(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, Joshua chapter number 8. Now if you remember last week we dealt with Achan and the sin of Achan because they had already gone up to fight against Ai once before. And after their great victory over Jericho, then they went to go scope out Ai and prepare for that battle. And if you remember, this is going to be pertinent actually right here in the beginning of this chapter. But back in Joshua chapter 7, when they're scoping it out, verse number 3 says, 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 there, for they are but few. And they were kind of lifted up in this attitude like this is going to be no big deal, Ai is nothing compared to Jericho, let's just send about two or three thousand people up. And of course, they got put to the worst, they had to flee and run away, and the reason is because God wasn't with them. And that was all a result of the sin of Achan, he took and stole a garment and some silver and gold and hid it, and God had departed from him. So we dealt with all that last week and now here we are again, after they got right with God, by putting Achan and all that he had to death, that was the punishment to get the wickedness out of the camp. They stoned him, they burned him with fire, everything that he had, his family, everything was destroyed as the curse of Jericho fell upon Achan. And as a result of that, as a result of their actions, as a result of their commitment to being right with God, and not wanting to just be so sensitive, and so embracing of wickedness, and they didn't have that type of mentality of oh, we can't do this, we're too loving for that. No, they loved God more than anything, and they wanted to be used of God, so they followed his commandments. When they found out that there was wickedness, they took care of it the way that God had told them to take care of it. So, as a result of that, because they got right with God, now God's saying great, don't be afraid. Look at verse number 7, the Lord said to Joshua, fear not, neither be thou dismayed. Now you have no reason to fear. Now you have no reason to be scared or discouraged. You lost before, but you're right with me again now. Now you can have all the confidence in the world to go back out and to fight and to do a good work for me, and hey, we need to remember that sometimes. Maybe you do come across a point in your life where you end up, you're not right with God, and you backslide, and you start getting into sin or whatever. Don't forget that you can still be used of God once you just get right with him. Get right with him. Get back in the fight. Get back going again. Now hopefully everyone here, you're all right with God as it is right now, but just keep that in mind for the future. Everybody slips and falls from time to time. Everyone deals with their own sins and their own problems. Don't forget about what happened with the children of Israel and A.I. and this battle here, because once you get back right with God, he'll be with you again. Let's keep reading here. He says, fear not, neither be thou dismayed. Take all the people of war with thee. So now God's coming. He's like, take everybody with you. And arise, go up to A.I. See I have given into thy hand the king of A.I. and his people and his city and his land. And thou shalt do to A.I. and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king. Only the spoiler of and the cattle thereof shall you take for a prey unto yourselves. Lay thee in ambush for the city behind us. So God gives him the battle plan, and he says, you're going to do exactly what you did to Jericho. Basically, they're all going to be destroyed. That's what he means by that. And he's saying the only difference this time is that instead of destroying all the cattle and everything else and dedicating all the goods unto the Lord, because he gets the first fruits, because he gets the first of all the victories and he gets the preeminence, now he's saying the second time around, hey, you guys can enjoy the spoil. You can receive of the reap of the benefits of gaining this victory in this war. You can get their cattle. You can spoil them and take their goods, but everything else is getting burned up. You're still destroying the city and bringing it down to the ground, but now it's your turn. God's first, and then you get to receive the blessing from the victory afterwards. First, number three, so Joshua arose and all the people of war to go up against A.I. and Joshua chose out 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. A little different between two to three thousand people, that they want to do. Ah, don't send everybody out there. Yes, two or three thousand people. Now we send 30,000 people. Now, just to put this in contrast of what they were actually going up against, if you want to skip ahead to verse number 25, we see the results of their victory of how many people died in the battle. It says in verse 25, and so it was that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were 12,000, even all the men of A.I. That also helps give us a little bit more of an idea of kind of how lifted up they were going. Oh, it's not that big of a deal. Only sent two or three thousand people. 