Presumption Is the Exception to Someday Is Today.

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- Light the Night

o Intro: Closing series/Joshua’s journey/Crucible/Tension of series: Prosperity v. provision, Healing over Healer/Explore both sides/

step ahead of God/Samson & Delilah-source of strength = God

 Judges 16:20 She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

· Samson presumed

o Neighbor Calling Cops/ Was understanding, but not with me/i presumed

 today’s message in one sentence…

Presumption Is the Exception To Someday Is Today.

o Presumption Vs. Assumption[1]/mix up presumption and assumption/“to take something as true.”

Presume: based on probability. Assume: without any evidence

· Joshua had assurances that God was with him/theme of last week/with him from Jordan to Jericho/Next: Ai./Send spies, “enemy has nothing on us. Only send 2,000-3,000 men.”/“We got this.”

- I just want to read what it says:

Joshua 7:4-5 (NASB 2020) 4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai,

5 and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water. [2]

What went wrong?/But.

Joshua 7:1 (NASB 2020) 1 But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully regarding the things designated for destruction, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the designated things; therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.

· Israel misinterpreted victory @ Jericho. Invite to blow trumpets to knock down walls/yell/Strategy for victory = what God says.

Not “Believe in yourself,” or “power of human spirit,”/“But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully.”/God drives./Jesus is not my Co-Pilot/toddler seat

o Achan & Joshua: presumptions made/we’ll look at both men/learn to ask God, “Is today my someday?”

pray.

Achan’s Presumption: No One Will Know.

o Jericho not a cash grab.

“…the city shall be designated for destruction, it and everything that is in it belongs to the Lord…”/

“…as for you, only keep yourselves from the things designated for destruction, so that you do not covet them and take some of the designated things, and turn the camp of Israel into something designated for destruction and bring disaster on it…”[4]

·bring gold & silver into God’s treasury & destroy everything else./Someone tried to preserve what was explicitly designated for destruction in Jericho and it had ramifications on the battle at Ai.

 Look at verse 11.

Joshua 7:11 (NASB 2020) 11Israel has sinned, and they have also violated My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things designated for destruction, and have both stolen and kept it a secret. Furthermore, they have also put them among their own things.

o Achan: things designated for destruction/ “Someone” was Achan. Thought could keep secret/ Remember God is with you?/Bible singles him out, down to his great grandfather.

Joshua 7:1 (NASB 2020) 1But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully regarding the things designated for destruction, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the designated things; therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.

God is good, still God. sin is sin./can’t hide from God/Achan’s deliberate sin was nail in the tire, affecting car

 two things we can learn from Achan…

There are things God has permitted someday but prohibited today.

· would be times for Israel to plunder./next chapter (8:2)face Ai again, God allows them to take spoils and cattle/Jericho: 1stfruit

But not today

o Skipping my mid-term

Application

· Someday I’d have Christmas break. wasn’t today.

 The second thing is this

Someday’s things can bring destruction today.

o Forbidden Fruit/Tempted by prohibited instead of thanking God for permitted./Achan responded by confessing

Joshua 7:21 (NASB 2020) 21 “…when I saw among the spoils a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I wanted them and took them; and behold, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

o Eve saw, desired it, took it, hid from God/How Satan lies. God set the tree so we could choose God/He is sovereign, right to permit

proper time for sexual intimacy, and it is within the covenant of marriage between a husband and a wife.

misuse of sex can join two people together who weren’t meant to be joined together.

1 Corinthians 6:16–17 (NASB 2020) 16Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” 17But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

outside of marriage covenant, creates tie w/ individual that God never intended/God doesn’t make rules to withhold good from us. protects us from seizing tomorrow’s promises today, when we’re not ready for them.

o Lane Driving

What about Joshua’s?

Joshua’s Presumption: God Is In This

Joshua 6:2 (NASB 2020) 2But the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have handed Jericho over to you, with its king and the valiant warriors.

· Now, look at the plan to take Ai:

Joshua 7:2 (NASB 2020) 2Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

· Joshua: Moses sent out “…at the Lord’s command…” (Numbers 13:3,8)/“Possessing the Promise 101”—Send spies to the land, God gives victory, moves on

Joshua had reasonable evidence/God didn’t want Israel to take it, He wanted to give it./ Would God had shown Joshua Achan’s sin?

step-by-step.

It takes courage to step out in faith; it takes conviction to stay in step with faith.

· Joshua needed couraget to spy, rise after moses death, lead across Jordan, Jericho/Courage not enough

“Let us be watchful after the victory as before the battle.”[5]

· The temptation is to think that the victory had anything to do with us—other than obeying God!

· May we walk in step with Him—not ahead of Him in presumption, or behind Him in disobedience.

 So, how did Joshua respond to this painful defeat? Let’s look at verses 6-9.

Joshua 7:6–9 (NASB 2020) 6Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.

7And Joshua said, “Oh, Lord God! Why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan, only to hand us over to the Amorites, to eliminate us? If only we had been willing to live beyond the Jordan!

8 O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies?

9For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear about it, and they will surround us and eliminate our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?”

how did we miss this?”/bought house, took job, relationship/ recovering from presumption?

 God told Joshua three things that we can apply today.

Repenting of Presumption:

Joshua 7:13 (NASB 2020)

13Stand up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, because the Lord, the God of Israel, has said this: “There are things designated for destruction in your midst, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you have removed the designated things from your midst.”

o Get Up.

Joshua-appropriate response-run to God./interpretation was that God had taken His eyes off of Israel.

- Guzik: He doesn’t need to beg God to change His heart towards Israel. Joshua must change Israel’s heart before God.”

· Sometimes the most spiritual response is to get up. When we fall, don’t stay down./He became their Co-pilot.

o Prepare Yourself.

“Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow…”

- In other words: Set yourselves apart in preparation for God to move./. Get ready for God./ ten virgins/servants who anticipate their master’s arrival from a wedding feast. They wait for His knock at their door.

o Remove the Prohibited.

·“There are things designated for destruction in your midst, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you have removed the designated things from your midst.”

· What things keep us from relationship with God?

o Keep short accounts

· In marriage counseling, I often tell couples to “keep short accounts.”

- root of conflict at heart of unresolved conflict like a yogurt cup under the backseat of a minivan in a Texas August, will cause problems later!

 Let me put it this way…

What you refuse to surrender today will destroy you tomorrow.

· Sin contaminates

they faced Ai again the following chapter and God led them into victory.

Joshua 8:1-21 Now the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you. Arise, go up to Ai; see, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

2 You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoils and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.” [6]

 Because Joshua had surrendered, he was met with grace.

What you choose to surrender today is met with God’s grace tomorrow.

The word of the Lord that comes when we walk in-step with Him, and not a step without Him.

Altar:

o Errors Found/ missed the date!

Application

· We have to deal with today.

· Success in your someday starts with surrender today.

Salvation/Repentance: harboring sin, presuming that God will never know, He knows./He forgives

Sanctification: you just presume that because He was in that, He’s in this.