This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom, and I want to welcome you to week four of our look
through the book of Joshua. This is day one, and this in some ways may be my
favorite week of our study of the book of Joshua. This week, as we look through
this section of the book, we're going to be talking about how to overcome some
of those things that so often defeat us in our faith.

There is a power at work, a spiritual power at work to bring you down in your
faith. Satan has a strategy to defeat you. Paul, the apostle Paul, spoke of not
being ignorant of the schemes or the strategies of Satan, and the scripture
often pictures Christianity as warfare, and as us many times as the prize that's
being fought for, our hearts, our minds, our souls.

Last week, we began our look at these schemes that Satan has against us in the
book of Joshua as we looked at the powerful weapon of sin that's brought against
us, and how quickly it can bring to defeat that which seems so victorious in our
lives. This week, we're going to get to take a closer and more detailed look at
some of Satan's strategies, the methods that he tries to use to bring us to a
point of defeat in our lives. In Israel's case, these are strategies used to
defeat the armies, but there is a spiritual application in our lives today
that's very powerful.

For us, these military battles remind us of our everyday battles, and they help
us to be aware of the strategies used against us by Satan in the battle for
faith. So these next two days, we're going to look at four strategies of Satan
and four guaranteed counter-strategies of God. How does Satan trip us up?

How does he try to defeat us? Well, letting the battles of Joshua be a backdrop
for us, a lesson maker for us, strategy number one is he conspires against you.
One of the strategies for defeat in your life is to conspire against you.

Listen to what happens in chapter 9, verses 1 and 2, "Now when all the kings
west of the Jordan heard about these things, those in the hill country, in the
western foothills, and along the entire coast of the great sea as far as
Lebanon, the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hibisites,
and Jebusites, they came together, they came together to make war against Joshua
and Israel. " This by the way, what we read in these verses, was often attempted
against the powerful Israeli army. Not just one army fighting them, but a lot of
armies coming together, conspiring together against them.

So instead of defeating just army after army, now they have this huge battle on
their hands. And Satan will play the numbers game on you also. He will gang up
on you.

He will try to ally against you enough advice, or pressures, or circumstances
that it will cause you to think, "I just have to live in defeat. There's too
much. It's overwhelming.

" So he will take peer pressure, whether it's at school, or in a job, or in a
friendship, coming against you, telling you not to live the life of faith. Why
would you do that? Why would you give that up?

Peer pressure. And then he'll add to that circumstantial pressure,
circumstantial failure, nothing is going right. So my friends are against me, or
my friends are saying, "You shouldn't be a person of faith.

Nothing is going right in my life. " And then he'll add to that circumstantial
difficulties, and then he'll add to that depression from within all at once. For
us, it's not all these kings that conspire against us.

In fact, literally, we know what conspires against us. The New Testament tells
us. It's the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The world, the flesh, and the devil. The world is the world's way of thinking,
selfishness. The flesh is our inner way of wanting what we want.

It's not talking about our physical flesh there. It's this inner desire to get
what I want because I want it, inner selfishness. And then the devil, Satan
tempting us.

That's coming against you all the time, and sometimes all three at once. This
alliance against you, this conspiring against you. So what's the
counter-strategy?

The counter-strategy is alliance with the Lord. The counter-strategy is alliance
with something that's stronger. Listen to what happened in verse 42.

"All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign because the
Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. " The great question in my life, in
your life, every day of our lives, when it comes to spiritual battles, daily
battles, relationship battles, is who's fighting for you? Who's fighting the
battle?

If I try to fight them on my own, I lose. But when I realize that God wants to
fight them with me, from within me, something different happens. "And all the
alliances against them, Israel, in the end, won every battle.

And the reason is found in this alliance of their own. They were allied with the
Lord. " You stack Satan's numbers up against God's numbers, and you'll see how
easy it is to win this numbers game.

You can always defeat Satan's unholy alliances by means of your holy alliance
with the Lord. You need to be aware of Satan, but you need not be afraid of
Satan. Let me say that again.

You need to be aware of Satan and his schemes, but you need not be afraid of
Satan. Why shouldn't I be afraid of Satan? The only way to not be afraid of this
spiritual power is to realize that God is greater.

Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. So this alliance with
God means he is fighting for me. And when I know that he is fighting for me,
he's the one that wins the battles.

