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Man, Joshua chapter 17, I want to start out in verse 12 there. The title of my sermon this morning is, Doing the Hard Thing. Doing the hard thing. Look at Joshua 17, 12, the Bible reads, yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. Yet it came to pass when the children of Israel were waxing strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, but did not utterly drive them out. And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as the Lord hath blessed me hitherto? So let me just start out by explaining here, the children of Israel have come out of Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and now in the book of Joshua they're coming into the promised land and they're inheriting it, and they each have a different portion. There's a certain amount of land allotted for this tribe and that tribe. Well the children of Joseph actually made up two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. And so when it comes to them inheriting their land, the Bible talks about the children of Manasseh not obeying the Lord in the sense that they did not fully drive out the Canaanites. They were supposed to drive out or wipe out the inhabitants of the land, they were not supposed to coexist in that land with the Canaanites. And because they failed to do so, the children of Manasseh here, then they come whining to Joshua along with the Ephraimites saying in verse 14, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people? What are they saying? You know, we don't have enough land. We have a lot of people in our tribe, you're not giving us enough space. But what did we just see a few verses earlier? They did not take all the land that was allotted for them. So they're given a certain portion, God has a certain land for them to inherit, they only inherit a portion of it and then they whine about it not being big enough. Now let's keep going. They say, Well I'm a great people. Look at verse 15, Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if Mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee. So he's pointing out to them a portion of their land that they're not using. They're claiming they don't have enough space, but he says, Well what about this forest that you're not cutting down? If you're such a great people, if you have so much manpower and so much might, then cut down that forest and then you've got more space there. And the children of Joseph said, in verse 16, The hill's not enough for us. And all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bathshean and her towns and they who are of the valley of Jezreel. And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, those are the two sons of Joseph, those are the two tribes, saying, Thou art a great people and hast great power. Thou shalt not have one lot only, 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, for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong. What's he telling them? Look, don't whine about how hard it is to cut down those trees or how the inhabitants of the valley have chariots of iron. No, you need to drive them out. You need to go in there and fight that battle. You need to drive out the Canaanites, and then you'll have plenty of land. I mean, this is a huge valley. It's actually two different sections. It's Bathshean and all the towns thereof, and it's also the valley of Jezreel, and this is primo land. This is exactly what they need, and he's telling them, Get in there, chop those trees down, drive out the Canaanites, and inherit the land that God has for you. Don't come to me asking for seconds when you haven't even cleaned your plate. This is like a child that would eat the meat and skip the vegetables, and then they're asking for more. They haven't finished their vegetables. They haven't finished the main course, but they're saying, Give me dessert. I'm still hungry. Well, I'll tell you why you're still hungry. It's because you haven't finished your plate. You haven't eaten your food. If you eat all your food, then you won't still be hungry. That's what's going on here. And so what Joshua is telling them to do is the hard thing. People don't like to do things that are hard. They often just want to take the path of least resistance. They want to do everything the easy way, and so when Joshua tells them, Okay, this is the word of the Lord. You're going to inherit this geographic region. Here's what they do. They go in, and they take all the parts of that region that are easy, the part where the enemy is just easy to defeat, where they don't have iron chariots. They don't have the weapons. Yeah, they'd love to just go in and sweep through and wipe them out. And then they go into all the places that have already been cut down, and the forest has already been cleared, and they go to the places where the towns and the cities are already built, where they can just walk in, and it's all easy. They take all the easy stuff, the low-hanging fruit, and then they say to Joshua, Hey, we don't have enough. Why? Because they're not doing anything hard, whether it's a tough enemy or whether it has to do with chopping down the forest thereof. So people often whine about not having what they need or not having enough, when in reality it's just that they don't want to do the work. They don't want to do anything hard. You see, God will provide everything that we need. God has promised to provide all our needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus, but often we just can't see the forest for the trees, you know, no pun intended. But we look at what God has given us and say it's not enough, but it's because we're not seizing the land that he gave us. We're not stepping up to the plate and doing our part. We want it all to just fall into our lap. We want it all to be easy. You know, there are people who complain about not having enough money, but yet these same people often don't want to work hard. They don't want to go out and cut something down. I mean, if you think about cutting down a forest, that's a lot of work. I mean, chopping down trees has got to be one of the hardest things that there is, and these people