1. Joshua 7:2-8:35
Paul Dronsfield

2. THE SPIRIT OF SELF-CONFIDENCE
Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai
‘But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.’ (2Cor. 1:9)

3. THE SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE
‘I have no need of thee’ (1Cor 12:21)
Let not all the people go up...make not all the people to labour…

4. DEFEAT
They fled before the men of Ai and the men of Ai smote of them about 36 men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (John 15:4)

5. THE HOLINESS OF GOD
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… neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed.
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? (1 Cor.5:6)

6. HOLINESS IN HIS PEOPLE
Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow: 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.
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. (1Cor. 5:7)

7. THE SIFTING OF ISRAEL
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.
And there is not a creature unapparent before him; but all things are naked and laid bare to His eyes, with whom we have to do. (Heb 4:14)

8. THE ACCURSED THING TAKEN
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.
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (Gen 11:4)
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. (Phil 2:9)

9. THE SILVER AND THE GOLD STOLEN
My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (John 17:4)
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 4:6)

10. THE VALLEY OF ACHOR
Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day
…the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me. (Isa 65:10)
…the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. (Hosea 2:15)

11. THE DEFEAT OF AI
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.
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God… (2 Cor. 3:5)

12. ISRAEL DRAWS NEAR TO GOD (1/2)
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. (1Chron 16:29)
Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal…

13. ISRAEL DRAWS NEAR TO GOD (2/2)
And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel… And afterward he read all the words of the law…There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jer. 31:33)