Welcome to Expound, a verse
by verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. So, Father, we bring
our bodies before you as Paul said in Romans. To bring our bodies
as living sacrifices, wholly and acceptable, which
is our reasonable service. So with our bodies here,
we bring our minds. We direct our focus
and our attention upon the scripture at hand. We are determined not to
be distracted by texts or by emails that come
or by other conversation, but to give you-- as part of
our worship to you in declaring that you are more supreme than
any other one or any other thing-- we give you our attention. We give you our time. We give you our very
bodies in this place, as well as others around
the country listening, around the world. We pray you strengthen them,
we pray that you bless them. We pray, Lord, that
you'd answer questions for them, as well as for us. And meet us, Lord. Meet us on the
pages of scripture, through these
truths that we read. Make them relevant to
us as we study together. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, up till now, the book
of Joshua has been exciting. The stories have
been miraculous. They have been phenomenal. They have been, in
effect, the Sunday school version of the book of Joshua. Virtually everyone so
far knows the stories that we have been
covering in the first part of the book of Joshua. The crossing of the
Red Sea at flood stage, when the waters like the Red
Sea parted and the priest stood on the banks, holding
the Ark of the covenant as the people passed through,
went to the other side. Then they gathered out in
the plains toward Jericho and they celebrated
the Passover together. Do you remember? We made note that it was
only the third time they ever celebrated the
Passover as a nation. In all of those years, this
is only the third occurrence. The first was the
very night of Passover in Egypt, when the death angel
passed over the homes that had the blood on them. The second one was one
year later at Mount Sinai. And then, that it wasn't kept
again all during the wilderness wanderings until now. After the wanderings are
over and they're in the land, before they have any
battle, they pause together and they worship the Lord,
celebrating the Passover. Then, the battle of Jericho,
which really is a misnomer. Because it wasn't a battle. They didn't-- they did nothing. They blew their horns
Woo hoo, big deal. That's about all
their involvement was. They marched around it,
looked at it, and blew a horn and the walls came down. So God gave them
a great victory. Miracle after miracle,
phenomenon after phenomenon has happened. Those are the Sunday
school stories that we've grown up hearing. Most people don't know much
about the book of Joshua beyond those stories. That's where their
knowledge begins and ends. You, of course, are
a different breed. Like Matt was mentioning,
you know your Bible. You love your Bible. And you know that what
happens next is failure. You know that this Sunday
school story-ladened phenomenal miraculous
set of events is going to take a dramatic
turn beginning in chapter 7. Up till now, I mean,
chapter after chapter, I can hear the music
playing in the background. Boom, walls come
down, river opens up. Until this chapter. It says, but the children of
Israel-- verse 1, chapter 7-- but the children of Israel
committed a trespass regarding the accursed things. For Achan-- the son of
Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of
the tribe of Judah-- took of the accursed things. So the anger of the Lord burned
against the children of Israel. Now, if you would, just to
show you the comparison, go back to chapter 6. And look at the final
statement made in that chapter. The last verse, verse 27. It says, so the
Lord was with Joshua and his fame spread
throughout all the country. And then the next word, but. That is not a great
word after a sentence that we just read like that. God was with him, but. Because it denotes a
contrast, it denotes a moment. It's not going to stay the same. Now, things are
beginning to change. That's what it was like, but now
something different is coming. And it is true. Now, you will see
in this chapter, the overcomers are overcome. The victors become the victims. There is a change of events. There's a change in the air. In a high school locker room,
there's a sign that reads, defeat is worse than
death because you have to live with it. As we enter into this
chapter, they get defeated. Now, they get both
defeat and death. It is not what they expected. It is not what they anticipated. They anticipated what
happened to Jericho to just happen again and again. And walls were falling
down and this is easy, this is a cakewalk. And so how the last chapter
ends and this chapter begins, it is almost as though we are
reading two different books altogether. But the children of Israel
committed a trespass. Now we want to find
out what they did wrong for a very simple reason. I can only speak personally. I want to find out
what they did wrong because I don't want to
repeat what they did wrong. Like that famous saying, I
think it was Santayana who said, those who fail to
learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I want to find out what they
did wrong, because I don't want to do what they did wrong. I want to figure out
what to do that's right. I don't want the defeat and
the death that they had. Now, before we just
jump right into this, Joshua is employing a strategy
in conquering the land. It is the Lord's strategy. It's going to have a little bit
of a downturn for this section. Then it's going to go back up. But the strategy is simple. He wants to strike the land
of Canaan right in the middle. So he's going to take
Jericho, which he did, the Lord gave it to him. The next city is Ai. It's an A and an I,
but it's not pronounced AI, it's pronounced Ai. He's going to take Jericho,
Ai, Bethel, Gibeon. Those are the hill
