”Don’t Be Deceived” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Joshua 9

will go with me to Joshua chapter nine.

Here's the title of the message today,

very simple, only three words.

Don't be deceived.

Don't be

deceived.

Did you know that deception is the first

tool in the toolbox of Satan?

Let me prove it to you.

In the Garden of Eden, you remember God

creates everything in Genesis 1 and

Genesis 2 and the final thing that he

created was a man and God looked at the

man and it was the first time God looked

at something he had made and said it was

not good. Everything up to that point

had been good, but he looked at us and

he said, "They need help." He said that

man is not good and he prepared he put

Adam to sleep and took a rib and

prepared a woman and the woman's name

was Eve.

God gave the man a woman, a wife and God

institutes a marriage and creates the

world and everything is very, very good,

God said. Now Adam and Eve got to live

in the Garden of Eden and walk with the

Lord every day and fellowship with him

and and life was wonderful, but Genesis

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 begins with a serpent that

comes on the scene.

The devil comes onto the scene and there

is one tree, you remember this, and as

you I'm sure you've read it and heard it

before, there's one tree that they could

not eat of which was in the midst of the

garden and for some reason Eve was

passing by that tree on this particular

day and the devil made sure he was in

the tree on this particular day and he

speaks to Eve and

what does he do to Eve? He deceives her.

The first time that sin comes into the

world is through the deception of the

devil.

In Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 1,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

we read, "Now the serpent serpent was

more subtle than any beast of the field

which the Lord God had made and he said

unto the woman, 'Yea, hath God said, "Ye

shall not eat of every tree of the

garden."" He immediately begins to cast

the doubt on the word of God.

Whenever someone cast doubt on the word

of God, that person is not of God.

You understand?

Satan immediately, the first words out

of his mouth that we ever hear spoken by

Satan

is in Genesis chapter 3 and he is

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

casting doubt on the word of God. Now,

why would he cast doubt? Because if he

can get you to doubt God's word, then he

can deceive you into believing anything

he wants you to.

The book of Timothy talks about this.

Paul is writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and verse 14.

Here's what he says, "Adam was not

deceived,

but the woman, being deceived, was in

transgression."

The first thing that Satan does when he

comes on the scene, he's looked at God's

creation, he sees everything that God

has made, everything is very, very good,

and

Satan says, "I've got to corrupt this.

I've got to mess this up." And I really

want to stop right here and just preach

this for a little bit, but I don't have

time. I have to keep moving this

morning.

But you you know, it's so interesting

that God breathed into the man the

breath of life. You think about the

creation, everything God made, he spoke

it into existence, but the Bible says

that he formed the man. You and I are

the only thing God has ever created that

he has touched.

And then he breathed into us the breath

of life.

And you and I became a living soul. We

are not like the rest of creation. We

are set apart and distinct and special

to God.

We're even more special than the angels.

For Jesus did not die for the angels,

but he did come to this earth and die

for you and I, and it makes the devil so

mad

that he is a created angel

who has never been touched by God,

but you and I

have been.

And so when he sees the garden and he

sees man and he sees the woman, he's he

does everything that he can to disrupt

and corrupt what God has created, God's

perfect creation.

He comes to Eve in the garden and the

first thing that he does is he deceives.

Satan entered the Garden of Eden to

introduce God's perfect creation to

wickedness. The first tool that he chose

out of his toolbox was the tool of

deception.

Let me define deception for you. Give me

a minute. I'm taking a little runway,

but we're going to get to our text, all

right? Let me define deception for you

this morning. The devil's deception is

centered around causing God's people to

make decisions based on their physical

senses instead of following the Holy

Spirit.

That's his goal. Deception is when the

devil can convince you to make a

decision based on what you see, feel,

hear, taste, touch.

Those senses, if he can make you make a

decision based on your senses instead of

what you know to be true based on the

Holy Spirit, then you have been

deceived. Think about it in the Garden

of Eden.

Do you remember what happened?

In Genesis chapter 3, same narrative.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Just skipping a few verses down to verse

6. Here's what the Bible says, "And when

the woman

saw

the fruit."

He begins to cast doubt on God's word.

This is how he deceives her. He casts

doubt on God's word. "Hath God surely

said?" And then he presents the

temptation to the senses.

Y'all with me so far?

And if the devil can get you and I, he's

he's the same devil, he's got the same

toolbox today.

If he can get you and I to make

decisions based on our senses, what we

like, what makes us comfortable, what

appeases our flesh, then you and I will

be no different than Eve in the garden.

And sin has passed upon all men because

when Eve was deceived, she then took the

fruit and gave it to Adam, and Adam

willfully ate the sin. And sin by one

man, Adam, hath passed upon all men, so

that we are all born in sin.

Deception.

He's still using deception today to

cause Christians to live in spiritual

defeat.

