Ron Dunn Podcast - The Key To Victory

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

Ron Dunn speaks on the key to having victory in your life.

Joshua chapter 3 Joshua chapter 3 and we're going to read all 17 verses of this chapter the third chapter of Joshua and this records one of the greatest days events in the history of God's people and is the pattern of how God brings about all great days in the lives of his people. And I want us to read this third chapter of Joshua with 1 Corinthians 10 in mind, where Paul says that all things that happen to them happen as examples to us, those in this age, the age of Christ. And so when we read God's dealings with these people in the Old Testament, we are really getting a preview of how God deals with us.

In Joshua chapter 3, we'll begin reading with the second verse and read through verse 17, the entire third chapter and Joshua rose early in the morning and as they removed from Shittim and came to Jordan he and all the children of Israel and lodged there before they passed over and it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host, and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place and go after it.

Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way heretofore. And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight

of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. Thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God and Joshua said hereby ye shall know that the Living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Gurgishites and the Amorites and the Jebusites behold the Ark of the the covenant of the Lord of all the earth

passeth over before you in the Jordan. Now, therefore, take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe of men, and it shall come to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon a heap. And it came to pass, when the people removed from

their tents to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the Covenant before the people and as soon as they bear the ark were come unto Jordan and the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest that the waters which came down from above stood and rose upon and heaped very far from the city Adam, that is, beside Zeritan. And those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed and were cut off. And the people passed over right against Jericho.

And the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed clean over Jordan now I want to read again verse 5 and Joshua said unto the people sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Wouldn't you like to get a message like that from the Lord? No matter what your need, no matter what your problem, doesn't matter what your need, no matter what your problem, doesn't matter what your difficulty is,

there's not anything wrong with any of us tonight that a miracle wouldn't cure. And for most of us, that's just about what it would take is a miracle. And wouldn't it be wonderful if the Lord were to come to you tonight and say, Get ready. Get yourself ready for tomorrow I'm going to deliver you. Tomorrow I'm going to work a miracle in your life. I'm going to do wonders among you. Tomorrow will be the greatest day of your life. I said earlier that when you read this passage of scripture and all of these passages that deal with God's dealings with his people Israel, especially going into the land of Canaan,

you need to keep in mind that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that all of these things that happened from the time they were led out of Egypt and crossed through the Red Sea over until the time they passed out of the wilderness into Canaan. All of these things happened unto them as examples for us on whom the end of the world has come. And we can look and see how God dealt with them and understand that this is the way that

God deals with us. Now, it does not always come wrapped in the same color paper. It doesn't always have the same shape package, but it is always essentially the same. And one thing that you continue to discover about God as you see his dealings with his people is that God never deviates from his method. He never changes his style.

He never changes his method of operation. God has said to the people, and here are people who for 40 years have been living in despair and defeat, who have for 40 years lived in the awareness that they have failed and have fallen short of all that God intended them to be. And I do not know if there is a greater hurt and a more painful awareness that you and I can live with than this awareness that we are living short of all that God intends us to be. And the plans that God has for us, we have failed and have fallen short of those plans.

I wonder what you would give tonight to be finally brought to an end of your defeat and your despair. I wonder what you would give tonight if God were to come to you and say, I am going to do a work among you, a work that will bring you out of despair, that will bring you out of defeat, and will thrust you into a land flowing with milk and honey, where even though there are battles, because there are battles in Canaan, even though there are instances where everything looks black, because that did happen in the land of Canaan, yet you will be living in victory.

You will be living in a land flowing with milk and honey. And that expression just simply means a land of fullness, a land where every need is abundantly met. What would you give tonight? It's interesting as you read this passage to see what made the difference. For 40 years they've been languishing and wandering in the wilderness, living in defeat and despair. And now all of a sudden, just in one day, the whole picture has changed. And the 40 years of defeat are brought to an end. And they only did

one thing. They only did one thing. Only one thing was changed. Now, the key to the whole chapter and the key to their deliverance is the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Read through that third chapter and you'll find that it's mentioned 10 times now what's different about it they had always possessed the ark for 40 years they had carried that ark with them in the wilderness they had camped with that ark so it can't simply be the ark making the difference they had always had possession of the ark but there is a difference the difference. They had always had possession of the ark. But there is a difference. The difference is in the position of the ark.