country cities right after Jericho in
the plains in the desert. And in doing that, he is
striking the nation of Israel, the land of Canaan right in
the middle to divide them. The strategy is to
divide and conquer. By driving a wedge and taking
the territory in the middle, he can then station his troops
in the center of the country. And then, he can enact
a southern campaign to take the south
part of the land and then turn northward
in a northern campaign to take the north
part of the land. That's how the book of
Joshua is going to go. His strategy is divide
and then conquer. But before he does,
he is defeated. Now, here's something
to make a note of. This is the only time
the children of Israel are defeated in settling the
land in the book of Joshua. It's the only occurrence
of their defeat, is here. And that defeat does not
come from the outside, the problem comes
from the inside. There's somebody in the camp of
Israel who has committed a sin and God holds the group
responsible for it. So that's why it says,
the children of Israel committed a trespass
regarding the accursed things. For Achan-- remember that
name, the son of Carmi, that's his dad; the son of
Zabdi, that's his grandpa; the son of Zerah,
great-grandpa-- of the tribe of Judah
took the accursed things. And so, the anger
of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Now, Joshua sent
men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven
on the east side of Bethel. And he spoke to them,
saying, go up and spy up-- out the country. So the men went up
and spied out Ai. And they returned to
Joshua and said to him, do not let all the people go up. But only about 2,000 or 3,000
men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people,
for the people of Ai are few. It is estimated that the
population of this city was much smaller
than that of Jericho. About 12,000 people occupied
Ai at this time in Canaan, at the time of the
occupation of Joshua. So notice, the spies who--
we don't need a big group. I mean, look at Jericho. That was a piece of cake. So all we need is
2,000 or 3,000 people and we'll just mop this
thing up very quickly. And so, verse 4. About 3,000 men went up
there from the people, but they fled before
the men of Ai. The children of Israel
are flushed with victory. They walked away from Jericho
going, oh, man, this is great. I love being on God's side. I love being in
the Israeli army. We got a tremendous,
miraculous victory. But the language of these spies
sounds overconfident to me. It has the tone of
pride and arrogance. We don't need many. This is easy. All we need is a few. When a person becomes
arrogant or overconfident-- too confident in
himself or herself-- there is a lack of
leaning on the Lord. They stop depending
so much on the Lord. Pride leads to prayerlessness. Overconfidence that
leads to arrogance takes a person away from leaning
on the Lord, because hey, we don't need the
Lord for this one. Jericho? Granted, that was a much
bigger town and that was the first big deal. They were ready for us. But this small town. This is easy. Lord, stay back. We got this one. But it says, but the people,
they fled before the men of Ai. You remember in chapter
5, before the Battle of Jericho, something happened. Besides going out and marching
and doing all that you know they did. The commander of the Lord's
army appeared to Joshua. And we find Joshua kneeling and
praying and trusting the battle to the commander
of the Lord's army. The Lord Jesus Christ,
we identified him as. A pre-incarnate, a
theophany, a Christophany. Joshua was in prayer. But now, they're prepped
and they're primed, but they're not prayed up. There is no occurrence of
Joshua even talking to the Lord at all so far. Do you want to know when
you're most vulnerable? It's not when
you're down and out. It's when you're up and in. When you're down and out,
you cry out to the Lord. You depend on the Lord. But they're in the land
already and they're up on top. And so, you become more
vulnerable at a time of victory rather than defeat. But if at that time of victory
you don't depend on the Lord like you did when
you were scared before you went to Jericho,
you will suffer defeat. And so, they go
and they come out with their tail
between their legs. Verse 5. And the men of Ai struck
down about 36 men, for they chased them from before
the gate as far as Shebarim. And they struck them
down on the descent. Therefore, the
hearts of the people melted and became like water. It's interesting. We have talked before
about what fear does. Fear is what makes your enemy
seem larger than he really is. Fear is what stopped them 38
years before at Kadish Barnea, when they didn't want to go
through the land and take it, because those big giants. Fear makes your enemy seem
bigger than he really is. But we don't spend enough time
talking about the flip side of that truth. And that is pride. While fear makes your enemies
look larger than they are, pride makes your enemies look
smaller than they really are. Not a big deal. I got this. I'm overconfident, brash,
braggadocios, boastful. But the enemies were real. And 36 of their men were killed. And it's interesting,
in verse 5, it says their hearts melted
and became like water. That is an interesting
description, because the people of Jericho-- remember what Rahab the harlot
said about the men of Jericho? Said, our hearts
melted, melted, when we heard what your God
did to those two kings and how he dried up the Red Sea. Our hearts melted. Now, the hearts of the
children of Israel melted. Then-- notice that word, then-- Joshua tore his clothes and
fell to the earth on his face before the Ark of the Lord. Should have started that way. Until evening, both he
and the elders of Israel. And they put dust
on their heads. And Joshua said, alas! I don't know how to
translate that except alas is an old English word
that means bummer. Or oh, man! It's a term of
