A Little Too Close For Comfort

V. 22-27 DEFEATING THE ENEMY
A. The Enemy Must Be Confronted (Verse 22) – When Joshua found out what these people had done, he went straight to them and rebuked them and confronted them about their sins.
There is a lesson in that for the church today. We do not have to roll over and play dead while the devil molds us to his will! We need to be like the Lord Jesus, when tempted, turned to the Word of God, and confronted Satan with the truth of the Book and caused the devil to have to flee from His presence!
Friends, Satan cannot stand in the presence of the truth! If you stand on the Word of God, Satan will be forced to leave you alone. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

B. The Enemy Must Be Controlled (Verse 27) – There is no question that Joshua and Israel made a mistake when dealing with the Gibeonites. However, errors do not have to spell permanent ruin. Joshua realized the seriousness of what they had done, and he immediately took the necessary steps to control the situation. They can’t kill them, because they have given them their word, v. 19, but they can prevent them!
There will be times when we will step out of the Lord’s will and commit sin in your life and mine. That is just a fact! However, the mistakes we make in following the devil do not have to be permanent; neither do they have to annihilate us! Thank God, the Lord has promised us complete forgiveness and restoration if we return to Him in repentance (1 John 1:9). We must face the fact that our sins carry consequences that must play out ultimately (Galatians 6:7). Yet, we can get right with the Lord, and we can serve Him faithfully.

We need to learn from our sins and failures to not fall into those same traps again! Either we will control our sins, or they will control us! Which depends on you and what you want from life. There is forgiveness where there is repentance!

C. The Enemy Must Be Commissioned (Verse 27) – Notice what Israel did with the Gibeonites. They took them and put them to work carrying water and chopping wood for the Lord Tabernacle. Joshua took his mistake and used it for the glory of the Lord! The Bible even indicates that these people eventually got right with God and were absorbed into Israel’s nation – 2 Sam 21:2-6. Joshua took his error and used it for God!
Will you and I fail the Lord as we go through life? Probably, and often! However, our sins and mistakes do not have to knock us out of the Lord’s work! When we fail, we need to allow the Lord to use that time of sin, chastisement, correct, repentance, and restoration in our lives for His glory. What the devil meant for your defeat can be turned into the source of your most significant victories, if you will allow the Lord to have His way in your sins. You can’t undo the things you have done, but you can bring them to Jesus, and He can use them to help you grow in Him. What first looked like a curse to God’s people eventually turned into a blessing as these people were brought to the Lord and lived their lives serving God!
Please understand, I am not trying to glamorize or glorify sin in any fashion. I am trying to tell you that your failures do not have to defeat you forever, and they do not have to define you! God’s grace is bigger than your sin (Romans 5:20)! Let Him prove it today!

Conclusion:
Joshua and Israel thought they were making a treaty with people from a faraway land. Instead, they found themselves shackled to the enemy! The people they were to avoid at all costs were now A Little Too Close For Comfort.
There is a story about a certain man who wanted to sell his house in Haiti for $2,000. Another man tried to buy it, but he couldn’t afford the full price because he was poor. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: he would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door.
After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon, the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the nail owner.
The parable’s moral is, “If we leave the devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation.”
Has this ever happened to you? Is the enemy A Little Too Close for Comfort? Maybe you are in the middle of some sin situation right now. You listened to your flesh or the devil, and now you are in a mess. Why not bring that thing to the Lord and let Him turn your failure into something He can use for His glory? He still loves you, and He will forgive you and restore you if you turn to Him. “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).

Maybe you are not saved. The devil has you! If you would like to be delivered from your bondage to sin, come to Jesus right now and ask Him, and He will save your soul and transform your life for His glory.
Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor in television, Marghanita Laski, one occurs best-known secular humanists and novelist, said, “What I envy most about you Christians is your
forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me.”
Maybe you can remember the times when the Lord stepped between you and your enemies. He delivered you from your sins and set you free. Wouldn’t you like to come to Him and thank Him today?