Salvation by Deception

Good morning to you. Good to see so many of your faces back here with us today. I know schools are beginning, and so we're getting back into some rhythms.

And a lot of you are returning to church, for one thing, but also to regular things that you do in life, and that's great. We are in a series in the book of Joshua.

If you're visiting with us today, another special welcome to you. We're glad you're here. And we invite you to find chapter 9. Joshua is in the Old Testament.

If you want to go back to the beginning, it is book number 6. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The Pentateuch. Joshua is book number 6. And we are up to chapter 9 with a very interesting story this morning.

I should say a count, because it's more than just a story. It really happened. And so if you want to follow along with me, I'm going to read.

I'm going to begin reading in verse 1. And we're going to take today's reading in two parts. So I'll read about half of the chapter, and then we'll come back and catch the other half in just a few moments.

Joshua chapter 9, verse 1.

Joshua 9:1

As soon as all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country, in the low land, all along the coast of the great sea toward Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, heard of this, they gathered together as one

to fight against Joshua and Israel. But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended,

with worn-out patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a distant country.

So now make a covenant with us. But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you live among us. Then how can we make a covenant with you?

They said to Joshua, We are your servants. And Joshua said to them, Who are you? And where do you come from? They said to him, From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God.

For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of the Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.

So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, We are your servants.

Come now, make a covenant with us. Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you.

But now, behold, it's dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they've burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.

So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

We're going to stop right there. Would you pray with me? Father, we come to your word today trusting that it is here for our good. Lord, we come ready to listen, to learn.

Father, in many cases, to learn from the failures of the past. And so, Lord, let your word come alive. Let it be active in our hearts, and teach us and shape us as God's people today.

We pray this in the name of our Savior, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

You know, deceiving people can be a lot of work, can't it? I wonder how long it took for these Gibeonites to gear up for the ruse they were about to pull on Israel.

Think about this. You've got the worn-out sacks for the donkeys. And then I imagine, the text doesn't say this, but I imagine they're going to choose the skinnier donkeys to make it look like they've been on a long journey.

This is not a long trip that they have made. It is about 20 miles. It's one day's journey. Gibeon to Camp Gilgal. And there they are, back at Gilgal.

I imagine them running around town, and what they're trying to do is they're trying to round up everything that looks old, which is exactly the opposite of what you would normally do if you were going to take a long journey.

And I imagine they've got their wineskins, and they've got their tares, they've burst before, and they've been mended, and maybe they're putting a few more tares in, a few more stitches.

Maybe there's a husband at home saying to his wife, Oh, honey, I hope you didn't throw away that old pair of sandals I had. I don't know about you, but I would have been well-equipped.

I've got like so many old tennis shoes in my garage. That's what they're doing. They're going for all the old stuff. Well, the reason is, everything kind of sets up for us in verse 1.

If we back up to verse 1, we learn a couple of things. Number one, we learn there is a coalition gathering. We'll call it an axis of evil because that's what it is.

It's forming up. It's from the coast. It's from the hill country, the lowlands. What it is is that the Canaanites are coming together, putting aside their own differences, and they are going to face the new Israelite threat.

Second, all these Canaanites have also apparently had a change of heart. They have gone from the melted hearts, from their courage being melted like water, to now hearing after this setback in Ai

that Israel has finally lost a battle. They are now gathering as one to face Israel. You know what that's like when there's like this invincible team out there somewhere, and you think nobody can beat them.

They're undefeated. They just keep winning, winning, winning, and then finally somebody beats them. Even if it's just like if it's a boxing match or something for one round, they can be beaten.

They are invincible. And that's exactly what's happened here with the Israelites in the hearts of the Canaanites. And how did that happen again?

Well, we saw it in the last chapter, really the last two chapters. Word is now out that Israel can be beaten. They had a significant setback at the city of Ai.

A little snafu that became kind of a turning point, and really one that made this conquest kind of a whole different game. We can only imagine what the conquest would have been like had they been obedient, and had Achan not sinned the way that he did.

