Victory!

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. I did it again.

It's my fault, so I'm going to let you stay seated. Joshua chapter 8. It's amazing how habits, form, isn't it? Joshua chapter 8, Joshua chapter 8, and I know in the bulletin I put in there that we were going to do the whole chapter, but I changed my mind. We're just going to do the first 29 verses. So whoever's picking out Psalms for next week, we're going to be dealing with the covenant next week. So this morning we are at Joshua chapter 8, verses 1 through 29. Joshua chapter 8 verses 1 through 29.

Hear now God's perfect word. Now the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid nor dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise. Go up to I. See, I have given into your hand the king of I, his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to I and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, only its spoils and all and its cattle. You shall take a spoil for yourselves, lay an ambush for the city behind it. So Joshua arose. and all the people of war to go up against I. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.

Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city, And it will come about, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we shall flee before them. For when they come out against us, as at the first, we shall flee before them. For they will come out after us, till we have drawn them from the city. For they will say they are fleeing before us, as at the first. Therefore, we will flee before them.

Then, you shall arise from the ambush. and seize the city for the Lord, your God will deliver it into your hand. And it will be when you have taken the city that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the Lord, you shall do. See, I have commanded you.

Joshua, therefore, sent them out and they went to lie in ambush and stayed between Bethel and I on the West side of I. But Joshua lodged that night among the people. Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people and went up. He and the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near, and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Then a valley lay between them and Ai, so he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai on the west side of the city. And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. Now, it happened when the king of Isaiah saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle he and all his people at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and they fled by the way of the wilderness. And all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, so they left the city and pursued Israel. Then the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward I, that I will give it into your hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city.

So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place and ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand. And they entered the city and took it and hurried and set the city on fire. And when the men of I looked behind them, they saw and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven.

So they had no power to flee this way or that way. And the people who had fled into the wilderness turned back on their pursuers. Now, when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. Then the others came out of the city against them. So they caught them in the midst of Israel. Some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down so that they let none of them remain or escape.

But the king of Ai, they took alive and brought him to Joshua. And it came to pass when Israel made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them. And when they had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites turned to I and struck it with the edge of the sword. So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, all the people of I. For Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of I. Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as as booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lord, which he had commanded Joshua.

So Joshua burned I and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. And the king of I, he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the city gate and raise over it a great heap of stones. that remains to this day.

Let us pray. Oh, Father, we thank you for your word, for sacred history, for true history, for inspired, perfect history. Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would be working in our hearts now as we think about your word. Father, we pray that you would build us up. that we might follow after You, in Jesus' name, Amen.

This isn't their first rodeo against I, is it? No, in chapter 7, they had sent a couple of spies up to I, and what did the spies said? It's not that big. They're coming off the heels of Jericho. Things are going pretty well. We can go, we can take care of it. They go up, and they have to hightail it out of there. They lose the battle. Thirty-six men lose their lives. And the Lord says, there's sin in the camp. Someone did what was evil and wrong at Jericho, taking the forbidden things. And last week, we spent all week looking at Achan and the reality of sin.

And so, this week, as we come to the passage, the Lord Himself starts this passage, where before they had relied on spies, intel, and their own intelligence. It's the Lord who's going to command His people. Now it's the Lord who's going to guide them. Now it's God who's going to bring them victory.

And so that starts in verses 1 and 2, as the Lord speaks to Joshua, He says, the Lord, Yahweh said to Joshua, do not be afraid. 39 times in the Bible, God has to tell people, do not be afraid. Different circumstances for those, often it's when he appears to people, or he speaks to people, he has to tell them, do not be afraid. But here, Joshua is the person who seems to continually need this encouragement from the Lord, and we know that this is the context of this for, do not be afraid, because right after that, he gives him another command for his heart. Nor be dismayed.

See, there's a reality in Joshua's heart that he could focus on the past. He could think about what happened with Achan. He remembers the blood of those 36 men who died, and he could have that blood heavy on his own conscience, thinking and being disheartened, did I do something wrong? Are we going to lose again? Remember, the hearts of the people had melted. Not the hearts of the Canaanites anymore, but the hearts of the Israelites.

And so here the Lord is telling him, don't be disheartened, son. Joshua, don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged. Don't be dismayed. And the Lord gives him direct commands here. Take all the people of war with you. Arise and go up to I. We're going to do this again. We're going to do this again, Joshua. And this time, it's going to be my way.

We're going to go up to I again, and I'm going to tell you, don't just take 3,000, take all the fighting men. See, when we go against sin, don't go about it half-heartedly. When the army of Israel is sent to go conquer, it's not sent with a little bit of force, this is meant to show them, you go with all your might, with all your strength, you go and you fight against this. Not half-heartedly, not relying on yourself, but you follow with the full army of God.

So muster the forces, Joshua. Get them ready, because we're going up the hill. See, I have given into your hand the King of I. What an encouragement that must have been for him. Would it not have been? We know Joshua is a man who trusts God's promises. And what is God promising him here? He's promising him victory. He's saying, I've given him over to your hand. In the mind of God, this is a done deed. This is perfect tense. This is in the past. It's done. The King of Ai is his. So, when he marches up to that city, he can go with full confidence. The King of Ai and his people and his city and his land. And you shall do to Ai and his king as you did to Jericho and its king.

Same thing's going to happen. Not the walls coming down, not the marching, not that. But the same type of victory. Where the Lord is going to give the battle strategy. The Lord is going to command them, and they're going to have victory. But it's interesting. Notice the second half of verse 2. It's not going to be exactly like Jericho, is it? No? What does the Lord say?

Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourself. Lay an ambush for the city behind it. For, I don't know, maybe I'm just, I think of booty and I think of piracy and stuff like that. The spoils of war is probably how I would translate that. But all the spoils are going to be yours.

This is different from Jericho, is it not? In Jericho, what were they to do with all the things that they found? all the articles of gold, all the silver, all the bronze, all the garments, what were they to do with them? They were to bring them to the Lord. None of it was theirs, it was all the Lord's. But here, notice the graciousness of God.

In the previous chapter, in chapter 7, we have Achan, who's really concerned about, how am I going to provide? He's so sucked into the material things of this world. He wants that wedge of gold. He wants that silver. He wants that Babylonian garment. He wants those things so badly that he's not willing to wait, because do you see what happens in the next city? They get to keep the spoils of war.

So often in life, Christians, we fall into this where the Lord is telling us there's great reward. Trust me, follow after me. Don't do this thing. And later on, I'm going to heap upon you. There's blessing upon blessing upon blessing. And so often in our Christian lives, we just want the immediate gratification. Rather than trusting that the Lord is going to be good to us. Now, this is a thing I want to be careful about, right? Because we need to be careful.

This is not health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. I love you too much to tell you a lie that once you become a Christian, you're just going to have all the wealth, and you're not going to have any problems. That's a bold-faced lie. Anybody who tells that to you, put your ears in your fingers, say, liar, liar, liar, turn around and walk away. Right? Flee. That's a false gospel.

But the Lord is generous. The Lord is generous, and he is specifically going to be generous with these people, really, physically. They are going to receive houses they did not build, and vineyards they did not plant, and fields they did not sow. It is going to be theirs. God is showing them. He is going to be gracious to them.

And so he tells them just a little bit what the battle plan is going to be, lay an ambush in the city behind it. Now, this week we don't have chocolate talk, but next week we will, and I have all the pictures ready with topographical views where we can see where the army would be and what's going to happen. So, if you're the type of person who reads this and you're like, where are they and what's going on, I'm going to describe it to you, but next Sunday afternoon we'll look at some pictures so you can see it. But what does God command them to do?

The city of Ai is a 12-mile hike up from Gilgal. They have to hike up the mountain, and so he's going to send an ambush there. And up around Ai, this is a hill country. And there the city is that's on top of this mountain, and the gate is on the north side. And so he stations troops on the west. He sends an ambush as the Lord has commanded him. And imagine the divine providence here. 30,000 men, late at night, in the dark, hiking up 12 miles, remembering every time that they stepped, we lost this last time. But the Lord allows them not to be caught. Nobody hears them. Nobody sees them. Nothing happens. They get there safely.

And as they get there safely, they're marching through the night. And what does Joshua do? What does the leader of God's people do? He rests in the midst of the people. He sleeps in the camp. He's there for all the people. He shows solidarity. The commander is not greater than the rest of the people. And he stays there in the camp. He sleeps through the night. He's given his order to those 30,000 who are up there in ambush. And then, in verse 10, what does it say?

Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people of Ai. Joshua and the elders don't go about this lazily. They take their faith seriously. They take the commands of the Lord with a sense of gravitas, with gravity upon them. They wake up early in the morning. They don't wait until it's 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock to finally get about the Lord's business. But the elders in Joshua get up early in the morning and they're going to lead God's people to I. But they leave them right in front of them, right in full view, where everyone can see that the full army, the marching army of the Lord is there.

And as they look upon these people, now they're afraid. Before, you can imagine when the 3,000 had marched up there, what might the people have thought? Yeah, you know, we could take them. We got this. But just the two and a half tribes from the Transjordan are 45,000 men. Now you have ranks of 10,000 men, ranks of 10,000 men, ranks of 10,000 men going before them. And they're all marching there. And just to make sure, Joshua puts another ambush of 5,000 between Bethel and Ai. They're twin cities, kind of like St. Paul and Minneapolis, but without the river between them, just a valley. He sets them there. But they have a plan. And what's the plan? It's a trick play.

I love these on YouTube. If you ever want to waste maybe 10-15 minutes of your time, just look up 10 best trick plays in sports history, and you'll get all sorts of these trick plays. You know, people wearing different uniforms that match with the grass, and so they'll lay down in the grass so nobody sees them, and they'll jump out like nothing. You know, all these different... And this is what the Lord does. The Lord gives them this strategy. Look, here's what you're going to do.

You're going to be up here on the hill, you're going to go down into the plain, and you're going to be ready to fight. And you know what's going to happen? When the people of Ai come after you, you're not going to fight, you're going to run. Go back down towards Jericho, go back down towards Gilgal, go back down towards the wilderness. They're going to think that they've won, and they're going to chase you. And more than that, once they keep chasing you, all the people out of town are going to keep chasing you, too.

Then, wait for me, I'll give you the signal. and the ambush will be sent in. And that's exactly what happens. Verse 18. Then the Lord said to Joshua, notice it's the Lord who controls the timing. So often we want to control the timing, but here it's the Lord who says to Joshua, stretch out your spear that it is in your hand towards I, for I will give it into your hand. And Joshua obeys.

He stretches out his spear towards Ai, and he's standing there like he could remember Moses with his arms stretched out when he was fighting the Amalekites. And the ambush goes in. And one of the questions I have is, how did the ambush know that he was holding out his spear? Did they have some messengers on the top of the hills who could see? I don't know, but the ambush works. From the west, they turn around the bank, and they come in over the mountain, and they come into the gates, and guess what?

None of the fighting people are there, and they quickly burn the city. And as the smoke is going up into heaven, the people of AI look over their shoulders and realize they've been duped. They're trapped. 30,000 troops. who have just ambushed their city and have now just burned it, and in front of them is the full army of God.

And they do an about-face. 180 degrees. Turn around and go fight. A fight they do. To the very last man. 12,000 of the people of Ai fall that day, defeated, and they bring him one person alive. They bring Joshua, the King of Ai. What was going on in his mind? Could you imagine? Maybe he was sitting there thinking, Oh, am I going to get, you know, maybe there's going to be a little bit of parlay. Maybe he's going to, you know, just let me be a puppet king and he'll use me here. But no, once the battle is over, once everything is done, what does he do? Verse 26.

For Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as spoil for themselves according to the word of the Lord which he had commanded Joshua.

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day." Side note, the archaeological remains of Ai are called Et Tel today. Mount of Destruction. And the King of Ai, he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it into the entrance of the city gate, and raise up over it a heap of stones that remains to this day.

God had been faithful to his promises, had he not. God had given him the city of Ai. God had defeated the armies that were amassed against his people. They had dealt with sin seriously in chapter seven. And had faithfully followed the Lord with faith now in chapter eight. And they get the blessings that flow from faithful obedience. But they might be tempted. just like maybe you might be tempted.

They might be tempted to think what God told them in Deuteronomy chapter 9, when He told them, do not think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess the land. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of your heart that you go into possessor land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess, because you are righteous, for you are a stiff-necked people.

It's kind of hard to get more clear than that, isn't it? I'm not giving you the land because you're righteous. Okay, maybe you didn't get it. I'm not giving you the land because you're righteous. Okay, maybe you didn't get it a third time. I'm punishing them because of their wickedness, but guess what? You're not getting the land because you're righteous. No, you are a stubborn and stiff-necked people.

God did not save you because you're good. God did not save me because I am righteous. God did not choose Abraham because he was the most upright man. God did not save Isaac because he was the most impeccable fellow He ever set His eyes on. God did not set His love upon you because of anything in you, but only because of His grace. It was that way in the Old Testament when they were going to receive the land, even though they didn't deserve it.

And it's that way today. Yes, God has given victory to our champion, Jesus Christ. He has defeated the king of the forces of evil, Satan himself. But when we read this text, we might be tempted. We might be tempted to read this text and think that we're part of the army of Israel. No. Now, according to the flesh, we are the people of I. We're the people, if we're honest with ourselves about our sin. But this is the beauty of the gospel.

He has called each one of you to be Rahabs and Uriahs. He has taken you out of that city of darkness and brought you into His city. He has given you a new Joshua. Did you know that Jesus' name literally is Yeshua? He has given you a commander to lead you and He was also told by His Father that He would have victory. It is our Joshua who has accomplished victory, so yes, Yes, there is sin to deal with in your life, you need to put sin to death, but you do it by the pattern of your Joshua who has gone before you.

We go in light of Christ. Brothers and sisters, put on the full armor of God. Put on your helmet of salvation. Gird your loins with the belt of truth. Strap on your breastplate of Jesus Christ's righteousness. Put on the shoes of the gospel that you might walk in the good news. Cling to your sword of the Spirit.

You are called to put to death the sinful desires of your flesh. Our war is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and principalities of this world. Go to war with the sin in your own heart. Go to war with Satan who would try to deceive us by any lie absolutely possible. You engage in this combat in your mind every single day, do you not? Every time the world tries to sell you a bill of goods, tries to tell you that if you do this, and I know that this is just a little different from what God has said, but you'll find happiness there, go to war against those ideas. Go to war against the prevailing worldviews of our day.

Stand firm. God has promised victory. You are no longer a slave to those sins. You are no longer a slave to those worldviews, but you have been given a new commander, and the Lord is the one who directs our steps. Fight with all your might. Fight with all your strength. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with, as my little son likes to say, with all your me-o-der-ha, with all your strength, with all your veriness, with all your oomph. Give it all to the Lord. Fight against sin. Walk in His ways.

Brothers and sisters, there's a battle before us today. The battle is no less perilous. The stakes are no less high. The world is at stake. Will we be those who go to war with our own hearts and whose agents for the gospel take the sword of the spirit out to the world? Will we be those who go and make disciples of all the nations? Our commander has gone before us. The victory has been promised. Yeah, we might have suffered some defeats, but the Lord doesn't go back on His promises. Fight. Walk in the Lord's ways. Trust in Him. The victory has been assured. Our King is going to return.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Oh Father, we thank You. But Lord, we pray that You would not let us be dismayed. Do not let us be afraid. Lord, I pray that Your Holy Spirit, You would empower Your people to follow after Your ways, to deal honestly with our hearts, and to walk confidently in grace and truth. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.