How Satan Tricks Us Into Believing His Lie||Joshua 9

What is going on, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ?

I am back.

This is Evangelist Toby Dalton, and we got a teaching today.

I believe I mentioned in one of my videos, Joshua chapter 9.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

I wanted to eventually get to.

I did one video about paying attention and getting rid of certain items in your home, for there could be heavy demonic activity that is involved with them.

And so there are certain things that God will tell us, hey, we got to let that go because it's causing some disruption in your household.

And some stuff can be as small as small can get.

And we don't even realize how big it actually can become and impact our house.

Before we know it, there's all kinds of disarray and uh chaotic dysfunction going on in our homes.

And so I did a video on that.

As a matter of fact, going to the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter 7, uh speaking about their battle against AI.

Joshua 7 · chapter mention

It was a small group of people, but that small group of people, because of some of Joshua's people's disobedience, uh caused them to be defeated at first.

And once Joshua cried to the Lord and the Lord revealed to him what was causing them from being able to win the battles as they usually would do, it is because some folks in his camp took things that they shouldn't have taken during those battles when they've worn them.

Now there were certain things God permitted for them to take, and they were able to take.

But then they took certain things that were sacred to God, and it brought a curse upon the whole camp of Israel.

And when they went up to battle against Ai, uh they were, they lost some men.

And so they had to come back, regroup, and Joshua finally found out because God revealed to him what was keeping them from winning.

Once they got rid of that, they they had destroyed that man and his whole family, and that was so unfortunate.

So unfortunate.

But once they did that, God was no longer angry with them.

He turned his anger away from them, and they were able to go out and later defeat AI.

Now, as a result of that, word kept getting around at how strong they were and how the hand of God was on their lives.

And so there was a group of people, which we're about to get to in Joshua, that felt like they needed to come in with some craftiness and trickery so that they could keep from being defeated in battle by Joshua and them as well.

So we want to talk about this.

The main thing I want to want us to get out of this is how Satan operates.

Uh, there is three facets of how Satan operates, especially within this chapter that we are going to see.

Number one, Satan is afraid of you.

Uh, not necessarily you as the individual, but because of who you serve and who you allow to use as an instrument, which is the use you as a instrument, which is Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit.

Okay, and it is Jesus that Satan is afraid of, and the more close you become with Jesus, and the more worn you become with Jesus, the more authority you walk in in Jesus Christ, the more righteousness you walk in in Jesus Christ, the stronger you become, because your righteousness is not your own righteousness.

The righteousness is the righteousness that Jesus Christ displayed, and so this is why the Bible heavily talks about putting on uh the image of Christ, which is the new self, putting off the old self, which is that old atomic or sin nature.

Alright, so that's number one.

Number two, Satan will go through great lengths to dress up his lie.

I'm gonna say it again.

Number two, Satan will go through great lengths to dress up his lie, and half truth are a thing.

Satan used half-truths when he spoke to Eve, and he dressed his lie up well, and she fell for it, and therefore she partook of the fruit that he presented, uh, dressed up in a way that she hungered for it, she thirst for it, and she took it, and later on Adam took it as well, and look where we are, we have these sin natures that we have today.

So that's number two.

Number three, we know the truth, but the lie seems more attractive.

Now, isn't this true in so many ways?

We know the truth, but yet the lie seems more attractive.

What is the whole purpose of the lie, ladies and gentlemen?

Why does it seem as attractive as it does, even though we know it's not the truth?

Well, there is one small ingredient, which I probably would not call small, I would actually have to say is a huge ingredient.

It is called self.

Satan's whole goal is to get us to thinking and focusing on self.

Once he gets us into doing that, then he has us right where he wants us.

And the two places that he operates out of, as soon as we get caught up in it, is pride and arrogance.

Uh, there's a story in the Bible about King David and how he walked in his pride and arrogance.

Uh, even though he knew the truth, he still wanted to do things his way, and when he did that, Satan was able to influence him to make the wrong decision, and it made God angry toward him because he walked in pride and arrogance when his soldier, one of his uh fellow men, knew the truth, told the truth, let him know what was going on, and he overrode that truth because of his position of power.

Okay, and so this is why the lie seems more attractive because the lie caters to self, and we're gonna see these three things taking effect within this story.

Alright, so let's get on over here to Joshua chapter 9, and again, I am reading from an amplified Bible.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

Uh, it is my Bible of choice.

Whatever Bible of choice that you have, you are more than welcome to stick to it.

But if you want to rock with me and you don't have an amplified Bible in your possession, you can go to Bible Gateway uh and they have a free version AMP edition versus the AMPC.

