Joshua 8 Bible Study (Fall of Ai/Joshua Renews the Covenant) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Joshua chapter eight. If you've been following with us throughout this time in the livestream, you will know what we touched last week in chapter seven, and you would agree that it was a very dark chapter, heavy, filled with despair and discouragement. When we come to chapter eight, we see that God is about to give his people a new direction from the very low point that we have left off from. And just to recap what happened in chapter seven was essentially the revelation of God's hatred towards sin and the actually the actual power that can come from a man who invites sin into his life and how that sin in his life can invite trouble into the camp. And the very thing that we were left with was an execution upon a man's disobedience, upon the man himself and his family for their trespass known as Achan.

And this execution of judgment has literally left a memorial for the people of Israel for generations to come, and it's known as the Valley Of Achor, and it really just means the Valley Of Trouble. And from this time on, the people will be able to see this heap of stones because they had to stone this family and realize that God is holy and that God takes rebellion very seriously. And this is where we're left off with. Until we come to chapter eight verse one. And before we read, it's not hard to imagine what these people felt at this point.

I mean, we read it and we already feel something. Can you imagine being in their shoes? They have already been embarrassed by a defeat from a small town after a great victory with a great place. And now they are facing the the bitterness and they're tasting the sourness of what it's like to disobey God and to know his displeasure. And at this point, we're wondering what's next.

What's the next move? What is God going to say? How are they going to advance? But we have to understand that as much as they have, yes, sinned, they have quickly responded to God's instruction to deal with the matter as quick as they received the revelation on it. And so the direction that God is about to give is not necessarily from the sin point, it's from the repentance point.

It's from the place of brokenness that they have also displayed and obedience from that place of disobedience. So what does the Lord say in verse one? Chapter eight, and the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear and do not be dismayed. Now hold on. Why would God say do not fear and do not be dismayed?

Well, the simple answer is because they were fearful and they were in despair. But the question is, why? What reasons are given for this people to be crippled by anxiety and as they are clearly dejected? I think there's at least two reasons, and the two reasons here are not just unique to Israel. Keep in mind that these two reasons for the fear and the dismay that they are experiencing are very much the emotions and the reasons why people, Christians, also fear and despair when they fail, when they sin against God, when they disappoint, when they get off track.

These very same fears are real in the state of anybody's failure in their spiritual journey with God. So they disobeyed. At least one man did, but it reflected the whole camp. So so why the fear? Well, here's one reason.

Perhaps they feared that God would no longer be with them as he was before. I want you to think about it. If you understand the holiness of God, if you understand the stance that he has against sin, that's important. But what's dangerous is as you are convinced of that and you are thoroughly understanding his holy nature, the danger is that if sin is committed, you might be so convinced of his purity that you yourself would think that there's no way that I can I can be in relationship with God the same way before this happened? He's just too brilliant.

He's just too holy transcendent that there is no way that I can walk with him in the same way that I did before I messed up. And that's certainly true for these people because they've experienced it with their own parents, how God is over and over warned. Because you've done this, I'm no longer going with you. That is the greatest consequence. And so you can imagine what crashed in their minds.

Surely, we have lost God's favor. Surely I won't be able to experience him the same way I did before. The only reason why somebody should be fearful of that after they have sinned, please pay attention, the only reason why that fear is legitimate, if you are a person who thinks that you can continually sin and think that you can be reconciled to God with a simple sorry, only planning to sin again. See, the people that think that way understand that no human would ever accept that. But for some reason, we convince ourselves that God would.

We wouldn't expect that from a human relationship. I'm just gonna keep attacking you, keep going against your back, and then I'm just gonna say sorry and you're gonna accept me again. Maybe in forgiveness, but surely not in reconciliation. Two different things. But then for some reason, there are many who are deceived in thinking, God is so overwhelmingly merciful that he will receive my sorry.

Not so. He will forgive, sure, but not reconciliation. See, godly sorrow that leads to repentance is the condition to restore relational flow. Godly sorrow that leads to genuine repentance. Not the shallow, I'm sorry, I won't do it again, knowing that you're gonna do it again.

No. It's a deep understanding that you are willing to do whatever it takes by his grace and his enablement to turn away from the very thing that grieved them in the first place. But then again, there are sincere spiritual Christians who actually fail at some point. It can be grievous sin or it can be some manifestation of unchrist like attitude that just pops out of nowhere and you realize and meaning yourself, how did that come out? I didn't even know that was in me.

Only to make you feel so discouraged that you can't even think about how your future will look like with God again. And the only way to overcome such a fear is to understand not just his holiness, but his mercy and his love. I think of a verse like Micah seven eighteen. Just listen to these words. Who is a God like you?

