THROUGH THE BIBLE - Joshua 9..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. My dear brother, my dear sister, as I said, we're going to be now addressing Joshua chapter nine. And I want to give you three important lessons, three important lessons.

One of them, one of those on faith. We're going to see the faith of the Gibeonites and we're going to derive an example, a practical application for us here. If you have the ESV, as I do, you will have a title there. At least mine says the Gibeonite deception and three lessons from there. The first one on faith.

The second one on commitment. and the third one on temptation to ignore the word of God. We are tempted at times to ignore the counsel of the Lord. And I want to briefly speak about those three things. But what I'm going to do now is that I'm going to explain to you the chapter so that by explaining the chapter, then we will read together the chapter.

And by reading together the chapter after the explanation, we will get most of our reading and our reading will be fruitful after the brief explanation. And then, as the Puritans used to say, I will apply the theology of the passage and the message that I want to speak to you. So before we read, my dear brother and dear sister, let me remind you of where we are at this place here in Joshua chapter 9. As you know, the people of Israel have already crossed the Jordan River and they have been given the promise that they are to take possession of the land. That is very important.

They are to utterly destroy all the nations of the Canaanites and Joshua and Israel have already crossed the Jordan River, as we sang, one day we will cross the river. They have already crossed the Jordan River and now they are being diligent in observe the commandment that the Lord had given them in destroying, utterly destroying the peoples that were in the land. Why? Because that land belonged to the Lord and that land had been given to the people of Israel as fulfillment of that promise given to Abraham and then to Moses. As we know, my dear brother and dear sister, they have already conquered a couple of cities.

You remember? Which cities have they conquered already? Jericho is the first one and the second one? AI. So two cities have already been conquered and miraculously, very powerfully, the Lord has given them Jericho.

And also we have learned a lesson in the last couple of weeks on the way that the Lord gave AI to the people of Israel. Now, my dear brother and my dear sister, we find ourselves here in chapter nine and another group of cities or another city is going to come into our text. And these are going to be the Gibeonites. And the Gibeonites have now heard of the things that God had done through the Israelites. And because the Gibeonites have heard, now they need to decide what they are going to do.

The response of the Gibeonites that we are going to read together here in Joshua chapter 9, is going to be very different to the response of other groups of kings. Other kings have heard of what the Lord had done to Jericho and they have heard of what the Lord had done to Ai. And now what they have decided is that we're going to come together and we are going to join our armies and we're going to go against the Israelites. If you think about it, that is something natural to do. If someone is going to attack you, let us defend.

But the Gibeonites, which are the peoples that are of concern in chapter 9 for us, they are going to respond in a different way. You will see there in verse 3 that we have the word, but the Gibeonites are going to respond in a very different way. All of these kings decided to come together to fight against the Israelites, but the Gibeonites, Even though we are told in chapter 10, verse 2, we're mighty and powerful. Even though we are told in chapter 10, verse 2, that they were a royal city, that the Gibeonites were important and mighty. They decide not to join the other kings to fight against the Israelites, but rather they come to the Israelites to ask for a treaty of peace.

They want to make a covenant of peace. Now, my dear brethren, pay attention to this so that our reading will be fruitful and important. Now, there's something very interesting here. And that is that the Gibeonites were powerful. The Gibeonites were mighty.

The cities of the Gibeonites were strong. They could have easily joined the other kings in their endeavors to fight against the Israelites. Of course, the other kings did not know that it was not the Israelites, the ones that were fighting, but it was the Lord. It did not matter how many armies they had. It did not matter how strong they were.

Even if they joined all their forces, there was not going to be possibility with them destroying the Israelites because it was not the Israelites, but it was the Lord fighting against them. But the Gibeonites, my dear brother and sister, they seem to know something. They seem to know not only what the Lord has done to Jericho and Ai, which is now known among the Canaanites. But they seem to also know what the Lord had done on the other side of the river. As we're going to read, they know the destruction of the other kings on the other side of the river.

And very similar to Rahab, you remember? Very similar to Rahab, who knew about the things that the Lord had done. They're going to fear what is going to happen to them. And instead of saying and trusting in their weapons and in their mighty army and in the royal city, now they are going to do something that, of course, is going to be cunning and is going to be lying, because they're going to come and present themselves as people from afar. But there's something also very important, brethren, that the Gibeonites seem to know something beyond the deeds of God.

They seem to know something even about the law that Moses had given to the Israelites. Because when you go and carefully read Deuteronomy chapter 7 and Deuteronomy chapter 20, you will hear and you will read in those words that, first, the Israelites had been instructed to utterly destroy all the peoples of the Canaanites. You know that, right? That was the instruction that was given to the people of Israel, utterly destroy all the Canaanites. That meant that if someone from the Canaanites came to them and surrendered, they were not going to accept their surrendering.

They were supposed to utterly destroy them and remove them. That was the instruction that was given to the people of Israel. And the Gibeonites seem to know that. Why? Because they could have just simply surrendered to the Israelites and said, we surrender, take our land, take our cities and we surrender and we will be with you.