12,000 people died. Now I know there were some women, let's say half of them are women. That's still, you know, we're talking like 6,000 men. That's a lot of, that's a lot of, a lot of people. They're pretty confident going up against them, and God's like, no, all of you go and do the work. And you remember, you know, God's always, of course, is capable of saving by few as much as by many. But didn't he also tell the children of Israel, hey, you have your inheritance here. Remember the ones that got their, their inheritance on the other side of Jordan? He's saying, but you still have to go and fight with your brethren. He always wanted all of them in the fight and in the battle. And when there's a battle going on, he's like, I want all of you guys being there. You're all there to support each other. You don't just, oh, now I'm good, and I'm just going to let you go off and get into the fight. And we don't want to let our brothers and sisters down in their spiritual battles. We need to be there for them and support them and be right up there with them. And this goes to anyone that you agree with, that you think is on our side and fighting the same cause, support those people, whoever it is. Members of the church, leaders, whoever it is, you know, one of the things that's, that's damaging to do, and this is something I don't think people are doing this as much anymore, but I was even guilty of this. I remember going out soul winning when I first started going to Faith Ward Baptist Church because it was so hard. Preaching was so foreign to me. I loved it. Don't get me wrong. I loved it. I loved every single minute of it. Every single second of it. I love it. I still love it. It's great, but it was so foreign because I wasn't hearing it from anywhere that it seemed extreme and radical and just, you know, out there. And even when I'd go out soul winning, I'd tell people, you know, it's kind of trying to prep them to like get used to it, but that's not the right attitude to have because there's really nothing abnormal at all about God's word. There's nothing extreme about this. Like the people who should be, you know, a concern about how anyone might think is the world and the wickedness of this world. And, you know, people like that, people who are a promote wickedness, they're the ones that ought to be scared and ashamed or concerned even, even if you're not scared or ashamed, but just concerned about what other people might think. We ought not to care what other people. You don't need to give anyone a disclaimer before they come and be, oh, just to let you know, you know, you might, he might say something that's offensive or might, you know, like you don't need to give those disclaimers for if someone's preaching the word of God. And especially when the tax are coming against the man of God. Don't be embarrassed or ashamed of that. And then, oh, I don't want to have anything to do with, I don't want to have anything to do with those people. You know, there were a few people that when the, when the news media came at faith for Baptist church, they didn't want to be seen on the TV cameras and stuff. And they tried to distance themselves from having anything to do with them, with us, with pastor Anderson. But those are the most important types. See, some people they'll go for a little while and then come back. It's because they don't want to be associated with that. And they, you know, I don't want to have all that attention on me. And, but what they're doing is it's like, they're retreating from the battle and they're just letting their leader to go out and die. Don't do that. Don't, don't leave it. That is the very moment that you need to be there even more. That's the moment when pastor Jimenez needed his, his friends and his supporters more than ever is when all that stuff went down with Orlando nightclub and all the media is attacking them and everyone's going against them. Pastor Logan Robinson, Robinson right now needs people more than ever to stand up with them. So he doesn't just look alone because I'll tell you what, it's going to, the, the, the people who hate God are going to have a field day if everyone just backs away from them, especially those that actually believe in what he's doing and agree with them. But you're afraid to get out there on the front lines. Don't do that. He needs you now more than ever. Everyone should be standing up and saying, yup, I agree 100%. Islam's a wicked religion. Muhammad was a pedophile. Yes, a pedophile. He consummated a marriage with a nine year old. That's a pedophile and it's a wicked religion. We don't back down from that. And I don't care if people don't say things exactly the same way that you might say them. If they're, if they're preaching God's word and if they're standing for the truth and they're boldly proclaiming it, support them. They need your support. Be out there with them. There's a battle going on all over the place. There's all kinds of battles. We need to, we need to stay with them. How did I get off on that? I don't remember how I got that into that. But in any case, let's go back to the chapter here. We have, we saw the, how it lifted up. They were, you know, there's 12,000 of those men that they had defeated going back now to Joshua 8 going to, starting in verse number four. Let's keep reading there. Because now they sent out their 30,000 men. They didn't just send two or three thousand. They're all willing to go out to fight. They're all in the battle. That's where he started from. Everyone was getting in the fight. Okay. And we could all get in the fight too. Stay in the battle. Support, support the leader, support the Joshua's and be right there with them. Verse number four. And he commanded them, saying, Behold, you shall lie and wait against the city, even behind the city. Go not very far from the city, but be ye already. And I and all the people that are with me will approach unto the city, and it shall come to pass when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city. For they will say they flee before us as at the first. Therefore we will flee before them. So he's giving them the battle plans. He's saying, we're going to set up an ambush. So we're going to split up their forces. And I believe it's five thousand men that he puts off into the field, off behind the city where they're not going to be seen. And then Joshua and the rest of the troops are going to go up in the front, just kind of right up to the gates of the city, right up in that field before the city. So they're going to see him. They're going to come out to battle. And