didn't have chainsaws. They didn't have machines. I mean, they're over there with axes and their saws and they're cutting it down. I mean, that's a very difficult job. And so people today, they don't want to work hard, but then they just want to complain that they don't have any money. And then you try to help them by pointing them to this job or pointing them to that job or giving them ideas about how they can work harder and make more money, but they're not interested. They want to have the easy job. They want to sit behind the desk. They want the air conditioning. They want the ergonomically correct chair, but they also want a big paycheck. You know, when in reality, if you want to make enough money to provide for your family, sometimes you've got to cut down some trees. Sometimes you've got to do some hard work and get, you know, minimum wage. People, oh, the minimum wage is too low. Well, here's a newsflash. Then don't make minimum wage then. If you think that minimum wage is too low, then quit making minimum wage. Say, well, I can't control it. Yeah, you can. You can work harder. You can get some skills. You can spend some time studying and working and learning something. But you know, one guy is sitting around watching cartoons and eating chips off his chest. Another guy has got his nose to the grindstone. He's working. He's reading. He's studying. He's excelling. People should not get paid the same amount of money. The one who wants to just fool around and drink and party and goof off and then stumble into work on Monday morning and do the minimum and clock out at 4.59 in 59 seconds shouldn't get paid the same as the guy who spends his time working and trying hard. He gets there early. He stays late. He excels at what he does. He has years of experience because he wanted it more. Because he's willing to work harder. If minimum wage is too low, then work harder. Get some skills. In fact, this is a perfect parallel. Because what are they doing? They're going to the government. Joshua is who here? He's the governor. He's the leader. He's the man in charge of what would be their form of government. He's the judge of the land. And they go to Joshua and they say, well, why do we only get one lot? We want more. Now, where's that other land going to come from? It's going to have to come from another tribe. Think about it. I mean, the promised land is a certain size. And the promised land is being divided amongst the 12 tribes of Israel. Well, if Ephraim is going to take more, if Manasseh is going to take more, that's going to have to come out of somebody else. That's going to come out of Isaacar and Zebulun and Gad and Asher. So it's people going to the government saying, oh, give me more. Take from them and give it to me because I'm lazy. Force them to give me more. And Joshua says, no. You know, yes, you're a great people. That's why you've been given a great inheritance. But some of it you're actually going to have to work for. And so that's what we see in the story here. Flip over to Joshua 18, Joshua 18. It wasn't just Ephraim and Manasseh who failed to get in there and seize what God had for them and inherit what God had for them. Some of the other tribes were slacking as well. Look at Joshua 18, verse 2, and there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, how long are you slack to go to possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers have given you? Why are you slacking? Why don't you seize what God has given you? See, God provides for us the opportunities that we need. But we need to get in there and seize those opportunities and not just say, well, where is it? Where are the blessings of God? Well, they're all around you. You've just got to go out there and grab them. Get out there and do the work. Obey his commandments and see these things come into your hand. This is not a prosperity gospel sermon. I'm not talking about being rich, driving fancy cars, or living in a fancy house. I'm talking about having what you need. I'm talking about the blessings of God spiritually. I'm talking about having the means to provide for your family and live an honest and peaceable life and serve God. And that's what God has promised to do for us. But a lot of people say, well, you know, if God promised to give us everything we need, why don't I have what I need? Well, are you working? You know, are you going out there and getting what he has for you? You see, when the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, God fed them with manna from heaven. But when they entered into the promised land, the day that they entered the promised land, the manna ceased. Why? Because when they were out in the wilderness, they didn't have any way to plant crops or to produce their own food. They didn't have a way to feed those millions of people in the wilderness, so God had to miraculously sustain them with bread from heaven. But as soon as they got into the promised land, they were expected to go out there and work for it. You know, God didn't just keep feeding them with manna. God's not going to feed you with manna. Why? Because he expects you to go out and work and get a job and get paid and buy your own food. You see, God's miracles, they come in where our strength ends. You know, we do our part, we do up to our ability, we do the work, and then God comes in and you know what, he does the rest. But if we don't do our part, we can't expect God to come in and do the miracles. You know, Gideon, a little bit later in the book of Judges, he says, well where be all his miracles then? If the Lord's with us, where are all the miracles? Okay, well Gideon saw some miracles, didn't he? But first he had to do his part. First he had to go and throw down the altar of Baal. Once he threw down the altar of Baal, then he started seeing some miracles. You know, then when he got the troops together, and he had enough faith to send like 99% of them home, and he took that step of faith, and he obeyed the Lord, and he did what he was supposed to do, and he went to battle, now all of a sudden he started seeing some miracles. That's where the, you know where the miracles are? The miracles are where