
You know God has helped you.
But I've got this one issue.
It's too hard.
I give up.
What's the point?
That can be our attitude, just to give up
and be so preoccupied with the chariot of iron,
we forget what God has done
and so many great things in our life already.
But Joshua 17, verse number 14.
Let's read a few verses here.
So the children of Joshua, those are the two tribes,
but this one's specifically about Ephraim.
And he's saying to Joshua,
Yeah, you've taken us to the land,
but the land that we've had,
it's just not big enough for us.
We're a big tribe.
We need more space.
All right?
I mean, that's wonderful.
You've got the land flowing.
You're saved.
You're living a victorious life.
And you know what's going to happen?
I want more.
I want a better life.
I want to continue to grow.
I want to continue to mature.
I want more of the blessings that God has in my life.
That's a great desire to have.
And look how Joshua responds, verse number 15.
So he says, all right, you need more land,
cut down the trees.
You know, go to the woods,
go to the forest and start cutting down the trees.
Start clearing some land
for you to have more space for yourselves.
Verse number 16.
What's the problem here?
We saw the problem earlier.
We see the problem with Ephraim,
the tribe of Ephraim here.
Ephraim here?
They're saying, look, yeah,
you know, those are getting the value.
They've got these chariots of iron.
We need more space.
But those chariots are there.
We just can't defeat these chariots of iron,
these tanks.
Verse number 17.
So you can read this in your own time
if you want to read the rest of it, okay?
Better way to notice that,
you know, these tribes of Joseph,
the children of Joseph, they come.
Look, we need more land.
Yes, it's great.
You know, the land you've given us is great,
but I want more.
And brethren, this ought to be us.
We ought to want more.
We should desire to grow
and not be satisfied
with just where we are today.
Again, it's wonderful.
We can look back and say,
God, thank you for helping us.
But Lord, I need more.
I want to grow.
I want to be more like my Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, I still have sins that I struggle with.
Lord, yes, I've had victory,
but the chariots of iron,
they're still there in my life.
And they frustrate me
because I need more.
I need more of your love.
I need more of your presence.
I need more of your power.
And I want you to notice how
Joshua responded.
He said, thou art a great people
and has great power
and thou shalt not have one lot only.
Joshua says, you're right, guys.
You can grow.
You can get more land.
The first thing that he says to them,
thou art a great people.
In order for you to have victory
over your chariots of iron,
number one, point number one, brethren,
is you need to remember who you are.
You are a great people.
Keep a finger there
and come with me to Romans chapter nine, please.
Keep a finger there
and come with me to Romans chapter nine.
Come with me to Romans chapter nine.
You are a great people.
Say, pastor, I'm not that wealthy.
Okay.
Pastor, I don't really have
that many qualifications
and I'm not that academic
and I don't have the skills
and the certificates on the wall
like my doctor does and okay, fine.
What makes you great, though?
Those of you that have trusted
Jesus Christ as your savior.
You know, we talk about it.
You're born again.
You're born into whose family?
My family, God's family.
Your father is the heavenly father.
Your father is the creator of all things.
He's far above his creation.
He's offered you eternal life.
You are a child of the king.
Jesus, the king of kings
and the lord of lords
lay down his life for you.
That's how much God loves you.
You're part of the royal family.
You are a great people.
You need to remember who you are.
You know, instead of going,
oh, the chariot of iron,
I give up, I'm a failure.
Okay, I get where you're coming from.
I understand, but hey,
you're a child of God is who you are.
I mean, who are the most important people
walking the earth today?
Is it our prime minister?
Is it the politicians?
Is it the rich men of the world?
Who are the greatest
and most powerful people on the earth?
Believe it or not, it's you.
It's you as a child of God.
And again, why it gives me great fear
to preach to you this morning
is because you're God's children.
What if I lied to you?
What would God do to me
if I twist his scriptures
and I preach things that God never said
to his people,
to the greatest people
walking the earth today?
You know, one day you're going to be,
you are, quite literally,
physically are going to be the greatest people.
When Christ comes back
to rule for a thousand years,
who's going to rule with him?
You!
Believe it or not, brother Les, it's you.
Each one of us that are saved,
we're going to be ruling the entire earth
with Jesus Christ.
Who's greater than you?
And who's greater than I?
Look, we need to remember who we are.
