RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
By Pastor Jim May
Joshua 23:2-13
The Old Testament contains examples and stories that have a very real meaning to life right now. I have heard a number of people say that they don’t like to read the Old Testament or that it simply confuses them. I find those ancient texts to be some of the richest spiritual wells that we can draw from. The Bible says that all of the things that happened to Israel throughout the Old Testament are there for our example that we may learn from them and not make the same mistakes.
Edmund Burke, a British statesman and philosopher in the latter part of the 18th Century said these words that are so profound, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it."
Mankind has never learned from history and we have seen the mistakes of mankind repeated time and again. Sadly, Christians often fall into this same trap. So many people simply forget the lessons of the past, and in so doing, they are destined to have to face the same trials and tests again.
Wouldn’t it be far better to learn the first time and not have to repeat the test?
Will Rogers’, the great American philosopher from Oklahoma Indian Territory, was once quoted as saying: "The trouble with using experience as your guide is that sometimes the final exam comes first, then the lesson."
Have you every experienced that? Why does it seem that I fail the test first and then the Lord begins to teach me through the failure? I am convinced it happens that way simply because we fail to even recognize that a lesson is there to learn until after God gets our attention through the failure.
An old business associate of mine, Dexter Yager, once made this statement, “Experience is the best teacher, especially if you can learn from the experiences of other people first.”
Illustration:
I remember the days of my infantry service in the U. S. Army at Fort Polk, Louisiana and in Vietnam. One of the things that I remember so vividly is how you are supposed to get through a minefield once you discover that you are already into it. Of course the best thing to do is not enter it at all, but sadly you don’t always have that option. You can’t afford to make mistakes because the first may well be your last.
So how do you get to the other side, or how do you get back to safety when you’re in a minefield? The answer is to walk in the same footprints that you made coming in, or in the footsteps of the ones who have made it out.
Some Christians are bound and determined to make their own way. They take the verse where we are told to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” to the extreme and they refuse to listen and learn from what the Word of God is trying to tell them.
They don’t learn from the mistakes of Israel, in fact, they don’t even read about Israel’s troubles most of the time. Either we can learn from Israel’s examples or, by default, we are destined to repeat those mistakes and pay the same consequences in the end that Israel had to pay. The price they have paid, and are still paying, for not heeding the Word of God is very high indeed. It is almost unimaginable that people today, especially people who are supposed to love the Lord Jesus Christ and know His Word, would continue to walk in the same rebellious paths that Israel walked and face the judgment of God for sin.
This has to be the “height of insanity”! What is insanity? It’s to keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results. If we want to change the results of what we do, then we have to change what we do! Doesn’t that make sense?
You and I must keep in mind that we are constantly in a spiritual war. Every day when you open your eyes, you better remember that today is another day that I have to fight the devil and win. Never forget that Satan has his own Rules of Engagement. His rules are simple, “steal, kill and destroy” with no holds barred.
We can’t afford to let our guard down. We can’t afford to forget about the warfare, not even for one minute, or that may be the last minute we will ever have.
In Vietnam we had our “Rules of Engagement”. Don’t shoot unless the enemy shoots first, and most of the time, you must wait until he breaches the perimeter wire. You can’t chase the enemy into his safe havens across the border and you have to give every suspected civilian the benefit of the doubt if you don’t want to spend the next 20 years in a military prison. Our “Rules of Engagement” cost us dearly. We stayed involved in a war, losing over 58,000 soldiers that we could have and should have won in less than a year with a lot fewer casualties.
In Iraq, there are “Rules of Engagement”. At first the rules were different. Just go in and destroy Saddam Hussein’s Army no matter what it took. Now the rules have changed and they are fighting pretty much by the same rules we did in Vietnam and that’s a scary thought.
Joshua was laying down the “Rules of Engagement” for the warfare that Israel was face as they continued to occupy the Promised Land. Let us begin by reading the account in Joshua chapter 23 and see where God will take us in learning the “Rules of Engagement” for fighting the enemy of our souls.
