Peter Tan-Chi - Turn Defeat Into Victory
Let’s read Joshua 6:27, the last verse before chapter seven. Let’s read together so that you know the introduction to chapter seven. «The Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land». That was last week. Joshua was so successful. The wall of Jericho fell down. God was with him. He was successful. His fame spread all over the land. One thing you will learn today: past victory does not guarantee future victory. Yes. Let’s read chapter seven. «The Sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against the sons of Israel».
Something happened. The Bible tells us there was a man by the name of Achan. He did something that was horrible. What can we learn about Achan? Well, let me tell you, Achan, the Bible tells us, got greedy. If you read the Bible a while ago, he coveted silver, gold. He disobeyed God. Can I guess what Achan was thinking? This is probably what he was thinking, «No one will find out. No one will ever know». «In fact, it is a private matter. It will not affect others. It won’t hurt anybody». «There won’t be any consequences». I believe that was what he was thinking. You see, ladies and young men, every time you commit sin, you are partly thinking like Achan. «Nobody will find out. Nobody will get hurt».
Don’t be an Achan. You know why? Look at the end of his life. (v.25) «Joshua said, 'Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.' And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stormed them with stones». Now you will ask me, that’s not fair. Why do you have to stone the wife, the children, and the daughters? Is that a good question to ask? It does not seem fair. (v.26) «They raised over him a great heap stones that stands to this day, and the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor (the Valley of Trouble.)» How can that be fair? Well, ladies and gentlemen, the Bible is very clear. In Deuteronomy 24:16 the Bible says, «Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin».
So what can you guess? The sin of Achan somehow infected the wife and the children. They became conspirators. They cooperated with them. You see, if you look at reality, the irresponsibility of one person is usually passed on to others. It does not seem fair, but it’s reality. A father who is a drunkard alcoholic or who is irresponsible will impact the wife and the children. That’s life. We are interconnected. «The unfaithful of a wife, the foolish decisions of a wife, no matter what, will impact the children». They become victims, they’re affected. The bad decision of a leader of a country can technically bankrupt the whole nation and everybody will suffer. What’s the principle? You and I are connected to each other. But I have good news for you. Someday, justice will be delivered to the entire world.
God tells us He’s coming again and justice will be implemented. All of the victims, God knows who they are and all the victimizers, they will be judged. In the meantime, the Bible tells us we live in a fallen world and there will be pain. There will be suffering. Would you like to learn how to turn defeat into victory? Perhaps some of you are already like Achan, you said, «Peter, it’s too late. I’m already an Achan, more than once. I’ve done all the stupid things in my life. How do I recover»? Would you like to learn how to recover? All right. Today I want to share with you, number one, you must Recognize the reality of your defeat. So the first 'R' is Recognize, admit, learn from your mistakes. You got to learn from your mistakes. So let’s find out. Let’s read Joshua 7:2-3. «Joshua sent men from Jericho…» by the way, I pronounce this as A-I. Okay.
So Joshua sent people to ai. It’s up to you. We don’t have to argue to death. You want to pronounce this «Ai»! , okay. Okay. «Ai»! , okay. I pronounce it as Ai, «…which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said tp them, 'Go up, spy out the land.' So the men went up, spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said, '(Boss. Simple.) 'Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand need to go up.'» In other words, they were overconfident. Remember, they had victory over Jericho. Remember? And now they look at this small city. Ai. «Boss, simple. Two, three thousand, we can surely take them down». So what did Joshua do? Well, the Bible tells us, Joshua surprisingly did not consult God, did not pray. He said, «go ahead»! They were placing their confidence on their past victory.
(Joshua 7:4-5) «So three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled». Whoa! What does that tell you? Victory is not dependent on how many or how few is your opponent or how big is your army. No, no. Look, they failed. The Bible tell us, (v.5) «The men of Ai struck them down, 36 of their men died». This was disaster because in the past, they don’t die. When God is with them, God protected them. And the Bible tells us, continue reading, (Joshua 7:6-7) «Joshua tore his clothes…» You know why tore his clothes? What is the first 'R'? You want to turn defeat to victory? First R: Recognize your defeat. Learn from your mistake. If you look at your own life today, do you usually repeat your own foolishness? You know why? We don’t learn.
I remember counseling a couple. They were blaming each other, always fighting. So what my wife and I will do, we will separate them. So I talk to the guy, then my wife will talk to the girl, and then we separately, my wife and I will talk to the guy, my wife and I will talk to the girl. Now, this is what we do. We ask the guy and we ask the girl, what is it that you can do differently that is within your control? Notice my question? If you’re always fighting, what is it that you can do differently that is within your control? Many people, they blame their spouses. They blame their parents. Worst of all, they blame Adam and Eve. You blame. If you blame, you don’t assume responsibility.
So learn from your mistake. This man was struggling with pornography, struggling with sex. So the way I counsel people, again, I say, «what is the pattern of your sexual behavior»? What is the pattern? You see, sin develops a pattern. Is it at night that you begin watching pornography? Is it when you are alone? When it comes to sexual immorality, what is the pattern? Well, by the grace of God, only God can give you a desire to change. A desire to repent. So what this guy did, he decided to delete everything that has to do with the site, and then he will deposit the cell phone in a public place when he’s alone at night. In another words, you do something. This girl told my wife, she did something different because my wife asked her, what’s your pattern? When do you commit adultery?
Now, this girl was married and yet she’s having sex with another married guy. What is the pattern? By the way, everything I share with you has permission of people, okay? But I just don’t mention names. She broke the pattern. Don’t answer the phone. You see, to commit sexual immorality, you need three things. Time, place, and a partner. If one of them is missing, it’s hard to commit immorality. So this girl followed the principle, no answering of phone. Well, one day the guy showed up in her house. «Why are you not answering the phone»? But she made up her mind already, «I want to live for Jesus». And the guy said, «I bet you there’s another man». And she said, «yeah». «Who is the man»? «Jesus». Nobody can compete with Jesus. Amen.