Yes, we're sinners.
Yes, without Christ,
we deserve to go to hell.
Okay, that's a done deal now.
Jesus has delivered us.
Now he's given us the new man.
Romans 9, 24.
It says,
Even us whom he have called,
not of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles,
and as he saith also in Osi,
Osi is the book of Hosea,
I will call them my people,
which were not my people,
and her beloved,
which was not beloved.
What does God call you?
My people.
When God looks at the earth,
and he says,
Where are my people?
He's going to look down at
Blessed Hope Baptist Church,
and goes,
There's my people meeting right now.
And every church that names
the name of Christ,
that is made up of saved,
born again believers,
God looks down at that church,
and those people,
those are my people.
Brethren, you belong to God.
How important are you?
You are a great people.
Continues there,
and then he says,
And her beloved,
her beloved,
who does God love?
He loves you.
He loves me.
We use the word beloved,
maybe we talk about that,
our spouse,
that's my beloved.
That's who my heart seeks after.
You know who God loves,
who he's seeking the best for?
Us.
I mean, we are a great people.
What are these chariots of iron
in comparison to our Lord God,
and his great love that he has toward us?
I mean, do we give up?
It's too hard.
Yeah, they are hard,
but, boy, who am I?
You know, I'm going to rule
and reign with Christ.
Why are these chariots of iron
going to stop me
from serving my Lord God?
It continues in verse 26,
Romans 9, 26.
And it shall come to pass
that in the place
where it was said unto them,
Ye are not my people,
there shall they be called
the children of the living God.
You are the children
of the living God.
For those of us that are parents,
we know how much we want
to do for our children.
We know how much we want
to help them.
You know, we want them
to live a wonderful,
happy, glorious life.
What would you do for your children?
Say, I would help them
as much as I can
without spoiling them rotten, right?
But I want to help them.
I want to help them
to be successful.
Well, don't you think God
wants to help us
have victory of the
chariots of iron?
Yeah, they are hard,
but can we defeat them?
We can defeat the
chariots of iron
because we are his children.
Can you come with me
to another passage?
1 Peter chapter 2.
1 Peter chapter 2
in verse number 9.
1 Peter chapter 2
in verse number 9.
1 Peter chapter 2.
You might say,
pastor, our church
is just a little church.
We're God's people.
We're the children
of the living God.
And this is what he says
in 1 Peter chapter 2
verse number 9.
But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood.
You made priests.
You know, people talk about,
oh, look at that priest
and that Catholic priest
over there, that Orthodox priest.
They're not the people of God.
You are the priests
and not just priests.
Royal priesthood.
You're part of the royal family.
I mean, if you're part,
I mean, I know you don't care,
but, you know,
when we look at England
and we look at the royal family
and obviously their names
are always in the media
and the magazines write
stories about them.
Why?
Because they're the most
prominent people apparently,
you know, according to the media.
You say, well, wow,
you know, what fame
these people have.
You're part of the royal family
and the greatest royal family
there is.
The family of God.
He says,
and holy nation
are peculiar people
that ye should show forth
the praises of him
who have called you
out of darkness
into his marvelous light,
which in time past
were not a people,
but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy.
Brethren, those chariots of iron,
we need mercy.
You say, I give up.
I'm too embarrassed to go to God.
I lost again.
I lost the battle.
That's why we need to go to God.
God, please be merciful
to me, a sinner.
I lost again.
I failed again.
Yeah, I get the feeling
of wanting to give up.
I get the feeling
that I just can't win,
so I'll just give in.
I'll just do it.
I don't care.
It's too hard to win.
No, no, don't have that, Richard.
Understand how God
has given us mercy.
You know, they're new
every morning, his mercies.
We can go to God and say,
God, I failed,
and God, because I know you have.
The chariots of iron,
they're hard.
They're tanks.
Yes, you know,
you're getting different victories
in your life,
but that one is a very hard one, okay?
And God recognizes
that it's a chariot of iron.
But every time we fail,
we need to go to God
and say, God, please,
be merciful to me.
Give me the ability,
give me the strength
to not give in
to my temptation next time.
The other thing that Joshua said,
if you can go back to Joshua,
point number one, Brevin,
is remember who you are.
You're all great people.
Don't be losers.
Don't give up, okay?