I use the AMP edition, so you can rock with me there, but you know, like I said, you're more than welcome to stick with your own Bible, but we want to see how does Satan trickery actually work, and we're gonna hopefully the Holy Spirit will help you be able to see that here, and some key things that Joshua them at this moment omitted and forgot to do, which caused them to get into the trouble that they got into.

So let's go on, let's go ahead.

Chapter 9.

Man, I I love the book of Joshua, man.

I love the book of Joshua.

Uh it's not my favorite book in the in the in the Bible, but it it is a powerful book because if you ever want to understand truly what spiritual warfare is, the book of Joshua will give you all these keys uh to help you understand the fundamentals of what spiritual warfare is all about.

Okay, so now let's go ahead and jump on into it.

It says, Now, when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the lowland, at the western edge of the hills of Judea, and all along the coast of the great Mediterranean Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite and the Emirite, the Canaanite, the Perasite, the Hivite, and the Jibusite heard of this army and its victories over Jericho and Ai.

Now, we know about the story of Jericho, we know about uh Joshua and the camp of Israel walking around uh the city of Jericho to bring down the walls.

If I'm not mistaken, they walked around once a day, and on the seventh day they walked around seven times, and the walls fell down, and victory was theirs.

And then the situation where we spoke about with AI, how they got defeated at first, because there was some disobedience among the camp of Israel, with certain people taking things that were sacred to God that God banned from them being able to take.

And they hid these things, and eventually it caused Joshua to go to God and ask him why God was allowing him to be defeated.

God told him why.

It is because of the disobedience that took place.

And once they uh got rid of those things, including the man and his whole family, God later turned his anger away from them and they began to win battles again.

And this is what we're starting to see here that it started to spread, that these battles were being won, and that it had to be the hand of God that was on them, and it had a lot of these kings in fear.

Uh, the Bible tells us that Joshua and the camp of Israel defeated over 31 kings.

Alright, so now everyone at this point is hearing about these victories that Joshua is racking up, all right, and they have fear within them.

Verse 2, they gathered together with one purpose to fight with Joshua and with Israel.

So, you know, that saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them.

Verse 3, but when the people of Gibeon, the Hittites, heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, watch this, they too acted craftily and cunningly and set out and took a long provisions.

Now, who does that remind you of?

Who who did the serpent, who did the Bible describe the serpent being?

Crafty and cunning.

It is someone that's very strategic, okay, and understanding how to get people to do what it is they want them to do, and they will play on your heart strings, and we're going to see this taking effect right here, and how well they were able to convince Joshua, these people, into making a covenant with them.

So, one of the things I said is that Satan is afraid of us, and you saw these kings very afraid, and they were trying to figure out a way to get with Joshua in the camp of Israel to fight with them so that they wouldn't be turned against, and Joshua then would defeat them eventually.

And so these people decided to uh come up with their own strategy in order to trick Joshua.

Alright, so verse 4, they too acted craftily and cunningly and set out and took a long provision.

Now, watch this.

But took worn out sacks on their donkeys and wineskins, leather bottles that were worn out and split open and patched together.

Now, one of the things, number two, that I said is that Satan will go through great lengths to dress up his life, and that's what these people are in the middle of doing right now.

They've taken provisions, they uh took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins, leather bottles that were worn out and split open and patched together.

Verse 5, and worn out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn out clothes, and all their supplies of food was dry and had turned to crumb.

So their whole idea was to get Joshua in the camp of Israel to feel sorry and sympathize with them.

Okay, playing on their their hard strings of weakness to uh get them to make a covenant so that they wouldn't be ultimately destroyed.

Okay, so they did all these things, they went through great lengths, worn out clothes, uh made their food, let their food sit out for days and turned into crumbles, crumbs, so that they could convince them that they were poor people and they needed help.

Okay, now verse 6, they went to Joshua, look at this, in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, we have come from a far country, so now make a covenant treaty with us.

So the whole purpose was to uh dress up in a certain way, uh look a certain way, come with your food in a certain way, to present a package that makes it look like they've been through some things.

Alright, now.

So now they've come to Joshua and they tell him they've come from a far country and they want a treaty to be made with them so that way Joshua then won't fight against them.

Alright, now watch this.

But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you are living within our land.

How then can we make a covenant treaty with you?

Number three.

We know the truth, but the lie becomes more attractive.

And we're gonna see that display itself right here.

Alright, so now it says they said to Joshua, watch this, we are your servants.

Then Joshua said to them, Who are you and where do you come from?

They said to him, Your servants have come from a country that is very far away, because of the fame of the Lord your God.

For we have heard the news about him and all the remarkable things that he did in Egypt, and everything that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sahan the king of Hoshbon, and to Og the king of Bashin, who lived in Ashtra.