You know what that means? Who can compare to you every other supposed God out there? None can compare to this god, the god of the bible. Why? Then he begins to to describe the strong qualities that make him unique.

Pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance. Now listen to this. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. In the New King James, because he delights in what? Mercy.

Now hold on. We understand he's merciful, but you know where many even spiritual Christians fail to understand God? That he delights in being merciful. That's a big difference. Because many people are convinced God will forgive.

We've counseled people and says God will forgive you after they confess sin. And and it's harder for us to be convinced. We like to preach it to others, but it's ourselves that find it difficult that God is merciful when we mess up. But it's not just that he has a contract with you. That, yes, I am bound to forgive you because I said I would, but now there's a fracture in my appreciation and my affection towards you.

No. He delights in giving mercy. Meaning, there is great and deep gratify gratification towards the fact that you are gonna receive grace from him. Now, that's the hard part. God actually wants to do it and he actually feels a way towards that truth.

So why don't we believe it? That's the difficult part, right? But why does God find pleasure in giving mercy? We understand the contract part, right? I said my word, that's why I'm gonna do it.

So here's some mercy. No. He's waiting to give it. He's longing to give it. He's eager to extend it.

And the reason behind it is because he knows that it will restore the relationship that was once lost because of your sin and mine. It's the very thing that will rebuild what was broken. And he knows that that mercy is the only way, and so he is actually delighting in the fact that you will experience it. I think that's where our heads hit a ceiling. I think that's where we find trouble in understanding forgiveness, that he is longing for you to just turn and confess so that he can shower you with his love, knowing that this is the very thing that will build the bridge again for you to walk hand in hand with Christ.

So the thing that we have to get out of our heads, even as spiritual believers, is that mercy is just some contract. It's just some benefit. But he's not really wanting to do it, he just has to do it or else he'll go against his word. That that mercy is something that he regret that he established in his word, but he has to do it because he he doesn't want to be found to be a liar. That's completely false.

He's eager and he's longing to restore us, and that's why there is no other God like him. Here's the attitude that some people have. There is no way God can use me after this. I blew it. God won't bless my life with himself like the way he would have if I didn't mess up.

Have you ever thought that? I can tell you that many, if not all, people have thought that at one point. And, yes, sin has consequences. There's one thing that if true repentance comes to the table that is guaranteed, mercy with a heart of love behind it, longing and awaiting for you to receive it with the faith that he wants you to receive it. But it's not just that.

That's not the only fear that they would have had. We don't have to guess what other fears that these Israelites would have had in their own hearts. And the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you and arise. Go up to Ai.

Here's the other fear, that they would not be able to defeat the enemy again because of their first failure. So the fear here is that they've fallen, they've been embarrassed, they've been chased, and God targets where their terror is and he says, Listen, I want you to get up and run back and fight again. You know what that means? That when you and I sin, if we've fallen, it doesn't mean that God's program for our lives is canceled. It doesn't mean the whole thing now is shattered.

It It doesn't mean now that we walk aimlessly and we're just wondering what other purpose is because we blew it. No. The moment we fall, God has every intention for us to get back on our feet and to resume where we left off because there's still a promised land to be conquered. There's still an inheritance for you and I to experience. And so these people were so discouraged by their own failure that they were paralyzed in advancing in the will of God.

Now here's the thing, in their case it was an actual physical enemy. Here's the fight that you and I have. It's against sin. And I have to tell you this, the same way that the Israelites were paralyzed because they they felt like they couldn't overcome Ai is the same kind of fear that many Christians experience when they keep trying to overcome a sin in their lives and it can't seem to be overcome. I fought this thing for years.

I've had strides of victory only to fall back into it again. I can't seem to break this habit. And what you have as a result is many Christians parked in the same place in their spiritual journey with Christ, never advancing or growing or going from glory to glory. And it's very much a fearful thing for many believers. And I can tell you that all you need to do is go to enough conferences.

You know what conferences. Right? Where there's a special weekend where you give undivided attention to the word of God to be challenged to change a certain way so that by next year, you look different than how you came that one year. Right? And with those challenging messages and those calls to surrender and to lay down certain sins and lay down certain mentalities, what is usually the response?

I mean, you have different results and here's one of them. People that realize that they've been convicted by the Holy Spirit and that God has highlighted something in their lives that needs to be repented of. Only to be met with this objection, but I fear. I'm afraid that the moment I leave this environment, this heavenly environment, only to go back to my home, only to go back to my circle of friends, my school, my workplace, to be overcome by the same sin that I know that I have to give up. I'm afraid that I'm gonna cycle back into it.

And that sin can be anything. It can be an attitude problem. It could be envy. It could be jealousy. It can be sensuality.

