Possessing the Land - Page 2

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>Possessing the Land - Page 2</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> There are many lessons we can learn from the example of Israel concerning spiritual warfare and victory over sin as we look at their history in the land of promise.</div> <bR> <div> I Corinthians 10:1-6</div> <div> And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all to Moses were baptized in the cloud, and in the sea; and all did eat the same spiritual food and all did drink the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking of a spiritual rock following them, and the rock was the Christ; but in the majority of them God was not well pleased, for they were strewn in the wilderness, and those things became types of us, that we should not passionately desire evil things, as also these did desire.</div> <bR> <div> All that we read concerning the history of Israel was written for our benefit. This passage continues:</div> <bR> <div> I Corinthians 10:7-12</div> <div> And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. <U>Now all these things happened to them as types of us, and they were written for our admonition</U>, on whom the ends of the ages have come. </div> <bR> <div> I have found that the Spirit of Christ has answered many of my questions regarding spiritual warfare as I have looked to the examples of the Old Testament. The history of Israel going in to take possession of the land of promise serves as a type and shadow of the Christian taking possession of the land of his flesh. Even as man’s body was formed of the dust of the earth, so too does the history of Israel conquering the land of promise serve as an example of Christians conquering their flesh.</div> <bR> <div> Moses as Law Giver</div> <div> <IMG SRC="c6513520.png" border=0 width="275" height="338" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> As we begin to examine the types and shadows of the history of Israel’s warfare to conquer the land, we might ask why God did not choose Moses to lead the people into their inheritance. The reason is that Moses was the Law-giver. The Law can never lead mankind forth into victory over sin. The Law was given to show us how weak we are, and to make known out total inability in our own strength to conquer the enemies that dwell in our land.</div> <bR> <div> The Law simply revealed the righteousness of God, but it was powerless to make men righteous. The Law could reveal that true righteousness was manifested in a pure devotion to God and love for one’s neighbor, but it could not produce this love and devotion in the hearts of men and women.</div> <bR> <div> Something further would need to happen in order for men to begin to walk in righteousness, and to establish the kingdom of God in the earth. Mankind would need to receive a new heart, a heart that yearned to do the will of Yahweh. This new heart would not be given until the Holy Spirit was given to mankind at the day of Pentecost. This Spirit of Christ would then produce in man the desire to do the will of the Father, and the power to accomplish His desire. The Law was designed to lead us to Christ, showing us our need to be born again of the Spirit.</div> <bR> <div> Romans 8:3-4</div> <div> For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.</div> <bR> <div> When God gave man a law that was external to himself, written on tablets of stone, that which man received was weak, unable to give him victory of sin and the flesh. The Law could only tell us what we should do, but it could not produce in us the desire to do it, nor could it impart the spiritual life necessary for man to rule over his flesh.</div> <bR> <div> Galatians 3:21</div> <div> Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.</div> <bR> <div> This was the weakness of the Law; it was not able to impart spiritual life to men. We need the life of Christ in us if we are to conquer sin. For this reason, Moses could not be the man to lead the Israelites into victory over the enemies of the land. The entire time Moses led the people of Israel, they remained outside the land of promise.</div> <bR> <div> The apostle Paul describes his own struggle against sin, before he came to know Christ, as a futile exercise that always ended in failure.</div> <bR> <div> Romans 7:14-23</div> <div> For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.</div> <bR> <div> Before we come to Yahshua and receive His Spirit, we can have very good intentions of doing the will of God, but we will always fall short. We will find that the desires of our flesh are too strong, making us slaves to sin. Only after receiving the Spirit of Christ will we have the spiritual life, and the spiritual power, necessary to conquer sin and begin to live in righteousness.</div> <bR> <div> What a desperate and vexing condition a man finds himself in when he begins to be awakened to the evil that resides in his flesh. As much as he may want to rule over it, he finds himself unable to break free of its domination of his life. But take hope, for Yahweh has provided an answer. He has given us a Savior to deliver us from the bondage to sin.</div> <bR> <div> Romans 7:24-25</div> <div> O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed one) our Lord! </div> <div> [Amplified Bible]</div> <bR> <div> As we dwell in this body of flesh we are in bondage to the sinful desires that reside in it. We cry out, “Who will release and deliver me from the shackles of this body of death?” God answers, “I will set you free through my son, Yahshua the Messiah.”</div> <bR> <div> We see then that Moses could not lead the people into conquer the land, for the Law does not have the power to set men free. Joshua, who is a type of Yahshua, our Savior, was God’s appointed vessel to lead the people in to conquer the land and drive out its inhabitants.</div> <bR> <div> How then is this victory accomplished, and what is the manner of our warfare?</div> <bR> <div> Continue to <A HREF="id616.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Possessing the Land Page 3"><U>Next Page</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>