Please turn to the book of Joshua, chapter 9. Joshua 9. We will read from verse 1.
And it came to pass, when all the kings that were beyond the Jordan in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;
That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.
But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,
They also did work wilily;
And went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-skins, old and rent and bound up,
And old and patched shoes upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and become moldy.
And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, From a far country are we come; now therefore make ye a covenant with us.
And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a covenant with you?
And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants.
And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye?
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 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 the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth.
And our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants; and now make ye a covenant with us.
This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; and, behold, it is now dry, and is become moldy:
And these wine-skins, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they are rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.
And the men took of their provision, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.
And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.
And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them.
Verse 22:
And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us?
Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
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 feared greatly for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.
And now, behold, we are in thy 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, that 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, unto this day, in the place which He should choose.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Our Father, we do ask Thee to bless Thy Word, that it may become life and spirit to us. We ask Thee, Lord, whatever lesson Thou dost desire us to learn, that we may learn it with humbleness of heart. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Lately, we have been fellowshipping on the book of Joshua. It is a book centered upon one great theme: possessing our possession.
God gave the land of Canaan to Abraham. Now the children of Israel, under the leadership of Joshua, crossed over the Jordan to possess the possession that God had long promised to them.
But, of course, we noticed that in order to possess their possession, they had to destroy the enemies who occupied the land—the seven nations of Canaan. Therefore, you find that they were immediately involved in warfare.
We have already fellowshipped on the first stage of the war: the war against Jericho and the war against Ai. After these two cities were taken, the children of Israel came to a temporary rest. After that, you find that the war continued.
Now, of course, we fellowship on the book of Joshua not just because we are interested in past history. We fellowship on it because it has its application to us today.
In other words, today we are in the process of possessing our possession. God has given His Son, our Lord Jesus, to us as our possession. We are in Christ. By God, ye are in Christ.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily, and we are to possess our possession. This is God’s will for us—not just that we are saved and know Him as our Saviour, but that we possess our possession fully.
All the riches of Christ belong to us. It is God’s purpose, God’s will, that we should enter into all the riches of Christ and enjoy them for the glory of God.
But in possessing Christ, we are also faced with a very formidable enemy. That is Satan and his evil forces in the heavenlies.
That is the reason why you find, in Ephesians 1, that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Then, in Ephesians 6, we are told to fight against principalities, authorities, powers of darkness, and evil spirits in the heavenlies.
There, the enemy tries to withstand, to block, to hinder us from fully possessing Christ. So, in the possessing of Christ, there is spiritual conflict involved.
But, as we have mentioned again and again, the battle is the Lord’s. There is nothing for us to be afraid of, because He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world.
That is to say, Christ is the Captain of the army of the Lord. He has already won the victory on Calvary’s cross, and we are simply following in the train of His victory.
In the two battles against Jericho and Ai, we see the ruses of the enemy.
In the case of Jericho, you find that the enemy hid themselves behind strong walls. These strongholds represent reasonings—high things which the enemy tries to build in our minds to hinder us from the knowledge of God.
Through the finished work of Christ, every thought shall be led into captivity unto the obedience of Christ.
Now, in the case of Ai, we find that the enemy opened the door and came out to fight against the children of Israel. It speaks of temptation—how the enemy tempts God’s people with the things of the world.
Unless we are clear, we will not be able to overcome our enemies. So, in these two instances, we find how, through the ark and by the divine energy which represents the energy of the Holy Spirit, the enemies were defeated.
Now, after a short period of rest, you find that great contentions were ahead of them. Why? Because all the inhabitants of the land heard what had happened to Jericho and Ai.
Therefore, all the inhabitants of the land—the Hivites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, the seven nations or tribes of the land of Canaan—all joined together with one accord to fight against the children of Israel.
If you read later on, you find that the battles were divided into two campaigns: one campaign against the southern confederacy and another campaign against the northern confederacy. Forces were being formed, and campaigns were to come.
But before the campaign against the southern confederacy started, something happened in between. That is what we would like to fellowship about this evening.
The inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, and they were afraid.
They heard that God commanded the children of Israel to destroy all the inhabitants of the land, and that not one was to be spared. They saw what had happened in Jericho and Ai. It happened as God had commanded, so they were afraid.
They knew that they could not fight against the children of Israel because God was with them, and no one was able to stand before them. Therefore, they acted with craft.