It can be the the fear of man. It could be anything. Something that we know that is gnawing at us, we can't seem to shake off. And so what many people are paralyzed by is this fear that I can't overcome. And here's how some people think.

God has given me victory when I got saved over certain things, but this thing I can never get victory over. I've lived with it too long. I've seen God set me free from this sin and that sin and this sin. I know that I'm saved, but this thing can't seem to break off. And I think I'm gonna have to live with it.

Or the idea of no matter how much I've tried, it's just gonna resurface again. No matter how much I feel like those chains have been broken, I've run free. I feel like I'm arrested by that thing out of nowhere again. And so there's a sense of, why bother? Why bother confessing?

Why bother asking for prayer? Why bother fasting? Why bother anymore? I can't seem to overcome it. That's a very real fear in many peep people's lives.

And I think the only way to overcome that fear is the same solution found here for Joshua and the Israelites. Look at the second part of verse one. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai and his people, his city, and his land. And look at verse two. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king.

There's the answer. How is God encouraging his people to get up and face this fear that the enemy can't be overcome because we failed miserably? He says the same thing that you've done to Jericho is the same thing that you'll do to Ai. Now why is that significant? Here's why it's significant.

Two different levels of threats. You have Jericho, a mighty fortress. Couldn't even imagine penetrating through that place, and yet God brought it down. And here's Ai, a smaller place. Still the same solution.

Victory is still possible. There's nothing too big, nothing too small. There's no big sins and small sins in the eyes of God. Sins have different consequences, but all of them can know victory over if we, what, simply believe. The very same substance that would bring victory to Joshua and the Israelites is the very same substance that you and I require in the new covenant.

You know what it is? Faith. Faith. You can't look at one thing and say, God can give me victory over that and look at another thing and be like, God can't give me victory over that. The moment you begin to think like that and talk like that and convince yourself you have forfeited the substance that brings about victory.

And so what is necessary is to look at the promises of God, which are greater than the old covenant, and to so convince ourselves of those promises, bring them before God, and allow the Holy Spirit to tap us into that power so we can experience it. But when when we start saying things like, I I don't think I can ever overcome it. This is just the way I'm wired. When we begin to say things such as, I think I have to live with this for the rest of my life, we forfeit the very thing that connects us to the source of victory. Very dangerous.

Everything hinges on faith, even victory over sin. It's not striving. It's not sweating. It's not eliminating necessarily. It has to start in the core place of believing and trusting God.

See, they needed to believe that if we overcame Jericho, surely we can overcome AI. God targeted their lack of faith which caused the fear and try to breathe hope into that because if you don't have hope, then you will never know victory. It was true for them in the carnal and it's true for us in the spiritual. You have to believe. If you don't, you will stay defeated.

You will stay parked where they were parked and never know greater strides of inheritance in the kingdom. It's so true and it's so important to be able to realize that. This was their source of hope, believing God. There are many prayers in the bible. You know what one of my favorite ones are?

When Jacob knew that he was gonna face his brother Esau, and he was so terrified. You know why he was terrified? Because his mother said, go to your uncle Laban and I will fetch for you when your brother's anger subsides. He never came. There was no messenger ever sent for years.

Can you imagine? Go move in with your cousins, and when your brother is finished convincing himself that he wants to murder you, then I'll call you to come back home. Not one email, not one text message for years. Then as he's trying to travel back, he gets word. Esau is on his way and he's terrified.

And I love what he does in Genesis thirty two twelve. He says to God, he says, you said, and then he lays out the promises that God had given him personally. You said he prayed the very promises of God. So we need to know the promises of God, and then we need to learn how to communicate them to God as an act of faith. You said sin shall not have dominion over me because I am not under the law, but I am under grace.

You said that. That's bold, but we have the license to do that. And then as we bring these promises, God honors that act of faith and then begins to animate you and energize you to know how to trample over every enemy, including your sin and mine. These are the fears that they were facing, the very same fears that many Christians experience when they fail. Now look what happens here in verse two.

It says, and you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city behind it. This is interesting. You know why?

Because it's very much different instructions than what we got for Jericho. What did he tell them concerning Jericho? He says, as you go in and attack, you be careful that you don't take one thing to yourself. It's all devoted to destruction. And the gold and silver, that's mine.

You are leaving empty handed. Nothing belongs to you. Everything belongs to me. But then here he says, the plunder is yours. The plunder is yours.

Joshua six, nothing is yours. Joshua eight, it's all yours. You know why that's a sad truth? Can anybody guess why? Because there was a man named Achan who could have just waited a little longer.

And the very thing that his heart desired, he would have experienced. What was Achan's fault? When God says it's not yours, he took it anyway, and he paid the price for it. And just a few moments later, if he had just obeyed God, the very thing that he wanted to have, he would have had and had God's blessing on it, but he couldn't wait and trust God. This is a very important lesson in life, brothers and sisters.

