Lessons Learned from Defeat
Journey with Joshua • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction:
We discussed last week how Israel was victorious in their campaign against Jericho. On the heels of such victory though we quickly find that defeat would be dealt to Israel. Why? Was it because God no longer favored them, no! Was it because they went to a place where they were not called to go, no! They were ineffective & defeated because of an individual’s sin. The title of the message this morning is, “Lessons Learned from Defeat”.
Let’s ask God to bless us as we read His Word.
Blunders of a Believer
Blunders of a Believer
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. 2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3 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 labour thither; for they are but few. 4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 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. 6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. 7 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! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9 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? 10 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 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. 12 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. 13 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.
The 1st thing we can get from Joshua Chapter 7 is that there can be Blunders of a Believer. The Oxford Dictionary defines blunder as a stupid or careless mistake. No doubt we can look at our lives and identify areas where we made stupid mistakes. In fact, some of us recognize them but are so prideful we do not do anything about them.
Sometimes these blunders of the Believer come out of the blue. Seemingly out of nowhere.
3 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 labour thither; for they are but few.
You see they had become so sure of themselves that they believed that victory by their hands was inevitable. Coming off of the victory at Jericho some had neglected to recall the simple fact that it was God who secured their victory and not by the might of men & women. The Follower of Jesus Christ, especially the one that is serving the Lord diligently, will never obtain the title or even be confused with sanctitude. You know what that means? We will never be saints, holy, or righteous without Jesus. The goodness that may come from any of us is not produced from within ourselves but rather comes directly from God.
This blunder, this failure came by a surprise because they had begun to take matters into their own hands. Going off of their own wisdom instead of seeking God’s. How many times have we observed in our lives, or even the lives of others which is so much easier, sin creep in and we say to ourselves - I have known so and so for years, I never saw that coming. No one can rely upon their own abilities to walk the straight & narrow path and there is not a single person in this congregation, in this county, state, country, or world that is exempt from Satan who tempts us & seeks to destroy us. We must always rely upon Christ.
4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.
What happens to the person who relies upon their self to do the right thing, to live a life that is holy? The person who looks to their past victories with God, just like Israel with Jericho, and says I know that I can make it through this! Not thinking that I can make it through this with God but, I can make it through this. However, it was this exact mindset that caused 3,000 men to run scared despite what God had done before.
The lesson for the Follower of Jesus this morning is that we do not claim victory in every circumstance simply because we are a Believer in Christ. Instead we are triumphant because we continually follow God and heed His will for us. Even after we are saved we still have the free will to make choices which wreck our faith. That is why it is imperative for the Believer to continue on God’s path. There are several Biblical examples that come to mind for people who relied upon their own might even though God had done mighty works through them. Sampson would be an easy go to. But Judas would be another. In fact the the Book of Acts talks about Judas wanting to do things his own way.
25 That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.
We all know how that turned out. Once Judas followed his own ideas & relied upon his own wisdom, he ended up giving back the silver in which he sold Jesus out for and commited suicide. We can overcome any problem or obstacle if we Follow Christ but quickly fail when we follow our own way.
Judas recognized his failure and decided the best course of action was to take his own life. Once again following his own opinion. However, we read that Joshua takes a more submissive approach.
8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
More often than not when we are faced with defeat or failure we form excuses that explain why we have fallen short. How much better would our walks with Jesus be if we just went before the Lord in humility and offered up a phrase like there is nothing I can say. Perhaps the course of human history would have turned out different if Adam would have took this approach instead of saying the woman made me eat of the fruit of the tree.
Our mistakes and shortcomings should hurt us deeply if for no other reason then we have brought disgrace to our Lord. Our testimonies are critical because unfortunately the unbelieving world looks to us, more than God in most circumstances, for understanding of our beliefs. The pessimist who expects to fall short at every turn rarely learns anything from it. Moreover, God can be glorified when we confess our sins before each other because there is nothing of human motivation that would want us to make ourselves look bad.
About a month ago there was a member of this church that went to someone and shared their heart with them. They explained to them that they had said some things & believed some things that in fact was not true and apologized for it. I can tell you for a fact that God was glorified by that act of humility because the person was who was being apologized to was taken back and responded with graciousness.
11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Now there are some who begin to regret things in their life because they have wrecked their walk with Jesus or their relationship with other people has deteriorated. But instead of being remorseful for the failure you should be grief stricken due to the sin commited which caused you to wreck you walk to begin with.
10 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 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. 12 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. 13 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.
More often than we would care to admit we fail to reach our fullest potential before the Lord because we have sin which we refuse to deal with & sometime refuse to even acknowledge. When that private sin still rests comfortably within our hearts, minds, & actions we are not as usable by God. We can not claim ignorance when it comes to these sins either. Those personal sins that maybe even our families or friends no nothing about. That anger or resentment we harbor for another person. That anger which rages more frequently than we care to confess. That lust which we try to ignore but continues to creep up. That lack of faith that plagues our minds. No matter what private sin you struggle with, understand this, it hinders your relationship with god.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Robert Lee wrote on this subject, “If they had not failed here they would just have gone on in their sin. God can have no fellowship with unrighteousness. The accursed thing must be taken away or His presence will be taken away.”
