"Real Characters" Rahab - Joshua 2

FBCRB 9/2/12

"Real Characters" –Rahab – Joshua 2

I’ve mentioned before that I am a sucker for a sunset. I love to see God show off like He does so often at the end of the day. After a busy day sitting at a desk looking at a computer or after dealing with people all day, don’t you love to see the sun go down surrounded by pink, orange and blue colored clouds? It’s so peaceful and yet so powerful. I always think of Romans 1:20 that says, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." How can you look at a sunset and see all the colors and realize that every one is different and they are all so incredible and not know for certain that there is a God? I can’t comprehend how someone who can see can be an atheist.

Several years ago I rode my motorcycle up to Montana and I stopped for the night somewhere north of New Mexico just over the Colorado border. Nothing but scrub brush about 3 feet high as far as you could see and no people for who knows how far. I just pulled off the highway onto a gravel road and drove for a while until I found just the right spot and just pulled out my sleeping bag and watched the sun go down. I’ll never forget that one sunset. There was no sound, just colors. There were no other people around for miles but then the moon came up (huge!) and it was as if God said, "Here ya go. This is just for you."

When God displays His power, people notice. When God’s power is on display, more often than not, lives are changed. If you are paying attention, you will realize that it has nothing to do with who you are and everything to do with who He is. When God wants to reveal something about Himself He can make everyone in the world know about it like is going to happen in the last days or He can allow only one person see like it felt for me in the scrub brush. I don’t know why some people get it and some people don’t. I can’t explain why God reveals Himself to some and not to others. It doesn’t always make sense to us but I guess that is one more reason why He is God and we are not.

I can’t understand why God would choose to use some of the people He does. Who would ever think to use Moses, an old shepherd, to lead the Israelites out of slavery? Why did the youngest son of Jesse get picked to be the anointed king of all of Israel? What was God thinking when He chose Saul in the New Testament to impact the world? And what did God see in Mary that made Him choose her to care for the most precious gift in all of humanity? I don’t know. But God seems to specialize in that kind of situation, you know? He loves to include in His perfect plan people who have huge flaws or several strikes against them and the reason, or at least one of the reasons He does this, is to make sure that everyone knows it was He who did it; that He gets the glory and the honor and not the person.

And you will never become a mature Christian until you realize that if anything good comes out of your life that it is God working in you and through you and you should just thank Him for using you. Just be grateful to be a part. The Bible is just full of illustrations of this. This week we are going to look at another real character out of the Bible. I have enjoyed doing this. I love to look at the story of some character’s life and see why God put that person in the Bible. For what reason are they included in the scripture? This week I had someone else in mind but I felt like God was leading me to include a woman in the "Real Characters" series (and I might add another after this later on) so I sat down and really prayed that God would show me exactly which woman

He wanted me to talk about.

I honestly had barely gotten the question out of my mouth and God said, "Rahab." I was instantly a little uncomfortable especially since I now had the responsibility of reminding God who and what Rahab was. So I very nicely just whispered to God a reminder that Rahab was a prostitute. We probably don’t want to spend a whole sermon on that kind of a woman, right? Wrong. I didn’t have peace about any other person and I felt like God was making it clear that was who we are supposed to talk about today even though she was a woman of ill repute. Although I will say that one of the commentaries refers to her as an "inn-keeper". Yea, that’s what she was. Inn-keeper.

So, let’s look at the story of Rahab the "inn-keeper"in Joshua chapter 2. Last week we looked at Joshua and how they had walked around Jericho and the walls fell and then moved on to the little town of Ai and the army got routed. In both instances they sent spies to spy out the land to see what they were up against. Some people say they should not have done that but I happen to think it was just good planning even though we saw last week that even though they sent spies to Ai, they still lost the battle. Unfortunately we don’t know anything about these spies. We don’t even know their names but I’m sure they must have been some of the best of the best troops they had.

These guys must have been the special-ops, Navy SEAL Team 6 kinda dudes. I can just see them in their camouflage togas with black and green face paint and night vision goggles crawling by the cover of darkness into the edge of town. But I may be reading more into this than is there. Let’s read Joshua chapter 2, verse 1-15. Read verse 1 and stop. "Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there." Stop right there. I have a question. What in the world are they doing there? Joshua told them to spy out the land, not the ladies. So how did they end up in the house of a harlot?

Well, again, we don’t know for sure how that happened but I have some ideas and I don’t believe it was for the wrong reasons. I believe this was a smart move. Where else could 2 strangers go and not draw a lot of suspicion? Her house was on the wall of the city so it would be easy in, easy out.  Also, I’m sure Rahab knew a lot of people and she would know what was going on behind the scenes and how the people felt about life in Jericho so, we will give them credit for making a smart move and obviously one that God had led them to as we will see by how it works out. Let’s continue reading in verse 2.