Oftentimes, when we wanna move ahead of God or we wanna do something against his word, we convince ourselves that it's because we will be at advantage. Let me guarantee you something. Whenever you are tempted with that thought, to move ahead of God, to do something apart from his permission, to disobey his written word, you will always miss out like Achan missed out. See, God said no. He didn't say no here because an AI you're gonna have.

He didn't reveal the whole thing. And God doesn't have to reveal the whole thing. We just have to trust him at his word. So when he says no, we say amen. When he says yes, we say amen.

Sometimes we want explanations for why doors are closed. We want explanations for why things are not going the way we think they should be going. Yet on the other side, there's something to experience, yet many people have sabotaged that experience like Achan has because they don't know how to simply trust God in what? Not just his word, but his timing. It was a timing issue.

If he had just waited a little longer, he would have known what God wanted him to know, but he didn't wait on God. And he lost, not just this, but a lifetime experience. Oh, Achan, if you would have just waited for God, don't let that be the commentary for you and me in our life. Trust God at his word. Trust God in the sovereignty over your affairs in life.

Believe him and believe in his timing, and you will know maximum blessing. You know, many Christians, they want something something so bad enough that they're willing to push through all counsel, push through all advice, even push through the barriers of the word of God to get what they want and they pay for it in the end. God knows what he's doing, and we see this on this side. Achan didn't know it, but we see it, and God has given us these things for us to consider. Don't rush, God.

Don't rush in life. Trust him at his word, and he will bless you for it. Now what happens? We come to verse three down to verse eight. Joshua is gonna give the Israelites a new set of instructions of how to overcome Ai.

That fear, that despair is eliminated because of truth shining upon the character of God and his nature. And what's important from verse three down to verse eight as he begins to give instructions is verse eight. Look at verse eight with me. He says, and as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to what?

The word of the Lord. So you know where these instructions came from? Not Joshua's mind, God's mind. God gave them to Joshua, and they came through Joshua to the people. Why is that important?

Why is it important to know that these verses have come from God, these instructions? Because they look very much different than the strategy that they had in their initial attack to AI. Very much different. You put these instructions side by side, you see a completely different way of understanding this whole circumstance. For example, look at verse three.

So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai, and and Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. Now go to Joshua seven verse three. Same verse number, different chapter. This is when he sent his spies to go out to Ai. And they, being the spies, returned to Joshua and said to him, do not have all the people go up, but let about two or 3,000 men go up and attack Ai.

Do not make the whole people toil up there for they are few. Do you see the difference? So when the spies went out, in their own understanding estimation, they thought we don't need everybody to go up. This is a small place, AI. This is nothing like Jericho.

Why send most of our troops when we can just send some of our troops? And if we send some of our troops, then we don't have to get everybody all worked up and tired for nothing. Hey, if you read chapter seven without eight, you think, this is smart. This is wisdom. This is good thinking.

They only missed it by multiplying the soldiers by 10. Here's the idea. How do we get this? Verse three and verse three from these chapters. Very simple.

Very simple conclusion. God does things differently than we do. God thinks differently. He strategizes differently. He plans differently.

He executes differently. And what an embarrassment, what a humbling experience it would have been for Joshua to hear 30,000 men. We only miss it by so many. We thought two or 3,000. And then God says, no, I actually want 30,000 to go up to AI.

How can this be? Well, we can't condemn this man too quick because many of us do the same thing. We we kinda take on life and we look at situations and circumstances and we think that we can do it with our own thinking. Apart from God's intervention or wisdom or word or counsel, only to find out later on that God's way was the best way. And I want you to think how many people take on different aspects of life without dependency on the Lord.

How many people try to do ministry without God's word? Many, you'd be shocked to know how they think that if we just do it this way, we will win more people. If we just do it this way, we will get more money. If we just do it this way, fill in the blank. Because culture is changing, and people have different attention spans now.

So let's move away from this and let's introduce this and this and this and that. As though God didn't know what he was talking about, as though God didn't have twenty twenty in mind when he gave us his word, or take on relationships without God's advice. We are so given to our emotions and our judgments, and we go, this is right, when God has clear warnings and God has given us people to give us warnings, and yet we still move ahead without him because we think we can do this apart from him. Business, you name it. This is a perfect example.

You look at chapter seven, you see nothing of God mentioned. Nothing of God mentioned. That is always a recipe for disaster. And it's very simple, know his word and bring it to him in prayers. I know it's not deep, but it saves you from a lot.