They sent messengers to the camp of the children of Israel at Gilgal. These messengers took old sacks upon their asses and carried wine-skins that were old, rent, and tied up.
They wore old and patched sandals upon their feet, old garments upon themselves, and carried bread that was dry and moldy—as if they had come from a far, far country.
So they came to the camp and said, “We came from a far country. We want to make a covenant of peace with you.”
The children of Israel began to ask questions. “Who are you? Where do you come from? Maybe you dwell in our midst.”
But instead of answering directly, they answered in a very clever way. They said, “We are your servants.” “We are your servants.”
Joshua inquired again: “Who are you? Where do you come from?” In a little way, you find that Joshua and the children of Israel were somewhat suspicious.
Yet these people spoke with such sweetness. They said, “We came from a far country. We heard of what God had done in Egypt, and to the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan,” as if they had never heard what had happened to Jericho and Ai.
“Our people decided to come and ask for peace, and we are willing to be your servants.” Then they showed them all these old, rent, patched, and moldy things.
The children of Israel took these things, and they were deceived. They made a covenant of peace with them. But on the third day, they discovered that these were people dwelling in their midst.
But they had already vowed a vow before God to preserve their lives. So nothing could be done except to make them hewers of wood and drawers of water. Now, this is the story.
The enemy sometimes tries to withstand our possessing Christ by building strongholds in our minds—prejudice, preconceived ideas, pride. All these things can be developed in our minds so that we are blinded to the truth of Christ.
Sometimes the enemy tries to tempt our flesh with the things of the world. If he is successful in that, he is able to block our way to the knowledge of Christ.
But at other times, you find that the enemy tries to deceive us. He is a deceiver—a deceiver.
You remember, even in the garden of Eden, how the serpent came to Eve and spoke to Eve as a friend. That was where the deception was: he came as a friend.
Eve was looking at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Evidently, she was admiring the tree. She was longing for the fruit of the tree, but she did not eat it because she knew God had said, “Thou shalt not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” God forbade it, and she knew it.
Yet she was standing before that tree and admiring it. So here came the serpent, acting as her friend, and said, “Did God say, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?”
Now, of course, at that time man did not eat meat. At that time, man’s food was fruit. God gave the fruit of the trees as food for man.
The enemy changed the matter in such a sly way and said, “Did God say, You should not eat any fruit of any tree?” In other words, God was presented as a hard, harsh Person—one who wanted them to die and not to live.
Of course, Eve said, “Oh no, of course not. We can eat of all the trees except this one. This one we cannot eat, and we cannot touch it.”
In other words, she accepted some suggestion from the serpent. God was presented as a harsh Master.
So Satan continued and said, “Not so, not so. God knows that if you eat that fruit, your eyes will be opened. You will be as God. That is why God forbade you to eat that tree: He is jealous of you.”
What a friend. These sweet words entered into the ears of Eve.
Satan came as an angel of light. He transformed himself into an angel of light and spoke words to deceive. Eve was deceived. She was deceived.
One of the most subtle ways of our enemy is deception.
If he comes out in the open, we will recognize him. He will be easily detected. But when he transforms himself into an angel of light, how easily people are deceived.
So, brothers and sisters, remember that in the strategy of the enemy there is such a thing called deception.
Deception has always been here on the earth. From the day in the garden of Eden up to our present time, you find deception everywhere. Why? Because the deceiver is everywhere.
When you read 2 Corinthians, you find that there will be false apostles. Paul said there is nothing strange about it, because even Satan can transform himself into an angel of light.
Deception is unavoidable on this earth because the deceiver is on the earth. But, brothers and sisters, that does not mean we must be deceived.
It is true that deception is everywhere because the deceiver is working, but that does not mean that we must be deceived.
The children of Israel were deceived. Why? Because they did not inquire of the Lord.
You find here that the children of Israel asked questions. Joshua asked questions. But after they heard the answers—the deceiving words—instead of bringing the whole matter to God and inquiring of the Lord, they acted on their own. That is why they were deceived.
Brothers and sisters, whenever we have a question, whenever there is a suspicion, we need to be careful.
Sometimes in our spiritual life, in the things with which we come into contact, there may be within us a little suspicion. Now, of course, God does not want us to have a suspicious nature. That is very ugly.
Yet oftentimes, when we hear something, when we come into contact with something, or even with someone, we may not be able to pinpoint the matter; but somehow, you find that there are questions within us. There is some suspicion. We do not know whether it is true or not true.
