Achan sinned, and Joshua, God told him, There's sin in the camp, Joshua, get up off your face. Joshua's like, What is going on here? and a self-examination had to take place. To beat the devil You're going to have to depend on God, scripture, and action. Those three have got to be part of it.
You may get away with it sometime, but you're not going to get away with it all the time. And you may teach others to do the same wrong thing and that. explains a lot of ruined institutions that we have within Christendom. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville.
Pastor Rick is currently teaching through a topical series. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with a continuing study called Joshua and the Gibeonites. I think ideally when a pastor And those faithful serving with him set policy, a lot of thought has gone into it. Are you not glad the pews are not fuchsia.
Or however you want to pronounce it. psychedelic rainbow pews. All right, that's just my little thing. But there's a lot of thought that goes into everything. Paul He said, therefore, when I was planning this.
Did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh? That with me There should be yes and no no. What? He's saying I don't Say yes, no to confuse you.
It's either yes or no, but it's not. I'd never do that, and then you do it. Yeah, yeah, sure. I'll do it, and then you don't do it. He continues But as God is faithful, our word to you was not yes and no.
When we said this is it, that's what it was going to be. But the point that we get out When I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Our approach on spiritual matters is not a light matter. And there are Christians that don't want that. They want to fly by the seat of their parents.
Well, that's what Joshua was doing. He's just flying by the seat of his pants.
Now, I know you may say, it's so much work to think it through. It's better to just close your eyes and go.
Well, you might do that at an intersection. Once? Don't sell yourself short. Thinking that Well, I can't think things through, I just don't have it. But God does.
And if he's got your salvation, he's got more for you also. Experience and instincts are not trustworthy enough without the Scripture. without the word. You've got to think some things through. And that will allow you to not only Be led.
but also be more useful. There are a lot of Christians that are just sitting home right now. They don't ever go to church. How useful are they? Numbers 27, 21.
Let me pause there. Think how much money You could save if you didn't have to come to church and tithe. Think how many times you could go fishing or shopping or whatever it is you want to do if you didn't have to come to church and serve. and fellowship. It is a sacrifice of praise.
And it is worth it. And it is your flesh or Satan. That will Work very hard. To convince you otherwise. And the prophet Amos had to deal with this people complaining about the Sabbath day, and they couldn't do business.
Think of the profits they were missing out on. And God called them on that.
Well, numbers 27. This is what was said to Joshua. When Moses was still alive, he He shall stand before Eleazar the priest. Who shall inquire before Yahweh for him by the judgment of the Urim? At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in.
He and all The children of Israel with him. All the congregation.
Now, let's not sell short at his word. The first meaning is. at the word that comes from the direction of God. But it is inclusive of Scripture to us. And he kept the Urim and the Thummim, the lights and the perfection.
In the holster. When the bear was upon him, They beat Jericho. By discipline. marching and waiting. Day after day.
And the interesting thing about marching or military drill. is you're not thinking about anything else but that drill when you're doing it. And it's true with any drill. The idea is to get you focused on the drill. And just a simple thing like marching.
You're keeping your distance from the guy in front of you, because if you hit his foot, he's going to want to fight you. If the guy on the right, and you're listening for the next command, you're focused, you're not thinking about Nap time. And when they marched around Jericho. It called for discipline. And it called for maturity.
And that's how they beat Jericho. When they beat AI, on the other hand, it was more self-examination and combat. Because of course, Achan sinned, and Joshua told him, There's sin in the camp, Joshua. Get up off your face. Joshua's like, What is going on here?
and a self-examination had to take place. To beat the devil You're going to have to depend on God, scripture, and action. Those three have got to be part of it. You may get away with it sometime, and but that you're not going to get away with it all the time, and you may teach others to do the same wrong thing and that. explains a lot of ruined institutions that we have within Christendom.
In verse 15, so Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them. to let them live and the rulers of the congregation swore to them What are unused advantages? They're not advantages. He holstered, as I mentioned, Urumentum. He had them.
