Hello and welcome to another broadcast. We're looking at the battles in the Bible. Today we're going to look at two battles that went on at AI. They won one battle, they lost one battle. Why did they lose that battle? We're going to look at it. reading from Joshua chapter 7 verse number 2 says and Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai which is beside Bethhaven on the east of Bethel and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up, and smite Ai, and make not all the people to labor thither, for they are but a few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men, And they fled from before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men, for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shuriram, and smote them in the going down, whereof the hearts of the people melted and became as water. And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide. he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side of Jordan. O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? And now we'll look at chapter 8, verse number 1. We see them go up against the same people, another battle, the same group. This time they won. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. Take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land. And thou shalt do to Ai and her king, as thou did unto Jericho and her king, only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves. Lay thee an ambush for this city behind it. So Joshua arose. and all the people of war to go up against AI and Joshua chose out 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. Now we read in verse 26, Joshua 8, and Joshua drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of AI. So once they lost the battle, the next time they won the battle, what made the difference? Well, to begin with, we read in chapter 7 and verse number 1 that God did not give any instructions to Joshua concerning this first battle. He got no directions from the Lord. We just read in chapter 7 and verse 1, Joshua sent men. Now God had given detailed instructions to Joshua concerning how he should handle Jericho. And in chapter eight and verse one, when they went up the second time to Ai, we read that the Lord said, that's how it starts off. And what he said was he gave him detailed instructions to Joshua concerning the second battle at Ai. So the first time he got no directions from the Lord, the second time he listened to God. In chapter 7 and chapter 8, we have two different strategies of war. In chapter 7, as they challenged the people there at Jericho, we find that God had a very unusual plan. He said, I just want you to march around the city once every day. Then on the seventh day, you can march around it seven times. That is not a good strategy if you're going to fight a battle. You remember we said that Joshua was the general of the army of Israel. He knew how to battle. The people knew how to battle. And yet, to walk around the city, they could just shoot him from up the wall. Just shoot them all while they're walking around. Well, they didn't. And God won the battle. We said before that we sing the song, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. Actually, he didn't. God fought the battle of Jericho. Joshua and his men were just a tool in his hand. And God gets all the glory for winning this unusual battle. Well, in chapter eight, it's a different story. Here, we have some normal combat instructions, as we'll see when we go through that chapter. And the enemies of God this time are being taught to respect the people of God. In chapter seven, they're being taught to respect God. And both of these things are important. And so God had a plan. for the battle at Jericho. God had a plan for the battle at Ai. What we need to do is just be sure that we go with God's plan, and then we'll see that they underestimated their enemy. In chapter 7 and verse number 3, They said, oh, there are only a few of them up there. We don't need to worry about taking too many people. Let's just take a handful. Well, as a result of that, 36 men lost their lives and they lost the battle. In chapter eight, in verse 40, in verse number three, rather, God said that all the people of war are to go up against Ai. Do not underestimate the enemy, even if they look small. Well, when we get to chapter seven, it starts out with that word but. It says, but the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing. And it goes on to say that the anger of the Lord was kindled. Well, in verse 25 of chapter seven, and Joshua says, why has thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And he was speaking to Achan who had caused all this problem and who had been guilty of taking the accursed thing and bringing the anger of the Lord on everyone. And it says, all Israel stoned them with stones and burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. And so it says again in verse one, but the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing for Achan, the son of Kamri, 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 all of the children of Israel, it says. Well, Achan made a choice. He chose to disobey God. God had said back in Joshua 6, verse number 18, And ye, in any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves a curse when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. God said, now don't go taking any of that stuff. Well, Achan decided just to disobey God. Joshua, we saw in chapter 7 and verse number 2, he decided to run ahead of God, and he chose to do that. We read in verse 2, and to fight that battle, and they lost that battle. Now, what was Joshua's attitude concerning the defeat? Well, not very good. We read in verse number six of chapter seven, and Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, even unto the even tide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. Well, that was all right, good thing, humiliating, coming before God, but look at what he said in verse seven. Joshua said, Alas, O Lord, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over the Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side of Jordan. Now that's not a very respectful way to be talking to God. What's he doing? He's blaming God for their defeat. And then he goes on in verse 8 and blames Israel. He said, Oh Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? 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 he's so concerned about himself. What about the glory of God? Oh, he kind of attacks that on the end. And he says, what wilt thou do unto thy great name? well let's look see what the lord's response to joshua was verse 10 of chapter 7 the lord said unto joshua get thee up wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face don't go lying there crying get up and then he told them in verse 11 israel has 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." They have transgressed. What is that? That is to go beyond God's established standard of behavior. God said, don't touch that stuff. Leave it alone. Well, they says they dissembled. What's that mean? It means they're pretending to be something they were not. That's what Ananias and Sapphira did, and they got themselves killed for that, too. Well, Joshua 7 and 12 says, 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 you destroy the accursed from among you. Well, Joshua did. It wasn't a very pleasant day for anybody, but Joshua took care of the situation. And then we read Joshua 8 and verse 1. Then we read, And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. Take all the people of war with thee. Arise and go up to Ai. He said, Now this time you take all the people with you. Go up against them. And see, he said, I have given unto thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land." And now they're going to win this battle. Well, in verse 2, God said, thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou hast done in Jericho and her king only the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall you take for a prey under yourselves lay thee an ambush for the city behind it well two things here one god says we're going to use ordinary strategy here for combat you need to lay an ambush and he tells him exactly how to do it was a great plan but the other thing he says only the spoil thereof, and the cattle and everything he said, you can take to yourselves. Achan should have waited. He should have just trusted the Lord and waited, but he paid an awful price because he didn't. And so we see two battles. One, they lost. One, they won. One they lost because they just went ahead and did it on their own. The other one, the Lord was with them after they had taken care of the problems in the camp. So we had a lot of lessons learned here on how to win a battle and how to lose a battle. These things are written, the Bible says, for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Let's be admonished.