WHAT GIVES THE ENEMY ADVANTAGE AGAINST US?

July 10, 2011
MF Blume

Joshua 6:17-19 KJV And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. (18) And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. (19) But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.

Joshua 7:1 KJV But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

Joshua 7:8-15 KJV O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! (9) For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? (10) And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? (11) Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. (12) Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. (13) Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. (14) In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man. (15) And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

Israel’s progress from Egypt to Canaan shows us a perfect picture for the spiritual progress of a child of God from salvation from sin to Kingdom victory and dominion.

Egypt was slavery to the Israelites and Canaan was their own land to rule.
God saves us from sin and brings us to a place of dominion power.

Last week we saw how David’s capture of Zion moved the Philistines to try and depose him due to fear of His growing kingdom.

The early church in the Book of Acts caught a revelation of David’s story of this from Psalm 2 and realized Jesus is on the TRUE ZION’s throne.
While David fought with swords, the church would fight and increase the Kingdom with the SWORD OF THE PREACHED WORD OF GOD.

Before that we taught how Israel entered Canaan through the Jordan river and overcame a fear their parents held forty years earlier.

While their parents looked at their human abilities, the children learned to look to the THRONE OF GOD symbolized by the uplifted Ark of the Covenant in the Jordan river’s barrier to the promised land.
Their threatening giants and walled cities speak of enemies within our own FLESH and LIVES that we do not have to learn to live with, but conquer!

Can we all see SPIRITUAL KINGDOM PROGRESS in these sermons using the natural examples of Israel in the Promised Land?

Today again this KINGDOM progress is our focus.
Jericho was the first city to conquer, and turned out to be the first cause of temptation to Israel.
God specifically commanded that all the cities of Canaan would provide them bounty and riches upon their conquest.
But the first city’s wealth would go to God as an offering of firstfruits.
The KJV calls the wealth the ACCURSED THING, while the actual Hebrew states it is the DEVOTED THING.
DEVOTED because it was firstfruits offering to God.
(Firstfruits was an offering given to God in the harvest as the first part of the harvest…
It was an act of faith to thank God before enjoying the harvest themselves, believing that putting God before themselves would cause God to bless them mightily with the harvest received later).

It takes faith to give to God’s cause like this.

But it was too tempting for a man named Achan.

Achan outwardly appeared as a just and upright man of Israel.

But he saw some of the wealth in Jericho during their conquest of it, and instead of obeying the Lord to let the wealth of the first city they conquered go to God, he kept a wedge of gold, a Babylonish garment and 200 shekels of silver.
He took it and hid it in the floor of his tent.

Israel went on to the next city, unaware of Achan’s deed.

They set out to conquer it, and were not blessed by God so that the inhabitants of Ai defeated the Israelites embarrassingly.
Joshua cried out to God as to why God let them down, and God angrily told Joshua to get off his face from bowing before God and informed him that someone in Israel disobeyed God’s word and stole some wealth that belonged to the Lord.

Joshua asked why the enemy got the upper hand at Ai.

God told him they could not stand before their enemies.
They put the accursed thing “EVEN AMONG THEIR STUFF.”

We looked to the Book of Acts last week to see how the early church operated in the Kingdom spiritually whereas ancient Israel operated by warfare and battle.

We learned we battle in this spiritual Kingdom by the sword of the Word of God and believing for healings for the sick, etc.
The book of Acts also has a parallel story to the trespass of Achan where people lived a deceitful life and tried hiding some things from the Church, TEMPTING GOD as though they might pull it over without the Spirit of God catching them.

In fact, this account falls hot on the heels of the message we preached last week From Acts 4.

We ended off last week showing how the people were so filled with the Holy Spirit that Peter and John went out preaching in boldness after having been commanded by the religious leaders of Jerusalem to stop it.

And the love of God was so strong amongst the church members that it grew to 5000 who were of ONE SOUL.
Recall the Jewish proverb that a friend is two bodies with one soul.
This was 5000 bodies with one soul!