the plan is they say, well, we're going to fake it, because they already put them, made them flee before. He says, basically, we're going to make it look like the same thing's happening. That now they're just overpowering us again. We're going to run away. We're going to draw them as far away from the city, because they say, as soon as, as soon as we start to retreat, the second time, he said, he says, I know they're going to follow us. And then all the people from this, all the men and see are going to come out, not just those they sent out, right, to go for the battle, but everyone's going to go chasing them. They're going to draw them far away from the city. So that way, the people in ambush can go in and take the city, burn it with fire, and just completely eliminate any way for them to retreat from the battle. And they could just destroy all of them from that point going forward. So this is the plan. This is what he's explaining to them. Says, then you shall rise up from the ambush, verse seven, and seize upon the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it in your hand. And it shall be when you take the city, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire, according to the command of the Lord shall you do, see I have commanded you. Joshua therefore sent them forth, and they went to lie in ambush and abode between Bethel and Ai on the west side of Ai, but Joshua lodged that night among the people. And Joshua rose up early in the morning and numbered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. And, you know, this is just one small statement here, but this is the way, this is what a leader does. When it says there, it says Joshua rose up early in the morning, he numbered the people, he got all his troops ready, you know, figured his forces, he went up, he and the elders of Israel, he and all the people were supposed to be in charge, all the figureheads, they went up and it says he went before the people to Ai. What does a leader do? They lead. I'm so sick of these modern-day leaders who want to lead from behind, who want to lead and send everyone else to do all the work, who want to lead and not get their hands dirty, who want to lead and not do anything themselves. The pastors and the churches that want to lead, they want to tell everyone else to go soloing, but they won't go soloing themselves. No, a leader needs to lead by example, they ought to be the first ones going out there, leading the charge. Even just humanly speaking, you know, in this country, the way things used to be, I mean, think about the previous presidents of the United States, like George Washington, like so many of them were in the military, right, they were leaders and when they fought in battle, they would lead their troops in the battle. They had courage, many of them had integrity. I'm not saying they're all great people or whatever, but that's the type of person people used to be and just have a little bit more respect for of being a leader. Nowadays it's just, oh this person made a lot of money or, you know, they they they ratted people out when they were prisoners of war, ratted out their other, you know, John McCain, very familiar with that because, you know, being from Arizona, when he was running for president, people like that, those are the types of people that that are now the leaders. It's a disgrace, it's shameful, and you've got all the the government that want to go ahead and start wars with all these countries, but they're not going to go and fight. They're not going to send their kids to go and fight. They're going to send the poor of the land and you send your kids to go out and fight, instead of them leading the way themselves. You know, if you believe in these wars so much, you know, Donald Trump, why don't you get out there and get your boots on the ground? Why don't you lead the way? I don't see him doing that, coward. Joshua had no problem doing it, but see Joshua had no problem doing it because Joshua knew the Lord was with them. There's no way the Lord's going to be with any of these wicked leaders today are going to fight their wicked wars. They have nothing to do with serve with with being a righteous cause at all. You don't have to worry about the leader dying when the leader is serving the Lord. Let's keep reading here, but I love I love that about John. I love that about all the great leaders in the Bible. They just go forward and they lead and the people can go out and follow them. Verse number 11, and all the people, even the people of war that were with him went up in Drew 9. And he goes, all the people went up with him. No one stayed behind. Why? Because he's a good leader. No one had a problem following Joshua. And Drew 9, even though they lost previously, they're like, yep, we're in it. And they saw Joshua and the elders going up there, they're following right after them. And Drew 9 came up before the city and pitched on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between them and Ai. And he took about 5,000 men and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai on the west side of the city. This is kind of interesting. You know, I was doing a lot, I kind of got off on a rabbit trail in my own studies for this passage, but Bethel, if you, I mean, if you know anything, if you read your Bible at all, Bethel is a very important, there's a lot of things that happened in Bethel. That's one of the first places when God sent Abraham out to go into the land of Canaan, in a land he didn't know when he was still called Abram. You know, he went into Bethel and he called upon the name of the Lord in Bethel. We see Jacob also built a pillar, that's where he saw the angels ascending and descending, was in Bethel. And he set up the pillar from the rocks that he laid as his, used as his pillow. And that pillar is the, is, you know, the house of God basically. And so many things happened throughout