Village Schools of the Bible

A Devotional Study of Joshua
by Max Frazier, Jr.

THE CONQUEST OF AI
Joshua 8:1-29

Welcome to another exciting study in God's Word, particularly in the Book of Joshua. You might remember that we ended our last study with Israel in a particular fix. The joys of the victory at Jericho had faded into the realities of defeat and an awareness of the presence of sin in the camp. Thirty-six soldiers had perished in the battle and the entire family of Achan had paid the consequences for their sins. Truly, chapter seven of Joshua is a classic reminder of the truth that the wages of sin is death.

There is an old proverb which states, "It is always darkest before the dawn." There seems to be a lot of biblical truth in that statement. We can see it proven here in chapter eight of Joshua. How brilliantly the opening words of this chapter come to us, Now the Lord said to Joshua. It is a hint that, as far as God was concerned, everything was back to normal.

I believe that in verse one we observe three key things that brought Joshua and Israel to the place of victory at Ai. Often, in our Christian life, the conquest of the "little things" is more difficult that the conquest of the "big things", so there is much to learn.

First, in verse one I see the reality of sins forgiven. God proclaims to Joshua, Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. This is the second time that God had spoken these words to Joshua. You might remember that the first time was in chapter one and verse nine. There, Joshua faced the fears of the unknown. Here God spoke tenderly to Joshua because he was facing the fear of failure, the fear of heartache, the fear of discouragement.

Place yourself in Joshua's shoes. You have experienced the agony of defeat. You have experienced the rebuke of God for the sins of pride and the lack of prayer. You have participated in the burial of thirty-six innocent men and had shared in the public execution of the guilty. I believe the sin of Achan brought back too many memories to Joshua. He remembered the golden calf at Sinai. He remembered the open rebellion at Kadesh. He remembered the constant backsliding of Israel. Is it any wonder that he was full of fear and discouragement? How many more Achans would he find? Could he be certain that God would restore the people back into His fellowship? How many times does God receive backsliders back?

Fear of failure is a great deterrent to progress. Someone has written that fear of failure is the father of failure. At times, when I am tempted to resign to the pressures of failure, I am drawn back to the life of one of my great heroes in American history. Perhaps it is because he and I share the same birthdate, that I have become a student of his life. But, here was a man who--failed at business not once but twice, was defeated for the legislature of his state twice, was defeated on five separate occasions in his bid to enter the United States Congress, and was even defeated as a vice-presidential candidate. And yet, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln, never giving in to a fear of failure, was elected to the presidency in one of the most strategic moments in our history. His life reminds me that men who try something and fail are infinitely better than those who try nothing and succeed.

Father, so many of us have surrendered to the fear of failure at one time or other in our lives. We have feared moving forward because of a mistake made in the past. Yet, Father, as we shall see in our study tomorrow, You are a God who forgives us completely and encourages us to move forward in Your strength. May we fully grasp the significance of this truth. For we pray it in the name of the One who came showing us the fullness of Your grace and truth. Amen.

HOW COMPLETE IS GOD'S FORGIVENESS?
Joshua 8:1

In my twenty-eight years of Christian ministry, twenty-six of those years being in a pastoral role, I found that the subject of God's forgiveness was one of the most difficult for us to grasp. Perhaps it is because we have a hard time giving and receiving forgiveness ourselves. But I discovered that here was an area, which instead of bringing victory, often brought a crushing defeat. And I knew that Satan was at work twisting and distorting the Word of God to bring discouragement into the lives of God's people.

Today, I would like to share with you the fruits of my study of God's Word with regard to the matters of His forgiveness. One of the most troubling areas concerns the fact of recurring sin. How many of you have said, like I have said, "This sin is the same one that I committed yesterday, and last week and last month and last year." We begin to even consider that God is nothing more than a garbage dump upon which we can deposit our trash. Do we take advantage of God?

Remember that great verse in 1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The key word, when it comes to matters of recurring sin, is just. Why is the Father just? When we sin, what do we have between us and the Father? (This is the truth the Devil does not want us to remember). The Father is just because we have a Mediator, an attorney, if you will, who tells God not to lay the sin to our charge. So, when God looks down, what does He see? The answer is found in 2 Corinthians 5:21 which states, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus, in fact says, "Father, this is one of Your children. See, he is covered with My righteousness."