Maybe every city in the Promised Land falls like Jericho. The walls come crumbling down because of the hand of God. But the conquest is going to be very different now.

They're going to have to fight. But not every city in Canaan is joining the axis of evil. We see our inhabitants of Gibeon. And it turns out it's not just one town.

It's actually going to be four towns. We learn that in just a few minutes in verse 17 when we get to that. But what this is is it's a small league of cities, and they're only about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem.

Again, about a day's ride from where the camp of Israel is. And they have decided, these Gibeonites, that their best chances of survival are if they make a covenant with Israel.

They will take terms of servitude. I guess they're reasoning that a servant's life is better than no life. Because while all the other Canaanites are excited and unified and really pumped up about Israel losing a single battle, which is all that's happened, apparently our Gibeonites are smart enough to realize,

well, they did totally dismantle Ai a second time. And then there was Jericho, of course. Our Gibeonites do know about all of Israel's recent victories, even though when they show up, they fail to mention them.

Because again, they've got to act the part like they're distant strangers from a very faraway country. And so they presumably would not have heard about these recent, more local victories.

They're playing the part. In any case, they, like the rest in Canaan, know that Israel is going to keep coming. They know that Ai has joined Jericho as a heap of ruins.

And so they reason that they better make peace in whatever way that they can. And so here they come, showing up on Israel's doorstep in Camp Gilgal, verse 6.

And they've done a pretty good job, a knock-up job in terms of the appearance. They are presenting themselves like they're all worn out from weeks and weeks of travel, road-weary.

I imagine they probably threw more dust on their faces. Maybe they didn't bathe for a week or two back in Gibeon before they left. Again, the reality is they've only come like 20 miles.

One full day's journey. But they are sporting all kinds of things that say something else. Worn-out sacks for the donkeys, torn and mended wineskins, sandals, clothes, all very worn out.

I mean, even their provisions are very carefully staged, right? We're told that the bread is dry and crumbly. They say that because it's an arid climate, you wouldn't really get mold, but it would be moldy if they had more humidity in the climate.

And here's what they say in verse 6. They make their appeal. We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us. Now, you notice that at first, Israel's leaders are not quite so sure.

It's like they're saying, well, maybe you actually live among us. How could we then make a covenant with you? We know that God told us that we can't do that.

And this is one of those times where I say you should probably trust your instincts. But Joshua and the leaders are apparently not entirely immune to flattery.

Because the moment that they hear these people say to them, this envoy says, we're your servants, it seems like they're kind of letting their guard down.

Verse 8, Joshua kind of presses a little bit. Who are you guys? And where do you come from? I don't know about you, but that sounds like a pretty straightforward question.

Where do you come from? You ever deal with somebody who's not being direct with you? You ask them a straightforward question. You get different answers.

You get non-specific answers. You ask the question again. And if you're sharp, you realize somebody's hiding something. Well, they don't do that here.

Look at these clever Gibeonites in verse 9. We've come from a very distant country. This is like the second time they said that, right? We've come because of the name of the Lord your God.

Again, flattering Israel. Because we think your God is amazing. They go on and tell Joshua and the other Israelite leaders that they've heard the reports about what their God has done for them.

Minus, of course, the things that have happened locally at Jericho and Ai. They leave that out. But we heard what you did to the two kings of the Amorites.

We even heard about Egypt and what happened back there. Verse 11. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our very faraway country said to us, take provisions for the journey and go meet them to offer ourselves as servants to this great nation.

Come now, please make a covenant with us. You know, the scholars that know Hebrew tell us that the words here actually make a covenant to us, which is different than make a covenant with us.

When you make a covenant with someone in the ancient world, it's really two equal or close to equal partners. These Gibeonites have very cleverly used the intentional language of make a covenant to us, which would put themselves as the weaker party, in the position of the weaker party, in the vassal status.