disgust and wonder. Alas, Lord God, why have
you brought this people over the Jordan at all-- listen to Joshua-- to deliver
us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Listen to Joshua. Oh, that we had been
content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. Who does he sound like? He sounds suspiciously
like the 10 spies years before at Kadish Barnea-- which we just mentioned-- when
the spies came and looked over the land. Joshua was one of them,
Caleb was another. And 10 others. And the 10 others said,
let's just stay back. We can't take it. And it sounds like
the children of Israel during the 40 year march,
complaining to Moses. Why did we even
leave Egypt, man? Here we are in the desert. This is Joshua,
the man of faith. He sounds like the old guard. And let me just say how
quick we are to blame God when things don't go our way. I mean, this is so human nature. Something doesn't happen the way
we anticipate or expect or we thought god was going to
do this and he didn't. And then, we blame him for it. And listen, I'm not
pointing the finger at you. I'm pointing the finger
at me, because I've been there many times. I could tell you story after
story where I blamed God. And one was here at the
church at a previous building, when we thought we
were going to occupy. And we announced to
the church, we're going to be in the new
building next Sunday. Not this one, a different one. And we didn't get in, because
the fire department shut us down, because the walls
weren't thick enough. It wasn't up to fire code. And I remember, after
working day in day out with a couple of
other guys in the church, hanging the drywall,
thinking it was over. Just collapsing in a corner. And go, why, God, have
you brought us here to this stupid building
with this stupid drywall? And then, to make matters
worse-- and you've done this-- not only did I complain,
but I find myself in the awkward position
oftentimes of counseling God. Now, Lord, if you would have
just done things a little bit differently, it could
have worked out this way. Paul said, who has known
the mind of the Lord? And who has been His counselor? Skip. I'm on that list. And I bet we could find
your name on that list. It didn't do any good,
my counsel to the Lord. He disregarded it completely,
because the blame was on me. I take the blame for that one. It was my lack of
oversight, crossing the Ts and dotting the Is. But Joshua cries out. Verse 8. Oh, Lord, what shall I
say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all
the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and surround
us and cut off our name from the earth. Then, what will you do
for your great name? Oh, Joshua's now counseling God. What are you going to do? You've really got
yourself into a mess, God. Now, on one hand, I
like Joshua's style. Because ultimately, it
is the Lord's problem. We are your people, Lord. You have to take care of us. You brought us out of Egypt. You brought us
through the desert. And you brought us here,
so ultimately, we really are your problem. And that is a good perspective. You're God's problem. Now, you may make more
problems for yourself and seemingly for the Lord. But ultimately as a child of
God, a son or daughter of God. Since he bought you with a
price, you belong to him. All of your problems
are his problems. Think of your life that way. So tomorrow, when you
have that big problem, say, God, you've
got a big problem. Here it is. And then, lay it before him
and leave it before him. So Joshua falls down to the
ground, tears his clothes, and he starts praying to God. If you don't mind, just
to refresh your memory, go back to chapter 5. And look at verse 4-- verse 13. It came to pass, when
Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his
eyes and behold, a man stood opposite him. His sword was drawn in his hand. And Joshua went up
to him and said, are you for us or
for our adversaries? So he said no, but as the
commander of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face
to the earth and worshipped. That's how he should have
started this battle with Ai. And said to him, what does
my Lord say to his servant? The commander of the
Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your foot,
for the place where you stand is holy. Now, if Joshua
would have started the battle of Ai this way,
the Lord then, in communion, could have told him--
and probably, no doubt, would have told him-- in prayer,
there is sin in your camp. Let me tell you who it is. Let me tell you what happened. And he wouldn't have to send
2,000 or 3,000 men out and have 36 of them die fleeing
from the men of Ai. In prayer, the Lord would
have given him instruction. But he didn't begin that way. If you fall before the
Lord in dependence, you won't have to fall
to the ground in defeat. First battle, great results. Second battle, not so great. So the Lord-- verse 10. So the Lord said
to Joshua, get up. Why do you lie
thus on your face? That's a whole sermon. I could develop that. I'm not going to do that. I do want to move on. But that's a great
question, actually. You know? It's, like, OK. I am glad to hear
from you, Josh. But there is a time to pray
and there's a time to move. Get up. Don't lie this way. Because he was groveling. He felt so defeated,
he felt so downcast. Instead of saying, well,
what's the next move to defeat the people of Ai? Why do you lie
thus on your face? Israel has sinned. They have also
transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them, for they
have even taken some of the-- now watch this language-- accursed things and have
both stolen and deceived. And they have also put
it among their own stuff. Therefore, the
children of Israel could not stand
before their enemies, but turn their backs
before their enemies. Because they have become
doomed to destruction. Neither will I be
with you anymore, unless you destroy the
