Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
STOLEN VICTORIES
A few services ago the Lord had a message of victory for our church and for each of you as we spoke concerning the Walls of Jericho coming down. Joshua and Israel were on a spiritual high. God was gracious to Israel and had led them to a great victory. The nation celebrated as they faced their first major obstacle in claiming the Promised Land. It seemed that nothing could stand in their way now.
Have you ever felt that way in your walk with the Lord? Has God ever performed a miracle of healing for you, or given you such a blessing that you just knew it had to come from God? After we have come through a hard trial and the sun begins to shine upon us once again, it’s such a wonderful feeling.
Illustration:
I know that most of you have lived in this area of South Louisiana for a long time and experienced the anxiety of a hurricane as it swept in from the Gulf of Mexico and across our area causing terrible wind and flood damage over a widespread area. The electric power lines may be down for weeks at a time and life seems to come to a standstill. It’s as though we were suddenly pushed back 100 years or more into the past.
Oh how great it feels when that power is restored and the water, gas and other utilities are turned on once again. It’s a great feeling to see the dark clouds and wind subside and then watch the sun’s rays of light break through and then blue skies appear as the storm continues its trek out of our area.
That’s a similar feeling, of relief, peace and deliverance, that Israel must have felt that day after their great victory at Jericho.
Joshua 7:1, "But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel."
Israel had won a great victory but now the anger of the Lord was kindled against them because sin had entered the heart of one man.
This should be a lesson to each of us that we cannot sin and not have that sin affect the entire church. If only one of our members is living in sin then the moving of the Holy Spirit within our services is limited because we grieve Him. That’s why there are many services where we seem to only go through the motions. That’s why we sometimes leave feeling as empty as when we came. Sin in the church is destructive and God will deal with us as a corporate body if we allow that sin to remain without repenting of it.
Achan, a warrior of the Tribe of Judah, had committed a great sin in direct disobedience to the commandment of God that no one should take of the spoils of Jericho. The riches of the city belonged to God. After all, God brought down Jericho, not Israel; and God would not share His glory with the unbelieving people of Israel.
Joshua 7:2-5, "And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labor thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water."
Before going against Jericho, Joshua had spent time in prayer and seeking after God’s direction for this great battle. He had conferred with the "captain of the host of the LORD” and had received specific directions on how to win the battle. But now, we see that no prayer had gone forth; no directions were given from the Lord; and Joshua was leading the people under his own understanding and power. This is a great recipe for defeat and Joshua, not knowing that sin was in the camp, was about to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
This is a lesson for all of us! We get too self-confident and think that we can win the battle without God the next time and, just like Israel, it won’t take us long to realize that we can’t do anything without the Lord’s help.
Israel was getting a little “cocky” now. They didn’t need to ask God about Ai. Ai was just a little small village compared to Jericho. After all, God was with us at Jericho and we won that battle almost without the need of a sword. Ai should be a “piece of cake”!
Here is the thought process that we go through: “God, I thank you for helping me to get over the major battles in my life, but this time Lord, you can just sit back and I can handle this by myself. Lord, you whipped the big sins in my life. You took down the walls that kept me from experiencing God’s best. I am blessed so greatly. I know I can handle it now.”
Just like Israel, we tend to lean upon our past victories and our past experience with the Lord to bring us through. When will we ever learn that we can’t live on past experiences? We must be renewed day by day. We must have a fresh infilling and be renewed by the power of the Holy Ghost every day. God never gives us so much of His power that we can do without having to go to Him to get more for the next battle.
The Lord’s Prayer says, “Give us this day, our daily bread”. It doesn’t say monthly, weekly or yearly. Our walk with the Lord is a day-by-day walk and that means that every day we must spend time in prayer, Bible study and meditation upon the Lord. Every day has its new battles. Every day there are new troubles coming at us. Every day a new temptation comes our way. Unless we get a daily infusion of the power of the Holy Ghost we may find ourselves in the same position as Israel after its battle with the little town of Ai.
This time, when Israel thought that Ai would be a “cake walk”, they only sent 2000 or 3000 men instead of disrupting the lives of the whole army of Israel. They boldly marched right up to the city gates, knocked on the door, and said, “Surrender or die”. That’s when the men of Ai attacked them, killing 39 men of Israel and putting the rest into a full retreat in panic. They found out that they couldn’t defeat anyone with their own power.
Our waving of the “sword” does not impress Satan! He is not worried about our shouting, crying or anything else that we can do. He is only defeated by the spirit of the Lord within us. “It’s not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts!”
Joshua 7:7-9, "And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?"
NOW Joshua decided to come to the Lord with his troubles. “God, its YOUR fault we lost. YOU were supposed help us, and you didn’t! WHERE WERE YOU? Look at what you did! Israel is beaten and the people afraid. Not only that but now everyone will be making fun of us!”
Can’t you just see our attitudes in the face of disasters?
Joshua 7:10-13, "And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you."
God wasn’t bothered by Joshua’s whining either. “Get up and be quiet. Quit blaming me when there is sin in your camp and that’s what caused your defeat.”
Achan had committed sin by indulging in “the accursed thing”! Joshua 7:21, "When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."
Achan “saw” the wealth!
Achan “desired” the wealth!
Achan “knew the commandment to take any part of it”!
Achan disobeyed God, and that my friend, is the real accursed thing!
Garments are not accursed! Money is not accursed! It is the coveting and love of these things more than loving to obey God that is the accursed thing!
Israel could not escape the wrath of God for their disobedience and neither can we. By the sin of one man, the whole camp of Israel was defeated and some people were lost to the enemy!
I wonder how many of our own brothers and sisters in the Lord have been lost because of the sin of one of our church members? We are all in this ship together and we are all responsible for the sin in our midst. We must clean it out before the battle is lost!
