Address—Robert Boulard
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Let's sing together #285.
The last verse says this to us. Thy cross is life and health. Twas shame and death. To Thee our present glory, joy and wealth, our everlasting stay #285 blessing on our meeting.
Our loving God and our Father we thank.
Just before I turn to the passage of Scripture that I'd like to read here this afternoon, I'd like to turn to Colossians chapter 3 and verse 11 and just read it.
In the way that the new translation reads it.
Just at the end of the verse Colossians chapter 3 and verse 11 Says there just the last sentence it says but Christ is all and in all or Mr. Darby's translation he translates it this way. Christ is everything.
And that's the truth. For a believer, Christ is everything. Everything else in this scene is going to be left behind.
None of us is going to take anything out of this wicked world. And we live in a scene that is governed by the God and the Prince of this world, and he desire us to reach out and take something that he hasn't given us. But God has given us Christ, and he's everything He should be the one that satisfies our hearts in every way. And so he satisfied God and that work on the cross finished holy work. And so we're made fit and presentable to a holy God.
This afternoon. But He desires to have our hearts affections, He desires us that we would just lay hold on that which is really life.
And go on together, waiting for his coming, waiting for the coming of the Lord, while we.
Just go on together in fellowship with himself. Well, I would just like to turn to the book of Joshua.
And I'll read just Chapter 7. Perhaps we could, uh.
Let's read the the last part of chapter 26, Joshua chapter 26 or chapter 6 and verse 26, and then we'll read all of Chapter 7.
Joshua chapter 6 and verse 26 And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, cursed be the man before the Lord, that rises up and buildeth the city Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his first born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was noise throughout all the country.
But.
The children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing, for Akan the son of Carmi the son of Zabdai, the son of Zira of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.
And Joshua sent min from Jericho to AI, which is beside Bethaven on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed AI. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all 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. So there went up thither of the people about 3000 men.
And they fled before the men of AI, and the men of AI smote of them about 30 and six men.
For they chased them from before the gate, even unto Shibarim, and smote them in the going down. Wherefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water. And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, until the evening tide, and the even tide, he and all the and the elders of Israel.
And put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan?
To deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us would to God we had been content, and to dwell on the other side. Jordan, Oh Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and the all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name? And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up.
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Wherefore Elias, thou thus upon thy face Israel hath sin. And they have also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them. For they have taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and have dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turn their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed.
Neither. Neither will I be with you anymore.
Except ye destroy the accursed from among you up sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against the moral. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee. O Israel, thou canst not stand before thine enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. In the morning, therefore, you shall be brought before brought according to your tribes, and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof.
And the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households, and the household which the Lord shall come, shall take, shall come man by man. And it shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire. He and all that he hath, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath brought wrought folly in Israel. So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes.
Judah was taken, and he brought the family of Judah, and he took the family of the Zahra Heights, and he brought the family of the Tsar Heights, man by man. And Zabdai was taken, and he brought his household man by man. And Akan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdai, the son of zero of the tribe of Judah, was taken. And Joshua said unto Eakin, my son, give, I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done.
Hide it not from me. And he can't answer Joshua, and said, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. And when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them. And behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran into the tent, and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and set and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. And Joshua, and all Israel with him took a can, the son of Zeera, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his ***** and his sheep, and his tent.
And all that he had.
And they brought them under the valley of Acor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised up, and they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of the that place was called the Valley of Acor onto this day. 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, his people and his city and his land.
And thou shalt do to AI and her king, as thou didst unto Jericho and her king.
Only the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves.
Lady in ambush for the city behind it. So Joshua arose and all the people of war to go up against AI. And then let's just read one other verse in the New Testament. We'll read, we'll read some other verses, but I'd just like to turn to Revelation chapter 3.
And, umm.
Let's just read verse 17. Well, let's read verse 16, Revelation chapter 3 and verse 16.
So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and thou anoint thine eyes.
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With I sell that thou mayest see as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
Well, you know, we read this portion in Joshua chapter 6 and Chapter 7 and a little bit of chapter 8, and they're difficult. Uh, it's a difficult passage sometimes to read and to think of oneself in connection with it, you know, But, umm, I feel the weight of it in my own soul. And that is that, you know, this city of Jericho is a picture of this world and this particular character, and that is.
That umm, Jericho, the name means the constant pleasant odor. And Jericho as a picture of this world is a constant pleasant odor to the flesh in your life and in mind. Even though we're the children of God, the fleshiness desires to have something that Jericho has. And Jericho as a part of this world would also speak to us as that which is the good life, the good life.
You know we live in North America.
And we have a good life. Many of us in this room have had a six figure income. Perhaps some have had even more than a six figure income. And we know what it is to have whatever we desire to have in our hearts. And sometimes I have to say with shame that has been to my own spiritual detriment, that I've been able to go out and buy things that I ought not to have had. And so, you know, the Spirit of God brings before us the seriousness of what covetousness is, the seriousness of it in the sight of a holy God. And that is we pass through Jericho as the Lord Jesus did you know it says in.
Luke's Gospel chapter 19, that the Lord Jesus entered into and passed through Jericho. He entered into the scene that was the curse, the city of the curse, and he didn't touch anything and take it for himself. He couldn't the man of God, perfect, sinless.
Holy man of God, he didn't take anything that God didn't give him. But you know, we find in this little picture.
In the Word of God in Joshua, a little picture of that which hinders the people of God in the path of faith and how quickly communion is lost because of covetousness and it wasn't even discerned. You know that we'll just briefly go through this in Chapter 7. It's Chapter 7, verse one. It says there that in verse one, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.
You know, there have been just a great victory. Rod Jericho had fallen.
It had been judged, the walls had come crashing down and Joshua had taken it says in verse 21 of chapter 6.
That they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both men and women, young and old and ox and sheep and *** with the edge of the sword. There was a great victory. And you know, you find a little bit earlier on, I think it's Chapter 5.
Yes, chapter 5 and verse 13. I'd just like to read this, it says.
Joshua 5 and 13 It came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, or stood a man over against him.
With his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him, and said, Art thou unto him? Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come? And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loosed thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest as holy. And Joshua did so. You know the Lord gave him instruction as to how Jericho was going to be taken.
And Joshua, the book of Joshua really could be parallel to the book of Ephesians, that little letter in the New Testament. And it you know, the children of Israel were going to go out and go into possess the land and they were going to be given a good land that flowed with milk and honey and God himself was going to give it. But it was going to be the Lord that was going to give them direction as to how to take that land. And you know, we find that communion was lost because of disobedience and inverse Chapter 7 and verse one, the first word there says, but the children of Israel committed a trespass. I want to read it the way it's.
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Written and translated in the New Translation. But the children of Israel committed unfaithfulness in that which had been brought under the curse.
Let me read that again. The children of Israel committed unfaithfulness in that which had been brought under the curse.
And so God saw what had taken place and God seized what's in your heart and mind. God sees what we reach out to take with our hands that God didn't give us. And you know, I often think of how Abraham it says in Genesis, I think it's chapter 13, he says, umm, I have lift up my hand unto the most high God. It's chapter 14 and verse 22. He says to the king of Sodom, I have lift up my hand unto the Lord, the most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth.
And so Abram is a man of faith, wouldn't reach out and take something from the king of Sodom, but he would in dependence upon the Lord, wait for the Lord to give him what he needed. And if he had something, he had an empty hand and he needed something, he would turn to the Lord and receive from the Lord what he needed. Well, we find here that the communion is broken and Joshua is part of the oversight in Israel. Didn't even know it. And whole house subtle. The enemy is beloved brethren, I feel it in my own soul how often communion with the Lord is broken so quickly.
And we don't even know it because, you know, there's a progression and I want to just read it just a little bit further on in Chapter 7.
It says in verse 21.
There's a progression when it comes to.
The communion being lost, and it was very quick. Just took a look, it says in verse 21 when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment.
So he saw, that's the first thing he saw, 200 shekels of silver. He saw a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight. Then it says I coveted them. That's the second thing. And then it says I took them.
He took them and behold, they are hid. That's the thing, what he did. He took them and he hid them. And so, you know, there's a progression. I saw, I took, I coveted, I took, and I hid in the earth in the midst of my tent. And so the household was defiled as a result. But how quickly our communion is lost because we took a look at something that we should never have taken a look at.
As it were. And so this is what took place in Akan's life, and his whole household fell as a result.
Well, it says here in verse two that Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI, which is beside Bethaven. You know, Bethaven means the House of vanity. And so it was on the east side of, uh, Bethel. And when it speaks of the east side of the city and so on, or the east side of the altar in connection with the sacrifices, the east side really has to do with that which is done in the sight of God. The sun rises in the east.
And what was done there in umm AI or in Jericho was done in the sight of the Lord, and it was the House of vanity there. Its picture of the emptiness and frustration of that which has to do with this world. And so we find that communion is lost and then there's no inquiry of the Lord. You know, Joshua didn't inquire of the Lord as to how he was going to take AI. And sometimes we get the idea that we're going to go in and possess the truth of God going and possess something of the.
Truth and enjoy something of the Word of God, but we don't get down on our knees and we don't ask the Lord to make it good to us. I think it's good for us to, as we take up the Word of God and read the Word of God, read ministry. We need to pray and ask the Lord for help to understand what we're reading and to enjoy it in our own souls and to apply it for ourselves. Well, Joshua didn't make that inquiry to the Lord. That's the second thing that we find here in this.
This scene there's no inquiry and then it says they return in verse three to Joshua and said unto him, not let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite AI make not all the people to labor thither for they are but few. Well, you know there was self-confidence. There wasn't that dependence on the Lord. You know we find in first Samuel chapter 13 Saul had the same idea. King Saul, he took he called 3000 men out of Israel after two years of being king and he took 2000 men himself and then he gave 1000 men to Josh to Jonathan his son.
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Well Jonathan we find acted in faith and he went and he smote the Garrison of the Philistines with that 1000 men. But you know there were 3000 men chosen here and it wasn't in the dependence upon the Lord. There was self-confidence and they were going to go out and do what they were going to do. You and I can't enjoy and enter into the truth of God except we walk independence upon the Lord and if we have any self-confidence ourselves that we're going to be able to understand the truth of God, be able to walk in it.
Why it's there's going to be?
That lack of communion, and we're not going to walk in it the way we ought to walk. And so it says in verse four that, uh, they went up thither and they fled before the men of the AI. So there was no victory. So in verse one, there's no communion.
In verse 2, there's no inquiry of the Lord. In verse 3 there's no dependence upon the Lord, there's just self-confidence. In verse four, the result is that there's no victory. And then in verse five says there they smote them in the going down and wherefore the hearts of the people melted. And so there was no courage. And then it says that they the hearts became as water. So there was no strength really six things there. It's a downward course.
And it starts with a lack of communion and not even knowing it, just someone in the camp, just someone in the assembly, if I could use that term, going on and taking something from Joshua, from Jericho and living the good life as it were, and desiring to have it. You know, it's very striking here, that and it speaks to my own heart, is that if I take out, reach out and take something of the good life of this world.
Then it may affect my brethren, it may affect my brethren, may not, as it were, be detectable on the outside, but that which is hidden in my tent and my home may affect my brethren. And so there was this secret thing that had gone on. We spoke of that this morning, the hypocrisy, and there was nothing that showed on the outside, nothing detectable, but the eye of God was upon His people, and He knew what was going on.
And so it says here in verse six that Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord.
Until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads.
Well, you know, they did a good thing. They went Joshua's oversight among the people of God and those that were with him. They fell upon their faces when they saw that there was a defeat and there was the discipline of the Lord, they fell upon their faces. And you know, I think that Joshua here, he did the right thing, but I like to say that he did it in the wrong spirit, you know, because he started to blame the Lord and he doubted the goodness of God.
He doubted the goodness of God among his people. He saw what had taken place among the people of God.
And.
He said here in verse seven would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side. Jordan. You would have thought if there was one man among the children of Israel that would never say such a thing. It would be Joshua. He would never say that it was just built into the children of Israel to be discontent, but you would think that Josh was a man of faith who had gone into the land and spied out the land came back with Caleb and still the people.
And spoke well of that land. You would have thought that you never say this. But you know, beloved brethren, we often say things. We often have a heart that's colder than what we admit. And we often say things that we thought that we'd never say. And hear Joshua said something perhaps that he never thought that he would say. And he, as it were said, you know, the Lord wasn't as good as what we thought he was. Well, he was, He is good. And he did desire the blessing of his people.
But God is holy, and He will not have sinned in His presence. And so he was dealing with Israel. And so it says here that they turn their backs in verse 8 before their enemies. For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it. And shall environment round and cut off our name from the earth. And what shalt thou do unto thy great name? I want to point out some things here. You know Joshua, he ran his clothes.
And that's really personal testimony. The oversight needs to feel that, uh, when there's sin, when there's discipline among the people of God, that there is that personal testimony, their personal testimony is affected as well. And Joshua felt that and then he fell to the earth. Why you might say he, there was confusion of face among his, the, in the, in the oversight go over this matter that had taken place that he really didn't understand, hadn't come to his attention yet. There hadn't been that discernment.
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And then it says that he fell on his face before the ark of the Lord until the even time. And so it says that they put dust upon their heads, and so that glory of not authority of the oversight had been marred because of what had taken place. And then he says here, Wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan He lost his confidence. And then it says.
Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side. Jordan, he lost the hope of what it was to be in in that good land. And then it says.
Oh Lord, in verse eight, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? He lost his strength and then it's he didn't have peace. He lost his peace. He thought that they Canaanites would surround them and cut off their name from off the earth. And it says, what wilt thou do unto thy great name? And so there was.
Because of covetousness, because of that which had come in in a secret way, there was a loss to the corporate testimony in verse 9 right at the end there. And so, you know, there wasn't that ability that Joshua saw that that ability to see what had taken place because of this lack of communion and.
I'm not standing up here so that we can point fingers in any way, because I say I feel.
The effects of living in a country that is characterized by Jericho living the good life and living in a place that's a constant pleasant odor to the flesh. You and I don't suffer hunger in the way that other people in this world suffer. We barely suffer anything unless we really expose ourselves. If we expose ourselves even in mentioning the name of the Lord Jesus, why there isn't that reproach as there is in many other countries?
We won't suffer the reproach of Christ as we would in India or some of the other places in this world. But you know, this little picture that's given to us in connection with Joshua at the beginning of his oversight here, There was a great victory and then there's a great failure that takes place. And there's nothing that speaks to me on my own heart. There's nothing that will destroy our communion, your communion and mine with the Lord. There's nothing that will destroy it like covetousness.
When I see something and then there's a progression in my life, I see something and then.
I covet and then I take it and then I hide it, and then it's in the midst of my tent. There's a progression and there's nothing that destroys the communion and a walk with the Lord as there ought to be, as covetousness. You know, there's in Hammer Bay. It's a small community.
Just one St. really, if you go through Hammer Bay, we don't even have a post office. There's a little town 10 minutes to the South macked here and we get our mail there. And, uh, if you took, uh, a drive from Hammer Bay down to Mcteer, you'd find that there were storage units for stuff.
And uh, if you took a drive from Hammer Bay and you drove N to Parry Sound, which is 20 minutes, you'd probably pass three different sets of storage units.
For stuff, there'd be stuff parked outside motor homes and trailers and boats and all kinds of things. And umm, those storage units never existed. Not not very long ago, perhaps 10 years ago in Hammer Bay there, there was no storage units. We didn't need them. People didn't have stuff. But now, you know, even the locals have stuff and they have to store their stuff and they won't get rid of their stuff.
And they keep buying stuff and instead of justice having one storage unit, some have two storage units, some have 3 storage units, some move from a 10 by 10 storage unit into a 10 by 20. And then it's pretty soon it's a 15 by 20. And you know, these units are just filled and filled. But there's unhappy people that have those things that are there in that in that in those storage units. And I just suggest to you, beloved brethren.
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That we have too much stuff and we have got into the habit as this deer man that came under the judgment of God, a can, he reached out and he took something that God didn't give him. And I often think of that verse in First Corinthians chapter 4.
That speaks there to my own conscience.
And the apostle Paul was speaking to the Corinthians.
And he says there.
Let's read umm.
Verse seven. Who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou dost not receive now? If thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it? Now ye are full, now ye are rich. Ye have reigned as kings without us, and I would to God you did reign, that we also might reign with you.
Not an indictment of what was taking place in Corinth. I say it could be an indictment. It was taking place in our own country, here in Canada and in the United States. Everyone of us could read this verse and say he was speaking to us. And so, you know, we've gotten to the habit of reaching out for things that God didn't give us. Well, it says here in, let's just continue in verse 10, the Spirit of God records that the Lord had a conversation with Joshua.
And it was a serious thing of what God had seen. And you and I get a pretty light notion of what we reach out and take and.
God sees it and covetousness is sin. It's wickedness in the sight of the Lord. And it says here in verse 11 That Israel has sinned. I think there's six or seven things that God tells Joshua. He says he sinned, Israel has sinned. Sin is lawlessness. That's what it says in first John three and verse 4.
So Israel is sin and also have also transgressed.
Now transgression means the breaking away from authority, the authority of the Lord and God had given them His word and they weren't to take anything out of the accursed city. In verse chapter 6, if you turn back to chapter 6 and verse 18, it says ye in any wise keep yourself from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed. When you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it, but all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated under the Lord, they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.
Well, God continues here. He says the first thing that Israel has sinned, they've acted in a lawless way, and then they've transgressed. They've broken away from the authority of the Lord in this thing. And then they've taken of the accursed thing. They reached out and took something that wasn't theirs. They touched it and it says they've stolen, they took something that God didn't give them. And then in verse, just the end of verse 11, there they have put it.
Among their own stuff. And so they have stolen, confessed, took it, taken it and concealed it under false pretenses. It says they dissembled. That's really concealing it under a false pretense. And so they'd done this. And then it says in verse 12, right at the end, it says because they were accursed, neither will I be with you anymore, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
Well, they.
Really made themselves.
If I could use this terminology, unpleasant to the Lord, they the Lord takes pleasure in his people and he delighted to bless them. He delighted to bring them across the river Jordan and to bring them into the land of promise. And instead of enjoying his people, the Lord had to look down and he had to say that they'd sinned, they transgressed, they'd taken the accursed thing, they'd stolen, they dissembled, they'd put it among their own stuff and then made themselves filthy in his sight. And so he says to.
Joshua here that there's going to be a remedy.
There's got to be the thing has to be dealt with. And so I just point this out. You know, I read this portion of Scripture and it speaks of the seriousness of sin.
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And you and I might take and buy something that we can afford and every one of us and just not think a whole lot of it. We looked out and saw something that we wanted. We coveted it.
We laid our hands on it, we took it into the house, we hid it, and perhaps no one, no one knows about it, but the Lord sees and, umm, it's a serious thing. It's a very, very serious thing that God brings before Joshua, the children of Israel. And so it needed to be dealt with. And this is what we have here in this portion of Scripture. That covetousness needs to be dealt with. It's just not going to go away. And we might think that God's going to make an exception.
For me, God's gonna make an exception just for this one thing that I have, just for the one thing. It's just he didn't take a lot. And Akan took something that God didn't give him. He didn't take a lot, you might say, and all that city, But you know, he was wanting to live the good life. He had a covetous heart, and he wanted to live something of a good life. He wanted to live in Jericho, as it were, but not be in Jericho, not a part of it. And so you and I, if we really confessed and judged our own spirits in this thing, we would confess that we do like the good life. We do like the things that we see in Jericho. And it's a constant pleasant odor to us as we see these things. And we hanker for those things that might give us comfort and ease and luxury in this scene.