accursed from among you. If you go back to
chapter 6, you'll get an explanation in verse 17. Now, the city--
this is Jericha-- the city will be doomed by
the Lord to destruction. It and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot
shall live, she and all who are with her in the house. Because she hid the
messengers that we sent. And you, by all
means, keep yourselves from the accursed things,
lest you become accursed when you take of
the accursed things and make the camp
of Israel accursed. God's using that
word a lot, right? He wants him to know, hands off. It's cursed, and you trouble it. By the way, the word
Achan means troubler. Verse 19. But all the silver and gold
and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord. They shall come into the
treasury of the Lord. So here's the deal. The first fruits
always belong to God. The first city that
they took, Jericho, all of the spoils of
war they couldn't keep. They had to give
it all to the Lord, to the treasury of the Lord. The silver, the
gold, everything. And destroy the rest. They couldn't keep the
clothing or whatever. They had to destroy it all. He calls it accursed,
but he says, those things are
consecrated to the Lord. And here is the principle. If you take something
consecrated to yourself, it will become accursed to you. If it does not belong to
you-- and in this case, it didn't belong to him, Achan. It belonged to God. He stole from God. He hid it in his
tent, we'll see. He hid it among his own stuff. So that's the troubler. So when Achan is walking
towards you and somebody said, here comes trouble, literally
that's what his name means. Trouble, troubler. And he did, he'd trouble
the nation of Israel. Therefore, the children
of Israel could not stand. So, verse 13, get up
and sanctify the people. And say, sanctify
yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says
the Lord of Israel. There is a curse thing
in your midst, O Israel, and you cannot stand before
your enemies until you take away the accursed thing
from among you. I hope you are seeing a
principle that is unmistakably embedded in this chapter. And this is it. You cannot sin in isolation. Your behavior as a believer,
my behavior as a believer affects everyone. Everyone. We sin or we succeed together. So if there is
somebody who says, well, my sin is my business
and it's none of your business, and it doesn't affect
anyone else, you are wrong, sir or madam. The temperature of one
Christian, if it lowers, if you become cold hearted,
you lower the temperature of the body of Christ. Maybe slightly, but get
enough people who are cold, and the whole group
becomes the chosen frozen. If one member of the body
suffers, we all suffer. If one is honored, Paul wrote,
we are all honored together. So that is the mystery of the
body of Christ, the church. And so, God holds
them all accountable. Says sanctify yourself,
set yourselves apart. Verse 14. In the morning, therefore,
you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the
tribe which the Lord takes shall come according
to the families. And the family which the Lord
takes shall come by households. The household which the Lord
takes shall come man by man. So he's going to call them
out and sift them out. Then it shall be that
he who is take taken with the accursed thing shall
be burned with fire, he and all that he has. Because he has transgressed
the covenant of the Lord and because he has done a
disgraceful thing in Israel. So Joshua rose
early in the morning and brought Israel
by their tribes. And the tribe of
Judah was taken. And he brought the clan
of Judah and he took the family of the Zarhites. And he brought the family
of the Zarhites, man by man, and Zabdi was taken. And he brought his
household man by man. And Achan-- the son of
Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of
the tribe of Judah-- was taken. I wonder what was going on
through Achan's little mind as the announcement is given. We're going to go
through the tribes and we're going to find out
which tribe, which family. And he's probably thinking,
yeah, yeah, whatever. Now, we don't know
what method was used to ascertain who it was. One possibility, my guess, is
they used the urim and thummim. Remember those? The urim and thummim, the
black and white stone. Lights and Perfections,
it means in Hebrew. The high priest
monitored a ceremony in which you could ascertain,
determine the will of God by using this white
and black stone. It's sort of like-- I hate to say it,
but sanctified dice. You would throw the stones
out and they would reveal. And the difference between
dice and urim and thummim is one worked. One was really of God. It wasn't just casting lots
and seeing what happens. The Lord superintended it. So I just I'm thinking
about Achan as, you know, he goes, tribe of Judah. And he's going, huh,
that's my tribe. And then he mentions his
grandfather and he goes, uh-oh. And it gets closer. Father and then himself. And he is the one. So Joshua said to Achan,
my son, I beg you. Give glory to the
Lord God of Israel. And make confession to him and
tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me. And Achan answered Joshua
and said, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord. You say, well this is good. He's making confession. He's glorifying God
by making confession. It is good, but it's a day
late and a dollar short. It's not real repentance. It's not real contrition. It's, like, oh, I'm busted. I've sinned. And this is what I have done. Verse 21. When I saw the spoils of a
beautiful Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver, a wedge
of gold weighing 50 shekels, I coveted them and I took them. And there they are,
hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent
with the silver under it. It wasn't because he was poor. It's because he was prideful
that he took this garment. A Babylonian garment was a