history at Bethel. So we see here Bethel is really, really close to Ai. Now for as much as you see Bethel mentioned, you don't see Ai mentioned pretty much like any war in the Bible because it's destroyed here in this chapter, just like Jericho was. Now Jericho was rebuilt, but I don't see any evidence of Ai being rebuilt. I'm not saying it wasn't, but it never was significant anymore after this battle. But it was obviously very, very close to Bethel because here it says they were lying in wait in the valley in between these two cities. And we see later that not only did the people of Ai go out after the children of Israel when they pretended to be losing before them, that also the people of Bethel went out and pursued after them in that battle. So it was close enough for them to see what's going on and to join in on that fight against the Israelites. So anyways, that's kind of, I don't want to get too far off now because there's all kinds of things you get into, but it's very, very interesting seeing the paths that the men of God have taken and kind of order they go into places. There's one more thing because I thought it was really cool to I was following and you see like even Elijah when he was traveling around before he was taken up by a whirlwind, he was basically taking the path backwards out of Israel, out of this of the promised land, because he, you remember he ends up crossing the Jordan River before he's taken up into the, by a whirlwind in the heaven. So he went through Bethel, Elijah was with him, and then from Bethel he crossed the Jordan River, and then right after that is when he was taken up by a whirlwind in the heaven. So anyway, I don't want to get too far into that because I had to catch myself because it's all fascinating. There's so many things that go on in the Bible, it's really deep, but let's keep reading here verse number 13, and when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liars in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. So they're all prepared, they got the the ambush ready to go, and then he approaches into the midst of the valley. They came to pass when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle. He and all his people at a time appointed before the plain, but he wished not that there were liars and ambush against him behind the city. And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them, and they pursued after Joshua and were drawn away from the city. So their plans working exactly the way they had expected. Verse number 17, and there was not a man left, look at this, in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after Israel, and they left the city open and pursued after Israel. So their spirits have gone up so much because, remember, when they got there they must have just been dreading that day because of what happened to Jericho, because of everything else that they heard, just like the hearts of the people in Jericho, their heart was smitten, you know, they couldn't fight, they didn't know what to do, because now, you know, they showed up. Ai's got to be thinking even more so, oh man, what in the world's going on? But after that first victory, and now they're turning their backs again, they're thinking this is gonna be a romp, this is gonna be a rout, and they start taking off after them, so much that even Bethel's like, yeah, let's get rid of these people, and they just open up the city. And then it says in verse 18, and the Lord said unto Joshua, stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai, for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city. So basically God's letting Joshua know now is the right time. Now you've drawn him way far enough, and Joshua sticks out that spear, then letting everybody know, those in ambush, that it's time to set the trap, and those that are with them now, that it's time to start fighting back against them. Because they were faking it, they were running away just to draw them far enough away, so then it's gonna be time to start turning around and actually fighting with them again, and while the ambush is being set, and they're starting the city on fire. And it says here in verse number 19, and the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered in the city, and took it and hastened and set the city on fire. And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw and behold the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again and slew the men of Ai. And this language can be maybe a little bit confusing, but it's really not when you understand the basics of what's going on, because it just uses a lot of pronouns, they and them. It says, and the other issued out of the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side, and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape. Basically what this is just saying is that the people who set the ambush at the city on fire, when Joshua gave the signal, they went and did that. At that time, Joshua's men all turned back to fight with the men of Ai. Men of Ai turn around, they see that the city's up and going up in flames. They see that, oh no, our city's being burnt down. And then as soon as the city was lit on fire, that whole 5,000 set of troops that went in to do that, now they're coming out to join the battle. So that way the men of Ai have Israel in front of them and behind them. Basically it's just kind of on all sides. They're surrounded by the Israelites. They can't retreat. They have nowhere to go. They're doomed. So they've got people fighting all around, and that's basically what's taking place here. It says they let none of them escape. Verse number 23, and the king of Ai they took alive and brought him to Joshua. So they killed everyone else. They captured the king. They bring him to Joshua. Verse 24, and it came to pass when Israel made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were fallen on the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai and smote it with the edge of the sword. So basically they go in and finish the job because they were being utterly destroyed, just like they did to Jericho, because that was God's command that that's what they were supposed to do. They were to wipe them all out. So all the men of war are first, of course. They defeat them in battle, and then as soon as that's done, they all head back into the city. They finish the job. And verse 25 says, and so it was that all that fell that day, both of men and women were 12,000, even all the men of Ai, for Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. And I like that phrase, Joshua drew not his hand back. You know, Joshua sets that spear forward, and that spear doesn't come back until everything is done and consumed. Now I personally think this is more of a figure of speech, basically saying that Joshua didn't let up and he didn't relent, but it reminds me of other stories in the Bible where Joshua can learn this from. I think of with Moses, if you want to turn real quick to Exodus 17. There was another battle that Joshua was actually fighting in and Joshua was leading that Moses helped with from afar. In Exodus 17, this is when the children of Israel were fighting the Amalekites. We'll look at verse number nine. Exodus 17, verse number nine, the Bible reads, And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill, and it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And it's just really interesting that this whole battle where Moses is standing there, and he's got his two guys helping him out, Aaron and Hur, just making sure that his hands are able to stay up for that whole battle, because when he had his hands up, when he was pushing forward, they didn't lose. It wasn't until he started to bring his hands up that he started to lose. And after all this stuff happens, God tells Moses, you know what, write all this down in a book. And he specifies Joshua, rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. Make sure Joshua knows this. I think this helped him out in this battle, in this day, where Joshua put his hand forward with the spear, and the Bible says he didn't bring it back again until everything was accomplished and everything's done and they had the full victory. He saw it through all the way to the end. Another point to this, turn if you will to 1 Kings chapter 20. When God tells you to do something, we learned this from the Bible, you do it to the maximum, to the full, to the fullest extent that God says to do something, do it all the way through. Finish the job, see it through completely. Don't give it a half job, do your best, give it all the way full. And this reminds me, as we see again, Joshua doesn't draw back his hand, he sees it through to the end. In 1 Kings chapter 20, we have a story of one of the prophets, a very interesting story, 1 Kings chapter 20. He's going to go preach to the king, but he wants to make it look like he was in the battle, so he tells the guy to hit him in the face. He's like, you know, smite me. And the first guy didn't want to do it, we'll read the story here, look at verse number 35, it says, And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbor in the word of the Lord, smite me, I pray thee, and the man refused to smite him. So he's giving him the commandment of God, look, smite me in the face, the word of the Lord is coming to you. It's kind of an odd command, I'll give you that. But nonetheless, it was in the word of the Lord, he's telling him, look, you need to hit me. You might not have to understand the purpose right now, but this is what you need to do, God wants you to smite me in the face. Verse number 36, so he refused to do it, verse number 36, Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he departed from him, a lion found him and slew him. There's bad news for that guy, he didn't do anything, he didn't obey the commandment of God. But look at the next guy, it says, Then he found another man and said, smite me, I pray thee, and the man smote him, so then smiting him, he wounded him. He's like, all right, I got this. And he gave it his all, right, he smited him and actually wounded him. And you know what, he didn't get in any trouble for wounding him, he did exactly what he was supposed to do, he gave it his all. And he didn't you know, get killed by a lion. So that was some good thing there. So if you go to 2 Kings chapter 13, 2 Kings chapter 13, we'll see another example of, you know, hearing God's command, but not really having your heart all the way in it and not doing it completely all the way through. And some of the consequence of not seeing it all the way through. 2 Kings chapter 13, we're gonna look at verse number 15. The Bible says, And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows, and he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow, and he put his hand upon it. And Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. And he said, Open the window eastward, and he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot, and he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria. For thou shalt smite the Syrians in effect, till thou have consumed him. So he's given the king of Israel all these commands, and he's following them. And he's basically, again, these are like commandments from the Lord. He's saying, you know, this is what I want you to do. You do this, you do this, you do this. And he does them, does them, does them. And there's good news coming. Verse number 18. And he said, Take the arrows, and he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times. Then it's thou smitten Syria, till thou has consumed it. Whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. And again, we just see this, this concept of like, you know, he did it, but he wasn't really all in. You know, he gives it those three taps. He's like, I told