And maybe sensing that their ruse isn't completely working, that the charade might seem a bit too thin, it's immediately back to the props, right?

And verse 12. Take a look. Verse 12. See, look, here's our bread. Listen, it was still warm when we took it out of our ovens back in Gibeon, all the way back there weeks and weeks ago.

But behold, look, now it's dry and crumbly. And these wineskins, again, look at them. Verse 13. They were new when we filled them, but look at how many times we've had to keep patching them up because they keep bursting.

And, you know, we're really sorry for our poor appearance. We would have liked to have looked better, but, you know, our clothes are just worn out from the long journey.

Verse 14 tells us that the men with Joshua took some of their provisions, sampled them, probably spit them out, and they say to themselves, well, yeah, that's legit.

That's some pretty nasty bread there. And everybody seems satisfied. And they're convinced that these travelers are telling them the truth. And sadly, buried here at the end of the second half of verse 14, look at this.

This is what we read, a very pivotal, very tragic statement. We read how they did not ask counsel from the Lord. Verse 15, And so Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

They took an oath before the God of Israel. Let's pick up our reading and finish the chapter with what we'll call Act 2. Act 2 begins in verse 16.

At the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were neighbors and that they lived among them. And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day.

Now their cities were Gibeon, Shephirah, Beroth, and Kiriath-Jerim. But the people of Israel did not attack them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel.

Then all the congregation murmured against their leaders, But all the leaders said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.

This we will do to them. Let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath that we swore to them. And the leader said to them, Let them live.

So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them. Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, Why did you deceive us, saying we are from very far from you, when you dwell among us?

Now therefore, you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my God.

They answered Joshua, because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you.

So we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing. And now behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.

So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord to this day in the place that he should choose.

Again, none of us were alive back then. I wonder what it would have been like to see who the first Israelite was who maybe thought something's off.

It's kind of funny. The Israelites, you know, they're known for their scouting, and here's what I imagine happened. I'm going to give you my reconstruction.

It's not in the text, but there's a little bit of a suggestion of this, so bear with me. It takes three days before they learn. So imagine if the Gibeonites, having convinced the Israelites and gotten the covenant, make the one full day trip back.

Imagine also if maybe some curious, suspicious Israelites kind of follow them, and they realize these guys are neighbors, and then it's going to take another full day to get back to Israel, to the camp of Gilgal, and tell Joshua and the leaders what's up, and then what happens is on the third day, they mount up.

We've got a pretty massive Israelite force that's now showing up out on the hillside of the camp of Gibeon, the city of Gibeon. Verse 17 tells us it's the third day.

Israelite forces are now surrounding the Gibeonites. There's no attack, of course, because someone has sworn an oath. Verse 18 reminds us of what verse 15 told us, that the leaders had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel.

You know, I'll bet Joshua and the other leaders are pretty upset. They're probably pretty mad. They've been tricked. They've been deceived, misled.

They've been really played. And the people, we don't have to guess, they are very mad. We're told that they're doing what their forefathers did.

They're murmuring, they're grumbling against their own leaders here. But leadership steps up and puts an immediate stop to anybody getting any ideas about killing anybody.

Look, we messed up, I imagine Joshua would say to them. Verse 19, this is what he says, we have sworn to them by the Lord, and now, we may not touch them.

They get to live, because if we break our oath before the Lord, we profane His name in front of everyone. And that will trigger something we have seen before that we do not want to see triggered.

And that's wrath. The wrath of God will be upon us. And we do not want that upon us. Verse 21, again, the leaders are doubly clear. Just in case some crazy guy gets an idea, let them live.

And then we're told that they become cutters of wood and drawers of water for the nation, and specifically for what appears to be the house of the Lord, the sacrificial system.

Notice their last paragraph here zooms in a little closer. And now we finally get to hear from the Gibeonites themselves. We get to hear this little exchange that takes place between Joshua and Gibeon's leaders.

Verse 22, what were you guys thinking? Why, Joshua wants to know, did you deceive us? Why did you trick us into believing that you were very far from us when you actually are close?

