Overcoming Discouragement / Getting Back on Track (Joshua Chapter 8)

Joshua’s Commission and Israel’s Early Victories

All right, so turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 8. Here we see an example of God's people getting back on track. Just to summarize what we've looked at so far God commissioned Joshua telling him to be strong and of good courage.

Go in take the land that I'm giving you. So using the Ark of the Covenant the Lord stopped the flow of the Jordan River. The children of Israel were able to cross in or cross over on dry ground so they enter the land they're walking by faith.

Everything's going well and back in chapter 5 Joshua encountered the commander of the Lord's army which we believe was Christ himself the angel of the Lord of Christophany. However, you describe it and he gave Joshua the instructions and how to Defeat The stronghold of Jericho and we all most of us know that Story.

We looked at that last time so they obey and they they win the battle but now I Think they're becoming overconfident. That's the last thing we saw. Because Joshua went the next battle when they attack AI you remember it doesn't go so well.

Joshua and the children of Israel attack AI and they lose that battle which should have been much easier. But they lose why? Because of Achan's sin. So Joshua was not even aware of that presumably. Here's here's the key.

Because Joshua did not inquire of the Lord. The Lord told him what to do with Jericho, but when they attacked AI, I think they were just feeling so good. Hey, this is no problem and they went in they didn't inquire of the Lord.

And of course, they had to retreat so now Discouragement has sunk in so chapter 8 is a story about a discouraged people. Getting back on track. So the issue of Achan and his sin has been dealt with. It's time to move forward and Really?

It's not a matter of are you going to make mistakes or are the children of Israel going to make mistakes? It's all a matter of what you learn from your mistakes. So with this idea of getting discouraged and getting back on track, I think there's some valuable Lessons we can learn from this.

So let's listen along to Joshua chapter 8 we're gonna start by Listening to verses 1 through 28 and then I'll go through the final verses. So Joshua 8 1 through 28.

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 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 Joshua arose and all the people of war to go up against AI and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night and he commanded them.

Behold You shall lie in ambush against the city behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city and it will come about.

When they come out against us as at the first. That we shall flee before them. For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city for they will say They are fleeing before us as at the first Therefore we will flee before them.

Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city. For the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand and it will be when you have taken the city. That you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the Lord you shall do.

See I have commanded you.

Joshua therefore sent them out and they went to lie in ambush and stayed between Bethel and AI on the west side of AI. But Joshua lodged that night among the people. Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people and went up he and the elders of Israel.

Before the people to AI and all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and They came before the city and camped on the north side of AI. Now a valley lay between them and AI so he took about 5 ,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and AI on the west side of the city.

And when they had set the people all the army that was on the north of the city and its rear guard on the west of the city Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. Now it happened when the king of AI saw it That the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle He and all his people at an appointed place before the plain.

But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city and Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them and fled by way of the wilderness so all the people who are in AI were called together to pursue them and They pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.

There was not a man left in AI or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel. Then the Lord said to Joshua.

Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward AI for I will give it into your hand.

Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place. They ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand and they entered the city and took it and hurried to set the city on fire and When the men of AI looked behind them, they saw and behold the smoke of the city ascended to heaven.

So they had no power to flee this way or that way and the people who had fled to the wilderness Turned back on the pursuers. Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended They turned back and struck down the men of AI.

Then the others came out of the city against them. So they were caught in the midst of Israel some on this side and some on that side and they struck them down So that they let none of them remain or escape.

But the king of AI they took alive and brought him to Joshua and it came to pass. When Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of AI in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them.

And when they all had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed. That all the Israelites returned to AI and struck it with the edge of the sword. So it was that all who fell that day both men and women were 12 ,000 all the people of AI.

For Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of AI. Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves According to the word of the Lord which he had commanded Joshua.

So Joshua burned AI and made it a heap forever a.

Desolation to this day. Joshua chapter 8. Joshua chapter 8 verse 1. 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 now Joshua has a word from the Lord to go into battle. Last time they attack AI they did not have this word from the Lord. So God tells him that hey, I'm gonna give you the victory. So this is now Israel getting back on track.

I'm sure it wasn't easy. You remember last week. I said their hearts had melted within them. So they were defeated they had to retreat. And then the Israelites because of that became discouraged. All of their confidence was.

Lost and.

You remember Joshua started talking in a kind of a discouraging way. Repeating the line of the previous generation. Oh Lord. Why did you what did you do? Just take us out here. Just so we could die and of course that kind of thing could easily Spread if the leaders talking that way that thing will spread throughout the camp.