status symbol in ancient times. It was designer, man. It was like the
best of the best. And he saw that, he says,
why should this go to waste? Why burn this? This is going to look
really good on moi. Maybe even put it on
in Ai, stood sideways. Said, oh, I like that profile. Fits perfect. Come on, man. It's like you have a free suit. So it was a status symbol. And notice something
in verse 21. Notice the three verbs. And I think it'll
remind you of something. When I saw, I
coveted and I took. See those three? I saw, I coveted, I took. Does that sound familiar? Like Genesis 3? When Eve saw that that
tree was good for food and it was pleasant to the eyes
and desirable to make one wise? She saw it, she wanted it-- she
coveted it-- and she took it. James, in the New
Testament, tells us that there are distinct levels
to yielding to temptation. When you and I get
tempted, we want something or we want someone, we're
discontent with who we are or what we have. And we look at something
or someone or some position of status, perhaps. We go through a
series of little steps that lead us to
outright action of sin. And I'm going to read it to you. This is James
chapter 1, verse 13. Let no one say when he is
tempted, I'm tempted by God. For God cannot be
tempted by evil, nor does he himself
tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he
is drawn away by his own desire and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived,
it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full
grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived,
my beloved brethren. I saw. I wanted, I coveted. And I took. And I'm almost certain
there was a rationale. I'm almost certain he
thought, well, you know what? I've been deprived
for like 40 years. I've been suffering
in the desert. I kind of deserve this. Who's going to miss it? He rationalized his own sin. Here's the clincher. If he only would have waited. If he would have obeyed God-- burned the Babylonian
garment, kept the silver, taken it to the
treasury of the Lord and not done this, and
just waited on the Lord and obeyed him-- God would have given him more. More. Because in Chapter 8, verse
2-- and I'm not certain when we're going to get to this-- but it says, and
you shall do to Ai and it's king as you did
to Jericho and its King. Only its spoil
and its cattle you shall take as booty or plunder,
treasure, for yourselves. Lay an ambush for
the city behind it. All of that, you get to
keep and take to your tents and have a heyday with it. It's yours. Have as much as you want. It's all yours. But Jericho is mine. He disobeyed. He should have waited. He should have obeyed. He would have been
abundantly blessed. Probably in his rationalization,
he saw, he coveted, he took. And he put the silver in
the midst of his tent, hidden in the earth. He probably cut a hole
right in the middle-- put under his tent. So, I mean, this is intense. I mean, literally, he had
to take the treasure out of the tent and show it off
before Joshua and the others. So Joshua sent messengers. They ran to the tent. And there it was, hidden in
the tent, the silver under it. And they took them from
the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua, unto
all the children of Israel, and laid them out
before the Lord. Then, Joshua, and all Israel
with him, took Achan-- the son of Zerah-- the
silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons,
his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his
tent, and all that he had. And brought them to
the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, why
have you troubled us? The Lord will
trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned
him with stones, and burned them with fire after
they stoned them with stones. And they raised over him
a great heap of stones. And they're still
there to this day. So the Lord turned from the
fierceness of his anger, therefore the name
of that place has been called the valley of
Achor, which also means trouble, until this day. This story has been
criticized by many people, who in reading that not only
Achan but his family was the recipient of
this punishment, they go, this is so horrible. This is so severe. He blew it and they
got the blame for it. Well, there's a
couple of things. Number one, it was in the tent,
in the midst of it, hidden. Which suggests that
they-- the family-- also knew about it and were
complicit in what he had done. Because the Bible flatly
says that a son is not to be held accountable
for the sin of his Father. But this one is. And it implies that there was
knowledge of this whole family. And there was some
kind of a cooperation with the sin of Achan. There's something else
to consider as well. This is a new chapter
in Israel's history. And what you have here-- and it's not only
isolated to this. You find it at different
periods of time. I'll explain in a moment. Sometimes, when there is
a new period of history, a new era that God's
people are entering into, there will be a
severity like this. A severe reaction
to an unholy action. And that's what you are seeing. On one hand, they were probably
all part of the conspiracy. But on the other hand,
it is God's holy reaction to man's unholy action. And it's severe. It sends a message. It gets people's attention. For example, during the
days of the Tabernacle, in the wilderness before they
got into the promised land, there were two guys-- Nadab and Abihu-- who brought
strange fire before the Lord. These were priests of God. God killed them. Got everybody's attention. Later on, during the monarchy. After King Saul, when
David becomes King, and he wants to bring the ark
from the center of the country down to Jerusalem. And they put it on a cart
and it starts to topple. And a guy named Uzzah puts out
his hand to steady the ark. You know what happened to Uzzah? Dead on the spot. God killed him. You go, that's Old Testament. OK, keep following me. You get to the book of Acts. A couple named
