Sin has a way of perhaps looking simplistic and safe in the beginning.  However, it can quickly engulf one’s life and take a life which once had much promise to a life decimated by the effects of sin.  In the account of Achan (Joshua 7), a striking lesson is given by God Himself who states, “They have also put it among their own stuff” (Jos 7.11).

How tragic!! As Christians we can easily know the difference in the rights and wrongs in life.  We know how we should speak, dress, treat others, treat our own bodies, and worship God to just name some.  The tragedy is we often completely ignore the right and actually and proactively bring sin “among our own stuff.”  With the examples God gives us in Old Testament accounts (Rom 15.4) of how His people continued in their sins and refused to hearken unto His words (Jer 6.16-17) and the commands and admonitions to return from their wickedness as New Testament Christians we are admonished to “Abstain from all appearance (or form) of evil” (1 Thess 5.22).

As simple as it might sound, can it really be that simple?  Seeking and choosing to do the right thing, all the time is at the core of Christianity.  “We are all sinners” (Rom 3.23), but to allow and bring it in “with our own stuff” should be incomprehensible to a New Testament Christian.

As we go through life we often find ourselves perhaps getting as close to sin as we can without thinking we can be burned.  Following right behind, getting as close as we can to sin, is bringing in with our own stuff and allowing it to take over our lives.  The whole idea of letting in even the appearance of something evil is in direct contradiction with the inspired command and promise, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jam 4.10).

As you contemplate even the appearance of evil “among your own stuff” reflect with Peter, “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.  For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Pet 2.20-21).  Don’t bring sin into your life by getting close.  Be different than the world.  You are holy, you are sanctified by an almighty God.

The prince of this world (Eph 2.2) continues to constantly seek whom he may devour (1 Pet 5.8).  It is more often than not in really noticeable ways, but rather in underhanded and from afar.  God had shown the children of Israel great things.  He gave them great victories.  He had shown them the consequences lack of faith and trust and their disobedience.

The children of Israel did not learn their lessons well. Israel was marching through the Promised Land with God giving them great victories.  It was then a group of enemies disguised themselves and approached Joshua and the Israelites asking them to make a treaty with them which would allow them to live as servants of the Israelites rather than die as all around them were doing.  They deceived the leaders of Israel in what they said, how they appeared and in what they represented (Jos 9.1-13).

Joshua, a great leader of God’s people, made a mistake.  Sadly, the Bible tells us “they (Joshua and the leaders of Israel-djm) did not ask counsel of the Lord” (Jos 9.14).  `Jesus tells a parable (Lk 18.1-9) to explain the necessity of going to God in all matters.  He introduces the parable stating, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”  As He concludes the parable he explained, certain people who trusted in themselves often appearing to be righteous, but really despise others.  We must go to God in everything not losing heart, and working to constantly have the attitude God wants us to have.

As we think about the choices we make in life, are we making God and what He would have us to do the most important part of the equation?  Everyone makes a multitude of decisions every day, from the clothes we wear, to the way we communicate and have encounters with our fellow-man (2 Cor 6.14).  To be pleasing to God we must have God at the very core of all decisions.  If He is at our core, Godly decisions, and thus Godly lives become more of the norm.  God tells us His Word gives us everything we need which “pertains to life and Godliness” (2 Pet 1.3).

Making the decision to go into a covenant relationship with Gibeonites without consulting God had disastrous results for generations for God’s people.  Never forget God in every decision you make, without regard to how small the matter seems.

Matthew 5:17

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill”

Last week the article topic was one of common misconception amongst those of the religious world. How and Why are we not bound by the 10 commandments today? In Matthew 5:17 Jesus says that he came to “fulfill” the Law and the Prophets. The Old testament is comparable to a contract between God and his people. The children of Israel were to live their lives by this testament/contract. But the Old testament always pointed to a future fulfillment.

When we think about contracts and their purpose, it makes it a bit easier to understand Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law and prophets. Anytime we need a service rendered in the world today, the use of a contract is regularly utilized. The purpose of the contract is to list the works to be done and the payment agreed upon for those works. Once the agreed works of that contract have been completed, no more work can be done until a new contract is drawn up.

The Old Testament/contract was not intended for just any man to satisfy. The only one who could satisfy the requirements of the Old testament was Jesus Christ, who for our sakes became fully man and was fully God (Phil 2:6-8). Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus was tempted just as we are but was found without sin. This means that Jesus was able to satisfy the requirements of the Old Law while in the flesh.

Furthermore, it wasn’t just the Law that Jesus fulfilled but also all that was spoken by the prophets concerning Him. Acts 3:18 “But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.” Jesus satisfied the Law and the prophets to completion.