Be victorious.
Know that you're fighting
from the victory
that Jesus Christ
has already given you.
Back to Joshua 17.
Joshua 17, 17.
What else did Joshua say to him?
Joshua speaketh
to the house of Joseph,
even to Ephraim and Manasseh,
saying, thou art a great people.
What else did he say?
And hast great power.
Point number two, Brevin,
is remember what you have.
You have a great power.
You have a great power within you.
The Bible says in 1 John 4, 4,
Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them,
because greater is he
that is in you
than he that is in the world.
Do you believe those words?
Greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world.
What is in the world?
The chariots of iron,
the devil, okay?
His temptations.
Did you know you have a power within you
that's greater than the chariots of iron?
That's greater than the devil.
That's speaking of the Holy Spirit of God.
The moment you were saved,
the Holy Spirit came to live,
I think we forget this,
that God lives within each one of us.
The Holy Spirit has come
and made a home inside of you.
You can't even run away from God
even if you wanted to.
He's right there.
He's living within you.
The Bible says not to grieve
the Holy Spirit.
And we need to remember
we have that great power.
We have the ability
to defeat those chariots of iron.
Can you come with me
to Acts chapter 1?
Acts chapter 1.
Acts chapter 1, please.
Acts chapter 1 and verse number 8.
The reason I tell you
about this great power
is because the big mistake
that we make
when we're trying to have victory
over sin many times
is that we try to do it
by our own flesh.
We think we're good enough
to overcome this sin.
I can do it!
No.
You need to access the power
that God has given inside of you.
In Acts chapter 1, verse number 8,
these are some of the final words
that Christ says
before he sends to heaven.
Acts chapter 1, verse number 8.
He says,
Ye shall receive power.
After that,
the Holy Ghost is come upon you.
Brethren, what is that great power?
The Holy Ghost that has come upon you.
And ye shall be witnesses unto me,
both in Jerusalem
and in all Judea
and in Samaria
and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Brethren, why did God give us this great power?
To be his witnesses.
How do we access the power
that God has within us?
By being witnesses.
By preaching Jesus Christ.
By telling people how to be saved.
How to go to heaven.
That's how you access
that great power found within you.
One reason why we fail
defeating the chariots of iron
is because we don't access the great power.
I'm not going to be a winner.
I can't do it.
Maybe being a sole winner
to you is the chariot of iron.
I can never do it.
I can never tell someone how to be saved.
And even when I want to,
I just seem to lose the battle.
I never feel like doing it.
That could be your chariot of iron.
But you know what?
You're never going to access the power
if you never speak of Jesus Christ.
That's why he gave you the power.
That's why he gave you the Holy Ghost.
So you can be a witness.
And I'm not saying you necessarily need to go door to door
although that is the key ministry of this church.
But your opportunities that God opens
maybe with your work colleagues
maybe with family and friends
when God gives you one on one time
with these people
are you able to open your mouth
and say, Lord, you told me I have this power.
You told me I have the Holy Spirit.
And I know if I open my mouth
and I tell people about Jesus
one can do it by your power and your strength.
Brethren, you need to utilize
the power God has given you.
And if you never speak of Jesus
how can you say I'm utilizing the power?
That power is there.
You know, it's the power of the Holy Ghost.
Can you come with me to 2 Corinthians?
2 Corinthians 4.
And I hope you still have a finger in Joshua 17.
We are going to come back to that a bit later.
But 2 Corinthians 4
and verse number 5.
Paul says to the church
for we preach not ourselves.
We don't preach of ourselves.
Why?
Because there's no power
in ourselves really.
We're flesh, we fail, we've got weaknesses
we have a sinful condition.
We don't preach ourselves
but
Christ Jesus the Lord
and ourselves
your servants
for Jesus' sake.
Brethren, what are we to preach?
What are we to teach today?
Christ Jesus the Lord.
We don't preach of ourselves.
Brethren, if you want to go against the chariot divine in your own flesh
you'll lose. I'll tell you now.
You'll lose.
You'll need his power, you'll need his strength.
It says in verse number 6
For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness
have shined in our hearts
to give the light
of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
This is what we're doing when we preach the gospel to people.
We're shining the light of Jesus Christ
that he's given us.
And notice what it says in verse number 7.
But we have this treasure
in earthen vessels.
