Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter eight. Joshua eight. I'd like to deal with the first
22 verses. Joshua eight. The nation of Israel learned a hard lesson And they tried to take AI. Because of disobedience, the
whole nation suffered the penalty of that disobedience. When Aiken took of the curse
thing, we dealt with that last time. Now the Lord says unto Joshua,
after the Lord has put away the accursed thing, Achan had to
bear the brunt of Israel's transgression. That Lord charged it to Israel.
Achan died as a picture of Christ. Put away their guilt. Now you know that the people
of Israel reminded, you know, when the Lord teaches us a good
lesson, good lesson, we're brought to realize, like when Peter denied
the Lord three times, when David took Bathsheba, when Marvin,
on and on and on, learn a good lesson, And you think about it, you remember
it. And you know that Joshua remembered.
The Lord says to Joshua in Joshua chapter one, verse eight, and
the Lord said unto Joshua, fear not, fear not. Neither be thou dismayed. You
know there's no comfort. like the word of God. There's
no comfort like thus saith the Lord. To have the authority and
the direction of God. You know, I quote that promise
of the Lord, I will never leave you nor forsake you. You wanna
know why I do that? Two reasons. Number one, it's
true. Number two, I need it. I need
it. Lord, tell me one more time how
you'll never leave me. You'll never leave me. You'll
never cast me out, never. The Lord speaks to Joshua because
the Lord knew Joshua's heart. He knew that he was sensitive
to the defeat that Israel had suffered at the hand of Ai. God used AI to teach his people
a good lesson. God exposed the problem now.
He's dealt with it, and he tells Joshua, don't be afraid, neither
be thou dismayed. Be cheerful. That's what he said.
Be cheerful. Why? Because God's found an atonement.
He found an atonement. Deliver them, going down to the
pit. Deliver them of my affections,
running down the pit. Why? I found a ransom. I found
a ransom. Found an atonement. He tells
Joshua, verse one, take all the people of war with thee. Not
two or three thousand like you think. I was driving over here
this morning, and I got to thinking about that. which says, take
all the people of war with thee. Whenever the people of Israel
took two or 3,000, just a little place, just a little. AI, just
a little place. No big deal, no big deal. They're
taking Jericho. AI, in my thinking, this is what
I'm thinking, I'm driving over here, there's more thinking.
And I thought, you know what, AI, is like these problems, these
things we deal with, Fred, every day. I can handle that. Now, this is not a big deal.
Now, the Lord's put away my guilt. He'd given me deliverance in
Christ and the blood of Christ, and I can handle. I mean, he's
done that for me. But now, all these other things,
I mean, I've learned some things, Brian. I've learned from this
work. I can handle this, I know. I can. Without me, you can do
nothing. You can do nothing. Are you talking
about even these little, without me, you can do nothing. Joshua,
take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai,
see I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people,
and his city, Land. Israel thought AI would be an
easy task. Brethren, would we forget? God's going to remind us. He's
going to chase whom the Lord loves. He's going to let them go just
far enough and let them learn a good lesson. And by the time
you think you got it, that's when you're gonna learn.
Israel is gonna have Ai, but they're gonna have it by the
gift of God and the pleasure of God, and they're not gonna
have it through the arm of the flesh. Turn to Psalm 44, one
to three. Psalm 44, one to three. Psalm 44, one to three, we have
heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work
thou didst in their days in the times of old. How thou didst
drive out the heathen with thy hand, thou plantest them. How
thou didst afflict the people and cast them out, for they got
not the land in possession by their own sword. Neither did
their own arms save them, but thy right hand and thine arm
and the light of thou countenance because thou hast a favor unto
them. God is gonna teach us, and we
need to learn this every day. Brethren, we're weak creatures.
Pride cometh before fall. You think you got this? Verse
two. Thou shalt do to Ai, and her
king, as thou didst unto Jericho, and her king, only the spoil
thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto
yourselves. Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it. Now here
the Lord gives explicit instructions concerning the total destruction. I've given Ai into your hand.
God is gonna do to Ai that which he did to Jericho, except in
this case, now the spoils of war. You remember what happened
last time, that's how they got in trouble. Lord said all the
silver, the gold, all that, that's mine, don't you touch it, it
goes in the treasury. Achan took it and you know what happened.
