Follow The Promises: Aye Aye Ai!

Walls fell at Jericho when we stayed quiet, circled in faith, and kept our eyes on God’s presence. Then we met Ai—a smaller fight that exposed a bigger problem. This conversation digs into Joshua 7, the hidden stash in Achan’s tent, and the subtle pride that sneaks in when victory feels easy. We wrestle with the tension between grace and holiness, why secret compromises drain peace, and how self-sufficiency masquerades as wisdom right up to the moment it fails.

We walk through Joshua’s response—tearing garments, bowing low, waiting before the ark—and how humility opens the door for God’s clarity. You’ll hear why “Christ in you, the hope of glory” isn’t abstract theology but the only way to stand when temptation comes. We unpack what sanctify yourselves looks like today: bringing every room of the heart into the light, refusing “my stuff” closets, and trusting that exposure under grace heals faster than hiding under shame. And we name the lies that keep us stuck—“try harder,” “earn your way back,” “God’s done with you”—with a better word: Jesus already took Achan’s judgment, so confession becomes a homecoming, not a trial.

If you’ve felt your peace melt, if small compromises have grown loud, or if pride has pushed you into plans God never authored, this one invites you back to surrender. Fix your eyes on Jesus, not your effort. Remember who lives in your camp. And when you stumble, run, don’t shuffle, back to the presence that restores your soul. If this helped you refocus, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Transcript

Crossing From Law To Faith

SPEAKER_00 0:27

All right, so we have been going through the book of Joshua. We're continuing uh the follow the promises in the book of Joshua. Today's sermon is called Follow the Promises. Ayayay. That's the name of the sermon. Ayayay. You're gonna get sick of that, I promise you. You will understand why it's called that in just a minute. Okay, so I'm gonna recap just for all everybody here. We've been we've been seeing the nation of Israel crossing over the Jordan River. That already happened. And that that taught us about the transition between living by faith, which is what they're doing now, versus what they were doing, which was living by law. Their relationship with God was based on their own efforts. And what did that lead to? They were wandering in the desert for 40 years, which is exactly what happens to us when we choose to live by law instead of by God's spirit. So when we become religious, we become old and cranky, and we really lose our way. And when we are touched by God's love and his grace, it's a new way of living called faith. And that's that's the process of crossing the Jordan River. It was a really that we studied that about three weeks ago. And then um, so we we went from wandering in the desert, that performance-driven religious life, to resting in the promised land of peace and victory. So that's the big whole journey that we're on. And then after they crossed over, you know, they're ready to fight. And God said, wait. He made them do three things. Before he ever had them do anything, he made them wait and do three things. He made them celebrate their salvation by setting up some stones. He made them cut off the flesh with circumcision, and he made them bow to Jesus. These three things that demonstrated that they would be fully surrendered to him before they do any. So before you fight a single battle, what we learned is you have to be surrendered yourself before you'll ever see God's power flowing through you in these, you know, in God's kingdom. Okay, that is super important that we understand that every step we take, we have to be surrendered to God. Every step. If we neglect surrender, we're also not gonna experience the blessings and the promises that God has for us. Amen. All right, so they defeat Jericho, they they get surrendered to God, they walk into Jericho, or you know, they walk around Jericho, they keep their eyes on Jesus, they keep their mouths shut, and they listen to music, and this impossible victory is won. They got, as they walked around that city, I just want you to remember, they got completely convinced that that city was big and they were little, and that they were completely, utterly insufficient to do this themselves. And that's exactly what God wanted. That's exactly what God wanted. You cannot do this, you got to keep your eyes on me. And that's where, you know, as they kept their eyes on his presence, that that ark of the covenant, and then they shouted, you know, those those walls fell down like uh like walls made of wet toilet paper. They just dissolved into nothing. And it was their eyes were on God's presence, that Ark of the Covenant, which we learned represents Jesus. Everything about the ark is a picture of Jesus, every single thing. What does this mean? Well, in Colossians chapter 1, verse 27, it says, To them God made will to uh to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. What's this big mystery that the New Testament tells us? Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So we're gonna start with this verse, we're gonna end with this verse, and the stor the story we're gonna look at today is gonna teach us what this verse is really all about. It's almost like you as a person are a nation. You are a nation. You have let's just imagine you are a whole bunch of people like Israel is a nation, but it's it's one one thing. Like they have like this identity, and and Jesus is in your camp, like Jesus is in their camp, right? He's his presence is with them. Why does this matter? It matters because if Jesus is living in your camp, you can't hide anything. If you know it's coming today, that's a pretty good statement. See, Jesus doesn't abide with sin. He's holy, he's what's called righteous. He's so holy that if you were to see him in heaven and you had sinned, you would just instantly burst into flames and disappear. He's that holy. That's why they were afraid to see God. That's why anyone who understands who God is, who God really is, is like, I'm kind of afraid of this guy. Because he is that holy. Now, we have really good news that we have also been made that holy, that we can abide with him and he can abide with us, but he can't abide with sin. So if we hide sin in our camp, something has to go. Either God has to go or the sin has to go. They can't both be there. And we have this good news from Jesus that we have been cleansed and forgiven by his blood. So that means the sin went. So what happens if we take sin back into our well, we're gonna we're gonna study that today. If we choose to bring sin back into our camp, we are gonna be achen. And that is a great joke if you've read ahead the first verse. I mean, just legendary. But the children of Israel committed a trespass in regard to the accursed things. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things, so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. So again, Israel, Israel is seen as one person. Achan's just one dude, right? But why does the Bible tell us the story as if it's one person? Because the story is really about you.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