You dwell among us. Now you're going to be cursed. You're never going to be anything but these servants that we assign you to be. You're going to cut wood.

You're going to draw water for the house of the Lord, the house of my God. Why did you do it? Joshua's telling these Gibeonites that they're going to be consigned to rudimentary work that again supports Israel's religious life.

I don't know if we've realized just how much the sacrificial system of Israel required a lot of wood and a lot of water. You know, we can read about those offerings and sacrifices that the law prescribed Israel to give to the Lord back in the law, back in Deuteronomy and Leviticus and Numbers.

It required a lot of wood to burn the animals. It required a lot of water for cleanup. I don't know if you know but slaughtering animals is kind of messy.

And it required all of these resources. And Joshua says to the Gibeonites, you guys are going to take this on. Which means they're going to be working hand in hand with the Levites.

And wouldn't you know but fittingly enough, providentially enough, experts of the geography of the region tell us that the Gibeonites where they live is actually a place very well equipped with all of these resources.

Heavily forested hillsides. In fact, they had very good supplies of water underground. Cisterns of water. As a matter of fact, one of these major cisterns of water in the next few years will become excavated and will become the pool of Gibeon where if you've read some of the history in Samuel, you know there's some

pretty significant events that happen at the pool of Gibeon.

Finally, the Gibeonites speak for themselves in verse 24. And their response to Joshua is nothing if not completely honest this time. Now they're not lying.

Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded this conquest you're on. And we know that would mean our destruction.

You know, it's interesting because despite their initial words and appearances, our Gibeonites are now revealing, they're showing us that they know quite a bit about this nation, about their God.

They even know about Moses. They seem to know the parts that God had said in His commands to the Israelites that if it's somebody outside the bounds of the promised land and they're not hostile, they don't attack you, you can enter into a covenant with them.

You can basically make them your servants. But if it's anybody inside the territory that I am giving you, you cannot make a covenant with them.

Somehow the Gibeonites are aware of this. They know about it.

So we feared for our lives, they say, because of you. Yeah, and we did this thing. And now behold, it's like, look, Joshua, we're in your hand.

Whatever seems good to you to do to us, do it. That is a gutsy thing to say. Remember, the Gibeonites live in the land of Canaan. Had they done something like this to another people of Canaan, had they said something like this to another city of Canaanites, oh, they would have done what's good to them.

They would have killed them. But the Gibeonites seem to know there is something very different about this people and something very different about their God.

What they're doing is they're actually trusting Israel's leadership. They have some fairly accurate theological insight and they are entrusting themselves right into Joshua's hand, trusting that these people of the true God are, in fact, also a people, unlike them,

who are true to their word, who are honest, who are true to their oath that they've taken before their God. And so they say, whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.

Other Canaanites would have killed them. Other people would have just destroyed the cities of Gibeon. But not this people, Israel. And not when they have sworn an oath before their God, the true God.

You know, it may be in seedling form, but I would say, call me crazy, I would say this looks like baby faith in these Gibeonites. At least a seed of some faith.

They are recognizing who this God is. And they are recognizing what He's capable of doing. And in a, yes, twisted and sinful way because they lie, they are throwing themselves at His mercy.

They are not going to oppose the Israelites. And there is, from this point forward in history, never any problem that we have with the Gibeonites.

And in fact, the reality that they're all consigned to careers supporting the sacrificial system of Israel, what that means is it's putting them around the things of the Lord.

That means they're going to be serving, again, hand in hand with the Levites, resourcing the sacrificial system. They're going to find themselves in a position where they hear and see and learn and absorb as they watch and assist all the things that are going

to fertilize that seed of faith in them. You know, that's an interesting aside, the fact that sometimes people find themselves in a position where they're brought near the things of the Lord.

Maybe they don't even really want to be there. Maybe they're showing up at church because somebody else wants them to be there. but they're brought near the things of the Lord and they hear and they see and they absorb and sometimes that is enough to water a seed of faith in their heart.

