Sermon(Josh 9): The way for a sinner to live
The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025614219
Scripture reading: Josh 9
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>> .... 3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4 they on their part acted with cunning, and went and made ready provisions, and took worn-out sacks upon their asses, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, 5 with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes; and all their provisions were dry and moldy. 6 And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country; so now make a covenant with us." 7 But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?" ... 9 They said to him, "From a very far country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God for we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, .... 14 So the men partook of their provisions, and did not ask direction from the Lord. 15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore to them. .... 24 They answered Joshua, "Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; so we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and did this thing. .... <<
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God wants men to multiply and thrive on earth and to live a happy life in him. God created the living creatures and saw them and was delighted in them and blessed them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth!" But in the Garden of Eden, when man betrayed God, God caused death to come into the world, as he had already warned. However the death was a process by which human beings could be born again and become more complete being. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Therefore, if God solves the problem of human sin, death is irrelevant to us. Of course, the death of the body is definite in this world, but the spirit of human being blessed by God never dies. God wants to give life to man, and when man is in danger of life, he immediately takes necessary measures. When Hagar was driven out by her mistress Sarah and was waiting for death in the wilderness with her son, God opened her eyes and let her see a well. When Israel accomplished exodus from Egypt but were about to die of thirst, God caused water to spring from a rock through Moses and rescued them. When David was pursued by Saul and went to Ahimelech, the priest at Nob, Ahimelech saw that he was hungry and gave him and his friends the bread offered to God, which only the priest could eat. Because it was the most important thing to save life by giving food. God said, "I do not want the wicked to die." So he sent prophets to save sinners if he could. At last he sent his only begotten Son into the world to make him the bread of life that gives eternal life to sinners. God's greatest concern is to save sinners and to give them eternal life.
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God ordered Israelites who had escaped from Egypt that they should kill all the inhabitants of Canaan where they were to live. The reason for this is that, if Israel left them alive, they would seduce Israel to idolatry, and also Israel could suffer eternal death. So the decision to kill them was inevitable to save Israel. To kill men itself is not God's purpose. We know this from the fact that God ordered Israel not to kill inhabitants of a country far from Israel but to make them Israel's servants if they do not resist but surrender peacefully. But God commanded Israel strictly not to make any contract with the Canaanites but to kill them off, showing no mercy, regardless of young and old, man and woman.
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However, the Gibeonites of today's text of Bible lived in the land of Canaan and remained alive over all difficulties. According to God's command, they should be destroyed with 100% certainty. But they survived. How? Later, they became the recipients of God's protection. Saul killed and harassed Gibeonites living in Israel in order to destroy them. At the time of king David, a severe drought broke out throughout Israel. David asked God the reason, and God answered, "Because Saul killed Gibeonites." So David handed over some men of Saul's house to Gibeonites, and Gibeonites hanged them. Then it rained in the country. The Gibeonites were the wicked people who lived in Canaan, so they must die, but they could survive. From the words of God today, we, sinners, can learn how to behave in order not to lose our lives but to gain eternal life.
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First, the Gibeonites accepted the word of God as truth. They witnessed that Jehovah the God of Israel liberated his people from Egypt, the world superpower of that time. They also learned that the Lord God would kill all the peoples of Canaan and make Israel live there. They took seriously God's determination that he would exterminate all Canaanites living in sins. They answered Joshua, "Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; so we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and did this thing. (v. 24)” They could find a way to live because they took these words of God as a serious truth, as a fact. on the contrary, the other peoples of Canaan resisted Israel and were destroyed by Israel for they took lightly the word of God above and thought that they would win the war because they had more soldiers and better weapons than Israel. My brethren, take seriously all the words of judgment and blessings in the Bible! The Bible clearly says that, after all humans die, they will be resurrected and finally stand before the last judgment of God. Those who believe in Jesus as the Savior and obey his word will be forgiven all their sins and have eternal life then, but those who do not receive him as the Savior will be cast into the eternal flame and be afflicted by eternal worms and suffer eternal agony there. Brethren, do not take this warning of the Bible lightly. The Bible says that there will also be hired workers of ministry. Even if you heal the sick in the name of Jesus, work miracles in the name of Jesus, drive out demons in the name of Jesus, and nevertheless if you have used your talents you received from God for the purpose of the ministry of greed, Jesus will, says the Bible, say to you, "I really don't know you. Get away from me!" Those who disobeyed the servant of God, harassed and slandered him, and formed a party against him in church, and drove him from the church should know that there will be a grave punishment here and at the last judgment. So they have to seek a way to live like Gibeonites while they are alive. You who committed adultery, rape, fornication and abortion! There will be a grave punishment upon you 100%. Thus seek the way to live like Gibeonites before it's too late. He who takes the warning of the word of God seriously survives the danger of death like Gibeonites.
