Book of Joshua - Ch. 8, Vs. 1-35 (01/25/2004)

Park Meadows Church

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We're in Joshua 8 The first battle for AI is passed the sin of Jericho is passed and We come now today to the second battle of AI Believe it or not

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The first battle for AI went as the Lord planned it Now can you understand that They did not lose and the

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Lord have to come behind and correct it The loss was in their planning

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So we are to learn from experience Let's look at these two attacks upon AI the first one

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For the second attack upon AI and let us compare the two first They were very self -confident

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Now they're cautious To Self -prompted now divinely guided

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Now we are to apply these lessons to the conflict of life If we have sufficient defeat inquire into the cause of it going wrong

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Don't sit down in activity or despair But wisely a plan for the attack and the

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Lord said unto Joshua fear not Neither be thou dismayed take all of the people of war with thee and rise go up to AI See I have given into your hand the king of AI and his people and his city and his land

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Well, it's so hard sometimes Dennis to To regain where we were over a loss

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When we experience failure, but it is by failure that we grow

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It is by failure that we learn the first key

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To regaining the victory is what Dennis the very first key

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That's it in this case

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He said to Joshua do not be afraid or dismayed now

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Israel had stumbled through the sin of chapter 7 and They had moved they had dealt with that And we learned that what is past is past There's nothing you can do about it

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You have to deal with it in the future Now he told it

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Joshua to take all the people All that might be partakers of the first spoil

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And thereby encouraged to proceed to their work Now he did not say take

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The weak multitude Because they might have hindered in the attack this is going to be quite an attack on AI and Thou shall do to AI and her king as thou didst unto

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Jericho and her king only the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof

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Shall you take for a prey unto yourselves lay thee an ambush for the city behind it

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Now it appears Greg that the Lord is Directly directing this battle

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Lay an ambush What is an ambush a joy? All right

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Now if there's anything that I want you to learn this morning, it's this one thing

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We see the battle of AI the first one And it ended in defeat

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We see the second battle and it ends in victory Now Could the second battle have taken place if the first battle had not

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David so we see

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That the first battle had to Take place just as it did

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It's so hard for me. It may not be for you To keep this in mind that God the

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Lord directs everything And it seems like he engineered

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The sinning and the loss in the first I Can't bridge the gap.

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Can you Dennis John? Can you

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I Cannot understand how

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God can Use that first battle and he still directed it

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But boy, he does that Well, this is all given from the human standpoint

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We're in chapter 8 of Joshua we find that by Covering what does not belong to man?

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And making haste to be rich Men often bring disaster

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When if they had just waited And faithfully done their duty

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They could have enjoyed the results Yes That's exactly so That's exactly what had happened

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They did not seek his guidance the first time Well verse 3

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So Joshua arose and all the people of war To go up against AI and Joshua chose out of 30 ,000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night

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Joshua dispatched 30 ,000 men And it was under the cover of night

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To station themselves at a place appointed for the ambush Now he's been given the the idea of an ambush by the

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Lord Now out of this number of 30 ,000 there was to be 5 ,000 sent forward to conceal themselves in the actual ambush

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For and he commanded them saying behold You shall lie in wait against the city even behind the city

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Go not very far from the city and be ready be ready

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There's two great classes of men in the world The unready and the ready

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The unready are those who always are taken by surprise for what will happen will happen and They are surprised

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The ready are those who have a certain alertness of mind Possess watchfulness and the spirit of forethought

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And the people of God should always be ready They should always be ready for every good word

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Of comfort reproof Exhortation for every good work

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For teaching toiling fighting for the truth We should always be ready for prayer

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And this readiness should be general be all ready now

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As to the battle why didn't the Lord Greg why didn't he perform a miracle as he had done with Jericho?

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All right is to teach them But that wasn't the main reason

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Dennis all right, they can operate only from a human level

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But from a human level David why why this approach yes

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All right Looking forward to their conquest. Are they going to have to fight any more battles?

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Wouldn't it be good if the people feared them and they will fear them by this conquest

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This is why he did not perform a miracle why he did not do it all by himself Now I know everything is a miracle of God and his hand in it

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But here we have on the human level the people actually going out to do it

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Five And I and all of the people that are with me Will approach unto the city and it shall come to pass

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When they come out against us as at the first That we will flee before them

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For they will come out after us Till we have drawn them from the city for they will say they flee before us as at the first time

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Therefore we will flee after them We will flee before them

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Then ye shall rise up from the ambush seize upon the city for the

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Lord your God shall deliver it into your hand and It shall be when you have taken the city that you shall set the city on fire

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According to the commandment of the Lord shall you do see I have commanded you

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So he lays out his battle plan the They're going to approach the city and draw the city out and we'll flee and They will chase them because they did it once before Probably he means no more than they should kindle a fire in the city

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Because they're not going to set it all on fire at this time Nine Joshua therefore sent them forth and they went to lie in ambush and Abode between Bethel and AI On the west side of AI but Joshua lodged that night among the people and Joshua rose up early in the morning

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Numbered the people and went up. He and the elders of Israel before the people to AI and all of the people even the people of war that were with him went up and Drew nigh and came before the city and pitched on the north side of AI Now there was a valley between them and AI We often see the battle against the sin and By the way

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Jericho stands for what? Let's review them a little bit

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What was Jericho the picture of? Maybe we need to go back to Jericho the world

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And who is it that has conquered the world? Jesus Christ This is why he could not allow them to To take any of the victory home with them one man tried it and we saw what happened to him

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God has overcome the world by himself Get that fixed in your mind we have a picture of it here

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Well, we often see the battle against the sin in negative terms Now David How should we look at sin positive or negative

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Well, we learn what not to do. Is that the right approach? well

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Dennis When we sin we always are when there is opportunity for us

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We always look at the negative not always but most of the time we know not to do that Don't touch this don't partake of that.

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Don't go out and do that. Don't don't don't don't Wouldn't it be good if you looked at what you can do?

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What Yes, but when you're deciding back before you

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I Know it's hard to to come in before you sin

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But we look in the negative terms, I think it's good if we would look at what we can do

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Against the powers of darkness and temptation And be busy about Doing what the

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Lord would have us to do Twelve And he took about 5 ,000 men and sent them

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Set them to lie and ambush between Bethel and AI on the west side of the city and When they had sent the people even all of the host

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That was on the north of the city and their liars in wait on the west of the city

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Joshua went up that night into the midst of the valley and it came to pass

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When the king of AI saw it that they hastened and rose up early and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle he and all of his people at a time appointed before the plane

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But he wished not that there were liars in the ambush against him behind the city

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So he's doing exactly what the Lord had planned for him to do

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What AI is doing what Joshua is doing he's drawing them out of the city.

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We know that he didn't And he took all of the people now

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We we must realize that The people at an appointed time

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These are very superstitious people if they're not worshiping God they are superstitious and Looking up on his lucky hour

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He won't go until it is this time now,

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I don't know how they kept time there were no clocks yet The first clock was in China and it was a stick of wood laying on a running stream and somehow they told the approximate hour by the

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Way the stick was But anyhow, they didn't have clocks now and Joshua and all

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Israel made as if they were beaten before them and fled by the way of the wilderness

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Can't you just see them running away? And all of the people that were in AI were called together

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To pursue after them and they pursued after Joshua and were drawn away from the city and There was not a man left in AI or Bethel That went not after Israel and they left the city open and pursued after Israel Now how in the world

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Dennis could the Lord have arranged it So that all of this was falling exactly in place

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Do you see how Joshua and the people are doing what they wanted to do

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But it is the Lord's will that they do it and He could not have done it had they not had that first battle of AI The men of AI tried the exact same strategy against Israel But God in directing is directing

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Joshua to use a completely different strategy And when we see the diversity of God's message we are

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Reminded it is because he is a personal God He doesn't do the same thing every time

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Now the Lord said unto Joshua stretch out the spear that is in thine hand toward AI for I will give it into thine hand and Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city and the ambush rose quickly out of their place and They ran as soon as they had stretched out his hand and they entered into the city and took it and hastened and set it on fire

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Now they kindled a fire that would give off smoke because that was a signal for AI for Joshua and These men that were running away to turn and come back upon the foe

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And When the men of AI looked behind them they saw and behold the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven and They had no power to flee this way or that way and the people that fled to the wilderness

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Turned back upon the pursuers and they were caught in the middle and they didn't know what to do

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They were confused They were disturbed they

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Knew the city was gone and all of their wives and family were there the old and the young and when

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Joshua and Israel Saw the ambush had taken the city and that's a smoke of the city ascended

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Then they turned again and slew the men of AI Now it's going to get very bloody

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And the other issued out of the city against them So they were in the midst of Israel's some on this side some on that side

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And they smoked them. So they let none of them remain or escape

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They killed them all and the king of AI they took alive and Brought him to Joshua Why was this

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Dennis? He used to be the reserve for a more severe punishment

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And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all of the inhabitants of AI in the field in the wilderness

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Where they chased them and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword until they were consumed

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That all the Israelites returned into AI and smote it with the edge of the sword

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That must have been a very bloody Why?

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Why? Why did God do this? Why did the Lord has him go back now?

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You've killed all of the men go back and wipe out the city. Why? John Didn't do that David give me some reason why

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God did it this way Well, it's a very very vivid picture a bloody picture a real picture 25 and so it was that all that fell that day

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Both of men and women were 12 ,000 even all the men of AI Now in punishing men for their sins

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The Lord uses such instruments as he sees best And it was no more wrong for him to destroy the men of AI by the hand of the

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Israelites Then it would have been to destroy them by pestilence famine or an earthquake

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Somehow we look on it differently 26

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For Joshua drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out the spear

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Until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of AI Can't you see him standing perhaps on a rise someplace?

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Standing with that spear Toward AI and he stood until the battle was finished

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Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves

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According unto the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua Now they did it the

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Lord's way this time In the case of Jericho, it was work of the

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Lord He will not have assistance in establishing his salvation

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If anything is assigned to God What do you do with it?

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You destroy it It can be used for nothing else

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We build big churches and we dedicate them to God Yet we use them over and over In Hebrews 1 and 3

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Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and Upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself

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Purged our sins Sat down on the right hand of the majesty on I He did it

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We do nothing These were consigned to destruction

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Therefore it was criminal to take anything pertaining to the city

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As we've already seen in the case before us In this case

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They're to take the cattle and the spoils Were expressly given to the conquerors by the order of the

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Lord 28 And Joshua burnt

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Ai and made it an heap forever even a desolation unto this day

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And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until even And as soon as the

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Sun was down Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree and cast it at the entering in of the gate of the city and Raise thereupon a great heap of stones that remaineth unto this day

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Well so far as they have moved into the country Their experience is utter destruction this is a

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History of of the Israeli nation Spiritual history many

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Christians Obedience followed by victory victory followed by blessing blessing followed by pride and Disobedience Disobedience followed by defeat

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Defeat followed by judgment Judgment followed by repentance Repentance followed by obedience

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Obedience obedience followed by victory and so on it's like a wheel that keeps turning 30 then

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Joshua built an altar unto the Lord on Mount Ebal We should and we had better Feel and acknowledge that all of our blessings come through the atonement of Christ No other way

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We must must not put off worshiping God such as I'll worship him when

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I am more comfortable when I don't have to work so hard when my ship comes in when it's a more convenient time

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Or when I get through with this and I'll worship God There's too many do that Don't you be one of them?

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You do it now first 31 as Moses the servant of the

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Lord commanded the children of Israel as it is written in the book of Moses an altar of stone over which no man hath lifted up any iron and They offered their own burnt offerings unto the

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Lord and sacrificed peace offerings Any altar made to the

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Lord was to be earth if stones had to be used then they had to be used properly not carved or broken or They just had to take the stone and put it on and that's in Exodus 20 and 24 and If it was constructed of stone, then they had to employ it

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That it might reveal the both the appearance and nature of the earth And he wrote

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Thereupon the stones a copy of the law of Moses which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel Meaning the

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Ten Commandments and all Israel and their elders and Officers and their judges stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests of the

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Levites which bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord as well as the stranger as He that was born among Them half of them over against Mount Gareth and half of them over against Mount Ebal as Moses the servant of the

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Lord had commanded before That they blessed the people of Israel He gathered all of Israel together

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The whole congregation it must have been a massive audience and Afterward he read all the words of the law

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The blessings and the cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law

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There was not a word of all that Moses commanded Which Joshua read not before all of the congregation of Israel With the women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversant among them

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So neither young or old Could ever say I haven't heard of the law

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Well, it may be asked seeing God promised to deliver AI into the hands of the

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Israelites Why did they Employ so many men in order to his capture

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Well, we've already answered that It's to establish

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Joshua in the country To cause the people to fear him God will have

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Man to put forth the wisdom and power with which he has given him in every purpose of life

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That he invest him with these powers or this is very the very end

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That it would be inconsistent with his gracious design So to help man at any time

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Is rendered the powers he had given him himself Or to the powers to be useless if he did not use them

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Have I finished the reading Though God has made man without himself

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He will not save him without himself Therefore man's own

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And concurrence of will and cooperation of power with God or essentially necessary to his preservation and salvation

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Now this cooperation is the grand condition on which God will help or save But it is not

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Endeavoring to merit salvation in the man That's impossible

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Useless Unless we could prove that all of the mental and Corporal powers, which we possess came from and are of ourselves

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That we held them independently of the power and benefit of the

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Creator, and we can't do that Whatever act these was to the infinite value to make it an

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Equivalent for the heaven we wish to purchase Putting forth the hand to receive alms is not the power by which you are saved

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Christ is the author and finisher of your salvation

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To them that obey him So AI is behind us

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It's a picture of us working Accomplishing and God using

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Not because of us He put it here to be used

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He has guided us for him to use and it all goes according to his plan

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The eighth chapter of Joshua is a picture of us working and God guiding at all

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Yet we have to make those decisions Anything from anybody

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Yes Absolutely now you may wonder how did he write it?

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We don't know I know he didn't take a chisel and chisel it but He plastered something and in that he wrote

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Yeah That's right

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That is right all of Israel means all of Israel Any Anything else