And they thought we are going to save our resources, men are not gonna be tired, we can get this over quickly. Whatever seems to make sense, if it's not aligned with God's will, no matter what people say, if it's not according to this, it's bound to fail. It's bound to fail but we don't have to wait for us to fail to experience the bitterness of it. See, they came to this low point because of their own decision, mainly because of Achan's sin, but secondly, we see that they have they have come to this point of thinking we understand how this whole thing works. And you know what all it took for them to come to that point?

One victory over Jericho. That's not an accident. The sequence is not an accident. Victory over Jericho, then they come to Aon, they go, we got this figured out. Get two or 3,000, let's send them over and we'll move on.

Wrong. But how does a person come to that kind of mentality of being independent from the Lord? I can guarantee you from many examples in the bible that it usually grows after a taste of victory. After God has used you for something, after you've seen yourself living consistently in a state of spiritual power, after being used by even a moment, all it takes is one sermon, brother, for people to say whatever they wanna say to praise. All it takes is one sermon for this type of thinking to rush and to take over, where you fail to feel as though you need to continually depend upon the Lord.

You know what the scary part is? They thought they can do this without God's counsel after one victory over Jericho. Right? But think about the victory over Jericho. Did it have anything to do with them?

No. It was God's supernatural intervention based on what? Marching around walls. God intentionally made it seem like they would look foolish so that he would receive maximum glory, not just in the eyes of the Israelites, but the eyes of all the people in the land of Canaan. But here's how subtle pride is.

That even if you and others know that it was God, you somehow are able to convince yourself that there was something about you in it. That's how subtle this thing is. You can be totally convinced at one moment that surely this was God in and through me, only for the next for you to think, well, God could have chosen anybody, but he chose me. I'm the vessel that God used to bless others. I'm the person that God gave.

Surely there's something about me for God to give it to me and not her and not him. Dangerous thinking. And this is how sinful we really are, that even in being just a vessel, just a cup in the hand, just an instrument, we can still think that it has something to do with us. And then we begin to think that we can do this on our own and figure it all out. And from there, things go really south.

I think of Uzziah. Remember that man? In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. Uzziah died a tragic death. He died of pride.

Leprosy broke out on his forehead. No accident there because the man was filled with pride. How? He became king at 16 years old. He had a good mentor.

He knew how to seek the Lord, and as long as he sought the Lord, he prospered, and boy did he prosper. Read second Chronicles 26. Victory, inventions, fame. And then there's one scary verse, when Uzziah became strong, everything went downhill. See, again, it's it's in that place where you are seeing blessing flow through you and to you, that the cancer of pride has some soil to work with so that it can spread only to create a spiritual leprosy and have us crashing down for all men to see.

And so here we see an example of that. Different set of instructions, guys. God thinks about life, God thinks about money, God thinks about relationships, God thinks about modesty, God thinks about church, God thinks about every aspect of who we are differently than you and I do. And the closer we align our minds and our hearts to his will, the more we will know victory and we will save ourselves time, energy, and much pain when we do so. That's certainly true in this case.

So what happens? They move on, and then we see here in verse four down to verse 24, long details of what? Well, the first chunk we see that God gives the explanation of what they were supposed to do. In the second part, we get a detailed record of the execution of what they were supposed to do. And so we can read through all of it and there seems to be a lot of repetition, but it's all to just show that they obeyed perfectly what God demanded of them.

But you know what I love about this strategy? You know what's wonderful about this victory? Here it is. We see here in verse six that Joshua, perhaps inspiration by God, knew ahead of time what the enemy was going to do and they planned accordingly. So let's summarize what the strategy was.

They were supposed to go up as one group only for another group of Israelites to come behind the city of Ai. And what the strategy was is that this group would come and plant themselves before Ai. Ai would see the Israelites and they would say, we got them before. We're gonna get them again. So they come with all their men to the point where they actually leave the city behind.

Not one man was left behind in Ai. And they chased the Israelites as the Israelites on the front pretended that they were defeated. Pretended that they were fearful. And as they chased them, Joshua would turn and bring up a javelin as a signal, and the ones that were in ambush would now come and burn down the city. And as the smoke would rise to heaven, the people of Ai would turn around, see it, they would come and it would be a sandwich.

That was the that was essentially the plan. Beautiful plan. Wonderful plan. But what makes this so important is verse six. Look at verse six.

This is what Joshua in his instructions. He goes, and they, being the people of Ai, will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, they are fleeing from us just as before, so we will flee before them. What's important with that? Joshua knew ahead of time what the enemy was going to do.

In Joshua eight, that's very important in real war strategy. In the pages of the New Testament, in the realm that you and I are living in, it is as equally as important in our spiritual battle. To do what? To know ahead of time of what the enemy can do in our lives, in our church. That is not a call to be mystical nor is that a call to just pretend and think maybe this is no.