He could have gone to the priest. Do we trust these guys, God? What do we do with them? No mention of that. Again, we're not beating up on Joshua, he's a hero of the scripture.
But on this event We get a lot from him. that he would rather not be associated with. Verse 19, and it happened at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. Yeah, just like 18 miles up the road. Mistakes committed in ignorance come back to bite us, to humiliate us.
Imagine the look on Joshua's face. When he learned he had been duped, By the very people he was not to be duped by. Verse 17. Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities On the third day, the Now their cities were Gibeon, Kefira Biroth, Kiraj Jiram. But the children of Israel did not attack them because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh, God of Israel, and all the congregation complained against the rulers.
The leaders didn't tell anybody. Listen. We made a deal with these Gibeonites. that are in well the leaders found out but they still didn't tell anybody until it got That's how it reads to me until they got to The enemy positions we can't attack them. What?
We marched all this way. There's loot in that town. What do you mean we can't attack them? Yeah.
So all the congregation complained against the rulers, and they had good reason, as I read from Deuteronomy 20 earlier. This generation of Jews, the second generation out of Egypt. They took God's word very seriously. And verse 19. Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, We have sworn To them by Yahweh, God of Israel.
Now, therefore, we may not touch them.
Now here's another lesson. Disobedience does not correct disobedience. And that is what Joshua is teaching us. They lied. We were disobedient to God.
We did not investigate sufficiently. We're not going to be disobedient again. Our standards might be a little different, but The Jews knew better under their Government with God. The weight of our word to others means something to God. He said, never mind the other person.
The other person may not value what you said, but God is listening. Matthew 5, 37, similar to what where Paul gets it from, Jesus speaking, Let your yes be yes, and your no no, for whatever is more than these is from the evil one. It's Satan. He is leavening you. He's corrupting you.
Once you get used to, you know, you meet somebody who gets used to lying. Maybe you know him as a kid. And you find out they've learned to lie comfortably. And when you bust them, they can't even admit it. like they're in an alternate reality.
Verse twenty. This we will do with them. We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because... of the oath which we swore to them.
So Joshua said, Yeah, we cornered ourselves, but we're not going to self-destruct on this.
So Joshua owns the consequences of His presumption without breaking God's word further. Gibeon forfeited the right to negotiate terms because of their deception. And that's why they're going to be made servants. which is now becomes the fine print becomes large print. And Joshua sets those terms.
The emphasis is not on Gibeon's deception. They didn't have the Ten Commandments. They weren't under Mosaic law. They were heathens. The emphasis on the material.
of doing wrong to save themselves. is actually logical. But again, not a scam to swindle, but to survive. The emphasis is on God's people seeking God. There's where the emphasis is.
lies. And maybe if the Gibbean eyes said Okay, they're not gonna enter a treaty when they went back to their cities. We need to leave. We need to go move outside the promised land, just let them have everything. I don't know, maybe they would have fought to the death.
Anyway. This uh This is not rewarding the deceivers. This is warfare. And in war The rules bend A lot. Just we make sure we we don't break them.
That was King Saul. King Saul thought he could break a rule whenever it was convenient. One of the lessons is Don't make rash vows. I'm telling you, as a pastor, a lot of Christians make rash vows. Pastor, I'm going to do this for the church, I'm going to do that, and they never do it.
And I know 'cause I tell them.
Well, no, I don't tell on them. But I just cringe. I sometimes tell them: you need to pray about that. Don't just go making these rash vows, then you choke at the end, and you don't do it. No, I'm going to do it.
And they don't.
Well, back to King Saul.
some 400 years later. violated his oath. Any time he could. Samuel sent him out to wipe out the enemy. He didn't do it.
He brought back other things and he justified it. But one particular one has to do with these people here. 2 Samuel 21.