Whenever the devil is successful in

deceiving God's people, God's people

will be defeated.

Wherever the devil is successful in

deceiving God's people,

God's people will be defeated. The whole

book of Joshua is talking about

spiritual victory.

That's what we're talking about. We want

to walk through the book of Joshua and

learn how you and I can have spiritual

victory.

And yet we come to a passage today

in which the army of God, the people of

God,

are defeated.

Not militarily. There's no battle that

takes place in Joshua chapter 9.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

But they are deceived. And I want us to

walk through this text together this

morning. We're going to walk through the

whole chapter, all of Joshua 9. I'll

read a little bit and we'll talk a

little bit. We'll just work our way

through it this morning. I broke it into

three sections to help us follow along,

three little outline, three simple

things.

Then I'll make a couple applications at

the end that I hope will be a help to

you.

Put down number one if you're taking

notes this morning. There is the

confederation

of the Canaanite kings.

This is informative. We'll get to

application here in a moment, but write

down the confederation of the Canaanite

kings and look at verse one.

And it came to pass. Wait right there,

we got to stop for just a moment.

Whenever you come to your Bible and you

see some phrase like where or hereafter

or and it came to pass or something

along those lines, you're connecting

what is now beginning with what has just

taken place, and it's a it's a good idea

to go back and remind ourselves of what

has just taken place. So, where are we

in the book of Joshua? We have Joshua

coming he's leading the nation of

Israel. They've went across the Jordan

River. They come to the city of Jericho.

They have marched around the city of

Jericho, the walls came tumbling down.

God gave them a great victory. Achan

sinned and took something that he should

not have taken. We've talked about this.

We've preached through this passage. He

takes the stuff, he hides it in his

tent. Israel does not know, Joshua does

not know. They go to fight the next city

on their their their conquest, and

that's the city of Ai. They get to Ai.

It's a smaller city than Jericho. They

think, "Oh, we'll handle this. This

won't be no problem." They send a few

thousand men to Ai, and Ai defeats them.

The men of Ai come out and they defeat

the army of Israel. 36 Israelites die,

and they all go running back to camp

scared. Joshua, "What happened? What

happened?" And Joshua begins to pray and

says, "Lord, what what happened? You

said we were going to have victory, and

now we've been defeated." And God says,

"Achan has sinned. There's sin in the

camp. You got to get rid of the sin if

you want to have victory." Great

spiritual application there. So, they

take Achan outside the camp, they kill

the sin. Literally, they put Achan to

death, and they kill the sin, eliminate

the sin from the camp, and then they go

back to Ai. And this time they do an

ambush, and we preached on this last

week, I believe. They come to Ai and act

like they've been beaten again. They

turn and run, but they had men lying all

around the city, and when the men of Ai

came out and started chasing the

Israelites like they had done the first

time, the men who were laying around the

city rose up and ambushed it and caught

the city on fire. And then the men of Ai

were surrounded, and God once again

provides a great spiritual victory. A

literal victory, but for you and I, a

spiritual victory.

And then we come to Joshua chapter 9.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

That's where we are. So, what comes

next? Well, the Joshua and the nation of

Israel have moved beyond Ai. They've

come to a place between two mountains.

Mount Ebal on one side, Mount Gerizim on

the other side, and in the middle is a

little place called Shechem. And that's

where they set up camp.

And while they're at Shechem, the events

of Joshua chapter 9 take place. So,

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

let's pick it back up in verse number 1.

And it came to pass after all of these

things.

When all the kings

which were on this side Jordan,

in the hills, and in the valleys, and in

all the coast of the great sea, over

against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the

Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the

Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the

Jebusite, the mosquito bite, and all of

them. They all got together, all of the

kings.

What are they going to do? They hear of

all that God has done.

They gathered themselves together to

fight with Joshua and with Israel with

one accord.

Six kings are mentioned as having here

formed an alliance or a confederation

against the nation of Israel. They had

to do this out of necessity. You think

about what they're seeing. They hearing

about the miracle on the Jordan River.

They hear about conquering of Jericho.

They hear about the conquering now of

Ai. And they begin to think,

"We're in trouble.

These guys can't be stopped. The God of

these people cannot be stopped. We've

got to figure out some way to stop

them." So, they decide that they're

going to form a confederation. They're

going to all get together. The land of

Canaan was not occupied by one major

group. It was a bunch of city-states

that occupied the whole region. And so,

all of these city-states, the kings of

each city, they get together and they

say, "We're going to make this

confederation so that we'll be able to

defeat them. We'll just make one big

massive army, and there's no way they'll

be able to defeat us."

By the way,

let me just pause and make one brief

application here. Sometimes in your

life, the devil will gather all of the

enemies together against you, too.

Have you ever been going through life,

and you feel like if something bad's

going to happen, it all happens at one

time?

