Attraction of world, Weakness of flesh, Wiles of Devil

We'll read in the book of Joshua please. Joshua chapter 7 and we'll begin reading at verse 1. It says, But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing for Achan the son of Zebdiah, the son of Zeriah of the tribe of Judah took the accursed thing and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. Now just move down to verse 3. And they returned to Joshua and said unto him, Let not the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai and make not all the people to labor thither for they are but few.

And then go down to verse 20. Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned, the Lord God of Israel, and thus have I done. And when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them, and behold, they are hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it.

Now move down to chapter 8 please. Verse 1. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. Take all the people of war with thee and arise, go up to Ai.

See I have given into thy hand the king of Ai and his people and the city and his land. Now we'll just read down to in chapter 9 just one verse for the sake of time. Verse 22.

And Joshua called for them and spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have you beguiled us? Saying, We are very far from you when ye dwell among us. Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, hewers of wood and drawers of water in the house of God. That's all we'd like to read.

Really only got three simple points, and I could probably as well cover them in about five minutes. And the first point is really in the sense of the attraction of the world. And the next one really is the weakness of the flesh.

And the third one is the wiles of Satan. Someone has made the statement that the devil's wiles are far more to be feared than his power. Because as long as we avail ourselves of the protection and the mercy of God, Satan has not much power against us.

What his method is, is by deception. So it's the wiles of the devil. Now in my little comprehending reading through the book of Joshua, why it seemed to me about the first 12 or 13 chapters in there that it's primarily dealing with the conquest of the land, possessing what God had purposed them to go in and possess.

And of course, you know, the latter part is primarily occupied with the, as it were, the division of the land, and the casting of lots and so on, that each one have their own part. And I would think of it like this. In chapter 5, you remember they were brought in the land, and it names about five things that they really possessed.

And really the thought, as it were, is what the grace of God has provided for them, brought them into. They couldn't really claim anything of themselves. But then I see also what the presence of God is able to accomplish in chapter 6. And when I get to chapter 7, or chapter 8, chapter 7 I should say, it's what the holiness of God demands.

And if they're going to enjoy the inheritance, as it were, and enjoy the preservation and the presence of God, it need to be impressed upon them that their God is a holy God. And I'll just say this by passing, that in regard to Achan, there's a similar portion in Acts chapter 5. And you remember that those two that claimed they sold the land for so much, and they didn't? Ananias and Sapphira. And immediately they felt dead, as it were, in the presence of the Lord.

And it's often been said that if God deals with us today, there wouldn't be many of us left. But I think there was a divine purpose. See, in the beginning, God was going to establish something in the midst of his people that's absolutely necessary.

And back in Joshua's day with Achan, that it must be established that their God is a holy God. When we get to the Acts of the Apostles, they're dealing with where the church is in the days of the church, that God would establish in the midst of his people in this church age, that he's a holy God. I remember visiting a man up in the Ague Harbor one time, and we had known him for some time, and George Paterson and I came back to have meetings, invited him over, and he asked me a couple of questions.

One was how he was supported and so on, and so I told him a little bit how we were supported. And then he made a statement. He said, you know, we can't carry out those principles today.

And he was a gentlemanly man. He really professed to be a Christian. I said, sir, I'd like to ask you something.

When we were given instruction to no longer, as it were, to seek to carry them out, well, he said we weren't. Well, then we only have one obligation, responsibility left, isn't it? To seek by the grace of God to carry out those principles as we move through this sea. Now what I'm thinking about also when the ark, you know, was instructed and they were to carry the ark around the city, and I think we can understand something.

There's really two, as it were, aspects of the children of Israel in the land, and I would gather with the city of Jericho that you remember that they were instructed that they weren't to take anything, as it were, from that cursed city, and cursed is the one that takes anything, and they weren't to take anything from it, and it was all, as it were, to be put into the hands of God. In other words, it all belonged to God, and remember that they compassed the city, but the ark was the central, as it were, object in the compassing of the city. We know they had the responsibility of those that, to bear the ark and those that blew the trumpets and so on, but the ark was the central, as it were, object in their midst, and God is going to demonstrate what his power is able to do, and I think that I'd have to admit that I'm guilty of this many times myself, and how many times when you read through the history of Israel, it says they limited the God of Israel.