It's really about you.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yes, only one dude took the demon souvenirs, but the whole country is gonna suffer for the consequences of this because they are all one. They're supposed to be unified in their heart for God and their mission. In our lives, we can sometimes just invite a little bit of evil into our hearts. A little bit, just a little bit. And God will allow us to feel the pain and the consequences of that through our whole lives, and he'll touch things that we don't we we didn't want him to touch because he sees us as a whole person. One time someone made cookies, and they're like, These are delicious cookies, like they have chocolate and sugar and all the good stuff, and then just a little bit of poop. We don't want to take any poop cookies. I'm telling you, it doesn't nourish you. It's no good, no bueno.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Aye ay ay.

Christ In You: The Core Mystery

Holiness And Hidden Sin Collide

Ai Exposes The Pride Of Self-Sufficiency

SPEAKER_00 8:42

God sees you as a whole person, he doesn't want anything to defile you. So don't take that stuff into you. Uh, we've been fully conquered by God so that not because he wants to give us victory. He he he's not saying I want to conquer you to to make you my slaves. He's like, I want to bring you into a promised land filled with milk and honey and be blessed. What does that mean? No hidden sins, no poop cookies, guys. What hidden sins? They make God angry. And you won't like God when he's angry. And yes, God does get angry. When when his perfect plan and creation gets messed up, it angers him. It's like if vandals go in and they destroy the Mona Lisa or tag it all up or something, people would be rightfully upset because that was beautiful, and you're not going to be able to recover it. When we allow evil into our hearts for whatever reason, it get it gets buried in our hearts and it messes with God's perfect new creation that He has produced in our hearts, that He's given us. He's given you righteousness and holiness. And he says, I've made you a new creation. So don't mix it with that type of stuff. Your life that you've been given, this righteousness, it is a real free gift from him. It's not something that you have the right to destroy and defile with evil. But we think I get to do what I want. I'm an American. That's not the heart that a child has with their father's name. I could do whatever I want, I'll drag your name through the mud. That doesn't work, right? It just that shows the heart is hard, right? Well, God's given us his name, he's placed his name on us by making us holy and righteous, like who? Him. He's given us the very holiness of Jesus. All right, look at verse 2. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai. Now I did do a lot of research on how to pronounce AI. And it is a mixed bag, we'll just say. So my favorite was Ai. So that's what we're going with today. Which is beside Beth Aven on the east and the side of Bethel, and and spoke to them saying, Go up and spy out the country. So the men went up and spied out Ai, and they returned to Joshua and said to him, Do not let all the people go up, but let two or three thousand men go up and and attack Ai. Don't worry, do not worry all the people, for there are uh for the people of Ai are few. So Ai, I want you to think of it like a, because Ai is where we're gonna learn about the danger and the evil of self-sufficiency. Okay, the gospel doesn't work by self-sufficiency, it works by God dependency or dependency upon Jesus. They're opposite things. Their job, okay, these spies, Joshua sends these spies, their job was to investigate. Joshua never told them come up with a plan. But anyone notice what they didn't do? We don't see that they prayed, we don't see that they sought God's face, or they waited upon his word for it to speak to them. I don't see any of those things. Maybe they happened, maybe they didn't, but I don't see it. So when we come up with a plan on how we're gonna proceed in our life without seeking God at all, it's probably going to be dripping in self-sufficiency, that plan. Because if we're not seeking him, who are what are we depending on? Well, all we have left is ourself. And self-sufficiency doesn't seem to be so evil at the start, but it's where it leads that what's matters. And so hang with me here. As we go through this, we're gonna learn about what self-sufficiency is and why it's so uh vital for us to understand. Verse 4. So about 3,000 men went up from there, from the people, and then they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck them down, 36 men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent. Therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water. All right, so this tiny little city that no one's afraid of kicked their butt. God really knows how to get our attention, doesn't he? I could tell you about the times that my heart melted, but I'm sure you have, you know, terrible memories that that come back in your