But it was a serious thing in the sight of the Lord, so it says in verse 14.
That there was going to be a drilling down to the get to the root of it. And God was going to do that. He was going to take the tribes, the families, the households, and then man by man and he was going to get down to the root of it. And so that's how sin needs to be dealt with. We need to get to the root of it. And you know, if we've gone out and taken something that we ought not to have, we need to get to the root of it and we need to in the presence of God.
Recognize what it is before him. And you know, that's what characterizes Laodicea is I am rich. I have need of nothing. And we're so used to going and getting what we want, what we saw and just laying our hands on it that, uh, it just doesn't touch us the way it ought to. We don't ask permission to buy what we buy and we just go out and take it. You know, our dear brother Dave Hurlbut and his wife, they, uh, lost their house in a fire. They lost everything.
You know, I looked at the that dear brother and sister after the fire and and saw what was left of the house and, and they felt a loss, you know, that there wasn't the photographs that they had grown up with their wedding album and all kinds of things that were burned up in the fire and what they were happy, they were content. They had the Lord, they had what they needed. And that's why I read, you know, Colossians 3 and verse 11.
Christ is everything. You and I perhaps have stuff all over the place. We have stuff and there's not discontent. There isn't that communion with the Lord. There isn't that satisfying of the heart with the things of God because the covetousness have come in and dulled our senses. And so this is the picture that we have in this little story. And so it says in verse 15.
That there was going to be the government of God in connection with it, and it was going to be according to the word of God.
And so the Lord says, that he that is taken with the accursed things shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. And so you and I affect one another. None of us liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself. Every one of us has an effect on one another. Every one of us has an effect upon the assembly here. Every one of us has an effect upon the family in which.
In the home that we live in and what we take into that home, we have an effect. None of us liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself. That's Romans chapter 14, verse seven. Well, it says here in verse 16.
That Joshua rose up early in the morning, I want to point out.
Several things here in connection with Joshua's dealing with this situation. Perhaps seven things that we could draw out. It says that he rose up early in the morning. And so covetousness when it's dealt with, requires the energy of faith. It really does. We need to rise up early in the morning and it needs to be something when the Lord points it out to us that we need to deal with. It's not going to get dealt with unless we rise up in faith early in the morning.
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Not just slide along and just hope for the best, as it were, but you know, if we really want to walk with the Lord, if we really do feel the emptiness of all of the possessions that we have and all that we've just laid our hearts upon and that have divided our hearts with Christ, why we need to rise up in the energy of faith early in the morning and deal with it. Well, it says in verse 17 that he brought the family of Judah and took the family of the Tsar heights. And he brought the family of the Tsar Heights man by man. And Zabdai was taken and he brought his household man by man. And a can the son of Carmi, the son of Zab die the son of Zahra of the tribe of Judah was taken.
So the second thing is that we need to, in dealing with covetousness, we need to be obedient to the word of God. And so Joshua was obedient. He had a desire that that communion with the Lord would be restored. Is that how you and I desire it? You know, I have to confess that sometimes I've bought things that I've been sorry that I've bought, but once they're bought, you know, it's hard to, to get rid of. And the, some of you know that, umm, we sold our house about a year and a half ago and Ohio, it was a nice house.
Nice brick face house, 3 car garage and just a lovely house and I think oftentimes of how I miss that house and.
You know, that house was filled with furniture and all kinds of things. And then when we sold that house, well, we had a house in Hammer Bay and that was filled with furniture too. It was filled with furniture and it had all the appliances and it had dishes and all that kind of stuff. But.
You know, it was striking to me how much stuff there was in that house in Massillon. And it's amazing to me that you and I that live in a country like this, we could even have two houses. We could even afford to have two houses and have them all furnished and everything. I'm ashamed of myself when I think of it.