Right? Like everything seems to You have

some really great days and a great

season of life, and then it can't just

be one thing on one day. It's everything

on one day. It all comes at one time, it

seems like.

This is not anything new to Satan.

He likes to gather all the enemies

together

and make it seem like you're never going

to win, like you're never going to get

through, like you're never going to

defeat this trial or this storm or this

temptation.

Hey, just keep going. God has a plan.

God can defeat one king and God can can

defeat six kings. It does not matter the

problems that you face. God is big

enough to give you victory.

So, they gather all together, they make

this confederation and

and off they go.

Now, out of this group, you notice the

name in verse one, the Hivite.

It's the second to last one.

The Hivites, there's a group within the

Hivites

who are known as the Gibeonites.

And we're introduced to them next. They

have a little bit different idea.

They're going to try something a little

bit different.

And so, write down number two if you're

taking notes, the craftiness of the

Gibeonites.

Look with me at verse number two.

That they gathered themselves to fight

with Joshua and and with Israel with one

accord. Verse three, and when the

inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua

had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

they did work wilely and went and made

as if they had been ambassadors and took

old sacks upon their asses and wine

bottles old and rent and bound up and

old shoes and clouded up their feet and

old garments upon them and all the bread

of their provision was dry and moldy and

they went to Joshua under the camp at

Gilgal and said unto him and to the men

of Israel, we become from a very far

country. Now, therefore, make you a

league with us. And Gibeon was not not

far at all. It was less than 50 miles

away.

Verse seven, and the men of Israel said

unto the Hivites, don't be confused by

that, same group of people,

Hivites, peradventure you dwell among us

and how shall we make a league with you?

They began to question this. What do you

mean you want to dwell among us and make

a league with us?

Verse 8, and they said unto Joshua, "We

are thy servants." And Joshua said unto

them, "Who are you? And whence come

you?" And they said unto him, "From a

very far country thy servants are come

because of the name of the Lord thy God,

for we have heard of the fame of him and

all that he did in Egypt and all that he

did to the two kings of the Amorites

that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king

of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, which

was at Ashtaroth. Wherefore our elders

and all of the inhabitants of our

country spake to us saying, 'Take you

victuals with you for the journey and go

meet them and said, "We are your

servants. Therefore now make a league

with us."

This is our bread we took for our

provision out of our houses on the day

we came forth to go to you, but now

behold it is dry and moldy. And these

bottles of wine which we filled were new

and behold they be rent and these

garments and our shoes are become old by

reason of the very long journey.

They're putting forth a really good case

here.

They're trying to convince the nation of

Israel that they are not local people.

They're not Canaanites. They're not

Gibeonites, but rather they've come from

a very far country which they don't name

by the way. They just say a very far

country.

And and we would like to just make peace

with you to make sure you never come

very far away to where we live and and

and destroy us.

So here we have it.

It's kind of the idea. You've probably

heard this or maybe even said this

phrase before. If you cannot beat them,

join them.

And this is what the Gibeonites are

doing.

They want to join up with the nation of

Israel. However, there's one problem

with them joining the nation of Israel

and this is where the deception has to

come in.

God had told the nation of Israel to go

into the land of Canaan and destroy the

Canaanites. The Canaanites were wicked

people. They were evil people. They had

rejected God and their time of judgment

had come. God always judges sin. God

always judges those who reject him.

And God was going to judge the the

Canaanites and also bless the Israelites

at the same time. He was going to

fulfill his promise to Abraham and give

the Israelites their promised land while

at the same time judging the Canaanites

for their wickedness.

And God is sovereign, by the way. He's

always knows what he's doing. But this

creates a big problem for the

Canaanites. Cuz they begin to realize

the Gibeonites, they begin to realize

oh, we can't beat them.

And if we just walk into camp and say,

"Hey, we're from Gibeon and we want you

to make a league with us," they're going

to kill us on the spot because they're

not allowed God has told them they're

not allowed to make a league with the

Canaanites.

So, what are we supposed to do?

So, they come up with this plan. We'll

we'll act like we've come from a very

far country. We'll act like we don't

live in Canaan and we'll come into the

camp and they won't know who we are and

we'll propose a plan that that they just

make an agreement with us, a contract

with us, a covenant with us and and

we'll just uh be their servants and then

it'll be better to serve them than to

die by them.

So, this is their thinking and so they

come up with this plan. They come from

just a short distance away, but they

have old shoes and moldy bread and

broken bottles and and they come and and

say, "This is what we'd like to do."

Now, let me point out just a couple

things for you. Notice first of all

their look.

In verse 5 and 6.

They looked the part. I'm I'm building

to an application here, so follow with

me. Verse 5.

They looked the part. They have old

shoes clouded upon their feet. They have

old garments upon them and all the bread

of their provision was dry and moldy.