Just as one fulfills a contract in society today, if more work needs to be done a new contract has to be drawn up. Christ signed the Old testament with HIS blood and drew up a better one (Heb 7:22). But no one throws out the old contract, they keep it for a record of work completed. We have the Old Testament today to reference the work done by God Almighty.  And so, the OT was fulfilled and the New Testament is in effect (Heb 9:15-18).

Recently, I was speaking with a brother and there was concern that some religious sects of the world believe that the churches of Christ reject the Old Testament. This was quite concerning considering that this couldn’t be further from the truth. Paul writes in Romans 15:4 “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”

The Bible consists of 66 books, 39 of which make up the Old Testament. These 39 books are full of history, wisdom, lessons and make up the background for the New Testament. Gal 3:24-25 “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” The Law of Moses is not rejected but rather it is embraced as a tool for our learning. It is a schoolmaster (tutor) for us today.

Consider for a moment what it means to read the New Testament without the Old Testament. It’s like starting a movie halfway through. You’ll see a lot of important things, but you miss out on a lot of the connections. Of course, the message contained in the NT is able to save souls, but the vast amount of Old Testament references could bring on a lot of confusion because you’ve missed a lot of important information.

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter references the prophets Joel and David. In Acts 7, Stephen preached on Israel’s history of rejection. Both sermons used accounts from the OT and concluded with Christ being magnified. The reason we study the Old Testament is not because we are bound by it, but rather it is part of Gods inspired word (2 Tim 3:16-17).

2 Tim 3:14-15 reads “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Paul tells Timothy the scriptures which he’s known since childhood are able to make him “wise for salvation”. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had not yet been written, so what scriptures were able to make Timothy wise unto Salvation? The answer is undoubtedly, the Old Testament scriptures.

The Old Testament is the background of the New Testament and contains important knowledge about Jesus. Jesus didn’t reject the Law. He fulfilled it. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No man can live out the Law of Moses perfectly except Jesus the Christ. The 10 commandments are a “mirror” for us today. It allows us to see ourselves for what we are- sinful. Paul writes “I would not have known sin except through the law^” (Rom 7:7) But we can’t wash our sin away with that “mirror”, we need the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ (Heb 9:22).

God told Joshua to “Get up (Jos 7.1, 13)!”  The children of Israel lost a battle they should have easily won.  They lost the battle to a city which should have been easy to overtake.  In fact Joshua reduced the number of his attackers because the battle was to be easy.  However, someone in the camp sinned.  God told the children of Israel not to take anything from Jericho for their own personal gain.  Everything from Jericho was to be consecrated and given to God.  The battle had been His.  As the children of Israel approached the small town of Ai, their excitement could hardly be contained.  They saw the consequences for their enemies for being on the wrong side of God.  But one of them had sinned greatly and the result would be a loss for all of the people.

Upon hearing of the humiliating and devastating defeat, Joshua and other leaders fell to their faces in shame and in prayer to God.  Initially it appears as if Joshua blames God for the defeat.  Later in the prayer it becomes apparent Joshua is not worried about the nation’s glory or even his own, but is concerned about how the people and their enemies would now view the God of Israel.

God allowed Joshua and the elders to remain on their faces until the evening (7.6).  We are not told for how long these leaders were in this position of sorrow and humility.  What we do know is God was watching and eventually told them to “Get up,” sanctify the people and God would reveal the guilty party who caused this great defeat to come upon the people on the next day.  When there is “sin in the camp,” whether that sin is in our homes, or the church we must be humbled before God asking His forgiveness.  However, after a time of prayer, we must also as we repent, “Get up” and whatever we can to correct the wrong, correct the sin and move on.  Paul states “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor 7.10).  When we have sinned, we must pray to God, but then we must “Get up,” correct the wrong as best we can and move forward in a life which better reflects the light of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

As the children of Israel moved toward Jericho after crossing over the Jordan lives were changing forever (Jos 5). What had been forty years of wandering because of unfaithfulness was coming to an end as they moved into the long awaited Promised Land. As they went across the Jordan River on dry ground just as their fathers before them had crossed through the Red Sea after God took them out of Egypt, they took a stone representing each tribe from the middle of the Jordan and made a memorial for their children to remember. Each one of the males born in the wilderness was circumcised marking them as covenant people as had been commanded by God to Abraham.

The children of Israel celebrated Passover and on the day after Passover Joshua reported they ate of the produce of the land. The next day the bread, the manna God provided daily except for the Sabbath Day for almost forty years never again came to the earth. With one exception the book of Joshua is a book of new beginnings and great victories for God’s people. Victories they did not know about yet, but would soon experience were in front of them. Oh, this generation had learned a thing or two about focusing, building and maintaining a faith in the almighty God. It was a faith though they were still developing as they marched toward their first battle in Jericho.

The Bible tells us as Joshua approached that great walled-city Jericho he saw a Man with His sword drawn. Joshua asked, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” The Man answered saying, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come…Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy” (Jos 5.13-15). Upon seeing the Commander Joshua fell and worshiped Him. It is believed this appearance as the Commander of the Lord’s Army was none other than a preincarnate (fleshly) appearance of Jesus Christ. The Angel of the Lord appears many times in the Old Testament with many of the same characteristics of our Lord and Savior. But that is another thought for another time.

The lesson for us is as Christians we walk on this earth today as sanctified holy people. We are holy priests for God in a world filled with evil and darkness (1 Pet 2.5). As Christians we may know our Lord is on our side and will not leave us (Matt 11.28-29; Jn 14.1-6). We have a Captain (Heb 2.10), an Anchor (Heb 6.19), a King of kings (Rev 17.14; 19.18), a Brother (Heb 2.11), a Savior (Lk 2.11) who is not an adversary but who is on our side.

Jesus begins His final discourse or speech to his disciples in John 14.1-6.  He is preparing His disciples for His impending capture and death.  He is attempting to comfort them and so begins, “‘Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.’  Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”  Jesus makes three claims as He begins this final talk with His disciples.  He claims to be “the Way,” “the Truth,” and “the Life.”

In Jesus’ claim to be “the Way” He is the ONLY way, not A way.  It is interesting that when God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, he placed “Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep THE WAY (emphasis mine-DJM) of the tree of life.”  God has always had only one way, His way.  In fact, in Genesis 6.12, “God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted HIS WAY (emphasis mine—DJM) upon the earth.”  Because man had corrupted God’s way, “God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”  God further stated in Genesis 18.19 the reason He chose Abraham to be a mighty and great nation was because He knew Abraham would “command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep THE WAY (emphasis mine—DJM) of the Lord.”   There is a way that God wants us to go, He will lead us in that way if we let Him.  The two ways are somewhat compared in Exodus 13.17,18, “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea. and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.”  God will never lead us in a way that would lead to destruction (the land of the Philistines), rather if we allow he will lead us through the “wilderness” into the promised Land.  Jesus Christ is that way.  It is a narrow way that leads to life and we are told that there will only be a few to find it.  There are other “ways,” but only ONE WAY, THE WAY that leads to eternal life.  The broad way through the land of the Philistines leads to destruction (Matthew 7.13-14).

Last week as we explored Jesus’ declaration of, “I am the resurrection and the life” (Jn 11.25) we saw both physical and spiritual death enter into the world because of sin.  All of this death was brought about because of Satan’s introduction of lies and sin into the world.

Until Jesus entered the scene the devil was claiming seeming victory after seeming victory.  Jesus’ perfect life served as the perfect sacrifice for all who had lived before and all who would live after (Zech 13.1; 14.8-9).   His sacrifice of blood flowed both ways to forgive all of their sins.  When Jesus Christ came forth from that grave on the third day God overcame death and Satan with an amazing victory.  Because God gave us the victory through Jesus Christ death had lost its sting.  Satan had lost the war (1 Cor 15. 55-57).  Satan may win battles; in fact, he does win battles on a daily basis (Eph 6.11-13).  But, God has won a resounding victory in the War.  Moreover, God promises us that Satan cannot win over us unless we choose to let him.  God promises we will always have a way of escape from every temptation (1 Cor 10.13).  That escape may not always be pleasant, may not always be the most fun, and may not always be easy, but the escape is promised. 

Jesus provides us a way of escaping the second death, that spiritual death, because He and He alone is “The resurrection, and the life.”  Jesus further states that the way to take advantage of, “The resurrection, and the life” is to believe on Him.  We must die to sin (Rom 6.7-11) so that we might live and be free.  

Jesus further states in John 11.25, “though he were dead, yet shall he live.”  Belief is not something we can turn on and off.  We must continue to believe and work because of that belief.  The belief that Jesus demands is an obedient faith, a faith that works (Jam 2.17).  By being dead to sin and obedient to the Word of God we become alive in Jesus Christ.  We are alive in Jesus Christ because He is the “resurrection and the life.”   We are alive in Jesus Christ because he died once and for all of us and was raised from the dead on the third day, thus becoming the “resurrection and the life.”