God knows we’re human—that means, we’ll do dumb stuff.
We’ll step in it, and not know it,
until we smell it…after we’ve tracked half way across the Living Room carpet.
He knows we’ll let down our guard and
be deceived, and wind up in godless covenants. Just like Joshua and crew did
back then, we still do, today.
Thankfully, God has made a way, to not
only escape, but to have victory, over the yoke of a godless covenant.
Last week we exposed what a godless
covenant looks like. Today we’ll talk about what to do about it.
Oh, by the way, if you feel the
burdensome yoke of a godless covenant, smile, because you’re about to see that
you can be, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free at last!”
Jesus says it like this:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.
Now, if you’re taking notes, our outline for the rest of the chapter, is brought to you by the letter “C”(as in Christ) and it looks like this:
We drop into the story just as Israel discovers that they’ve been duped.
Due to over four hundred years of
overflowing iniquity, Israel was told by God, to utterly destroy, all the
inhabitants of the Promise Land—do not make any covenant with them, show no
mercy to them, utterly destroy them.
However, the Gibeonites tricked Israel
into thinking they were from a faraway country, and thereby convinced Israel
into making a covenant with them.
After three days Israel heard that the
Gibeonites actually lived nearby, not from far-far away. So, to be sure, they journeyed
about twenty miles and discovered it was true.
They’d been duped.
So, they flew into a rage, shouted,
“All bets are off! You breached the contract! You lying, deceiving dogs!” And
Israel utterly destroyed all the Gibeonites, just as God had told them to do in
the first place.
No Doug, that’s not what happened.
Huh? No? What happened?
18 But the children of Israel did not attack
them…
Weird. They
did not attack? What’s up with that? Why not?
They saw the evidence. Didn’t turn a blind eye, ignore it, or let it slide, but they didn’t fly off the handle either. They maintained their composure—which is our first step in responding to a godless covenant.
GIVE GOD ROOM TO WORK
FLYING OFF THE HANDLE IS NOT ONE OF THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT – NOR
CHARACTERISTIC OF CHRIST
because the
rulers of the congregation had sworn to them…
They maintained their composure,
long enough to remember they’d made a deal with these scoundrels.
Now, there’s a lot to be said about
the content of character; which results in the integrity of your word.
Imagine what a wonderful world it
would be if a hand shake was an unshakable contract. A person’s word, was their
bond. Vows, were fulfilled. Promises, kept.
Sure Doug, it’s important to be a (wo)man of your word, but this deal was more than just some used chariot salesman playing fast and loose with truth. This had to do with national security, the life and death of an entire nation.
That’s true. And we’re about to see
that it takes more than maintaining composure and content of character
to stay the course when responding to a godless covenant.
by the Lord God
of Israel. And all the congregation complained
against the rulers. 19 Then all the rulers said to all the
congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch
them.
Joshua and crew didn’t hold back their
sword, simply because they were men of their word, but because they swore by
the Lord God of Israel.
This went deep, to the very conviction
of conscience; to their soul.
Knowing God’s love and character are
unconditional, they were able to stay the course, against public opinion, and
perhaps even their own, pride and prejudice.
Outward
behavior directed by inner conviction, is unconditional.
20 This we will do to them: We will let them
live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to
them.”
Now they pull back the curtain and
reveal one of the main reasons for their actions—they don’t want to fall under
the wrath of God.
Today, many confess
Christianity, not because of love for Christ—but for fear of hell. Nobody wants
to incur God’s wrath.
That’s obvious.
But what’s not so obvious is how they
knew the consequence of attacking the Gibeonites, would be the wrath of
God.
Doesn’t it seem the reverse would be
true?
Remember, in Deuteronomy 7:2, God said
to make no covenant with them, have no mercy on them, utterly destroy
them.
It takes a close personal relationship with someone to understand the consequence of how they’ll respond to any particular situation.
With God, there’s a huge difference in the consequence between sin and stupid.
The other day, I was stupid. The
bathroom floor replacement was going along just great, until it wasn’t. I didn’t
pay attention to that little pipe sticking out of the wall as I pulled up the subfloor.
Who knew those things were so fragile?
Or, they could shoot water like a fire hose? Or that heavy rain from the hurricane
buried the backyard shutoff valve in several inches of sand? Or that I could dig with
my bare hands faster than a dog after a bone?
It took days’ worth of drying, and hours’
worth of sucking, to undue a few moments of stupid.
During that debacle, I had offered to
give a couple friends a ride. They noticed the tags on my car were expired.
Oh boy.
After driving them, illegally, on their errands,
I dropped them off and headed to the tag office. It’s amazing how many cops you
see when you’re driving with expired tags.
I couldn’t really pray, not to get
caught, but I did ask for mercy.
I made it to the station, got the
sticker, put it on the license plate, while still in the parking lot, and
breathed a sigh of relief.
Now, we might beat ourselves up over the
stupid major mess from the plumbing leak; and blow off the illegal driving as
no big deal.
But not from God’s perspective.
I didn’t need to ask forgiveness for being
plumb(ing) stupid, but I did for driving illegal.
Joshua and crew, knew, the difference
too.
Jesus says it like this:
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Matthew 9:13. Hosea 6:6.
Okay, okay, that’s real nice; maintain
composure, keep character, stay true to conviction, be close enough to
understand the consequence of God’s response, but shouldn’t there also be consequence
to those in the wrong? Those liars and deceivers?
Yes, absolutely.
That’s exactly what happens next, and Lord willing, what we'll look at next week.
They
confront the Gibeonites and take command. The final step in responding
to godless covenants, not only addresses the issue, but turns it around to a
Romans 8:28 moment.
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