The king of Jericho was told, "Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land." ^{3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land."4But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them." 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, "I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[}

^{a] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.[b] 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.12"Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death."14 "Our lives for your lives!" the men assured her. "If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land."15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall.}

^{There are, of course, 3 things I want us to see in this passage but before we look at Rahab in depth, I want to take an over-all look at her and her life as we see it here. Where does it say that Rahab had seen the Red Sea parted? Does it say that she saw with her own eyes the Amorites being destroyed? No. It says that she only heard about it. She did not actually see it. Do you know what that is called? That’s called faith and I’m not the only one to notice it and call it what it is. Turn over to Hebrews 11 in your Bible. Do you know what Hebrews 11 is called? The "Faith" Chapter. Turn to verse 31. "By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient." By faith! And what is the best definition of faith? The first verse of Hebrews 11 tells us, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." It may as well have a picture of Rahab next to that definition.}

^{And that is why God put the story of Rahab in the Bible; so we could learn from her faith. As I said there are 3 things in particular I want to learn from her faith and #1 is that her faith came from hearing. #2 is that her faith became her identity. And #3 is that her faith led to action.}

^{Now I have a question. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes from hearing. If Rahab's faith came from hearing about God and His power, then why didn't all the other people of Jericho have faith}

^{? Think about it. I think you would agree that her faith came from hearing but I'm quite sure that everybody was talking about it. When word came to Jericho that the Red Sea had parted, Rahab was not the only one to hear so what was it about Rahab's hearing of this that gave her faith and yet nobody else that had heard about it was considered to have faith?}

^{It's the same reason that people can look at a sunset and see all the colors and the clouds and the way that it is beautiful and yet different every evening and yet they still think that it happened all by chance or that there was a big bang or Mother Nature did it. It is because they choose not to believe. They choose not to believe that there is a God because if there is a God then they would certainly have to change their lifestyle because deep down in their hearts they know that if there is a God that He would control the sunsets and if He had the power to control the sunsets He must have all power and therefore should be worshiped and that is going to interfere with their golf game.}

^{Believing in God would change what they do for fun. It would change the way people feel towards each other. It would change the way they would feel about themselves. It would change everything...and they are exactly right. Seeing God's power for what it is changes people. It has to. and so instead of changing they remain what the Bible calls "stiff-necked". God uses the term to describe Israel and it comes from the situation where a horse doesn't want to be turned by the halter and keeps his neck stiff so he doesn't have to change.}

^{There was a time in my life when I was stiff-necked. I had seen and I had heard but I didn't want to change. I wanted to live my life like I wanted. I remember during this time that I heard my Uncle Bill preach a sermon on being stiff-necked. He described what it was and he described me. He told what would happen if you were stiff-necked and I could see it already in my life. There were consequences that he described and I couldn't pretend that was not going on in my own life as he spoke but I didn't know what to do. Or so I thought. I did know what to do. I just didn't want to. But he gave some wise advice that day that I will never forget.}

^{Uncle Bill didn't know what was going on in my life at the time but the Holy Spirit gave him just the right words and I felt like he was staring right at me when he said, "STOP IT!" Just stop. Stop fighting it and give in. You know it's the truth. You know God is right. You know how you should live but you resist. Instead of having faith in God to protect and provide for you, you say you can do it. Just like when Jesus asked Saul on the road to Damascus, "Saul, why do you kick against the goads?"}

^{You have heard the truth and seen God's power at work and instead of trusting in the One who places each sunset, you try to do it on your own. That was the difference between Rahab and all the other citizens of Jericho. Her faith came from hearing but resulted in her being honest with herself and acknowledging, as she did in verse 11 that "the Lord your God is the God of Heaven and earth."}



^{So, not only did her faith come from hearing but it is fascinating to see that it was her faith that became her identity. Webster defines reputation as "overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general}

^{." You might say that Rahab had a pretty bad reputation. As a prostitute, she was judged by a lot of people pretty harshly as you can imagine. Now, it is at this point in a typical message that I might illustrate this point with a joke of some kind. I know they aren't always hilarious but sometimes it helps to make the point. So as I was preparing this I thought I would just check on the internet for an appropriate joke about prostitutes. I'm not kidding. I don't know what I thought I might find but I promise you my search was short-lived. I quickly concluded that you would not get an illustration of this point today so let's move right along.}

^{Which, in itself, actually illustrates my point that she had a bad reputation. If there is no redeeming quality about your line of work then don't be surprised}