Ananias and Sapphira pretend to have sold their
land for so much money. And they're giving it
all to the Lord's work. They kept some of it back. Nothing wrong with
keeping all of it back. It's that they said they were
giving all of it to the Lord, but they weren't. They were keeping part
of it for themselves. So people thought,
oh, how generous. How marvelous. These people are awesome. And they were awesome,
but not that awesome. God killed them. It's a holy reaction
to an unholy action. It doesn't mean Ananias
and Sapphira went to hell. It doesn't mean
Achan went to hell. I anticipate seeing
Achan in heaven. So a divine action
like this does not necessitate eternal destruction. It is sending out a message. And Achan-- and
Ananias and Sapphira-- were whisked away to heaven. But it sent a strong
message to God's people. A holy reaction to
an unholy action, I think that's
what we have here. And they're stoned with stone. So the Lord-- verse 26-- turned from the
fierceness of his anger. Therefore, the
name of that place has been called the valley
of Achor until this day. Now, I'm going to throw
something else out at you, because when-- we are
in the New Testament now, right? We're now living in
the New Testament era. Paul the Apostle writes
to the Corinthians. And he tells them, listen, when
you take the Lord's supper, you need to do it with care. You need to do it
with preparation. You can't do it flippantly. You can't do it in
an unholy manner. He says, because many
among you are weak and sick and have died. Died, because you have not
discerned the Lord's body. Doesn't mean God killed
them and sent them to hell. He killed them and
sent them to heaven. But it's holy reaction
to an unholy action. And by the way, that
is not unheard of. That's not the only place. In the fifth chapter
of that book, Paul talks about people in the
church who are dabbling in sin. And it's pretty gross sin
and it's unrepentant sin. And though they're
saved, he says, deliver them to Satan for
the destruction of the flesh, that their spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Intimating that it's God's mercy
to take their life physically, so that they don't fall deeper
into sin and walk away from God and hurt other people
in the process. It's an interesting thought. And it deserves greater
study than this. And we have done that. And we will, if the
Lord ever allows us to go through that book
again on a Wednesday night. But now we're in
chapter 8, verse 1, and we have just 15
minutes to get through it. The Lord said to Joshua, do
not be afraid nor be dismayed. Take all the people of war with
you, arise, and go up to Ai. See I have given into your hand
the King of Ai, his people, his city and his land. And you shall do
to Ai and its king as you did to
Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle
you shall take as plunder-- treasure, booty--
for yourselves. Lay an ambush for
the city behind it. Don't be afraid, Joshua. He was afraid. God tells Joshua what God
told Joshua in chapter 1. Don't be afraid, Josh. God tells Joshua what Moses
told Joshua in Deuteronomy 31. Don't be afraid, Joshua. Don't be dismayed. The Lord is with you. So don't be afraid
nor be dismayed, Joshua had heard at least
twice before in his life. Now he's hearing the same
message a third time. Maybe Joshua is thinking, when
the Lord said this to him, I already know this sermon. I've heard it before. I heard it before in chapter 1. You're telling me the same
thing you did in chapter 1. Moses told me this sermon
back in Deuteronomy 31. The Lord's telling him
the same thing 3 times. Why? It's pretty obvious why. He's forgotten. The circumstances of life
have blinded his eyes to see the truth,
that God is with them. That's why some
truths bear repeating. What Peter said in
his book, he said, I will not be negligent to
remind you of these things, though you know them
already and are established in the present truth. I know you know this stuff. Let me repeat. Paul in the book of
Philippians, we're going to get to that
on Sunday mornings. Rejoice in the Lord always. And I'll say it again, rejoice. Some truths bear repeating. And there are some
truths that bear repeating because
we forget them, because the circumstances of
life blind us to the truth. So we walk into
situations fearful. Though he says, don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed. Verse 3. So Joshua arose, and
all the people of war, to go up against Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000
men, men of valor, and sent them away by night. Now, hold onto your seat belts. I'm going to read a
whole chunk of this. We'll sum it up, because
it's pretty obvious. And he commanded
them, saying, behold you shall lie in ambush against
the city, behind the city. Do not go very
far from the city. But all of you, be ready. Then I-- and all the
people who are with me-- will approach the city. And it will come about when they
come out against us, at first, that we will flee before them. For they will come
out after us till we have drawn them from the city. For they will say, they
are fleeing before us as at the first. Therefore, we will
flee before them. Then you shall rise
from the ambush and seize the city, for the
Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. And it will be,
when you have taken the city, that you have set-- that you shall set
the city on fire. According to the commandment
of the Lord, you shall do. See, I have commanded you. Joshua, therefore,
sent them out. And they went to lie in ambush
and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai. But Joshua lodged that
night among the people. Then, Joshua rose up
early in the morning and mustered the
people and went up-- he and the elders of Israel--
before the people, to Ai. And all the people of
war who were with him went up and drew near. And they came before