But I had to get rid of that stuff. I had to get rid of a whole house full of stuff. Some of it went into the little apartment in Cuyahoga Falls for Jonathan and Annette as they go to college. Just a little apt, 2 bedroom apartment. But I had to get rid of a lot of stuff. And you know, it's hard to get rid of stuff.
Sometimes it's hard to get rid of stuff because it's just stuff. It's not really a value. But you know, thankfully there were those that needed some stuff and they, by the grace of God, were provided.
Some stuff at the same time my father and mother-in-law were declining in health and their house sold on September the 28th and they had to get all the stuff out of that house.
They've been married for 65 years and they went down into a one bedroom apartment and they had a lot of stuff and it was hard to get rid of a lot of stuff. It just had to be got rid of because they didn't have any room for it and they didn't need it anymore. Well, I just say these things, you know, for my own conscience and for yours, a trust that will bear fruit for the Lord that we often acquire those things that are extraneous that we really don't need, but we just see them and we just desire them. We want to have them, we want to possess them and they just don't.
Do anything but hinder us in our walk with the Lord.
Well, Joshua was faithful, he was obedient. Covetousness requires obedience to the word of God if it's going to be dealt with in verses 17 and 18. And then we find in verse 19 that Joshua said to Akan, my son, give, I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him. Tell me now what thou hast done. Hide it not from me. Well, you know in this verse 19, I think that really covetous requires.
Just the faithfulness of confronting the fact that it's sin. We need to be faithful and just to confront it needs to be confronted. And Joshua was faithful and obedient and he dealt kindly with a can. If he could use that terminology, says my son, tell me, hide it not from me. He was faithful in dealing with it. But sometimes, you know, we're just not honest about it. We're not honest about it with ourselves. I don't have too much stuff I need that I might need it someday.
You know, I have a canoe in Hammer Bay. It's sitting under the cottage up at the top of the hill, an aluminum canoe. I haven't used it for years. I don't even remember the last time I used it. It leaks a little bit. So aluminum canoe. I bought it in 1973 and I still have it, but I don't need it. It's just there because I like to have it and I don't have the heart perhaps to get rid of it. It's just stuff. And if I spent time trying to fix it up, I probably would just be wasting my time. But we need to confront these things. I need to confront that issue.
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And to deal with it and not to try to hide it. Well, in verse 20 it says they can.
Answered Joshua and said, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. And so he was faithful. You know, Joshua was faithful in requiring confession of what had taken place. And the Lord wants to hear it from your lips and from mine and from my heart, and say I got something that I shouldn't have.
I wish I hadn't got it. I'm sorry I've sinned, that I made a mistake. That's that's true. Maybe I made a mistake. But really what Joshua heard was good says he sinned.
We sin and we don't like that word. We don't like to use it. Someone else sin, maybe, but I didn't sin. No, we need to say we need to tell the truth. We sin. We need to confront these things honestly. And so he said what he took. I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonious garment. I want to just read it the way it reads in Mr. Darby's translation. It says I saw a beautiful mantle of Shinar.
I saw a beautiful mantle of Shinar.
That's what he saw. You know what Shinar means? Means a casting off of restraint.
I saw something in JA, in Jericho. There was a casting off of restraint. If I put this mantle on, it would be wonderful. I wouldn't have any restraint that I have here among the people of God. The law and all those things were just such a restriction. But boy, this sure would be good to wear. I can just see myself wearing this garment.
A beautiful mantle of Shiner.
SMS You know, my wife went into a grocery store when we lived in Ohio shortly before we moved in Massillon, OH. She went into the grocery store and she had her cart there and she took the groceries, laid them on the counter. And the girl that was ringing up the at the cash register, she said to her, she said, what church do you go to? Janet kind of looked up. He says, what do you mean? He says, uh, lady, what church do you go to?
I said why? Why do you think I go to church?
He says.
Lady, you're dressed like a Christian. You go to church somewhere where you go. And so, you know, Janet spoke to her of the Lord and, uh, I thought to myself, you know, she didn't have the mantle of Shiner. She wasn't wearing that. And we were speaking, you know, of confessing Christ before men. And you sisters have a wonderful, wonderful privilege of confessing Christ before men in a way that I can't do it, that other men can't do it. But a very, very gracious, kind way you can minister Christ to those that.