Many of us bring little ones, children. Maybe you're bringing a spouse or a friend who's only coming because you're making them. Don't underestimate that.

But our chapter closes as we watch Joshua, this man whose very name means God saves or God delivers and we're watching him effectively as a leader deliver the Gibeonites out of the hands of his own people because he won't allow anyone to kill anybody.

True to the words of his curse, if it's really a curse, the Gibeonites do become cutters of wood, drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord from that day forward.

Meaning that by the time Israel fully possesses this promised land in a very short time, once they're settled in it and will eventually have their kingdom, these Gibeonites are going to be serving at the tabernacle for a while and then on down the road years later at the temple.

You know, even by the end of the book in Joshua chapter 24, that's a chapter where we learn about all the allotments of the portions of land and what city and what territory goes to which of the twelve tribes.

Joshua 24 · chapter mention

Guess where the city of Gibeon will be allocated or to whom it will be allocated? The Levites tribe, the tribe of Levi. Gibeon will become a Levite city.

I don't know about you, but when I read a story like this one, I have to say this is unusual, this seems slightly strange, but also kind of fascinating.

Worn out sandals and moldy bread, right? I mean, come on. Evasive answers when you're asked a direct question. Where do you come from? You know, somebody lives in Niles.

Where do you come from? Oh, very far up north. Where? It's far up north. You know, you lead someone to believe you're from Canada or something when you're from Niles.

That's what they were doing. And then Joshua and his leaders here, you know, they're fresh off, you know, getting it right, turning things around.

They win this great victory over AI, and then they turn around and they really kind of whiff on this one, don't they? It's not a major whiff.

It's not the capital crime that Achan's sin was, but it's whiff enough when you neglect to ask counsel from the Lord. And yet, in a strange way, in a way that only God can do, by the story's end, it's kind of a happy ending.

Somebody's pretty relieved. Somebody's happy with how things turned out. Our Gibeonites. Happy that salvation has come, strangely enough, by deception.

This morning, I want to offer us a few takeaways from our story based in what we're observing, based on some of the reflections that we can make.

I see three takeaways that I want to highlight for you in the time that we have left. First one is this, and this one might not be surprising.

First takeaway, takeaway number one, is that godly counsel should be sought for every important decision. Is that fair enough to say? We can maybe take a moral lesson out of this?

If it's a major decision in your life, and you're one of God's people, it's probably a good idea to seek counsel from the Lord. Israel entering into a covenant with a people is a pretty major decision.

When you're actually going to get the leaders to swear an oath before God, that's a big one. And it was really a big boo-boo on Joshua's part, because Joshua knew better.

He knew better because this is what was told Joshua near the very end of Moses' life. This is what the Lord says about seeking divine counsel.

This is Numbers chapter 27 verse 21. And he, Joshua, shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord.

Numbers 27:21

At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation. In other words, any time Joshua and the people make a major decision, they are to consult with the high priest Eleazar.

Eleazar has the sacred rocks. This is the way God did it back then. Don't do that anymore. God doesn't do that anymore. We don't roll sacred rocks to find out what God wants.

But they did back then. And that priest would prayerfully throw down those rocks, and if they came up with a yes answer, it means go. And if it comes up with a no answer, it means don't go.

Pretty simple.

Joshua whiffed spectacularly. Right here. Should we make a covenant with these strange people who have us a little suspicious? Lord, yes. If it's yes, let it be yes.

Have the priest throw the rocks down. He didn't do it. You see, his problem was that his reasoning was based on two things. Number one, a partial understanding of God's word.

You see, seeking God's counsel was the right thing to do. Seeking a treaty with people was permissible according to his word. Meaning that somebody could open up the book of the Torah, the law, and could find the place where it said, if there are people living outside the promised land, you're allowed

to make a covenant with them. So they would have been accurately following God's word. The other problem, the second thing that he did wrong was that he misunderstood the situation.