Now, brothers and sisters, whenever we are in such a state, be careful. This is the time when we should bring the matter to the Lord and inquire of Him.
If at that time we act quickly, we will act on our own. We will act on our reasoning, and oftentimes the result proves that we are wrong. We are deceived.
Do not think that we ourselves are beyond deception. This itself is the greatest of all deceptions.
Why are people deceived? Because they are so assured of themselves. They are so confident that they will not be deceived. They think, “We have investigated. We have asked questions. We are satisfied. We cannot be wrong.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, whenever we come into that kind of mentality, we are bound to be deceived.
Paul said, “I have no confidence in my flesh.” No confidence in my flesh.
Yes, we have every confidence in the Lord. That is true. No one can live without confidence. But our confidence is in Christ. We have full confidence in the Lord.
Yet, so far as our flesh goes, there is no confidence—no confidence. The children of Israel were too confident of themselves. They did not inquire of the Lord. They thought it was unnecessary, and the result was that they were deceived.
So first of all, brothers and sisters, how can we avoid being deceived?
We need to bring everything questionable, everything suspicious, to the Lord and inquire of Him. Never act rashly, but wait upon the Lord.
If only the children of Israel had waited upon the Lord, certainly the Lord would have revealed everything to them.
Why were they deceived? They were deceived by appearance—by appearance.
By all appearances, these people must have come from a far country. Why? Because you find the sacks were old, the wine-skins were dry, patched, and tied together, the sandals were old and patched, and even the bread was dry and moldy.
According to all appearance, what could you say? They must have come from a far country. Then you heard their sweet words: “We are your servants”—so humble, so friendly. They could not be enemies. But they were deceived by appearance.
Paul said that once he knew Christ according to the flesh, but no more. He said that he would know no one according to the flesh. Why? Because when you try to know people according to the flesh—that is, by appearance—how easily you can be deceived.
Men always look at appearance, but God looks upon the heart. If we judge people by appearance, if we do things by appearance, we will be deceived. We will easily be deceived.
Paul said, in effect, “I judge no one according to the flesh, but in the spirit.” When he judged Christ according to the flesh, by appearance, he was deceived by the enemy into persecuting the followers of Christ.
But when he knew Christ in the Spirit, what a difference. Brothers and sisters, let us remember this: never be deceived by appearance. If we go by appearance, we are deceived.
It is the Spirit—the Spirit—Who detects and knows.
When you read 1 John, you find that among God’s people there are little children, young men, and fathers.
Of course, little children are most susceptible to deception. They are so ignorant, so innocent; certainly, they can easily be deceived. Yet there in 1 John, you find that the little children have the anointing within them.
You have the Holy Spirit within you, and the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in your spirit, will detect. He will let you know.
Sometimes children, even though they are so ignorant, are less easily deceived than grown-ups. Why? Little children judge by intuition, but we judge by logic, by our reasoning.
Christians should judge by intuition in the spirit. As the Holy Spirit impresses upon your spirit, then you know whether something is true or whether it is a lie.
So thank God, we have a built-in protection. If we really know how to live before God and walk in the Spirit, you find that the Holy Spirit within us will judge and give us discernment.
It is not according to appearance. It is according to the Spirit, and thus we will not be deceived.
Why were the children of Israel deceived? They were deceived by these old things.
Old sacks, old wine-skins, old sandals, dry and moldy bread, old garments—they were deceived by these old things.
Do you know that we have a natural love for things old? That is why antiques are so expensive. Everything that is old seems to have some kind of worth.
It is natural within us. We just love old things. We think, “It must be right. There is some kind of authority in anything old.” We respect it, and we love it. That is a natural tendency within us.
Why is tradition so hard to break?
Even though we find that a tradition is not in the Scripture, that it is merely the tradition of the fathers and not the tradition of Scripture, yet you find that it is so hard to break. Why? Because there is a reverence for oldness. It is old.
Oftentimes in Christianity the argument is made: “Yes, it is true that this is not in the Scripture, but our fathers have practiced it for several decades or several centuries, so it cannot be wrong. We have to reverence that which is old and keep it.”
Is that not true? There is a certain temptation in oldness.
As the Bible says, no one, after he has tasted the old wine, wants the new wine. He always says, “The old is better. The old is better.”
But, you see, the children of Israel were deceived by the oldness of these things.