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years. year after year, and David inquired of Yahweh, And Yahweh answered, It is because Of Saul and his bloodthirsty house because he killed the Gibeonites.
Well, God had so much going on with Saul, He didn't deal with that. The Jews had other problems with Saul, and he let that sort of slide till later. It comes back around. And David inquires of God: what's going on here? What's with the famine?
And the Lord says, Saul killed the Gibeonites. He broke the covenant of my people. I don't have my people doing that kind of stuff.
So God is Not slighted by Gibeon's behavior. But God has no delight in the death of the wicked either, and that's part of what's being taught. 400 years later. Because from God's perspective, everything is final, it is perfect, it is eternal. We're the ones that have this finite view and participate in the finite realm.
But God is beyond these things.
So The deception happened under the Declaration of War. Not business.
Now, had it been business, things might have gone the other way, but this is still war. Verse 21, and the ruler said to them, Let them live. but let them be wood cutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised.
Now here's a very another big lesson. Make mistakes, serve God. But you gotta hang in there. To get to that. You make a mistake and it's just you're not going to fix it.
How do I make this Chop wood and fetch water for the Lord.
Well, giving up's not going to do it. Taking matters into your own hands, that's not going to do it. And this is another takeaway from this story. Joshua says, okay, you tricked us, we're going to honor our word, but you're going to serve, and you're going to serve the temple of God. Verse 22, then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, Why have you deceived us?
saying, We are very far from you when you dwell near us. Duh, come on, Joshua. Survival, that's why. Verse 23.
Now, therefore, you are cursed. And none of you shall be freed from being slaves, woodcutters and water carriers. for the house of God. And they're like Yeah. Phew.
You know, I rather Chop wood and fetch water than push up daisies. That was their logic. Verse twenty four.
So they answer Joshua and says, Because your servants were clearly told that Yahweh, your God, commanded his servants, Moses, to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before Before you, therefore, We were very much afraid for our lives because of you. and have done this thing. And now here we are. In your hands. Do with us as it seems good.
And right to do to us. You can't help but be impressed by these guys from a secular. view point of view, they're they're just calling the facts for what they are. Edlai Stevenson, he ran against Eisenhower for the presidency of the United States twice and lost twice. But he said this worth quoting.
A lie is an abomination unto the Lord. and a very present help In trouble. A very practical view.
Well, let's put your head in the guillotine. And see what you do. And he's just calling it, I mean, there's a reality that Christians cannot pretend does not exist because when we do that, then we become. You know, we Then we start lying and cheating and and covering it up and And learn how to do it all the time now. Verse 26.
So he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, so that they did not kill them. And that day Joshua made them wood cutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of Yahweh. in the place which he would Choose even to this day. Maybe you had somebody like, I'm not going to take anything from an unbeliever.
Well, then you go chop the wood and bring the water. It's like, come on, grow up.
So there is no indication that they ever became a threat to the Jews. But with Saul, the Jews became a threat to them. In fact, Many Years later, 700 or so. During the days of Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, they're mentioned helping rebuild the walls.
So it also takes dependence on God to learn how to make calamity serve us. As we serve Christ. And I want to review these things, but Before I do, in the New Testament We have an example, we have many examples of taking a mistake and Turning it into something that will serve God. God turns slaves of men into slaves of Christ. Took the slaves of Egypt, he turned them into slaves of Yahweh.
Philemon comes to mind. Paul writing to Philemon He says, I appeal to you from my son Onesimus.
Now It's not his Paternal son, it's a son in the faith. But anyway, I was gonna do a joke, but And you know, I I wonder How many times God laughs at my jokes and you don't? And that's the guilt you don't have to bear.
Okay. Oh, I get to heaven and he's gonna say, you know, you did have a few good ones. Anyway, we can I can dream. I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains. who once was unprofitable to you, But now it's profitable to you and to me.
Now remember, Onesimus was a slave of Philemon. He ran away from Philemon. The story reads like he stole from him also. He ends up in Rome. He ends up in jail with Paul.
