From Shame To Freedom

From Shame to Freedom: Joshua 5:2-9

Hey:

Our nation is covered by a cloud of shame.

Adrian Rogers was asked the question; ¡§Will God judge America?¡¨ His response was and my response is, ¡§ Look around us, God is judging America!¡¨

We are a nation filled with national shame.

We print, ¡§In God we trust¡¨ on our coins, but we cannot teach our children to pray in our public schools.

Hour pledge allegiance says ¡§one nation under God,¡¨ but we cannot hang the ¡§Ten Commandments¡¨ on the courtroom walls.

Millions of babies die each year do to legal abortion.

State governments across this nation, including ours, encourage gambling.

Our state universities have become places that teach young people to turn away from God and turn to the idols of this world of materialism, sex, and alcohol.

It is clear that a cloud of shame covers our nation.

You:

But national shame is brought about by personal shame. Shame that each of us are responsible for. What shame are you bearing this morning?

Each of us are sinners. All of us approach God with shame because of our sin. And on this Day of Prayer and Fasting for World Evangelization, the repentance should start here.

Look:

The passage we look at this morning shows that Israel was shamed by slavery in Egypt.

Do:

God¡¦s method for removing the shame of slavery in Egypt was repentance. God¡¦s method for removing the shame of slavery in sin is repentance.

Are you going to repent today and remove the shame that is in your life?

Passage: Joshua 5:2-9

2At that time the LORD told Joshua, ¡§Use knives of flint to make the Israelites a circumcised people again.¡¨ 3So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.„T

4Joshua had to circumcise them because all the men who were old enough to bear arms when they left Egypt had died in the wilderness. 5Those who left Egypt had all been circumcised, but none of those born after the Exodus, during the years in the wilderness, had been circumcised. 6The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years until all the men who were old enough to bear arms when they left Egypt had died. For they had disobeyed the LORD, and the LORD vowed he would not let them enter the land he had sworn to give us¡Xa land flowing with milk and honey. 7So Joshua circumcised their sons who had not been circumcised on the way to the Promised Land¡Xthose who had grown up to take their fathers¡¦ places. 8After all the males had been circumcised, they rested in the camp until they were healed.

9Then the LORD said to Joshua, ¡§Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.¡¨ So that place has been called Gilgal„T to this day.

Prayer

I. God instructs the Israelites to be set apart¡KGod¡¦s Call to us

We look again at Joshua and his leadership of the Israelite people. They have just crossed the Jordan River, and erected the memorials praising God for what happened.

Verse one of chapter five says that:

1When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast„T heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and were paralyzed with fear.

The people were paralyzed in fear. But the Lord had another message for Joshua. A message that that would remove the shame of Israel.

V2

2At that time the LORD told Joshua, ¡§Use knives of flint to make the Israelites a circumcised people again.¡¨

Explanation:

God instructed them to be a circumcised people again. What does that mean? It means that they were God¡¦s chosen people and to participate in God¡¦s Covenant with Abram they would have to be identified with this covenant.

In Genesis 17: 9-14 God describes the Israelites part of the agreement, the Israelites, we know, are the decedents of Abraham.

9¡§Your part of the agreement,¡¨ God told Abraham, ¡§is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. 10This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised; 11the flesh of his foreskin must be cut off. This will be a sign that you and they have accepted this covenant. 12Every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family, but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. 13All must be circumcised. Your bodies will thus bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. 14Anyone who refuses to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for violating the covenant.¡¨