In other words, sometimes I believe that we sort of limit what God is able to do, because of our lack of confidence or unbelief. So like I say, that God is going to demonstrate to the people what the power of God is able to do, and of course we understand the ark would speak of Christ, and it would remind us of divine presence in our midst, and while, as it were, we do not have a physical, as it were, head in our midst, that doesn't mean we don't have a head in our midst, does it? I heard Brother Joe Portman made a statement one time, and he said one of the biggest problems with the people in the book of Judges was, because they had no visible head or leader, it seemed that, as it were, it just caused them to go farther and farther away. But because we don't have a physical head that we can see, as it were, we oftentimes lose sight of the fact that there is, we have a real head in our midst, just like the ark.

And I would gather in all those six days, as it were, and going around and so on in the process, that it was really, as it were, teaching the people what their God is able to do. Now they could look back over the history of their experience coming out of Egypt and across the Red Sea and the water of the rock and so on, but what God, as it were, is able to do and what he's going to do, in other words, he's going to show them his power in their presence. And of course we know that they failed.

We know that Achan, as it were, he saw, as it were, the goodly Babylonish garment. Now, I could link, as it were, Achan with Judith in the New Testament. You say, how would you do that? You see, all the people, as it were, they saw, and Achan saw the processing, and they saw, as it were, the walls come down, the demonstration of the power of God.

He saw it, as they did. He no doubt heard the same words that they heard, that they were to take nothing of the cursed city, as it were, but he disobeyed God. And you consider Judith.

He heard the same teaching of the Lord Jesus of the other eleven disciples, but still he was the one, as it were, that betrayed the Lord. Now you say, what are you getting at? I think there's something that is utmost important, and we've heard it referred to already in these meetings. In other words, it was one thing for them to have the truth of God in their head, but it was another thing for them to have the truth of God in their heart.

Because say, Achan had the truth of God in his head, but he didn't have the truth of God in his heart. Judas had the truth of God in his head, but he didn't have it in his heart, even though he was deceived and thought he could get away with it. So in thinking this, you say, in the sense of Jericho, is a little picture of the attraction of the world.

Now, a person would really have to have their head in the sand if they said this world doesn't have any attraction. In fact, about every aspect of this world, whatever way you want to look at it, in one way or another, it has the object of attracting the person to its ways and its systems and so on. And we are, if we're honest, are we not prone to want to follow those things, to follow in those ways? And I just think about the Babylonian garment, and we've been reminded already of dress in these meetings.

I am convinced, and I know that all my brethren everywhere don't agree with me, but I am still convinced of this. There is absolutely no place for casual dress in the meetings of God's people. We are told that we are to serve God with reverence and with godly fear.

Now, I don't think it's a judgmental fear, but I believe it's a fear in the sense of reverence, that we really wouldn't want to do anything that, as it were, would be dishonoring to our Lord Jesus Christ. I haven't heard this for a long time, and this wasn't originated with me. Where would we go? If the Lord was walking by our side, a lot of places, could we take Him with us? Well, you say, I think there are some that it wouldn't be, maybe too, well then, perhaps we shouldn't go.

I talked to a brother back home there just a little while ago, and I made reference to him about a case of a wife wearing blue jeans. It wasn't blue jeans, it was slacks, sort of a dressy slacks. And he said, well, she doesn't normally, but, you know, sometimes, you know, when she's in a place where it may be necessary.

Well, I said, if that's the case, maybe she shouldn't have been there. You see, we need to recognize the honor of God. And you see what, when Judas Achen took, as it were, he was really robbing God what really belonged to God.

And I think in picture, as it were, the going around that city and so on in the ark, is that God is, as it were, demonstrating His power in this sense, that is pictured in Christ, or the picture of Christ, that God, through this process, as it were, accomplished or purchased, which speaks of the world, Jericho, that everything that primarily belongs to Himself, but because of the sin of man, man would rob God of everything. You know, as well as I do, that there's only once that you read about the word of the Reverend in the Bible, and there's only one person that can rightly take that title, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. But what do they do in the denominations? See, they take titles like that, and they're proud of it.