nightmares of moments when you thought this cannot be happening. Maybe it was the the spouse that was unfaithful to you. Maybe it was the diagnosis, maybe it was the fire, maybe it was this, maybe I don't know what it was for you, but there is always a moment. God knows how to get, and that's not always punishment for sin, right? But God always knows how to get a hold of our hearts and let us know if we have something that he's taken care of. Verse 6 then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, and he and his elders of Israel and they put dust on their heads. Okay, so let's look at good choice, Joshua. This is good choice, Joshua. Josh, this is good. The good choice he makes here is humility. Josh demonstrates great humility right here. How? Number one, he tore his clothes. What does that mean? That means he was grieved. He allowed, he, he's not trying to avoid the the pain. He's not saying, oh, this hurts, so let me drink to numb the pain. Oh, this hurts, so let me, you know, uh do drugs to self-medicate the pain. No, he says, This hurts, this sucks, I have failed, and I'm grieving, and it's bad. That's good. You gotta sit in it, you gotta let it hurt. Then it says, He bowed, another thing humility does. He showed submission to God's power and his glory and God's choices. Oh, God, man, you are the only thing that matters. And I I did screw up here. He he bowed before the ark, which means he focused back on the ark, which means he focused back on Jesus. Oh, what was I doing? What did I do? Jesus, I'm gonna focus on you again. I'm gonna remember all that you are. What did the ark tell us? The ark taught us about his sacrifice, that his righteousness, his love, his grace, all those things were pictured in the things that were in and around the ark. So Joshua, he's reminding himself about Jesus. And then it says he did it till evening, which means Joshua was okay waiting upon the Lord. Man, it's vital to wait upon God to show your true commitment is not to walk in the flesh, but and not to move forward in this self-sufficiency that got you in this mess. But God, I'm gonna wait upon you and I'm gonna I'm gonna trust that you know what's going on, and you're more concerned about my heart than about my circumstances. And Josh is giving God time to speak to his heart. So he waited till evening right there. And then it says he threw dust on his head. All these are little details in there, and this means he's accepting the shame and the blame for this situation. God, this isn't your fault, this is our fault. So I put dust on my head to show I'm an idiot. All humble choices, all good. Now, look what happens.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Then he opens his mouth. Yes, you got it.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Verse 7, and Joshua said, Alas, Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all? To deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Are you sensing Joshua's frustration? Right? And then, oh, that we would have been content to dwell on the other side of the Jordan. Oh Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name? Okay, so here's bad choice, Joshua. We saw good choice, Joshua. Shut up, take responsibility, right? Humility. Bad choice, he says, Is it God's intention to destroy us? So he starts letting the questions about God's character creep in. He starts to doubt God's character. He knows the answer to these questions, but he's gonna ask them anyway because he feels like asking them. I need an answer, God. Is it your care is your intention to destroy us? This same God who has delivered them through countless attacks and failures and done all these miracles, and what does he do? He questions his character? Hmm. Not so good, Josh. Should we be content to just wander in the desert and never really have any hope or believe that God has something better for his children? He's saying, God, should we just go back to the desert? Is that what you really would that have been better? He's questioning God's promise of a land with milk and honey, a promised land. He's saying, God, are you really telling the truth? Come on, Josh. All right, what about me? He says, What am I gonna say when they turn their back? He's I'm gonna be so embarrassed when I have to lead this bunch of losers. Because I'm supposed to be leading them, and I led them here, and we lost, so now they're all gonna hate me. He's becomes self-centered, self-focused. Then he says, Are all these nations actually stronger than you, God? It's almost bordering on like mocking. And you're like, Josh, what are you doing, bro? And then he says, Can't you just let us win because we bear your name and belong to you? Can't you just let us win? Just throw us a bone, dude. Help out a nation. Okay, all these things show that he was really fighting with dealing with this. The humility at the beginning, but then God reveals to us and helps us understand the struggles that he's having. Alright, verse 10. So the Lord said to Joshua, Get Up! Why are you lying on your face?