the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now, there was a valley
between them and Ai. And so, he took about
5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai,
on the west side of the city. And when they had
set the people-- all the army that was on
the north of the city, and its rear guard on
the west of the city-- Joshua went that night into
the midst of the valley. Now, it happened,
when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of his
city hastened and rose early and went out against
Israel to battle. He and all the people
at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there
was an ambush against the city. And remember the day before? The people of Israel fled
before them and 36 were killed. Now, the king of Ai
sees Israel coming back and they go, oh, they want more? You want some of this? You want round two of this? And so, they go out, not
knowing it's an ambush. And Joshua and all of
Israel made as if they were beaten before them. And they fled by the
way in the wilderness. So all the people who were
in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua, were
drawn away from the city. There was not a man
left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city
open and pursued Israel. Then the Lord said to
Joshua, stretch out the spear that is in
your hand toward Ai, for I will give
it into your hand. And Joshua stretched
out the spear that he had in his
hand toward the city. So those in ambush arose
quickly out of their place. They ran as soon as he had
stretched out his hand. And they entered
the city and took it and hastened to set
the city on fire. And when the men of Ai
looked behind them, they saw. And behold, the smoke of
the city ascended to Heaven. So they had no power to
flee this way or that way. And the people who
fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. Now, when Joshua
and all Israel saw that the ambush
had taken the city and that the smoke
of the city ascended, they turned back and
struck down the men of Ai. Then the others came out
of the city against them. So they were caught in the midst
of Israel, some on this side, some on that side. And they struck them down,
so that they let none of them remain or escape. But the king of
Ai, they took alive and brought him to Joshua. It came to pass when Israel
had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of
Ai in the field, in the wilderness,
where they pursued them, and when all had fallen
by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that
all the Israelites returned to Ai struck it with
the edge of the sword. So that all who fell that
day, both men and women, were 12,000. All the people of Ai. For Joshua did not
draw back his hand with which he stretched out
the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the
inhabitants of Ai. Now does that sound familiar? He's stretching out his hand
during the whole battle. Who else did that? Moses did that with
both his hands. No spear in it, just
his hands were up. When they fought the Amalekites
and his hands got tired, so a couple of guys came
and hoisted up his hands until the battle was done. Where did I leave off? Thank you. Only the livestock-- verse 27-- and the spoil of the city,
Israel took as booty. You know, I like the word
plunder better than that, because unfortunately,
that word has been ruined. No explanation needed. According to the word
of the Lord, which he had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and
made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. And the King of Ai, he hanged
on a tree until evening. And as soon as the
sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take
his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance
of the gate of the city, and raise over it a
great heap of stones that remains to this day. Now Joshua-- we'll
finish this off and comment a little bit
in the next few minutes, on the last part. Joshua built an altar to
the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. Mount Ebal is next
to another mountain called Gerizim or
[? Gerizim. ?] Two hills that mark the geographic
center of the land of Israel. It is here, years before,
where Abram came and built an altar to the Lord and
called on the name of the Lord. And it was there, in that
place, that the Lord God first told Abraham his promise for
the land that he was giving him and his descendants after him. So Joshua built an
altar in that same spot. But notice this. As Moses, the
servant of the Lord, had commanded the
children of Israel-- as it is written in the
book of the law of Moses-- an altar of whole
stones, over which no man had wielded any iron tool. And they offered on
it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrifice
peace offerings. And there, in the presence
of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a
copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. Then, all Israel, with their
elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of
the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark
of the covenant of the Lord. The stranger as well as he
who was born among them. Half of them were in front of
Mount Gerizim, half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as
Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded before
that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward, he read
all the words of the law. The blessings and the
cursings, according to all that is written in
the book of the law. Wow. What a labor to write, no
computers, no typewriters, no paper. They probably wrote on
stones, whitewashed stones, as Moses commanded
the words of the law. That would have
taken a long time. And all of the
words were recorded. Now, it says it was the
commandment of Moses. You say, where was it
the commandment of Moses? In Deuteronomy chapter 27. Before Moses kicked the bucket,
before he died, he told Joshua, he told the people of
