Ask God's Counsel First - [Joshua 9:14]

Well, this morning for Sunday School, I'm going to sidetrack a little bit and we're going to turn to the book of Joshua.

So if you have your Bibles and if you open them to the book of Joshua chapter 9,

I hope that through the study today we'll be able to glean for this new year that is ahead of us, it's always good to learn from our mistakes in the past so that our future steps, our more perfect before the

Lord. In 1 Corinthians 10, it says that the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures were written for our example.

As we look back on the history of the children of Israel and how God dealt with them and we look at the decisions that they made and what they did, we can learn from that.

And certainly we want to learn when it comes to making proper decisions, entering into relationships properly and just overall guidance.

That's kind of the theme this morning as we look at Joshua chapter 9. I'm going to read a majority of this chapter.

Please follow along with me as I read Joshua 9. It came to pass when all the kings which are on this side

Jordan in the hills and in the valleys and in all of the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the

Hittite, the Amorite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the

Hivite and the Jebusite heard thereof that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord.

And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard that Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, they did work willily or there's some craftiness going on here, some deception.

And they went and made as if they had been ambassadors and took old sacks upon their donkeys and wine bottles old and rent and bound up and old shoes clouded upon their feet and old garments upon them and all of the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.

And they went to Joshua and to the camp of Gilgal and said unto him and to the men of Israel, we become from a far country.

Now, therefore, make ye a league with us or make peace with us. And the men of Israel said unto the

Hivites or Hivites, I've said both, but I think in the pronunciation I see a long, so I might do both.

It doesn't matter. The Hivites, Hivites, perventure ye dwell among us. And how shall we make a league with you?

If you you live close to us here, how can we make peace with you? And they said unto Joshua, we are thy servants.

And Joshua said unto them, who are you? And from whence have you come? And they said unto him from a very far country, thy servants are come because of the name of the

Lord, thy God. For we have heard the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt and all that he did to the two kings of the

Emirates that were beyond Jordan to Sion, king of Heshmon and to Og, king of Bashan, which is at Ashtoreth.

Wherefore, our elders and all the inhabitants of our country speak to us saying, take you victuals of food with you to the journey and go to meet them and say unto them, we are your servants.

Therefore, now make a league with us. This our bread. We took hot for our provision out of the houses on the day we came forth to go unto you.

But now, behold, it is dry and it is moldy. And these bottles of wine which we filled were new and behold, they be rent.

And these are garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. And the men took of their victuals and asked not counsel at the mouth of the

Lord. Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them and let them live. And the princes of the congregation swear unto them.

And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them that they heard that they were their neighbors and that they dwelt among them.

And the children of Israel journeyed and came unto their cities on the third day. Now, their cities were Gibeon and Sapphire, Sapphira and Beiruth and Kirtjot -Jerom and the children of Israel smote them not because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the

Lord God of Israel and all the congregation murmured against the princes. But all the princes said unto the congregation, we have sworn unto them by the

Lord God of Israel. Now, therefore, we may not touch them. This we will do to them. We will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swear unto them.

And the princes said unto them, let them live, but let them be ewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation, as the princes had promised them.

Joshua called for them and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore, have you beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you when you dwelt among us.

Now, therefore, ye are cursed and there are none of you that will be free from being bondmen and ewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my

God. And they answered Joshua and said, Because it was certainly told by servants how that the

Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you.

Therefore, we were sore afraid of our lives because of you and have done this. And now, behold, we are in thine hand that as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us do.

And so did he unto them and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel that they slew them not.

And Joshua made them that day ewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the

Lord, even unto this day in the place which he should choose. Let's pray. Our father, as we look at this passage, we pray that you would open up our eyes that we might be able to see more perfectly how it is that we ought to think when it comes to making decisions, when it comes to putting one foot in front of the other, how we ought to order our steps.

We pray that we might have wisdom. We might have insight here from your word that that would help us so that we would not make mistakes so that we would do that, which would be right before you and that we might be a wise people choosing to go in the way that would be correct.

So we pray that the spirit of God would teach us and help us and Lord, that you would use this time to profit us so that when we do live and we do decide and we do enter into relationships and we do make promises that we would be a people of integrity, that we would be a people who would live in such a way that we would bring glory and honor to Christ.

Please teach us in his name. Amen. I would like to just cover some things from from my meditations this week when it comes to this account of what had taken place.

As you remember, the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt and God delivered them out of the hand of Pharaoh with a mighty arm and brought them through the wilderness wanderings.

And then it was time to enter into the land that God had promised them, the land of Canaan. As they're going into Canaan, of course, there's the victory at Jericho and then there is the temporary defeat at Ai and then there is the repentance and the getting things right with Achan who had stolen that which taken that which he shouldn't have taken.

And God gave them victory again at Ai. And then as they're going through the land, it is city after city.

And what happens in this chapter here is that there is a group of people who have heard of the greatness of what

God is doing and they are afraid for their lives, the Gibeonites, and they trick

Joshua and the leaders to think that they were close,

I mean, that they weren't close, that they were from far away. And in so doing,

Joshua and the leaders make a league with them, they they make peace with them. And.

And it was a trouble to them, it was not the right way for them, it was not the right decision for them.

And we're going to see why and hopefully we'll learn from it so that we don't fall into the same trap, so that we don't do the same thing, so that we're very, very careful when it comes to making decisions, to knowing what to do when it comes to go to going forward.

The first thing, the first point that I'd like to consider here is that it is always right to obey

God. The first first and foremost, it is always right to obey

God. Now, you you listen to this account and these men come and they say, we come from a far country and look at our clothes.

They're all worn out. Look at look at look at our food. It's all moldy. Look at the the wineskins that we have.

They're they're decrepit and we've had to patch them. And so make a league with us.

And Joshua and the men, they look at this. And really, when it when it comes in verse six, when

Joshua and when they went to Joshua and to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, we become from a far country now, therefore, make ye a league with us.

The first question and somebody asked me this question Friday at the home group, basically saying, what do you do in this situation?

And my my counsel was in any situation, really, the first thing that we must do is rely upon our own understanding, right?

Absolutely not. We just look to our self -confidence. We can handle this one.

You know what happens when we do that? Usually we fall. It fails. It's a flop.

It's a mess until we go and do what? What does

God think about this situation? What is the mind of God here? What is it that the word of God would lead us to do?

What is it? And that's what I believe. What is it that we ought to be doing to obey

God in this situation? And really, sadly, that did not enter into their minds at this point.

I'll kind of cover a little bit why. But wouldn't the red flags have gone up? What what are the children of Israel supposed to be doing with this land?

Somebody tell me, what are they doing as they're going in? They're they're conquering this land.

And what they're supposed to do, as Kyle said, wiping everybody out. There is supposed to be total annihilation of the inhabitants.

There's an elimination of the inhabitants. And of course, we would have the the naysayers cry out today saying, you know, well, that's that's unloving and that's unkind.

But let us, you know, no matter what it sounds like or no matter how it feels or whether it feels good or it doesn't feel good, it's always right to obey

God. And let us look here. Hold your place here and just turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter seven.

Deuteronomy, the second the book, that is the name having to do with the second law or the second giving of the law or the reiteration of the law.

You'll remember that when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt and then they come and they're entering into the promised land again and go and they send the spies in.

And you remember that there were ten that were unfaithful and Joshua and Caleb were faithful and they believe that they could do it.

And the ten said no. The the the congregation, the people were were were going to say, no, we're not going to go in.

They were faithless to believe God. And God judged them with the wanderings in the wilderness. And in that wilderness wandering, you'll remember the generation died off.

And only Joshua and Caleb were the ones that were alive and everybody that was 20 under 20.

They were the new generation that was going to go into the land. They needed to hear the law again. And that's the book of Deuteronomy.

Second law gets second reiteration of the law. So they're going to get the they're going to get the word of what

God commanded Moses for them to do as they enter into the land. Chapter seven,

Deuteronomy seven. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land, whither thou goest to possess it and has cast out many nations before thee.

Who are the first ones here? Look, it says the the the Hittites. OK, and then it says the.

Gergesites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites or the

Hivites, who are they? Did we just read about them in Joshua chapter nine? That's the where the

Gibeonites lived. That's the area of Gibeon where the Hivites live. Said these people here, when these people, when you go in and God has cast them out in the

Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than they are, when the Lord thy God, verse two, shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them.

Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Wow. That's a that is the

God of the Old Testament, as people would say. He is just fire and brimstone. There's no mercy. It's all judgment.

It's hail. And it's just, you know, wipe them out. Why would God say this? Why was it that God would not would say to them when you go in, eliminate the enemy?

Let's read on. It's always good to do that, right? Verse three, neither shalt thou make marriages with them.

Thy daughter shalt not. Thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away your son from following me.

If you intermarry, the there is going to be this influence and it's always, always, always the influence, especially when when you try to mix in this in this way.

It's it says here that they will turn your sons or your children from following me, that they may serve other gods.

So will be the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and destroy these suddenly. But this shall you deal with them.

You shall destroy. Verse five, their altars and break down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire.

For you are a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God has chosen you to be a special people unto himself above all the people that are on the face of the earth.

There's supposed to be this separation. There's supposed to be this distinction. There is a holy people and an unholy people.

And God is going to use the nation Israel to judge this wicked land. He's going to use them, use them to be to pour out his judgment upon the sinful nation because their sin deserves to be punished.

There are not unholy people that will not seek after God. They hate God. They have these false images.

They're false. They're idolaters. They're heathen. They're pagan. And God is going to judge them. And not only that, they, if they are not eliminated, would lead

Israel into idolatry and to immorality. You will notice in chapter seven, just so that I can.

There's another wording here about what it is that they were supposed to do. Look at verse 15. And the Lord will take away from all you your sicknesses as they come into the land.

We'll put none of these diseases of Egypt upon you, which, you know, and will lay them all upon those that hate you.

Notice verse 16. And thou shall consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee.

Thine eye shall have no pity upon them. Neither shalt thou serve their gods, for that will be a snare unto you.

I think there's maybe one more verse in this chapter. Yes. Look at verse 24. And he shall deliver their kings into your hand and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven.

There shall be no man be able to stand before thee until you have destroyed them all.

That was the command. That was the marching orders from God. Back in Joshua chapter nine.

When these people came to Joshua and said, we're from a far country.

Now, therefore, a make a league with us, at least make peace with us. At least the first thing that should have come to their mind and should come to our mind when it comes to any situation that presents itself.

We just need to take care. We need to make sure that the first thing that we are going to do is obey

God. We're going to walk in the way of God and we're going to know what God has told us already. It's not going to change.

God doesn't change his mind as far as what he's commanded us to do. And we're going to be careful, first of all, that we obey the

Lord. Secondly. The point that I'd like to make here is don't believe everything you see in here when it comes to making decisions.

When it comes to entering into relationships, don't believe everything that you see in here.

It is OK to deliberate. It is OK to wait. It is

OK to examine the situation. It's all right at first to say, I'm either going to wait or just to say, no,

I'm not going to make a decision right now. We're going to see that what happened here is they made a hasty decision.

They didn't do that, which is right first in order to make a good decision here. But I think it's important for us to consider when we're presented with situations, when people say things, when people when we hear things.

Paul warned the church at Ephesus, the elders, and he said, as soon as I leave, you be careful because there are going to be some wolves that are going to come in among the flock.

So there will be there could be wolves in sheep's clothing. There are tears who are sewn among the wheat.

And we need to watch and we need to pray and we need to be careful and not be hasty and look around and examine what it is that's being told us or it's being presented to us.

You'll notice that when when these Gibeonites came, what they did was they showed them these things.

And you know, it's interesting when Joshua asked them, he says in verse nine, they said that said to Joshua, we are thy servants.

And Joshua said to them, who are you? And whence have you come from or where have you come from? He never gets an answer.

They don't tell him. They cover it up earlier on when he asked that we're from a far country. Verse six.

And notice what they do in verse nine. And they said to him from a very far country, thy servants are come because of the name of the

Lord, your God. But they never get an answer. He never presses for that. And I believe it's important for us to press for the answers.

Don't take it at face value, especially when we're going to pour out our lives and try to help somebody.

It's OK to help and it's OK. It's OK to to or when we're going to enter into a relationship, certainly when it comes to a marriage or a business relationship or a friendship or we promise that we're going to do something for somebody, it's

OK. Even if the person is a Christian to ask questions, to get the full story so that so that the wool isn't pulled over our eyes, so that we aren't abused or taken advantage of or are used in any situation so that people won't drain the life out of us.