you to smite it on the ground. You start smiting on the ground, you know. I tell you to go do, you know, I tell you to get this job done. You get it done. You see it all the way through. God tells you to do something. Put all of your heart into it. Put all of your effort into it. You can't put too much into it. Let's go back to Joshua chapter 8. Joshua was a great leader, a great example to follow. He wasn't the problem when, you know, with the sin. That was Achan's fault. He didn't recognize that Israel wasn't sin. Like, maybe should have because God said, hey, you know, I'm not gonna be with you if you bring in the cursed thing in the camp. He didn't, he didn't put two and two together. He didn't recognize the, the judgment of God because of that. He thought, he has assumed everyone was doing well. But he wasn't the problem. He wasn't the one that committed the sin. He was right with God. And he's been right this whole time. And he's a very, very good leader, good man to follow. And he's giving it all that he has. He has a right attitude. He was a very good servant under Moses. And then when Moses passed on, now Joshua has taken the lead. Let's keep reading verse number 27. Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord, which he commanded Joshua. And Joshua burnt Ai and made it in heap forever. Even a desolation unto this day. So at the time of the writing of the book of Joshua, even up to that point, Ai is desolate, is burnt, destroyed. Again, that's why I think we don't ever really see any more mentions of Ai pretty much in the rest of the Bible. Verse number 29. And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city and raise there on a great heap of stones that remaineth unto this day. And this is just one more example of Joshua's, not only his knowledge of God's law, but his dedication to keeping it. In everything that he does, he is obeying the word of the Lord to the T, to the letter. I mean, he's following every single last bit. And if he needs to destroy all the inhabitants, he destroys all the inhabitants. If he needs to burn it with fire, he burns it with fire. If he needs to get things right and bring judgment upon Achan, you know what? That's what he's going to do. And even when they bring him this king of Ai and he destroys him and he hangs them on a tree and he brings that judgment upon him, he still obeys the word of the Lord and takes him down at eventide. As the Bible says, if you want to follow us, I'm just going to read it for you. In Deuteronomy 21, we see this law about not leaving a body up on the tree after they've been put to death. You don't leave it there overnight. And this is just one small example, but we just see even in every little detail and all the small examples, Joshua is just following God with a perfect heart. Deuteronomy 21, 22 says, and if a man have committed a sin worthy of death and he be to be put to death and now hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day. For he that is hanged is accursed of God that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. So just as they're going into inherit the land, Joshua was careful not to defile the land right away, right? By just leaving this body up all night on the tree or on a cross or wherever they hung him up. And he did bury him. They put his body on the ground and they covered him with stones. So they buried him with rocks. It wasn't necessarily an honorable burial, but he buried him nonetheless. So continuing on here in Joshua chapter eight, verse number 30, the Bible reads, then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal. As Moses, the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones over which no man hath lift up any iron. And they offered there on burnt offerings unto the Lord and sacrifice peace offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones, a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. Now we often use the phrase about something being written in stone. That's not really written in stone. Well, you wonder where that phrase comes from. It comes from here. It comes from the laws of God, not necessarily just this story. You know, the 10 commandments were written in stone with God's own hand. It's something that's written in stone. Why is it written in stone? Because it's going to last. It's built to last for it. And then just stand true and stand the test of time because it's actually written in stone. And when we see God's law being written in stone, obviously God expects his law to stick around. The law isn't just gone and done and over with. We're not bound by the curse of the law, thank God, because of Jesus Christ. But the law, I mean, God wrote the law in stone for a reason. He expects us to follow the law still even to this day. And how awesome is that? He writes, you know, it's just more indicative of the time that we live in, how wicked things are becoming. Because there used to be monuments, there still are some, but they're slowly being removed or slowly being replaced that actually has scripture and God's law on it. They still do exist in some places. But what do we got popping up, the new ones that are coming up? Well, even in this very state where we have the Georgia Guidestones, right? The wicked Illuminati or whoever's behind that, probably the Freemasons, I would guess. I don't know. I mean, it seems they have such a big influence here. But it's just this wicked, satanic, you know, New World Order type of guidelines or their laws, talk about depopulating the earth and all this other just wickedness. That's what's being erected. That's what they're setting in stone. Now, I don't think that that is the mind of the majority of the people yet. But that's what they're pushing for. That's what they're trying to get. We need to get back to these laws being written in stone again and being in public display and being this is what we believe in. And people