The difference is now in the position of the ark. The people had always possessed the ark and had carried it with them. And the ark, now listen carefully, the ark had always gone where they went. The difference is now, they're not possessing the ark. The ark is going to possess them. Now, instead of the ark going where they're going, they are going where the ark is going. A simple change, simply a change of position. But the position is preeminent. Now the ark leads the way. Now the ark stands at the head of the people. And he says, when you see the ark, then you go after it. When you see the ark, you go after it.

And keep a space between you and the ark about a thousand yards, because if you all crowd up there around it, some people in the back row won't be able to see it, and they'll get lost along the way. You make certain that you're able to see the ark. And the whole key to their victory was in the position of the ark. Now, the ark is simply for us a symbol and a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our ark of the covenant. And the key to the victory in the lives of God's

people has always been the same. It is the position of the ark and your relationship to it. I think that we could describe a lot of Christians like this Jesus goes everywhere they go because he dwells in them he has taken up permanent residence in their life you might put it this way Jesus is in the rider's seat and you're in the driver's seat, and you have hold of the steering wheel. And Jesus has always been with us since we've been saved, and he's always gone where we have gone because he dwells in us permanently through his Spirit.

But the difference from defeat to victory, the difference from spiritual poverty to spiritual fullness is in the change of position. I think that some of us have kind of treated Jesus like a hitchhiker that we pick up along the way. And we pick him up and we put him in one little corner of our lives. And now he doesn't have any business telling us where to go. But we're glad to have him because we do need him. And he does want to come and live within us, but we're behind the steering wheel.

And a hitchhiker, of course, has no say in where you go. He's just along for the ride. And I really, and I don't mean to be irreverent, but I really do believe there are a lot of Christians tonight that as far as they're concerned, Jesus is just just along for the ride he has no say-so in their life he's there present that's right always has been there since the day they were saved but just like a hitchhiker he has no authority no right to say where to go where to turn where to where to pull in here, the direction in which

they're going to drive. But when that person comes to the end of himself, and not just to the end of his rope, because he'll always manage to get another rope, but when he comes to the end of himself and he's ready to get out of the driver's seat and allow the Lord Jesus Christ to take over the steering wheel of his life and to control his life, now he is following the ark. Now Jesus isn't simply accompanying him wherever he goes. He is rather following Jesus, and Jesus takes the lead. That's the difference in a person's life. Not that his possessions are any different.

There is no difference between the defeated Christian in this congregation tonight and the victorious Christian in their possessions. Their possessions are exactly the same the difference is in the position of that possession that one who is defeated has kept Jesus in a secondary position in his life that one who knows and experiences victory even in the midst of failure and that may sound like a contradiction but you understand it when you come to understand that Jesus does give you victory

even in the midst of failure and defeat, is that person who has altered the position of Jesus and, as Paul says, has allowed him to become preeminent in all things. Preeminent in all things. Now, I want us to take this chapter

and I want to share with you three or four things about following Jesus number one is this and by the way this is the key to victory over anything and everything in your life number one Number one, following Jesus will give you direction over an uncharted path. I love the way God comes to Joshua and says in the fourth verse, Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Come not near unto it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way heretofore. You've never been this way before.

Where you're about to go now, you're traveling over uncharted ground. And there's no map. Therefore, he says, you keep your eye on the ark. Really, he says two things about the ark. First one, he says, is keep your eye on it. In the third verse, two things about the ark. First one, he says, is keep your eye on it. In the third verse, he says, when you see the ark of the covenant, then you go after it. But he says, keep your eye on that ark, because you do not know where you're going. Have you ever tried to imagine how these Israelites must have felt? For 40 years, they've been following Moses,

an experienced veteran. Moses is dead and Joshua is a rookie. He has never led the people anywhere. And the first place he's going to lead them is not in the circle they've been familiar with for 40 years. But lo and behold, the first place this young upstart wants to lead them is over the Jordan River into the land of giants, even the land that Moses could not get the people to go into 40 years before. Can you imagine what they must have felt and how they must have thought? Well, maybe we could scout around and find us an experienced leader.

Joshua has never done any of this business. And this is what God is saying. God is saying, Joshua, don't worry about it. Today I'm going to begin to magnify you in the eyes of the people so that they will know that as I was with Moses, I'm with you also. You know, isn't it wonderful? It doesn't really make any difference who the leader is. It all depends on who's leading the leader.