What we what we need to do is just to be careful to make sure that we at first don't just rely.

As these people did, they used their senses, their physical senses, but they didn't use reason.

They weren't really thinking in our family. We have this saying when we do something that isn't quite right.

What were you thinking? Where were you at when you made when you made that decision?

And and they did not do that because they really did just accept what they saw and they accepted what they heard.

But not everyone keeps their word, do they? And not everyone has our best interest at heart.

The world is full of people who are going to try to get and to try to do and to swindle and to and to abuse.

And we just need to be careful. Now, we hope that within the church, we of course, we would act with with fidelity and integrity and faithfulness to each other.

And we'd be honest to each other. But, you know, when we're dealing with those that are outside of the church, everybody doesn't think like we do when we think biblically and with a

Christ like mind to try to do things that are absolutely above board and be careful.

That's why I believe the Bible speaks much about separation. You know, in Second Corinthians seven, where it says where I think it's at the end of six, where it says that we're to come out from among them and be separate, says the

Lord. You know, what Concord does Christ have with Belial? You know, is that has to do not only when it comes to marriage and when it comes to friendships, but when it comes to business relationships, we ought to be very careful.

And we enter into some type of a covenant or promise with somebody. Be careful that you just don't take it at face value.

It's OK to investigate, ask questions. And Joshua here, I believe when he asked that question, he should have been a he should have gotten from them first exactly where they came from.

But he didn't. Third point that I'd like to make this morning. Wait a minute.

I think I might have a couple of notes here in my margin about the second point. Some people may befriend you for selfish gain.

They might try to do that. It's it's OK, like I said, to investigate, to wait, to deliberate. Don't don't always give an answer up front.

It's OK just to hold off and say, I'll come back to you in 24 hours or 48 hours. Even even when it comes to entering or signing a contract.

Deliberate a little bit. Somebody is somebody I've begun to do this more at work. I think I may have shared it with you just to think about how you're how you're coming across in relationships with other people.

And when I when I am going to fire off an email at work, when it comes to some important agreement that I'm coming to or if I'm promising something, we have this little thing where you can save it as a draft, save as draft.

It goes off to the side and I walk away and I go do a little bit of work and I think about it. Then I go back and read that and say, do

I really want to commit to this? Do I really want to send this? You know, when you fire off that email and you wish you never did.

And you wish you could just reach out over the the data communication line and pull it back. Well, just be careful whenever you say that you're going to do something.

First, do your homework. And, you know, and when it comes to helping other people, like I said, there are times when they may not be up on the up and up with you.

I remember in pastoring the church over in West Brookfield, one of the most difficult things to do when it came to helping other people was the continual knock on the door or the call on the phone.

Could you please help us? We're in we're in big need. We need this bill paid. We don't have any food.

And for the most part, we didn't turn people away when when it came to the to getting help.

But there are times, you know, that after a second or third time, you know that somebody is not quite being honest with you.

I can remember. Or how about doing this? I really recommend and this is kind of a side note that when it comes to helping people, please, please try to remember, first of all, to give them something tangible, give them something physical.

Just don't give money people that are asking for a handout, because, you know, there are folks that are that are so controlled by sin and by, you know, drunkenness or drugs or whatever, wherever it is that they're looking to get the money for.

But if you see somebody who is needing food, they say to you, I need food. Could you please give me some money?

You know, what one of the practices that I do is I say, if you would just wait here, I will be back in five minutes and I'll go get you something to eat and I'll drive over to McDonald's or whatever, get whatever it is that they need, something quick and come right back.

I've had people actually say, no, I don't I don't want that. And so, you know, that their motive is not for the need that they were saying that they had.

They've got some other agenda, but that's a whole different subject. Wise, right? Being wise is is what

I'm kind of saying in that point. OK, third point, don't do the first thing that comes to your mind.

When it comes to making decisions, when it comes to putting one foot in front of the other, don't do the first thing that comes to your mind here that they came.

These gibbonites came and they and they with this deceit, with this with this guile, and they've covered up their true motives.

And what happens is, is before he investigates, before Joshua and the leaders here investigate and really check this out, they hear this testimony.

And I'm sure because in verse nine, when the gibbonite said, we've come from a far country and we are your servants because of the name of the

Lord, your God. For we have heard the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt and all that he did to the kings and so was on so and so.

And just kind of ingratiating them. And it's like, you know, they bought it. The first thing they do is, is they they jump right into this thing and and they make a league with them.

And what this is, is this is hastiness. This is rashness.

And we ought not to ever enter into any type of major decision or major covenant or promise that we make or a relationship or a business endeavor or a marriage relationship or whatever it might be.

In a rash way, I'm not going to turn there, but Proverbs 19 to says that rashness or hastiness results in sin.

It just is a place. I mean, if we if we're hasty, it can result in sin.

In Proverbs 21, five, it leaves you in want. It can leave you at a loss if you are hasty.

In Proverbs 29, verse 20, it makes us look worse than a fool. Because we are to be a wise people, aren't we?

We're to exercise wisdom and judgment and discernment when it comes to our lives. And and they did not do that here.

And I want you to I want you to consider this. It wasn't because they entered into this league that that was the sin.

Because there were provisions for the children of Israel to enter into league with some of these nations.

It just wasn't the ones that were close inside of Canaan. The ones that were in Canaan, all the cities within the land that God had promised to them, those were to be annihilated.

Those were to be by the hand of God, as God through God's command, judged by because of their sin and removed from their presence so that they would not be tainted, influenced, and in their hearts to be taken away from God.

And they would themselves be caught up in idolatry. They were to be eliminated. But if you if you would like to hold your place here and turn back to the book of Deuteronomy again, where the law was reiterated to them.

Chapter 20, Deuteronomy 20. We read these words starting in verse 11,

I believe it is. I'll start in verse 10,

Deuteronomy 20, verse 10. When you come nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.

Offer peace to a city. These are some of the cities that were outside on the on the outskirts, the cities that were farther away.

Verse 11. And it shall be, if it make thee an answer of peace and open unto open unto thee, then it shall be that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it. And when the

Lord thy God has delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword. But the women and the little ones and the cattle, they would take the spoil.

In verse 14, verse 15. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee.

See the difference there? There are cities that were far off that they could make a league with them. They could offer them peace.

And if they would say, yes, we'll be at peace with you. We'll become your servants. Then that was fine.

If they didn't, then they would kill the males and take all the spoil, the women and the children and all their animals and everything that they had.

In verse 16, but of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breathes.

That's if they don't enter into it, there's destruction.

But thou shalt utterly destroy them. And now he's going back and he's talking. These are the cities that were close by inside.

Verse 17, but thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, as Lord God commanded thee, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods.

So should you sin against the Lord your God. Close cities inside of Canaan.

Wipe them out. Far away cities. See if you can make peace with them. Fine. Go on with the peace. And if not, so we go back to Joshua chapter nine.

And we see that these from Gibeon, these the Hivites that came from there and did this.

It wasn't wrong for them. It wouldn't have been wrong to settle for peace. And if they had investigated and found out who they really were, they could have offered this peace to the nations that were far away.

But their error was in being rash, not checking out the Gibeonite story, using their senses and not their reason.

And when it came to obeying the word of the Lord and making this rash vow, that was their issue.

That was the problem here. That's what they should not have done. Now, so I said in this point here, don't do the first thing that comes to your mind, even if it seems right.

How often do we do that? I mean, we just we just run into a decision and we're not even we're not even engaging discernment or thinking about what this situation is all about, what we're being told, because maybe it's just immediate.

It's an immediate solution to an issue that's presented us. We might be weak and tired and not really thinking and just let something go by and we might just compromise and just say, you know, it's this is the easy way.

I just can't deal with this right now. But when it comes to living the Christian life, we need to be sober, as Peter said, 1

Peter 5. We need to be vigilant. We need to be looking about because the attacks are going to come and the situations are going to present themselves to us.

And we need to be a people who are always, as our Lord said, and I'm just applying this verse, watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation.

And you look at that. You look at the coupling of those two words throughout the New Testament. Watch and pray, watch and pray.

Be careful. Think and look around. Remember last Sunday night when I was preaching and I used one of the ideas in the book of Ephesians that we're to walk circumspectly, we're to walk carefully, looking about us, always making sure that we will do the right thing.

And in this case here, just don't accept the first thing that came, the first thing that seems to make sense to him.

You notice that in verse 14, Joshua, it says, Joshua and the men took of their victuals.

It's almost as if they sampled the bread and said, yeah, this is yuck. And they looked at their and handled the wineskins.

They looked at their provisions and they said, and they looked at the holes in their shoes and the tattered clothing.

And they just though only use the physical senses, but they weren't spiritually minded.

They weren't engaged with what does God think about this and what really should we do? And we're gonna get to a very, very important point as I move on, but you'll see that they did the first thing.

It just seemed right to them and that's not what we ought to do. Fourthly, a short point here is don't ever compromise your convictions.

Don't ever compromise your convictions. When you believe that God has shown you something from the word of God, and of course that's how it is that we are helped and it is the lamp under our feet and the light under our path.

When God shows us a way that we should walk in and we believe that it's biblical, it's sound, it's healthy, it is a way to go.

And God impresses that truth upon us by the conviction of the Holy Spirit that it's true. And then the affirmation of the

Holy Spirit that that is exactly what we should do. And we bring it into our lives and we walk that way.

Don't vacillate, don't waver, but be strong and stand strong. That's why I believe in the beginning of the chapter, you will see that, you know that Joshua is the one who is taking over after Moses' death.

And Moses always, when he was talking to Joshua, he would tell him to be strong and be of good courage.

And of course, the Lord was telling Moses to be strong and of good courage and do the right thing. And then Joshua tells the people, be strong and of good courage.

Meditate in the word of God day and night. Don't waver, don't falter. Because when it comes to living the life, and of course for them, going into the promised land, it wasn't all going to be peaches and cream.

It was fighting. It was warfare. It was being vigilant. It was being sober.

It was watching out. It was actually doing, engaging yourself in battle. Sound like the

Christian life? Certainly it does. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, Ephesians 6, but against principalities and powers, rulers of wickedness in high places.

It's a daily constant struggle. And we need to be on our toes and making sure that we don't do the first thing that comes to our mind and we don't compromise.

Fifthly, don't put your own counsel before the Lord's counsel. Don't put your own counsel before the

Lord's counsel. Proverbs 28, 26. I'd like to read that verse to you. I got to look it up quick here. Proverbs 28 and 26.

He that trusts in his own heart is a... If you're not even look there, what do you think?

He that trusts in his own heart is a fool. It's foolish. And we are fools if we trust in our own thinking, our own heart, our own judgment.

What is this? This is self -confidence. I mean, how many times I've told you, I know you probably get tired of this.

Maybe there's one person new who hasn't heard this before. I've used it a couple of times, but there have been many, many times when

I have bought something at the store and it requires assembly and I open up the box and I can't be bothered with those instructions.

This is a piece of cake. I can do this one. It's straightforward. You know, it's a little bookshelf or something like that.

I have put the bookshelf together and, you know, there's one finished edge on one of the shelves, you know, 16 steps back that I didn't catch and I got to take it all apart, you know, and do it all over again.

Foolish. Because I was trusting, I was confident in myself. What ought we to do? You know, these verses,

Proverbs chapter 3, tremendous verses, Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

Don't support yourself with self -wisdom. That's what it means there. Don't rely upon your self -wisdom, but it's got to be

God's wisdom. It's got to be wisdom from above that we live by and rule our lives by because if we trust in ourselves, we're certainly to fail and we're going to look foolish and we're going to make mistakes and we're not going to make decisions that we wish we did not make and we're going to enter into relationships that we ought not to have entered into and we're going to feel the hurt and the loss or the pain from that.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge

Him and He shall direct thy paths. Point six of my points back in Joshua chapter 9 is don't forget to pray.

If we do not pray, we might pay. I didn't make that up,

I don't think. But true, isn't it true? If we don't pray, we might end up paying for it and Israel did.

And we will. Notice verse 14. Verse 14 in Joshua 9 is the verse that jumps off the pages of this book to me, of this chapter.

It says the men took of their victuals or their provisions, they examined them. They said, yeah,

I mean, just the senses. I mean, look, it's got to be right. Even though we didn't get an answer.

Even though God says that we should destroy those that are in the land that are close by. And notice what it says.

And they asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. That is key.

If you go away with anything this morning, go away with that. When it comes to any decision, when it comes to how do

I do this? What way should I walk in? How do

I put one step in front of another when it comes to living out my Christian life? Whether that is in the church, whether that is in home, at school, at work, in my marriage, whatever it might be, my relationships with my friends.

When I'm thinking about signing on the dotted line for anything, when I'm making a commitment, when I make a promise to somebody, first things first, ask counsel at the mouth of the

Lord. Listen to Psalm 16 and verse 7. Who is it that gives counsel?

Psalm 16, 7, I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel.

Who? My reins also instruct me in the night season, but it is God who gives us counsel.

Listen to Psalm 73 and verse 24. Psalm 73, 24.

God, thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. How is it that we're guided?

How is it that we ought to know where to go? God guides us with his counsel, it says here, and afterwards he will receive us to glory.

How does God counsel us? Through the word of God. It is the wisdom from above.

And there is no wisdom, the proverb says, nor understanding, nor counsel against the

Lord. There's none better than the Lord. And if God has said it is A, or God has said it is blue, and someone else says it's red, it's blue all the time.

If God says it's right, and someone else says, no, that's not right. I think this, my opinion is this,

God is right. Let God be true. Every man a liar. God is always right. His word is right. And that's how he counsels us.

Not by the physical things around us. I mean, we can take those things in, but be very careful because we can be tricked.

We can be deceived. And what they ought to have done is that Israel was tricked and their sinful failure happened because they were not vigilant in prayer to be sure that they acted and made their decisions based upon counsel from God.

That's what they did not do. And brothers and sisters in Christ, we will do the same exact thing if we don't seek counsel from the

Lord first when it comes to a decision. When you're posed with a question and the thing comes to your mind, what do

I do? Certainly we don't do the first thing that comes to our mind. Certainly we don't look at the physical things around us.

Our first thoughts ought to be, God, please help me. God, please show me. Pray and ask,

Lord, I want to do the right thing. Bring a verse to my memory or show me through your word how it is that and seek out other godly counsel from other people.

It's OK to do that also, but get some good biblical counsel and particularly seek the

Lord. But don't forget to pray. In First Chronicles, chapter 16, verse 11,

I believe it says that we are to seek God's face continually. That's the Old Testament principle showing itself in the

New Testament where Paul says that we ought to pray what? Without ceasing, always be in an attitude of prayer when it comes to anything, always praying, always seeking the

Lord and looking to God before we look at the situation around us.

The circumstances, they may paint themselves in a certain way in the words, and it just sounds so good.

And it's too good to be true. And you've heard people say that if it's too good to be true, probably it is too good to be true.

We need to be careful. And we do. We do need to be a people who are sober and vigilant looking around here.

What about this next point? I got to kind of go on, but that's the key to me. Verse 14. Don't forget that. When it comes to entering into any relationships or promises that we make, but notice what happens.

They they did enter into the promise. They enter this covenant. And my next point is, if you make a promise, keep it.

If you make a promise, keep it, even if it hurts, even if it is to your disadvantage.

We are the people of God. Are we not? We are Christians. And our word ought to be honorable.

We ought to be a people of honor, of integrity, of faithfulness and fidelity.

And if we say we're going to do something, we ought to do it. We ought to uphold it. And Psalm 15.

And in verse four, we read these words about the people who have characteristics. These are the people who will walk with God.

These are the people who are in fellowship with God. Psalm 15, verse one. Lord, who will abide in your tabernacle?

Who will dwell in your holy hill? And there's a whole list of them. And one of them in verse four, at the end of verse four, it says he that swears to his own hurt and changes not.

What that means is a person who makes a vow or a person who makes a promise and they keep that promise even if they swear to their own hurt.

Even if it is a disadvantage to you and you don't change your mind about it, you keep it.

Haven't you had that happen to you? I know that there's been many times where I said, I'll go over someone's house and help them out, do something on a

Tuesday night. On Monday, an email goes out at work. Free tickets to whatever, the

Boston Celtics game or the Patriots game, Tuesday night. Four of them. I know that I could get them that quick.

I made a promise and I'm going to keep that promise. You tell your child,

I'm going to do such and such with you. And another situation presents itself, which is a whole lot more appealing.

But you keep the promise, don't you? When you enter into a business contract and it's for such and such a price and you say that you're going to do it, you're going to pay those, you're going to make those payments.

Even if it hurts you because you committed to do that. That's what being a Christian is. You know, sometimes we think, oh, we got to hear that.

We got to go to the seminar and I'm not against them or the next thing. We got to get the next book that comes off the presses.

But it's so basic, isn't it? We keep our promise and the children of Israel made this promise and they are going to keep it.

Not only do they make it, notice what it says in verse 18. The children of Israel did not smite them because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the

Lord God of Israel. They had done this before God. They vowed before God that they would make a league and keep peace with them.

And they kept it. Next point, learn to do better the next time.

We always do that. I mean, we got to learn from our mistakes. We grow. That's part of life.

That's part of growing, isn't it? We make mistakes and I'm certain, you know, what's amazing to me is is this asking counsel of the

Lord. Just quickly look in Joshua chapter 5. Moses did this. Moses went and asked the

Lord, what am I going to do? Lord, what do you want me to do? Who was watching that,

Joshua? Joshua was his study. Joshua was his helper. In Joshua chapter 5, notice these words.

This is when Joshua goes out and he meets Jesus Christ, the Theophany Christ, the pre -incarnate

Christ is a visitation of Jesus, the captain of the Lord of hosts. And I can't read the whole part, but you can go back and look in there.

But look in verse 14. And he said, and this is Jesus answering him. Nay, but as the captain of the host of the

Lord, am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped. And he said unto him, what does my

Lord say to his servant? He asks God, what do you want me to do? Wouldn't that have been the thing that Joshua is not.

This is not something he hasn't done before. He's in fellowship with God. God, God is leading and using

Joshua to lead the nation now. And in chapter 5, Lord, what would you have your servant do?

And Joshua should have done that in chapter 9, but he didn't because everything was just expedient. It was just a quick thing.

I mean, this is not a biggie. They said they're from far away. Look, I mean, the evidence seems to be there. But it wasn't.

And we need to learn to do better the next time. Verse number 10 being be ready to live with the consequences of poor decisions.

Be ready to live with the consequences of poor decisions. In this case here, the decision was made.

They made a league. They were going to fulfill that before the Lord. They're going to keep it. It says in verse 18 that the people, the congregation murmured against the princes, against Joshua and the princes.

I mean, they, they got the people on their badges. This is the murmuring congregation, right? I mean, they learned from their fathers and mothers way back when just to keep murmuring when things don't go right.

And they had to live with that. And they had to live with this burden of the Hivites, these Gibeonites for the rest of their lives.

Now, granted, they would become their slaves and they would chop wood and provide water for the people and for the house of the

Lord, the worship of God. And that kind of probably assuaged the complaints of the people because they didn't have to do that.

They had these people to do that, made a little bit able to take that. But still, they had this complaining that they had to deal with.

And they had the Gibeonites that they had to have as a burden upon them all the time now for the rest of their days.

And when it comes to making bad decisions, if consequences come out of it, be humble and graciously take them and learn from them.

And of course, we would repent and we would ask God to forgive us so that we would do right the next time. Lastly, the last point, and it's kind of just a summary of what

I said is the most important thing. I believe that it's so important for us to seek God first in every decision.

Seek the Lord first in every decision. Any question? Any comment? Just some practical teaching for 2007.

When it comes to making decisions, signing on the dotted line, making promises, entering into relationships,

I trust that it was beneficial. Any question or comment? Okay. Welcome to New England.

Yes, it is cold here. Yes, it's supposed to be cold out there and not in here. But we used to meet in West Brookville.

We used to meet in a barn before it was renovated and insulated and all that. It was quite chilly. And I used to say, just imagine if we were worshiping in a barn or worshiping under trees at this time.

I mean, what did they do? The Christians were living in Massachusetts without buildings and warmth and coats and stuff like that.

And we're blessed, aren't we? We got a little bit of a cushioning here for us. Okay, let's pray.

Father, thank you so much for what your word gives to us.

It is a great help. And we pray that we might be a people who become wiser and wiser because of you and because of the counsel that you give us.

We are so thankful that counsel comes from the Lord. And Lord, forgive us when we have failed in this way, in this matter, and help us to seek you first in everything.

Not only when it comes to living, to seek first the kingdom of God, but when it comes to thinking, when it comes to making decisions, when it comes to entering into promises and making promises to others.

And would you please guide us this week so that we would do right in your sight for the glory of Christ?