So our elders and all the residents of our country said to us, Take provisions for the journey and go to meet the sons of Israel.

Now they are lying, of course.

And we're gonna find that out.

And say to them, We are your servants now, make a covenant treaty with us.

This bread of ours was hot, fresh, when we took it all as our provision from our houses on the day we left to come to you.

Now look, it is dry and has turned to crumbs.

These wineskins which we filled were new, and look, they they are split.

Our clothes and our sandals are worn out because of the very long journey that we had to make.

So the men of Israel took some of their own provisions and offered them, look at this, y'all, in friendship and foolishness, and watch what they didn't do, did not counsel or take counsel as for counsel of the Lord.

So they made this decision impulsively, because these people package up their lies so well.

What we saw in the earlier verses, then they repeated this lie to try to make it sound good, and Joshua in the camp who knew the truth, fell for the lie, and we're gonna see why in a minute.

So now it says that so the men of Israel took some of their own provisions and offered them in friendship, and foolishly did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.

Now, all this time they had been answered.

Joshua normally doesn't play that, but for this very reason here, he forgets and decides not to do it because he's thinking that they are strong enough to be able to handle this situation and they don't need God for it.

Alright.

Now, but it gets them into trouble.

Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant treaty with them, their whole goal from the top to let them live.

This is all they wanted, and they got it, and the leaders of the congregation of Israel swore an oath to them, and so you already know the Bible already heavily strongly tells us do not make oaths that you can't keep.

God takes that very serious, and they made an oath now that they can't break, and it played into the hands of these people.

Now, so verse 16.

It happened that three days after they had made a covenant treaty with them, watch this, y'all.

The Israelites heard that they were actually their neighbors and that they were living among them.

Now, what did I tell you?

They dressed up their lie very well, made it look like they were from were from a faraway country.

Turns out they were next door.

And the Israelite men knew this and called it.

Perhaps you are closer to us than what you're saying.

But the more that they listened, the more they fell into the lie.

I want to go to Psalms.

I want to go to Psalm one or one.

Psalm one.

He who tells lies and half-truths will not continue to remain in my presence.

Ladies and gentlemen, half-truths are a thing.

Like I told you before, we saw Satan mix lies and half-truths.

He dressed up his presentation of his lie very well.

And the reason why the lie is more attractive is because the lie is catered to self.

And that's how Satan is able to get us into thinking about self only.

Let's go, let's go to Galatians.

Let's go to Galatians.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

Chapter 6.

Some of my favorite scriptures here.

It talks about self-evaluating ourselves.

Watch what it is.

Let's look at verses three through five.

Watch what it says.

Well, if anyone thinks he is something special, when in fact he is nothing special except in his own eyes, watch this.

He deceives himself.

I can go on a whole big teaching about that, going to Ezekiel chapter 28 and watching how Satan fell in love with his own beauty.

Ezekiel 28 · chapter mention

And this is the reason why he spends so much time dressing up his life.

And the Bible says he didn't even really care about the wisdom that he was given complete of.

He was more in love with how he looked, how beautiful he was.

And when the Bible describes him in Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 11 through 19, buddy, he was created about as good as anybody until the Bible says lawlessness and violence creeped in and he sinned.

Ezekiel 28:11–19

Alright?

So it says, For if anyone think he is something special, when in fact he is nothing special except in his own eyes, he deceives himself.

But each one must carefully scrutinize his own work, examining his actions, attitudes, and behavior.

And then he can have the personal satisfaction and inner joy of doing something commendable without comparing himself to another.

Now, we get caught in this trap.

You know, you always hear that saying it's trying to keep up with the Joneses.

And the Apostle Paul is similarly talking about this in this fashion.

It's that when we value ourselves more than what we ought to be valuing ourselves, other than what God has value in us, then we are deceiving ourselves.

And this is so easy to get in caught get caught into, especially when people do you wrong and you be like, Man, all I did for that person, and how dare they do me like that.

Not realizing is that God is our ultimate source.

Whether that person does you the same way you did them or not is is not the whole objective of the love game.

Luke chapter 6 gives us a huge description of what love really is, and it's hard for people to accept to love without expectations.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

But this is the purpose, is that when we feed into the lie, ladies and gentlemen, we get more caught up in who we are and who we think we are and how much value we truly have.

Well, the world conditions us that way.

Believe in yourself.

Don't uh underestimate your worth or or settle for anything that's lower than what you are worth.

The truth is you don't know what you're worth, but God does.

And I can tell you, it don't matter how much amount of money that you get for how much you think you're worth, there's nothing more worth and greater than the blood that Jesus shed on our behalf.