Joshua 23:2-3, “And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age: And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.
Rule #1 of the “Rules of Engagement” for fighting the devil is that you can’t fight him alone. You have to let the Lord fight your battle.
Israel, under Joshua’s leadership, had crossed the Jordan River, conquered Jericho, and had continued to advance, capturing city after city and driving the idolatrous inhabitants of the land out. The idolaters who didn’t escape were killed. God wanted the Promised Land to be purged of all that would rebel against Him.
But if you read the narratives of the battle of Jericho, and the battle at Ai and so many of the others, you will find that it was not Joshua’s ability to lead Israel that brought the victory – it was his obedience to God’s plan of battle. God fought those battles for Israel. God gave them direction and He caused their enemies to fall into the trap that He had laid for them every time.
So many people today are really struggling in their battle with sin. I hear them all the time saying that they just can’t seem to break free from some bondage or another. One might say, “I just can’t quit smoking. I want to. I’ve tried so hard, but I just can’t.” Another might say, “I’ve tried to get away from my old lifestyle and my old friends, but they just keep drawing me right back in.” No matter what the fault is, or the failure, or the sin, the reason we keep falling back into it again and again is because most of the time we are trying to fight the battle with sheer will power.
It’s great to have will power, but how many of us really have it? Just look at your waistline and tell me that you have all the will power you need. Just look at your bank account balance and tell me you have all the will power you need! Most of us have the will all right, but we don’t have the power to back that will and so it becomes a “will not”.
What we have to remember is that we are fighting a “Spiritual Warfare” and you can’t find a spiritual battle with weapons of the flesh.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"
How can you defeat an invisible enemy with supernatural powers? By calling upon the name of the Lord and letting the Lord fight your battle. Your part in the fight will be to obey the commands of Jesus, not to plan the battle. Jesus already has it under his control. He has never lost a battle. I seem to lose just about every one that I try to fight on my own. Doesn’t it seem sensible that I should follow the guiding of the Holy Spirit rather than to reason my way through?
The problem, as I see it, is this. Most people don’t really want to surrender their will wholly unto the Lord. They want to do what they want to do and then expect God to bless them in spite of their disobedience and self-will. Like Jerry Clower once said, “That Dog Won’t Hunt!”
What do you suppose would have happened if Joshua had told God that he was only going to march around Jericho six times on the seventh day instead of seven times? What if he had not allowed the priests to go in front but put the soldiers there instead? What would have happened if when Joshua arose from sleep on the morning of the fifth day and he said, “I had a rough night last night? Let’s just wait and march twice tomorrow instead. But it sure was fun down at the entertainment tent.” Is there any doubt that Israel would have had to make another trip in the wilderness for another 40 years?
We can think about Joshua’s commitment to obeying the Lord and find it hard to imagine what kind of defeats that Israel would have suffered if Joshua had not listened to God, but we don’t think twice about living according to our own will, not giving the will of God a second thought. We just keep on doing our thing and expecting things to be better.
Like I said before, if you want things to change, if you want to win the victory over a bad habit, if you want deliverance from oppression, if you want to live a truly victorious life in Christ, then you have to change what you have been doing. You have to surrender your will to God and depend upon him to help you overcome those things in your life. That’s the first Rule of Engagement in fighting this Spiritual Warfare.
Let’s read a little further in Joshua 23 now.
Joshua 23:4-6, “Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward. And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the Law of Moses, that ye turn not aside there from to the right hand or to the left…”
Rule #2 of the “Rules of Engagement” in this spiritual war with the devil is that you must have courage in the face of the enemy. No one ever fought a battle by running from the enemy. You have to stand toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose; get right in his face and stand upon the Word of God and depend on the Blood of the Lamb to win the battle.
Ephesians 6:13, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."
Before you can stand and face the devil, you better make sure that your heart is right with God and you are covered by the Blood. Satan won’t respect your power in the flesh. The only One he will obey is Jesus. The only power that will stop him cold in his tracks is the power of Jesus’ blood.
Now, if you are saved, born again of the Spirit of God, washed in the blood of the Lamb and sold out to Jesus, you won’t fear the devil. He will fear you. And the devil knows when you have Jesus on your side and when you don’t. You might fool the preacher and all your friends but you won’t fool Satan!
At first he will stand toe-to-to with you and shout back at you that he won’t leave, that he will beat you, and that you are destined to fail. But the more you stand courageous and strong, depending only upon Jesus to win the battle; it won’t be long until Satan flees from the scene like a rabbit running from a hound that’s hot on his trail.
James 4:7-8, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."
The best “weapon” you have to fight this battle is “your commander in chief”. Jesus’ blood with break every power of the devil. But you have to be willing to stand and fight if you are going to win the victory.
Courage is a must! Courage is the quality of the Spirit within you that enables you to face danger of pain or death without showing fear because you know in whom you believe and you know that Jesus is able to do all things and that you can do all things through Him.
Joshua’s instructions to Israel continued on. Let’s read some more in Joshua 23.
Joshua 23:7, “That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them…”
Rule #3 in the “Rules of Engagement” of this spiritual warfare is that we must make a choice of who we will obey and then stay loyal and faithful to the end. We can’t afford to stay on the fence or be divided in our commitment. It’s either all, or nothing.’’
James, the disciple of Christ, says it this way in James 1:27, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
The Apostle Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 6:17-18, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
Can you hear what’s being said? We cannot be a friend of this world and a friend of Jesus at the same time. To do so would mean that we are trying to say that we are righteous and holy through the blood of Christ on one hand while saying that we can still play around with sin on the other.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Yet most Christians still believe that they can attend the worldly pleasures, hang out with ungodly friends, go to the same places as the ungodly crowd, and still claim to have a good relationship with Jesus. I’m sorry my friend but I can’t see Jesus going to a Rock Concert just for the entertainment. I can’t see Jesus hanging out at the Daiquiri Shop with his friends sipping on a “non-alcoholic” drink that looks just like the one with alcohol. I can’t see Jesus riding along in a car puffing on a cigarette on his way to church. I can’t see Jesus laughing at, even listening to, dirty jokes. I can’t see Jesus going anywhere or doing anything that isn’t holy and pure and good.
It’s one thing to be around the worldly people witnessing to them about Jesus and trying to get them out of their sinful environment. It’s a whole different thing to get into that sinful environment with them and then try to put on a holy front! Even the people who are living in sin can see the hypocrisy in that and your “witness” won’t be for the Lord. Your life will actually bring a reproach upon the Lord and upon the gospel and you will be the laughingstock of the worldly crowd because of your uncommitted life.
Joshua’s “Rule of Engagement” for Israel to defeat their enemies in the Promised Land is the same as Jesus’ “Rule of Engagement” for you to defeat the enemy of your soul – “come out from among them and be separated unto Him.”
Let’s continue on and look at a few more Rules of Engagement in this spiritual war!
Rule #4 is found in Joshua 23:8, “But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.”
If you want to win the victory, you have to stay close to God. That means building an every stronger and every closer relationship with Jesus Christ. He has to become more than head knowledge.
When the knowledge that you have of Jesus moves down about 18 inches, from your logical way of thinking and your brain, down to your heart, then you are going to begin to know what it is like to really love Him.
I’m convinced that all Christians, who live defeated lives, in fear and doubt, do so because they only have a head-knowledge of Jesus. Their hearts are just not where they need to be with God. It’s as though they know “of Jesus” but they really don’t know him. They know “about Jesus” but they really don’t know Him.