It is actually instructed by the Holy Spirit towards you and I. And here's the verse. Second Corinthians two eleven. Look what Paul tells this church and for all churches for all time what they are instructed to do. Now look at this.

He says here, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs. We've been taught all our lives to know what God is able to do and what God wants us to do. Sure. I don't think we spend much time understanding how Satan works. Paul says, you're called not to be unaware of his designs, of his schemes, of his crafty abilities, of his strategies.

You know why? Because you and I are in a war. You've heard this many times, but I'll say it again. As much as you might not wanna believe you're in a war, you're in a war. As much as you might think that you're not in wartime mentality, you are still in a war.

And the less you think you're in a war, the more you are a sitting duck for Satan. Pretend all you want. Be an ostrich and plant your head in the sand and pretend that there's no danger around you. You are literally becoming easy prey for the enemy. And you don't have to be a super Christian to figure out how Satan works.

We have to be spiritual, absolutely. But why did Paul say this to the Corinthian church? Why did he say, so that we would not be outwitted, so that we will not be unaware of the schemes of Satan? Now understand the context here. Last week, we talked about how one man's sin in the camp can affect the whole camp.

Remember? And we went to first Corinthians to see the example of that. There was a man who had an unlawful relationship with his father's wife. Even the world doesn't even celebrate such a thing. And he says, Get rid of him.

See, there are sometimes certain sins in the local church, sometimes, where you don't have to go through the necessary steps, where you have to sometimes use extreme measures for the sake of saving the whole congregation. That was certainly true in this case. So he was excommunicated in that moment. And then when you come to second Corinthians, something happens between those two books. At first, he has to go.

He has to go because he's not repentant, so he goes. Then you come to second Corinthians and what happens? He's now speaking to the same group of people and he's saying, listen. Don't add sorrow to him. If he's come back and he's asking for forgiveness, do not withhold that forgiveness.

Do not withhold your love. Shower him with your love. Shower him with your compassion. And then he goes on to say, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan for we are not ignorant of his designs. That's the context.

So what is he trying to say? He's trying to say this, in this particular situation in your church, Corinthians, as you are trying to figure out how to handle this situation, know that Satan is lurking. And that as this penitent broken man is coming to you asking for restoration, give it to him. Because if you think you can withhold it Listen, because many people think if I withhold forgiveness and love, it will teach them a greater lesson never to do it again. And so who knows what was going on in their mind to think, let's not give it to him.

He blew it. He embarrassed us. Look how Paul spoke to us. Who knows what was going on in their mind? But listen, if it did not come to the point of restoration or rebuilding, they were playing into Satan's hands.

Because Satan would love nothing more than for this person to be so overwhelmed by despair that he would be crushed to the point where who knows what he would do to himself, or who knows what direction he would be headed into. Says, be careful. Be careful how you handle the situation. Now you know how subtle Satan is? Check this out.

The first time with this church, he was working in another way, I believe. You know how he was working? When the man was unrepentant and sitting in the church and they all knew knew about it, they were tolerant. Ah, he was working there. He didn't wanna make him think that it was that serious.

He didn't want him to think that this was an emergency situation. So he convinced them to the point where they weren't mourning over it, they weren't broken over it. And then when Paul sheds light, they go, and they get rid of him. And now the enemy is still there. So that when he comes back, he's trying to convince them.

See, he always wants to find an open door in. In the first case is when sin came in to say tolerate it. When they got rid of it, he wants the other extreme. Now be legalistic and condemn him. Christianity is not a game.

Church is not a game. We are dealing with people's souls here. And so when we understand this example, it calls for a supernatural relationship with God where he bestows wisdom and he bestows a sensitivity to his person and a knowledge of who he is so that we know how to deal with every situation. Every situation. What brought Joshua and the Israelites to victory is that they knew how the enemy was working ahead of time.

You and I are called to do the same, not to play guessing games, but to be aware. We are heading into a season. We're dealing with a circumstance, and we have to include in this the possibility how the enemy would take advantage of it. Here's an example. Here's an example.

With this whole lockdown, with this whole lockdown, a tremendous shift to all of our lives including how we do church. But how many of us thought in those three months, is the enemy gonna take advantage of the church somehow in this way? That's why we spent a message on the live stream talking about the unique temptations in this season. Why? Because the enemy is at work.

We're not gathering again. We don't see each other. How is he going to plan now? What will he do now that we're all isolated in our homes? And this is what we're called to do.

Leadership down to the congregation. Look at the word. Look at the word. What temptations do we find in the Bible of those who are found in their homes? Do you see?

How can the enemy take advantage of the fact that we are isolated from each other? We are continually called. And the same way, now that we're all back, what will he do now? How will he work now? It's not to be obsessive.

