Ai and I / Part 3

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Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture references are from the New Scofield Reference Bible.

Today, the reason many of us have lost the joy and power in our lives is that we do not deal with the sin there. God is through with you until you do this. Do not misunderstand – you do not lose your salvation. These were still the children of Israel, but they never won another battle until they dealt with the accursed thing. They had to deal with it.

God told them they had to ferret out this thing. One man had sinned, but it made all Israel guilty. God instructed them to find this man who had sinned. They were going to have to cast lots to do it. They had to go through quite a procedure, by the way. Doubtless they had to use the Urim and Thummim to determine who it was.

Years ago there was a young skeptic in Scotland. He visited a little town where there was a shoemaker who had a reputation for knowing the Word of God. The young skeptic said, I should like to ask this man some questions. When he was introduced to him, his first question was, What was the Urim and Thummim? The shoemaker replied, Well, to tell the truth, I do not exactly know. But this I know, that it was attached to the breastplate of the High Priest. And I know that it means the lights and perfections and was used to determine the will of God. Just how, it is not given to us, for it is not for us today. But I have brought it up to date, and I have changed one letter in order to do this. I have changed the little letter „r‟ to „s.‟ Instead of Urim and Thummim, to me it is „use-‟im and thumb-‟im. That is the way I find God‟s will.

He was right, friend. We don‟t need the Urim and Thummim. Nor do we need a fortune-teller or horoscope. The way we will find direction for our lives is to thumb through and use His Word. That is our one source.

So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: and he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: and he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. (Joshua 7:16-18)

When they brought the families, and the family of Zabdi was taken, then they narrowed it down to households, and the household of Achan was taken. When Achan was ferreted out, he acknowledged his sin. Today many Christians are marching around Jericho, blowing trumpets and talking about how "separated" they are. At the same time they are suffering a glaring defeat at Ai because the flesh is overcoming them.

Let me be specific. Someone says to me, "I am a separated Christian." My friend, I am glad to hear that. Every Christian ought to be separated and I am glad that you are. But what do you mean by that?
He replies, "Well, in my business I have to go to many parties where they serve cocktails, and I want to say to you that I always turn my glass down. I have never tasted a cocktail."

I am glad for that testimony today, for liquor will eventually destroy America. But I want to ask you a question – are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Paul says, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). Do you have the Holy Spirit fulfilling in your life all of the wonderful things that God wants done? Are the fruits of the Spirit there? No? Then you are defeated at Ai.

Again, someone says, "I am a separated Christian – I want you to know that I would not be caught dead in a movie."

Again may I say that I thank you. Many of them are pretty immoral. So I want to congratulate you upon your stand. But just a moment. You may not go to see movies, but what are the "movies" of the flesh? Some of the movies of the flesh are strife and division. Are you sowing strife and division among the brethren? Then you are overcome by the flesh. You may have a victory yonder at Jericho, but Ai has defeated you. The "flesh" has defeated you.

Sometimes folk come to me and say that they, too, are "separated Christians." We thank them for this word on their part and ask what it is that they do not do. "Well, Pastor, I want you to know that I do not smoke cigarettes."
Certainly, I want to congratulate you – incidentally, you may avoid cancer of the throat or lungs by this stand. But I have a question which I must ask you: Which is worse, to have fire on the end of a cigarette or the fire of jealousy and envy on the end of your tongue? I want to say to you that you can keep on blowing trumpets around Jericho, but you are still in line for defeat at Ai.

Joshua now asks Achan for a confession,

And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him…. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. (Joshua 7:19-21)

Covetousness is one of the sins of the flesh, for one of the works of the flesh is idolatry, and how many are overwhelmed by that today! Anselm said, "I have had men confess to me every known sin except the sin of covetousness." Israel dealt severely with the sin of Achan. They stoned him and destroyed all that he had – including that Babylonish garment, the silver and the gold – with fire. You and I must deal with the sins of the flesh.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Now we come to the last matter: the resources provided by God to overcome the enemy. First, we want to note what happened:

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. (Joshua 8:1)

Joshua had dealt with the sin, and God was now ready to give him the victory.

My friend, you and I cannot control the flesh. Only the Spirit of God can do that. The tragedy is that thousands are trying to control and eradicate it in their own strength. You might as well take a gallon of French perfume out to the barnyard, pour it on a pile of barnyard fertilizer and expect to make it into a sand pile in which your children might play. You cannot control and set in the right path this thing we know as "the flesh." God says you cannot. It is the Holy Spirit who has this control.

In discussing this issue of the flesh, we must first acknowledge the fact that there is a war to be fought.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians 5:17)

Then we want to look very carefully at a second fact. And if you miss everything else that is written, do not miss this: Christ died a judgment death required against the sin nature.

a) Christ did not die only that you might have salvation, but –
b) He died that this sin nature might be dealt with – this nature which you and I have.

…God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. (Romans 8:3)

This simply means that when Christ came to this earth, He not only died for your sins that you might have salvation, but He died to bring into judgment this old sin nature. Otherwise God could not touch us with a forty-foot pole because we are evil.

The Holy Spirit

The "Holy Spirit" is not His name – Holy is His title, for He is holy. In giving Him His title we speak of Him as the Holy Spirit.
We must remember that if the Holy Spirit comes into your life, my friend, it must be because God has satisfactorily, adequately, and completely satisfied Himself that your sin nature has been judged. That is the reason He tells us to reckon on that – count on it – He has judged our sin nature. When He died on the cross almost two thousand years ago, you and I, if we have accepted Christ as Savior, died there. That is what Paul meant when he wrote, "I am crucified with Christ…" (Galatians 2:20)

Then he states it again in Galatians and we don‟t use this verse very often.

And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:24)

If you belong to Christ, you have crucified the flesh – not today, but almost two thousand years ago when He went outside Jerusalem and died on the cross. There Christ died because I have a sin nature and you have a sin nature, and the Holy Spirit could not touch us until Christ had paid that penalty. When the penalty was paid and our sin nature was condemned, then the Holy Spirit could and did come into our lives and bring victory out of defeat.

You cannot control this enemy. You have tried it – have you not? You say you are a "separated Christian." What of your bad temper? You did not mean to tell a lie, but did. You know you are defeated by the "flesh."

Your victory over the "flesh" is only by the Holy Spirit and not by your own resources!
In leaving this profitable subject, we want to look back over our steps and see the path. Once more we must return to Romans, and for this reading we will turn to chapter 8, verses 3 and 4:

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

God saw that this old nature was condemned. He has no notion of salvaging it, but oh, how He loves poor, lost humanity that has this fallen nature!

Then He sent His Son not only to die for our sin, but also to condemn this old sin nature. Now it is condemned; it is judged:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…. (Galatians 2:20)

This old nature is as bad as He says it is. You and I cannot get rid of it – we cannot control it – but the Holy Spirit has come in to give us a victory.

I want to close this study with an illustration out of the life of Dr. C. I. Scofield. He often told the story of when he was a boy, attending a country school, that the school bully jumped on him. He did the best that he could, which was all too little, for he was a much smaller boy than the bully. Finally, the bully knocked him down, and got on top of him. He was taking a beating that was something terrific. Through the dust of battle he caught a glimpse of his big brother coming down the road and he was pulling off his coat as he was running toward them. Dr. Scofield said, "All I did, when my brother pulled this big chap off me, was to crawl up on a stump and rub my bruises as I watched my brother beat the stuffing out of him."

My friend, your worst enemy is your old nature. You cannot whip the "bully" who lives within you. He is whipping you, isn‟t he? Why do you not turn him over to the One who is capable of handling him? Why not turn him over to the Holy Spirit?