Ron Dunn Podcast - Walking On Conquered Ground Pt 1

Episode Date: July 20, 2022

Ron Dunn speaks on walking on conquered ground

Now I'd like you to open your Bibles to the Old Testament, to the book of Joshua, chapter 1. The book of Joshua, chapter 1. And in just a moment, I'm going to read the first nine verses. Joshua, chapter 1, verses 1 through 9. But before I read those verses, let me read two or three verses from the New Testament. You'll not need to turn to these. The first one is in Romans chapter 15, in the fourth verse, where the Apostle Paul says,

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope and then first corinthians chapter 10 verse 6 now these things were our example speaking of the experience of the people of israel they made their way from Egypt to Canaan. And then in verse 11, Now all these things happened unto them for example, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the age are come. The New Testament gives us the precepts and principles of Christian living.

The Old Testament gives us pictures of Christian living. In the New Testament we have the teachings, in the Old Testament we have illustrations of it. And one of the best ways that you and I can ever discover the truths of the Christian life and how the Christian life is to be lived is by seeing the pictures of it, the illustrations of it in the Old Testament. So I want us to look this morning in Joshua 1. And those of you that are familiar with the Old Testament, and in particular the book of Joshua, understand that it comes right after from the wilderness to the land that God has promised to them.

And in the book of Joshua, we have a picture of how God's people enter into all the fullness that God has for them. I think you could say there are perhaps four different seasons of the Christian life. One is all of these illustrated by their release from Egypt and their entrance into the land of Canaan. There is that stage where we go out, and then there is that going through the wilderness, and then there's going in the land of promise, and then there's going on.

And you have to have all four of those to have a complete, balanced Christian life. You have to go out of Egypt, you have to be saved. And there is, it seems in the experience of every one of us, that going through the wilderness. Now, it was God's intention they should go through the wilderness, but I think they could have made it in 11 days. But it's typical of most of God's people that they have the ability to turn an 11-day trip into a 40-year life. Going through.

Then there's going in. Leaving the wilderness, leaving the life of constant, continual defeat and going in, possessing your possessions, coming to full maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ. But even beyond that, you must go on. The Christian life is never static. It's always stable, but it is never static. To stand still means to stagnate in the Christian life.

There must always be the going on. And we're going to be looking this morning and tonight into this matter of going in, out of the wilderness, into the land that God has for us. So let's read the first nine verses of this first chapter. Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of

Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.

I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, That thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth But thou shalt meditate therein day and night

That thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous And then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Now, let me read again the third verse, because it's the one that I really want to center

in. He says, "...every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses." Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon. It is God's intention that the Christian always walk on conquered ground. It is God's intention that the Christian always walk on ground that belongs to him, that every step he takes he puts his foot down on ground that has been conquered already. I got to thinking about this this past week. I thought to myself, what a difference, what a difference that would make in every life

that I know. I'm not talking now just about physical ground. I'm talking about the ground of your life, the ground of your everyday experience. Can you imagine what it would be like to live such a life whereas you don't go out in the day trying, hoping that maybe you'll come off best, hoping that you'll be victorious, hoping that you'll be able to cope, hoping that you'll be able to master, hoping that you'll be able to master every situation that you're confronted with. Can you imagine what it would do to a person

to walk out in the morning and realize, no matter what happens to me today, no matter what circumstance, no matter what path I take, no matter what mountain there is to go over, no matter how rough the road, every place that I walk today, I will be walking on conquered ground. take, no matter what mountain there is to go over, no matter how rough the road, every place that I walk today, I will be walking on conquered ground.

There's no reason to be filled with anxiety. There's no reason to worry. There's no reason to anticipate failure. Every step that I take today will be a step on ground that has already, already been conquered. I can't think of anything more needful to people in days like we're living in today. Are you nervous? I tell you, I never was much for reading the newspapers outside of Dick Tracy and Peanuts. But I'm just about to give up newspapers altogether. I'm just about to give

up watching news on the television. I want to watch something good and civilized like murder and violence on the fiction shows. Every time I sit down and watch a newscast, there's something about it that wants to make me nervous. I doubt that in our decade, perhaps in our generation, we've ever faced a more uncertain future. Nobody can really say what's going on, and I just have to confess I'm a patriot, but I don't have much confidence in what politicians are saying. Someone has said that if all the politicians were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion.

But I tell you, this is a day when the believer ought to be able to walk out as God told Joshua, "'Be not thou dismayed, neither be afraid. Be strong and of good courage, for every place you put your foot down, I've already conquered that land. The believer is supposed to always walk on conquered ground. You'll notice in verse 3, he says every place. You'll notice in verse 5, he amplifies this. He says, there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. Isn't that something? Every day and every

place. And that just about takes it all in. Every place and every day. Every place you walk, you will walk on conquered ground. Every day of your life will be a day of victory. And he goes on to say in the latter part of verse 7, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou doest. I'm thinking about writing a book on how to profit in a monetary crisis. You know, there is a book out by that, and I picked it up in a bookstore one day. I was kind of interested in that, and I looked at the price.