I am reminded of the following true story. A Scottish physician, noted for his skill and also for his piety, died. When his books were examined, it was discovered that several accounts had written across them in red ink the words, "Forgiven, too poor to pay." His wife who was also Scottish, but who had less piety, felt differently about the unpaid bills. She said, "These bills must be paid," and proceeded to sue for the money. The judge examined the accounts and turning to the departed physician's wife, inquired, "Is this handwriting in red ink that of your husband?" She replied in the affirmative. "Then," said he, "there is no tribunal in the land that can obtain the money in the case of any account on which he has written the "Forgiven."

Village Line friends, what a great and significant truth. We are covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus. And, we have Him as our great Mediator. But, let me give a caution here. The reality of this truth should not give us the license to do as we please just because we are covered with the blood of the Lamb. Paul, in Romans 6, reminds us that we are to live a life totally dedicated to Christ and not to yield to the desires of the flesh.

But, dear friend, don't become discouraged when you commit the same sin over again. God is simply reminding you that this is an area of your life which has not been totally surrendered to Him. In His grace, He is waiting for you.

Father, how we rejoice in the good news that we have an advocate, even Jesus Christ the righteous. So, help us not to become discouraged, but to graciously receive Your forgiveness because we are reminded that You are a just God. Amen.

MORE GOOD NEWS ABOUT GOD'S FORGIVENESS
Joshua 8:1

You remember, in our last study, that our thoughts were directed toward those sins which we have called the recurring sins, you know, those which we are prone to commit over again. And yet, we discovered, in 1 John 1:9, the truth that God is a just God. He will forgive us because He sees us covered with the blood of His Son, who just happens to be our Mediator, our Attorney.

But, I have found that there is a second area of sin of which Satan loves to remind us in order to bring the discouragement of failure into our lives. That is those sins which we cannot remember. Are those sins ever forgiven by God? Again, let us return to 1 John 1:9. There, John admonishes us to confess our sins, that is those sins of which the Holy Spirit has made us aware. The Holy Spirit gives us knowledge of sin. We are utterly dependent upon God to make us aware of those sins that need to be confessed. Not one of us has ever convicted ourselves of sin. Instead we rationalize and even make excuses for our sins. The Holy Spirit tells us the truth about our condition in the eyes of the Father.

So, I pray to God, when my spirit is convicted by the Holy Spirit, and confess those sins to God. But what about those sins which I cannot remember, and I am sure that they are many. Well, what does 1 John 1:9 tell us: That God will forgive us all our sin; there is no balance of sin left after He has forgiven us. After confessions, we are as clean as Christ. There is an old philosophical syllogism which states: First, we are as clean as the one who cleanses us; second, Christ cleanses us; third, therefore we are as clean as He is.

My Mother had scrupulous standards of cleanliness. She believed that cleanliness was next to godliness, so she scrubbed us pink to make us saints. I can remember her cleaning my ears. I thought she was looking for gold. But when she was finished, I was clean by her standards. So it is with God. We have to be that clean because God doesn't grade on a curve. God has only one standard and only one person has ever made it. That was the whole purpose of Christ becoming man, that we, whose righteousness was as filthy rags, might be brought into fellowship with a holy God.

Finally, what about those sins of the past, which we know are forgiven, but whose memories still haunt us? What has God done with our sins? Let me share with you three verses which have encouraged my heart in this matter. The first is Psalm 103:12, which states, As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Now, friends, I have no idea at all where this place is, but it is there that God has dumped our sins. And as one dear saint told me, He has placed a no fishing sign there.

The second verse is Isaiah 38:17, which states, You have cast all my sins behind Your back. This truth becomes more real because I have never found a verse in the Bible that states that God ever turns around to see what is behind Him. We could say that with our sins, out of sight is out of mind. The third verse is Isaiah 43:25, which states, I am the one who wipes out your transgression for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Cannot get more honest than that.

So, if God has forgotten about our sins, who brings them to our minds? You are right, it is the devil. Our prayer, when those troubling thoughts of past forgiven sins come to our minds, should be that we might resist the devil so that he would flee from us.

Father, I thank You for these days when we have had the opportunity of being reminded once again of the completeness of Your forgiveness. With this knowledge, we should not have to face the fear of discouragement because of sin. Thank You for setting us free. Amen.

