Thank you again, Mark, for leading us, and good to see you all this morning, beautiful sunny morning, nice and warm, much better than last week when it was cold and snowing every day. But spring's coming, it's coming, coming slow. 

This past week in our two Bible studies on Tuesday and Thursday, we studied Ephesians 3, 14 to 21, and then John 15, 1 to 8. And these are two of the most vital and encouraging and instructive texts in the whole of the Bible concerning the Christian life. 

In John 15, Jesus speaks to the 11 disciples, Judas is gone, the ones who are already clean because of the word that he had spoken to them, and he commands them to abide in him, to remain in him, to focus on him, depend on him, to believe him. 

And by this, like a branch abiding in a vine, they would bear much fruit for God's glory, and he says, so you will be my disciples. The Christian life, Jesus says, is much like a branch abiding in a vine. We look unto Jesus as we run this race; we are filled, controlled by the Holy Spirit as he imparts strength to our inner man, and Jesus settles down and is at home in our lives, working out, living his life out through us. 

The power, the energy, the enablement to live holy, to live a life that glorifies God and all that we do, to be witnesses of the gospel, to show the power, the transforming power of Jesus in us, comes through him. Like the nutrients, the nourishment, the strength to bear fruit comes up through the vine, so the power to live the Christian life comes through Jesus living in us as we abide in him; for without him we can do nothing. 

Paul expounds on this idea in Ephesians 3, 14 to 21. There's a series of purpose clauses in this text that show us the process of fruitfulness, of fulfillment of God's intention for every believer, the reason for which he saved and regenerated and transformed us and has come to live in us, and that is that he might be glorified in the church by Christ Jesus. 

Paul says that the Holy Spirit imparts strength to our spirit, to our inner man, and that by this Jesus can settle down and be at home in us; he can be fully functional, living his life out through us, and that then we can be rooted and grounded in love and come to understand experientially the love of Christ which passes knowledge. 

We can experience his love, his amazing grace, and love poured out through our lives, and in this, we are filled with all the fullness of God, and God the Father can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. 

And verse 21 says that this is for his glory, his glory by Christ Jesus in the church. The command is to abide. The command is to have the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, to walk in the Spirit, to be being filled or controlled by the Spirit, to look unto Jesus, the premier example of faith who brought faith to its completion at the cross. 

The message is that it is God by his power, it is Jesus by his life in us, it is the Holy Spirit imparting strength to our inner man through faith that causes fruit to abound in our lives for his glory. And this is not a passive thing, it's not a let go and let God situation. 

Abiding is an action. It's a command to be obeyed one day at a time. There's a battle, a battle in the mind to know God's Word, to renew our mind to it, to believe it, to reckon it to be so, and to yield to his life and power in us. The Christian life is a battle, a battle to believe, to abide, a discipline, to be in his Word, in prayer, in fellowship, focusing on him, looking unto him, trusting him fully to work out his will in our lives. 

In Joshua chapter 5, we see a picture, a graphic lesson of this very truth all the way back in Gilgal. Gilgal means rolling or to roll, and God says, this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. In this chapter, we see God prepare the way for the conquering of Jericho and all of the land. 

We see a picture of separation and consecration, a seemingly foolish event in the circumcision of all the men of war. But in it, faith and trust in God and a picture of faith and separation, consecration to God. 

We see the Passover celebrated, remembering what God has done, who he is, the recent history of Israel and the people who died in the wilderness, and a rolling away of the reproach of Egypt as God fulfills his promise to bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey and a new provision. 

And we see that the battle, the power for the battle, is the Lord's. He is in control of all the details. He is preparing the way and it's by His power that victory will be won. Joshua and the people of Israel needed to look to Him. They needed to trust Him, to do it His way and obey Him if they were going to see that power worked out in their lives. 

And they did. Let's look at our text, Joshua 5.1. So it was when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel. 

At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time. So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the four skins. 

And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. For all the people who came out had been circumcised. But all the people born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 

For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness till all the people who were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed because they did not obey the voice of the Lord to whom the Lord swore that He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 

Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. So it was when they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. 