I believe that when you really know Jesus you can’t help but keep close to him. When you have truly experienced the salvation that He offers and your sins have been washed away, you will want to be as close to Jesus as you can get, and you will ever be seeking to be more like him in every way. There won’t be any arguments with yourself about whether we should do this or that. The deciding factor will be one simple question, “Would Jesus do it if he were here, or would I do it if Jesus was with me?”
Most folks don’t seem to care if they leave Jesus in the car or outside the door for a while until they have done what they want to do, and then go back and get with Jesus after it’s over. The problem is that when they do so, it’s little harder to hear Jesus when they go back.
We have to stick to Jesus like glue. We have to be attracted to him like iron filings to a magnet. We have to hang onto him like our life depends upon it – because it really does.
Rule #5 of the Spiritual War “Rules of Engagement” is that we must obey the first of the 10 Commandments without fail.
Joshua 23:11, “Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.”
Let us make sure that we truly love the Lord. Make sure that it’s not just an infatuation with the things of the Spirit or with the manifestations of God’s power in our midst. We have to love the Lord because of who He is and what He is, not just because of what he will do, or has done for us.
So many today are in the church only for the “loaves and the fishes” and not because they love Jesus. They want to be a part of a family. They want to enjoy the fellowship. They want to partake of the blessings. But they don’t have a true heart-felt love for Jesus and it shows in their commitment level.
If you truly love the Lord, your life is going to show it.
Finally, let us look at Rule #6 of the “Rules of Engagement”. Rule #6 is found in Joshua 23:13, “Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
Rule #6 can be stated this way – “Be careful of what you want, you might just get it!”
Joshua’s warning to Israel is true for us today. God has fought Israel’s battles. He has given them the means for many great victories. God has brought them from a land of slavery to the wonderful land of Promise. God has been faithful, loyal, loving, kind, generous and forgiving. God has stayed close by Israel, leading them every step of the way. Israel’s part was simply to obey God and follow Him.
But Israel began to drift away from God. Slowly, little-by-little, day-by-day, their love for God grow colder. They began to take their eyes off of the prize of the High Calling in God as His chosen people and they began to look with great desire upon the things of the world about them.
They began to allow some of the idolatrous people to remain in Canaan. They took to themselves some of the strange gods of good, wood and precious stones. They were drawn in by the glitz and glamour of the world and they allowed the things of idols to displace their love of God.
Suddenly they found that they had been trapped by the devil. What he could not do through a frontal attack, he accomplished through deceitfulness and lies.
They didn’t think it mattered that they played around with the ungodly people of Canaan until they realized that now they were trapped in unholy alliances, business partnerships, marriages and treaties that were dangerous and deadly.
Since they had chosen to allow ungodly things to remain in the land, now God was going to let them make it the best way they knew how.
There comes a time in the life of a backslider, or a rebellious Christian, when they realize that they are in a trap of sin. Quite often God will let them languish in that place for a long time. He could deliver them out of it but why should he. God delivered them once and they chose to go right back into it again. If they want to sin, God will let them and not stop them. He allows their will to determine their eternal destiny.
2 Corinthians 6:14, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"
The “Rules of Engagement” in the Spiritual Warfare that we are fighting are something that we must never forget. You have to be alert, on guard, with your spiritual eyes and ears open to what is happening around you, lest Satan catch you in an ambush.
Rule #1 - you can’t fight alone. You have to let the Lord fight your battle.
Rule #2 - you must have courage in the face of the enemy.
Rule #3 - make a choice of who we will obey and stay loyal and faithful to the end
Rule #4 - Hold on to God. Never let go of Jesus’ hand
Rule #5 - Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, body, soul, spirit and strength
Rule #6 - “Be careful of what you want, you might just get it!” Keep your eyes on Jesus
If we can only abide by these “Rules of Engagement”, I believe that we will be victorious in our walk with the Lord and one day we will hear those words from the lips of God that we all want to hear from Matthew 25:21, "…Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