Our bodies are those earthen vessels.
We have this treasure.
What is this treasure?
That the excellency
of the power
may be of God
and not of us.
You know these earthen
fleshly vessels that we have?
How can God utilize it
that we can explain and show
the excellency of the power
of God?
That power is not in our
us. It's not in our flesh.
It's not in our earthen vessels.
But in our earthen vessels we have this treasure.
We have this power.
We have this ability to access the power
that God has given us.
My hope and desire even this morning as I preach to you
is that I'm doing it by the power of God.
That's my desire.
I've told you guys I hate speaking.
I hate standing here like in my flesh.
Just the natural man Kevin
in this pulpit opening my mouth.
I don't want to do it.
How do you do it pastor?
I've got this treasure in the earthen vessels.
It's the power of God.
He compels me to teach his word.
I just have to say,
Lord, utilize me.
There's a time in my life that preaching
a sermon to me was a chariot of iron.
I can't do that, Lord.
I will never be able to get behind a pulpit
and preach your word.
It's a chariot of iron.
I hate standing here in my flesh
because right now I just want to run away.
I just want to run out.
It's the power of God that compels me
to do this.
I'm telling you, you've got the same power.
Whatever your chariot of iron is.
You've got the same ability
with God's help and his power to have victory.
Point number two, remember what you have.
You have a power.
You have the ability to beat the chariot of iron.
When you say, I can't do it,
you're saying, God, you're not powerful enough.
Think about what you're saying.
I can't beat it, Lord.
You're not powerful enough.
No, no, no. I need your power, Lord.
Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.
I can have great victory.
Come back with me to
Joshua 17.
And let's read verse number 18.
Let's get to the third point.
Point number one was, remember who you are.
You're a great people.
You have, which is the great power,
the Holy Spirit of God.
Let's look at verse number,
let's look at point number three.
So remember, Ephraim, Manasseh,
they've come to the tribes.
They've come to Joshua.
Joshua, we can't win.
Let's chariot of iron. It's too hard.
Joshua reminds them who you are.
You've got power.
Okay.
But instead of instructing them to go and fight
and chariot of iron immediately,
Joshua gives other advice.
Okay.
The advice is in verse number 18.
He says,
But the mountain shall be thine,
for it is a wood,
and thou shalt cut it down.
And the outgoings of it
shall be thine.
Let me stop there for a moment.
So, Joshua, chariot of iron,
what do we do?
Alright.
Go to the mountains.
Okay. He doesn't say,
go and defeat the chariot of iron.
He says, you need more room, you need more space,
cut down the trees.
Brethren, what's easier to fight?
The tank,
or to cut down a tree?
Cutting down a tree is easier, is it not?
Okay. I need more room,
I need to grow, I need to mature.
I can't defeat the chariot of iron right now.
Alright, don't worry.
Go and cut down the trees.
Okay. And then he says this,
for thou shalt
drive out the Canaanites,
though they have iron chariots,
and though they be strong.
He says, look, you will
defeat the chariot of iron.
But first thing, I want you to go
cut down the trees.
Brethren, what we have here is
Joshua telling the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh,
don't have a defeated
attitude.
Don't give up.
Yes, the chariots are too hard right now.
But there are plenty of trees
that you need to cut down.
Don't have a defeated attitude. When you say, I can't
do it, you know what you do?
You don't give up. You stay
busy. You keep busy.
You cut down the trees.
You know, there are other areas of your life
that you can have victory in.
Maybe you've never read the Bible cover to cover.
Hey, that's a
tree you need to cut down.
Go and read the Bible cover to cover.
Maybe
you don't have a personal time
in the day that you spend with God.
Maybe you don't have 10-15 minutes
every day that you open God's
Word and you sing Him a song
and you tell God how much you love Him
and how much you need Him. Maybe you're not doing that
in your life right now.
Well, go cut down that tree instead
instead of worrying about the chariot of iron.
Look, maybe you know
you can be at more church services
but you refuse to do so for whatever reason.
Hey, maybe cut down
that tree instead.
Maybe you know, well pastor
I can't go soul winning. I can never
knock someone's door but I know what you
can do. I know you can come out as a solid
partner and keep your mouth shut
and you can carry the preacher's Bible
and you can carry the tracts and you
encourage the preacher. You can
cut down that tree. I know you can.
There are many things that can keep us
busy serving the Lord.
Maybe the chariot of iron is defeating you. Okay, fine.
Focus on other areas
that you can defeat.
You know, that chariot of iron is very similar
to someone reading the Bible.
You start reading the Bible, you're newly saved, you don't know much, you're reading the Bible.
I don't understand.
It's too hard. I'll ask pastor Kevin.
What's that chapter
about?
Who knows?
YouTube, Psalm 68
New IFB preaching
Let's see what they have to say.
Don't lose. Don't have a defeatist
attitude. You know what? I'm
reading the Bible. I don't know what it's saying.
You know what?
I'm just going to keep reading. Because there's going to be
something as I keep reading that I
will understand. There's going to be something that
God shows me that I can do.
And then later on as I grow
and mature, I will understand that passage
better when the Holy Spirit is ready
to reveal that truth to me.
Please be more like that
than just to give up or
let's ring pastor Kevin quickly or let's
serve. Look, let the Holy
Spirit, you remember that power that you have within you?
That power is going to guide you in your
understanding and your growth.
I have no problem. Even
as I read it, I don't know what that's about.
Man, preaching through Isaiah, I talk to my
chapter, there's a lot that I just don't understand.
I'm going through it for the week.
I'm like pastor, I don't know how I'm going to, I mean I say to God
God, I don't know how I'm going to preach that this coming Thursday, Isaiah.
And then I just, Lord
help me, Lord help me, I read it, and I read it,
and I read it, Lord help me, Lord help me.
Eventually it gives me something out of it, like praise God,
right, I'm ready to preach it this coming Thursday.
But hey, you know what,
we just need to persevere, we need to keep
cutting down the trees that, because there are
other areas of your life, are there not, that you need to grow?
I know you've got the charity of
iron, but are there not other areas you need to fix?
Maybe fix your marriage.
That'd be a
good thing to do. Alright.
Maybe tell your kids how
much you love them. Read the Bible
to your kids. Take them out and have
a great day together. God has given
us so many areas of our life that
we need to fix and improve.
Forget the charity of iron for
now. Go cut down the trees in
the mountain. There are many more things you
need to keep busy.
And I'll tell you why. You cut down the
tree, okay I've done that,
that's not going to clear that much land. You've got to cut down another
tree, cut down another tree,
what's going to happen as you keep cutting down more trees?
You're going to get more
skillful? You're
going to grow, like if you were literally cutting down a tree?
Brother Hayden's not here right now, is he?
Alright, I'm sure
today he's much more skillful
cutting down trees than he was
three years ago. Wouldn't you say?
The more you do the same job over and over again
the more skillful, the bigger
your muscles are going to be, alright?
The greater victory, like you're saying, okay
instead of having to defeat this attitude of the charity of iron
I can cut down the tree.
It's going to breed
confidence. Lord, you're allowing
me to get more and more victory, more and more
land. Lord, you're doing more, you're utilizing
me more and more.
Cut down the tree, cut down the tree, all of a sudden you've cut down
the whole forest.
And you're more skillful, you're better
swinging that axe, you're stronger
than you were before, you're more
confident than you were before
and now you're ready to take down the charity of iron.
How do you think King David did it
when he took down Goliath?
The Bible said he started by taking down the bear and the lion.
And then
once he said I can take down this creature.
I don't know how you start taking down a bear and an lion, but anyway
he did it somehow and he's like, now I can take down
Goliath. See, everything
requires progress.
But man, if you allow that charity of iron to just have
defeat, I can't do it, I quit, it's too hard.
You're missing the point.
God's given you the trees to cut down. There are other
areas, focus on those things. Focus
on the things that you can do
instead of getting
discouraged by the, by
what you can't do at this present
time in your life. So point number three
brethren, is don't give up.
You know, stay busy serving the Lord.
Do what you can do.
If you can come with me to judges
now, come with me to judges chapter four.
Judges chapter four
please.
And while you're listening to
judges chapter four, I'm going to read to you from
Philippians 1, 6
Being confident of this very
thing, that he which have
begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ.
The Lord God has begun a good work
in you. And brethren,
again, it's a process. Okay, it won't
be completed until the day of Jesus Christ.
Until the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what that means?
Very similar to the Canaanites.
You know how when God
instructed the Israelites to go to the land of Canaan,
the instruction God gave was to wipe them
all out. All of them
out. Is that what Israel
did? They kept some
of it on the land. Okay.
Some of these people on the land
and those same people ended up
becoming issues with them over the years.
Again, this is symbolic
because you're never going to get to the point
where you got all the land of Canaan perfect
and every enemy has been defeated
and I'm now sinless
and I'm just leaving that wonderful, wonderful, perfect.
That standard will be Jesus Christ. You're never going to
get to the standard of Christ today.
But we know
on the day of Jesus Christ when he comes back
he's going to give us new bodies, new
resurrected bodies made like unto Christ
bodies that can never sin.
And that would be the fulfillment
of having complete victory in
the land of Canaan. Okay.
But that doesn't mean we quit. We still
keep winning those victories. We still
battle those cities. We still
take over the coast. We still cut down
the trees. And as we get stronger
and stronger, you'll be able to destroy
the chariots of iron. And they did.
Eventually, they took down
the chariots of iron. Okay.
They knew the power that they had. They knew the
people that they were. And they continued
being busy serving the Lord.
Now,
here's what's going to happen in your life.
You're going to get to a point where you
will defeat chariots of iron.
You will. You will have victory at some point in your life.
Okay. Maybe there are many chariots
that you're fighting. Maybe you've got five chariots of iron and
you know, you might win three battles and still
you know, losing two and well anyway
it's all a growth. It's all a process.
But I'll tell you something about the strange
human sinful condition. I'll tell you something
strange about you and me.
When we have victory
and we're doing well
and we've defeated
sin and
I don't have that temptation anymore
and I've got no problems.
Everything's sorted. You know, the problems are minor
and they're easy to take care of.
I don't know why. I don't know what it is, brethren.
That's when we say to God,
thank you, Lord,
but I can take it from here.
Thank you for your help, Lord,
but I've got it now, Lord. I've got it.
I can take care of my life
moving forward.
That's what human beings, that's what you do.
That's what I do.
And before you know it, you've walked away from his power.
You think, hey, I've got it.
I'm under control.
And you know what happens?
Well, let's read about it.
Come with me to Judges. You're there already.
Judges chapter 4 and verse number 1.
I don't know, brethren, is that true?
Yeah, you like me. When times are good,
you forget God.
And you only remember him when times are hard.
When things get difficult. I'm like that.
I'll be honest with you.
So if I'm like that, I think you're going to be like that to some extent.
Well, this is what happens
when you forget the Lord. In Judges chapter 4
and verse number 1,
it says,
and the children of Israel
again did evil
in the sight of the Lord
when Ehad was dead.
And the Lord sold them
into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan,
and reigned in Hazle
the captain of whose host
was Sisera, which dwelt
in Harasheth of the Gentiles.
So you've got this captain
Sisera.
And his hand is the king
of Canaan, Jabin.
And then look at verse number 3.
And the children of Israel
cried unto the Lord,
for he
had nine
hundred chariots of
iron, and twenty
years he mightily
oppressed the children
of Israel.
The children of Israel
had victory.
They defeated the chariots of iron.
They took over the land of Canaan.
But what happens
when they did evil in the sight of the Lord?
What happens when they said, Lord, we've got it from here.
We've got it. It's our land.
We've had victory. We can take it from here.
Well, before you know it, they're doing evil
in the sight of the Lord. They forget the Lord.
And the Lord allows
this army,
He allows Sisera, the king
or the captain of the hosts,
to come with
nine hundred chariots
of iron.
You know what's going to happen when you walk away
from the Lord?
When you feel like, I've got it, Lord, I can do it in my own strength,
the chariots of iron are going to return.
They're back.
They're back!
What happened?
What I'm trying to say to you, brethren,
point number three, point number four now,
is you need to, when you have victory in the Lord,
you must stay
in close fellowship
with the Lord.
You need to maintain your walk,
maintain your fellowship.
Don't think, okay, I've got it now, Lord,
I've won, I can take care of myself now,
God, I don't need you.
Horrible decision, that is.
And yet we do it. We make these decisions.
When we read about the Israelites of old,
it should just show us, yeah,
we're like that as well.
And before you know it,
nine hundred chariots of iron.