So Now I think it's safe to say We've all been discouraged at times. So that's what we're kind of talking about tonight getting back on track. Overcoming discouragement has is there someone here who has never been discouraged?

Serving the Lord and you're Christian what you've never been discouraged. Yeah we if somebody Said that would probably assume that you don't have a very good memory or you're you're lying one of the two.

But this has to be one of the most powerful tools of the enemy. Satan knows if he can get Christians discouraged if he can so Demoralize People then the devil will win every time because we're gonna be so discouraged.

We're not even gonna Fight the battles so the devil will win. So what do we need to do? We need to do all the basic things and stay in church and read the Bible and pray and serve and do all that. But we need to keep our eyes on God walk by faith and not by sight.

If you're always looking around at all the things that are going on. You will get discouraged if you keep your eyes on the Lord and his promises. You'll be in Courage so that's what we need to do and we need to realize our strength doesn't come from ourselves our strength comes from who?

From God. Okay, let's turn to 1st Samuel chapter 30. And we need to constantly be renewing our strength. Sometimes in ministry and that's the same way it is with life you face adversity you face disappointments people disappointed.

You disappoint yourself? The danger is to it's really easy to focus on the negative. So we should be focusing on God's goodness and his promises. As for Joshua, what was the promise God gave him the land this this land is yours.

This is the covenant made with Abraham. God said he was gonna keep it. He told Joshua this land belongs to you it belongs to Israel so deal with Achan, you know. Yeah, recognize the problem deal with it and then move on get back on track.

That's what we have to do and the strength that we have comes from God and that's why I want to turn to this passage because This is the this is the account when David faces What would normally be a massive?

Discourage that people want to kill David things got so bad at one point the people were ready to stone him, but it says that David Encouraged himself in the Lord his God who knows that passage? Okay.

Well, we're gonna read it. Look at 1st Samuel 30 starting in verse 1 valuable lessons to learn here. Says now it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites have invaded The south and Ziklag and attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire.

So it's kind of similar to what we just saw in Joshua and it taken captive the women and those Who were there from small to great and they did not kill anyone but carried them away and went their way so David and his men came to the city and There it was burned with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken Captive then David and the people who are with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep and David's two wives a Hinoam the Jezreel Itis and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite had been taken captive.

Now David was greatly what? Distressed. Okay, so it doesn't say discouraged, but it says Distressed for the people spoke of stoning him. Because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his sons and his daughters.

But what.

David Encouraged himself or strengthened himself in the Lord his God. How did he do that? Or what does that mean? Well, I think we see in the next two verses we see one thing at least David sought God.

He didn't wallow in his own own misery. He sought the Lord. Look at verses 7 and 8. Then David said to Abiathar the priest a Himalayan son Please bring the ephod here to me and Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

So David inquired of the Lord saying shall I pursue this troop shall I overtake them. And he answered him? Pursue for you. Shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all. So David got this encouraging word from the Lord if he didn't seek the Lord he wouldn't have got that encouraging word, right?

So that's the first thing we learned you have to seek the Lord if you're discouraged if you're down if bad things happen. You're distressed. Whatever it is Seek the Lord. What does the devil want you to do or maybe you and your flesh you just kind of want to?

Okay, so yeah, I mean the devil would would have you curse God and die sure. Your friends or your somebody might say that. So we need to seek the Lord. I Submit to you if Joshua had just sought the Lord in the first place before attacking AI the first time that defeat would have never happened and That people never would have got discouraged, but he didn't seek out the Lord.

So we need to seek out the Lord before we make any big decisions in life. Attacking AI was a big decision. So it doesn't matter. Okay where you go for lunch tomorrow afternoon. I don't know that you need to seek the Lord about that.

It's not a bad idea. But certainly big decisions any big decision in life. You have to seek the Lord if you don't and it blows up in your face. I Look knowing the Bible reading the Bible, what else should you expect?

All right. So going back to Joshua chapter 8. Joshua didn't remain discouraged. He dealt with what he needed to deal with he sought God and he got back on track. And that's what we need to do. We're gonna.

We're not going to seek the Lord at times. We're gonna make mistakes things will blow up in our face. Maybe but we need to get back on track. We're gonna have our victories we're gonna have our defeats we're gonna have our disappointments the question is what do we what do we learn?