You can enlarge this thought. At the time of our Lord Jesus, the children of Israel were deceived by the traditions of the fathers. They even violated the commandment of God because of their reverence for the traditions of the fathers.
So the Lord said, “You are hypocrites. You are hypocrites.”
This is something we should be careful about. Do not say that we are above it. This natural tendency is in every one of us.
How we need to go before the Lord, inquire of Him, and decide whether something is of Him or not.
I think there may be another reason. You know, the children of Israel were in a foreign land, surrounded by enemies—the seven tribes of Canaan.
Even though by the power of God they had already won two victories, yet how they would like to have more friends and allies than enemies. That is natural.
If only you could have more friends and allies than enemies, it would make things much easier. So I think probably that was another reason why they jumped at the opportunity.
They were suspicious, yet they did not pursue their suspicions. They would rather just accept what the Gibeonites said. Why? They wanted friends and allies to help them and make their lives easier.
They did not want to go all the way by the hard way—the way of the cross. Probably that was another reason.
Dear brothers and sisters, God did say to Moses that when they went out to battle against people outside the promised land, the first thing the children of Israel were to do was to offer peace.
Before they attacked a city, they were first to offer peace. If peace was rejected, then they could lay siege to the city and attack it.
But God said that this was for people outside the promised land. For people in the promised land, there was no peace and no compromise. They had to be completely destroyed, because if they were not destroyed, they would be a snare.
They would lead the children of Israel away from God into abomination.
Brothers and sisters, it is true that according to the Word of God—say, Romans 12—we are told that we should make peace with our neighbors, as much as is possible with us.
In other words, so far as we are concerned, so far as it is within our ability, we should make peace with all our neighbors. That is true.
We should not have any enemies among men. Even though people may be hostile to us and mistreat us, we are told to pray for them and for those who persecute us. We should have no enemy among men.
Yet, brothers and sisters, with Satan and his evil forces, that is another story. The Bible never says that we should make peace with Satan and his evil forces. No, never.
It is a battle to the death. No compromise, no peace. Because if we compromise, it will be a snare to us.
We always say no—always say no. There can be no compromise.
Again and again in the Bible, you find this principle. Consider Abraham. When Abraham came back after a great victory over the four kings and had rescued his nephew Lot and all those captured by the kings, the king of Sodom came to meet him.
The king of Sodom said, “Abraham, you may have everything that I have. Give me the people, and you may have all my wealth.”
What a temptation. What a temptation.
But thank God, Abraham was met by Melchizedek first. Melchizedek blessed him in the name of the Most High God, gave him bread and wine, and showed him that it was the Lord.
So Abraham was able to resist the temptation and not be deceived. He said, “I will not take anything from you, lest people say, ‘You made me rich.’ God is my wealth. I will not be made rich by you.”
He overcame the temptation.
You also know how the Jewish remnant came back from Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple. Their enemies came and offered help, saying, “We will help you. We will help you to build the temple.”
That was a deception. They did not come to help; they came to disturb. Thank God for Zerubbabel and the people with him. They said, “No, you have no part. We will do it ourselves,” even though it was the hard way.
In the time of Nehemiah, when he built the walls of Jerusalem, they came again and said, “We are your friends. Let us help.” But actually they wanted to disturb and confuse. Nehemiah rejected them.
Even when our Lord was on earth, how the enemy tried again and again. You remember the wilderness: “If You bow down to me, I will give the whole world to You. You do not need to go to the cross. Just bow down; all is Yours.”
Deception. But the Lord said, “Get thee hence, Satan.” No compromise.
The enemy even used Peter to try to deceive our Lord: “Be kind to Thyself. Do not go to the cross.” But the Lord said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan.” No compromise. No compromise.
Brothers and sisters, we should be kind and friendly with our neighbors—that is, with men. But when it comes to evil spirits and Satan, there can be no peace and no compromise. Otherwise, it will be a snare to us.
Here you find that the enemy used another trick: craft, deception. Because the children of Israel probably thought too much of themselves, they did not inquire of the Lord. The result was that they were deceived.
When they discovered that they had been deceived, it was too late. Their leaders had already made a vow before God, in the name of the Lord, to make that covenant of peace.
The children of Israel would have liked very much to kill them, but Joshua said, “No, we cannot do that, because we will put the name of the Lord in jeopardy.”
In one sense, because they were deceived and made a covenant of peace in the name of the Lord with their enemies, they were not allowed to destroy those enemies. They had to make them hewers of wood and drawers of water in the house of God and in the assembly.