And God was saying, Joshua, don't let your inexperience bother you, and don't let the people's despair bother you. He says, as I was with Moses, I'll be with you. And you tell the people that they're traveling over an uncharted ground. They don't have any idea what's ahead, and so they'd better keep their eye on the ark. And you know, you can say that today. I've been over some ground today. I've never been over. And I'll tell you something, I can say that today. I've been over some ground today I've never been over. And I'll tell you something, I'm going to be traveling some ground tomorrow. And I'm not talking about Costa Rica. But I'm going to be traveling some ground tomorrow I've never been over before.

That's the thing about life. The very minute you think you've got everything put together in neat little categories and you've got it all together, and now there's no problem that you can't face because, my soul, you've got bukus of experience and problems and surely now there's no possible way for a new problem to come up. You think you've got it made. I want you to know something.

You're fooling yourself. Tomorrow you're going to be traveling over uncharted paths. I've said it before, but it's so good I'm going to say it again. It's like being a parent. The thing that's wrong with being a parent is by the time you're experienced, you're unemployed. And every day living, whether it's in business, in family relationships, in school,

no matter what it is, you're going to be passing over uncharted paths, and you'd better follow somebody who knows what lies ahead. That's why it says in Hebrews 12, looking off and away to Jesus, the author, the author, the author, the pioneer is what the word means, the pioneer of our faith. Brother, I want to follow somebody who's been this way before. And Jesus knows what lies out there in front. And so he says, you keep your eyes on the ark.

Don't let everybody gather up closer at it because somebody won't be able to see it. And you keep about a thousand yards between you and the ark keep it in view all the time don't let anything come between you and the ark I love that song that we sing once in a while nothing between my soul and the Savior that his blessed face may be seen you remember when God called Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 the Bible says that God called Abraham to go into a far country that he didn't know. Have you ever thought about the fact that God didn't tell Abraham where he was going?

Do you know why God doesn't tell you where you're going? If God had told Abraham where he is going, Abraham would have got his eye on the country. He would have had his eye on the destination. But God kept him in the dark, and so Abraham, not knowing where he was going, had to had his eye on the destination. But God kept him in the dark, and so Abraham, not knowing where he was going, had to keep his eye on God. I want to tell you something. If you think tonight that you're traveling in darkness, you don't have any idea what's happening, you don't have any idea where you're going, and you wonder, God, why don't you tell me what's happening? Why don't you tell me what lies ahead? God doesn't want you to know,

because you'll take your eye off of him, and you'll put it on what you can see but if you'll keep you in the dark and won't let you know what's going to happen tomorrow you have to keep your eyes on him and that's where it belongs over in 2nd chronicles chapter 20 when Jehoshaphat the king was faced with an unbeatable army he came to the Lord and he said, Lord, he said, we have no might and we don't know what to do. If we had the might, we wouldn't know what to do with it, but our eyes are upon thee. Oh, I love that. We have no might against this power and we don't have any idea what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Listen, I don't care what your situation is tonight, what your problem is, what your difficulty is. You may not have any might against it. You may not know what to do

about it. But if you know enough to keep your eyes on Jesus, then you know enough to get you through. Our eyes are upon thee. What does that mean, keep your eyes on the ark? It means, first of all, that you declare your dependence upon him. It's a declaration of dependence upon him. It simply means to come to God in confession of your own inability, to say what Jesus said, without me you can do nothing, to say, Lord, I'm in a situation and I acknowledge, I confess that I do not have the strength nor the wisdom nor the ability nor the insight to know what to do. And so, Lord, all I can do is to look to Thee, to look to Thee, to keep my eyes on You. I'll tell you, the best way to keep your eyes on Jesus is through this book, is just keep your

eyes on Jesus through this book. You know, I keep discovering every day how that I see Jesus in this book isn't amazing how the Word of God ministers to your present need you know one of the biggest kicks I get out of preaching is that nearly every Sunday somebody will come up to me and say preacher I don't know who told you what I was going through or I don't know who told you what I needed or I didn't know that you knew that I was asking that question last week, but you perfectly answered it for me today. I had no idea what their need was. Isn't that something? Isn't it amazing how God personalizes the Word and that all week long perhaps you've been facing something, or you've been having a question,

or you've been having a problem, or you've been having a problem. There's been a need, a vacuum, a void in your life, and you come to church on the Lord's Day, or you sit in a Sunday school class, and somebody says something, the Word of God is spoken and taught, and a verse quoted here, and suddenly the light floods your soul, and God meets your need. That's the way it is with the Word.