Then the Lord said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore the name of this place is called Gilgal to this day. Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. 

And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. 

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries? So he said, No, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come. 

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped him, and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take your sandal off your foot for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so.

I have five points on your outline this morning. First, God prepares the way. Second, God rolls away the reproach. Third, God wants us to remember. Fourth, God fulfills His promises. And fifth, the battle is the Lord's. 

Well, first we see in verse 1 that God prepares the way. In verse 1, we see an amazing thing; it says, when all the kings heard about how God had dried up the Jordan and that Israel had crossed over on dry land, it says that their heart melted and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel. 

We've seen it before in the testimony of Rahab. We see it vividly in the story of Gideon. That story came to my mind. God used Gideon with just 300 soldiers to attack 15,000 soldiers of Midian who had held the Israelites captive for seven years. Initially, Gideon was reluctant to answer God's call to lead and deliver Israel. He felt he was not qualified, according to Judges 6.15. 

But eventually, when he answered the call, God reduced his initial army of 32,000 soldiers to 10,000, and finally to 300. God did a great thing through him; Judges 7.22 says, when the 300 Israelites blew their horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords. 

Why did they fight against each other in confusion? The Lord arranged those details. The Lord caused the victory, confusing the enemy, and showed Gideon and us that it is not by our might or power that we have victory, but it's by His plan and His purpose and His desire. God has all the details and orchestrates all of the circumstances. 

In Ephesians 2.10 it says that He has prepared good works beforehand that we might walk in them. He's prepared good works for you, good works of holy living, of glorifying Him, of being a witness, those meetings that you have with people where you're able to share the gospel. God has prepared those details. Jericho is going to experience the same thing as the Lord prepares the way and shows Israel that it is His might and power that brings the victory. 

So verse 1 of our text tells us that the enemy, the kings of the people of Jericho of all the land, heard about the Lord God, they heard about His mighty works, and God caused their hearts to melt, and there was no strength in them. 

Think about fighting a great enemy. You remember when the spies were sent out; they came back and they said, they're giants in the land, they're fortified cities, they're overwhelming, there's no way. And if you think about fighting a giant, I watched a documentary a couple weeks ago on Andre the Giant, you remember him? He was quite the guy. But man, his hands were massive and he was huge, and can you imagine having to fight Andre the Giant? 

It's an impossibility in our own strength. But imagine if God puts a heart and spirit of fear in that adversary. He's so scared, he's so terrified in his spirit that he just huddles in the corner, shaking. He has no confidence, no possibility of overcoming you in his mind. That battle has already been won by the Lord. Their hearts melted because of the children of Israel. God prepared the way for the battle.

Next, we see that God rolls away the reproach. Look at verse 2 of our text; at that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time. 

And what had happened was, we see in this text that all the men of war who came out of Egypt had been circumcised, but they all died in the wilderness and all those born in the wilderness in those 40 years who had grown up in their place, as it says, had not been circumcised. So God tells Joshua to make flint knives and circumcise those children who had not been circumcised. And he did this, and then verse 8 says, so it was when they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. 

And then the Lord said to Joshua, this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore, the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. But look at the first three words of verse 2. It says, at that time, the enemy is absolutely consumed with fear. They have no spirit to fight. God has prepared them for defeat, certain defeat. And we read, at that time, what would you expect next? 

At that time, Israel attacks and overwhelms Jericho and conquers and wins the battle. No, God is going to deal with His people. He's going to deal with His instrument. He's in no hurry. He doesn't have to strategize and strike at just the right moment. He doesn't need the element of surprise. He doesn't need an overwhelming human army like we saw with Gideon. He's in control, and everything is done on His timetable. 

At that time, it says, He commanded Joshua to incapacitate His entire army. They have the flooded Jordan River at their back. They have the mighty, fortified Jericho before them, like the Israelites at the Red Sea. And what does God command? Circumcise all of your men of war. And then it tells us that they stayed there until they had healed. 