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The Gibeonites put their all under God's authority. >“And now, behold, we are in your hand: do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.” So he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel; and they did not kill them. But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to continue to this day, in the place which he should choose. (v. 25-27)< Gibeonites deceived Israelites to make them believe that they didn’t come from a near country but from a far country, and they could conclude a treaty of friendship with Israel. They entered into a treaty by the name of the Lord God then. But Israel fell into great mess when it turned out that they (Gibeonites) were men of near country in Canaan. But Israelites couldn't kill them because they had made a treaty by the name of the Lord God, and the people of Gibeon asked Israel for forgiveness, saying, "We had to deceive you to live!" They said to Israel, "We will do whatever you ask us to do if you spare us." So Israel made them servants. They abandoned their egos in order to live. They let all their future be at God's disposal. This is the attitude of a sinner who was a sinner and is forgiven and will get life. If a sinner has come to God with courage to seek grace in God, he must give up his all. He must give up not only his bad habits but also his own will. He who denies himself wholly and wants to live according to the will of God will at last be forgiven all sins and gain the eternal life. Are you perhaps a man who must be punished 100% like the Gibeonites of the past? I hope you come to God humbly and put yourself entirely at the disposal of God, just like the present Gibeonites. He does not want you to die, but wants you to repent, be forgiven and blessed and have eternal life. That is the very true mind of God. Don't give up on yourself! If any man, however dirty and evil his sins may be, comes to God humbly, and seeks God’s forgiveness, and commits his all to God's will, he will be forgiven all his sins. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. (Is 1:18).”
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The problem is the lie. God hates lie. The Bible calls the Devil the father of lies. In the Bible, however, there are those who lied and were blessed. Look at Jacob. He was blessed when he went to his father Isaac in the guise of his brother Esau. The blessings that Isaac spoke to Jacob all came true. How could this happen? But we need to look at the ulterior situation of the story and must judge the matter from God's point of view. God clearly told Rebekah, Isaac's wife, that there were twins in her womb, and that the elder would serve the younger. So even though Jacob was the younger brother, he had been blessed already by God before birth. His father Isaac ignored that, and would bless his elder brother Esau. The blessing that Isaac pronounced to Jacob whom he thought to be Esau was a nightmare itself for Jacob! “... Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. ... (Gen 27:29)” Isaac was trying to bless Esau that Jacob be his servant. As he was but a man, Jacob thought, 'If I do not feign myself to be Esau, I'll never free myself from the life of Esau's servant.' And he recalled the blessing that God had pronounced concerning him. And he couldn't resist his mother's strong suggestion. So he deceived his father and was blessed by him. Above all, his elder brother Esau slighted the blessing of God, so God thought Jacob must be blessed. Jacob's deception was, as it were, a desperate ejaculation, "My God, I must get blessed!" And God heard that cry.
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Let’s think of Gibeonites. They must all die 100% unless they do not conceal their identity. And they wanted to leave their gods and to go to the Lord God. So they behaved as if they had come from afar and signed a peace treaty with Israel. Their deceptive behavior was a sincere cry, "We want to give up our old life and live in God now. We don't want to die but live!" God heard the cry of those who want to live. So God did not allow the Israelites to use their wisdom to identify them (the Gibeonites). The other peoples of Canaan trusted in their gods and stood against the God of Israel and planed to wage war upon Israel, but Gibeonites gave up their god and planed to live under the shadow of God's charity. So God couldn't destroy Gibeonites. My brethren, look at Achan, an Israelite. He was blessed to be God's people and to live in Canaan. But he violated God's command and hid the plundered treasures in his tent. But God picked him out of all the numerous Israelites and let him be stoned to death. So we have to understand that it is God's decision for a man to live and die. In God's sight, Achan, though an Israelite, had to die, while Gibeonites who should have been destroyed had to receive God's mercy and to live.
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It is not a sin to have a desire to live. Humans have the right to live. Everyone has the right to repent and to be forgiven sins before God. Isn't it a forgivable lie if the lie was done for one's survival within the confines of no harm to others? Think of women's makeup. Isn't it a kind of deception? Isn't it the women's makeup that hides the original face and makes it look better and more beautiful? Isn't this a deception to be forgiven naturally? The Gibeonites also showed themselves differently to save their lives. I mean, we shouldn't tell even white lies if possible, but sometimes we have to take account of the situation of others who have had to lie. When Sarah laughed, God asked, "Why are you laughing?" But she lied, "I did not laugh." (She feared God.) There is such a lie in the world. Of course, God did not show bad feelings to Sarah and blessed her and let her give birth to Isaac.
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The lesson we have learned from the Scripture today is that God does not want any evil sinner to give up his life forever, and that God wants him to come to God to be pardoned his sins and to obtain eternal life. If even those who are cursed by God to be destroyed 100% come to God desperately before their death and seek his mercy, God will pardon, save, protect them. Sinners, God's mercy and compassion is much greater than his wrath. Do not give up on eternal life that is only in him. And if you have been forgiven sins and have gotten eternal life, then serve God and men with the spirit of servant like Gibeonites.
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May God forgive you, take care of you, and bless you!
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Chong Tack Kim
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- Dongtoma Sunshine Church -