your works end. So first you have to get to the end of your ability, you got to get to the end of your strength, you got to get to the end of your works, and then that's where God's miracles will kick in. You know if you want to have some giant savings account, and just this giant rainy day fund, and this giant safety net under your safety net, and retirement fund, and then you say, man I wish I could experience some of those miracles like where God fed that widow woman by multiplying food. But see that widow woman, she only had one meal in the house, and God multiplied food, right? You expect God to multiply food when you got $50,000 in the bank? See it's not, that's not the way it works, why? And I'm not saying that it's bad to have any money or food, but don't expect God to come in and miraculously provide for you. You already have everything you need. God doesn't just do miracles just for kicks, the miracles come when they're needed. You know the miracles come for a reason, okay? And so what the Bible's teaching here is that if you want to have what you need, you've got to go out and work, and then God will do the rest. Go to Joshua chapter 19, Joshua chapter 19. So in chapter 17 we saw that the children of Joseph, they were whining about not having enough land, but really it was just that they'd only taken the easy part of their inheritance, and they wanted to leave the hard part alone. And they wanted someone else's easy part to be given unto them. Then in chapter 18 we saw seven tribes that were slack to inherit the land, slack to get in there and fight the battles and possess the land. Now in chapter 19 we see Joshua himself. Joshua's a godly leader in the Bible, he's one of the few people in the Bible where there's nothing negative about him. You know, most Bible characters, God gives us some good things about that character and some bad things. Joshua was one of those characters where we don't even see anything negative about him. I'm not saying he was perfect, but he was a pretty great guy. And he practiced what he preached. He didn't just tell the children of Joseph, get in there and fight that battle, get in there and cut that down, without being willing to work hard himself. Now what's interesting is that Joshua himself was of the tribe of Ephraim. So he's actually talking to his own tribe there when he speaks to them. When he says to them in chapter 17 that if Mount Ephraim is too narrow for you, then go cut this forest down and go fight these Canaanites. You know, he's talking to his own tribe because back in the book of Numbers chapter 13 it tells us that Joshua, the son of Nun, was of the tribe of Ephraim. Because when they sent out the 12 spies, they sent one from each tribe. Caleb was from Judah and Joshua was from Ephraim. And then of course 10 other spies were from the other tribes. So look what it says in Joshua chapter 19 verse 49. When they had made an end of dividing the land for inheritance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them. According to the word of the Lord, they gave him the city which he asked. Even Timnath-sira in Mount Ephraim and he built the city and dwelt there. So we notice that Joshua is given the city that he asks for. He's allowed to pick what he inherits because he's a great man of God, he's worked hard, he's fought hard. He gets what he wants and he chooses Timnath-sira in Mount Ephraim. So he inherits in the land that he told them is enough. Not only that but it says he built the city and dwelt therein. You see many of the tribes of Israel and many of the people, they inherited cities that were built by someone else. God predicted how they were going to go into the promised land and they would live in cities that someone else built and they'd be able to take over houses and fields and so forth where they didn't have to do all the work. But Joshua chose a hard city. He chose a city where he had to build it himself. He didn't say, oh, give me the most kush, the least work, give me the one that's already built, that's just a turnkey, I just walk in the front door and it's all furnished and ready to go. No, no. He goes and he builds a city and dwells in it. He did the work. He cut down the trees. He built that city and he dwelled in it. He practiced what he preached. So let me give you a few points on doing the hard thing. We need to, in our lives, do the hard thing. Be willing to do things that are hard. Just because something's hard, don't say, well, I can't do that, it's too hard. No, get in there and do something hard. Number one, doing the hard thing is going to take drive, dedication, diligence, and determination. These are the attributes you're going to need to do hard things in your life. You're going to need some drive, right? You're going to have to be motivated. You're going to need dedication. Why? Because doing the hard thing doesn't take five minutes. It takes dedication where you're just continually going back, going back, again and again. Why? Because he told them, cut down the wood. That's going to take dedication. They're going to cut down tree after tree after tree after tree. That's a very difficult job. It's going to take diligence, meaning that you can't just start cutting down the trees, cut down a few trees, and say, I give up. This is too hard. No, no, no. It's going to take diligence. Just day after day, week after week, month after month, dragging yourself out of bed every morning and getting out there and working hard every day. Day after day, week after week, month after month. That's what it's going to take. It's going to take determination. You're going to have to want it. You're going to have to decide, look, I've got a goal. I'm going to get there. This is for my children and my grandchildren. Think about it. They're inheriting this land. Their tribe's going to live there for centuries. If they leave the Canaanites there, those Canaanites are going to be a pain in the neck to all their children and grandchildren for centuries. Or they can do the hard thing and just get rid of them now, get rid of them once, and then they can just enjoy the promised land. This is for their families. This is for