Joshua 8

Paul Stolwyk
Covenant, Discouragement, Graceland, Obedience, Penance
Joshua
Joshua

SERIES: Joshua: Victory through Faith

New Beginnings in the Life of Faith

SPEAKER: Paul T. Stolwyk

Introduction: Remember the experience of beginning a new school year? Imagine for a minute that is the first day of sixth grade. You walk into the school and you notice the shine on the floor. There’s the strong smell of cleaning supplies used to get last year’s bubblegum out of the water fountain. Pencils have no chew marks, with erasers still big and pink on the end. A new clean Mead wide-lined notebook has the spiral still intact. Maybe you’re wearing a new shirt that you got the week earlier at Penney’s. You go into your class and you are greeted by a new teacher. A teacher you didn’t know. A teacher who didn’t know you. And didn’t know what you had done last year.

My favorite day in school was always that first day of the school year. It meant for me the possibility of a new beginning. A new beginning where all last year’s failures could be avoided. A new beginning where last years’ enemies might become this years’ friends. A new beginning where last year’s reputation could be changed with a new teacher. A new beginning for my grades. On the first day of the school year, I was just as smart as every other kid. I still had straight A’s—the only day of the year that would be true. It was a brand-new beginning. Everything was new. I could start over.

Now hold on to that thought and turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 8. Let’s review what we have seen so far in the book of Joshua. The Lord tells Joshua to lead the people across the Jordan. The result is success, a great moment in Israel’s history. The Lord tells Joshua to conquer Jericho. The result is success, another great moment in Israel’s history. Then the first attempt to conquer Ai. The result is disaster. Sin is resident in the camp. Joshua fails to wait on and seek the Lord. Because of this there is a botched attempt at taking Ai. After the dust settles, thirty-six men lie dead, leaving grieving families in the wake.

Joshua is in desperate need of a new school year, a new notebook, new blue

Bic pens and the whole thing. And this is what we will find this morning in the eighth chapter of Joshua. God’s word for us today is that walking with God in a covenant relationship means making new beginnings in our life of faith. God has established a covenant relationship with us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. As we walk with Him, he will always be faithful to his side of the covenant. But because of our continued sin and unfaithfulness, there will be times where we must make a new beginning. As God’s people, if we need a new beginning, Joshua 8 will show us what that new beginning will look like.

What we see in the first two verses of chapter 8 is that …

New beginnings mean allowing God to restore us to fellowship after we sin. (1-2)

Look at the first verse of chapter 8: “Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.’” Where have we heard encouragement like this before? Back in chapter 1, the Lord encourages Joshua four times to “be strong and very courageous.” (1:6-7, 9, 18) But notice here in verse 2 that the encouragement is not expressed positively but negatively. Instead of “be strong,”the Lord says to Joshua, “do not be afraid.” Instead of saying, “be very courageous,” the Lord says to Joshua here, “do not be discouraged.” These encouraging words uttered in Chapter 1 are in anticipation of obedience. The words in chapter 8 are uttered in response to sin and failure.

Why would Joshua be discouraged? What could he possibly be afraid of? Joshua begins his prayer in verse 7: “Ah Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! Oh Lord, WHAT CAN I SAY, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? The Canaanites and the other people in the country will hear about this and they will wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?” (7:7-9)

Put yourself in Joshua’s shoes. Wouldn’t you wonder if God could take you back after you allowed 36 people to die under your command? Wouldn’t you be ashamed that you had proceeded on to Ai without consulting the Lord? Wouldn’t you begin to wonder if you had blown it to such an extent that God would reverse his promises to give the people the land? You have and I have, haven’t we? Translation. “Oh Lord, I have blown it. I have blown it beyond recognition. My witness is shot. I’m not going to speak up for Jesus, because people will just laugh at God because of me.”

But now that sin has been dealt with and Joshua is contrite of heart, God speaks up. “Don’t be discouraged. Don’t be afraid. I’m still here as I promised. I am holding up my end of the covenant even when you don’t hold up your end. I am faithful, even when you haven’t been.” And look at what the Lord says next, “oh and by the way, take up the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.” The New American Standard translates this verse as, “I have GIVEN into your hands….” I have already GIVEN to you what you tried to get yourself.