SPEAKER_01 20:11

God is not having it. He is not playing games. Homie, don't play that.

Hearts Melt And Joshua’s Humility

Doubting God’s Character And Correction

SPEAKER_00 20:21

You can't just complain to God and expect sympathy when you haven't. Dealt with anything and you're still hiding sin. You're still hiding sin. See, that's the problem here. We talk about wait, we talk about grace all the time. Does that mean that God just ignores our sin? That we're just washed clean and we can just go do whatever we want to do and represent God however we want to represent God because that's how I feel like living my life. How does this line up with grace? Well, see, that's misunderstanding grace in a little way. In a big way, grace changes your identity. Grace does wash you clean of all your sin. Past, present, future, wash clean. You're forgiven the moment you believe of every sin, past, present, future. God knows what he's signing up for. You can have that life. But God sneaks something in, which is called a new heart, a Holy Spirit. So He makes it so that you will never be happy living in sin again because you're His child. And that's why you start hating yourself when you start sinning as a believer. You start being so frustrated with yourself. Why am I doing this? Why do I not get the same pleasure from living in sin as I used to? It's not even that God gave me rules. I just don't like it anymore. That's the secret of grace. That's the part that very few people understand is that grace transforms our identity so that we are literally holy and righteous from the heart, and we can't live with sin anymore because it's like ripping apart your very soul and your spirit when you experience that sinful pain. It's because your righteous, holy heart and spirit is traveling a million miles an hour this way, and sinfulness in your flesh is traveling a million miles an hour this way, and when they meet, it rips you and it breaks your own heart. Why did I do this? So hiding sin is stupid for Christians to do. It just, that's what it is. And it's hypocritical because it's not who we are. A lot of people say, Oh, you Christians, you're hypocrites because you sin. And God would say, No, it's hypocritical that you hide sin. Because that's not who you are. You can freely confess your sin. It's good to freely confess your sin because what do I know about all my sin? It's already been paid for, it's already been washed away. So I want to get it out of my soul so my soul can feel the peace and the blessing of knowing that I'm a child of God and I'm pure and holy and righteous. So that's why we don't hide sin. Look at verse 11. God says, Israel has sinned. But who sinned? Achan. But he says, Ah, Israel has sinned. You all are gonna feel this pain. And they have transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them. For even some of them had taken of the accursed things. Remember this culture that they were going in, the Canaanites, they loved demons, they worship demons. You can remember, go and Google uh Canaanite uh occult artifacts, and you'll find you'll you'll see what I'm talking about. They were all about worshiping demons. So Achan took some of these demon souvenirs. He says, They have both stolen and deceived, and they have put it among their own stuff. I like that God uses the word stuff. So the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies. They could not stand before their enemies. Well, God, I thought you promised that they would win. Well, you couldn't sput they you turned their backs before their enemies because they have become doomed to destruction. Wow, harsh. Neither will I be with you anymore unless you destroy the accursed the accursed from among you. So the entire nation is guilty of sin because of this one guy. Excuse me. This is what it's like when we sin and hide it, and we refuse to become re we refuse to get clean with God. God, but God knows how to how to twist our arms, right? He knows how to get a hold of our lives. He his blessing disappears. Remember, he told them, No one will be able to stand before you, you're gonna win every battle, I will be with you, this is not gonna be a problem. And all of that just poof, gone. And it's not like he wants to curse us, but we can't experience his life when we choose to hold on to evil, remember? And he says it's in their own stuff. I love that. When did they get stuff? They were wandering around the desert forever, 40 years. I can't keep hold of something for five months without losing it. And and they have stuff? What did they have that God didn't give them? Yet they they have a pile of something that God says, that's your stuff. Because their heart was saying, This is my stuff. Is there anything you're holding back from God that's your stuff?

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Anything you wouldn't give up for God? Because that's always where we try to hide things that we shouldn't be hiding. In the part of our life that we think God doesn't go to check out.