It's not to continually have Satan in our minds, but not to be outwitted by him. Not to be ignorant. See those people that always say we don't wanna give Satan glory, it has nothing to do with giving Satan glory. We are commanded not to be ignorant. And Joshua, he knew.

This is where they're gonna head next, so we're gonna go one step ahead of him. And God gave victory. It's a beautiful example for us to consider in our spiritual battle against the enemy. And this is certainly true. What happens?

We come to verse 28 as we're closing in a moment. They conquer. The strategy was executed in perfect obedience. And we see in verse 28, so Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins as it is to this day. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening.

And at sunset, Joshua commanded and he took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city. Now look at this. And raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day. If you've been following this Bible study, we've been seeing a lot of stones, haven't we? Stones from here, stones from here, create stones here, heap of stones here, stones, stones, stones, everywhere.

And up to this point, we have a museum of stones. Early on in Joshua, take some stones, 12 stones out of the Jordan River, set them up as memorials so that what? You would be able to look at these stones and say, God is faithful to each tribe. He is faithful to each believer. He's willing to lead each of us into what he has planned for us.

Wonderful memorial. Achan, heap of stones upon him and his family, another memorial. So as this family of Israelites down the generations are walking down this museum, so to speak, They come down to Achan's heap of stones and they say, God is holy. Son, daughter, look. God is serious about sin.

Don't entertain it. You and your family, when you have a wife, when you have a husband, realize that God is watching what's happening in the tent. And as they walk, there's another heap of stones they are gonna face now, and it has to do with AI. And here's this mountain of rocks that are piled up in this burned down city. And what's the message behind the heap of stones here?

The whole message of Joshua chapter eight. God is a god of second chances. Son, daughter, your ancestors, they try to defeat AI in sin. They try to advance in the will of God and the blessings of God while being in disobedience. It failed.

They failed. Remember Achan? That was the result. But look, there's victory. Do you wanna know how?

Because God gave him a second chance. Know that no matter how much you failed in life, no matter the the mess ups that you invited into your own life, if you're willing to deal with the mess up, as soon as you get revelation and light on it, God will bring you forward. God will advance you in his promises. Do you have the memorial in your heart? Or are you still stuck with the one that Achan represents, which is important, but it's not the one that we're supposed to stick with?

God will give you his will for your life if you just surrender your will continually. And even in a moment where you allow your will to override his will, and even if that decision was a royal mess up, like theirs was because it cost 36 men their lives, if you're willing to turn from it and execute obedience, even if it's as serious as it was for Joshua, you will know favor again. Not because it's a contract, but because God delights. The program isn't over for your life. The plan isn't over for your life.

God didn't say, go back to Egypt. The promised land is closed. He says, get up. Don't be afraid. Don't be in despair.

Let's move forward. So many believers think it's godly to wallow in their despair when they figure out that they have failed. That is not godliness. For you to remain in a place where you're continually burdened because of a past sin and you can't seem to move on, don't let the enemy deceive you and think that's what true spirituality and holiness is, being defeated all the time. Should we remain in that place of the fear of the Lord?

Absolutely. But not to the point where it's so despairing that you can't even do what God wants you to do. It's important. Now something interesting happens and we are gonna close at this point. From verse 30 down, there seems to be just a different scene altogether.

At that time, Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel on Mount Ebal. Just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones upon which no man has wielded an iron tool. And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. Now what's happening here? Now if you remember in Deuteronomy near the end, chapter twenty seven and twenty eight, Moses gave instructions to this generation that when you go into the promised land remember we spent a good two weeks on two mountains, Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim.

And what you're gonna do is you're gonna divide the tribes and they're gonna represent these two mountains which represent the blessings of God, the curses of God. And you're gonna hear the blessings of obedience, you're gonna hear the curses of disobedience, and you're gonna agree to make a covenant that you will choose to be obedient. Now we've already talked about what these things represent, but let's go over it one more time as we close because there's a there's a unique thing happening here. It says here in verse 32, and there in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. They are on Mount Ebal, which symbolizes the curses for disobedience.

And he told Joshua, when you get into the promised land, take these giant stones, more stones, put them on Mount Ebel so that forever the Israelites would be able to see the written word on stone. Unchanging, foundational. Now think about the vis the the experience of this. They would be standing on a mountain that symbolizes curses as they are reading the law of Moses. You know what that means?

That they would realize as they're reading it, on their very feet, that there is a mountain of judgment ready to be poured out on them if they disobey this law. That the curses that come from severing relational ties with God by trespassing his word are mountainous. And all you have to do is read Deuteronomy 28 to see how mountainous they are. And so there would be a a fearful thing, a fearful experience. They're reading this law and they would realize we are standing on a mountain that symbolizes curses if we break it.