Alright.

So we get in trouble when we compare ourselves to another.

But when we don't do that and we can and we see ourselves not higher than what we ought to, exalt ourselves, then the word tells us we can do something commendable and always seek to do good without expectations from someone.

And comparing ourselves to what others have, making us belittle what God has given us to work with.

Verse 5, for every person will have to bear with patience his own burden of faults and shortcomings for which he alone is responsible.

We have a duty to walk with precaution, awareness, to make sure that we are not doing anything that is keeping us from walking in the full image of Christ, ladies and gentlemen.

But now we see we go back over here to Joshua chapter 9, that Joshua them later on found out that the truth was verified in what they had figured all along, that these people definitely were closer to them than what they said.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

But now at this point, it is too late.

So now Joshua them in verse 15 makes a covenant, and now they can't break that covenant.

So I'm gonna go back and read 15.

They didn't counsel with the Lord to get an answer from him before they made their decision.

They went on and made it.

Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant treaty with them to let them live.

And the leaders of the congregation of Israel swore an oath to them.

Verse 16, and it happened that three days later, after they had made a covenant treaty with them, the Israelites heard that they were actually their neighbors and that they were living among them.

Verse 17.

Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day.

Now the cities of the Hebites were Gibeon and Shaphirah.

I think I got that right, and Baroth and Kirath Jerum.

But the son of Israel did not strike them because the leaders of the congregation, look at this, had sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel to spare them, and all the congregation murmured, expressing great dissatisfaction against the leaders.

Now, the leaders did this, and they should have known better.

When they had detected the truth, they fell more for the lie the more that they were able to be uh smooth-talked in and saw visuals of what these people looked like.

When they did all of this and went through this to the extreme to look this way.

When they went to the extreme to make sure their food looked a certain way, when they went to the extreme to make it look like they had traveling resources that they needed to travel from a far country.

All of it was a lie.

Okay, packaged well.

And now the people of Israel are upset because a covenant has been made.

Exactly what these people wanted all along.

They got it.

They were very strategic and the plan worked, and this is what Satan looked for.

That when we fall for the lie, his plan is going to work every time.

Once that happens, he got us.

Alright?

So, but the sons of Israel did not strike them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel to spare them, and all the congregation murmured, expressing great dissatisfaction against the leaders.

But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel, so now we cannot touch them.

This is what we will do to them.

This is what they wanted the whole time.

We will let them live so that the wrath of God does not come upon us for violating the oath which we have sworn to them.

The leader said to them, Let them live as our slaves, so they became the cutters and gatherers of firewood and water carriers for the entire congregation, just as the leaders had said to them.

Joshua called the Hivite men and said, Why did you deceive us, saying we live very far away from you, when in fact you live among us.

Now therefore you are cursed, and you shall always be slaves, both cutters and gatherers of firewood and water, carriers for the house of my God.

They replied to Joshua and said, They were fine with this, because that's what they wanted, because your servants were told in no uncertain terms that the Lord your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the land's inhabitants before you.

We feared greatly for our lives because of you, and so we did this deceptive thing.

Now look, we are in your hands.

Do this do to us as it seems good and right in your sight.

So that is what he so that is what he did to them.

He rescued them from the hands of the Israelites, and they did not kill them.

Now on that day Joshua made them cutters and gatherers of firewood and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord to this day in the place which he would choose.

Now, so we've seen that Satan is afraid of us, and we saw those kings that were trying to devise a plan so that they could fight with Joshua in the camp of Israel instead of against Joshua because they knew they would be defeated.

Alright?

We saw that in Joshua chapter 9, verses 1 through 3.

Joshua 9:1–3

Verse number 2, Satan will go through great lengths to dress up his lie.

We saw that in Joshua 9, verses 3 through 5, because that's exactly what he did.

Joshua 9:3–5

They went through great lengths to look a certain way, to present themselves a certain way, that ultimately worked, even though Israel knew the truth, they omitted it for trying to sympathize with the people when the people were lying the whole time about where they were from.

They were next door neighbors.

Verse 3 number 3, we know the truth, but the lie seems more attractive.

We learned that through Joshua 9, 6 through 15.

And we saw that when we get focused on self, what we feel that we're capable of doing, what we feel we are capable of deciding, then it gets us in this type of trouble.

And this is how the devil gets us through these three facets of life all the time.

This is why you have so many people that put so much money and invest so much money in marketing.

Because they know the more beautiful something is, the more presentable it's going to look and make you want it.

Now, other than that, man, I hope y'all enjoyed Joshua chapter 9.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

I'm the evangelist Toby Doubt it.

Peace and blessings.

I'm gone.