And the best way I know to keep your eyes on Jesus is just to keep in this Word. I'll tell you, it gives you direction over uncharted paths. But he said something else. Not only keep your eyes on it, but he said in verse 3, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests, the Levites bearing it,

then you shall remove from your place and go after it. Number one, keep your eyes on it and then go after it don't make a move until you see it but when you see it get going go after it go after it do something somebody has said that God does not guide a stationary object you know it's very simple for what a Christian is supposed to do. He's just simply to obey what he knows to do. Just to obey what he knows to do. And I get concerned about those of us who sit around waiting for some exhilarating experience

just to propel us, override our will, and overwhelm us, even against our will, out to do something. And really, some of us are just sitting around waiting for, you know, an earthquake or waiting for the heavens to spread open or waiting for God to write a message in fire in the sky before we do anything. And the simple fact is that God says, you just do what you know to do. Just do what you know to do. And I'll tell you how God guides you over uncharted paths. It's keeping your eyes on Jesus, looking to him, recognizing that you in and of yourself are incapable of getting out of this mess. You have no might. You don't know what to do, but your eyes are upon him. And then as you come to know what is in the word of God and you know what you ought to do, just daily obedience, then you just do it. You know you ought to read

the Bible. You know you ought to pray. You know you ought to witness. You know you ought to share just doing what God has told you to do. Just simple, everyday, I almost said mundane, monotonous, and I will, mundane, monotonous obedience. Just day by day, walking after it. And in the moving of your daily life, being obedient to God where you are,

I want you to know God will deliver you in the course of your daily activities. I am finding more and more that when I am up against a brick wall and when I am confronted with a problem, God does not come to me in some glorious, brilliant, blasting, blinding light and thrust me out of the situation into another one. But just as I go through the daily routine, getting up and combing your hair and shaving and going to work and studying and doing

this and doing that, doing what you know to do, being faithful to God, and the small things you know to be faithful to him, all of a sudden, as you are moving, God guides you. And in the midst of your daily routine, being faithful to God, in the midst of that, he delivers you. The servant of Abraham says, I, being in the way, the Lord led me. You know why the Lord's not leading some of you?

Because you're not in the way. You're not in the path. You're not doing what he told you to do. You're not living up to what you know you ought to do right now, and you're sitting around waiting for additional information when you're not using the information you have. And I really doubt if God is going to give us additional revelation until we have obeyed the revelation that we have.

Do what you know to do. Just do it. That's so simple. That sounds so unspiritual. Just do it. Somebody came up to me a few weeks ago and said, Preacher, when you don't feel like praying, what should you do? I said, Pray.

I don't care whether you feel like praying or not. Just do it. Just do it. Do what you know to do. Isn't it interesting how we don't live in the realm of our feelings anyplace else except in the spiritual life? If you think that your feelings ought to guide your life,

I don't have a suggestion to make to you. I want to suggest that in the morning you call up your boss and you say, I don't feel like working today. You know what he'll say? Well, bless your heart. I mean, goodness, I wouldn't expect you to come in if you didn't, you know, feel like it. I mean, man, if you don't feel like coming in, if you just, you know, don't feel worky today, just don't work. Can you imagine? I get down there in Costa Rica and I call Kay and I say, honey, I'm not coming back home right now. She'd say, why?

Oh, I just don't feel married. And so I, you know, if you don't feel married, then you ought not to act married. Surely, you know what she would say to me, among a few other things? She would say, I don't care how you feel, you get yourself back home. Now, isn't that ridiculous?

But, you know, we have so much sense when it comes to the secular things of life. Why is it do we believe that we ought to let our emotions and our feelings guide us in spiritual things? We don't need anything else. God judges us by the light that we have, not the emotion, not the lightness that we feel. They said, when you see the ark, go after it. They said, but

it's heading in the midst of Jordan. Look where that thing's going. It's going over there he said go after it just follow it better to drown in the midst of Jordan with the ark than to survive on the bank without it go after it don't get your eyes on the water

keep your eyes on the ark if that bunch had been looking at the water and the Bible says that it was overflowing its banks, you know, God's timing is perfect, and we'll get to that in a moment. But it was the harvest season and the Jordan River was overflowing its banks. That looks like he could have picked a better time than that

to move everybody across. I mean, they'd waited for 40 years. What's another day or two? But God says, go after it. but keep your eyes on the ark. Keep your eyes on the ark. If that bunch had kept their eyes on that water that was rushing and roaring and overthrowing the banks, they'd never made it. The poor priests, they were supposed to go first. Some of them said, Lord, I'll believe it when I see it. I'm going to sit here, and when you part the waters, then I'll go.