their future. They needed to be determined. Failure couldn't be an option. If the man of God, speaking by the Spirit of God, is telling them, thou shalt cut it down. He's telling them, thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron. They need to have the faith to believe that if that's what God's telling us to do and if that's God's will, he's going to give us the ability to get it done. They have to determine that failure's not an option and just go all the way in by faith and not quit until the job is done. But people want to take the path of least resistance, don't they? They want to do what's easy. And this goes for every area of life. Think about food. You know, I got home last night kind of late and basically here's what the food options are when you get home late. And when I say late, it was like 8.45. I'm not saying like late, late. It was like 8.45. But you know, the kitchen's kind of closed down for the night at that point. And so I get home and you know what's on the stove just easy? Just yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I mean, it's ready to go. You just pick it up and put it in your mouth, right? What else is ready to go? Choco chimps, cereal. You know the Choco chimps cereal is just right there. You just take it off the shelf. You just pour it in a bowl, pour in the milk. You're ready to roll in 30 seconds, right? I mean everything that is a little bit of a junk food, everything that's just a little bit of a dessert or you just empty calories. It's always easy, isn't it? Fast food. It's easy. It's quick. It's right there. There's no cook. You don't have to sit there and cook anything or do anything, right? Or you can do what? You can just start at 8.45 just cooking a meal. And if you actually made something nutritious, you're going to have to put work into it. You know, I could have eaten the cake or I could have some huevos rancheros that's going to take some real work. You know, I have to get out the corn tortillas, get out the beans, get out the, and then I have to make the eggs and get it all, you know, that's going to be nutritious, healthy. I'm getting all kinds of protein, right? Getting some vegetables in there. But I ate the cake, okay, because I had to go to bed, but I had to go to bed, all right? I was tired. So I, you know, I ate a couple pieces of cake, but I also grabbed a banana just to kind of, you know, balance that out a little bit. But the point is, though, you know, a lot of people, they struggle with eating healthy. They struggle with, you know, gaining weight and things like that. You know, a lot of it is just because you don't, you didn't plan. You know, and here's the thing, cooking good food takes hard work. Healthy food takes more work than junk food. It's a lot easier to pop a frozen pizza into the oven or even worse into the microwave. You know, it's a lot easier just to pull out instant this and instant that and open the box and just, you know, that's easy. And so a lot of wives, that's what they're going to choose to do. Now my wife, she made a nutritious dinner. I just wasn't there for it, so that was my fault. But the point is, you know, a lot of wives are just going to cut corners and just take the easy way of just throwing something together from ready-made ingredients, but it's going to cost more money and it's not going to be as healthy. And then you wonder why you don't have the money you need, and then you wonder why you're out of shape, you're overweight. You know, it's going to take a little more work to go out and purchase the raw ingredients and make some healthy food from scratch and keep your family healthy. It's going to take work. You got to do the hard thing. When it comes to eating, the hard thing is usually the healthy thing, and the easy thing is usually the junk food thing. And so a lot of it's just, you know, having the right stuff there available, and that takes work and planning in advance. So number one, doing the hard thing takes drive, dedication, diligence, and determination. You have to determine that you're going to get it done, whatever the task. Number two, doing the hard thing gives you the most gains, all right? Go to Proverbs chapter 13. So number one, doing the hard thing takes drive, dedication, diligence, determination. Number two, doing the hard thing gives you the most gains. Now, those who are familiar with weightlifting, they probably recognize that language of, you know, getting the most gains, right, because that's a language that's used a lot by athletes or those who lift weights or people who exercise. They talk about getting gains, right? But really, this is any area of life, but when it comes to gains in the gym, doing the hard thing gets you the most gains. A lot of people go to the gym and they want to do some easy little, you know, elliptical or whatever, right? It's no impact, and it's so easy and comfortable, and, you know, they got a little TV screen in front of them, right? And they're just kind of, you know, and it's like, oh, yeah, you know, but that person's not getting the gains. Doing the hard thing gets you the... The guy who's getting the gains is the guy who's picking up a big, giant, heavy barbell off the ground and lifting hundreds of pounds off the ground, you know. The guy who's getting the gains is the guy who's doing the bench press with the free weights, not the little machine. Now, the machine's easier, but are you getting the gains? All right. So the point is, doing the hard thing gets you the gains. You know what? It's amazing. You go to the gym, boy, all the ellipticals and treadmills are all filled, right? But then you go to the lap lanes in the swimming pool, it's a ghost town. That's a real workout, swimming laps. You know, why? People don't want to do the hard stuff. You know, real exercise is hard. The harder the exercise, the more gains there are. No pain, no gain, all right? So it's that way in all of life. Look what the Bible says in Proverbs 13-11, wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor shall increase. You see, the person who does the hard thing by working hard at a job, you know what? That's the person who gets the gains, they increase, right? The person who works hard at their job. Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. What's wealth gotten by vanity? These are people who are on a get-rich-quick kind of a program or they have some vain way of making money. Maybe it's gambling or they think they're going to make some money by gambling or just whatever they're trying to cut corners and do something easy to make money. But the people who actually labor, they're the ones that are going to increase. Look at Proverbs 21 verse 5. Proverbs 21 verse 5 says, the thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness, but of everyone that is hasty only to want. You know, some people are just in a hurry, right? They want to cut corners, take the easy way, the shortcut. The Bible says that the hasty people, they're going to want, they're going to lack, whereas the thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness. Look at verse 6. The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death. So remember when we talked about wealth gotten by vanity? Well, the Bible used that same word vanity here when it talks about getting treasures by a lying tongue. This is the guy who goes to his sales job and he lies to the customers and he tells them that the apple is actually an orange. Instead of just polishing the apple like he's supposed to do, he tells them it's an orange. He lies to them. He tells them things that aren't true to get them to sign on the dotted line. He tells them that the warranty covers everything under the sun. Really it covers virtually nothing. You know, he tells them that everything's included, turns out it's all extra. He lies and he makes more commission in the short term, but in the long term God's not going to bless that guy. And that person who gets their treasure by lying, that person is a person whose character is going down. See the more we do the right thing, we're building character. The more we do the hard thing, we build character, right? Doing what's hard builds character. But the people who do the easy thing all the time and they do the wrong thing all the time, their character is going down. They're becoming worse and worse, right? Well guess what? The people who have no character, they tend to waste their money too. You know, so God's going to bless the one who works hard, has character, tells the truth. Even if he brings home a little bit less money today, God will make it go farther. By blessing him, God will make that money go farther. God will bring him the windfall and because that person is gaining character, that person will be wiser with their money anyway and at the end of the day they're going to have more. You know, you look at the Hollywood stars who get their money through vanity and through telling lies. How are they doing financially? You know, some of them have less money than you and I do. You say, well that's not true. I live paycheck to paycheck. Well you know what? We all live paycheck to paycheck, right? But let me ask you something. Do you have, do you have a million dollars of debt? See here's the thing. I'm living paycheck to paycheck, you're living paycheck to paycheck, but hold on a second. If our net worth is 1000 bucks or 5000 bucks or 500 bucks, that's better than a net worth of negative 3 million. I mean when Michael Jackson died, he had less money than I do. I have more money than Michael Jackson had when he died because he was like billions of dollars in debt or whatever. Why? Because they're stupid. That's why. How stupid could you be to be a multimillionaire and you're in debt? You're making millions of dollars. You're making just so much money just pouring in that anyone in their right mind wouldn't even know how to spend it all in that time, but they're like, oh, that's not enough. Give me more. Why? Because their character is in the toilet. That's why they're just zero. Their character is just a negative number. Okay. And so if you actually are diligent and work hard and do the hard things, you know what? You're going to have plenteousness. You know, if Ephraim and Manasseh would have been diligent, you know what they would have got? Plenty of land. Right? But they're hasty. All right. Let's fight all the easy battles. Okay. Give me more, Joshua. No, buddy. You go work for it. You go get it yourself. Proverbs 21, 25. You're in the same chapter. It says in verse 25, the desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labor. And then you don't have to turn there, but Proverbs 10, 4 says, he becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. You know, he becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand. So number one, doing the hard thing, it's going to take some drive, dedication, diligence, and determination. Number two, doing the hard thing gives you the most gains. And not only that, but doing the hard thing builds character. You see, willpower is like a muscle. And this has even been shown by scientific research where they've done studies on people and tested them on willpower and put them in all kinds of situations and observed them. And science has determined that willpower is like a muscle. So just like our muscles, if we strengthen our muscles, if we exercise them, if we use them, they get stronger. If we don't use our muscles, they get weaker, right? Now after we just finished using our muscles really hard, in the short term, we're weaker. But tomorrow, we're stronger. And your willpower is the same way it turns out, okay? So let's say, you know, I go into the gym and I do a bunch of bench press, well then, you know, later that day, my chest muscles are going to be weaker because I've already used it all up in the gym. But tomorrow, it's going to be strong. And in the long run, even though I'm getting weaker in the short term, it's getting stronger in the long run. That's how working out works, right? If I go out and run 20 miles, I'm going to be pretty tired. I'm going to be weaker in the short term. I'm going to be exhausted, right? I don't want to run anywhere. But in the long run, I'm a better runner. I'm stronger. I've built endurance. I've built muscle. Well, that's how your