He gets saved. He gets free. He becomes free. And Paul says, I want you to stay with me. But I I have to send you back to your Slave owner, your master.
Philemon. And I'm going to write you a letter. I know Philemon. He's a solid brother in the Lord. He's going to treat you like one.
And so he sends him back, and he continues For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him for ever.
So here's this mistake. But Onessimus made a mess. Ray Ray steals, he runs. But he gets saved and he ends up full circle, comes back, and now he's a brother in the Lord. And Philemon is not ashamed.
He's not ashamed in front of the other slave masters to say, I did receive him back, and I did not kill him, and I did not. Punish him I received him as a brother. And how do we know that? Because the letter is personal, it's to Philemon. He's got the letter.
How does it become public? He has to publish it. He has to say, circulate this, send this to church. This is from the great Apostle Paul. That's how we know.
What Philemon did. with a Nesimus.
So let's review this. Satan changes tactics. Joshua was not ready for the unconventional attack, the typical approach of Satan. Flattery and religion played a key role. and the Jews dropping their guard.
There is such a thing as facts without truth.
Sometimes trust, but always verify. Valid concerns. Paranoia, again, is not what God is promoting. Complete Wartime Investigations And suspicions. I mean, when you've got an active event, you know, you're engaged in some heavy stuff and it's ongoing.
Don't dismiss things hoping that God's going to magically work it out. If it is in your power. Your sphere of responsibility. to see it through. Seems right.
Maybe wrong. Don't believe everything you think.
Now, that doesn't mean disbelieve everything you think. is prove all things. Just because you thought of it doesn't mean it's right. And we're you know, it's self-flattering. We cannot be trusted to know the truth without the Holy Spirit and His Word.
And we have a lot of people trying to just Separate one from the other. I've got the Holy Spirit, and they don't have the word. Or you have the others that have the word and they don't have the spirit. And dead orthodoxy is very deadly stuff. That's what the Pharisees had become.
Beat Jericho Through discipline and patience, Beat AI through self-examination and battle war. Beat the devil by dependence on God's scripture and action. That's what James was saying. You know, you don't tell somebody who's starving, be warm, be filled, brother. God bless you.
And you don't give them food. You have to do something. Disobedience does not correct. Disobedience. Make mistakes.
Serve God. And you will benefit from that.
So I close with one more verse. Here's Paul in He's arrested. He's going to Rome. He doesn't know how that's going to turn out. He's writing to a good church in Philippi.
And he's in the first chapter, he says, let me tell you what's happening here. The name of Christ is spreading. It's not like we live today. It's ancient. The ancient empire of Rome.
Price name wasn't everywhere. He says it's all over the palace.
Some are really understanding the gospel, but there's another element. That are trying to instigate trouble. And they're throwing the name of Christ out there to cause problems. And I can't stop either one of them. But this is how he responds.
He says, What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence. Deception or truth Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. Why?
Because it gives opportunity. To the Deceivers, when they throw the name Christ out there and people start throwing the name Christ out without context. It gives the believer an opportunity to say Why do you say, you know, take the Lord's name as vain? Why do you always say, Jesus Christ? Are you praying to him?
You're taking that opportunity and you're twisting it back on them. You must really love the Lord. Every time something happens, you'd be banging your finger. Jesus Christ. I'm impressed with your faith.
Now let's talk about your theology. Anyway. Let's pray. I really enjoyed that. And uh let's do it again.
Come on. Yeah.
All right, let's pray. Our Father in heaven. Your words, so many insights that the devil will try to tell us. Insights Don't shield from fiery darts.
Well, they may not instantly, but on the long run, they bring about spiritual survival. And may we not listen to him. He has come to steal and to kill and to destroy. you have come that we might have life and that more abundantly. Whatever hardships your flock is going through, In a hundred years it won't matter, we'll be in heaven.
In Jesus' name, amen. Yeah.
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