But they didn't do that. What they did is that they offer a treaty of peace. And that is very interesting, my dear brother and sister, because in Deuteronomy chapter 20, the Lord gave an exception for treaties of peace to the people of Israel. And that is that if people from a city from far off come to you and they are willing to make terms of peace with you, you can offer them a treaty of peace. So the Gibeonites seem to know that.

For some reason, they knew all of that, but they knew we are Canaanites. We are in this land. There's no way that they are going to forgive us. So there's no way that we can just surrender and have peace. So let's tell them that we're coming from afar.

And coming from afar, we might find a covenant or a treaty of peace. Does that make sense, my dear brethren? Now we're going to read the details of that story here. Because, cunningly, the Gibeonites will come to Israel to ask, we're coming from afar. We have heard about your lore.

We have heard about all of these matters. And then Joshua and the people of Israel are going to be taken by those words, not taking counsel to the Lord and give them a covenant of peace. And after that, they will not be able to destroy them as they were supposed to do it. Let us now read together, my dear brother and sister, and after the explanation of the chapter, I hope now that the reading of the chapter will be of more benefit. And from there, my dear brother and sister, I want to give you three important lessons on faith, commitment, and also not ignoring the counsel of the Lord.

This is the Word of the Lord. Let us read it together, my dear brother and sister, in Joshua 9, 27 verses. This is the invaluable, almighty Word of the Lord that is to be read by the Christian in the Spirit and by faith, paying attention to each one of the words, Joshua 9. As soon as all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland, all along the coast of the great sea toward Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites heard of this, that is Ai and Jericho. They gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel.

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they, on their part, acted with cunning, and went and made ready provisions, and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys. and wineskins worn out and torn and mended, with worn-out patched sandals on their feet and worn-out clothes, and all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp in Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a distant country." Deuteronomy chapter 20. So now make a covenant with us.

For the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you live among us, and how can we make a covenant with you? They knew that they didn't have to do that. They said to Joshua, We are your servants. And Joshua said to them, Who are you and where do you come from? They said to him, From a very far or very distant country your servants have come because of the name of the Lord your God.

For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt." and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond, or on the other side of the Jordan, to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, and Tuach, king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, we are your servants, come now, make a covenant with us. Here is a bread. Here is our bread.

It was still warm when we took it from our houses and our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you. But now look or behold, it is dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them and look or behold, they have burst. and these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey. So, verse 14, so the men, that is of Israel, so the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.

And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. And the leaders of the congregation swore to them." At the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities, the Gibeonite cities. On the third day, now their cities were Gibeon, Shephira, Biroth, and Kiriat Yarim.

But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. But all the leaders said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we might not touch them. This we will do to them. Let them leave.

Let wrath, the wrath of God, be upon us because of the oath that we swore to them. And the leaders said to them, Let them leave. So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said to them of them. Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, Why did you receive us, saying, We are very far from you, when you dwell among us? Now therefore you are cursed.

and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my God.' They answered Joshua, because it was told your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. So we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing. And now, behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.

So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord to this day in the place that he should choose. Amen, that is the reading of the words of God. My dear brother and sister, I said to you that I wanted to share with you simply, briefly, after the explanation of the chapter and after the reading of the chapter from this story, that now I hope that we have understood three practical, important lessons. The first one on faith.

What about the faith of the Gibeonites, brethren? Mighty they were, royal cities, we are told in chapter 10 verse 2, that they were powerful, yet they heard of what God had done in Israel, they heard of what God had done with Moses, And not only that, they heard the promise that God had given to the people of Israel of destruction, complete destruction of the land. And they saw themselves and they were like, wow, we are in the land that is going to be destroyed. They doubted it? No, they believed it.

And even though it was cunning for them to come to the people of Israel to say that they were coming from afar, there's also a lot of wisdom in that, my dear brethren. Because in the end, think about the result for the Gibeonites, their outcome, their future, their destination was death, according to the promise given to the people of Israel. But now they end up being servants of the congregation of the Lord, not only alive, but also their lives are within the covenant people, and also they are servants of the congregation of the Lord. I don't know about you, brethren, but that is powerful. They were supposed to die.

Now they're going to spend the rest of their time and generations serving the Lord. Why? Because they heard the words about this God. They heard the promises of this God and they believed them. That is the faith of the Gibeonites, my dear brother and my dear sister.

But the second important lesson that I want us to see here is one on commitment. It does no matter that a covenant before the Lord has been established illegally and even in deceit. If a covenant has been established before the law, then those who enter into that covenant are to respect the covenant that they have entered before the law. That there may be consequences of the illegal ways in which they enter into that covenant. Of course, there were consequences for the Gibeonites.

And that is that a curse came upon them. They did not die, but a curse came upon them and they became servants of the congregation of the Lord. But both Israelites and also the Gibeonites now needed to respect and commit to the covenant in which they had entered before the Lord. And that is what we also need to learn from here. But the third important lesson, and perhaps the most important one that I want to share with you, first one on faith, second one on commitment, the third one is about ignoring the counsel of the Lord.

