JOSHUA 8:1-29
WELCOME BACK
As you know, I went off to Viet Nam. When I returned to my home in Wayne, NJ, there was a great big sign on the front of the house. It said, "WELCOME HOME, JACK."
A couple of weeks ago, Ella was in church for the first time since about February, and Dottie was back for the first time since last year. This was a time to say, "Welcome Back" to these precious people.
Last year in April, a young man came to church, and started living with Jeremy. It wasn't long before this young man had helped to get Jeremy all confused, and this led to a time of backsliding for Jeremy. It was an unhappy time for most of us, especially his grandparents. But there was a day when the Lord straightened Jeremy out, and we could say
"Welcome Back" to him.
There are times in every Christian's life when they commit sin.
1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:10 - If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Thank the Lord, that in spite of our sins, there is a way back to forgiveness.
Psalm 32:3-5 - When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
After a Christian has confessed his sin, God says to that individual, "Welcome Back". It is as if God is saying, "You were always my son, but I could not bless you, I could not answer you prayers, because you persisted in sin. Now that you have dealt with your sins, I can now treat you the way I want to treat you."
A Christian who has sinned, and now repents and comes back to God sometimes feels very tentative and unsure of himself. He is afraid to attempt to much, or even feel very sure of himself.
I think of the Apostle Peter after he had denied his Lord three times. He was forgiven, and yet, when Peter was asked by Jesus, "Do you love me?" The best Peter could say "I am very fond of you." Before he had boastfully proclaimed his loyalty. Now, after failure, he was tentative, not wanting to make the same mistake again. And yet, Peter went on to serve the Lord faithfully and to prove that he really did love His Lord.
Tonight we again turn our attention to the Book of Joshua. Last time we saw the miserable failure of Israel at a small city called Ai. Fresh off of the victory at Jericho, Israel made two mistakes. First, there was sin in the camp because Achan had stolen things God said not to take. God was judging Israel because of the sin of Achan.
Secondly, before going to Ai to fight, Joshua and Israel did not check with God first. They didn't think the battle was going to be any big deal. They were overconfident.
Israel was miserably defeated. It was then that Joshua came before God. God told Joshua that there was sin in the camp, and that it needed to be judged.
This is exactly what Joshua did, with the guidance of God, lots were cast and Achan was found. He confessed and was stoned along with His children, and everything that he owned.
In Joshua 8, God is saying to Joshua and Israel, "Welcome Back". You can imagine that they were a little tentative about going forward after they had suffered such a miserable defeat. But God encourages Israel, and shows that defeat need not be permanent.
Tonight we see God saying, "WELCOME BACK,"
1. WELCOME BACK TO CONFIDENCE
2. WELCOME BACK TO SERVICE
3. WELCOME BACK TO GUIDANCE
4. WELCOME BACK TO OBEDIENCE
5. WELCOME BACK TO VICTORY
1. WELCOME BACK TO CONFIDENCE Vs. 1
There are times in our lives, when our confidence is rightly shaken by sin.
Psalm 66:18 - If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
Joshua 7:11-12 - Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put [it] even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, [but] turned [their] backs before their enemies, because they were accursed:
neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
That confidence can be restored. Sometimes there is discipline. For instance, the person who marries out of the Lord's will can have forgiveness but lives with the consequences of sin in the marriage. Or the person who divorces and remarries can have forgiveness but is disqualified from leadership, and may live with the results of having children from two marriages.
However, when sin is dealt with, there can still be a sense of confidence. That's God's intent.
Vs. 1 - Joshua is told to fear not neither to be afraid.
God wanted Joshua to go forward and be
confident.
In a sense, Joshua is being reassured of what he was told back in chapter 1.
Joshua 1:2-6 - Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, [even] to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, [so] I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
There are several ways God wants us to be confident.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 - Therefore [we are] always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, [I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Philippians 1:6 - Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:
Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
1 John 3:21-22 - Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, [then] have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
There is nothing more satisfying than a feeling of confidence.
Frank Lloyd Wright is among the most innovative
architects this county ever produced. But his fame wasn't limited to the United States. About 70 years ago, Japan asked Wright to design a hotel for Tokyo that would be capable of surviving an earthquake.
When the architect visited Japan to see where the
Imperial Hotel was to be built, he was appalled to find only about eight feet of earth on the site. Beneath that was 60 feet of soft mud that slipped and shook like jelly. Every test hole he dug filled up immediately with water. A lesser man probably would have given up right there. But not Frank Lloyd Wright.
Since the hotel was going to rest on fluid ground, Wright decided to build it like a ship. Instead of trying to keep the structure from moving during a quake, he incorporated features that would allow the hotel to ride out the shock without damage.
Supports were sunk into the soft mud, and sections of the foundation were cantilevered from the supports. The rooms were built in sections like a train and hinged together. Water pipes and electric lines, usually the first to shear off in an earthquake, were hung in vertical shafts where they could sway freely if necessary.
Wright knew that the major cause of destruction after an earthquake was fire, because water lines are apt to be broken in the ground and there is no way to put the fire out. So he insisted on a large outdoor pool in the courtyard of his hotel, "just in case."
On September 1, 1923, Tokyo had the greatest earthquake in its history. There were fires all over the city, and 140,000 people died. Back in the U.S., news reports were slow coming in. One newspaper wanted to print the story that the Imperial Hotel had been destroyed, as rumor had it. But when a reporter called Frank Lloyd Wright, he said that they could print
the story if they wished, but they would only have to retract it later. He knew the hotel would not collapse.
