The Enemy Within - 250406

SPEAKER 1 Hello, I'm Mike Browning. Welcome to Let God Speak now. It amazes me how easily human beings make covenants or agreements with God when the trouble strikes. And then too often when the emergency has passed, people treat the commitment they made lightly. So the question is, how important are those covenant commitments we make to God? We will see in our discussion today just how important they are. Well, folks, on our panel today we have Kaysie Vokurka. Thank you, Kaysie, for being here. And Joshua Wood. Joshua, this is your first time on Let God Speak, so thank you for coming and joining us today. Well, we'd like to invite everyone to please join us in prayer before we open the scripture today. Father in heaven, we just thank you for your wonderful love, the power of the historical messages we pick up from the experiences of your people in the past. And today as we look at this experience of Israel, we pray for your holy Spirit to guide us. And everyone at home is sharing in this program. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Now, the people of Israel had arrived at the borders of the promised land. They'd made a covenant commitment to God by this point in time. And they had made their entrance and they'd had a huge victory at Jericho when God knocked the walls of Jericho down flat. And then they had moved on. And now they were confronted by a little town, this time called AI Now, I get folks that different pronunciations are had for this name. We're going for the benefit of this program with A.I. hope you can follow us with that. Now, they thought this little town would be no problem at all. And according to Joshua chapter seven, and we're going to read from that now, Joshua, chapter seven. And I'm going to read verse two and three and four actually, and this is what it said. Now, Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI, which is beside Beth Haven on the east side of Bethel. And he spoke to them saying, go up and spy out the country. So the men went up and spied out AI and they returned to Joshua. And this is what they said. I want you to note this, folks. Do not let all the people go up, but let about 2 or 3,000 men go up and attack AI. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of AI are few. So about 3,000 men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of AI. Now, Kaysie, what went wrong? They're fleeing from a small group. SPEAKER 2 Yes, well, they were completely defeated and they even lost some men. And there was definitely a reason for this. And if we have a look in verse one of Chapter seven, it says, but the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things. For Achan, the son of Kami, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things. So the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. And so, yeah, Achan had coveted and taken stuff from Jericho that he had seen. And this was disobedience. And it broke the covenant with God. And so God couldn't protect Israel anymore. SPEAKER 1 Yes. And your point is good that we chatted about earlier that God had said not to touch any of the gold or silver that was set aside for the temple. So it's very important. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. What about it? Was there any other problem? Joshua here? SPEAKER 3 Yes, there was. If we read In Joshua, chapter 7, verse 5, it says, and the men of AI struck down about 36 men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shererim and struck them down on the descent. Therefore, the hearts of the people melted and they became like water. So as we can see here, the people forgot to trust in God. They forgot to trust that victory depends on God alone. And they forgot to seek him. SPEAKER 1 Okay. And so they became very disheartened. This was a very bad moment for them. Now, there was a powerful lesson here, Kaysie, in this experience at AI for the people of God, wasn't it? Very powerful lesson indeed. SPEAKER 2 Yes, that's right. And it was twofold, because the people of Canaan were going to be dispossessed because of their wickedness and their rebellion against God. And so they. The time was up, if you will, in terms of God's judgment. But Israel was to possess the land on the basis of their faithfulness to the covenant with God. SPEAKER 1 Exactly. SPEAKER 2 So if they sin, they're no better than the Canaanites, really. SPEAKER 1 That's right. SPEAKER 2 And this would mean that God couldn't fulfill his plan for them if they did that. And so it was very important for them to be faithful because sin would forfeit their right to inherit God's promise. SPEAKER 1 And they were to model to the world basically how God's people operate and how they live. SPEAKER 2 Absolutely. SPEAKER 1 So this was a serious thing, had to be dealt with. SPEAKER 2 Yes. SPEAKER 1 So let's go back to the story. What was the impact on Israel of this defeat at AI? Joshua. SPEAKER 3 Yeah, they were absolutely devastated. If we look In Joshua chapter 7, verse 