They went up to Joshua at camp Gilgal

and said unto him and the men of Israel,

"We come from a far country."

But look at verse uh verse number nine,

"From a very far country thy servants

are come because of the name of the Lord

thy God and all that he did." And then

look down at verse number 12, "This our

bread we took hot for our provision out

of our houses on the day we came forth

to go to you, but now behold it is dry

and moldy. And these bottles of wine

which we filled were new, behold they be

rent, and these garments and our shoes

are become old by reason of the long

journey.

But they've painted a good picture. They

look the part. They have on the right

clothes, and they have on the right

shoes, and they they have the right

attire, and they have the right look

about them.

Just because somebody

appears

to be a Christian

does not mean that we immediately

believe everything that they say.

Right?

Is there a cat in here? Y'all hear

>> [laughter]

>> I heard that and I thought, "Oh, no, I'm

There's a cat in here."

He He's good. He keeps going. I know

what it is now. It won't bother me a

bit.

Um where was I?

Uh I can't stand a cat, by the way. Cat

people,

we would we would stop church and

eliminate the sin in the midst of the

camp. All right, we would have to get

rid of the cat before we could go on.

I'm joking. Verse five, their look They

looked the part. Just because somebody

puts a Bible verse on their social media

profile

does not mean that they are a Bible

believer.

Just because somebody puts a fish on

their car does not make them a follower

of Christ.

Just because somebody can dress up on a

Sunday morning and come to church and

sing knows how to sing the songs and

knows how to shake your hand and look

you in the eye does not immediately mean

that you must believe everything they

say. And can I go even a step further?

Just because somebody gets up on a

platform and opens up a Bible and reads

a verse and begins to tell you stuff

does not mean they're worth listening

to.

Myself included.

You got to know your Bible

and try what they're saying.

Just because you dress the part does not

mean that you believe

everything that the Bible says.

Don't be deceived by those. We live in a

world of of social media. We live in a

digital age where anybody can voice

their thought and opinion and

immediately have an audience.

Immediately have an audience.

Don't be deceived by those who know how

to dress the part. They have the right

look, but they speak a lie.

We see their look, but write down number

two, their lie.

What did Jesus say about those who come

into the church and deceive the church

by pretending to be something that they

are not? In Matthew chapter 7 and verse

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

15, you can write the reference down if

you'd like to look it up later. Matthew

7 and verse 15, Jesus said, "Beware of

false prophet prophets which come to you

in sheep's clothing,

but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

There are a group of people who know how

to dress, who know how to look, who know

what to say, and they come to churches

dressed up like one of the flock,

dressed up like one of the sheep, but

their only desire is to cause disunity

and confusion within the body of Christ.

Don't be deceived. Pay attention to

people.

Just because they can look the part

doesn't mean that they're not lying.

Notice their lie in verse 8.

Joshua begins to ask some questions.

They said, "We are thy servants." in

verse 8.

We are thy servants. They're proposing

to make a league. Now, this is

interesting

because it would imply something very

specific.

They're willing to submit themselves to

a master-servant relationship with the

nation of Israel, which seems a little

odd maybe in our culture and the idea

that we have of slavery. Well, nobody

would want to volunteer to be a servant.

No one would want to volunteer to be a

slave.

Well, it's better to serve than to die,

and that's what they're thinking.

Because here's what this would be. If

they went to the league with if they

made this contract, this covenant with

the nation of Israel, two things would

be guaranteed. Number one, Israel would

be guaranteed to be their master. They

would have to serve Israel. They would

have to do what Israel told them to do.

They would be the servants of Israel.

But something else would be guaranteed.

Israel would then become the protector

of the Gibeonites. It would be

guaranteed. You enter this covenant,

here's the contract. We will serve you

if you protect us.

That's what they come into camp saying.

We don't want to die. We would rather

serve you than die. So, we'll enter this

contract. We'll enter this covenant

so that you will protect us.

The master was obligated to protect the

servant.

Now, look at verse number nine through

11. They they blatantly lie to Joshua

about who they are and where they've

come from. They said unto him, "They

come from a very far country because of

the name of the Lord thy God.

We have heard of the fame of him and all

that he did in Egypt." There's actually

a nugget of truth in their lie. It was

because of the Lord their God. And there

are in in a way, they're blessing the

God of Israel by saying, "We're

terrified of him."

They're lying and they're deceiving in

the way that they're going about this,

but there is a little nugget of truth

within there.

They're really good liars.

You know, every person who is a liar is

a good or every person who's a good liar

knows that in order to I shouldn't tell

you this. You're going to think your

pastor's a good liar. Every good liar

knows how to put a little bit of truth

with their lie, right? You got to add in

just enough truth to make it believable.

And then you spread the lie.

And these these guys, these Gibeonites

are very good liars. They look the part

and they're all dressed up and they know

what to say and they know how to frame

it and they know how to deceive Joshua

and the leaders of Israel. Look at verse

12 and 13.