willpower works too, believe it or not. So therefore, if I exercise my willpower by saying no to sin, no to the easy way, no to that which is wrong, I'm building character. I'm strengthening my willpower muscles so that tomorrow and a week later and two weeks later and a month later, I'm going to have more willpower than I did at this time. Now, the opposite is true. If I give in to temptation, I'm just going to give in even easier next time. I'm just getting weaker and weaker and weaker because I'm not building willpower. But in the short term, if I exercise a whole bunch of willpower, my willpower is going to be drained for that day. This has actually been scientifically shown, believe it or not. But it makes sense, right, if you think of it as like a muscle. So what's the moral of that story? That means when you need to be careful is at night. You know when you're most likely to give in to temptations of the flesh and sin? When is it going to be 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock at night? Why? Because you've already used up your willpower for the day and you start giving in to things. And that's why most bad things happen when? At night. So here's the moral of the story. Go to bed early and get up early. Okay, number one. Number two, go through life building your willpower muscles so that even at night, they're still strong enough to where you can keep doing the right thing. And number three, don't put yourself in situations at night where willpower is needed. Think about that. Why? Because at the end of the day, it's not going to be there. Look, this is why a lot of people, they get up in the morning, they exercise. Why? That's when willpower is fresh. You know, you get at night and it's like, forget it, blow it off, right? That's why people who fast, you know, a lot of people, they say, oh, I'm going to fast by skipping dinner. That's a bad strategy because willpower is low at night. Remember my story about last night? Willpower was low. That's why I took two pieces of cake and a banana. But you know, willpower was low. You know, if you're going to fast, fast in the morning when willpower is strong. Fast throughout the early part of the day. You know, eat when the sun goes down, as it talks about in the Bible. When people would fast, they'd fast like all day and then eat when the sun goes down. Why? Because it's a lot easier to skip breakfast than it is to skip dinner. It's a lot easier to say no to temptation and no to sin and no to fornication, no to alcohol, you know, in the morning than it is at night. So don't go to the bar at night. Don't go to the casino at night. Don't go to the dance club at night. Don't go out partying at night. Why? Because you're more likely to go into sin at night. You're much less likely in the morning, in the daytime to give in to sin and temptation. Look, you don't want to get drunk. You don't want to smoke that cigarette. You don't want to take drugs. You don't want to commit fornication. You don't want to commit adultery. You don't want to steal. You know, look, those things are going to happen more likely at night. Let's put off the works of darkness. Let's put on the armor of light. You say, well, I'm going to read my Bible every night before bed. You know what? That's great if you actually get it done, but I bet your willpower to read it's going to be stronger in the morning than it is at night. And every day you get up and you read your Bible every morning when you feel like doing something else, you know what you're building? You're building that willpower muscle by doing the hard thing. You're building character. And then in the future going forward, you're a stronger person. I mean, nobody wants to be a person with no willpower, but our society and our lifestyle is turning us into people with no willpower. It's turning us into people who just gratify the flesh. If it feels good, do it. It's turning us into people who just, we just give in to sin and it's because of the fact that we don't do the hard things. Doing the hard thing builds character. Make it, you know, we tell this to our children all the time, right? I don't like my food. Eat it. It builds character. I got to go to the bathroom right now. Hey, wait five minutes. You'll build some character. So, you know, we need to practice what we preach as adults, amen? Let's build some character in our lives by exercising some willpower. Number one, doing the hard thing is going to take some diligence. Number two, doing the hard thing, it gives you the most gains whether, no matter what area of life. You know, when you think about playing the piano, playing the piano takes a lot of work, right? Drive, determination, dedication, diligence, right? Because playing the piano takes thousands of hours to learn how to do it well. Practice. But did you know that when you sit down to practice at the piano, not all hours of practice are created equal. Have you ever known people or have you ever been that person that practices every day and never gets better? This is why. It's not that there's something wrong with you. It's because I'm thinking of a person in particular right now who practices a lot and they don't get better. They just stay the same. And that's because this particular person just plays the same songs over and over again, the songs that they like. And they only play in the key that they like. They don't get any better. It's been proven that you get the most out of your piano practice by doing things that are hard. So let's say you're really good at playing in the keys of B flat, E flat, A flat, and D flat. Well, the person who's going to get more out of their practice is the one who sits down and plays in D, A, and E. Why? Because it's not what they're used to. It's not what they're comfortable with. And it makes them adapt faster and get better. So you practice a half hour songs that you already know, songs that you're good at, keys that you're comfortable in. You don't get as much out of it as spending a half hour practicing the stuff you're not good at. If you work on your weaknesses, you're getting more bang for your buck. It's the same way with a foreign language. You