You see, they take the things that belong to God, and they desecrate it, as it were, in this wicked and godly world. And you see, there are, like I said, there are many things that would attract, as it were, the heart of the believer. But the truth of it is, I believe, if that ark, which is a symbol of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, had a proper place in their heart, in the proper place of Achan's heart, that Babylonian garment, and the silver, and the gold, and so on, wouldn't have the same appeal to them.

So, you see, there was the attraction of the world, and that's all around us, and its ways, its methods, and so on. When we get down, as it were, to a chapter, farther down, chapter 20, when Joshua, as it were, brought Achan, and so on, and then they moved into, as it were, Ai, and they were going to go to battle against Ai, and they said, oh, we don't need to take everybody. Two or three thousand was the plan.

Now, what I can see in that is worldly wisdom. Well, why put everybody to bother when it's not necessary? But I can see divine wisdom as well, in this sense, that they lost the battle, and they were turned back in shame. And so what was really happening was this.

It was the weakness of the flesh. They were moving in the flesh. There was no ark.

There was no, as it were, exercise of prayer to seek the will of the Lord. And there were other things that there was lacking, as it were, divine guidance, and so on, that were taken on themselves. So, it was not only the weakness of the flesh, but it was deception of Satan.

I'll make a reference to something, and I don't know how popular it is in this part of the country. It's becoming more popular all the time over in Ontario. And I'm convinced what it is is a display of worldly wisdom.

And it starts out, as it were, with controlling the platform at conferences, appointing the speakers, and even topics, and so on. Now, it might, as it were, in the eyes of men, that might look like wisdom. Because we want to make sure this thing works just right, and everything is in order.

Well, God expects us, or God is the God of order. But I can tell you, and I'm not boasting, I'm just telling the situation. In a little town of Oil Springs, about 800 people, and there's been from 12 to 30 people in the fellowship, that range in that number.

We've had a conference since 1961. We missed maybe two years because of not being able to acquire accommodations. And there were times when... In fact, there were times when there was no so-called, as it were, commended worker at our prayer meeting.

And I remember there were times when we had no idea who was going to be at our conference. But I can also tell you something. There never was a time when we had a good conference and God provided for it.

I remember that in the morning of the conference, we didn't know anybody was going to come. But God gave us four good men, and he gave us good ministers. So, you see, God is able to provide.

Somebody tell you what I believe is really what's wrong with it? You see what they said there? We'll just take two or three thousand, that's enough. What they were doing is, was segregating the people of God. Because in the next chapter, you'll see something.

It says about all the people. In other words, this. You see the effect when the unity of God is in their midst of what they were able to accomplish.

But they were segregating the people of God. And they were dividing, as it were, the people of God. And that's what's really, as it were, coming out of a lot of this here, is worldly wisdom.

And it's setting aside divine wisdom. And I am convinced of something else. That every time we move a little bit off the divine principles, we lose a measure of divine power in our midst.

Whether we like it or not, we are dependent upon the mercy and grace of God. Someone has well said, an assembly of God's people is a miracle. Because you have people from all walks of life.

You have people with all different dispositions. And you have people, as it were, from different values and things. Yet God in his mercy, and he's called them out of the way, in many different ways of life.

Some, no doubt, even this meeting here, and I'd have to admit I'm among them. That I was called out of the dunghill of sin. And I thank God for that moment of deliverance.

And I don't say that, we just talked to a young man just recently. And he was lit up a cigarette, and I said, man, you know that's going to kill you. I said, I used to smoke.

He said, how old was you when I quit? I said, I was about 29. Well, he said, that's my age. So I said, well, maybe it's time for you to quit then.

And then I told him a little bit, he said, how did you quit? Well, I said, I'd have to admit it wasn't all of myself. Oh, how'd you quit? Well, I said, when God saved me, he took the desire of it away from me. And I never had one of those things in my hands since.