This was not a very strategic military decision. The enemy is on its heels. It's ready for defeat, and you incapacitate your entire army for days in a very vulnerable logistical situation. Just as God had done with Gideon, He shows Joshua and the children of Israel that He is in control, that their ways are not His ways. 

But there's more here. God says this day, He rolls away the reproach of Egypt, and thus the place was called Gilgal, which means to roll. Israel had been in bondage in Egypt for 400 years. God delivered them out of Egypt with many miracles and a mighty hand, and yet we have learned through our study of Joshua in passages like Hebrews 3 and 4 that those who came out of Egypt did not enter into the Promised Land because of unbelief. 

They could not enter into the Promised Land because of unbelief, and thus they all fell in the wilderness and were consumed. This generation had been circumcised in Egypt, but the generation born in the wilderness was never circumcised, so now this new generation had exercised faith. Their hearts have turned to the Lord in faith. 

We've seen that in the crossing of the Jordan as a picture of faith, an act of faith. If their fathers couldn't enter in because of unbelief, then they entered in by faith. And what we see here is that faith is pictured in the act of circumcision, a cutting away, a separation, and I think a consecration to the Lord, expressing their faith in Him and their trust in His plan, His purpose, and His power for the battle. 

You think about their fathers in the wilderness. If He had told them, we're going to have a battle, and now I've got the enemies scared to death, and they're ready, I'm giving you them, and now I want you to circumcise everybody. You can imagine what their... Remember those times? We can't do that, and they grumbled and they complained, and what he brought us out here into the wilderness to die, and that's not what happened here. They obeyed. Joshua circumcised them all. 

Again, we find rich application of this principle in the Christian life as well. Our life is not one of scheming. It's not one of planning and striving to accomplish our goals and purposes. Our life is one of abiding in Jesus, looking unto Him, knowing, reckoning His Word, and trusting Him for His plan and purpose in our lives, and His power to orchestrate all the necessary details, prepare the way, and produce the fruit for His glory. 

You know, many times I'll have someone call me or come up to me, see me, and they'll say, I really need to talk to you. And my initial reaction is always, ooh, you know? But whenever I go into a meeting like that, I think, Lord, Lord, you've got to help me. Lord, you've got to give me wisdom. Lord, you have to help me to understand what to say. I don't have any idea. You think I have an idea? I don't have any idea, right? 

The Lord guides and empowers. Here's a clean break, a cutting away, and a consecration to the Lord by the nation Israel because of their faith and trust in the Lord at Gilgal. It made no human sense, it made no military strategic sense, but it was an act of faith and from the heart, an act of obedience to God. 

And the reproach of Egypt was rolled away, much like the reproach of sin is rolled away from us when we place our faith in Jesus and God circumcises our heart, regenerating us, making us alive together with Christ and coming to make His home in us. 

The reproach, the bondage, the lack of faith, the failure of their parents' generation, the inability to enter in, a separation from God because of unbelief—all this was rolled away when Israel crossed the Jordan and came to Gilgal and were circumcised in an act of obedience because of their faith. 

Well next, we see that God wants us to remember and also that God fulfills His promises. Verse 10 of our text: Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. 

And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. 

So this Passover marked the fortieth year from the first Passover in Egypt. The forty years of wandering in the wilderness was now past. It was complete, and the reproach has been rolled away. But God doesn't want His children to forget the great and mighty works that He's done for them. 

And we see here that on that momentous day, the children of Israel ate the Passover meal at Gilgal, a new day, a new relationship with God, and a new land, and a celebration of all that He's done for them—delivering them out of Egypt and slavery, passing over their sons because of the blood that they spread on the doorpost, parting the Red Sea, providing for them in the wilderness all these years. 

But now this time has passed, and the promise of the land is being fulfilled. This again is a clean break, a new life, a new start, and the manna ceases. Our brothers and sisters, that time has passed, and its reproach is gone. 