Israel these words. It shall be, on the day
when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord
your God is giving you, that you shall set up for
yourselves large stones and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on
them all the words of this law when you
have crossed over, that you may enter the land,
which the Lord your God has given you, flowing
with milk and honey. Therefore, it shall be when
you have crossed over Jordan, that on Mount Ebal, you shall
set up these stones which I command you today. Whitewash them with lime. And there, you will build
an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any
iron tool on them. You shall build
with whole stones the altar of the Lord your God. So they are doing exactly
what the book says. They are doing exactly-- they believe in the literal
interpretation of scripture. They're not spiritualizing it. Well, what could that mean? How can we apply
this to our lives? I'll tell you how we apply it. We actually get
stones, whitewash them, and write the words on it. So they did it. And Moses commanded the people
on the same day, saying-- I'm a few verses down, in
Deuteronomy 27, verse 11. There you shall stand
at Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you
have crossed over the Jordan-- Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,
Joseph, and Benjamin. Six tribes on one side. And these shall stand
at Mount Ebal to curse-- Reuben, Gad, Asher,
Zebulun, Dan, and Naptholi. Now, it's interesting. They're divided into two. One are the descendants of Jacob
through his two wives, Rachel and Leah. And the other were
the descendants-- the six tribes-- were
the descendants of Jacob through the handmaids,
Bilhah and Zilpah. Two different allotments,
two different sections. One shouting out the blessings,
one shouting out the cursings. The law of God written down
and people saying amen to it. Amen. Amen, as the blessings
and cursings were read. We won't read them all. We've read them
already in Deuteronomy. They would listen to it and
they would say Amen to it. This is like a
national bar mitzvah. A bar mitzvah or a
bat mitzvah, depending if you're male or female,
is where the son or daughter becomes a child of the
commandment, a son or daughter of the commandment. That's what bar mitzvah
or bat mitzvah means. It means they become responsible
for obeying God themselves. At age 12-- going
onto 13, age 13-- they're now a full fledged
adult in the Jewish community, that rite of passage. And they assume responsibility
before the Lord. So the whole nation,
now, is making this kind of national bar mitzvah, this
covenant of responsibility before the Lord. So they worshiped before
the battle in chapter 5. Now they worship after the
battle at the end of chapter 8. And verse 35, we'll
close it off with. There was not a word of
all that Moses commanded which Joshua did not read before
all the congregation of Israel, with the women, the little
ones, the strangers who were living among them. I'm following Joshua's lead. There's not one word that
we don't read and apply to our lives on our Wednesday
night Bible studies. We believe the whole
Bible for the whole church for the whole of history. We believe in the
whole counsel of God. So all the law that had been
given so far was written. It could be referenced,
it could be applied. They were a textual community. They were enjoying fellowship
around the text of scripture that God had given them. Now, let me close
by saying this. As Israel stood between two
mountains, Ebal and Gerizim-- blessing and cursing-- you and
I, as New Testament believers, we stand between two mountains. Mount Calvary, Mount of Olives. If I was in Jerusalem,
I'd point to both of them. We stand between Mount Calvary-- where Jesus died for our sins-- and we stand between that
and the Mount of Olives, upon which Jesus will return. He'll come back, his foot
touching the Mount of Olives. We live between the first coming
of Jesus paying for our sins and the second coming
to redeem the world, in terms of taking
over the world. As we stand between
those two mountains, there are blessings
and cursings for us. You will be blessed
or you'll be cursed, depending on how you live. If you live for
your own pleasure, for your own satisfaction,
it's always about you, you'll be accursed. You can be a believer
and live for yourself and not enjoy the
full benefit of God. Or you can live for Him
who died for your sins. You can realize, I'm
bought with a price. I'm not my own. I'm going to live for
Him and His pleasure. And you'll be blessed. You'll be blessed. Father, thank you for the
blessings that are announced, promised throughout your word. Thank you, Lord, for
a time and a place where we can gather to not just
reflect on a verse or two-- a Psalm or a New Testament
verse or principle-- but we can take verse by verse, chapter
by chapter, book by book. Consider the holy
writ, consider here the Old Testament, the
very words of the apostles and Jesus and the New
Testament believers. That was their Bible. We're reading their Bible. And Lord, I pray that we would
take these grand principles of blessing and
cursing and realize that we can be
blessed in our cities and blessed in our
needing troughs and blessed as we
go out and come in. Or we can be cursed
in all those areas. I pray that we'll trust you. I pray that we'll walk with you. I'll pray that we'll
tell others about you. I pray, Lord, that as
we enter this summer and we have different
opportunities of different people
we meet, that we would be faithful to tell
others about the Savior who came to bless the
world with salvation by dying for sins on Mount
Calvary, but is coming again. And His foot will touch
down on the Mount of Olives. What a blessing to be instructed
by you and to live for you. In Jesus' name, Amen. For more resources from Calvary
Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig, visit calvaryabq.org.