Achan’s trespass was a first attempt for the attempt to gain advantage over Israel.

Let us look at the enemy’s attempt to get advantage in this new and flourishing infant church, with such power and glory of God that the enemy just had to stop.

Acts 4:34-37 KJV Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, (35) And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. (36) And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, (37) Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Acts 5:1-5 KJV But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, (2) And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. (3) But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost (LIKE THE QUESTION JOSHUA ASKED GOD – but translated into the spiritual progress of the kind of kingdom we are in), and to keep back part of the price of the land? (4) Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. (5) And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

Ananias was so much like ACHAN in so many ways.

Achan tried HIDING the forbidden bounty from Jericho as though GOD WOULD NOT STEP IN AND DEAL WITH HIM ABOUT IT.
He found out that God was very real.
God exposed the man.
And he died as a result.

Annanias and his wife Sapphira likewise put forth a false front by HIDING something from the apostles and the rest of the church.

They, too, died for it.
But notice the details of the situation.

A man named JOSES, surnamed BARNABAS by the apostles, was so moved on by God’s Spirit when they were all filled that he sold some land he owned, and took the entire sales price and laid it at the apostles’ feet for them to help out the rest of the church members who had need.

This was the man we later read by the name of BARNABAS.

Ananias saw that.

He connived a plan of selling some land as well, and bringing only PART of the profit he gained to the apostles but saying HE GAVE IT ALL.
Peter perceives this using supernatural ability of the Holy Ghost – the gift of the word of knowledge – as God set out to deal with Ananias.
Peter informed him that he was at full liberty to do whatever he wanted with the land and the money he sold it for.
He could freely give PART of it to the church or give it all or keep all of it.
But to give part and then LIE saying he gave it all, was another matter altogether.
It was lying to the HOLY GHOST.
What this means was that these apostles were under such supernatural influence and power of the Spirit of God after just having been filled with that Spirit that lying to them and the church was lying to the Holy Spirit.
These men were like vessels of the Spirit of God to such an extent that Peter said lying to him was lying to the Spirit.

Ananias dropped dead that very moment of confrontation.

No man slew him, but the power of God struck him supernaturally, and he fell to the ground dead without a human being touching him.

Stop and think about this situation.

Why would Ananias want to keep part of the price of the money from the land and yet say he was giving the full price?
This shows us something that God is very much concerned with.
It shows us a very important concept that we have to keep in mind while we progress in the Kingdom of God.

We just read where BARNABAS did what Ananias LIED and said he did.

Ananias was obviously following after Barnabas.
But Ananias was not true-blue as Barnabas was.
Barnabas had sold out to God literally, and had given his all to the work of the Lord.
He later was a minister who traveled with Paul, and they became the famous Book of Acts team of Paul and Barnabas.
BARNABAS was obviously greatly esteemed amongst the church for a GENUINE self-denying act.
Ananias must have watched the people react to seeing Barnabas give his all like this and WANTED THAT KIND OF REPUTATION AS WELL.

The evil of Ananias act was his DESIRE TO BE RESPECTED AND ADMIRED FOR BEING SPIRITUAL without actually being spiritual at all.

It was a classic case of a FRAUD and a FAKE.
Making people think he was a spiritual giant when he was no such thing whatsoever, and he knew it.
Making a lie and USING GOD and the things of the Kingdom of God, like giving to the work of God so selflessly, IN ORDER TO VAUNT HIMSELF UP AND GET THE ADMIRATION OF PEOPLE.

What an awful act before God.

Like Achan, tempting God and seeing if God would not detect what he was doing.
And more than that, using GOD to get attention from people.
For a person to not truly be spiritual, knowing spiritual people are often admired by the Church, and to set out to get that same reputation to be admired is incredibly vile.
It is USING GOD.
Using the appearance of what God actually did in such a humble man like Barnabas who was genuinely sold out to God, JUST TO GET ADMIRATION FROM PEOPLE is something the SPIRIT OF GOD WOULD NOT TOLERATE.
Spiritual hypocrisy and fraud is ultimately a mockery of the very existence of God.