And his boss come along, so I kind of had to drop the conversation there. And I could have told him that even though I was quite a drinker before I was saved, I never had one in my hands since the night God saved me. I knew something before I was saved.

I didn't know how it was going to be accomplished. But I knew all this old life had to go. And I didn't know how I was going to be delivered from it.

And I got to the point in my experience that I didn't care what it cost me or what it was. If I could just say I knew I was saved, that would be enough. And I did not know that there would be power in it to deliver me from it.

But I thank God there was. And it cleaned up this vile mouth. You see, there is power in the work of God.

So God has a wherewithal. We are reminded, in fact, over in the house there, they had a little plaque there. Good for two to dwell together in unity.

And it was given as an anniversary gift, reminder. And that's absolutely true, isn't it? It's how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity. We have to be in unity with God in divine principles and purposes.

When we get over to chapter 9, here is where the wiles of the devil. You know, they were going through as they were in the conquest of the land. And they were learning things as they went.

And when it came to the battle against A.I., there was no mention about the ark leading them in battle. You see, primarily, as it were, in a sense, God had accomplished what he purposed to do in demonstrating having, as it were, redeemed it all back to himself. And he laid it out before them that this is your inheritance.

So now they were responsible to take up their act of obedience and go in, as it were, to possess what God had provided for them. They were responsible for that. So they moved in, but they were told.

They were told, as it were, to not to make any covenant or agreement with anyone. So when you see back, as it were, and you can see the attraction of the world. And then we see, as it were, the weakness of the flesh.

And then we see the wiles of the devil. And we can see, as it were, in performance. Oh, these people had a lovely plan.

They recognized something in the power of God. They heard about God dividing the Red Sea and delivering them out of Egypt. And how they heard it all, I don't know, but they heard about that.

And in fact, in Jericho, Rahab, she says, that we're made to fear, as it were, before the children of Israel because we know what God has accomplished for them. And so these people recognized that, this as it were, there was no turning these people back, no stopping this. Though Satan had another plan.

And so he was going to corrupt them. He was going to deceive them. And you know their plan was.

Why, we've come from a far country. And we've heard what your God has done, and so on. And so the children of Israel and Joshua, again, failed to seek the guidance of God.

And so then they made a league with them. And then they learned something. That these people dwell among us.

So you see the wiles of the devil moving in deception. And there was a lesson that these people were told. And there was a lesson that the children of Israel had to learn.

And it may have taken them a long time to learn it. Because much later, when King Saul became King of Israel, he was going to stamp this thing out. I'm going to bring this thing to an end.

What it boils down to this. We've already been reminded. There needs to be the utmost concern, carefulness, and reception into God's assembly.

You see, it was easy to get them in. But they discovered it was impossible to get them out. And it's easy to get the wrong in.

There's material that, or people out of where it comes, that really have no place in the assembly. So it needs the utmost wisdom and discernment from God in receiving people into fellowship. And there's one thing that, in 1 Corinthians 5, we got a list of things that it was fine, as it were, or that they must, as it were, carry out and discipline.

But there's one thing I don't read about. It's putting away in somebody that they might thought wasn't saved. You see, when we take a person into fellowship, when it comes to that, God only knows.

And it's like we're making, as it were, a covenant with them. And you know the principle of it, that we receive that person, and that person receives the assembly. But if we discover later on, that we have made a mistake, and they may discover there's nothing they can do about it.

As I heard it said when I was first saved, it's a whole lot easier to get people in, than it is to get them out. And they could cause a lot of grief, and a lot of destruction in the assembly. And this league they made with these Gibeonites caused them a lot of grief for years over.

And it was because of Satan's wild deception. In Paul in Acts chapter 28, and I'm finished. Was it 20 and 28? When he called the Ephesian elder together.

He said that, I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in, not sparing the flock. You see that's from the outside. And then he said something else.

Of your own selves, some men rise up, drawing disciples after themselves. And I do not, I don't say it's impossible. But I do not believe it's very likely to happen.

An assembly can be destroyed from the outside. But it can be easily destroyed from the inside. So we need to use the utmost of caution.

So we have there is where the wiles of the devil. So may God bless us all.