They produce evidence that proves that

they have indeed traveled a long way.

Proves. I'm going to show you something

to you. They say, "This is our bread

which we took hot for our provision on

the day of that we came forth to go to

you, but now it has become dry and

moldy. And our bottles of wine which we

filled, they're rent and our garments

and shoes are become old by reason of

the journey." They say, "Look, we've got

all this evidence. We've got old shoes

and we've got old clothes and we've got

old bottles and and moldy bread." And

they are leading the nation of Israel to

believe what they want them to believe.

And a good liar will always get you to

believe what they want you to believe.

Was the only explanation for moldy bread

a long journey? Is that the only way you

get moldy bread?

How many of you have not right now, but

have had moldy bread in your house

before?

You didn't have to go very far. It just

sat there and it got moldy over time,

right?

Is the only explanation for a broken

bottle that you traveled a long way? No.

You could have dropped it as you walked

down your porch steps and you broke the

bottle.

But they're leading, they're guiding

them so that the nation of Israel will

believe what they want them to believe.

And there are those in our culture

who are pro- producing content

that leads Christians to believe what

they want them to believe.

You know what Christians ought to

believe though?

The book that you hold in your lap. You

ought to study it and know it well

enough to be able to pick out when

somebody is spreading a lie.

Don't trust people. Don't trust people.

Trust the Bible.

Trust the Bible. I'm trying to help you

this morning. Y'all looking at me like a

calf at a new gate. We're going to keep

going. Maybe somebody will get something

out of this.

Write down number three.

The covenant between Israel and Gibeon.

What happens next? Well, they make a

covenant.

They go into this league with them.

Look at verse 14.

And the men took their victuals.

And asked not counsel

at the mouth of the Lord. We're going to

come back to that. That's underlined in

my Bible. You may want to underline that

phrase in yours.

They took not counsel at the mouth of

the Lord. And Joshua what made peace

with them and made a league with them

and let them live.

And the princes of the congregation

swear under them. And it came to pass at

the end of three days after they had

made a league with them that they heard

that they were their neighbors.

And that they dwelt among them. Can you

imagine that news?

How did they get that news?

Verse 17, and the children of Israel

journeyed and came into their cities on

the third day. They go to Gibeath.

Now their cities were Gibeon and those

other cities there. And the children of

Israel smote them not because the

princes of the congregation had sworn

unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And

all the congregation murmured against

the princes.

So now the people of Israel are

murmuring and arguing against the

leaders of Israel because the leaders of

Israel have made a foolish decision

because they believed what the people

wanted them to believe instead of asking

counsel of the Lord. Are y'all keeping

up with this narrative?

Verse 19, but all the princes said unto

the congregation, "We have sworn unto

them by the Lord God of Israel. Now

therefore we may not touch them."

We've entered the league. We've made the

covenant. There's nothing we can do.

This we will do to them. This is verse

20 now. This we will do to them. We will

even let them live. We can't kill them.

We've agreed that we won't do that.

Lest wrath be upon us because of the

oath which we swear unto them. And the

princes said unto them, let them live,

but let them be hewers of wood and

drawers of water unto all the

congregation, as the princes had

promised them. And Joshua called for

them and he spake unto them saying,

wherefore have you beguiled us saying,

wherefore have you deceived us? You

tricked us saying, we are very far from

you when you dwell among us. Now

therefore ye are cursed. And there shall

none of you be freed from being bondmen

and hewers of wood and drawers of water

for the house of my God. And they

answered Joshua, I'm just going to

finish the chapter so we get the whole

narrative and then I'm going to come

back and make some applications. Verse

24. And they answered Joshua and said,

because it was certainly told thy

servants

how that the Lord thy God commanded his

servant Moses to give you all the land

and to destroy all the inhabitants of

the land from before you. Therefore we

were sore afraid of our lives because of

you and have done this thing.

And now behold, we are in thine hand. As

it seemeth good and right unto thee to

do unto us, do.

And so did he unto them and delivered

them out of the hand of the children of

Israel and they slew them not.

And Joshua made them that day hewers of

wood and drawers of water for the

congregation and for the altar of the

Lord, even unto this day, in the place

which he should choose. So what happens?

Well, when we get to the end of the

chapter, the Gibeonites trick works.

They make this covenant with them. They

agree that they're going to not kill

them and then they find out that

they're next door neighbors. They just

live right here in the land of Canaan.

And and and the nation of Israel gets

upset at the leaders of Israel and says,

why did you do this? Why did you be so

foolish as to not ask counsel of the

Lord? How could you be deceived? And

they said, well, we're really sorry, but

there's nothing we can do at this point.

We've already made the agreement. We've

already done what we what we said we

were going to do and so we're going to

keep our word, which is also a great

application.

Because they're on the right side of

this.

Listen, two wrongs never makes a right.

Two wrongs never makes a right.

If the nation of Israel had realized

their mistake and went and killed the

Gibeonites and then broke their word by

killing them,

God would have been more upset with them

than he was for them simply not asking

counsel.

And I'm not belittling the fact that

they made a grave mistake here,

but two wrongs would have not made it

right. The same is true in our life.

Just because you made one mistake,

please don't follow through with the

next one.

Don't try and make a You remember David

and Bathsheba? What a mess he got

himself into, right? He sees the woman

from the house top. He says, "I want

that woman." They say that woman has a

husband. He said, "Doesn't matter. Bring

that woman to me."

He he's with that woman. They sleep

together.

And then he realizes that Uriah, her

husband, is going to be a problem. And

so he begins to fix his mistake by

killing

the woman's husband.

And he has Uriah killed through a a line

of events.

And the lady's husband is then killed.

And now David is in a great mess, the

greatest mistake of David's life.

Two wrongs never makes it right.

Good application there for us.

Let's back up though. I want to show you

two quick things, two quick

applications, and we'll be done.

How did they get here?

And how can you and I avoid

being deceived by false teachers and

false prophets today?

Let me show you two things. Number one,

they had a lack of devotion.

In verse 14, it says the men took their

victuals and asked not counsel

at the mouth of the Lord.

They did not seek God's counsel.

The greatest mistake you can make in

your Christian life is to make a

decision without seeking God's counsel.

They trusted in the word of men instead

of trusting in the word of God. If they

had prayed about it,

God would have told them the direction

they needed to go. If they had asked

God's opinion, God would have helped

them through this.

Be very careful about trusting the word

of a man over the word of God.

You ever bought a used car off of a

dealership

and talked with a used car salesman?

If you've experienced a used car

salesman, you know what I'm telling you

right now is absolutely true. Don't

trust the word of men.

They will tell you one thing, you will

sign that paper, and they will deliver

you something very different.

These people were deceived. They looked

the part, they had it all together, they

said the right things, and they

believed them. Took them at their word

instead of asking God about his word on

it.

Can I give you a statement?

You will never be able to conquer your

enemies

if you refuse to heed God's counsel.

You want to have spiritual victory? You

want to live a life of victory? You have

got to learn to make every decision

based on what God's word says, not what

man's word says. Seek counsel from the

Lord. I want God's opinion on everything

I do. Everything I do.

Buying a house?

I want God's counsel on it.

Going on a trip? I want God's counsel on

it. Taking a new job? I want God's

counsel on it.

Making a big move, moving to a new house

or new location? I want God's counsel on

it. Is there a family situation that

you're seeking to resolve? Get God's

counsel on it. A sin that continually

traps you? Go get God's counsel on it.

Everything in your life, any activity.

You say, "I don't know if this is right

or wrong."

Go get God's counsel on it. Go see what

God's mind on the issue is, and you will

save yourself a world of heartache if

you will seek godly counsel on the front

end. It is a whole lot easier to get

godly counsel on the front end than it

is to fix the mistake after it's already

been made.

You get yourself in some some debt

pitfall because you saw something with

your senses. You saw something you

wanted, and so without seeking counsel,

you take man at his word, and you just

jump into something, and now

you're in a mess.

This is practical. This This is super

simple this morning, but how many of us

have found ourselves in a mess before,

and if we had just sought godly counsel

on it before we made the dumb decision,

we would have saved ourselves a world of

heartache?

They were not devoted.

They did not seek God's counsel, and

they were easily deceived. Hey, let me

help you with something.

How do you find God's counsel? Can I

give you three ways? Write these down.

You ain't taking notes all day, that's

fine. Write these three things down.

This is the message right here.

How do you find God's counsel on an

issue? Number one, through his word.

You find God's mind about every

situation through the word of God.

Here's what the Bible says in Psalm 119

and verse 105.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a

light unto my path."

If you want to see what the next step in

your life is, you want to shed light on

the next thing, the next decision, the

next place, the next move. You want to

know what's next for you. Seek God's

counsel by getting in His word. Thy word

is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto

my path. I know what I'm supposed to do

in the morning when I wake up because I

look into the counsel of God, the mind

of God. This is God's mind on

everything. Old preacher Raymond Barber,

one of my favorite preachers uh that

I've ever heard preach, a wonderful,

wonderful man of God.

Whenever he would get up, he would tell

you his text and he would say, "Take

your Bibles this morning and open them

to the book of Joshua chapter 9.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

Let's see what God has to say this

morning. Let's get the mind of God

today. That's what the Bible is, God's

mind on everything. You want to know

what's next for you, you want to know if

it's right or wrong, you want to know

what what you're supposed to do, you

want to know about the big decision

you've got to make, get God's counsel.