Because yeah, the law made a provision that Israel could strike a treaty with a non-hostile people as long as they were not living within the borders of the promised land.

So, what you have here is a man who has the right intentions, he actually understands the command of God here correctly, but he's been deceived by liars.

Deceived by people who will not tell him the truth. Deceived by a group of men standing in front of him wearing fake worn out sandals with a story about how long the journey was.

The Gibeonites lived inside the promised land and Israel was expressly forbidden from making covenants with people inside the promised land.

And honestly, that's something for us to remember. That the enemy that we fight doesn't always fight fair. I would argue he seldom fights fair.

The enemy that we fight is a liar and a deceiver and tries to trick us and sometimes even confuses us with partial quotes from God's word. that we misunderstand and maybe misapply to a particular situation.

I mean, if the Gibeonites really were who they said they were, then what Joshua did would have applied. It would have been fine. But they were lying.

They were twisting things. The fact is, godly counsel should have been sought for this very important decision. And I bring that up because I wonder about you.

I wonder about me, my life. We face sometimes major decisions, don't we? Maybe it's something in terms of your career. Or something in terms of your educational path.

Maybe it's a family decision. Maybe it's something that a young adult is wrestling with with regard to dating and maybe who to marry. Or maybe a young couple, a young family trying to decide where to live and what house to buy.

Any kind of a major purchase. Any kind of an investment opportunity. Choosing a church. These are important life decisions. And while we don't get a sacred set of stones to drop and read, we don't work that way anymore, that was old covenant, we do have

other forms of godly counsel available to us, don't we? For one thing, we have not just five books of the Bible, we have the completed Bible, we have the New Testament too.

And sometimes it's plain enough from what God tells us from a particular passage or a verse in our Bible. But other times, we can benefit from some additional assistance.

I know I have in my life at various points. There can be life situations that are complex and complicated. There can be times where we aren't sure how or where or to what extent to apply some aspect of biblical truth.

And that's why God gave, as Ephesians says, some to be pastors and teachers. You have Matt and I here at Redeemer. Other churches in this area and across our great land have great pastors as well.

You have maybe a care group leader in your life or a trusted Christian brother or sister who just is gifted with wisdom or who is older than you or has walked with Jesus longer than you have.

These are people from whom you can obtain godly counsel. So remember this first takeaway that godly counsel should be sought in every important decision.

Let me offer you another one, a second takeaway. This one's going to be a little more challenging, so don't get mad at me. Takeaway number two is this, we need to live faithfully even in the midst of our unwise decisions.

decisions. We need to live faithfully even in the midst of our unwise decisions. Speaking of Pastor Matt, he brought this up to me this week when we were talking about the passage.

He reminded me of the prophet Jeremiah and I ran this point by him and he said, oh, you know what, that's kind of the message that Jeremiah gives the people of Israel like over and over in his book.

If you remember the story of Jeremiah and where he is in Israel's history, it's after the kingdom, it's after both kingdoms so they've split, they've fallen, the kingdom of Judah, the people are now taken into exile by the Babylonians and there are a bunch of Israelites far away, exiles in Babylon.

And Jeremiah writes to them and what he says is in that famous chapter 29, he says, settle down, build your houses, plant your gardens, have your families, live faithfully, live faithfully now even in the midst of your unwise

decisions that got you here and do it by seeking the welfare of your city and pray for your city too. That's what he tells them. It's like he's saying, even though you have messed this thing up big time, God did not want you there in Babylon, you're there, and now God

wants you to live faithfully even in the midst of your bad decisions. Today for Joshua and Israel, obviously as we've seen, it was an unwise decision to make that treaty.

They shouldn't have done it. They actually did contravene God's word in making a treaty with people inside the promised land. You could say, well, weren't there mitigating circumstances?

I mean, they were tricked. I mean, the dry moldy bread, remember? But they still disobeyed God's word. And they were responsible for not seeking God's counsel.