^{when people judge you harshly. But this is how Rahab had survived in a difficult land in a difficult time. Can you imagine going through life with everybody in town looking down their noses at you? What's worse was that during the day people would cross to the other side of the street when they saw you approaching but at night the same person would come for a visit.}

^{But I have good news. If you like a story to end well, this is for you and as I said earlier, I think it's fascinating. I know you love to read and are so blessed by reading geneologies, right? Well, this one is pretty good. Turn to Matthew chapter 1. It starts with Abraham and goes all the way to Jesus. don't worry. We won't read all those names. I really just want to look at verses 5 and 6.}

^{5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,6 and Jesse the father of King David.}

^{Can you appreciate a geneology just a little bit more now? Especially after just going through the book of Ruth and seeing how God turned her life around. It says that Rahab was the mother of Boaz and so that's pretty cool to see that connection with Ruth and then we see that Rahab was also the great-grandmother of King David; pretty cool to have on the old resume, there.}

^{But then continue on down that long list of names and look at the very last one. Rahab the prostitute is now Rahab the great, great, great, etc. grandmother of Jesus Himself. Rahab the prostitute is no longer Rahab the prostitute. All that has changed. God doesn't see her as Rahab the prostitute anymore. He sees her as Rahab, my good and faithful servant. He sees her as Rahab, the one with whom I share Heaven and everything I have, joint heirs with her grandson Jesus, who is called Christ.}

^{She doesn't walk around Heaven with a scarlet letter, confined to the wrong side of the heavenly tracks. She has no more shame, no more guilt, no more regrets. And she lost all that baggage when she heard about and accepted God's power in her life. She no longer tried to do it on her own in a way that brought her and her family shame. She heard, believed and had faith that God was who He said He was and now her faith is her identity.}

^{Now since I am the only one here who has some regrets in his life, I wish you knew how that encourages me. To know that I don't have to go through life being known as that man who did all that stuff but instead, as my favorite verse says in Isaiah 43, I can forget the former things because God is doing a new thing in me! That old stuff is no longer my identity. I have a new identity through my faith in God through His Son Jesus.}

^{And when we have that new identity it will show. People will see a difference in us as believers. And that leads me to my last point. It was through her faith that she had a new identity and it was obvious to others because it led to action. Read verse 15 of Joshua 2 again.}

^"

^{So she let them down by a rope through the window."}

^{As you read that I want you to think about something. I want you to think about everything the Israelites have been through. Hundreds of years of slavery, 40 years walking around out in the desert and now God has allowed them to go into the Promised Land. The only thing, at this point, that is holding them back is the city of Jericho and that city hinges on the actions of one person.}

^{Everything that they have been through is hanging by a rope tied to the window of the house of Rahab. Rahab is not just letting down a rope. Do you know what she is doing? She is furthering the kingdom of the Israelites. She is doing her part to see that the people of Israel and, more importantly, their God are made famous. And she is doing that because she has seen and heard of the power of God and has embraced that and it has changed her life and her identity and so she now puts that faith into action.}

^{What do you think we would be saying about Rahab right now if she had not done her part in furthering the kingdom of Israel? We wouldn't! Her name and her family would have died in the battle of Jericho because even if she didn't do her part, it was God's will that Israel take back that land and I am convinced that He would have provided another way out for those spies and His will would be done.}

^{God's will is going to be done even today. And you can choose to be a part of it. You can make the decision to do what God asks you to do to further}

^{Kingdom or you can choose not to. He doesn't force you to do anything but when you choose to not prove your faith with actions then it means that your faith is dead. James chapter 2 says so. It also says that a faith without deeds cannot save a man. In other words, if your life is not reflective of God's will in obvious ways then you have a salvation problem.}

^{I want to close now by asking you to think about these 3 points we have gone over. Believe it or not, I don't break these down into points just because that's what preachers are supposed to do. I want you to right now think about what God is telling you today.}

^{Have you heard, seen, accepted and believed in God's power and embraced it in your life? If not I need to talk with you further and would love to do that right now.}

^{Has accepting God's power into your life changed your life and given you a new identity? If not i need to talk with you right now.}

^{Has your faith been turned into action by your intent to further the Kingdom of God? I'll be glad to talk to you about that but I want you to hear from God first. What is He asking you to do? You say you have no skills and you are scared to witness; that you can't be a missionary or a teacher? Tell God you are willing to do your part if He will just reveal His perfect will to you. Tell Him that because of Who He is and because you know He has the power to create a new and different beautiful sunset each evening that you have faith that He will protect and provide for you no matter what He asks you to do.}

"Real Characters" - Joshua

“Real Characters –Joshua” Joshua 7

We have talked many times about the cycle that is seen so often in the Bible. This cycle starts with the people being obedient and then God blesses and then what happens? Satan attacks. You see it over and over all through the Bible and we have even seen it in our own lives and in the life of this church. We are obedient to what God tells us to do, then we see God bless us but then Satan always attacks. I’ll be real honest with you and tell you that part of me is thinking it’s starting to get old.