And now they would enjoy the fruits of the land, the milk and honey, the fulfillment, the provision of God, as they dwell with Him and trust in Him and He fulfills His promise. We have such a promise, a much greater promise in the Lord Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, and we have an ordinance, a command from the Lord to remember what He's done for us, how He's fulfilled His promise in Christ, at the cross, at the resurrection. 

And my friends, we have a new life and a new land. We haven't been delivered from this world; that will come. We haven't been promised a geographical location, a specified land like Israel has, but we do live in a new land. 

Turn to 2 Corinthians 5 with me, please. 2 Corinthians 5:14, for the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus: Can you remember before you were saved when you were an Adam? What compelled you? What motivated you? 

It wasn't the love of Christ. Now the love of Christ compels us, constrains us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. We died. And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 

Therefore from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. That's how we used to regard men, right, according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. For if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

Here's how we live in a new land. Now all things are of God. I got up this morning early and I went out, and the light was just starting in the clouds to the east, and it was just orange and beautiful in the clouds. And I thought, I was used to when we brought the kids home at night from Bible study or something, we'd look up at all the stars and I'd say, who made that? 

And they'd say, Jesus made that. And I thought this morning, Jesus made that. All things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and my friends, He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 

So when we look around at His creation, when we live this life and we know people and we interact with them and we seek to give them the word of reconciliation, it's like walking in a new land compared to what we were. We're in the world, but we're not of the world. We are new creatures. 

Before, all things were of the world; they were all about me. I saw everything in a humanistic, self-centered way. But now I walk in a new land because He died for me, I died with Him so that I might live for Him. And now all things are new; all things are of God. 

I've had a clean break from the old man, the man in Adam; I died, and I was buried with Jesus, and raised to newness of life with Him, and He now lives in me. God wants us to remember what He has done. 

And we have the Lord's Supper to remember what He accomplished at the cross. And God wants us to know that the promise has been fulfilled in Christ, and that is why I now live a new life for Him. The Israelites ate the Passover in the new land, marking the end of the forty years, the unbelief, the reproach of Israel. 

And the old life was cut away in circumcision. Now they were living a new life in a new land with a new relationship to God in faith and trust, walking in obedience to Him. We're going to see that in Jericho next time. 

So we see that God makes the way. We see that God rolls away the reproach, that God wants us to remember that God fulfills His promises. And finally, we see that the battle is the Lord's. 

Verse 13, it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries? He said, No, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come. 

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. Joshua did so. 

Well, here I believe we have a theophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, the commander of the Lord's army. Notice that Joshua falls on his face to the earth and worships him and he's not rebuked for this, as would be the case with an angel. 

Also, Joshua calls him Lord and himself his servant and he's commanded to take off his sandal because the ground is holy. Why is the ground holy? Because God is there, much like with Moses. The commander of the Lord's army had come, presumably with the army of the hosts of heaven, and he's going to fight the battle of Jericho. 

This is a central theme of the book of Joshua; the battle is the Lord's. God shows Israel and us again and again that all the victories come, all the fruit is produced, all good things come from and by the grace and power of the Lord. 

Here God is encouraging Joshua again. He's facing a heavy battle. It's a sealed-up city, Jericho, no way in, no way out, strategically fortified. How can he possibly take the city? How can he possibly have victory? God has promised them the land. 

He's brought them all this way, and He's miraculously delivered them across the Jordan, into the land, to the walls of Jericho. But my friends, there's no hope in the world. There's no confidence in the wisdom of men. There's no military plan to accomplish this victory. How can Joshua take the city? 

He can't. Only Jesus can. And He's there. And He's commanding the army of angels. And there's no concern for the Lord to take down the walls of Jericho. 

Turn over to 2 Kings 6 with me, please. I just want to give you a sort of an illustration here from 2 Kings 6:11. It says, Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? 

And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom. So he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him. And it was told him, saying, Surely he is in Dothan. 

Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots. 

And his servant said to him, Alas, my master, what shall we do? Here's an impossible situation again. And the servant doesn't understand. He doesn't see. Verse 16, So he answered, Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. 