say, well, I spent a half hour every day practicing. I spent two hours a day practicing. But what did you do for those two hours? If the answer is, oh, I watched a movie in that language, you're not getting anything out of that. Why? Because just sitting there, oh, I listened to the radio in that language. If you're just sitting there passively listening, that's not doing much for you. You know how you get the most bang for your language practice buck is by actually opening your mouth and speaking the language. Not just listening, but speaking it, but you know, that's a lot more work. That's a lot harder, right? Actually having a conversation or speaking or opening your mouth and saying things. It's a lot easier just to sit back and just play a computer game in that language or whatever. But actually, you know, you get, and I'm not saying that those things don't have any value, but what I am saying is that you open your mouth and let that language start coming out of your mouth. You're going to get more, why? Because doing the hard thing gives you the biggest gains, that's why. And it goes with many areas of life. But thirdly, this, doing the hard thing is actually easier in the long run. Go if you would to Proverbs chapter 13, Proverbs chapter 13. Now doing the hard thing, it's called the hard thing because it's hard. But ironically, doing the hard thing now makes life easier in the long run, doesn't it? Think about this, what did Joshua want them to do? The hard thing. Don't do the easy thing by just asking me to give you more free land that's already cut down and already uninhabited. Do the hard thing by cutting down the forest and fighting against the chariots of iron, right? Do the hard thing. Okay, but what's going to be easier in the long run? Having the Canaanites at your backyard ready to fight you all the time? Or just ripping off the Band-Aid and just getting it fixed now? Think about it. In the long run, you're better off cutting down that forest because now the forest is gone. You can enjoy that farmland. In the long run, you're better off kicking out the Canaanites because they're not going to be a thorn in your side for the next 400 years. So doing the hard thing is actually easier in the long run. So when you're doing the hard thing, whether you know it or not, you're actually making life easier for yourself. And by doing the easy way, the shortcut, the vain and light way, you're actually making life harder in the long run. Here's what the Bible says, Proverbs 13, 15, good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard. Giving into sin is easy, right? Super easy to be a fornicator, an adulterer, a drunk, a drug addict, a glutton, a slugger. Super easy to be a thief, a murderer, that's easy. But the way of transgressors is hard. You know where that life takes you though is a hard life. It's pretty easy to end up as a homeless bum, but once you're in that position, life becomes hard. You see, the way of transgressors is hard. Have you ever heard the expression, wow, she's really lived a hard life? Or she looks like one who has lived a hard life. You know, nobody says that about godly wives and mothers. Nobody says that about Christian organ players and Sunday school teachers. You know what they say that about is women who've gone out and done what? They've committed whoredoms, they've fornicated, maybe they've been strung out on drugs, they've been drunk, they've partied, and they say, hey, they live a hard life. You know what, that's an accurate statement because that is a hard life. The way of transgressors is hard. Think about some of the hard things in life. Homeschooling your kids is hard, isn't it? I mean, if it were easy, everybody would be doing it, right? Homeschooling your children is hard. It takes work, it takes dedication, it takes diligence, it takes drive and determination. It also gives you the most gains, right? Your kids are getting a better education than they would get in the public fool system. But here's the thing, homeschooling your kids is easier in the long run because there are a lot of problems that you're going to have with your kids because they're in the public school system and by homeschooling, yeah, it's hard, but in the long run it's easier because you're going to have children that give you delight and that aren't a pain in the neck, right? Because you're not going to have to constantly deal with the junk that they're picking up at school and having to fight that battle. So even though it's harder, in the long run it can actually be easier, right? You know, it's hard to get up in the morning and read your Bible consistently every day. It's hard. There's so many other things you could be doing, so many distractions, other things that are more fun or appealing or you just don't have time, quote unquote, even though we all have time for the things that are important to us, amen? But reading your Bible, even though it's hard, guess what? It makes life easier because you actually have the wisdom and the understanding. What's the first part of the verse? Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard, okay? So how do you live a life that's not a hard life, the bad kind of hard life, okay? You get good understanding. Where do you get good understanding from? Reading the Bible. So if I get up and read the Bible in the morning, that's hard to read the Bible, but I get good understanding, I get favor, and life ends up being easier. You know, praying is hard. It's hard to pray consistently. Praying itself is hard work. But in the end, it's harder not to pray because then I'm not getting God's help, I'm not getting God's blessings, and then I end up having more struggles. So not praying turns out to be harder. Not reading the Bible turns out to be harder. You know, not homeschooling your kids can turn out to be harder if they pick up all kinds of bad habits and problems and bad influences in the school. There are a lot of things that seem hard, but in the long run, they're making a lot of, you say, oh man, it's just hard to get to church three times a week. Yeah, but it's harder not to. You say, oh man, it's hard to stay married. Yeah, but