 

I mean, I just wish that for once we could be obedient and be blessed without Satan coming around wanting to rip out our jugular vein. Why does it have to be that way? I know that realizing that there is a cycle is helpful. It helps us to be aware and not be taken off guard but Satan is very powerful and sometimes even knowing that he is about to attack doesn’t make the battle any less intense. Do you know what I mean? It seems to me that since God is more powerful than the devil that God could just allow us to enjoy being blessed for a while. In fact, maybe it means that we are doing something wrong. Maybe we have displeased God somehow and so He allows Satan to attack. Oh, wait, I know. I bet it’s because God doesn’t love us very much that He allows those attacks.

 

How could He love us as He says He does and allow us to be ravaged by Satan’s schemes? That’s just not fair! He must just be a big old meanie-head up there getting His kicks watching us struggle. Do you believe that? Don’t tell me it’s never crossed your mind. If you are honest and you have been on this planet for more than a few months you would probably admit to thinking something along those lines. “God’s not fair!”

 

 Well, let me address this real quickly with 2 thoughts. #1, God never promises that life will be fair, but #2, we can’t see the whole picture so we have a skewed version of what is fair.

 

So, why would God allow us to be tempted and seduced and attacked by Satan? Is it to punish us? Is it to make us suffer? Is He too busy to help or too powerless? The apostle Paul knew the answer to this question. He knew from experience what it was like to be attacked, to be tempted, to have Satan go for his jugular and in Ephesians 1:17 he says, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” So that you may know Him better! He wasn’t praying that they would be comfortable. He didn’t pray that for himself. In Philippians 3:10 he said, “I want to know Christ…”

 

When the wife of missionary Adoniram Judson told him that a newspaper article likened him to some of the apostles, Judson replied, "I do not want to be like a Paul...or any mere man. I want to be like Christ...I want to follow Him only, copy His teachings, drink in His Spirit, and place my feet in His footprints...Oh, to be more like Christ!"

 

So when we go through difficult times, we know that if we continue to be obedient, if we respond correctly that it will make us godlier…but it takes time. Life comes to us in steps. We often do not move to one level until we have finished a previous one. Sometimes it takes longer to move from one level to another than we imagine.

 

Five year old Cindy was so excited to go to Kindergarten. She came home saying, “Mommy, I did it, I did it. I went to school. I’m a big girl now”. Her mother said, “That’s wonderful Honey. I’m so glad you enjoyed yourself. You’ll probably even have a more wonderful time tomorrow.” Cindy looked at her Mom with a shocked look on her face and said, “What? You mean I have to go back again?”

 

Last week we started the series entitled “Real Characters” and we looked at how Moses was obedient when God called him and what he did right. Today we continue our look at “Real Characters” with Joshua and we will see what he did wrong. As you turn to Joshua chapter 7, let me ask you a question. What has been your greatest victory in life? Has it been overcoming some disease? Maybe you won a big award. You got a certain job you had always wanted. Some of you men might think of marrying that beautiful girl next to you as your biggest and best accomplishment. You ladies may think putting up with that dufus next to you for all these years has been your big victory. Whatever it is, you know the feeling of finally overcoming the obstacles and finally reaching the goal and how good that felt.

 

You felt strong and confident, like you could take on the world. And if you are like Joshua, what came next…was huge failure. Here we go with that vicious cycle we were talking about. God told Joshua to walk around the city of Jericho 7 times and on the 7^thtrip the walls around the city came down like dominoes and they conquered the city with little resistance. High fives all around. Give God glory, throw a party, have a BBQ, crank up the tunes and let’s dance. The people were obedient. God blessed and then…failure.

 

 Satan attacked with a temptation that Achan fell into and caused huge problems. But before we get into who Achan was and what he did I want us to look at this from Joshua’s eyes. Let’s read Joshua 7, starting with verse 2 and going through verse 9 remembering that Joshua and the Israelites are hot off of a huge victory of Jericho .

 

²Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel , and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.³ When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” ⁴ So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, ⁵ who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.⁶ Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. ⁷And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan ! ⁸ Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? ⁹ The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name? ”

 

There are 3 things I want us to see in this passage; 3 ways that we can learn from Joshua’s mistakes and keep ourselves from similar calamity.

 

1) They overestimated themselves.

2) They overlooked their enemy.

3) They underestimated sin.

