Joshua and Judges: Handling unexpected affliction, part 2. Jos 7:7-9; 2Co 4:7-18; Psa 116:1-11.

Title: Joshua and Judges: Handling unexpected affliction, part 2. JOS 7:7-9; 2CO 4:7-18; PSA 116:1-11.

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

 

The believer is promised a victorious life as he walks by means of the word and the Spirit. Yet sometimes there is confusion in us as to the shape that victory will take. This is as asking God, “Father, I know you have given me the victory, but what I see is confusing, please give me clarification.”

 

2CO 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves;

 

The treasure - 2CO 4:6 the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

 

2CO 4:8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

 

2CO 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

 

2CO 4:10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

 

2CO 4:11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

 

Verse eleven is explanatory of verse 10.

 

2CO 4:12 So death works in us, but life in you.

 

We are all beneficiaries of the ministry of the apostles. Christ worked through them and Christ continues to manifest Himself in others. A single life has an effect on others, for bad or for good. Those who are being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake and who are manifesting His life have an effect for good on those around them. Those so affected can reject that manifestation, but that doesn’t nullify it.

 

2CO 4:13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, " I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore also we speak;

 

Paul quotes PSA 116:10. It is a thanksgiving song with a fresh recollection of some deadly peril that an individual has been delivered from. He praises the loving-kindness he has experienced in the language of the tenderest affection.

 

PSA 116:1 I love the Lord, because He hears

My voice and my supplications.

 

PSA 116:2 Because He has inclined His ear to me,

Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.

 

PSA 116:3 The cords of death encompassed me,

And the terrors of Sheol came upon me;

I found distress and sorrow.

 

PSA 116:4 Then I called upon the name of the Lord:

"O Lord, I beseech Thee, save [deliver] my life!"

 

PSA 116:5 Gracious is the Lord , and righteous;

Yes, our God is compassionate.

 

PSA 116:6 The Lord preserves the simple;

I was brought low, and He saved [delivered] me.

 

The “simple” refers to those who are not clever, conceited, and cunning in the ways of the world.

 

Such men will do anything, lawful or unlawful to deliver themselves from trouble. This person described as simple is honest and does not count himself as an expert in the unscrupulous wisdom of the world.

 

PSA 116:7 Return to your rest, O my soul,

For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

 

Just as the Lord will give rest to Israel during the Millennium, after her trouble, so God will give rest again to the believer who trusts in Him. This Psalm likely has an eschatological aspect to it in anticipation of the Millennium.

 

David experienced the same thing in after his distress of losing his kingdom.

 

PSA 23:1 The Lord  is my shepherd, I shall not want.

 

PSA 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

 

PSA 23:3 He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake.

 

We find this phrase quite often, “for His name’s sake.” This is why God is going to deliver Ai to the Israelites after they deal with Achan, the hidden sin of the camp - for His name’s sake. And this is what Joshua rightly prays.

 

His is not a challenge, but a legitimate question about what God is going to do.

 

JOS 7:9

And what wilt Thou do for Thy great name?"

 

PSA 116:6 The Lord preserves the simple;

I was brought low, and He saved [delivered] me.

 

PSA 116:7 Return to your rest, O my soul,

For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

 

Judah was told of this rest but they refused it.

 

JER 6:16

Thus says the Lord,

"Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,

Where the good way is, and walk in it;

And you shall find rest for your souls.

But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'

 

And a great warning to the church:

 

MAT 11:29-30

"Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."

 

HEB 4:1

Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.

 

In PSA 116:7 the Lord has dealt bountifully means that the Lord dealt out the deliverance according to His immutable character. It is a qal perfect referring to its reality. It is not a dream or a wish. The Lord delivers in real time and when He does it is perfect and eternal.  

 

PSA 116:8 For Thou hast rescued my soul from death,

My eyes from tears,

My feet from stumbling.

 

The psalmist reveals that in his affliction he was fairly sure he was going to die. That is much more than a small problem. And the Lord delivered him so he then knows that he will continue to walk before the Lord.

 

Paul faced the same situation:

 

2CO 1:8-10

For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,

 

PSA 116:9 I shall walk before the Lord

In the land of the living.

 

‎There he walks forth, with nothing to hinder his feet or limit his view, in the presence of Jehovah having his Deliverer from death ever before his eyes.

 

Now we come to what Paul quoted in 2Co 4:

 

PSA 116:10 I believed when I said,

"I am [qal perfect - was and will continue to be] greatly afflicted."

 

Nothing is introduced as an object of his faith, so then it is used in the absolute sense, to have faith. Yet in verse 11 he retrospectively issues a personal revelation that “all men (all mankind) are liars.” Obviously this has nothing to do with gender, although I have heard some women use it in that context. So then, his faith stands in contrast to trusting in men.

 

“I believed [faith in the absolute sense], so I spoke” [spoke in prayer and spoke the truth and left behind my dependence on the word of mankind].

 

PSA 116:11 I said in my alarm,

"All men are liars."

 

His affliction called forth his faith and God delivered him from it. He believed so then he had to speak, both to God in prayer and the truth in his own soul. We can all attest to the fact that affliction forces out of us faith or complaining, faith or freaking out, faith or inner distress.

 

And so Paul references this in 2Co…

 

2CO 4:12 So death works in us, but life in you.

 

2CO 4:13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, " I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe [though we have been and are greatly afflicted], therefore also we speak;

 

No man should attempt to preach the gospel who has not a firm belief of its truths; and he who DOES believe its truths will be prompted to make them known to his fellow-men.

 

All successful preaching is the result of a firm and settled conviction of the truth of the gospel and the word.

 

MAT 12:34

"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.

 

When such a conviction exists, it is natural to give utterance to the belief.

 

The same is true of a successful leader. He can’t be faking it. Take for instance Moses at the Red Sea. He showed himself as a tremendous leader because he was fully convinced that God was going to deliver them.

 

And it may not look like you are achieving any victory, that no one is believing or that no one is coming to church, but what sight reveals has no bearing on the power of the gospel or the word. Deliverance will come in God’s timing just as Joshua is going to find out.

 

2CO 4:14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.

 

In the end we certainly have victory through resurrection just as Jesus was resurrected.

 

There is no greater victory than justification before God.

 

ROM 4:25

He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

 

ROM 5:18

So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

 

This verse cannot be said to implicitly imply that pastors will be presented with their congregations. I would venture that most believers have had more than one pastor. Yet, from this verse, we can’t fully discount that it is possible that pastors will be presented with their congregations. It states that we all will be presented before the Lord, every member of the royal family of God. This is an immutable, unconditional, and absolute guarantee.

 

Similarly, Joshua has the Abrahamic covenant to fall back on, in spite of the initial defeat at Ai.

 

2CO 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

 

Everything God has done is for your sake, which may seem like a paradox because it is ultimately for His sake. Since He is love, what is for His sake is for your sake.

2CO 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,