Achan took that which was Forbidden. When I hear the Lord says, I
want you, everybody go up and I'm gonna give you this city
and all the cattle and everything. You can have it. You can have
it. It's yours. You know, what Achan tried to
take and was accursed, he tried to take that for himself, thought
nobody would know, but God knew it. And God judged him for it. and all of Israel suffered for
it. And now here what was forbidden at the word of the Lord, now
is acceptable at the word of the Lord. What our Achan tried
to steal from God, now God freely gives to Israel. Spoil of the
next city. Brethren, Matthew 6.33, seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these
things gonna be added unto you. You try to set your affection
on something. I want this. I want this what
I want. I'm gonna have this one. This
is what I'm gonna put my love. I'm gonna put my love after this
first. I mean, I'll give the Lord. I'm
not gonna give up everything to the Lord. I'm not gonna. Almighty
God, It may take it all away. He can't. You seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these things will be added
unto you. Listen, that was beautifully taught. Whenever the Lord sent
Elijah, I'm sorry, Elijah, to the widow in Sarepta, or Zarephath,
I'm sorry, and that's where, you know, he had gone there.
God had sent him. Brooke Kidron, and the Lord had ravens bring
him, you know, some meat and bread every day, and he drank
out of the brook, and then God dried up the brook, and said,
you go over to this place, I'll show you over. Zarephath, and
there was a widow over there, and Elijah came to her, and she
was picking up some sticks, and he said, talked to her, and asked
her what she's doing, she said, well, I'm gonna get me some sticks
here, I got a little bit of oil and a little bit of meal here,
and I'm gonna make me and my boy a biscuit and we're gonna
eat that biscuit and we're gonna die. So that's all I got. He said, make one for me first.
Make one for me first. And then after that, didn't make
one for you and your boy, you know the story. There's a picture,
there's a beautiful picture. Elijah being a picture of Christ,
you give me first. you give of yourself first to
him. And the mill and the oil never
stopped until God sent rain. Remember that? The Lord told
Joshua, now you take everybody and you go to Ai and I'm gonna
give you the city. Verses three to 13, so Joshua
arose. and all the people of war to
go up against Ai, and Joshua chose out 30,000 mighty men of
valor, sent them away by night, and commanded them, saying, Behold,
you shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city.
Go not very far from the city, but be ye already nigh, and all
the people that are with me will approach unto the city, and it
shall come to pass, when they come out against us as the first,
that we will flee before them, for they will come out after
us, till we have drawn them from the city, they will say. They
flee before us as at the first, therefore we will flee before
them. That's what Joshua said. Then
ye shall rise up from the ambush and seize upon the city, for
the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. It shall be
when ye have taken the city, "'that ye shall set the city
on fire "'according to the commandment of the Lord. "'Shall you do?
"'See, I have commanded you.' "'Joshua therefore sent them
forth. "'And they went to lie in ambush "'in a bode between
Bethel and Ai, "'on the west side of Ai. "'But Joshua lodged
that night among the people. "'And Joshua rose up early in
the morning, "'numbered the people, went up, and the elders Israel
before the people of Ai and all the people, even the people of
war that were with him went up and drew nigh and came before
the city and pitched on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley
between them and Ai and he took about 5,000 men, set them to
lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai on the west side of the
city and when they had set the people, even all the host that
was on the north of the city and their liars in wait on the
west in the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of
the valley. God himself is gonna put himself
in a place in the valley that appears to him. This is gonna
appear to the people of Ai that we're at a disadvantage. You
think about it, you're in a valley. Now let's say Ai's over here. It's a valley, and here's where
Israel is. And Ai's gonna come out. Where's
Israel gonna have to go if they're gonna flee? You know how hard
it's gonna be to run up a hill? They put themselves in a place
that appeared as though people of AI were in trouble. That's what it appeared to be.
Well, I read all those verses that we might behold the wisdom
of God as it exposes man's arrogance and pride. All the people's gonna
be involved in the taking of this city and through the command
or tactic that Joshua gave him according to the direction of
the Lord, he said, I want all of the, we're gonna take 30,000,
30,000 mighty men. And he numbered the people, he
divided them. He took some, you wanna say 5,000
men. Now, 25,000 of you get behind
the city, get on the other side of the city, behind the city.
on the backside of the city. And we're gonna come up from
the front. And so, you know, that tactic may seem as though
a little strange for hardened soldiers. Now you want us to
get behind the city, right? Yes, get behind it. But how many
times have we considered God's ways are not our ways? We walk by faith and not by sight. That just don't make sense to
me, that that's the way that you take a city. Preaching of the gospel is foolishness
to them that don't believe. You're telling me, now wait a
minute, you're telling me that just preaching this gospel, that
only preaching the gospel, you're telling me that just standing
up here and preaching the gospel putting it out on the internet,
whatever we can do. We put it out on YouTube, we
put it out on sermon audio, we put it out wherever we can do
it. You're telling me that that's how God's gonna call out his
people? That's exactly what I'm telling you. 25,000 of you get behind there
and 5,000 in the front. And whenever this smaller number
approaches a city, And Joshua says, when the people of Ai come
out against Israel, we're gonna flee like we did the first time.