The servant's looking at Elisha and saying, Hey, it's just you and me. Look at all these guys. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 

We do not know. We cannot even imagine or conceive of the spiritual battle going on around us. We get glimpses of it in Daniel and Elisha, even here in Joshua. But it's beyond our comprehension, the battle that ensues in the spiritual realm. 

But that's not our business. Michael said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you. The battle is the Lord's. And as Joshua faced Jericho, his only hope was in the promise of the Word of God and the power and provision of God, and all that he could do was trust the Lord. 

And the Lord comes to him here to give him confidence, to encourage him and strengthen him and reinforce the promise that he would be with him through all of these battles. God saved him and brought him here for this express purpose. This is such an important lesson for us to learn. 

How can we live holy? How can we bear fruit? How can we win men to Christ? How can we live the Christian life? We can't. Only Jesus can. But there's an essential truth that we must know and learn from the New Testament Scriptures. 

God did not only justify us when we believed Jesus; He did that. We are secure forever in Him. We now possess eternal life through faith in Him. But God did so much more than just deliver us from the wrath to come. He also regenerated us. He crucified us with Christ, buried us with Him, and raised us to newness of life. 

He killed our old man in Adam, dominated and controlled by indwelling sin. He made us alive together with Jesus, dead to sin, dead to the law, released us from the bondage of fear of death, and He, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, came to make their home in us. 

He's given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. And hear me now, my brothers and sisters. He saved us. He recreated us. He indwelled and He empowers us. He brought us to this very point for the express purpose that we would glorify Him in our lives. 

We would live lives worthy of our calling, that we would praise and worship Him, spend time with Him, talk to Him, seek Him, believe Him, obey Him, by His grace and power in us. He saved you to make you holy, just like He saved Joshua and brought him all that way. 

And brought them to Jericho to bring down the walls, to take the land. And He expects you to live a holy life. He expects you to be a witness for Him. Can you imagine God doing all that He did to bring Israel and Joshua to Jericho just to have them lose the battle? Just to have them have no way to take down the walls and conquer the land and possess it? It's nonsense. 

And yet so many Christians believe and teach today that we are still vile, rotten sinners. That we should expect to fail. That we are tortured men with two natures who never do the things we want to do and always continually perpetually do the things we hate. That this should be the expectation for our lives. 

My friends, this undermines all that God teaches us in the New Testament concerning the new covenant life. Yes, there's a battle. Yes, we must wage this war to have victory. Just like Joshua had to march around that city like God told him to. That was God's way. But my friends, how? Joshua obeyed God. He believed Him. 

He did something that was utterly insane to every military man who has ever lived. And the battle was won by the Lord. We have such a tendency to fight the battle in our own power. We think we are waging war against sin, striving to keep the law, seeking to live contrary to who we are, to overcome our own desires and sinfulness, to please God somehow. 

The Bible says the Spirit witnesses with our spirit. Why? Because God has recreated our spirit. We're regenerate new. We want, most of all, deep in our hearts to live for Him. Because He's put that in us. God says, you're striving. You're seeking to live to a standard. That's not my way. 

Is there a battle? Yes. Do we fail and sin? Yes. But not because God has not provided a way for victory. Not because we lack something we need. The battle's not carnal. Our weapons are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ. 

That's every philosophy of man, the way of man, the wisdom of man. It's every error and it's every lie. And my friends, our weapon is truth. Our weapon is the Word of God. We win the battle in the mind when we renew our mind to the Word of God, when we choose to believe, to reckon what God says is true, and when we yield to His power and life in us. 

When He told Joshua to circumcise His army at this point, when He tells Joshua to march around the city one time every day and seven times on the seventh day and blow the trumpet, Joshua said, well, you promised. You promised that you're going to give us the city. I'm going to do what you say. 

In that Ephesians 3, 14 to 21 passage, we see Paul lay out God's intention for us. We see purpose clauses linked together in succession. I want to look at that passage as we close. Some of you have already studied this with me twice this week. I pray that you will study it a hundred more times in the coming months. 

It's so practical, so vital. We must know it in order to apply it. Ephesians 3, 14, it's the same principle we see in Joshua. What is God's way? 