It's $8.95. I said, I don't need to read this book. I know how to profit from a monetary crisis. You write a book on how to profit from a monetary crisis and sell it for $8.95, and you'll make a profit. I would like to write a book on how the believer can profit in a time of depression. He says, Thou mayest prosper

whithersoever thou goest. The latter part of verse 8, For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Now, I want to remind you, those of you that are familiar with the story will remember that the path that Joshua and his people were going to trod was not an easy road. There was going to be conflict, and I'm not talking this morning about a life

free from conflict or discouragement or trouble or difficulty. I'm not talking about that at all. That kind of life would never display the power of God. That kind of life would require no faith at all. You only have to read this book and get some insight into all of this that's going to happen and will happen, just assuredly will happen, to understand that God is not saying that the ground that is conquered is going to be

ground that over which there is no conflict. You're going to have one battle after another. You're going to have one conflict after another. You're going to meet one enemy after another. But I want you to know this. There shall be nobody able to stand against you all the days of your life. You're going to meet conflict, but it's already conquered. And every step you take, every step you take will be a step of victory. Are you interested in that kind of life? I am. But what's the key to it. The key to this whole thing is how you and I respond to the promises of God. As a matter of fact, you are writing the history of your life with the ink of your response to the promises of God. The quality of life that you're going to live will be absolutely determined by how you respond to God's promises. And this is what he says. God is giving this man some promises, telling him, this is what I've given you,

this is what I'm going to do. Now if you respond properly in the right manner, you will have success all the days of your life. Every place you put your foot down will be conquered ground. No foe will be able, nobody will be able to prevent you from becoming all that I want you to become if you respond properly to my promise. And the reason that some of us in this place this morning are still languishing in a defeated, disillusioned, unexciting Christian life is because we have made a negative response to the promise of God. Of course, that's why the people of Israel were delayed 40 years

from entering into the promised land to begin with. Their response to the promise of God dictated their next 40 years. And I don't say this lightly or flippantly or without thought, but I say to you that your response this morning and today to the promise of God could very well determine the rest of your life, how you respond to it. They responded in unbelief and disobedience, and for 40 years they wandered in the wilderness, and they died there, all except Joshua and Caleb. I love that story in the Gospels where Simon and the others have been out fishing all day.

Jesus strolls by, and he always knows just the right questions to ask. He said, Have you caught anything? You never ask a fisherman that. If he has caught something, he will tell you without your having to ask. And if he doesn't tell you, that means he doesn't want you to ask

because he hasn't caught anything. Jesus said, have you caught anything? They said, no, we've labored all night and we've taken nothing. Now listen to this. Jesus said, cast your nets down on the other side. Now don't you know they've tried every side? And Simon Peter says, now Jesus, you stick to preaching and let us stick on the other side. Now, don't you know they've tried every side? And Simon Peter says, now, Jesus, you stick to preaching

and let us stick to the real business. He says, Master, we have toiled all night long. You know what he was saying? He said, Master, what do you mean? Telling us what? Do we know our business? Our father was a fisherman before us. We've inherited the business.

We're skilled fishermen. We've been out here all night. We have fished this thing from one end to the other. Jesus said, cast your net on the other side. They said, we've called all night. And then comes that saving declaration, that right response. They said, nevertheless, nevertheless, at thy word, we will cast down the net. They made the proper response, and God blessed them so much their nets broke, couldn't even hold all the fish that they pulled in. Proper response.

In the book of Hebrews in chapter 4, as the author relates and goes back over the history of Israel, all of the words that God said to Israel, can you imagine what would happen if God spoke to us today like he spoke to Israel? You know, some of us are wishing God would speak in a loud vocal voice. And I received a letter just this week from a person lamenting the fact that they never hear, audibly hear God's voice. And that if God could just speak today like he did then, the thunder and the lightning and the smoke and the fire and the audible voice that causes the earth to tremble,

if God could just speak, and you imagine all the miracles they did. We said, man, if we could just see those miracles. And yet Hebrews chapter 4, it says, everything that God said did not profit them. Didn't do them a bit of good. Didn't do them a bit of good. Why?

Because it was not mixed with faith. They did not make the proper response. Well, what is the proper response? There are three proper responses that Joshua made. I'm going to share one with you this morning and two tonight. The proper response to the promise of God will determine the history of your life, the future of your Christian life.