You thought you lost it, but I have GIVEN it to you before you have done anything. I have not forsaken you. Everything I have promised I have already GIVEN you.

It sounds too good to be true doesn’t it, but God is inviting Joshua and the whole nation of Israel back into “Graceland.” The Lord is speaking to Joshua in the exact way he did before the Jordon and before Jericho, as if nothing had happened. It is an invitation to restoration. Joshua has a choice. Will I let God restore me? Joshua rightfully feels contrite over the whole situation, but God is inviting him back into Graceland. God is saying, “You have experienced the shame and the consequences of sin but come on back into Graceland. I have made promises to you that I am going to keep. Don’t lose heart thinking that you have gone too far. Don’t be afraid that maybe you have blown it from here on out. We have dealt with sin, let us pick up and move on.”

New beginnings mean allowing God to restore us after we sin. We need to allow God to take us from the land of shame and bring us into Graceland. This is a lot easier to tell people to do than it is for people to experience. There are two common distortions to God’s grace that believers fall prey to, and both are dangerous to our souls. One distortion is the development of a “penance mindset.” Penance is a practice in which a hardship or penalty is performed to compensate for our sins. As a kid, after going to confession, I would often be told to do penance. Penance would be something like pray 3 rosaries and go to church 3 days in a row.

The problem with penance is that it denies the truth that Jesus died once for all sin so that He could bring us to God. When we personally trust Jesus’ death on the cross to be the payment for our sins before a holy God, our sins are wiped clean, and are hands are stamped with the blood of Jesus. That stamp on our hand is a lifetime pass into Graceland. If we leave Graceland because of our sin, we don’t get back in by cleaning up the park or fixing the lights in the parking lot. If we leave, we get back by contritely going back to the ticket window, confessing our sin and showing that our hand has been stamped. And like the prodigal son, we are welcomed back into Graceland.

God’s restoring grace is like that. When sin has been honestly addressed, though consequences may remain, He restores us to full fellowship. He does not keep bringing up incidents and holding them up to shame us again and again. We must accept his invitation back into Graceland.

The other distortion which is equally dangerous for the believer is to falsely believe that the extension of grace gives me a license to sin. “I can do anything I want because Jesus died for me.” It is a belief that there are no conditional elements to my relationship with God. Joshua’s response to grace shows us that the proper response to grace is not license but obedience.

New beginnings mean reorienting our lives in obedience to God’s Word. (2-29) I

In the original version of the battle of Ai, failure to listen for and follow God’s Word leads to death, despair, discouragement, disillusionment and disaster. When the sequel comes out, Ai, Part Deux, the outcome is infinitely different. Let’s look at the highlights of the sequel.

In the second verse the Lord tells Joshua to set an ambush, and after the conquest is completed, to take the riches of the city as spoils of war. Let’s pick up the story in verse 3:

“So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night with these orders: ‘Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, “They are running away from us as they did before.” So when we flee from them, you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.’”

The ambush is set, and Joshua takes another group and draws all the men of Ai away from the city. Once the city is unprotected, look at what happens in verse 18.

“Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.’ So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand. As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.”

The following verses give all the details of how Operation Ai Storm is completed. But there is still one more important thing to note, found in verses 26-27:

“…Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.”

Joshua has reoriented his life and the life of the community in obedience to God’s Word. It looks like the Joshua we have come to grow and love. Grace does not lead to license but to obedience. The proper understanding of grace in our lives is to be obedience. Jesus told the disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:9-10)

New beginnings in the life of faith mean reorienting our lives in obedience to God’s Word. It means realigning our lives, so that our actions correspond to God’s ideas and not our own. The first step toward obedience to God’s Word is knowing God’s Word, not simply through the teaching of others but from our own reading, our own study. If regular reading of the Scriptures is not a habit in your life, let me suggest taking one of Paul’s letters in the New Testament and just begin reading it over and over. A chapter a day. Reading and rereading and rereading until you have read it so much that you have it nearly memorized. Then begin applying to your home life, work life, leisure life and ministry life, the commands and truths that you find in that one book.