When self is so important to a person…

That one takes a wonderfully precious example of a man who so truly loved God and the people of God and was so REAL that he sold land and gave ALL OF THE MONEY TO GOD’S WORK for the people’s help…
And PRETENDS that is the case with oneself – when one could not be that self denying, seeing he was willing only to part with SOME of the money due to a covetousness that Barnabas obviously did not have – …
One has to be desperate for attention and self glory.
What opposite manners compared to a truly giving man who genuinely was what the people admired him to be.
How low can a person get?
How hypocritical?
Wanting to look so self denying while the very deception of looking self denying is actually CRAVING FOR SELF WORSHIP.

For a man like Barnabas to do what he did, was certainly in no way done in order to be admired of the people.

To deny self to the extent that one sells his land and gives the whole lot of money to the apostles is to least of all be even interested in getting admiration from people.
Seeking to be admired by people is simply non-existent in someone like Barnabas who was so self denying that he sold his personal land and let it all go for the work of God.
How CONTRADICTORY for Ananias!
He craved attention so much that he would USE GOD and PRETEND to do what a genuinely Godly man did to get that attention.

Ananias and Barnabas were as opposite as opposites can be.

Barnabas was so selfless that he sold his land and gave all the money away.
Ananias would never part with all the money, but just HAD TO keep part of it, which was fine as long as he did not lie and say it was all.
But he knew that he would personally be outdone by Barnabas, as far as he was concerned, if he said he only gave part of it away.
He craved admiration so much that he would LIE using a godly example of Barnabas to get it.

I can picture Barnabas hugging his neck knowing how much self denial was required for such and act since he just did it himself, and Ananias loving it as people looked on.

Then seeing the same ahhhh’s and ooo’s from the people that he saw give to Barnabas.
Likely even imagining Peter complimenting him about his selfless deed, and it was so far from being selfless that it is hard to imagine it.

If there is something God is trying to highlight to us, by focusing on DECEPTION by a man of Israel as they conquered Canaan from one covenant and testament to another man in another covenant and the new testament who likewise acted in deception as though God was not real and it was not a serious thing to be honest before God and the world, …

It is the truth that WE SHOULD NOT PRETEND TO BE ANYTHING SPIRITUAL THAT WE ARE NOT.
God wants honesty.
In the beginnings of a mighty move of God that would sweep the world and see the church as the largest religious movement on planet earth, considering all the people who claim to serve Christ…
GOD HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS INTRUSION of the enemy.

Peter even said it.

WHY HAS SATAN FILLED YOUR HEART TO LIE TO THE HOLY GHOST.
Satan was seeking an inroad to this powerful work of God.
And this is something to beware of even today in our work.
GOD IS MOVING MIGHTILY.
Whatever we do, let us ensure we are honest before God.

Think of the things we might be tempted to do, as Ananias did.

Actually WANT people to admire how spiritual we are, when truly spiritual people are so selfless that wanting admiration from others is the last thing that can enter their minds.
Seeking a spiritual reputation more than actually being real in the eyes of God as He watches us and see what we say to people.
Living for the attention to ourselves as though God really is not real and is not up there watching the deception we are pulling USING HIM and THE THINGS THAT HAVE TO DO WITH HIM AND HIS KINGDOM.

Perhaps Ananias saw that the apostles gave JOSES the name BARNABAS due to that selfless act of JOSES, since Barnabas means SON OF CONSOLATION – consolation means something or someone who brings comfort – alleviating misery… the misery of being is alleviated by his money that would go to help these poor people.

Maybe Ananias thought of how GREAT he could be in getting a new name from the apostles as well!
Imagine! To be named by everyone in the church by a name the APOSTLES gave to you!
What a thing to be proud of!

His wife walks in three hours later and is asked by Peter if it was true that the money they gave was ALL the money from the sale of their land.