7, and verse 9, it says, and Joshua said, alas, Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all to deliver us into the land of the Amorites and to destroy us. Oh, that we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. And then in verse nine, it says, for the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it and will surround us and cut us off. Sorry, cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name? Joshua was totally confused. He thought all was lost and always doomed. SPEAKER 1 Yeah, he thought, this was it, we're done for. So it was a very serious effect on Joshua. It's interesting, actually, if you look at chapter seven, verse seven, which you just read there, Josh, it says, the words of Joshua are, alas, Lord God, why have you brought us? To deliver us into the hand of the Amorite to destroy us. We'd have been better staying on the other side of Jordan. Does that sound familiar to you, Kaysie? SPEAKER 2 It does sound familiar, and it takes us back to Exodus. Exodus, chapter 16 and verse 3, where we find. It says, the children of Israel. Israel said to them, oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. It's a very similar thing, isn't it? SPEAKER 1 So it's really hit Joshua, hasn't it? SPEAKER 2 Yeah, it must have hit him so hard for him to like he was the faithful one who throughout the whole time had not, you know, departed from God. So now he's the leader. For him to resort back to this kind of thinking, it must have really discouraged him. SPEAKER 1 This was actually a prayer, right? He's praying to God, why have you done this to us? SPEAKER 2 Yeah. Yeah. SPEAKER 1 And so what do you say, Joshua? Was God impressed by Joshua's prayer? SPEAKER 3 No, he wasn't. If we read In Joshua, chapter 7, verse 10, it says, so the Lord said to Joshua, get up. Why do you lie thus on your face? So, yeah, God was saying, no, just deal with it. SPEAKER 1 That's what he was saying. Just deal with it. Wasn't he? Get on with it. So how did God deal with this? This was an emergency. All right, so how did God deal with it, Case? SPEAKER 2 Yes. Well, God, basically, he got straight to the chase and he told Joshua exactly what the problem was so that he could deal with it. And we read that in Joshua 7, verse 11, it says, Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them, for. They have even taken some of the accursed things and have both stolen and deceived. And they have also put it among their own stuff. And it's very interesting. So God is saying there's sin in the camp. And if you have a look back in the previous chapter, in chapter six, where it talks about the defeat of Jericho, you find there that Joshua had explained to everyone very specifically that the whole of Jericho was to be destroyed. The only things that were to come out of Jericho were the gold and silver and other metals. And that was to go straight to God's treasury. And so where it says they have stolen, someone had taken gold and silver that belonged to God. So that was stealing. And someone had taken also, we know from later in the story, a Babylonish garment. And that was part of the cursed thing that was to be burned. So that was another disobedience. SPEAKER 1 Okay. There are wicked people in Jericho, apparently, which is why all this was to happen to them. And even the other, other than the metals, everything else was to be treated as accursed and unclean. So it's really interesting. Thank you for saying that. So what were they to do now, Joshua? What were they to do about that? SPEAKER 3 If we read In Joshua, chapter 7, verse 13, it says, get up, sanctify the people and say, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. Because thus says the Lord God of Israel, there is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have taken away the accursed thing from among you. So here God's telling Joshua to tell the people to sanctify themselves, to set themselves apart from their sin, search their hearts. And sin and wrong is always a spiritual issue. And we need to search our own hearts. SPEAKER 1 That's right. And they were to look at it as a spiritual issue to be dealt with. It's very interesting. I think it's very informative for us now that. So God explains what they're to do. If you look in chapter 7 still in verse 14, I'll read it there it says, this is God still talking, by the way, to Joshua about how to handle this in the morning, therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to families. And they were to cast lots, you see. And the family which the Lord takes shall come by household, and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. So they were to cast lots until the culprit was identified. This was really fascinating. This is a very laborious process and took quite some time, don't you Think this was, Was this a good idea? Obviously God said to do it. SPEAKER 2 Well, there was potential purpose in this. And I guess all this time when Israel was having their lots cast over them, it would have given