That was our first takeaway. But now, notice, Joshua will not allow any talk of violating this oath that they have taken before the Lord. He says, let them live.

He says it again, let them live. We are going to absorb these humble Gibeonites into our nation. Now, we're going to put them in this subservient task.

They're going to be servants to us. They're going to carry all the water. They're going to cut all the wood for the sacrificial system. They're going to be hand in hand with the Levites.

But we're absorbing them.

It makes me think about over the years, the many conversations I've had with people where I become aware, someone shares with me, you know, I've made an unwise decision in my life.

I mean, that's a pretty big net. You know, I've made an unwise decision in my life. I think we all have done that at some point. But sometimes it's a major decision.

Sometimes it's a major and life altering thing that we have messed up. And my word to you right now is live faithfully in the midst of it. My word to you is you're there now.

Seek the welfare of that circumstance ! And commit to praying to the Lord for it. Now, I'm not talking about a situation where someone's engaged in ongoing sin or thinking about doing something really unwise or unbiblical.

We said live faithfully. And you can't be faithful to God in something that you know is actively sinful and is against his will. But I am talking about some of us as God's people who have found ourselves in things like a broken marriage marriage or a second marriage or a third marriage.

I remember marrying one couple years ago. It was his fifth marriage. He's still married today, by the way. Praise God.

Some of us have had unbiblical romantic relationships that have brought things into our lives for which we're now responsible to God. Like a child.

Others of us have made unwise financial decisions bad career decisions, bad parenting decisions. Everything from I really wish we wouldn't have bought that.

Or I don't think we ever should have moved. It was a mistake to move. Or I wish I wouldn't have said that terrible thing to that person. I probably shouldn't have married you.

I should have chosen a different college or a different living situation but now I'm kind of stuck in the consequences of my rather unwise decision.

You know, some of the consequences that we face for these decisions are shorter term, more momentary. You can pay off that bill and get out of debt.

Others of us, we know these decisions that we make are longer lasting and sometimes, yes, even life altering. My friends, live faithfully even in the midst of your unwise decision.

That means if you've dug a hole for yourself financially, be faithful and frugal and dig your way out. That means if you're in a tough marriage, seek the good of your marriage and honor your vows in that marriage.

The Israelites had sworn an oath before the Lord and there was a covenant of not just toleration. It wasn't just like we're going to tolerate the Gibeonites.

This was also an oath of protection. They were literally adopting the Gibeonite cities into Israel. And that meant if the rest of the Canaanites got mad at them and came and surrounded to attack them, which is going to happen next week, Israel has to show up and fight for them.

They had to live faithfully in the midst of their unwise decision. It was the right thing to do for Israel's leaders in Joshua to stop the murmuring people from killing any of the Gibeonites.

It was right for them to stop the murmuring and show the whole world that oaths taken, commitments made, covenants cut before this God. You don't go back on those.

You don't dishonor God's name in that way.

You know, this is why whenever I'm asked about a tricky, delicate situation where a marriage has come together in an unbiblical way, and maybe that doesn't apply here, but we probably know people, I know people who have marriages now that came about in a very unbiblical way, because of some great sin, because somebody

ran away with somebody, and they're married to them now, and then they show up in a church like this one, and they're like, I feel so guilty and condemned, what do I do?

Should I divorce them? No.

You're there. Live faithfully. You have made another oath, a new one, before God. You're in this now for the glory of God. Even if you bear guilt, you even if it's tough.

And God wants you to be the very best husband you can be, the very best wife you can be for your spouse right now. And don't go breaking another covenant that you've made before him.

Whether it's in an area of a relationship, or again, something in your extended family, or just something you've entered into in another practical area of life, we need to live faithfully, even in the midst of unwise decisions.

Because when we do that, we show our watching world, that this is the kind of people that we are. We are God's people.

One more takeaway. This last one's much more hopeful. Takeaway number three. Takeaway number three is that outsiders are invited to join God's kingdom, not as lowly subjects, but as sons and daughters.

daughters. As sons and daughters.