From those things.

Or.

Are we not going to learn and just remain stubborn and keep doing what we do and expect a different result? You think people do that? Yeah, just keep doing what they're doing and it it. Hey, it's not worked up until this point.

It's not gonna work next time. Sometimes we're slow learners, though. All right. Just one more thing before we get back to the text of Joshua 8 as far as strengthening ourselves in the Lord. I really thought about this.

How do we do that? There's some times where I'm maybe going into the radio station on Wednesday or coming into church. You know, there's times you don't really. You're not feeling it. You're not feeling.

You're not having that Mountaintop spiritual experience like you like you want to have. So what are some things you can do when you feel that way. Just having some alone time with the Lord. I think is helpful.

Sing a hymn. Pray. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Quote scripture.

Experiencing a relationship strong relationship with prayer or anything else with God. Yeah, you had something.

Remember.

The times that you were Encouraged I used to teach the children and I'd go in there so tired and I'm so blessed. It was like.

Yeah.

Good Janet. When it's hard to pray pray harder. That's great advice.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Obviously. With Aiken and his sin that kind of led to the whole problem with AI. If there's some sin we need to confess. I mean, that's first and foremost you do that but yeah. Count your blessings. Quote scripture sing a hymn repeat out loud God's promises.

That's.

Some ways you can Strengthen yourself in the Lord. So get some alone time to yourself. That may be helpful. Helpful for some people but other people that's not what they need. They've had enough alone time.

They need to be with other other Christians so some people might need to get together and have some corporate worship, you know break out of your shell and. And get over your fears and get some Christian fellowship.

Some people need to do that. Worship God corporately on Sunday morning. It's like you said about when it's hard to pray, you know the days that you don't feel like going to church. Those are the days you really need it most of all.

So come out on Wednesday night, whatever it is just a I Think a lot of people learn this lesson. Hopefully during 2020 with all the kovat stuff, you know. A lot of people tried to do the the right thing and they isolated themselves month.

Okay, the first month fine we can understand that but they isolated themselves month after month after month after month and Then after a while it became very unhealthy. Whatever you think about all that human beings made in the image of God.

We were made to have fellowship with God and with God's people. So even though it might have seemed to help or sometimes people say well when I'm alone. If I isolate myself that maybe helps their anxiety, but in the long term that makes things worse.

So see God seek out his people. All right, look at Joshua 8 verses 1 and 2. Now the Lord said to Joshua Do not be afraid nor be dismayed. What's another word for dismayed? Discouraged right beaten down.

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 and You shall do to AI and its king as you did to Jericho and its king.

So now he has a promise from God that he's gonna they're gonna defeat AI here's the here's the difference though He says only it's spoil and it's cattle. You shall take or not. Take. Yeah, you shall take as booty.

For.

Yourselves now. I just want you to think about this for now. What's the what happened last time with Akin? What was his sin the temptation? Right, right the Lord said Everything in the city is mine don't touch it all the gold and the silver is to come in to the Treasury of the Lord and Akin took some for himself.

If you just waited until the next battle he could have taken whatever he wanted. So that's really sad. Well, but why did God say? Okay the first city Jericho that all belongs to me. I think there's a principle in Scripture that we see that the first fruits belong to God.

Right the first and the best belong to the Lord and then the red, you know, the rest is yours. But the first belongs to me. So in that sense Akin, he didn't just disobey God. Of course he did he stole from God.

He was taking the first fruits that belonged to God. So the Lord said go into Jericho. Don't take it. He just waited I don't know how if it's a few days or what but you just had what patience you'd still be alive.

But he didn't so we learn a few lessons here. Number one be patient and Number two give to the Lord what belongs to him. Give to the Lord what belongs to him to be blessed. We need to do things God's way according to his timing and not just rushing forward with our own Plans.

All right, any questions or comments up until this point?

No.

All right. And speaking of the things that we were talking about a moment ago, you know seeking strength from the Lord. Patience and all that a good verse to consider is Isaiah 40 31. Who knows Isaiah 40 31.

Well when I read it, you'll I'm sure most of you will recognize it says but those who wait on the Lord shall Renew their strength. They shall mount up with Wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint.

Okay. So what's the overarching takeaway? What's the application? We're talking about overcoming discouragement and Getting back on track. So let's read through this last section. Israel has overcome the discouragement.