We should frequently search our hearts and pray to God that He searches us & convicts us of anything that offends Him. Only then can we be the most effective for God. Only then can we have the best relationship with Jesus. Only then will we truly know peace.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Shortcomings & failures should not cause the Christian to run & hide. They should not cause us to flee. Rather it should cause us to pause and recognize that there are some things that we need to deal with, with the help of God.
President Abraham Lincoln wrote this in 1863, “We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!” Let us not be too proud to cry out to God this morning.
Achan’s Blunder
Achan’s Blunder
14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man. 15 And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. 16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: 17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: 18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. 20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 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. 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. 24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
The 2nd thing we can get from Joshua Chapter 7 is path of sin as we examine Achan’s sin.
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.
Our eyes Brothers & Sisters in Christ can wreak such havoc on our relationship with Jesus. If you trace the origin of most sin, if you identify the primary root cause for most sin, it frequently comes back to the eyes. If you don’t believe me read your Bibles. Eve saw the fruit, Lot saw well watered plains, Ahaz saw an altar & copied it which desecrated the temple. But Achan confesses that he did more than just glance at all of the silver & gold. He coveted them. A look was not fulfilling he strongly desired these things. That desire led to theft.
I have used the phrase, along with many other Pastors/Preachers/Teachers, keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Likewise we see similar phrasing in God’s Word with phrases like seek the Lord. Why is it important for us to do that? Because if we keep our focus on Christ we do not allow ourselves to become distracted with the things we see that might cause us to sin. Will we be perfect? No. However, there is a difference between knowingly looking for or at something or someone which you realize you will lust after thus causing you to covet. A 2nd, 3rd, or 4th look has resulted in the desolation of many Believers.
After a look or 2 comes misconduct. God specifically spoke about these accursed things back in Joshua Chapter 6.
18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
Despite God’s specific warning we see the perversity which takes place when we read Joshua 7 Verse 1 that Achan took of the accursed thing & the anger of the Lord was kindled or burned against the children of Israel. But maybe let’s assume for a second that he missed the memo. Maybe he did not hear God’s instruction or perhaps he did not understand what God’s direction was. But wait that can’t be the case. We see that what he was doing was being done deliberately. How do we know this? Because he admitted that he hid the items, he had buried them in his tent.
There are many people who try to keep up appearances of being God Fearing, Bible Believing Followers of Christ. They show up to worship service, they may lend a hand here & there, they have the lingo down, they like all the scripture posts on Facebook & Instagram yet they still knowingly sin against God by favoring the world over Christ. By loving the things of the world every other time except for the time they spend in this sanctuary.
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
But no matter how much we neglect pursuing God or how much we try to hide those private sins, we will be unsuccessful.
18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
Understand that there was thousands of people of Israel yet Achan was found. You, I, We must never forget that no matter how well you try to cover your tracks or how deep an act of iniquity is buried in your heart, your sin will find you out.
17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, And their works are in the dark, And they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Attempting to cover your sin, especially from God, is ineffectual because judgement will befall you sooner or later. We read exactly what happened to him in Verse 25.
25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
Now at first this may seem a bit excessive & you might be thinking how can a loving God condone this kind of behavior. How can people who are called to show the love of God engage in such an atrocious act? If we are all sinners don’t we all deserve this kind of punishment. Perhaps so. But compare the actions of Achan to that of Rahab. Rahab trusted God, she listened to guidance, she followed directions & exercised faith, & she ultimately triumphed. On the other hand Achan was disobedient & attempted to cover up his transgressions. He also did not confess anything until he was confronted by Joshua.
Conclusion:
In October of 2010 there was a lady named Selma Elmore who stopped a police car in Lockland, Ohio. This 44 year old woman approached the police officer and asked if there was a warrant out for her arrest. The officer ran the lady’s information and soon informed her that she in fact did have an outstanding warrant. Without notice Ms. Elmore decided to make a run for it & attempted to evade the policy. Now here is the tragedy of Selma Elmore’s story. The warrant that was issued was for an unpaid fine. However, when she made the decision to run from it she then tacked on resisting arrest which is a more severe offence.
There are so many times when we do the wrong thing, when we sin, then we spend so much energy trying to run from it or hide it. We would be much better off if we recognized it, dealt with it, & went to the Lord for it. How much better & stronger would our walks with Jesus be if we just quoted Psalm 38 Verse 18 and meant it.
18 For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.
Will you pray with me.
Smith, J., & Lee, R. (1971). Handfuls on Purpose for Christian Workers and Bible Students, Series I–XIII (five-volume edition, Vol. 4, p. 84). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.