Number one through His word, write down

number two. How do we find God's mind?

How do we get God's counsel?

Through prayer.

Talk to Him about it.

Tell Him what you're looking for. Tell

Him the decision you're thinking about.

Ask Him what He would do.

The Bible says this in Philippians

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 and verse number 6, "Be

careful for nothing, but in everything

by prayer and supplication with

thanksgiving, let your request be made

known unto God."

You know what that means? Be careful for

nothing, it says don't be anxious, but

in everything by prayer. You know what

that means? Pray about everything.

Pray about everything. The book of

Thessalonians says pray without ceasing.

Pray about everything. You know the

first person I talk to about any

decision I'm going to make?

God.

Before my wife, before my parents,

before my deacon, before anybody.

I'm going to talk to God.

So, I'm going to know what he thinks

about the idea. I want to know what he

thinks about the decision. I want to

know what he thinks about the direction.

When's the last time you made a decision

and before you made that decision, you

spent some time praying about it. I've

told this story before, but it's a good

ex- example and I don't tell this to

make myself appear any more more

righteous than anyone. I'm I'm the

chiefest of sinners here this morning.

But when we went to buy that van though,

we were looking and looking for a long

time to buy a new vehicle for our

family. We had a very tight budget and

we said this is what we're going to do.

We set some guidelines of what we were

looking for. People told us it was

impossible to find. We weren't going to

find it.

We went we found this van on Facebook.

It was a little high priced out of our

price range. We went down there to talk

to him.

And we looked at it. I test drove it. It

was nice. It was just a little bit high

priced.

And everything looked like it was going

to work out except I had to get the

price down. And so, we gathered around

uh sitting in the passenger seat of the

old car and

Tucker and Cali and Esther was there and

the door was open and they were all just

kind of standing there and I was like,

"What do you guys think?" And they gave

their opinions and and we decided that

we would only pay

what we were set out to pay. That was

it. We weren't going to pay any more. I

was going to give him a number.

And I said if he takes it, then that's

God's sign that this is his will and

this will be a good vehicle for us. If

he don't take it, then we're going to

walk away. And you know what we did in

that moment after we said that, we

decided that before I went up and talked

to him.

My whole family

we bowed our heads right there in that

parking lot.

And I prayed.

And I said, "Lord,

looks like a good van, but I don't know

what you know about it.

It looks like it's going to be a good

car, but I I can't tell for sure. Lord,

you've given us this much money. We're

going to buy this vehicle if

and only if

you allow the the the car lot owner to

come down to our price."

And we just told God, we prayed about

it.

And I went up and told him, I had cash

in my hand and I said, "This is what I

have.

You can take it and we'll take the van

or we're going to leave."

He said, "I'll take it."

And we paid exactly what we had cash for

that van. And it's By the way,

it's been one of the best vehicles that

I've ever owned in my life.

I'm not telling you that to to make

myself or my family look or appear

anything that we're not.

I'm telling you that to tell you if you

pray about it,

God will do miracles in your life. Every

decision You say, "It's a silly car."

Yeah, I know.

And cars break down and you you buy new

ones. I get it.

But everything I do, I want God's

counsel on it. So, how do I get God's

counsel? I read God's word.

I pray about it. Let me give you one

more.

Through godly leaders.

How do I get God's counsel on something?

Talk to godly leaders. What do I mean by

godly leaders? Your pastor, your

pastor's wife, or a trusted, established

saint who knows his Bible.

You say, "I'm I'm struggling with

something and I don't know what God

would do. I I don't know what the right

thing to do is and I I'd like to know

what what the Bible says about this. I'd

like to know what God's mind is about

this." That is my job.

That's my job is to help you understand

what God's mind is on something.

So, come ask your pastor.

It will never bother me to take God's

word and say, "This is what the Bible

says."

And I I will do my very best to always

tell you not my opinion, not what I

think. I will not shame you. I will just

take a Bible and say, "This is what the

Bible says." And then you make the

decision based on what you now know

about God's mind on that situation.

It doesn't have to be your pastor. If

you're a lady, go talk to my wife.

And listen, sometimes I don't know the

answer.

You understand that? I don't know.

I don't know more than I do know.

And if I don't know, I'll tell you I

don't know.

And then I'll try my best to figure it

out.

But God has placed people in your life.

The local church is so great because

it's a community of believers where we

can work together to find God's mind on

things. Don't waste that resource.

Read your Bible, pray, seek godly

counsel. You can come to the piano. Let

me give you one more thing from verse

15. Can I do that? We see their lack of

devotion. They did not ask God's

counsel, but then I see their lack of

discernment.

I know I went a little long. I'm trying

to help you this morning. This is so

needed in our culture.

They did not have no discernment.

Joshua and the leaders of Israel entered

into an agreement that not only

disobeyed God's command, but also put

them in a dangerous situation.