When sent 2,000 or 3,000 of them, we're gonna flee like they did.
And Joshua now being taught of God, something of the pride of
men's heart, I love what he said in verse six that I just read.
Now here's something we know, natural man, is gonna do as the
scripture says, natural man will do. And look what Joshua says
in verse six. For they will come out after
us, till we've drawn them from the city. For they will say,
they flee before us, and at the first, therefore, we will flee
before them. Notice how sure Joshua is. Because of man's pride. Because
of man's arrogance. Man by nature thinks that he
possesses the ability to accomplish his victory. Free will. Free will. We can win. We got this. We'll come out and
we'll get them. They are our enemies. And we
will do this. This is the evidence of a deceived
carnal heart. Man is born deceived concerning
his impotent will. We will come out after them. And they're going to say, we
will overcome. We will. We are going to be victorious. Men are deceived. Man is born
deceived. And the Lord warned us. Turn
to Matthew 24. The Lord has warned us. You know,
it amazes me. It shouldn't amaze me because
until the Lord shows me or anybody, I could hear the word of God.
I could hear it. I could hear it. But until God
gives a man eyes to see, he don't see it. He don't see it. You
take the plainest scripture that you can figure out. I thought
the plainest scripture I could figure out. I talked to a buddy
of mine, I told you this before, back in Louisiana. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Now listen,
it don't get any plainer than this. But we are bound to give
thanks unto God for you, beloved of the Lord. Because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Now how plainer does it
get? You know what a man or woman
unconverted sees? Nothing. Matthew 24, four and
five, the Lord warning us, Matthew 24, four and five, Jesus answered
and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you. For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive
many. How many are standing in pulpits
right now, saying, I'm preaching Christ. I'm preaching Christ. And the scripture says, and shall
deceive many. Take heed, take heed, take heed. Man is born with a heart Turn
to 2 Thessalonians 2. Man's born with a heart that
is deceived and he wants to be deceived. Believe me, believe
me. I, like everyone that was in
false religion, asked me if I was doing what I wanted to do. Just
ask me. Yes, yes I was. I wanted to do
what I wanted to do and I wanted to believe And do you know the
only hope I had? Is that God just wouldn't leave
me bein' to myself. That's the only reason. That's
the only reason. And you that know it, I can tell you, you'll
agree with me. The only reason that you didn't
keep believin' that, but if God Almighty is pleased
to leave a man or a woman to themselves, to do what they wanna
do, when they stand before the judge, Believe me, the wicked,
like we looked at in that last message a minute ago, believe
me, when they stand before God and they say, Lord, Lord, we
prophesied in your name. We've done many mighty works
in your name. I'm telling you, they're gonna stand before God
believing that God's gonna accept them based on what they've done.
Believe me. Second Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, chapter 2, 7 to 11. Now listen to this. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work. Only he who now letteth will
let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall the wicked
be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even
him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth
that they might be saved and for this cause. God shall send
them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. If a man
or a woman leaves this world believing a lie, if God gives
them what they want, This is what they want. You know, I've
heard people say God elected people to damnation. No, the
scripture never says that. You know what men do? Exactly
what they want to do. Mercy is for God to intervene
and just not let me keep doing what I want to do. That's grace. The grace of God. AI wanted to
show their strength against those that the Lord had set his affection
on. That's what AI wanted to do.
They wanted to prove that their will and way was adequate. This is the mindset, I'm telling
you, of all man-centered, man-honoring religion. in their heart, as
Satan says, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne
above the stars, I will be like the Most High. And any man, any
woman that thinks that they've got the ability to make themselves
righteous before God is saying, I am as God. I am as God, I'll be like the
Most High. Oh, but consider the confidence
in God's word. The Lord had told Joshua that
Ai was given into the hand of Israel, and Joshua, by faith,
he believed God. Verse seven, then he tells those
in the back, he said, look, we'll draw them out. We'll draw them
out. We'll draw them out. And he said, they're gonna come
after us, because we're fleeing like we did the first time. Verse
seven, then ye shall rise up from the ambush, Seize upon the
city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. The city was burned like Jericho,
like Achan, his family, after they were stoned, and like this
world's gonna be. When God Almighty returns, Hebrews
12, 29, our God is a consuming fire. Verse 14 said, it came
to pass when the king of Ai saw it, He's out there, he's chasing
5,000 out there in the valley. 25,000 comes in, they destroy
the city, set it on fire. Came to pass when the king of
Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of
the city went out against Israel in the valley. He and all the
people at the time appointed before the plain, but he wist
not that there were liars in ambush, those that were hiding
behind him. He wist not. There were liars
in ambush against him behind the city. Now what a remarkable
instance of the power and wisdom of Almighty God making men, leaving
them to their own blindness concerning their safety. Men are blind. These came out. They wished not. that there were 25,000 Israelis
behind the city. They didn't know it. They wist
not. They didn't know it. They didn't know it. They didn't
know it. Those that know not the Lord.