Are in this wicked world if you just dress in a way that will display the love of Christ and the deportment of a godly woman. Oh, it's a wonderful thing. What a testimony. You know we had a conference in Hammer Bay not too long ago in Canadian Thanksgiving and uh, we use the hotel down the street in Parry Sound actually almost in Parry Sound, a little motel called the Almar and the lady there.
She uh.
We went to pay our bill and, umm, she said, uh, to us, she said this, uh, Janet, uh, said to her, umm, did uh, did you have any difficulty with the folks that, uh, came out to the conference and stayed in your motel? And, uh, she said, Oh no, she said, she said this, She said, oh, the girls, the girls, they were beautiful. All the girls were beautiful. She said, uh, they were wonderful. They weren't made-up.
And she said, I wish I would be, I'd be brought up that way too. He says, you folks can come back anytime. Oh, she said the girls, they were beautiful. And uh, you know, the world sees how you dress, young sister want to encourage you to dress not with the mantle of Shinar, the mantle of a throwing off and a casting off of restraint, but Minister Christ to those that are in this world, the Lord is going to value it. He's going to say in the coming day.
That year they.
Which?
Were my companions in Tribulation always going to?
Just be so thankful that you, uh, went in that way. Well, it says here in uh, verse 22 That uh, Joshua sent messengers and they ran into the tent and behold, it was hid in his tent in the silver was under it. Well, there was an urgency that needed to be dealt with.
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You and I, perhaps when it takes a loss.
To ourselves, something that we have, something that we treasure, something of the flesh that we allow in our own lives. We're very slow to deal with it. And I'm speaking this afternoon very pointedly, and I'm not trying to scold my brethren.
Oh, anything, I would just encourage you. I'd just like to see every one of us go on with affection for Christ, and to lay aside the weight and the sin that thus so easily beset us, and to run with patience the race that set before us.
And to acknowledge that we have things that are weights and we just don't have the urgency to get rid of them and to set them aside in the presence of God. Well, it says in verse 23 that Joshua, he laid them out before the Lord. That's the fifth thing. So let's just recount them here. It says the first thing in verse 16 that he rose up in the energy of faith. Covetousness to deal with requires the energy of faith.
And then in verse 17 and 18.
It needs requires to deal with covetousness. We need to be obedient to the Word of God and then in verse 19 we need to confront that sin.
And then in verse four we need to be faithful and to confess it before our God. And then in verse 23 we need to bring it before the Lord. We need to lay it all out before him. And then a little further on in verse 25, it says all Israel stoned him with stones and burned them with fire. After that they had stoned them with stones. Well, you know this man, because of covetousness he lost his family.
He lost his family.
He had so much stuff that he shouldn't have had. He lost his family.
He ought to have judged it. He ought to. There was mercy. If it says whoso covereth his sin shall not have mercy, shall not prosper, that's whoso confesses and forsake us shall have mercy. But he hid it. He didn't come out and confess it before he was found out. And beloved brethren, I'll just say this. Let's uh, get into the presence of the Lord and confess it before he finds us out.
Let's confess that before he finds this out, and let's seek flea, just sue for mercy for his kindness, because we're affected by these things. And so the stones here speak of our own estimation of what sin is in the sight of holy God. And when I take a stone, as it were, and it's there's judgment among the people of God, there's government of God. The stone that I take is really my own estimation of what sin is in the sight of a holy God. I have an estimation and it's formed by the word of God, and I take that stone.
And it's, uh, I agree, as it were with that government of God in connection with, uh, how he deals with sin. And so it says here in verse 26 that the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. And so, you know, in the grace of God, sin can be dealt with and there can be that communion restored. And then we find in chapter 8 that Joshua goes out.
And he's given direction now from the Lord himself as to how to get a victory.
Over the King of AI and he got that victory. Well, our time is gone. I'd just like to sing #46 in the appendix.