people time to think, you know, was it me? Did I do something? Am I responsible for this? And the person who was guilty would have known they were responsible because Joshua was very clear about the instructions of what was to be taken and what wasn't. And so it gave time to think, to repent, and even an opportunity to confess if they were going to, you know, if their heart was going to change as a result of this. SPEAKER 1 That's right. So he had a lot of time really to think things through and say, do I know, I come back out and confess. And it's quite likely that his family was involved and knew exactly what dad had taken. SPEAKER 2 Yes, that's true. SPEAKER 1 And that they were therefore watching also. Many of them could have owned up. And the reason I mention that is because they were held responsible at the end of it all as well. So it's very interesting exactly how God did this. So what else? Joshua was accomplished by this lengthy process? SPEAKER 3 Yeah, so there were other people in the camp as well. And this process, I guess, clearly identified for them who the sinner was. No doubt about. There was other people who were possibly tempted as well. And so this was a clear lesson for them that God was to be obeyed and his covenant was to be followed. SPEAKER 1 That's right. So God was to be taken very seriously and if they made commitments, they should keep them. And when God says something, it's very clear, isn't it, when you think about it? And certainly it was to Israel after this. Anyhow, this was an amazing lesson that the people had to learn. This is interesting, the odd going to read verse 19 now in chapter 7 still where Joshua said to Achan, after Achan was pinpointed by the. By this process of casting lots, he was taken. And Joshua said to Achan, my son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession to him and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me. So what do you think about the way he dealt with Achan here? SPEAKER 2 At this point, I think Joshua would have been really brokenhearted for Achan and even to have to do this. Like he wouldn't. He didn't want this situation to even happen. No one wanted it. And so just the way he says, my son, I beg you, you can just feel the compassion, the kindness in his heart. But at the same time the sorrow that has come to this. Right, yeah. And so I guess that reminds us of God. You know, when we. When we sin, God is very tender hearted, but at the same time he's very sad when we make a wrong choice. SPEAKER 1 Okay, yeah. No, thank you for that. So when you think about it, did Moses. Not Moses, Joshua's compassion mean that there were to be no consequences for Achan then for having done this? Joshua? SPEAKER 3 No, unfortunately not. When we choose to sin, there's always consequences that comes with that. SPEAKER 1 Yeah, no, that's true. And certainly with Achan, there were consequences, serious consequences coming up. SPEAKER 2 And especially because he hung onto the sin like he didn't come forward and confess. SPEAKER 1 He. Yes, it could have had a different ending. I'm quite convinced it could have had a different ending. So what about it, Kaysie? Does God see our lives as closely as he saw what was happening with Achan? Does God watch what goes on in our lives as closely, do you think? SPEAKER 2 Yeah, it's a good question. Because Achan could quite well have rationalized and deceived himself that God doesn't see and the people around me haven't seen. It's all okay. But in Ecclesiastes 12:14, it tells us that God sees everything. He brings everything into judgment. SPEAKER 1 That's true. SPEAKER 2 And so that's a good reminder for us because anything that comes to our mind that we have done and no one else may know about it, God knows. And we ought to repent and be the first to come forward and say we've done wrong, we need to make it right. SPEAKER 1 God is compassionate. We know that. And Jesus gave his life for us. We know that. And for our sins, they're covered by his blood. Let's just go to him and say sorry. Yeah, I think that's the thing to do. Thanks for that. Anyhow, Achan confessed he had no option. Now he was cornered. And in chapter 7 still of Joshua, in verse 20, it says, and Achan answered Joshua and said, indeed, I have sinned. So he knew what he was doing. I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done. When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver, considerable amount, and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels. He knew exactly what he had. I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with the silver under it. So what do these words tell us about what happened here, Joshua? SPEAKER 3 Yeah, we can see here that Achan knew what he was Doing was wrong. He saw it. He coveted that treasure and that gold and the silver, and he took it. So we can see that sin can deceive us like that, but God is willing to help us if we seek help from him. SPEAKER 1 Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it, how he knew, understood the steps he went through. He saw, he coveted, he took, he saw it all. I think it's so interesting. Well, you know, it was very upfront for him. He knew exactly what he was doing. Okay, look, I want to go back to Genesis chapter three, verse six for a moment. And the reason I'm doing that, folks, is I want us to see that the devil's strategy that he uses so very successfully against human beings is pretty much universal. He'll use the same thing on us. And this is what it says, Genesis 3, verse 6. This is his strategy with Eve, right, Regarding the fruit. He says, well, this is what it says about her thinking after the devil has tempted her. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, so she coveted it. And a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate and also gave to her husband with her. So do you see the similarities here with Achan's experience, Cassie? SPEAKER 2 Yeah, definitely. So first seeing and then desiring it, it pulled at the heart, you know, the desires of the heart, it tugged at and then they gave in and took, took the thing that was forbidden. And this is an important thing for us to remember. We are so easily tempted like this. And it's so easy to convince ourselves that God doesn't see. Or we might push aside the still small voice that's saying, but God said, don't do this, don't go there. And so we just must remember in these moments God's commands and the importance of obeying them. SPEAKER 1 Coveting is the invisible sin, isn't it, really? SPEAKER 2 It's the heart. SPEAKER 1 Yeah. Nobody else knows except you and God or me and God. So that's very good. True, Joshua. It seems like there always are consequences for sin, doesn't it? That's how it appears. SPEAKER 3 Definitely. And it was very swift for Achan. SPEAKER 1 Yes. SPEAKER 3 If we read verse Joshua, chapter 7, verse 25, it says, and Joshua said, why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned him with stone, and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. It was a very tragic end, very sudden end. And this shows that without a savior we must ultimately all reap the action, the consequences of our Own actions. SPEAKER 1 Yes, this is so true. We're on our own if we don't go to our Savior. We can do that. And that's a wonderful thing that we can do that. Very swift for poor Achan. But you know, Achan had a lot of blood on his hands. 36 men died at AI who need not have died. That's the point. And so he was responsible for that, let alone for the other theft and so on. Still in Joshua, folks, chapter eight, verse one, because there's still the problem of AI. We've got to deal with AI still. So verse one says this. Now the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid nor be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise. Go up to AI. See, I have given into your hand the king of AI, his people, his city and his land. So God's made it very clear what the story is here. So what is going to do, God going to do after all this trauma? How do you take those messages from God there? SPEAKER 2 Well, God says, all right, back to AI, get on with it. Like deal with it, let's go kind of thing. SPEAKER 1 That's right. He's saying right now, Joshua, which to. SPEAKER 2 Me there's a huge lesson in this. Because if we've been defeated by an enemy, how hard is it to go and face the enemy again? It's really hard. And this is what God is saying, you know, you've dealt with the problem now of the sin. Now I'm going to be with you again. Let's go face the enemy again. And we'll see with the story. God worked amazingly. He worked what the thing that they'd done wrong. He worked that for good. So it's an incredible lesson. SPEAKER 1 Okay. And I think that Israel would have been a bit shell shocked at this point. SPEAKER 2 Yeah. SPEAKER 1 And they needed to sort of have something to get them focused and away they go. And so God says, right, let's do it. So what's the strategy for taking AI this time, Joshua? SPEAKER 3 Yeah. If we read In Joshua chapter 8, verse 2, it says, and you shall do to AI and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it. So, yeah, God tells them to set an ambush behind a city. And then if we read verse five and verse seven, it says, then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city and will come to it when they come out against us at first, then that we shall flee before them. So they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city. For they will say they are fleeing before us at the the first, therefore we will flee before them. So the rest of Israel's army was going to pretend to flee while the ambush would come and attack the city from behind. SPEAKER 1 Okay, okay, so that's exactly what they did. It was pretty effective, apparently. And they took the city while the men of war were out there chasing the Israelites. So at the end of the, at the end of it all, what was AI's problem then? SPEAKER 2 Well, it's very interesting because they had become quite