He won the battles for Israel on Joshua's day, and he'll win the battles for you
today. So that's the first strategy that Satan has, is to conspire against you.
And you say, "God, fight for me.

" Strategy number two is to deceive you. One of Satan's favorite strategies is
to deceive you. And you see this evidenced in the strategies that came against
Joshua and the Israeli army.

Group by the name of Gideon, the Gideonites, defeated Israel by means of a
disguise. And so Israel allowed into the land that which the Lord had forbidden
because of this deceit. Listen to what happens in chapter 9 verses 3 down
through verse 6.

"However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and
Ai, they resorted to a ruse. They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded
with worn-out sacks and old wineskins cracked and mended. The men put worn and
patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes.

All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. They went to Joshua at the
camp of Gilgau and they said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a
distant country. Make a treaty with us.

" They fooled them. They tricked them. And finally they did make a treaty with
them because of this disguise, because of this deceit.

And often in our own lives, a similar strategy of Satan defeats us. Satan takes
a lie and he disguises it as a truth. He takes death and he puts a costume of
life on it and we buy into it and all of a sudden we're defeated in our
spiritual life.

So we think through things like missionary dating, the idea that I'm going to
date someone who's not a believer and that's how I'm going to win them to
Christ. When really you're dating them because you want to have a relationship
with them. But Satan lies and says, "Oh no, no, I know it's not a great idea for
you to be dating someone who's not a believer.

" In fact, God says in the New Testament, don't have that kind of partnership
with somebody who's not a believer because it might lead to marriage and that
would be devastating for you both. So don't do that. I know it's worked out for
some people.

I understand that. God in his grace has done that but so many times it creates
so much pain. But we buy into the lie and we say, "Well, it's okay as long as
I'm trying to win him to the Lord.

I'm trying to win her to the Lord. " And then all of a sudden you're caught up
in sexual immorality with him or her and you wonder, "What happened? How did I
get here?

" Satan deceived you. It can happen when you're married. For many people
adultery begins with the thought, "It's just some harmless flirting.

It's just a little fun with somebody at the office. We're just kidding each
other. " You're buying into the lie.

It's not harmless. Flirting is not harmless. And all of a sudden you're caught
up in an adulterous relationship and you think, "What happened?

How did I get here? " Satan deceived you. You bought into the lie.

Truth of the matter is when Satan tempted Jesus, he tried to use Scripture
itself as a lie against Jesus to get Jesus to do what he wanted to do. And Jesus
saw right through it, of course. He wouldn't buy the lie.

So what's the counter-strategy? How do you come against the deceit of Satan in
your life? Listen to what happened, what God says about this in verses 14 and 15
of chapter 9.

"The men of Israel sampled their provisions," people of Gibeon, "but they did
not inquire of the Lord. And then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let
them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath. They ate the
food, they did their test, but they didn't ask God, they didn't do his test.

How could Israel have known it was a trick? How can we know when Satan is trying
to deceive us? You ask for the wisdom of the one who sees through all of the
disguises, all of the deceit.

" Sometimes we pray, "Lord, why didn't you keep me out of this mess? " And God
says, "If you'd asked my opinion before you got into the mess, I would certainly
have kept you out of the mess, because you're my child, I love you. But maybe
you're like me, you just barrel through life too quickly sometimes.

You don't take time to stop, or you really want something, and you find a reason
that you want it, and you don't take time to listen. Ask for God's counsel. God,
what do you think about this?

And then listen. That's the way to win in that battle. Now tomorrow we're going
to talk about two more strategies that often defeat us, but before we end today,
I want to pray for God's victory in your life.

This day, in these particular areas, would you pray with me? Our Father, we do
pray for your victory in our lives. And so we pray that even today, when Satan
tries to bring an alliance against us of all the things going wrong, all the
advice that's wrong, all the mess that's in our lives, Lord, help us to realize
that you will do the fighting for us.

Help us to remember our connection to you. And in those times when Satan is
trying to deceive us, he'll appear even as an angel of light sometimes to try to
deceive us, something that looks good, but is the worst thing we could choose.
God, help us to take the time to ask your counsel to listen to you and then to
follow you.

Lord, thank you that you are greater than any other power. You are the one that
we can always rely on. Help us to rely on you today, we pray.

And we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.