God says, no, you put your foot in the water, and when you step your foot in the water, then the waters will part. When you go, when you go. You know, some of us tonight are still in the situation we've been in, still living in despair, still living in defeat, because we've been sitting back waiting for God to part the waters. We're saying, Lord, you part the waters.

Then I will believe. Let him come down from the cross. Then I believe. Thomas, thou hast believed because you've seen the prince in my hands. Blessed are those who having not seen, believe. I want to tell you something. You just walk right into the middle of that. Do what God

has told you to do. And when you take that first step of faith, the waters will pour back. The waters will pour back. Get your eyes off the water. Peter saw Jesus coming to him, walking on the water, and he said, Lord, bid me that I should come to you. If it's really you, Lord, if it's really you. I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to go out there if it wasn't Jesus. He said, Lord, if it is you, if it's really you, bid me come to you. He said, come on. Peter stepped out on the water, just doing great. First time he'd ever walked on water. First lesson he'd ever had, just doing great. But the Bible says when he saw the waves says when he saw the waves when he saw the waves he began to sink took his eyes off Jesus well you got your eyes on tonight

I really want to know I want to tell you when you're heading for defeat it's when your problems bloom bigger in your eyes than Jesus. Some testimonies I hear, the people make more of the sin abounding than they do the grace more abounding. I want to know what's biggest in your eyes tonight, your difficulty or Jesus? Right there is your problem. Right there is your problem. To you, you've been thinking more about that difficulty than you've been thinking about Jesus.

I want to tell you something. If you'll get your eyes off that problem, looking at it's not going to change it. Worrying about it's not going to change it. Jesus said, what are you worried? You can't buy worry, add one inch to your stature. You're not going to change it. Jesus said, What are you worried about? You can't by worry add one inch to your stature. It's not going to change a thing by worry. Get your eyes off that problem.

Let Jesus handle it. Get your eyes on Jesus and just start praising him and thanking him and concentrating on him and his power and his glory. Keep your eye on the ark. Some of you have got your eyes on the waters. And that's why you're in despair. Get your eyes on the ark. It'll give you direction over uncharted paths.

Number two, it'll deliver you from unconquerable problems. It will deliver you from unconquerable problems. It will deliver you from unconquerable problems. 15th verse says, The Jordan overfloweth his banks all the time of harvest. Now, I said a moment ago, God's timing is something else. But if you'll notice, in the first verse,

God had them to camp there and watch it for three days before he told them to do anything. Isn't that something? God said, y'all just camp here. He didn't tell them what he was going to do. He just said, you camp here, and they camped there for three days. And for three days they'd been watching the Jordan. That Jordan flowing, rushing like a flash flood, overflowing the banks.

And then after three days, after that really got saturated in them, God was trying to impress upon them that their problem was unconquerable. Just no way, just no way to get across the Jordan at this time. I want to tell you how God works. Sometimes God will let you sit for three days, three weeks, three months.

How long? Without saying a word to you. Just let you look at the Jordan. Just let it ooze in upon you and press you. There's not a thing you can do about it. I tell you, God is ministering to you even when he's silent. Now listen to me. The silence of God does not mean that God has abandoned you.

Have you ever gone through a time when God just didn't say a word? Just nothing. Just nothing. Just nothing. You can pray, you can pray, you can pray, you can cry. Not a word. He's just letting you sit there watching it, watching it, watching it. And then when you get to the point of absolute despair and desperation, then comes the word.

All right, get ready. I'm going to do wonders among you. Deliverance through unconquerable problems. What is your Jordan? What is your Jordan River tonight what is that thing that you have absolutely no human ability notice the three things they had to pass through it every one of them had to pass through it we don't really know how many were there some say a million some say three million, but just a million, that's a whole lot of folks. But anywhere between one million and three million people, every one of them had to pass through it. Nobody exempt. Friend,

do you think you're exempt tonight from suffering, from problems, from difficulty, from failure, from despair? You've got to pass through it. You have to pass through it. There is no other way. There is no other way. And you put it down, you're going to pass through it. And I do not believe that we ought to ever, and I apologize if in my preaching and in anybody else's preaching

we've ever given the idea that if you'll just get filled with the Spirit and let Jesus be Lord, that everything is going to be hunky-dory and copacetic and you're never going to have any problems. Because that is not so. That is not true. Is the servant better than his Lord? Folks, you're going to have to pass through it.