It could have backfired, and it could

have become very dangerous.

Whenever you listen to your feelings

instead of listening to your father,

you're going to end up disobeying God's

commands, and you're going to put

yourself in a spiritually dangerous

situation.

Did you hear that?

Whenever you trust your feelings instead

of your father,

you're going to end up breaking God's

commands

because the heart of man is deceitfully

wicked. Who can know it? You follow

Can I talk about a pet peeve? I never

talk about pet peeves. You know what pet

peeve I have is Hallmark movies or any

romance movie whatsoever?

You know what they say in every single

one of them?

Just follow your heart.

Oh!

I just want to rip the TV off the wall

when they say that. No! YOU KNOW WHAT

THE BIBLE SAYS? Don't follow your heart.

Your heart is deceitfully wicked above

all things. Who can know it? It will

lead you the wrong way. Don't trust what

you're feeling.

Don't trust what you feel like doing.

Do what you know to do.

We live a life based on facts and faith,

not feelings.

We know facts about God. We know what he

expects from us.

So, seek his mind on it.

And then if if you just got to take a

step of faith, take a step of faith.

Don't trust your feelings. Don't follow

your heart.

It will lead you down the wrong road.

You will make a mistake. Financial

mistake, emotional mistake.

People marry the wrong people all the

time.

You know why people marry the wrong

person?

Cuz it feels good.

And they never pray about it. The Bible

says don't be unequally yoked together.

You ought to pray about it. Seek God's

counsel on it.

Oh my goodness, when I was dating

Esther, I was in college and I met her

and she was the most beautiful girl I'd

ever seen in my life.

And all I wanted to do was marry her

from the first time I saw her. I'm just

I That's all She did not want to marry

me the first time she saw me, but I

wanted to marry her the first time I saw

her.

We started dating after a little while.

And

I began to think when I when I asked her

dad if I could date her,

I told her dad that I was dating because

I wanted to marry her.

That was my goal in this.

So, as we began to date, I began to

really think about marriage.

And I remember time after time, night

after night,

where I would lay in my college dorm

room bed and weep

and pray

and say, "God, if she's not the one,

please show me.

As much as I love her, as beautiful as

she is, as much as I want to marry her.

I mean, I did this I did this every week

for months until God settled it in my

heart and then I bought an engagement

ring and the rest is history.

I would seek God's face

night after night. God, if you if this

is not the woman you want me to marry,

please show me. She didn't know that

until after we got married. She said,

"All this time you're about to break up

with me and I thought we were just happy

as could be."

I was not about to break up with her.

But more than anything, I wanted to know

if God's mind

was with my mind.

I have failed God so many times, church.

Because I get

to feel good.

I see something that I want. I hear

something that I like and instead of

seeking God's mind and God's counsel, I

just jump in with both feet.

And then I end up saying, "What in the

world? How did I end up here?"

Can I pastor you for just a moment this

morning?

Would you pray and ask God to give you

some spiritual discernment?

To make every decision that you make

based on the word of God, not on how you

feel.

When people leave churches,

they just walk out,

nine times out of 10,

it's because of a feeling.

They didn't like this or they didn't

like that. Now, there are times

and God knows you when you seek God's

counsel and it's time to move. My family

went through that when I was a teenager.

And you know it's time and God moves you

and that's great. Glory to God for that.

But most of the time, it's just because

I don't like that or I didn't appreciate

that or that's not what I would have

done. It's something I feel. It did not

appeal to my feelings.

So, we just drop it and run.

Don't walk by feelings. Bible says we

walk by faith, not by

sight.

Your sensory feelings will fail you, but

thanks be to God, if you're saved this

morning, you've got a sixth sense.

It's the Holy Spirit of God living on

the inside of you. And if you will go

ask him what he would do, he will

provide you an answer that will keep you

in the will of God.

That's the message this morning.

Would you stand with me?

She's going to play for a moment, and

maybe there's somebody here who's got a

decision.

It's weighing on your mind.

Something that you want to do, but you

don't know if God wants you to do it.

Here's your opportunity. While she

plays, would you take some time and

pray?

Pray about it.

Seek God's mind on it.

Say, "Lord, give me wisdom."

James says that if you need wisdom, ask

God for it. He'll give it to you

liberally.

He'll give you all the wisdom that you

need. So, would you just ask him for it

this morning?

I don't know your situation. I don't

know what you need this morning.

I know we all need wisdom.

Decision,

an anxiety, a worry, a care, bring it to

the Lord today.

Say, "God, I'm not going to trust my

feelings any longer. I'm going to trust

your word."

I'm going to seek your face.

If you'd like me to pray with you this

morning, just come down front. I'm right

here. I'd love turn this microphone off,

get down beside you, and pray with you.

For whatever it is that's in your life,

whatever you need this morning.