Brethren, I don't know if it happened to you when you were reading this story for the first time, but I do remember when I was reading this story for the very first time, the urgency that I was feeling in my stomach, in my heart of, Joshua, go and ask the Lord. Go and ask the Lord. These people are deceitful. Go and ask the Lord. You can come with a priest and ask the Lord and the Lord will tell you the truth about these deceivers.

But we are told there, brethren, in verse 14, the men of Israel took up the provisions of the Gibeonites and they did not ask the Lord. Brethren, the Israelites were tempted to ignore the counsel of the Lord. Now pay attention. The Israelites were tempted. to ignore the counsel of the Lord.

And just as the Israelites are tempted to ignore the counsel of the Lord, the people of God are also tempted to ignore the counsel of the Lord. And let me show you the way that they were tempted, so that we will not be tempted to ignore the counsel of the Lord. Everything that we do, my dear brother, my dear sister, my dear soul, is the result of what it is in our hearts, right? Everything that we do, everything that we say, everything that we think is the result of everything that is in our hearts. But everything that is in our hearts is not produced in and of ourselves.

Everything that is in our hearts is the result of someone else depositing, if that is a word that you use in English, in us. either the Holy Spirit or the world. The abundance of the heart is that which should make us speak and think and do. And that which we put into our hearts and that which we put into our minds is what defines what we're actually going to do. The people of Israel were easily deceived by what their senses informed them, to the point that they did not see any need to ask counsel of the Lord.

They trusted their senses, they trusted their ears, and they trusted their eyes. and they were easily deceived with the things that they were hearing and the things that they were seeing. We are told that in the first approach of the Gibeonites to the people of Israel, the Israelites, Joshua said to them, Why are we going to make a covenant with you? You might be dwelling here among us. Very good question, Joshua.

You know that you are to destroy everyone who lives in the land. Very good question. And it's reasonable for you to doubt. But from that doubt, instead of going to the Lord, then we are told there in verse 6, it says in verse 6, And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, and they said to him, they opened their mouth, to say things to him. And the first thing that they say is, no, we're coming from very far off, very far away.

OK, how am I going to know that you're coming from far away? I may doubt what you're saying. It only took that the Gibeonites will act a little bit of truth to what they were saying about God. We have heard of your God, what He did in Egypt. We have heard of your God, what He did to the kings on the other side of the Jordan.

We have heard of the promise that He has given you, that you're going to destroy. And only that measure of little truth, Now it became powerful enough to move to convince the people of Israel, namely Joshua initially. He was convinced by what he heard. But if it was not enough, then they say, behold, look, Here we have the wine that is old. Here we have the bread that is also dry and old.

Look with your eyes and look these things that testify to what we're saying is true. We're coming from afar and we are not of this land and we know of your God. That is true. Look with your eyes, brethren. Easily deceived.

It was reasonable for Joshua and the people of Israel to believe what the Gibeonites were saying. It was reasonable in the human mind to assess that the words that I'm hearing and the things that I'm observing confirm what they are saying. And they're coming from afar. Let us make a covenant of peace with the Gibeonites. Brethren, the words in verse 14 are powerful and mighty.

It says, so the men... in verse 14, pay attention to the verse. So the men, that is the men of Israel, took some of their provisions, that is provision food. but did not ask counsel from the Lord." Now, this is our translation in English, but literally what it says, "...

and the people of Israel took provisions, that is their food, for their mouths, but they did not ask of the mouth of the Lord." That is the power of what that verse says. That is that the men of Israel preferred and chose to receive the provisions, the food from the Gibeonites, but they did not ask or request from the mouth of the Lord. Why, brethren? Because their senses had already captured them and convinced them that what the Gibeonites were saying was true, and they were acting in their own wisdom, to then realize that what they had made it was a mistake.

Because the last thing that a person can do is to lean in your own understanding. Brethren, this is just a story. This is a real story, of course, that happened in Joshua. But brethren, this happened to us. Things that we hear, things that we see, even if they have a little bit of truth, all of them are always to be taken in humility before the Lord, always aware that apart from the hand of the Lord sustaining truth for the heart of a person, then we are easily taken by the deception, not only of the world, but by the deception of our hearts.

And just as the Israelites were taken by the deception of the Gibeonites, brethren, at many times we are also hearing and we're also observing and easily convinced by our external environment and filling our hearts with things that then will take us to make mistakes before the Lord. May the Lord give us the grace, my dear brethren, to have the Lord Jesus Christ enthroned in our hearts. Because apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, you think that we have hope of assessing the truth with our ears, assessing the truth with our eyes, and putting in our hearts that which is supposed to be there? No, we need the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one that can ensure that that which abides in the heart of a person is the truth alone.

Faith, commitment, and not ignoring the counsel of the Lord. Amen.