And it's true. There will be for those who disobey ultimately. That is the end road for anybody who chooses to live apart from God. A heap of judgment that will come. But that's not the only thing that happens on Mount Ebal.

We read it already in verse 31. They built an altar on it, on Mount Ebal. Now you would think that the altar would be placed on Mount Gerizim, which symbolize the blessings. You're standing on the mountain, and here's the altar, and the altar symbolizes sacrifice. And if you sacrifice, then here's a mountain of blessings upon you.

Somewhat true. But no. The altar was placed on Mount Ebal because it's a prophetic picture. Every type of sacrifice in the Old Testament symbolizes and points to a once and for all sacrifice in the person of Jesus Christ. And this is the picture that they are getting.

They are getting gospel truth because from Genesis all the way to Revelation, God is concerned about one message if there's one message to get and that is the gospel. And as you come to Joshua and you come to this chapter, you realize one thing at least, that as this altar would be built on this mountain, the people would realize at least one truth, and hopefully they would've understood the prophetic implications of it, that only a blood sacrifice can cover the mountainous judgments that will come upon you and I if we break that law, the very same laws that are written on this mountain. They would realize that it's sacrifice that will keep us from being buried by the wrath of God. That it's only going to be the sacrifice, the life of someone else that would be able to give us the relief and the assurance that God will be pleased with us. How do we avoid this mountain?

Sacrifice. And only sacrifice can cover what's supposed to cover you and me. And one blood of from Christ, one drop of his blood can cover a mountain of judgments that are targeted towards you and I. Gospel truth in Joshua chapter eight, much to consider in this chapter, but we're gonna conclude there. Everything about the book of Joshua has to deal with you and I fighting for what God has given us as an inheritance.

In their case, it had to deal with physical blessings. You and I have something better spiritual, things that don't rot and things that can't be stolen. Here's what you and I have to consider, at this point at least. If tonight you have failed, and maybe you failed big time during this quarantine, get up. Don't be afraid.

Don't be distressed. God is willing to bring you back to himself, and God is willing to push you forward into his plan for your life. Just make sure that in your heart, you're convinced that you don't wanna do that thing again that you did. It's all God needs. Trust in God's timing.

Don't think for a moment that God is withholding something from you when he says no. There's just something on the other side that is awaiting for you to experience if you just trust that answer in the first place. Don't be like Achan and miss out on what god has on the other end of the chapter because you couldn't trust him in the previous one. We as a church, not mystically, not weirdly, I've heard some strange things about how people tap into how Satan thinks. It's It's not a call to tap into some weird spiritual realm, but to simply look at the examples in the word of God and to see how the enemy, through wisdom of the Holy Spirit, wants to find ways in times of victory and in times of defeat to get in and do something in your life personally and in this church life.

And as long as we are in the word, as long as we are on our knees like we were this past week, we have nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about. Not fearful of anything. And lastly, if you don't know Jesus Christ, This isn't moral rules for you to follow. That's not what Christianity is all about.

It's about what I said last. The finished work of Jesus Christ, what he did for you two thousand years ago will deal with the sin issue. Everything that was said prior to that means absolutely nothing unless you have dealt with Christ at the foot of the cross. You will know nothing but pure confusion and frustration unless you have dealt with your sin issue that can only be dealt with when you come and humble yourselves before the lamb of God who has dealt with the mountainous sins that you've committed in your brain alone, never mind your lips and your hands, he will deal with it if you trust that his sacrifice covers it. And from that place where you say yes to Christ, all of what I'm talking about will make sense because he covers your sin, but he doesn't just save you from something, he saves you for something.

And then he launches you into his will for your life. And there's nothing like it. I can tell you that. Let's pray and thank God for this Bible study tonight. Lord, we thank you for the revelation, New Testament principles tucked in this chapter.

Lord, your word is amazing and we thank you for this word. We pray that you would be able to help us create this memorial in our own hearts, that God, you are a God of second chances. Second chances. That when we failed, we can get up and we can see victory over sin. That you're still willing to work with us and for us.

Lord, we pray with everything within us that despair and fear will be eradicated tonight, eliminated, erased tonight, and that every person will walk out of here on their feet with their weapons in their hands, ready to advance in your will for their lives. And Lord, we choose as a church to sing to you because of what you have planned for us. God, you have kept us. Not just over these past three months, you've kept us over these years. When things could have gone very, very wrong, you've stabilized us and your hand remained upon us.

When we had needs, you met them. When we didn't have answers, you brought them. Who is a god like you? Delighting in steadfast love. Lord, may every person in this place in their heart be convinced that you delight in loving them, that you delight in showing them mercy even in failure.

Eliminate all the lies of Satan and may truth abound. May grace abound and may you be exalted. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.