And if you and I are going to be able to fulfill God's intention for us, that is to always walk on conquered ground, we're going to have to make the proper response. And the first one is simply this, we must accept God's promises personally now by that I mean that we must stop looking upon the promises of God as merely history or theology or doctrine but we must accept those promises that God made in this book years and years ago we must accept those promises that God made in this book years and years ago. We must accept them as promises made to us personally. For instance, listen to what God says in verse 3, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses, as I said unto Moses. And then in verse 5,

Thou, there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. Get this, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. Over and over again, verse 7, Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do all the law, which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

Now, what's God saying? Again and again, he's coming to Joshua and he's saying, listen, I want you to do such and so, and I'm going to do such and so just as I promised Moses. Just as I promised Moses, I'll promise you. Just as I was with Moses, I'll be with you. What is God trying to say? God is trying to say that his promises are never altered by time. His promises are never altered by time.

You know, one of the biggest problems that we have is looking upon this book as relevant to us today. Now, if I were to take a poll among the congregation, I feel certain that 99% of you would say, yes, I believe the Word of God. I believe it. I believe it from cover to cover. I even believe the cover because it says Holy Bible. I believe it all. I believe every I that's dotted, every T that's crossed, and I won't have anything to do with anybody that doesn't believe it. Now, we believe it as history, as theology, as doctrine, as material for sermons, but did you know that the vast majority of us here this morning do not believe it as a practical and applicable way of living today do you know very many

people who will say listen I'm going to start living by the Word of God I'm going to start handling my money according to the principles laid down in the Word of God. You see, it's all very well for us to look upon this as a museum piece and bow down and worship and revere it and guard it and protect it and petrify it and do every other thing except do it, except obey it. You see, our problem is we have the idea that God's promises have been altered by time. And it was fine for all those promises to be made 2,000 years ago when he said we're more than conquerors through him that loved us,

but somehow or another you and I feel very far removed from all of this. And what God is trying to say to Joshua is, now Joshua, you've got to understand that my promise doesn't change with time. And I made promises to Moses, and those same promises are still good. My presence is not confined to one generation. That's a great statement. And by great, I mean it's a profound statement. It's a true statement.

Did you know there are a great many people in our churches today, in our world today, that believe that the presence and power and blessings of God were confined to one generation? God's saying, as I was with Moses, I will be with you. I want to ask you a question this morning. Do you believe, do you really believe with all of your heart, that you have just as much of the power and presence of Jesus Christ in you as Paul the Apostle had. The presence of God is not confined to one generation.

It's not confined to one man. Some time ago, a lady sat in my office as we were counseling, and she said, Preacher, if I just had what you had you know what she was talking about was the fact that I suppose she believed that when God called a man to preach he gave him a double dose and she said if I had what you had if I had the spirit that you have it if I and and I said there and I tried to convince her unsuccessfully I'm sure that she has just as much of God as I have

or as anybody has or as Paul the Apostle had. As I was with Moses, I shall be with you. Over and again he says, as I swear unto thy fathers, I swear unto you. I was looking this morning. This is a verse, Micah chapter 7, verse 20. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham with which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Listen to what he says in the book of Galatians chapter 3, verse 14, that the blessings of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Verse 29, And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Jesus was praying in John 17 and that's a tremendous prayer that he offers in John 17. Actually, what he's praying for

is that his followers may come into the fullness of blessing. And I love it when he says, And I pray not only for thee, but for all those who shall believe on me through their words. That's you. When he met Thomas in that upper room in John chapter 20,

and Thomas saw the nail prints in his hands and in his feet and saw the sword scar in his thigh, he fell down and said, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said, Thomas, because you have believed, because you have seen, you have believed. And then he my God. And Jesus said, Thomas, because you have believed, because you have seen, you have believed. And then he included me.

And he says, Blessed are those who have not seen, believe. I've never seen Jesus Christ with the eyes of the flesh. I didn't stand at the foot of Calvary. I wasn't there when the waters of the Jordan River rolled back. I haven't seen it, but I believe it. Jesus said, It's for you. It's for you. Let me read one other verse. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 20, you have this tremendous

statement. The Apostle Paul says, for all, now guess this, all the promises of God in him are yes and in him amen under the glory of God by us. Phillips translates that like this. Every promise of God finds its affirmation in Jesus. What about all these promises? What about this promise that every place you walk, you'll be walking on conquered ground? What about this promise that no man shall be able to stand against you, that whatever you do in the spiritual realm, you will prosper, that I will bring you into all my fullness? What about that promise?

In Jesus Christ, Jesus is God's big yes and big amen. Are you in Jesus Christ? Have you trusted him as your Lord and Savior? Then the Bible says that all the promises of God have found their yet, their fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the first thing is this. If you and I, if you and I are going to be able to live in the life that God wants us to live, we're going to have to accept his promises as for us personally. And this means

that God's promises are never altered by time. I want to tell you something else. They're never affected by circumstance. God's promises are never affected by circumstance. Now listen carefully. Moses is dead. Now they didn't know he was dead until God came and announced it. Moses went up in the mountain to talk with God, and those people had seen Moses go off for 30 and 40 days out of stretch. And Moses didn't come back in a month or so. They didn't think anything strange about that. He was always going off somewhere to talk with God.