Maybe there was only a hundred before, now there's nine hundred.
All the sins,
why? Because you're trying to do it in your own flesh.
And this flesh is sinful, brethren.
There's no way to reform
or fix this flesh.
Remember the power doesn't come from the flesh,
it comes from the Holy Spirit of God
that lives within you.
You say, Holy Spirit, don't need your power anymore,
I've got it.
Before you know it, you'll find nine hundred chariots of iron
in your life all over again.
And in this scenario,
the people of the tomb of Israel were
oppressed for twenty years.
I know people like this.
I know someone in particular who just recently
told me, boy,
I wasted twenty years of my life.
I was saved when I was a child,
I was saved when I was young,
and I went into the world,
and I just, for twenty years,
I just lived like the world,
I just got drunk, I just lived
ungodly, fornication, this and that,
and boy, what a regret that I have
those twenty years.
Boy, we can be like that.
You know, yeah, you're saved by the blood of the land,
praise God, but you know, when you say,
Lord, I've got it, you never know,
those chariots of iron just come back.
Nine hundred strong.
So brethren, point number four, you need to stay
in close fellowship with the Lord.
Maintain your relationship, your fellowship
with our Lord God.
You're in Judges four, drop down to verse number four.
What happens here?
And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of
Lapidoth, she judged
Israel at that time,
and she dwelt under the palm tree
of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel
in Mount Ephraim,
and the children of Israel came
up to her for judgement,
and she sent and called
Barak, the son of Abinoham,
out of Kedesh,
Naphtali, and said unto him,
Have not the Lord God of Israel commanded,
saying, Go and draw
toward Mount Tabor, and take
with thee ten thousand men
of the children of Naphtali, and of the
children of Zebelon, and I will draw
unto thee to the river Kishon
Sisera, the captain of Jabin's
army, with his chariots,
and his multitude, and I will
deliver him into thine hand.
What a great
woman this Deborah is.
You know, the men are so weak.
They don't know. Oh, nine hundred
chariots, we've been, you know,
oppressed for twenty years.
A whole bunch of weak men,
where you've got a strong, faithful woman
like Deborah, that tells the men,
Guys, don't you know?
God says, Get your army,
and go fight against them.
Go and fight against the chariots of iron.
Why aren't you doing this?
Because there's nine hundred
chariots of iron.
Reverend, you know what? When those chariots of iron
come back, what's God telling you to do?
Go and fight again.
It's going to be hard again.
When these sins creep back into your life.
It's going to be a battle once again.
So it's easier to maintain
your walk with God,
than to let the chariots return to your life
and now you've got to fight them all over again.
You see,
when you're walking away from the Lord,
you're weak men. We're weak men.
Weak women. We're going to allow these things
to happen in our life.
Drop down to verse number thirteen.
Or maybe you are at verse thirteen.
And
Sisera, remember he's the one
leading, he's the captain of this army.
When Sisera gathered
together all his chariots, even
nine hundred chariots of iron,
and all the people that were with him,
from Herosheth of the Gentiles
unto the river of Kishon,
and Deborah spake unto Barak,
Up!
She's like, come on, get up!
We're going to go, you need to go and fight!
Okay, there's the nine hundred chariots
of iron. It's time to fight!
Up!
For this is the day in which the Lord
hath delivered Sisera
into thine hand.
Is not the Lord gone out
before thee?
So Barak went down from the main table
and ten thousand men
after him.
Alright, so I want you to notice that. Is not the Lord
gone out before thee?
What is she saying?
The Lord's already given you the victory.
You just need to go and fight now.
The Lord's going to deliver this into your hands.
What do we learn again?
That we need the Lord with us
to fight the battles.
He has the power!
And we have the power within us
by the Holy Spirit of God.
We can win again.
Because when you have victory over the chariots of iron
and you feel like, yes I've done it
and they come back,
again you're going to feel like, I'm defeated.
I'll just give up. 20 years I'll just live
forever.
I lose. No, no, no, no.
The Lord wants to go before you.
He's telling you, get up
and fight again you weak men.
It's a battle.
The Christian life is a battle.
And how many times
do we just have to fight this
flesh and this heart
and this mind.
That's why I hate
arguing and having conflicts with my brothers and sisters
and the Lord. I don't want to fight you.
Let's just get along.
I have enough to fight right here.