 

Go back to verse 2 and tell me what is missing from that verse. Read. That sounds like a pretty good plan. They did that just before they took Jericho . What’s missing? Well, just before they took Jericho , Joshua did something in chapter 5, verse 14 I want to read. “Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him,“What message does my Lord have for his servant?” Joshua talked with God before Jericho . There is no record of him doing that before the attack on Ai. Mistake #1.

 

And with that mistake it is easy to let pride start to creep in and it’s easy to start to think , “You know, I did pretty well out there. I’m a pretty good commander. I am a good warrior. I’m a good husband or wife. I must be quite a pastor. Look at what I did.” And you easily start to overestimate who you are and what you can do.

 

President Obama recently offended some people with something he said. I know, that’s not news. Every time any president ever opens his mouth, somebody is going to be “offended” but recently he said to people who own their own business, “You didn’t build that.” A lot of people who had built their businesses from scratch took offense to that and rightfully so but it is one thing for the president to say it. It’s another thing for God to say it. God could have told Joshua, “Hey, you didn’t do that. I did that. I made the walls around Jericho fall down. All you did was stroll around the outside.”

 

Proverbs 16:18 is so simple. Little kids quote it. Newscasters quote it. Everybody knows the verse but how true it is. “Pride goes before destruction.” I bet after the battle of Ai, Joshua put that verse up on his mirror in the bathroom where he saw it every morning. Well, he would have if it had been written…and he had a mirror…or a bathroom.

 

A preacher, a Boy Scout and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot came back to the cabin and said the plane was going down and there were only 3 parachutes and 4 people. The pilot added, “I should have one because I have a wife and 3 kids.” So he took one and jumped. The computer whiz said “I should have one because I’m the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me.” So he took one and jumped. The minister turned to the Boy Scout and sadly smiled and said, “You are young and I have lived a rich and fulfilling life. You take the remaining parachute and I will go down with the plane.” The Boy Scout said, “Relax preacher. The smartest man in the world just jumped out of the plane with my backpack.”

 

It’s easy to overestimate ourselves especially when God has blessed us and that is one reason He allows Satan to have some access to us; to remind us of who we really are and who He really is and to make us more like Him. Even Jesus Himself realized this as He prayed in the garden, “Not My will, but Yours.” And when we learn not to overestimate ourselves and allow God to get the glory, that makes us more like Jesus.

 

Now I want to talk a little about Mr. Achan. Achan was a warrior who participated in the battle for Jericho . We don’t know much about him except what is written in a few verses of chapter 7. But in reading these, I believe we will learn about the dangers of overlooking our enemy. I first want to read a couple of background verses starting in chapter 6, verses 16-19:

 

Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury."

 

That’s pretty clear. There’s not much room for any excuse right there but Achan gave in to temptation and let’s read just verse 1 from chapter 7. “But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel.” Now, if you are paying attention, and several of you are, you may be wondering why I’m talking about Achan’s sin when I started this segment by saying we shouldn’t overlook our enemy. “Hey Todd, aren’t you supposed to be talking about Ai? That was the enemy of Israel that they overlooked, right?”

 

Do you remember back in grade school when the bully, brat, punk kid next to you would reach over and pull the hair of the girl in front of you and then move back over real quick? She would turn around and see you and slap you and no matter how much you tried you couldn’t convince her it was the other guy. That’s what is going on here. Israel ’s enemy was not really Ai. It was Satan. When they went against Jericho and let God fight the fight, they hardly did anything and God gave them victory. But then Satan attacked and one of Satan’s favorite tricks is to attack and make you think it was somebody else. Just like he wanted Israel to think their enemy was Ai and to come up with a plan to defeat them, he wants you to think your enemy is something or somebody it is not and then you start to figure out a way you can defeat the wrong person.

 

Your enemy is Satan. Sweet family, our enemy is not our neighbors. It’s not even the atheists. It’s not the weird guy down the street. Our enemy is not the Democrats…well maybe…no, it’s really not. And I will tell you with emphasis that your enemy is certainly not sitting in these chairs! When that bully would pull that girl’s hair, she would turn around and slap you and that just made that bully’s day. He would laugh so hard because he hurt both of you and never got in trouble. Satan is the same way especially when you look at a member of this family as someone to do battle with. Satan wins that battle no matter what. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, remember?

 

Instead of trusting God to meet all of his needs, Achan gave in to Satan’s schemes. He overlooked his real enemy and when he gave in to temptation, he also underestimated the power of sin. We often talk about BOOCOD, the benefits of obedience and the consequences of disobedience but we don’t always talk about how powerful the consequences are. It would be bad enough if the consequences of sin only affected us but they rarely do. And we know in our hearts that God is displeased when we sin but by the way we live our lives it is obvious that we think God is a doddering old grandpa who shakes his head and says with a sigh, “Well, kids will be kids. What are ya gonna do?”