getting divorced is hard. Getting divorced is hard. You know, it's also been statistically shown that people who get divorced, their finances are in the toilet. Look at the finances of those who stay married versus those who get divorced. Why? Because getting divorced is hard. It's hard financially, it's hard emotionally, it's hard spiritually. You know, doing the right thing can be hard. You know, it might take some dedication, drive, determination, and diligence to stay married, but you're going to get the most gains by staying married. And it's actually going to be easier in the long run to have that one household instead of splitting into two households, right? Just sucking up all the money, kids going back and forth. Look, yeah, okay, it's so hard to serve God. You know what the Bible says? God's commandments are not grievous. God's commandments are not grievous. You say, oh, God's commandments, what a weariness they are. No, actually, the way of transgressors is hard. So sure, it's hard to go to the gym and lift weights, but you know what's even harder? The medical problems of the one who doesn't take heed to their body at all. Oh, it's hard to cook a good meal. Yeah, but it's even harder, the heart attack and the diabetes. That's hard. Oh, it's just hard to pay for the organic food and the nutritious meals. You know what's even harder? To pay the medical bills when you eat junk. You know what's even harder is when you're constantly missing work because you're sick so often. So doing the hard thing is actually easier in the long run. And so this morning with the sermon, I want to encourage you to do the hard thing today. You know, today when you're given a choice between the easy way, the path of least resistance, giving into sin, giving into temptation, go the hard way. Take the path less traveled. You know, tomorrow morning when it's easy to hit the snooze button, pull yourself out of bed and read your Bible. Tomorrow morning when it's easy to just call in sick when you're not even sick and just goof off instead of going to work. You know, get up and go to work and get there a little early. Work harder. Do more. Do extra. And you know what? You might be at a place today where your willpower muscle is just completely weak. I mean, it's like a rubber band that's been overstretched. It's just slack. That might be you today. You might be a person who just, you're constantly giving into temptation. You don't ever have the character to do what you need to do in life. You know what? Start building that muscle. It's not going to happen overnight. It just happens just one choice at a time, just forcing yourself to do things that you don't like. Every day, just force yourself to do something good that you don't like doing. And then, you know, maybe for the rest of the day, you're not going to want to do that a second or third time because you've already, you know, emptied your whole willpower tank. So stay far away from the bar and the casino at that point since your willpower tank is at zero. But you know what? The next day, instead of having one unit of willpower, you've got one and a half. And then you got two. Then you got three. Then you could start saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then you still have a whole bunch of willpower left in the tank because you've built up like this giant willpower reserve from just doing the hard thing so many times. You can say no to like 20 temptations and it's like I haven't even, I haven't even dipped in to my reservoir of willpower. I'm not even close, right? Build it up. And you know what? Bodily exercise profit a little. Exercise thyself rather unto godliness. You know, everybody loves to quote that verse as to why they don't exercise. You know, bodily exercise profit a little. Why don't you focus on the second half of that verse? What he's saying is more important than the gym is reading the Word of God. More important than building up your physical muscles is to build up your willpower muscle, your spiritual muscle, your godliness muscle. Exercise thyself rather unto godliness. How do I do it? How do I exercise on the guys? Do I get on the spiritual elliptical? No, no, no. You need to pick up the spiritual barbell. You need to say no to some serious temptations. You need to do some hard thing. You know, I don't feel like going sordid. Why don't you get yourself out of soul winning and the harder it is for you to get yourself out of soul winning and you do it anyway, you know what? You just picked up a giant barbell of willpower building exercise right there, right? I mean, when you go out there and you show up for soul winning, maybe you've never even been soul winning before. Well, everybody knows that when you first start working out, you get the most gains right away and that there's a law of diminishing returns. Say, I've never even been to soul winning. Good. When you get yourself out of soul winning today, you know what? You just did a spiritual deadlift. You just got stronger and you know what? It'll be easier. You know what? You know, the hardest time to go soul winning is the first time, right? I mean, the hundredth time you go soul winning, it's not that hard. It was hard the first time, it's hard the second time, but it gets easier and easier and easier. The more you do the right thing, the easier it gets. The more you do the wrong thing, the harder it gets to do the right thing. Just remember that next time you make a bad choice, just remember every bad choice you make, just remember these words, you know what? Now I'm even going to be less likely to do right next time. Every time you give in to sin, you're less likely to do right next time. And every time you resist temptation, you can say to yourself, you know what? I'm more likely to do it right next time because I just got a little stronger. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this story in the Bible, Lord, that could give us this teaching, Lord, that we need to be willing to do something difficult and not to just take the easy route all the time, Lord. Help us to do the hard thing in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.