Again, I've already said it, but these Gibeonites, they're actually going to have their town turned into a Levitical town. Meaning that a lot of Levites, ministry workers, because that's what they were, ministry workers, priests, are going to be living in the town of Gibeon,

sharing the streets, becoming their neighbors, working together as the Gibeonites draw the water, cut the wood for the sacrificial system. Joshua says cursed.

Technically they are. But in actuality, as often happens in the biblical world, curses can become blessings. And that's what happens here. The effect of this curse on the Gibeonites will actually turn out to be a blessing for them.

Because again, over time, we don't know how long, we don't get a detailed history of what happened, but these Gibeonite people will be completely absorbed into Israel.

Gibeon becomes Israel. And not just as a disposable slave class to be disregarded or mistreated, no. In fact, by the time Israel runs through its kingdoms and they split and they fall and the people are often to exile like we talked about with Jeremiah, they will

be returned at some point, a group of them will later, coming back to the promised land under people like Ezra and Nehemiah. And look who pops up in the book of Nehemiah.

Look who's listed among the people of God who come back to rebuild. Nehemiah chapter 7 verse 25. The sons of Gibeon, 95. And then a little earlier when they're talking about the work that's going on as these Israelites from various tribes are like side by side, you know, rebuilding

Nehemiah 7:25

the walls. Here's what it says in Nehemiah 3.7. And next to them repaired Malatia the Gibeonite, sorry Malatia, I got your name wrong. Malatia the Gibeonite and Jadin the Maronothite and the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah.

Just like, you know, big list of names, big list of names that are hard to pronounce. And here's the Gibeonites. Here's a Gibeonite man, now fully included as sons and daughters in Israel.

A curse becomes a blessing. And what's even better news for us today is that unlike the Gibeonites, we don't have to trick our way into the kingdom.

And we don't have to come in under a curse. In fact, when we come in, the curse is lifted.

We don't have to pull a ruse on God's people somewhere. Did you know that? If you're not a believer and you're here this morning, you don't have to trick us to join the people of God.

All are fully invited. Whosoever will come. Jesus said, whoever believes in him, the Son, will not perish, but will have everlasting life. And we don't join the kingdom just as slaves.

In fact, Jesus once told a very memorable parable to illustrate this fact. You might remember it. It's from Luke chapter 15. It's called the parable of the prodigal son.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

I'm not going to read it for us, but very short, cliff notes version. A son abandons his family, hastily, rudely runs off with his inheritance and squanders everything.

And when it's gone, there he is, literally lying in the slop of his misery. And what does he say to himself? I guess I'll crawl my way back home and maybe my father will take me back as a hired hand.

Servitude. But if you've read that parable, you know that that father's been waiting and watching. And you also know that the moment he sees his son, he doesn't wait.

He runs to him. He embraces him as a son. And he starts shouting out instructions for the household to get ready. Get the robe. Get the ornaments.

Get the feast ready. My son was gone. But what's he say in Luke 15 verse 24? For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.

Luke 15:24

Jesus says, this is how it is with anyone who returns to the father. We are accepted not just as lowly subjects, but as full sons and daughters.

You know, the prodigal son's family went on to celebrate with a great feast. And today we have a chance to celebrate at the table.

Celebrate our status as full sons and daughters all because of the sacrifice of our savior. And so I'm going to ask those who will be serving with us both at the table and if the worship team would come, if they would join me now up front.

And as they're coming, I'm going to ask you if you would just pray with me. Please bow your head and let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for the opportunity to remember, to celebrate, to proclaim your death and resurrection until you send your son once again.

We know that in your word you call us in moments like these to examine ourselves. And so Lord, in light of all the things that we have talked about this morning, all the things in your word that we've seen, we offer you our open hearts.

Will you search us? Search us and try us and know us. Will you help us as we do what your word calls us to do, which is come to your throne to receive grace in our time of need.

We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.