 

We teach our kids that the definition of sin is anything that displeases God and that is a good definition but we tend to not think that God hates all sin. He hates it and therefore sin has consequences. God told Joshua that there was sin in the camp and they needed to rectify the situation ASAP. God was not going to overlook sin. He didn’t underestimate the gravity of the situation. It had already cost the lives of 36 warriors and the good name of the Israelites but the consequences didn’t end there. Read in verse 15 what God tells Joshua about the sin.

 

“He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the LORD and has done a disgraceful thing in Israel !'"

 

Do you think God was really serious about that? Do you think He would really kill a person for stealing? Read verse 24-26.

 

“Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today." Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger.”

 

Man, I’m glad God has mellowed over the years aren’t you? I’m so glad He has changed and doesn’t feel as strongly about sin as He used to. I mean, surely He has changed. We don’t hear about people dying from sin anymore, do we? But if He has changed, then what do we do with all those passages saying he doesn’t change. Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17 all say that God has never changed and never will so evidently God still hates sin. So why was God so harsh with Achan? Was that just His Old Testament wrath? Well, no. Annanias and Sapphira also met the same fate. So, how do we explain it?

 

I would say that nothing, least of all God, has changed. Instant death for sin was never the standard, not in the Old or New Testaments. Neither is death the standard for today but it does happen; just maybe not in as dramatic of a fashion as Achan. Even today you hear about somebody taking drugs for the first time and od’ing. It’s not unheard of for a kid to get drunk for the first time on prom night and not ever make it home. Some people have sex outside of marriage just once and contract AIDS.

 

The point is that sin has consequences. Not just for the sinner. Achan’s whole family, his wife, kids, animals, and all his stuff was lost forever because of what we might consider a small sin. But that small sin put Jesus on the cross. That little thing you do that you think nobody knows about and nobody cares…that put Jesus on the cross. That little bad habit, that peccadillo, that thing that the guys at work laugh about, Jesus died a cruel death so you could be forgiven of that and He did that for you because the wages of sin is death. Not just the big sins, not just a whole bunch of sins, but one sin. And God hates that one sin so bad that He sent His only Son to die for you so that you wouldn’t have to.

 

Every temptation we have is an opportunity to grow. Every attack of Satan is a chance for us to overcome and when we overcome, it makes us more like Jesus. That’s our goal. Knowing that helps to make sense of a passage like James 1:2 that says to consider it all pure joy when trials come. So, instead of complaining that Satan is always attacking, just welcome that attack. God gives us the armor we need to withstand it, per Ephesians 6. We know that God will never leave us nor forsake us, per Deut. 31 and we know that all things work for our good, per Romans 8 –if we don’t overestimate ourselves, overlook our enemy or underestimate sin.

 

"Real Characters" - Moses

“Real Characters –Moses” Exodus 3:10-15

Let me ask you a question. Where were you when your life completely changed? By that I mean do you remember where you were and what you were doing when something happened that completely changed your life? Maybe it was the beginning of your walk with Jesus. Most of you were probably in church but not necessarily. I hope you would include that as a life-changing event. If not, I need to see you after the service so we can talk about it. Where were you when your wife came to you and told you for the first time that she was pregnant? At least I hope she was your wife. If not, then again, I need to talk to you after the service. Pregnancy has a way of changing your life a little bit, right?

I’m sure if you were alive you remember where you were when you heard JFK was shot. Some of you may remember where you were when you heard Lincoln got shot but I’m not going to ask for any hands on that. We can all remember what we were doing on September 1^st, 2001 when we first heard the news of the twin towers and the airplanes. And ever since that day our whole world has changed, hasn’t it? We went to war. The way we fly in airplanes, our treatment of other nationalities, our appreciation of the flag and our troops; all of that has changed.

So many times things like this happen just as our world starts to settle down. Just when we retire and get all the kids all grown up and living semi-responsibly something comes along and God lets us know He is not ready for us to sit on the sidelines just yet. Or maybe you finally feel like this is the right job for you and the money is finally starting to show up and things look pretty good and God says, “Um, yea, that job that you like so much, I need you to walk away from that and do this thing over here that you have no experience with.” And everything in your life changes and all the plans you made go down the drain.

You’ve heard it said that if you want to hear God laugh, just tell Him your plans. James 4:13-14 says, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

We are starting a new series today I’m entitling “Real Characters”. For the next few weeks we will look at some different people of the Old and New Testaments and see how we might become more Godly by seeing what they did right and what they did wrong. The first character we will study is Moses. Now, up until Jesus, Moses was the most important character in Hebrew history. Just like when you talk about who was the greatest boxer who ever lived and somebody will say Joe Louis. Somebody else will say Joe Frasier or even Mike Tyson but the end of the conversation comes when somebody says Muhammed Ali.