Grace Changes Identity, Not Standards

Israel’s Guilt And “Your Stuff”

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Oh, that's that closet that's my stuff. It's just my stuff. Those are my things. That was a quote from the office. It was funny, but no one got it. I thought we bowed everything to God just last chapter, two chapters ago. Doesn't that mean total surrender of everything? Well, God says yes, he did, and that's gonna be tested because your flesh will try to creep back control of little parts of your life. Every morning you wake up and ah, I care about this now. I didn't care about it yesterday. I was totally surrendered yesterday, but this morning I woke up and all of a sudden I care. Why does my coffee not taste the same way it did, or whatever we choose to be weird about? God demands our complete surrender daily, daily, every day, so that we can experience his exquisite blessings of peace and victory. He's already promised us that, but he says, You gotta surrender. So look at verse 13. God says, Get up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel, there is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. So we see this word sanctify. And that word literally means set apart. Set apart for what? What does it mean to sanctify? God says, sanctify yourself. That means understand what you're made for. You are set apart for God's kingdom. Your life does not belong to you. When you become a believer, you are set apart, sanctified for his kingdom purpose and not your own anymore. You don't live for your own kingdom anymore, you live for his kingdom. They let their self-sufficiency and self-ambition creep into their hearts, and God says, Hey guys, we're gonna have to deal with this quickly and harshly. He says, You cannot stand. What would happen if God let them succeed in self-sufficiency? What would happen? Their hearts would be like, see, I can do it. I don't need to seek God with all my heart. I don't need to surrender everything. I was able to hide this little thing and have success. But God loves us so much that He will trip you on your face when you choose to walk in pride. Self-sufficiency, hiding sin. And then we turn around and say, God, why do you make my life suck? Why is this so hard? Why? And God's like, get up of your face and start believing who you are and be a whole person. Be a person that is righteous and holy, like you are. That is your identity. He says, You can't stand, you're not sufficient for this battle or any battle, because you ain't a winner, you ain't a hero until you reject the evil and surrender all your heart to God. That's the only way we get this identity is surrender. And then it's a free gift, and it is yours, no matter how dumb you are, or how weak you are, or how much you can't win, you become God's chosen vessel, as long as you can walk in that faith and humility. Look at verse 14. In the morning, therefore, you shall be brought according to your tribes, and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to the families, and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households, and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. And then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire. He and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel. So Joshua rose early in the morning. He doesn't put it off, I like that, and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe Judah was taken, and then he brought the clan, and the clans, uh the family of uh Zerhites, and then he brought the family of the Zerhates man by man, and Zebdi was taken, and then he brought the household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zebdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, was taken. Can you imagine what Achan was thinking this entire time? Maybe God really doesn't know. Oh, we just one out of twelve chance he just picked Judah. We're okay. We're still good, guys. Maybe he's gonna get distracted or confused on the way. Maybe someone's gonna attack us like he was praying for an asteroid or something. Maybe someone else also took something, so it's not gonna get to me. Right? So each time it gets closer and closer and closer. Aiken had Aiken could have stood up at any time and said, It was me! But does he?

SPEAKER_01 31:21

No, he's committed, he's committed to self-sufficiency, and so Aiken must die. We're gonna see. And then it says he's gotta be burned with fire.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

That's a severe but total solution. Okay, there can be no part of your life that is committed to self-sufficiency. It has to be Jesus is king, I live for him through him. I live by his love and grace, not my own kingdom, but his kingdom. Verse 19, so Joshua said to Achan, My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to him, and tell me now what you have done, and do not hide it from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done. When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with the silver under it.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

First, what was the plan, Aiken? What are you gonna do with a Babylonian garment?

SPEAKER_00 32:48

You live in Israel, Babylon's like a thousand miles away. You planning a costume party, Halloween coming up. Like, what's the plan, Phil? I I don't get why this was even appealing to him. The silver and gold I get, right? But when are you ever gonna wear this? Hey, where'd you get that Babylonian garment, dude? It doesn't even say it was a guy's garment. Okay. Verse 22. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in the tent with the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord. Then Joshua, all the children with him, they took Achan, the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons and his daughters. I'm gonna pause right there. They're not gonna burn the sons and daughters. You might think, by the way, it's written that they also burned the sons and daughters, but actually his sons and daughters stood as witness against him. Okay, that's that's what this means. His oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the valley of Akor. And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned him with stones, then they burned him with fire, uh, after they had stoned him with the stones, just to make sure. Then they raised uh over him a great heap of stones, don't want him getting out, still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place is called the Valley of Acor. Acor means trouble to this day. This is how to deal with the sin that we hide. What do we mean? No compromise, don't let it live, no hiding it, no mercy, death, death, death, super death.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Kill it twice. The sermon is harsh, man. I don't like this church anymore.