actually believing it. Let's keep trusting in it. Let's keep reading here. Verse number 33. And all Israel and their elders and officers and their judges stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests, the Levites, which bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger as he that was born among them. Half of them over against Mount Gerizim and half of them over against Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversant among them. Just real quick before I get in this last point for this whole chapter is notice the women, the children, that they're all there. They're all there for the reading of God's word, for the teaching of God's word. They're all there in this great congregation. Everyone's there. They didn't separate the little ones. They're there. But not only that, he says that he didn't leave out a word, not one word. Again, just showing Joshua's faithfulness and dedication that he does everything the way that he's being told to do them. He's a great leader. But equally amazing, I think, let's turn back to Deuteronomy 27, where this comes from, because what this is saying is that he's already been, it was already ordained and commanded that he is going to do, he was going to do the things that he did and he followed through with at this mount, with these people, with erecting the laws of God being etched in stone and reading the words of the Lord. And these blessings and these cursings are actually read out loud at this point that Moses says, hey, you're going to get into the promised land. You're going to inherit the promised land. And this is what you're going to do. And here is where you're going to do it. And God leads them through the battle to where now they're at this place and they're going to fulfill this word of the Lord. Deuteronomy, chapter number 27, we're not going to read through all of this, but I encourage you to do so because there's a lot here in these chapters. This is when Moses is instructing what they need to do. We're going to start reading here. Well, let's, let's see what, okay, we've got a little bit of time. Let's read, let's start reading verse number one of chapter 27. The Bible says, and Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people saying, keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when you shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones and plaster them with plaster. And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law when thou art passed over that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. Therefore it shall be when you be gone over Jordan that you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day in Mount Ebal and thou shalt plaster them with plaster. So this is the commandment is given because that's where they're at right now. Now they've made it to Mount Ebal. They've destroyed Ai and that's where they're at. And now they're setting up this law of the Lord and they're setting it up and they're plastering these stones together and they make that altar and they offer their sacrifices and praise the Lord with that. And they partake in that. We're going to see some of that here. Verse number five, and there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones, thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. And we see that's exactly what they do. Verse number six, thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God. And thou shalt offer peace offerings and shall eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly, very plainly. Easy to see, easy to read, understand these are God's laws and you know what God's laws aren't difficult. He didn't make his laws confusing and oh man I don't know what this means. He made them about as easy as they can be. And when you hear people try twisting God's laws into meaning something else other than just what it plainly says, you're dealing with someone who's not being truthful with scripture at best. But probably a false prophet, but someone who just doesn't like what the Bible says or they're lifted up in their own pride and and they think that they know so much that they know more than just what the Bible actually says is what it means. But he wants it plain. He wants his words etched in stone in there when they come in. Let's keep reading here in Deuteronomy 27 verse number nine. The Bible says, and Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel saying take heed and hearken O Israel this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God and do his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day. And Moses charged the people the same day saying these shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people when ye are come over Jordan. Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin. And these shall stand upon my mount Ebal to curse Ruben, Gad and Asher and Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. He's given them all the way you know this is exactly what they're supposed to do this is coming to pass in Joshua chapter 8 verse number 14 and the Levites shall speak. So he lines up the you know the 12 tribes half on one side half on the other side one mountain the other side another mount and they're going to give the blessings and the cursings of the Lord. Blessings basically if they obey the word of the Lord and cursings if they disobey and guess what he starts off with the cursings. He goes to the blessings but then you know what happens again in these two chapters he tells them about the cursings again. You know people want to criticize the preaching oh man you preach on sin and you preach you know why don't you just preach on love and all the good things well you know what we do preach on that but when you read the bible you read way more about the cursings you read way more about the don't do this and don't do that than you read about all the positive things it doesn't mean there's no positive things