In the same way, I can envision a conversation between Jewish Rabbis thousands of years ago talking about the important people in their history. One would mention all the things Abraham did. Then Jacob and then Isaac and even David but Moses ends the conversation. He wrote the first 5 books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. You might remember the 10 Commandments. God gave those to Moses. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, He talked to Elijah and Moses. There’s a pretty cool story about how he was put into the river as a baby and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. When the Bible (New and Old Testament) talks about “The Law”, that is the Law of Moses. You might say he was a pretty big deal back in his day. If he lived today he might even be a judge on American Idol. He was that big.

But most of the really important stuff happened to Moses when he was, what we would call, in the twilight of his life. His first 40 years had been fairly tumultuous but the next 40 years things seemed to settle down. He was content to herd some sheep around. His life was predictable and good. He had a few shekels in the bank, the kids were growing or grown and finally Moses had a good grip on his life. That’s when God introduced Himself.

Turn, if you would, to a very familiar passage in Exodus chapter 3. In this chapter we read about Moses seeing the burning bush and upon getting closer, he hears the voice of God that tells him that God has heard the cries of His people who were slaves in Egypt. At that Moses must have been overjoyed. Finally they were going to get some help. He told Moses that He had heard and was ready to deliver them. I bet Moses was saying, “Yea God, you get ‘em!” And then God tells Moses to go because Moses was going to be the one through whom all this happened. Can’t you just see the face of Moses change? His eyes got big. His eyebrows went to the top of his head. His jaw dropped.

Let’s read what happened in Exodus 3, verses 10-15.

10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you[a] will worship God on this mountain. 3 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.[b] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,[c] the God of your fathers —the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob —has sent me to you.’“This is my name forever,the name you shall call mefrom generation to generation.

In just the matter of a few minutes, Moses' world has gone from safe, secure and stable to shaky, senseless and scary.  Maybe you can relate to that.  Maybe you know how he feels to some degree.  How do you face tomorrow when everything you know has been turned upside down?

I want us to see just 2 things today.  There are 2 things we can learn from this passage about how to face an uncertain tomorrow and God put them here for just this reason, so that we would learn them and live them.

1)  God is present.  2)  God is personal.

You see, there is more to this command of God than meets the eye.  Yes, it is going to be a long trip.  Yes, Moses is getting up in years and yes, the thought of a sheep farmer convincing a pharaoh to let 3 million slaves walk out the front door is ridiculous.  But Moses is also a murderer.  He killed a man back there in Egypt and the last he heard Pharaoh was looking to kill him.  Add all of that together on top of the fact that Moses had no experience, had trouble speaking, he had that sin hanging over him and it's no wonder he asks God in verse 11, "Who am I to do this?"

Moses gets a lot of flack for asking God that question.  Preachers all the time say he should have just said, "Yes, God.  Ok.  Send me."  And that's easy for them to say.  I would have said something similar, I think.  Moses wanted to hear from God why he was chosen.  Moses wanted to hear God say, Well, it's because of your good heart and your willingness to be used." 

Moses wanted some affirmation about what it was in him that made God choose him.  But instead of God telling Moses he was a good person or he was smart or it was because he was good-looking, God says nothing about Moses because there was nothing about Moses that was special.  Look at what God says instead in verse 12.

"I will be with you."  "I will be with you."  God says, "I got this.  There is nothing special about you old man!  Just do what I tell you to do and let me worry about what happens!  Let me worry about Pharaoh.  Let me worry about putting words in your mouth.  Let me worry about what happens next."

And I love the guarantee that God gives Moses that everything will be ok.  Sometimes we want to make God promise us that He is going to handle everything and here God tells Moses that the proof that I am going to be with you is that you will come back here when it's all over and worship me.  You will see proof when it's all over, not before it starts. 

Ok, I have another question for you.  What do you think would have happened if Moses had heard all of this, sat down on a rock with his arms folded and told God, "No!"?  Would God cry and beg and try to talk him into it?  Would God strike him deaf and make him talk in pig Latin?  I can't speak for God in a hypothetical situation but whatever God chose to do His will would be done. 

Maybe God would have chosen one of Moses' own sheep to go to Pharaoh and talk, I don't know.  I don't know why God chooses people at all to do His work but that is how He chooses to do most things, through other people.  You see, your qualifications for the job have nothing to do with it.  In that respect, it is not about you.  But when you are obedient and you allow God to use you, then it is also for your benefit.

I remember when I was a kid watching Candid Camera with Allen Funt.  One episode he had somebody pretend to be a school guidance counselor.  He called 2 high school boys into the office of the counselor and had them fill out all this paperwork describing themselves and what qualifications they had and what their dreams were.