The second step is letting others pray with you for the areas of your life that you are trying to align with Gods’ Word. I meet with 4 other men weekly. Just this Friday, we went around the table and shared where God was hammering on us, where God was wanting us to learn obedience. One guy’s sin was anger. Mine was pride and limited love. Another’s was honoring his wife. Having this out on the table with other believers keeps me working on those areas and not sloughing off, because they have permission to ask me about those areas now.

Walking with God in a covenant relationship means making new beginnings in the life of faith. New beginnings start by allowing God to restore us into the land of grace after we sin. But entering in the into that grace must be followed by choosing to live life in accordance with God’s Word. Finally…,

New beginnings mean renewing our covenant with God. (30-35)

Thirty miles northwest of the city of Ai was the valley of Shechem, a valley between two mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. These mountains are over 1½ miles apart at the top but only 500 yards apart at the base. One of the most unusual features is the natural amphitheater that exists between them. A person can stand in the valley, and with no amplification can be heard a quarter a mile away on either slope.

In his farewell address in Deuteronomy 27-30, Moses gives the people of Israel three final instructions which they are to carry out when they cross over the Jordan. First, they are to go to Mount Ebal. Once there, they are to take some large stones, coat them with plaster, and write on the stones the words of the Law. Then they are to place those stones on Mount Ebal like billboards for all the nations to see.

Second, they are to construct an altar, assembled from stones that had never been cut by a tool. Then they are to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on that altar.

Finally, the Levites are then to stand in the valley and recite the curses and blessings of the Law and the people on each side are to respond with an “amen” after each blessing and each curse is read. Now let’s follow the story in verse 30-35:

“Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel,as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.

Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.”

Each of these actions God orders has tremendous significance for the community of God’s people. Six hundred years earlier, the father of the faith Abraham had been to the valley of Shechem. From the top of Mount Ebal or Mount Gerezim, Abraham saw that the land to the west and south was inhabited by the Canaanites. Verse 7 of chapter 12 of Genesis tells us that, “the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring, I will give this land.’ So he (Abraham) built an altar there to the Lord…” Now Israel does it. The promise has come full circle.

The text tells us that they sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar. Burnt offerings involved confession of sin and consecration of life. It was a sign of their total commitment and dependence upon God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Once sin had been atoned for, there was provision to express joy and communion with God through fellowship offerings. So not only are they confessing their sinfulness and consecrating themselves to God, but they are communing with Him.

Finally, in the valley half the nation stands in front of and up the side of Mount Ebal, with the other half facing them on the mountainside of Mount Gerizim. But who do you think is in the middle between all the people? Look at verse 33 again, in the middle of the paragraph. “All Israel, aliens and citizens alike, with their elders, officials, and judges were standing on both sides of THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF THE LORD, facing those who carried it—the priests who were Levites.”

Remember chapter 3 and 4, where we saw the Ark of the Covenant last? Now, look at verse 34: “Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it was written in the book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, children and the aliens who lived among them.”

I’ve been to two of the large Promise Keepers events, the Atlanta Pastors conference and the conference last October in Dallas. It is an amazing experience to stand with 70,000 other people and sing the praises of Jesus Christ. But do you see what is going on here? What is happening here makes Promise Keepers look like a small group Bible study. The law is written and placed like a billboard on the mountainside of Ebal. There are two million people facing each other and standing before the presence of God. And Joshua begins to read the law.

Turn to Deuteronomy 27. Starting in verse 14 and all the way through Chapter 30, we see part of what Joshua may have read or had the Levites read. It is many of the 10 commandments in negative form. And after each one the two million people respond with the refrain, “Amen! We agree!”

The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

“Cursed is anyone who makes an idol—a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of skilled hands—and sets it up in secret.”