And you have enough to fight just within yourself, don't you?
I don't want to fight with my spouse.
I've got fights here.
I want to fight with my kids and my brothers
who I'm supposed to love.
Right? I mean,
it says here that Barak is meant to take
10,000 men.
Lord, I've got a chariot of iron. I'd rather take you guys
with me. Brethren, can you please
pray for my condition?
Brethren, I've got this weakness in my life.
Can you please pray
for me?
You know, I'd rather take it to 10,000.
Guys, help me in my battle
and I'm going to seek to defeat this chariot of iron
or the 900 chariots of iron
that are set before us. Don't you think we're going to have
better victory when we're working together?
When we love each other, when we support one another?
Why do I want to fight you?
I don't want to fight you. I love you.
And I know you've got your chariot of iron
and I want to support you in your fight.
Like, I'm not going to beat you up
and criticize you
and judge you because of your chariot of iron.
I want you to have victory.
I want to fight together with you.
Let's take it to the Lord.
Let's have a time of prayer and fasting if we have to.
To gather the church
so we can defeat the chariot of iron
that we have in our lives.
Well, verse number 15.
It says
And the Lord discomfited
Sisera and all his chariots
and all his hosts.
How did he discomfort them?
With the edge of the sword
before Barak.
What?
Chariots of iron?
Tanks
versus the sword?
You would say
look, there's no way
the sword's going to defeat the chariots of iron.
That's vastly superior
than the sword.
It continues there
So that Sisera lighted off his chariots
and fled away on his feet.
But Barak pursued
after the chariots
and after the hosts
unto Heresheth of the Gentiles
and all the hosts of Sisera
fell upon the edge
of the sword.
And there was not
a man left.
They defeated the chariots of iron
with swords.
What?
How? Well, with God's strength.
With God's ability.
Brethren, point number five is
you need to utilize the sword
which is the Bible.
This is the sword.
The word of God is the sword.
That we're to take as we battle.
This is
a book, papers, text.
How's that going to defeat
the chariot of iron?
I don't know, but it works.
I can't explain to you.
One of the greatest things you can do is
if you have sins that are chariots of iron that you can't win
let me encourage you to memorize
scriptures about that sin.
That's how I found victory.
Memorize that scripture about that sin
and then when the temptation comes
OK, quote the verse.
What's the verse? Let me read the Bible.
And I quote the verse about that sin
and I don't know how I can explain it to you.
It's the sword of the spirit.
It's helped me overcome those temptations.
Those struggles that I have.
Buy the sword.
The sword defeating
the chariot, the tank of iron.
Brethren, you need to utilize
the Bible.
Utilize the sword that God has
given us. This is how
we win the battle.
The Bible says in Ephesians 6 17
and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword
of the spirit which is
the word of God.
The Bible also says in Psalm 119
verse 11
Thy word have I hid
in mine heart
and I might not sin against thee.
You've got to take this
Bible, you've got to take this sword
you've got to hide it in your heart. How do I hide it?
You memorize it.
OK, you memorize it. Then you can have
the victory.
Some of you said, hey, going soul winning
was my chariot of iron.
What helped you have victory?
OK, I'm going to memorize
the verses, the plan of
salvation. I'm going to memorize those
scriptures.
You know what? As you memorize and learn those
scriptures, you know where to turn to, you know
where to go in your plan of salvation.
Did that not give you the confidence to be able to speak
then the gospel of Jesus Christ?
That's how you had victory in that area.
It's no different with the
other chariots of iron that you have.
You need to take God's word,
hide it in your heart and you
will not sin against the Lord.
You will have victory
over that chariot of iron.
Thank you for your patience this morning
guys. Title for the song
was chariots of iron. I know they're
hard. I've got them too.
I've got them too. You've got them too.
But let me tell you what those five points in summary are
once again. Number one, remember
who you are. You are a great people.
Number two, remember what you have.
You have a great power,
the Holy Spirit of God living within you.
Number three,
don't give up. Stay busy
serving the Lord. Do
what you can do. Don't worry about
the chariot right now. Have victory in
the areas that you can have victory.
Number four, stay in close
fellowship.
Stay walking with the Lord. Don't
turn your back on Him.
And number five, don't
forget to utilize the sword,
the Holy Scriptures. Let's pray.