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS FROM THE JOSHUA 8:1
Joshua 8:1

Well, Village Line friends, we have spent considerable time reflecting upon God's command to Joshua to not be afraid or to be discouraged because of the failures of the past. God is a God of forgiveness, and when He forgives, we must go forward.

But, you might remember that I shared with you that I had found three truths in this great verse. The first, as we have seen all week, is that we do not need to become discouraged. The second truth is found in those words, Take the whole army with you....Joshua and Israel had to learn that it was costly to leave the path of blessing. Now, instead of a few being involved, all were required. To backslide is costly. The longer people stay off the path, the harder it is to get back on. I liken it to getting off an exercise program; once off, it is so very difficult to resume once again.

Now you might be asking me, just what is backsliding? I define it to simply live in disobedience to God; to live our lives the way we want to live; to not be willing to pay the price to fully follow Christ. It is a lack of commitment, an apathetic attitude.

Let me share an illustration which I think captures the reality of backsliding. A notorious gambler came to the altar during a revival meeting. After the meeting, the minister told him to bring all of his gambling equipment to the next meeting and build a fire with them. "You'll have to excuse me, preacher, but I just can't do that." "Why not?" inquired the minister. "You've been converted, haven't you?" "Sure, I'm converted," said the gambler, "but that don't make me foolish. Suppose I throw all that stuff away and then I backslide; that would leave me in a fine predicament, wouldn't it?"

Backsliding is when we say, "Lord, I want to be a Christian, just not a committed one." Because Israel had chosen to backslide into disobedience, it would now take all of the people in order for the nation to get back onto the right road.

Finally, we read in verse 1, go up and attack Ai. Here was God's command to regroup for the battle at hand. Get back into the fight. Don't quit because of a setback. Don't quit because you yielded to sin. Remember God has promised you the victory.

Let me close today's chat with some precious words from Jeremiah's pen. He writes, "Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land - against the kings of Judah and its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:18-19). Friends, there will be problems and trials, but they will not overcome us. There will be setbacks into sin, but we can choose to not let sin defeat us.

Lord, I want to thank You for the victories which we have experienced in the past. And I thank You for those yet to come. Help us not to get discouraged and defeated, for our God is an awesome God. Help us to remember that the One who lives within us is so much greater than the one who lives in the world. Amen.

A RENEWAL OF A COMMITMENT TO GOD
Joshua 8:30-35

I praise God for the eternal truths which He has been teaching us. Oh the depths of God's truths. And oh the victories we can experience when we walk in the fullness of those truths. We can be like Israel in their great victory over Ai. What an awareness of the presence of God with them and of their need to daily draw upon His strength.

This great chapter closes with a time of renewal. One of the final commands of Moses, given to us in Deuteronomy, was the setting up of an altar on Mount Ebal after Israel had crossed the Jordan. Moses did not specify how soon, after the crossing of the Jordan, the altar should be set up, but the spirit of the command declared that there should be no delay.

After the conquest of Ai, the heartland of the Promised Land was now open to Israel. Joshua could have reasoned that more conquests were needed before going the two days journey north to build the altar on Mount Ebal. It was dangerous to take this twenty to thirty mile journey into the heart of enemy territory.

But, before they could proceed with the conquests and the settlement of the lands, there needed to be a renewal of their covenant with God. They needed the affirmation of their relationship to Him. They needed reminded of the One they were indeed serving.

They needed a recommitment to the Word of God. Yes, there had been a recommitment to the covenant with God at Gilgal, but that was not enough. There needed to be a recommitment to obeying all of God's laws.

Many times, in our own ministries, we can so easily get caught up in our work that we fail to take the time to renew our hearts before God. Our busyness in ministry, or in our profession, or in our recreation, or in our family time, prevents us from enjoying fellowship with the One who has called us to serve Him with all of our hearts, our souls, our minds, and our strength.

As an individual, I need those moments everyday of quiet reflection. And I also need those moments every week, of corporate worship. Each is so important if I am going to be effective for the Lord. Renewal of the covenant is something each one of us should take more seriously.

Father, we close this study being reminded of the need for our personal recommitment to You and to Your Word. I am thankful that many years ago, You laid upon the heart of Your servant, Monty, the desire to help people to understand Your Word by the establishment of the Village Schools of the Bible, and I praise You for the hundreds of men and women who have found their joys in the Word. Father, keep us ever in love with Your Word for there is nothing in this life that can ever replace it. We praise You in Christ's name. Amen.

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