They've gained now another victory. After that Joshua in in thanks to God he Renews the covenant. Look at chapter 8 verse 30. Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel as it is written in the book of the law of Moses.

Now, does anyone have a cross-reference to tell you where that is? Where in the law? Maybe it's in the margins of your Bible. Where in the law did Moses say to do this? All right. Well, it's Deuteronomy 11.

Deuteronomy 11 has that so it says you got to build an altar here and on this other mountain. So of whole stones of which no man has wielded an iron tool and they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.

I Just like to read what John MacArthur writes about verse 31. He said thanks is offered to God for giving victory. The altar in obedience to the instructions of Exodus 20 24 through 26 was built of uncut stones.

Why do you think that the altar had to be built of uncut stones? Anyone have a have an idea. Right, right. So yeah, just take stones and pile it up. It wasn't to be this elaborate.

Altar.

So John MacArthur writes is to be built of uncut stones thus keeping worship simple and untainted by man's Showmanship. I really like that keep worship simple and untainted by man's Showmanship, have you ever been to a worship service or an event and it was a great show.

But it doesn't seem like worship to me because the people being glorified seems like the guy on stage putting on this big You know spectacle. I mean, maybe you know, maybe that's unfair. You know, you don't know people's motives, but that's the way it can appear sometimes.

Joshua gave God's Word a detailed and central place. Okay, so no, it's not about man. It's not about some elaborate Altar that is just gonna Wow the people God's Word is to have Preeminence look at verse 32.

So this is what they did. They built the altar in there in the presence of the children of Israel. He wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he had written. So this is probably chiseling out making a duplicate of the Ten Commandments.

I don't think they wrote Exodus through Deuteronomy or even the whole book of Deuteronomy in stone that would have taken too long verse 33. Then all Israel with their elders and officers and judges stood on either side of the ark.

Before the priests the Levites who bore the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord the stranger as well as he Who was born among them half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before that they should bless the people of Israel, so they're following God's law.

This is what God when they're in the land. This is what you're supposed to do verse 34 and afterward he read all the words of.

The law.

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

The law.

You know in the day and age we live in I think if a preacher got up and just read through the entire book of Deuteronomy People would be tuning out pretty pretty quick. You get the impression the people listen didn't they?

So just to go back for a moment that statement about the altar and how worship was to remain simple. Yeah, I really like that statement. That it's supposed to be untainted by man's showmanship because When it comes to a lot of worship these days.

Yeah, it's a show a lot of churches these days are little more than a rock concert followed by a motivational speaker. That's not how worship is supposed to be. We are not and we're not supposed to be spectators.

One of the reasons why we have congregational singing and Responsive reading and saying the Lord's Prayer to get is not because you come into your comfortable seats, right? You're nice comfortable seats here at more school and you're just the spectator Watching the show up front.

That's not what it's supposed to be. Worship is not a show. It's something you are supposed to participate.

Yeah.

So number one we are supposed to be involved in worship not watching someone else do it and number two Men should not be the focus. Men should not be the focus. The God man Jesus Christ should be the focus.

His word should be up front and center. So notice what happened they built the altar in verse 34. It says that he read the scriptures, right? That's what they did. They they he read the Bible to them.

And I don't know how long it took but it must have taken a while. So what's the message being sent. God's Word is to have that place of prominence in the church. You know when you walk in some churches you'll come in and the communion table will be well I guess we do have the table, but the the pulpit is in the center.

It is designed that way for a reason because God's Word is at the center. You could read through the New Testament and it's about the ministry ministry of the word. So instead of ornate altars and putting on a show what the Lord wants He wants his word to be the focus because Jesus is what?

He is the Word of God made flesh and when God's Word is Taught preached when God's Word is is read it forces people to engage with their minds. Instead of what a lot of people do these days. It's just how I feel.

It's how I feel Coming in and how I feel going out of the church. Well going back to what we started with, you know. Sometimes you don't feel it. Sometimes you get discouraged. Sometimes you're going through hard things and you don't have those feelings.

Well, you need to engage with your mind and see what the Lord has to say so Joshua could have avoided all the problems with AI if he had just sought the Lord and if we would just seek God and Look at what God says and do it.

I think we would I Think we would avoid more than half of our problems.

Amen.

I'll just close with verse 35. And there was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel. With the women the little ones and the strangers who are living among them.

So God's people they they got. Back on track and. If if you've made some mistakes recently or you feel like you've been floundering whatever it is Get back on track.