God intends for me to live a holy life. What's His way? For this reason, Paul says, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, that word that—verse 16, that word that, that's the important word, that's the purpose word. 

Always pay attention to those purpose words, that, so that, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory. That means according to all His riches in heaven, His infinite riches, not out of His riches, but according to His riches, that He would grant you to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. 

Here is how God intends to produce holiness fruit in your life like a branch abiding in a vine. It's not by law, it's not by religious work or by my striving. In Jericho, God told Joshua to march around the city; that was His way. If Joshua chose another way, there would be no victory. 

Here in Ephesians 3 and in John 15 and Romans 6, so many other passages, we see God's way for the new covenant life, for a life of fruit for God's glory. The first thing we see is that the Holy Spirit imparts strength to our inner man. 

This is being filled with the Spirit, controlled with the Spirit. This is walking in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit imparts strength to our inner man through faith. That, so that, Jesus might settle down and be at home in our lives. 

The word here is for house and it has the idea of down. Down—that means that Jesus is going to dwell comfortably in me, His house, where He dwells. When the Spirit is imparting strength to our inner man through faith, then Jesus is able to settle down and be at home in our lives and live His life out through us. 

This is so that we might be rooted and grounded in love, Paul says. That we might know— you ever wonder about that verse? You might know the love of Christ which passes knowledge is what it says. 

Well, how can I know love? I can't explain it to you. I can't define it. I can only experience it. That I may know experientially the love of Christ which passes understanding, definition, right? That I may know it experientially, that the love of Christ would be poured out through my life to God, to others, to the lost. 

Now we can inhibit this. We can fail to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, to walk in the Spirit, to be filled with Spirit. We can cease to renew our minds to His word. We can cease to seek Jesus to empower us as we abide in Him, as we believe Him, and as we love one another. 

We can do things; we can engage in things that make Jesus uncomfortable in our home. You got a big pile of dirty dishes in your sink, and it stinks in there and there's something rotten in the basement. You can't settle down and be at home. That's the word picture here. 

Jesus needs to feel comfortable. He needs to be at home so that He can work out through my life. Paul gives us an example of this in 1 Corinthians 6 where he says if you join yourself to a harlot, you join Christ to a harlot. I've been thinking about this a lot. 

I don't want to do anything that makes Jesus uncomfortable. He lives in me. He's with me. He's there. Paul prays here in Ephesians 3 that believers will be continually strengthened by the Spirit through faith so that Jesus might settle down and be at home. We might know the love of Christ poured out through us. 

And in this, when all these clauses are linked together, you can't just rip verse 20 out of there. When they're all linked together, we see something beautiful in verse 20. Now to Him who is able to do what? Exceedingly, abundantly, above. We think Paul's trying to say here. 

Exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. For what purpose? For His glory in the church. When we are abiding in the vine, when we're looking unto Jesus, letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, being filled with the Spirit by faith and trust in Him, then God is able to do great and wonderful things according to His will for my life for His glory. 

That's God's intent. But for Joshua and Jericho, he first had to learn that the battle is the Lord's. And for us in this new covenant time in Christ, we must learn to abide. We must learn to believe, to trust, so that Jesus can live His life through us for the glory of the Father. 

The battle is the Lord's. Our part is to be faithful today. Our part is to look to Him, abide in Him, know and believe His word, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. My friends, Jesus is the only one who can live the Christian life. But He has chosen to live it through me and through you as we trust in Him. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for Your word, Your truth. So thankful that You keep reminding us and thank You that You make it plain and clear. You tell us the truth. Sometimes it's hard for us to believe it. Sometimes it's hard for us to keep it in the forefront of our mind and to reckon it. 

Sometimes we trust ourselves. Sometimes we trust the world. Help us to know Your word. And Father, help us to trust You and believe You like Joshua did. It might not make sense to us sometimes. It might not feel right. It might not agree with our emotions or our experience. But what You say is true. Help us to believe You and obey You. And all this for Your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen.