Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
So we are in chapter nine tonight, and I entitled this When It Looks Right, But Isn't.
So as a quick recap, we came out of Joshua 8.
So after their earlier defeat, Israel follows God's instructions and successfully now conquers I through obedience and strategy.
So I think learnings from chapter eight are, you know, obedience brings success through God.
So when Israel and when we follow God's guidance, we experience his victory.
And God restores even after failure, the earlier lost eye in chapter seven, it wasn't the end.
God gives them another chance.
And then Joshua uses wisdom and planning all while trusting in God through chapter eight, which leads us here.
And the chapter ends with a covenant renewal reminding Israel to stay grounded in God's law.
So Joshua nine begins with Israel's growing reputation in the area and their military success.
So these things have a way of spreading amongst the people.
So the surrounding nations that are still within the promised land react, but not all in the same way.
They react differently while some prepare for battles.
Others turn to a more cunning approach.
So let's start with verses one through two.
It says, now, when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things, the kings in the hill country,
in the western foothills along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as far as Lebanon,
the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Pirazites, Hizzites and Jebusites.
It's a lot of heights.
They came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.
So all of these nations mentioned here, they had several characteristics in common.
They were all warrior cultures.
So fighting was kind of their thing.
Warfare and battle was just who they were.
Kingship was a major part of their culture.
They were polytheistic.
They had many Gods that they believed in, and they were idolaters.
So the Israelites would have, and we would call them pagans, basically.
They were really a morally corrupt and lawless society.
If you remember back in Leviticus when we were learning about the law
and how God was instituting a set of laws and morality
and a way of living and a way of having a society that was right.
It was Godly. It was kingdom living.
It was something both far into the Israelites
but even more far into the surrounding nations
because they were just not, they were used to living the way that they had lived
for thousands of years.
So they were not of the like-mindedness of Israel.
So these surrounding kings and kingdoms,
they unite against Israel after hearing of their victory.
So, you know, this idea of, okay, these new kids in town,
the Israelites are calls in a ruckus
and not just calls in a ruckus, but they're having success.
And, you know, when these kingdoms
and you're watching this new group of people come in
and you're witnessing the power that they are demonstrating,
they don't see it the way that the Israelites see it.
The Israelites see it as, this is God empowering us.
And we are going out and we are taking this land
that God has generously given to us.
And God is with them in battle
and God is making them mighty in battle.
Well, these other kingdoms, they're seeing that
and they're realizing that this is being attributed to this God,
this foreign God they have no idea about.
So they're afraid.
They're intimidated.
They're hearing of this, you know,
but they're going to resist and their first notion is not of,
hey, let's see if we can coincide with these people.
It's like, hey, these guys can wipe us out one by one
or we can rally together and put up a much better fight.
And that's really what they were doing.
With the Israelites, we know that the spiritual momentum
that they were gaining and the winning that they were having,
the success that they were having, that creates a momentum,
but it also creates new challenges
and some of which are not as obvious as others.
Jesus warns us about opposition that will come when we follow Him.
So it's not, you know, it's not like the Israelites
were facing anything new from God's perspective.
When we look at it, it's easy to see that, okay,
when you follow God, when you go in God's path,
you are going counterculture, right?
You're going, we're going against the grain.
We're going against what society reveres as what they want.
So the things of God's kingdom are opposite as to that of the world.
And when we choose the path of God,
we are choosing a path that's going to be resisted by most.
Jesus said in John 15, 18 through 19,
if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
If you belong to the world, it would love you,
it would love you as its own, as it is.
You do not belong to the world.
But I have chosen you out of the world,
and that is why the world hates you.
So Jesus is basically saying,
because of the path that you are going on,
because of this path to follow me,
because of this path to establish kingdom,
His kingdom, we are going to not only meet with resistance,
but we're going to meet with conflict.
And as we know, sometimes that conflict results in even death for some,
for the martyrs.
So we know that.
Verses 3 through 13.
This is another nation that has a little bit of a different approach
than the warring kings.
So this is about the Gibeonite and their deception.
However, when the people of Gibeon heard
what Joshua had done to Jericho and I,
they resorted to a ruse.
They went as a delegation
whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks
and old wineskins, cracked and mended.
They put worn and patched sandals on their feet
and wore old clothes.
All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy.
Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal
and said to him and the Israelites,
we have come from a distant country.
Make a treaty with us, the Israelites said to the Hiphites,
but perhaps you live near us,
so how can we make a treaty with you?
We are your servants, they said to Joshua.
But Joshua asked, who are you and where do you come from?
They answered, your servants have come from a very distant country
because of the fame of the Lord your God.
We have heard reports of him, all that he did in Egypt
and all that he did to the kings of the Amorites,
east of the Jordan, Sion, king of Hizban,
and Og, king of Bajan, who reigned in Ashthorpe.
And our elders and all of those living in our country
said to us, take provisions for your journey,
go and meet them and say to them,
we are your servants, make a treaty with us.
This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at our home
on the day we left to come to you.
But now, see how dry and moldy it is
and see wine skins that were filled new,
but see how they have cracked and they are.
And our clothes and our sandals worn out
from a very long journey.
They are really laying it on thick, right?
So, I mean, they are really patching quite a story together.
And you can tell that Joshua and the Israelites
are a little bit suspicious of this,
but they are still kind of moving forward.
So the difference between the Igbenites
and these other nations is they chose deception
and maybe a bit of diplomacy in this.
They are using their craftiness and cleverness,
planning and even quite a bit of manipulation
to get their way with Israel.
They have acknowledged God's power
and they are kind of building them up a little bit
and laying it on pretty thick.
So they are acknowledging God's power,
but they are still acting in fear.
So the other nations were acting in fear,
but they are acting out more violently.
These guys are still trying to negotiate something
because they know they don't want to be the next nation
that Israel destroys.
So they are using worn out supplies
and they are putting together a very convincing story
of who they are and where they are from.
So a lesson here for the Israelites
and for us is that not all threats are obvious.
So they are not all obvious, some come in disguise.
So when things come against us,
sometimes they are really easy to see,
sometimes they are really in our face,
and sometimes they kind of sneak around a little bit.
Sometimes they are a little whisper that comes at us.
So we know that there are very common stories like this
throughout the Bible in Judges 16, 4 through 21,
the story of Samson and Delilah,
where Delilah appears trustworthy,
but she is really working against Samson.
Samson engages repeatedly despite the warning signs,
just like here.
There are warning signs that Joshua saw
and the Israelites saw,
but they didn't really act on them for some reason.
And who knows what?
Sometimes we see red flags,
but we want to believe the best in people.
And sometimes we ignore red flags
when red flags are usually there for a reason.
So there were some red flags here that they didn't see.
Samson, there were some red flags that he saw,
but chose to ignore.
2 Chronicles 18, 1 through 3,
the story of Jehoshaphat and Ahab, their alliance.
Jehoshaphat aligns with Ahab
without proper discernment of the situation.
Though he later seeks God,
the initial alliance was unwise and unfruitful.
So these things have a way,
we have a way of, as humans,
really in relationships and in situations
where we have a tendency to maybe
ignore some of these warning flags like this.
And I think God wants to remind us to be discerning.
So 2 Corinthians 11, 14,
I mean 14 to 15 said, Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
It is not surprising then if his servants also masquerade
as servants of righteousness.
Their end will be what their actions deserve.
You know, Jesus also warns us in Matthew 7 through 15
to watch out for false prophets.
They come in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are wolves.
So there are warnings throughout scripture
to be discerning and to be weary.
You know, the fear of God,
you know, we often look at, you know,
we often use that verse, you know,
the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
And that's true when you're seeking spirituality.
And when you're seeking God,
the fearing of him really is that first kind of initial gateway.
But for all people and for all things,
it's not necessarily always good.
So both of these groups had a fear of God,
but it wasn't in seeking him, it wasn't in drawing close.
So not all fear of God leads to obedience.
Sometimes it leads to conflict.
Sometimes it leads to manipulation in these cases.
So the Gibeonites acknowledged God's power
but didn't put their trust in him.
They more relied on deception to get in there
and the other groups relied on their physical prowess to do it.
Verses 14 and 15.
The Israelites sampled their provisions
but did not inquire of the Lord.
Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them
to let them live.
And the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.
So this is a really important scripture here.
They examined the evidence but they didn't consult God.
And through what they saw with their own eyes,
ignoring again the warning flags,
they made a binding covenant based on what they saw.
So this is a pivotal point in the story.
This would be what's called a story arc.
Everything looked convincing.
Everything looked logical to them
except they didn't properly discern the situation.
You know, God was not consulted, in other words.
And the text doesn't necessarily emphasize the deception
as much as Israel's independence and Joshua's independence
to make their own decision based on what they saw with their own eyes.
It doesn't mention once that, okay,
they were unsure of this so they consulted with God
or they went to God in prayer.
You know, they had some suspicions
but they didn't do their due diligence with God.
So God calls us to be discerning
and He calls us to, in all situations, to use discernment.
And thank God for the Holy Spirit that He's given us, right?
Because the Holy Spirit in us gives us that ability many times
to supernaturally discern something.
And I don't know, you know, when you make these cross-references
with the Old Testament, you know, there is that difference.
I mean, there are times, lots of times in the Old Testament
where God uses His Spirit through people
but they didn't have what we have,
which would be the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
And He will give us that power to discern.
Our human judgment, you know, is limited.
It certainly is limited.
Even when things look right, we can be misled.
But, you know, God has given us tools
and He's given us a mind.
You know, Paul often talks about, you know,
the power of the mind and the ability to think through.
So He's given us tools to think.
And I really believe that in this situation,
even without the Holy Spirit,
if the Israelites and Joshua would have just listened
to that little voice saying,
something doesn't seem quite right here.
And not just once, but several times.
You could tell by the tone of how they were responding
that they knew that there's something that's just maybe,
you know, when you're talking to someone
and something just seems a little off,
you know, it might not be blatant.
It might not be, hey, there, you know,
it's just like coming from, completely coming from left field.
But you just sense that something's off.
It's the Holy Spirit.
And He's given us that ability to discern these things.
And we need to really, to really embrace that.
But we have to be diligent, diligent about it.
Because sometimes, you know, our human nature
can get the best of us.
Sometimes, again, we want to see the best in people.
Sometimes we don't really want to go through all that.
Sometimes we just want to take the easy way,
the path of least resistance.
So sometimes we see things and we can discern them,
but we don't necessarily want to do the work.
So we just choose, maybe very subtly,
maybe subconsciously, we choose a path
that's going to be a little bit less resistance for us.
But Jesus Himself modeled this constant dependence
on the Father, even Jesus Himself.
So in John 5, 19, He says,
very truly I tell you that the Son can do nothing by Himself.
He can do only what He sees His Father doing,
because whatever the Father does, the Son also does.
Jesus Himself leaned heavily on the Father's wisdom.
So we need to continually ask God for wisdom in situations,
even when we feel that, hey, this is just a minor thing,
or even if we feel in our hearts, it's like,
oh, boy, this is going to create more work for me
than what I want, seeking God's wisdom,
seeking God's counsel on these things.
James 1.5 says, if you lack wisdom,
you should ask God who gives generously
to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Proverbs 3, 5 through 6, lean not on our own understanding.
Okay, and I think that's exactly what,
that is exactly what Israel and Joshua were doing here
when they were leaning on their own understanding.
So verses 16 through 18,
three days after they made the treaty with the Givinots,
the Israelites heard that they were neighbors living near them.
They heard it.
So the Israelites set out,
and on the third day came to their cities,
Givin, Kebirah, Beroth, Kiroth, and Jerim.
But the Israelites did not attack them
because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them
by the Lord, the God of Israel.
So the whole assembly grumbled against their leaders.
So the truth now is revealed.
They were deceived.
The deception has been discovered,
but in all of that, Israel is still honoring its covenant.
You know, the leaders chose integrity over convenience.
So instead of just rolling in there and wiping them out,
they honored the covenant that they made.
So even when covenants are made in error,
God still holds us accountable for those.
And, you know, we can say something
and then situations change and we can make excuses,
but that's a covenant that we made.
The Pharisees were brilliant,
and Sadducees were brilliant at this.
They would make covenants,
and then if something else came along that was more important to them,
they would be able to shift and kind of re-up that covenant.
So in other words, they would say,
you know, if they swore a covenant, you know,
on the, say, the gold of the temple, you know,
then they wanted to change that,
then they would find something that was higher
or even more important than the gold of the temple.
Well, this promise I'm making on this, well, on this.
So they would layer these things on so they could get out of something.
And that's just not what God has for his people.
We are to honor, you know, God values faithfulness,
and he, there's, you know, our word is our word,
and it's important.
I work with a group of former convicts
that are transitioning into society,
and one of the things that I often talk to them about is character.
You know, our character really says who we are.
When we say we're going to do something, you know,
if we don't do it, that shows a flaw in our character.
If we try to find a way out of something,
that shows a flaw in our character,
and God wants us to be people of character and integrity,
and it means keeping our words even if it costs us something.
So God allows consequences, but still even works within them.
So, you know, how many times have I had to live with the consequences
of poor decisions that I've made, you know,
and not just in the air of my youth, you know.
Poor decisions, you know, that I've made over the years,
and you have to live, you have to live with these things,
because they have, you know, they can carry weight,
you know, for forever.
And that's one of the things when I talk to young people,
you know, the decisions that you make,
you may think that you're just making a frivolous decision
or something that results in something,
but that decision can cost you for the rest of your life.
You know, I made some really poor decisions in my,
you know, in my younger years, as some of you know,
and in my early, early 20s, I spent some time in prison,
and I'm a convicted felon.
Well, that was when I was 20.
I'm 63 now, believe it or not, but I'm not as old as Ken.
And Ken's not as old as Ron's.
I digress. Right, right, we do.
So my life turned around. For sure it did.
And my life got better than I could ever have imagined it,
you know, finding God and serving God and, you know,
and having a wonderful family and just, you know,
being blessed with a business.
But there was a time early in my business when I needed a loan.
And I didn't have enough collateral to get a loan from the bank.
So they said, well, we can get you an SBA loan,
a small business association loan.
So as I'm filling out the application,
have you ever been convicted of a felony?
Yes.
I couldn't get an SBA loan.
I couldn't get a loan, ever, ever.
I mean, that really put a hindrance on my business.
So we had to have a work around,
so my wife, you know, who's goody two-shoes all her life,
she got the loan.
But that, the decisions that I made when I was young
had consequences, even though it was when I was 20
and I was much older and much wiser
and not living like that anymore,
had consequences for the rest of my life,
the rest of my life.
And we all have things like that,
decisions that we have made
that have the consequences that go along with it.
Does that stop God from moving in our life?
No, it does not.
In fact, it can even cause him to move in greater ways,
but it doesn't erase or negate the consequences
of those things that happen, right?
And that's what we're experiencing here,
is they are now seeing the results
of the consequences that they had.
And they can be, and they are,
teachable moments when we allow them to be.
You know, grace, God's grace doesn't erase
the consequences and the responsibility for it,
but it transforms how we respond, or it should,
and that's how God, that's how our God works.
So this is a long, a long bit here.
So 19 through 27.
And I don't know why they broke this verse up,
because this really kind of goes with the other one.
The whole assembly grumbled against its leaders,
but all of the leaders answered,
we have given them our oath by the Lord,
the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now.
This is what it's due to them.
We will let them live so that God's wrath will not fall
on us for breaking the oath we swore to them.
They continued, let them live and let them be woodcutters
and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly.
So the leader's promise to them was kept.
Water carriers.
That's rough.
So then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said,
why did you deceive us by saying,
we live a long way from you while actually you live near us?
You are now under a curse.
You will never be released from service as woodcutters
and water carriers for the house of God.
They answered Joshua, your servants were clearly told
how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses
to give you the whole land and to wipe out
all the inhabitants before you.
So we feared for our lives because of you.
And that is why we did this.
We are now in your hands,
due to us whatever seems good and right to you.
So Joshua saved them from the Israelites
and he did not kill them.
That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters
and water carriers for the assembly to provide
for the needs of the altar of the Lord
at a place where the Lord would choose.
And that is what they are to this day.
So this clearly states the why,
is they were literally in fear of their own existence.
They were watching what was going on
and they said, we don't want to be the next group
that gets wiped out.
We don't want to be taken away.
So they knew of the power of God.
They seen it and they didn't want to be victimized.
So they put this whole scheme together to try.
I guess they thought somehow,
as powerful as God was,
that they would still be able to deceive him.
And they didn't, they deceived the people.
So they were spared and made into woodcutters
and water carriers.
But they became part of the community, right?
So I guess, in a way,
their little trickery kind of worked for them.
I guess it's better to be a water carrier
and a woodcutter in the kingdom
than to be wiped out, right?
So God's justice and mercy often work together.
They often coincide together.
And even outsiders can find a place among God's people.
God can redeem flawed beginnings.
We know that from our journey here in the Old Testament
and what we know of the New Testament,
we know that God wants his people
to be welcoming of the outsiders.
We know that God doesn't want people to be treated less.
They are still to provide for the poor and for the needy
and for those that don't have.
We're going to be learning a bit about that
on Sunday morning.
So God welcomes the outsiders.
This is a good example.
And we also know that servanthood,
even these lowly positions,
servanthood can be a pathway to God.
Even the lowliest of work in the kingdom
is still serving a purpose and serving God.
Mark 10, 43 through 45 says,
not so with you, instead,
whoever wants to become great among you
must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
So serving is a way to God.
So Joshua 9 really ultimately is teaching us
about the spiritual dangers
that they're not always obvious,
and they're not always in your face like warfare.
Sometimes they come as conflict,
but sometimes they come in a deceitful manner like this.
It also reminds us that even the littlest of decisions
can have big consequences when we don't listen to God.
Israel's mistake wasn't simply just being deceived.
It was relying on their own understanding
and following their own guidance
instead of looking through God.
And we also learned that even in our failures
we see the importance of integrity and character
and holding to our word and how God's grace works in that.
So you guys always know,
you can always count on Jamie for key takeaways, right?
So, you know, my top key takeaways were, you know, discernment,
true discernment requires dependence on God
and not just looking at the evidence.
So it requires, you know,
tapping into that indwelling of the Holy Spirit
that God has given us.
Deception can often look reasonable on the surface.
So sometimes, you know,
something that may look too good
might just be too good to be true, right?
Integrity matters more than convenience.
So, you know, integrity and character are important to God
and we have to uphold them, you know,
even if we find ourselves in a situation
where we regret what we did
and the covenants that we made.
And lastly, you know, God can redeem mistakes
and incorporate outsiders into his plan,
into his kingdom, into his ways of things.
So that is a wrap for Joshua 9.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His Word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!