Sanctify Yourselves: Set Apart Again

Exposure Of Achan And Consequences

SPEAKER_00 34:58

Guys, in the in the new covenant of grace that we've been given by Jesus, we don't have to die like Achan did here. You see, someone died for us. Even though we probably deserve to die like Achan, really, legit, we have sinned. But Jesus in his love and grace has paid that price for us. So we live in a different world today. Jesus died for us. He died a very real death for our very real sin and rebellion against God. But we can still experience this the failure of ae, aye, a when we don't see God's blessings abounding in our life, the way that we've been promised. God still can deal with us in this way. And the first way he does this is when you choose as a believer to participate in sin and then hide it. What disappears in your heart? The peace of God. That's always the first thing that we notice is gone. Man, I just don't have peace anymore because I've been messing around and I haven't come clean. That's what happens is our heart melts like water, just like them. We say, This can't be happening. God starts getting a hold of our life, and we can't feel or sense the peace of God anymore. When we choose to take something evil into our heart, how can we be at peace? And it's not that God takes it away, really. We just become numb to his blessings. It becomes impossible for us to stand or sense his presence, his nearness. Why does this happen to us? Why does this happen to us? Well, temptation, it's not always that to the temptation to sin is so strong. It says no temptation has overtaken you except that which is common to man. We studied that in 1 Corinthians, but God will make a way. The problem isn't that it we're so tempted by sin, like, oh, it's just so good. The problem is that we get self-sufficient and we start to believe that God's not with us, his presence. So our eyes leave from like shift away from the ark or Jesus being in my life and present with me and his holiness being in me, and it shifts to myself. And I'm like, hey, I think I got this. And we start walking forward in our self-sufficiency, and we call that pride. And then what comes after pride? Pride comes before the 20 Jesus points for all of you. When we walk in self-sufficiency, we always get in trouble. When we, because self-sufficiency is believing, it's not remembering that God's presence in me, Jesus in me, is why I am, who I am, and it is what I am, and he is the way, the truth, and the life, and he is everything I need. So his presence would obviously destroy any opportunity to fall into temptation. The only way that is guaranteed for you to not fall into temptation is to fix your eyes on Jesus. You are free when your eyes, your hope is in Jesus. And the way to guarantee you're gonna fall is to try harder and look to yourself. That is the guaranteed way that you will fall into the temptation that Satan knows you're gonna, you're you're susceptible to. So Jesus makes it real easy for us and really simple. I am everything for you. You gotta fix your eyes on me, and then you will be free. When we think we're alone or that God's not watching, or we feel alone, it's because we're walking in that self-sufficiency that's when we get in trouble. And Jesus is always the way out of trouble. He's the way out before we fall. And guess what? Even if you fall, he's still the way out of the trouble. Just fix your eyes back on Jesus. He'll forgive you, he'll restore you, he'll restore the peace to you. The minute you say, I have sinned and I want it out of my life, Jesus. I confess it to you. His peace rushes in like a flood to your heart again. So why do we spend so much time moping around? Because the enemy tells you you deserve to be in time out. God doesn't like you anymore. Well, how could he when you're such a jerk? When you made these choices, you obviously are so such a bad guy. And the enemy just wants you to get your eyes onto you and your own performance and your own failure instead of remembering what Jesus says about you. Jesus says, I know that you messed up, but my blood speaks way more powerfully than your sin does. My blood says you are pure. My blood says you are holy. My blood says you are accepted, even though you've done these things. You've been washed clean. The enemy says, God doesn't want you in his presence right now. Go to timeout. And Jesus says, Come to me, all who are weary and Heavy laden, and I will give you. Eh, fifty Jesus points for you guys. Good job. We're just gonna close with this verse that we read at the very beginning, and I think it will blow your mind. Look, to them God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

What was the problem in ae?

SPEAKER_00 40:58

The problem was they didn't realize Christ was in them, or you know, they didn't keep their, they walked in self-sufficiency, didn't keep their eyes on him. We have the same path to victory. Just keep your eyes on Jesus, who he says he dwells in you by faith. He has made your heart his home. Have you noticed we don't have temples anymore? That God dwells in buildings, he doesn't dwell in churches anymore. That's not how it works. God says he now dwells in temples of our bodies. He cleanses our bodies to be his church. We are his church. It doesn't matter where we gather, we are his church. So I encourage you all this week. Remember Jesus is with you. Connect with him and love each other. Because God's love has been poured out in you. So pour it out to each other. Amen.