They don't know it. They don't know. You see, that's
the mindset of the carnal heart. They don't know. They wist not. Let me ask you this. When Pharaoh
Went in after Israel in the Red Sea. Israel made it through.
When they went in, what do you think he thought? I'm gonna get
him. I'm gonna get him. Just like,
hey, I'm gonna get you. He wist not. That water was getting
ready to crash on him, and it did. He wist not. I'm thinking to myself, There's
people that are in this world, in this town, in this congregation.
And you know what, Mitch? They wist not. You don't know. You don't know what's coming.
This book's telling us what's coming. They wist not. Verse 15 to 22, and Joshua and
all Israel made it as if they were beaten before them and fled
by the way of the wilderness. And all the people that were
in Ai, were called together to pursue after them, and they pursued
after Joshua, and drawn away from the city. And there was
not a man left in Ai, or Bethel, that went not after Israel. And
they left their city open, and pursued after Israel. And the
Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thine
hand toward Ai, for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua
stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the
city, and the ambush arose quickly out of the place, and they ran
as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered into
the city and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire. And
when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the
smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power,
no hand to flee this way or that way. And the people that fled
to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers, and when Joshua
and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that
the smoke of the city ascended. Then they turned again and slew
the men of Ai, and the other issued out of the city against
them. So they were in the midst of Israel on this side, some
on that side, and they smoked them, and they let none of them
remain or escape. All that the Lord had ordained,
all that the Lord had purposed has now come to pass. under the direction and command
of the Lord, he drew them out, just like the Lord told him to.
And just exactly as they were being drawn out, all those that
were lying in wait doing what the Lord had commanded them,
they came into the city and they took it. Beloved in closing,
the enemies of God's people, those that are being led and
directed by Satan himself, he who has a roaring lion walking
about seeking whom he may devour. These enemies have a desire. They hate God's people. That's
what the Lord said. He said, they hated me for that.
They hate you. He said, they hate you. They hate you because
of what you love. Him. They hate us because of
who we love. We love the God that is God,
heaven and earth. The God that tells men that I
am the Lord, there's none else that's what you mean. There is
none else. There is no other God. And when
they're preaching a God that says that he wants to help people
if they'll let him, and the God we're preaching, say that's not
God. What we're saying is you're worshiping a false God. What
we're saying is you're lost. You're lost. What do you tell
somebody concerning what they believe, what they put their
life and soul into? Raised their family in it, brought
them to church, and you tell them this is not God. The God you're serving is the
God of this world. He's the devil. He's motivated. He motivates his people. You
tell them that, I'm telling you. They hate you. The people of
Ai pursued after, unaware of the destruction that was in the
city. They felt as though we are victorious. Scripture says
that God told Joshua, I want you to lift up the spear toward
Ai. And here's where I will close.
I want you to turn back to Exodus chapter seven. Exodus chapter
seven. This was more than just a symbol
of battle. It's just something that Joshua, you know, decided
to do. In Exodus chapter seven, and
in verse 19, the Lord spake to Moses, unto Moses,
say unto Aaron, take thy rod, stretch out thine hand upon the
waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, upon their
ponds, upon their pools, upon their water, that they may become
blood, that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt,
both in the vessels of wood, the vessels of stone. And everyone,
everyone had heard the Lord command Moses and Aaron, you stretch
out that rod, that sword of Joshua, That set forth the power, the
direction, the heart of Almighty God to give victory. I went through
and I read in Exodus 8, Exodus 10, whenever the Lord was gonna
divide the Red Sea, he told Moses, stretch out. God hemmed him up, destroyed
him. Brethren, it is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. Kiss the Son. You know, I think
about the mercy of God, Neil, that would tell us this. Kiss
the Son, not your will, not your strength. Kiss the Son. lest he be angry and you perish
from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed
are all they that put their trust in him. I pray God bless this
to our hearts. I pray he does. For God's glory
and the eternal good of his people. Amen.