She says yes, and is told the feet of the people who carried her husband out dead would carry her dead body as well.
And she fell dead.

I found it is actually more noble and respectful in the eyes of others to ADMIT THE VERY WEAKNESS WE TRY TO HIDE.

I recall a little town I once pastored where I had to talk with a young man whom his father caught tying an noose to a tree branch to hang himself.
The next bible study was supposed to be a continuation of a deeper Christian life study.
God really had given a precious revelation to me to teach.
This happened early the very morning I was to have a bible study that night.
After this close call I realized the congregation as so shaken up by the possibility that one of the member’s young sons could have committed suicide that I could not teach on that deeper subject.
Words had gotten back to me in this first church I ever pastored that some of the people were wondering why I was not there earlier than when I came that afternoon.
I told them I was stunned by the news.
I never dealt with anything like that before.
What do you say in your late twenties to a young boy who almost committed suicide and shook your entire congregation up?
I admitted to them I did not know what to do for hours.

As it turned out, the family realized the best time for me to come was that afternoon after the family had all gathered that morning to try what they could and swarmed the boy with their efforts.

The boy’s teacher was able to talk with him.
By the time I arrived to see him, it was the best time since everyone else was gone by then.
And it turned out when they expected to hear the boy say the teacher – a professional – really impacted him with his words, the boy said the words I spoke with him were most helpful, as I talked about how the devil tried to take him out to a lost state of hell, and that the devil was fearful of God using him since everyone of us have a purpose in life.
I never knew that, though, until well after that day when they talked to him some more.
But I humbled myself and gave the honest truth of my incompetency compared to what I wished I was able to do.

To my surprise, I heard ,mumblings again, this time, though, of how much more I was respected because I was able to ADMIT my shortcomings behind a pulpit.

I learned a lesson that day.
Being honest, even to the point of admitting WHAT WE WOULD BE TEMPTED TO COVER UP AND NOT LET PEOPLE BECOME AWARE OF IN US, is what actually and truly impresses people.
Next to being a BARNABAS who is at the level of spirituality that he can SELL OUT EVERYTHING and Give it to God, a humble response of admitting “I ain’t no Barnabas, and I am unable to be that self denying yet, but here is some of what I sold my land for to help others out,” from Ananias would have ironically granted him the respect of the church that he lied about in order to gain in such deep and low selfishness.

Be transparent.

Lose your pride.
In order to overcome the enemies we will face in TRUE KINGDOM LIVING, we have to be real.
And REAL includes not covering over the weakness and flaws we have in our lives.

Satan cannot fill a heart like he did with Ananias when a heart is THAT HUMBLE.

Want to progress in the KINGDOM?

Josh 7: (12) Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. (13) Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you

The accursed thing can be said to be this DESIRE TO BE SO SPIRITUAL and to BE ADMIRED OF PEOPLE, when actually our genuine hearts should feel that ALL ATTENTION AND ADMIRATION SHOULD GO TO GOD ALONE!

After all, the KING is the one to be admired in HIS OWN KINGDOM that we are trying to advance in, isn’t He?

Those genuinely admired and are really spiritual DO NOT SEEK ADMIRATION.

Their spirituality comes from EXTREME SELF-DENIAL.
What a travesty of the beauty of self denial it is to take what genuinely selfless people live like and pretend we do in order for self to get attention!

Joshua asked why the enemy got the upper hand at Ai.

God told him they could not stand before their enemies.
They put the accursed thing “EVEN AMONG THEIR STUFF.”
Peter asked Ananias what gave the devil the opportunity to “fill his heart” to lie to the Holy Ghost.
How did the devil get an advantage?

Acts 5:11-16 KJV And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. (12) And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. (13) And of the rest durst no man join himself to them (no hypocrites): but the people magnified them. (14) And believers (TRUE BELIEVERS) were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) (15) Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. (16) There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

It stemmed the tide for any dishonesty to creep into the newly born church that had such power and glory.