Shortly afterward, Wright got a telegram from Japan. The Imperial Hotel was completely undamaged. Not only that -- it had provided a home for hundreds of people. And when fires that raged all around the hotel threatened to spread, bucket brigades kept the structure wetted down with water from the hotel's pool. Source Unknown
If an architect can have so much confidence in a building he designed to withstand an earthquake, how much more can we have confidence in our God, when our lives are right with him. This is the kind of confidence that God wanted Joshua to have.
1. WELCOME BACK TO CONFIDENCE.
2. WELCOME BACK SERVICE Vs. 1
God now says to Joshua "Arise, go to Ai."
When Joshua and Israel went to Ai the first time, they probably thought that they were serving God.
But, because of the sin of Achan, and the going forward without God's instruction or blessing, they were not serving God at all!
It's encouraging to know that God did not disqualify Israel permanently, but just until the sin was dealt with.
There are times when we are disqualified from certain positions within the church family, such as deacon or pastor. And sometimes these disqualifications aren't even our fault. But, when someone is right with God, he or she can still serve, can still do something.
I was talking to a man this week who is serving the Lord in his church. He told me that he had served for 20 years as a pastor, and did marriage counseling. Then one day, his own marriage went south. He fills pulpits, but will not be a full time pastor. He told me that he had too high a view of the sacred desk.
We had a friend who committed adultery on the mission field. She had a child, and her and her husband came home from the field. She apologized to her supporting churches, got right with her husband, and lived an exemplary life, beyond reproach. She went on not only to teach in Christian School, but a ladies class in church.
We must be careful as Christians to realize that we can't always do for the Lord what we want to do, but there is always something that we can do.
Matthew 5:15-17 - Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
"The story is told of a certain church in Europe which was bombed in World War II. In the explosion, a statue of Christ was mutilated by having the hands blown off. The statue has not been restored. It stands there today with the hands missing. But underneath has been put this well-known sentence: "CHRIST HATH NO HANDS BUT YOURS." Source Unknown
RETURN TO CONFIDENCE
RETURN TO SERVICE
3. RETURN TO GUIDANCE VSS. 1-2
The first time Israel went to Ai, it was without the guidance of God. This time God would give the instructions. When Israel succeeded, it was because God was instructing her.
There are specific instructions here for Joshua, which Joshua and the children of Israel followed.
First, there was going to be no overconfidence.
God said to take the whole army.
Second, Ai her king was to be destroyed, just as Jericho and her king had been destroyed.
Third, the spoil this time was to go to the people.
Isn't that ironic. If Achan had only waited a little while longer, he would have had the spoil that he wanted. Isn't it amazing what will happen when we do things God's way.
Fourth, Joshua was told to set an ambush.
God never changes in his character, or attributes.
But God does change how He does things and sometimes how he wants us to do things.
This time, there was no march around the city.
There was no shout that we know of.
But there was a trick, a make-believe defeat.
There was an ambush.
It is important for you and I to know exactly what God wants us to be doing. He makes His will very knowable.
Psalm 32:8 - I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Ephesians 5:15-17 - See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord [is].
Psalm 1:1-3 - Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Of course, guidance is a result of prayerful reading of God's Word, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the working out of circumstances.
We can be confident that as we are walking closely to the Lord, we will be back to all the guidance we need to be at peace.
I care not if the tempest rage,
Or if the billows roar,
I care not if the surges roll
And break upon the shore;
I have a pilot in my ship
Whom wind and wave obey,
And when He whispers, "Peace, be still!"
The storm must die away.
I care not if the sky be black
And wild the lightening flash,
I care not if the fierce winds blow,
And loud the thunders crash;
I have a pilot in my ship
Who made the mighty sea,
Who made the thunder and the storm
And He abides with me.
I care not if the waves wash high,
And treacherous weathers roll,
O'er hidden bar, and jagged rock,
Or even perilous shoal;
I have a Pilot in my ship
Who knows the trackless sea,
And He will guide me safely home
To his eternity! E. Margaret Clarkson
WELCOME BACK TO CONFIDENCE
WELCOME BACK TO SERVICE
WELCOME BACK TO GUIDANCE
4. WELCOME BACK TO OBEDIENCE Vss. 3-19
Notice that Joshua and the children of Israel were back to doing what they knew how to do so well when they wanted to - OBEYING GOD!
Vss. 3-13 - There were three units mentioned here.
The ambush unit of 30,000 men.
The main army.
Another unit of 5,000 men stationed between Bethel and Ai, preventing any help coming from Bethel.
Vss. 14-18 - The trick was executed.
The trick worked.
Joshua's spear raised in obedience, and
faith, and the ambush took place.
Remember this, the happiest times we ever have in our lives is when we obey God.
When we obey, God works in our behalf.
When we obey we are at peace.
1 Samuel 15:22-23 - ...Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry....
WELCOME BACK TO CONFIDENCE
WELCOME BACK TO SERVICE
WELCOME BACK TO GUIDANCE
WELCOME BACK TO OBEDIENCE
5. WELCOME BACK TO VICTORY Vss. 20-29
Read text.
After Israel's miserable defeat, there was a tremendous victory at Ai
It began with confession and forsaking of sin.
There was a restoration of confidence, service, guidance, and obedience.
You and I will also have victory if we go back.
WELCOME BACK TO CONFIDENCE
WELCOME BACK TO SERVICE
WELCOME BACK TO GUIDANCE
WELCOME BACK TO OBEDIENCE
WELCOME BACK TO VICTORYS