In other words, these people would be before them as a reminder of the discipline of the Lord.
The Lord put them under discipline because they were deceived. Therefore, they were put under discipline.
According to their flesh, when the children of Israel discovered that these people lived among them, they would have liked simply to destroy them. Then they would not be before their eyes, and they could forget that once they had been deceived.
But God forbade it. God forbade it.
As long as these Gibeonites lived before them, they reminded the children of Israel that they were under the discipline of God.
Yet even out of discipline, God can make something useful. The enemies became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God and for the assembly. Even so, God could still get something out of it.
But, in any case, the children of Israel were under discipline because of that.
Instead of gaining an ally to help them, you find that the children of Israel had to defend the Gibeonites. In other words, it put them into a worse situation.
But the story with the Gibeonites did not end there.
If you go to 2 Samuel, chapter 21, you find that there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year.
David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord said, “It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.”
The king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites. The children of Israel had sworn to them, but Saul sought to smite them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.
For many years, this covenant had remained. The book of Judges covers more than three hundred years. By the end of Samuel, it was four hundred and fifty years; and when David became king, hundreds of years had passed.
Yet during David’s reign there was a famine for three years. David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord said that it was because of Saul.
When Saul was king, he became zealous for the children of Israel and killed the Gibeonites. So far as the flesh is concerned, the flesh could not stand discipline.
Now, probably we need to explain this a little more in application. The moment we discover that we have been deceived, what should we do?
Should we continue in deception? Certainly not.
The moment we discover that we have been deceived, we should immediately repent, humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and look for His mercy. We certainly should not continue in deception.
Yet oftentimes, after we are deceived, we may have to go through a period of discipline. If so, our attitude should be that we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that in due time He may exalt us.
But this is something the flesh cannot stand. The flesh cannot stand discipline.
Saul represents the flesh. Saul is different from David because Saul is a man of the flesh. The first time you find Saul, you find him chasing asses, and asses always represent the wildness of the flesh.
So Saul represents a man of the flesh. As a man of the flesh, he could not stand discipline.
There was zeal for the children of Israel, and it seemed to be a good thing to be zealous for God’s people. So he wanted to kill the Gibeonites—to forget about the whole thing. Then there would be no reminder of their failures.
In appearance, it looked very commendable. But actually, he was disobeying God. When God said, “Destroy,” he would not destroy; and when God said, “Do not destroy,” he wanted to destroy, because he could not understand.
So here you find Saul, in his reign, killing some of the Gibeonites in zeal for the children of Israel and Judah. For that reason, God sent three years of famine in the time of David.
Finally, you find that seven sons, or descendants, of Saul had to be hanged before the wrath of God passed away.
So, anyway, I think there is another lesson for us to learn: how we need to recognize the disciplinary hand of the Lord.
The flesh will never like it. Yet the only way is to submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that in due time He will exalt us.
We should not try to right a wrong with another wrong. We tend to do something, thinking that we are righting a wrong, but we do a wrong thing to right a wrong thing, and it only makes matters worse.
I think this is the lesson that we have to learn.
After that, you find the campaigns beginning in the book of Joshua: one against the southern confederacy and the other against the northern confederacy. I do not think we need to go into that.
After these two campaigns were over, the warfare in the promised land had covered probably seven years.
After the war was over, the backbone of the enemy was completely broken. Even though there were still scattered enemies in the promised land, the backbone of the enemy was broken.
So you find in the latter part of the book of Joshua that God commanded Joshua to apportion the land. The land was divided among the children of Israel, even though there were still enemies to be wiped out.
Now, that is the book of Joshua. So finally, may we be reminded of one thing: spiritual warfare is unavoidable in the process of possessing Christ.
But never make spiritual warfare an end in itself. It is only a means to an end, because the end is possessing Christ.
Therefore, God does not want us to be occupied fully with our enemies. God wants us to be occupied fully with Christ. I think this is something we need always to remember.
Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee. In spite of the enemies in the heavenlies trying to hinder us from possessing the fullness of Christ, Thou hast already overcome the enemy.
Therefore, we can fully possess our possession. Oh, we do ask Thee, Lord, that because Thou art our Captain, and we put our trust in Thee, Thou wilt deliver us from all deception and all the wiles of the enemy.
May we be able to enter into our inheritance and be a praise to Thy name. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.