self confident, obviously, because they had seen the Israelites initially flee before them. And so they thought, hey, we can defeat these people no problem. And of course there's a spiritual aspect too. They saw it as a battle of the gods. And so they thought, hey, our God must be stronger, so we're going to get these people no trouble. And so I guess the initial victory that they had gained over Israel really, really made them a bit cocky. And then they fell very easily into the trap that was set for them and were then completely defeated. SPEAKER 1 Yes, that's really interesting. And I think it's worth keeping in mind for us all the time that all these things are happened to Israel would have been talked about around the campfires at night, right. Throughout the whole land of Canaan. SPEAKER 2 That's so true. SPEAKER 1 And it would have been very, very clear to everybody what actually had gone on. And I'm sure the story of Achan would have got out that Israel had been defeated because there was sin in the camp and they dealt with it. And that was very important. And I'm sure that those things would make quite a big impact on the people. And yes, as you said, it was the battle of the gods. And that's exactly how the people saw it everywhere they went. They saw it as a battle between the God of the Hebrews, who was the God of the Almighty, and the various local gods. So it was very important what actually did happen. So thank you for that. Now going into the next question, Joshua, what did Joshua do after this victory? There were huge lessons of trust in God that the Israelites had learned here. Like us, they were learning how to work with God. We do, and we learn things throughout our lives, don't we? And they were learning as they went. All right, so what did Joshua do? How did he reinforce what they had just learned? SPEAKER 3 Basically, yeah, we can see the answer to that in Joshua, chapter 8, verse, verse 31 and 32. It says, as Moses, the Servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel as it was written in the book of the law of Moses. An altar of whole stones over which no man has welded an iron tool. And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, and he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses which he had written. So here we can see Joshua is re establishing the covenant that God had made with them. And he's showing that in the future, this is what we must remember to keep. And we need to make sure that we trust in God at all times. SPEAKER 1 Okay, so it goes right back to this covenant commitment, doesn't it, that we've been talking about it? We began talking about it today, and God is reinforcing it through Joshua here to the people of Israel so that they know for sure the commitment that they are making. And I'm sure that after Achan's experience and then the defeat of AI, finally they learned a very important lesson of being faithful to the commitment that we make. And that's a tremendously good message for all of us, isn't it? To be faithful to God no matter what when it comes to the commitments that we make to him, don't treat them lightly. SPEAKER 2 Yeah. The covenant was for their protection. SPEAKER 1 It was, it was. And they knew that if they were faithful, God was always there. And it's the same with us. So, Kaysie, can you see a message in their experience for us to. SPEAKER 2 Oh, huge message. Because really, you know, God has given us his word. This applies to us today, full of all of the principles of his law and the way that we can have a meaningful relationship with Him. And it's so important for us to remember that God means what he says, that the words that he tells us of what to do, what not to do. We need to take note of the that because it's for our protection. It's for. It's the way that God can work with us and use us to fulfill his plan for our lives. SPEAKER 1 And so true. SPEAKER 2 Yeah. We need to be faithful to that. SPEAKER 1 That's right. And we're demonstrating to the world the way God wants us, all humanity to live. SPEAKER 2 That's true. Just like Israel, it's a witness. Yeah. SPEAKER 1 So we have that same role as Israel had in doing that, which is really exciting to know, brings honor to Him. And so our obedience of the truth God has revealed to us is very, very important indeed. Well, look, thank you folks for your sharing today. We need to finish there. The experience of Israel at AI has so much guidance and encouragement for us folks. The danger inherent in covetousness is so subtle and so easy to conceal from others, but it's a slippery slope. This story is an opportunity for each of of us to renew our covenant with God and determine to be faithful to Him. Well, we're glad you joined us on Let God Speak today. Remember, all our past programs plus teacher's notes are available on our website, 3abinaustralia.org au. You can send us an email if you would prefer, and we invite you to join us next week. God bless. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.