They didn't know he had died. He wasn't sick. The Bible says his natural force wasn't abated. He just wouldn't run down. He just wouldn't wear out. And God had to lay him asleep. They didn't know he was dead. God comes to Joshua and said, Moses is dead.

Now it's time for you to take over. What a circumstance. Moses is dead and Joshua's a rookie. And he's picking up at the greatest failure in history. And God says, now you're going to succeed where Moses, now get this, Moses, a man of experience, a man who had the rod of God, Moses failed. But now Joshua, Moses is dead. And I know this is your first assignment. You're just a rookie. You've been an understudy. This is your big chance, and Joshua, you're going to do it.

He says, the same promise I made to Moses I make to you. My promise is not changed or altered or affected by circumstance. By circumstance. Moses is dead. That man who had a face-to-face relationship to God, that man who had 120 years of experience with God, he's dead. I want to tell you something else. Moses was a failure in the end.

I think the saddest words in all the Bible are found in Deuteronomy 4 when Moses gathers all the congregation of Israel together, and he's going to begin to instruct them about the future. And he says, But I must die in this land. Moses disobeyed God in one instance, just one time Moses disobeyed God. You say, That seems like a cruel punishment. Listen, for a man like Moses, no offense is small. He should have known better. For a church that God has richly blessed, no offense is small." He should have known better. For a church that God has richly blessed,

no offense is small. And he lost his temper and spoke unadvisedly, the Bible says. And God said, All right, you will not go into the Promised Land. And he takes him up on the mountain, and by divine revelation he lets Moses feed all the land. For 120 years he's been trying to get the people of that land. And he lets them see all that land, but he says, You must die in this land. You will not go over. Moses was a failure. Now I want you to listen.

Can you imagine what Joshua might have said? Can you imagine the discouragement and disillusionment that the people of Israel might have expressed? They could have said this. If Moses, if Moses, the meekest man on all the earth, if Moses, that man who had unusual power of God, listen, if Moses couldn't live it, man, we can't live it.

If Moses couldn't make it over into the promised land, how do you expect us to make it over? Has that ever happened to you? I tell you, you can hardly live a week, a month, without being disillusioned by somebody. I learned a long time ago that it's time for you to stop centering your attention on men and get your eyes on Jesus. And I could bring up before you this morning the names of men, some that you may know and

some that you may not know, but I could describe the lives that they had lived. I mean lives of effectiveness and lives of usefulness. And yet, in the final analysis, they failed, they crumpled. And it's easy for you and me to say, well, if a man like that falls, if they can't live that kind of life, if they can't make it, then what hope is there for us? And I love it when God comes back and he says,

Listen, you're going to take them over. Never give another thought to Moses' failure because God's promises aren't affected by circumstance. It doesn't make any difference how many people fall short. It doesn't make any difference if the whole country dies in the wilderness. You don't have to die in the wilderness. It doesn't make any difference if every member of your family is ungodly. You don't have to be ungodly. You say, well, if my family were different, if things were different, I could live the Christian life. No, you couldn't. No, you couldn't. The Bible teaches us from cover to cover, history and experience teaches us that the Christian flourishes in adverse circumstances. If you can't live the Christian life in adverse

circumstances, then I want you to know you couldn't live it even in heaven. God's promises aren't affected by circumstances, I'm sure glad. I'm glad God's promise where he says, I shall supply all of your needs is not going to be affected by this non-depression that we're in. I believe it's going to be God's greatest opportunity to demonstrate his faithfulness. God's promises opportunity to demonstrate his faithfulness. God's promises are unaffected. As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, every adverse circumstance is just a fresh call from God to believe.

It's a fresh call from God to believe. The right response to the promise of God. I accept it as for me. The promise of God hasn't been altered by time. The same promise he made in this book is just as though it was printed today, just as though God spoke it first to me today. It's still my promise. You know what makes the Bible relevant?

Because the God of the Bible is our contemporary. You can go back, read the books of the great scientists that were written 50 years ago, even 10 years ago, they won't be relevant. They won't be relevant. They won't be relevant. You know why? Because their authors are not contemporary. They're historical. They died.

Now, if an author was an eternal contemporary, he could always be relevant, you see. But it's impossible. But God is our contemporary. Therefore, the Bible is always relevant because the author never died. And everything he says is as relevant today as it was when it was written. God's promise is not altered by time, not affected by circumstance. Every adverse circumstance, every Jordan River that's flowing its banks is simply God's call for a fresh obedience and a new opportunity to believe. Let's bow our heads now. Thank you. scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.