The supposed counselor went out and came back in a few minutes and announced to the 2 boys that they would be perfect candidates to start a career in shepherding.  “You will be great shepherds, I’m sure.”  You can imagine the looks on the boys’ faces.

If qualifications were how God chose what He wanted Moses to do, Moses would have been called to be a shepherd.  But God was with Moses and what did Moses get out of the deal?  Well, we talked about some of it earlier.  He became one of the most important men to ever walk the planet.  And the path to get there included having his faith strengthened, his character proven, his wisdom increased, and his Heavenly blessing count went through the roof!  All because God was present in his life as he was obedient.

Now, let's look at how God was personal to Moses.  I have to admit that Moses is a lot more clear-headed talking to God than I would be.  I'm afraid I would babble something about the bush still burning or something stupid but Moses is actually thinking this through.  Moses asks God a very logical question and I love God's answer to it.  Read 13 and 14.

Names meant a lot more back then than they do to us now.  The name Moses meant “drawn out of the water”.  That makes sense.  It tells something about the person. 

A man was invited for dinner at a friend's house. Every time the host needed something, he preceded his request to his wife by calling her "My Love", "Darling", "Sweetheart", etc., etc.
His friend looked at him and said, "That's really nice after all of these years you've been married to keep saying those little pet names."

The host said, "Well, honestly, I've forgotten her real name."

Names don’t mean as much to us anymore but back then your name defined your life and your ministry.  Moses is actually checking to see if God could deliver if he returned to Egypt.  Now to us that sounds ridiculous.  We would say that we know God is powerful enough to deliver us.  We would never question God about that, right?  Only someone with an immature faith would question God’s power.

Well, if that’s true then how do you explain our sin?  Because all sin is a lack of faith in God’s power.  You may say with your mouth that you believe God is powerful enough but when you do something you know is wrong, you are telling God with your actions that you don’t believe He is powerful enough to see you through. 

When you don’t tithe, you might as well have a neon sign on your head that says “I Don’t Trust God”.  When you lie, you are telling God that you don’t believe He is powerful enough to deal with the consequences of the truth.  When you lust you might as well holler out that God can’t provide everything you need.

When God said “I AM”, He is saying that He is the answer to every question, the solution to every problem, the satisfaction of every need.  He is all-powerful and all-knowing AND He is personal.  He is not just the God of Moses.  He is not just the God of the universe, some “Higher Being” like Mother Nature or the earth God or the sun God. 

He is your God and you can choose to ignore Him or you can put other things in front of Him, you can even deny He exists but you have to make some kind of personal decision about Him whether you like it or not because God is personal.

I met a man in New Orleans who told me that God had killed his son and so that is how he knew God didn’t exist.  You say that doesn’t make sense and you’re right but it makes as much sense as saying with your mouth that God is all-powerful but continuing to prove with your lifestyle that you don’t believe He is.

In Mark 9, a father brings his son to Jesus to heal him from an evil spirit.  The man asks Jesus that if He can, would He please heal him.  To that Jesus replies that everything is possible for him who believes.  I can relate to the father’s response to Jesus after that.  The man said, “I do believe.  Help me overcome my unbelief.”

Moses was the same way.  In the next chapter he asked God  what was going to happen when people don’t believe that God sent him.  Moses believed God.  He believed Him enough that he was willing to do what God said but he just asks for some help with his unbelief.  What happens?  God performed a miracle right there and turned the staff in Moses’ hand into a snake.

God was telling Moses that “I AM.  I CAN.  I WILL.  I have the power.  I have the knowledge.  I am aware of your situation and if you are obedient to Me then I will provide everything you need.”

Do you believe that today?  Do you believe that we are here today to worship the same God Moses worshipped?  Do you believe Jesus when He claimed that same name?  In John 8, the Jews asked Jesus, “Who do you think you are?”  Jesus replied, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.”

Are you going to continue to ask for a sign before you truly believe?  Just in this little group we have seen staffs turn to snakes.  We have seen that God can make an electric bill shrink.  He continues to put the right people at the right place at just the right time.  He has proven that he can heal knees, hips and necks.  He has protected us from fire, theft, storm, traffic and ourselves.  He has taken a church with a bad reputation and turned it into a place people know they can come to get help.

Moses would look at all that and say, “Wow!”  Moses was a biblical character but he was a real character.  He was a real shepherd tending real sheep on the side of a real hill and he had real problems and real doubts just like us.  But God proved Himself to Moses just as He has proven Himself to us.  He was present and personal with Moses and He is present and personal with us today.

And He wants to have a growing, dynamic relationship with you this morning, right now through His Son Jesus, the Great Shepherd.