but you see them a lot more you get a lot more warnings why because we need the warnings we need the warnings more than we need to feel good we need to feel good sometimes for sure but we need the warnings to help us to stay right with God and it's and honestly it is it is a much better a much better way to to keep us right keep us in the fear of the Lord let's read let's read through a little bit of this and then we'll be done girls hush your mouth and sit down pay attention Deuteronomy 27 look at verse number 11 and Moses charged the people the same day saying these shall stand upon my oh wait I really read that let's go down to verse number 14 and Levi shall speak and say unto all the men of Israel the loud voice cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image an abomination unto the Lord the work of the hands of the craftsman and putteth it in a secret place and all the people shall answer and say amen cursed be he that seteth light by his father or his mother and all the people shall say amen now real quickly I just want to go over this verse real quick it says cursed be that seteth light by his father as well it's not talking about bringing a lamp and putting a light by your mother and father like by their by their bed stand the the phrase that's if you set by something it's talking about putting something away for the future like if you set by money for to take a vacation in the future that's what the it's it's a phrase that we don't commonly use very much that's why I got to bring it up but the the phrase to set it by is to is to prepare for and to to put money away or whatever and to set light by is meaning you're not really doing that you're not really caring you're not you're not preparing which obviously this ties in with we need to honor our father and mother and as we go through this you'll see a lot of like the ten commandments kind of brought up in this list and he's and I think this is just even more evidence to what I believe when the bible's talking about honor it's not just talking about respect it's actually more frequently and more rightfully talking about the actual provision monetarily of taking care of somebody honor your father and mother is talking about taking care of them when they get older and that it's your obligation and responsibility and you know what that's a subject that this that this era needs to hear probably now more than ever as people are just ignoring their parents and kind of doing whatever with them instead of actually caring for them but there's there's a lot that goes along with with that subject so I'm not getting into that tonight but that's what he's talking about here this is and this is something that you know it doesn't bring up every sin in these cursings but these are the ones they feel is important enough to bring up right now and they're gonna be written in stone here curse would be to him that seteth light by his father his mother and all the people shall say amen verse 17 curse would be he that removeth his neighbors his neighbor's landmark and all the people shall say amen curse would be that maketh the blind to wander out of the way and all the people shall say amen cursed be he that perverted the judgment of the stranger and fatherless and widow and all the people shall say amen cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife because he uncovered his father's skirt and all the people shall say amen cursed be he that lies with any man or a beast and all the people shall say amen cursed be he that lieth with his sister the daughter of his father the daughter of his mother and all the people shall say amen cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law and all the people shall say amen cursed be he that smiteth his neighbor secretly and all the people shall say Amen cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person all people shall say Amen cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them and all the people shall say Amen." And that's the key verse right there. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law. He brought up a bunch of different points, but he's saying, you know what, if you know if you don't confirm all words, you're cursed. And that's why you don't have to have you know laid with your sister or remove your neighbor's landmark or done some of the other things that are listed here in order to be cursed. You just break any of God's law. And he says here, not just break them, he said you don't confirm them. People need to watch out that that are backing off from confirming God's law. You're bringing a curse on yourself. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of the law to do them and all the people shall say Amen. That's when you have the heart and the soul the minds of people that love God that are going to say Amen when they hear, hey, all the words of God. They're all good. All of the law. We love it. We're not going to pick and choose which ones we like or which ones we're going to follow. We love them all. Let's have a word of prayer. Your Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for your words. We love your law. Dear God, we know that the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. And we're going to stand by your words, no matter how unpopular they ever get in society, Lord. And the more unpopular they get, the more the more that this society needs to hear. I pray that you please help us to be strong, help us to be bold in our faith. I pray that you please raise up more leaders like Joshua, who are lead by example, who are going to set forward your words and follow them to a T and not compromise and not be a hypocrite, but just go forward and lead. God, we need more Joshua's. Help us to raise up more people like Joshua. Lord, we want to do a great work for you. We love you. We love your law. God bless our church. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.