That's all there is to it. Every one of them had to pass through it. But I want to tell you something. You know what you'll find right in the middle? Listen, this is beautiful. I tell you, this is beautiful. Look at that 17th verse. And the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord

stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan. There was the ark. I wonder if some of those people were a little bit timid, a little bit scared. Well, I know that everybody else, I know I'm 1,073,000 in line, and I know that 1,073,000 people have already got through, but you know, we never can tell. It's just my luck that when I get through, right when I get in the middle, boy, the whole business is going to fall apart.

I don't care how many people have gone through it. That doesn't give me much comfort. I'm the one that's going through it right now. And so you start walking. And when they get out in the middle of it, and that's the worst spot because you're at the point of no return. It's just as close to the other side as it is back have you ever noticed that where God placed that are right in the middle too late to go back now you might as well go on right in the middle you know what they found when they got the middle there was the art God not only anything having that art thing you know what you'll find right in the middle of your problem, Jesus. That's where

you'll find him. You'll find him right there in the middle. Right there in the middle. And I want to tell you something. Jesus will be more real to you walking over the Jordan of your problem, your difficulty than he will sitting in church singing songs on Sunday if you'll let him.

Boy, you'll find him right there in the midst, right there in the midst. You read those three children that found out it was school in the furnace. That's a tremendous story. They'd given their testimony to the king. He still didn't believe. He'd seen their lives. They still didn't believe. He had seen their lives, they still didn't believe. He couldn't see God in their life, but it threw him in the furnace.

Things so hot, the men that threw them in got burned up. Heated seven times hotter. Is that the way you feel sometimes? Lord, you've heated this thing seven times hotter for me. I know so-and-so. He went through something like this. It wasn't nearly as hot. Do you ever feel like God's picking on you and that God has just selected you to be a test case? Man, this furnace feels seven times hotter

than it's ever felt before. Man, you've given your testimony and you've preached and you've taught and you've told people how wonderful God is. The old Nebuchadnezzar got to wondering how those three boys were faring. He went over there and he looked down in the furnace and for the first time he saw God in their life. He looked in and he said, How many do we throw in there?

Three? Right? He looked at him and he said, how many do we throw in there? Three? Right. I see a fourth and one is life unto the Son of Man. He didn't see God in their life until they got in the midst of the furnace. And I want to tell you something. The world is not going to see God in your life until they see you in the midst of the furnace. And they want to know how you fare when the oven is seven times hotter. Well, that's when you see Jesus in a person's life.

That's when you see Jesus in a person's life. And that convinced him. And you know what he said? He said, I know now that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is the true God. Now I know that he is the God. You know what convinced him? Not their testimony, not their preaching, not their life. What convinced him was he saw God in their life when they were going through the furnace. That's what convinced him. In the midst, there's the ark. There's the ark. And it'll assure you of future victories, because he says, we'll not take the time to go into this, but he says in verse 10, he says, now by this you'll know. By what? Well, he says, if I can get

you over Jordan, he said, I can take care of anything you'll meet in the land. By this you shall know that the Lord your God shall drive out those seven enemy nations that are in the land. God's going to get you through the river, and once he gets you through that, you know that no matter what you face now, he's sufficient. All right, one last thing, and we just have time to mention it briefly. Following Jesus, keeping your eye on that ark, is a door to unclaimed possessions. There it had been for 40 years. Their possessions, victory, fullness, the land of Canaan, what God saved them for. He brought them out that he might bring them in. And all the time, you know, the

interesting thing is that what got them through the Jordan and what got them into the promised land, into that land of fullness and abundance, was the ark. And yet they had had that thing for 40 years. They'd had it all the time. They'd had it all the time. They just started following it. And you know, there's some of us here tonight, Christians, we know that we're living in defeat. And we know that if we were to die tonight, that we would die in the wilderness, never

having known what it was to enter into the land of victory, live the abundant life. And yet we keep thinking that someday God is just going to give us something different, something additional, some new experience or some new possession. And what you don't know is that the thing that will finally lead you into victory is what you've had all along. That's Jesus. That's Jesus. They'd had that ark for 40 years.

That was the key to victory. That was the key, the door to that land of fullness just Jesus and I want you to know tonight that if you're saved if you're saved you have abiding in you right now all that you ever need to live victoriously abundantly sufficiently God's not going to give you a new possession. You don't start with Jesus and then graduate to something better. You just change the position of Jesus.

Let Him take the lead and you just follow Him. Just commit your life to Him. Would you bow your heads for a moment? The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church.

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