You know, to overcome sin, you fall in love with who? Jesus. Number two, you Return to God. When you return to God, what do you do? Look at Joshua. Joshua prayed. Let’s read. «Joshua tore his clothes fell on the earth, on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, both he and the elders of Israel, they put dust on their heads». Symbolizing what? Humility. Symbolizing repentance. They spent the whole day before the Lord in prayer. (v.7) «And then Joshua said, (look at his sincere prayer), 'Oh Lord God. Why did You ever bring this people over to Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan (River)»! You know? Do you notice the prayer of Joshua sounding like the other Israelites? Sounds familiar, right?
You know, my friend, when something goes wrong, sometimes we overestimate our ability to overcome discouragement. Read the next verse. (Joshua 7:8-9) «O LORD, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies? The Canaanites, the inhabitants, everybody will hear of it». (v.9) «(What will you do?) What will you do for Your great name»? See, Joshua was concerned not just for his own sake, he was concerned for the reputation of God. You see, when the Bible says return, when I use the word Return to the Lord, do you know there’s an amazing promise when you refocus on God, when you return to God. When you refocus on God, when you return to God, I want you to read, Let’s read this together. «Therefore repent and return. So that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord».
You know, I always tell people, «when you’re defeated, return to the Lord, refocus on God». You know why? Don’t focus on your problems all the time. Learn from it, but stop focusing on the problems. Learn to refocus on God. You pray. When you pray, what do you do? You listen. Most of us do not know how to listen to God, and that’s why your prayer life is not vibrant; because it’s a one way street. What I try to do when I have quiet time, I talk to God and I listen. You learn to be quiet and listen and read the Word of God, and as you read the Word of God, you ask God to speak to you. Most of us don’t understand the root problem of our failure. And in Joshua, you’ll learn something. When Joshua turned to the Lord, and he refocused on God, God revealed to him the root problem. Do you know what is the root problem of most of our defeat? Not all, but most of our defeat.
Can I tell you the root problem? Would you like to know? Once you know the root problem, you can solve it. Here is the root problem. The Bible tells us, (Joshua 7:10–11) «The LORD said to Joshua, 'Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face»? In other words, God is saying «Enough». «You have prayed enough. Wake up, this is the problem». What’s the problem? (v.11) «Israel has sinned. And they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them». Here you learn the theology of sin. What is sin? Sin is breaking the commandment of God. It’s called disobedience. Continue reading, «and they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived».
You see, God is now very specific. Sin is «disobeying Me, in particular, you are stealing and you are deceiving». Friends, God told Joshua the root problem. Do you know why you have this problem? You know why you’re defeated? Because of sin. Now, I realize something. Most of us don’t see our sin because we are not very familiar when it comes to respectable sin versus obvious sin. What’s the difference between «respectable sin» and «obvious sin»? Let me give you an example of obvious sin: rape, murder, those are obvious sin. What are «respectable sins» that you and I are guilty of, many times, without knowing it? Example, can I give you some? Unforgiveness, gossip. Excuse me. Are you guilty? Bitterness, jealousy, greed, materialism, white lie, exaggeration. You learn to listen to God if you want to live a life of victory. Be sensitive to sin. God repeats again and again the same idea.
«Therefore», Everybody, «Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; They turn their backs before their enemies, they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst». Next verse, (v.13) «Rise up»! Everybody read, «Consecrate the people and say, 'Consecrate yourselves…'» You see, the antidote to overcoming defeat is, you need to repent, you need to remove the things under the ban. You need to remove sin. And how do you do that? It’s called confession. It’s called repentance. It’s called consecration. Consecration, is like brothers, cousin, twins, with repentance. You cannot consecrate unless you repent. When you repent, you consecrate. Consecrate is when you devote your whole life, you set apart your life for God. But you cannot set apart your life for God, you cannot consecrate your life for God until you learn to repent.
What is repentance? Repentance is turning away from sin and moving towards God. And that is what this verse is saying. Let’s read one more time. «Consecrate the people and say, 'Consecrate yourselves.'» Notice, I cannot consecrate for you. You want to be victorious? Consecrate, repent. «…for tomorrow, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, has said, 'There are things under the ban in your midst». And this is what scares me as the pastor of CCF: «You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst». I’m now speaking to all fathers. Fathers, you can’t stand before your enemies until you remove the sin in your family, in your life.
You see, the solution is very clear, but it is not easy. You need God to identify what is wrong, what are the sins in your life, in your family that you are still holding on without realizing you are holding on? And it’s very easy to find out. You come to God with an honest heart. Say, «Lord, is there anything in my life that is not pleasing to You»? And I tell you, God will rebuild it. You see, Martin Luther once said the following «When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent', He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance». In other words, you and I need to practice repentance every day as God brings to your mind. This week my wife and I had some minor discussion, right, Honey? Minor. And I apologized to my wife. You know why I apologize to her? It’s called repentance.
My friend, that is how you live your life. It’s not perfection, but it is being honest with God and asking for forgiveness. And you know what’s going to happen to your life? Sin robs you of joy. Sin robs you of peace. Sin will rob you of power. Do you know why some Christians are not vibrant? There’s no joy. The reason is simple: you have allowed sin in your life. I want to share with you the repentance of a true repentant sinner versus the fake repentance of Achan. You see, people don’t realize why was Achan put to death? Do you want to know the difference between a real repentance and fake repentance? You see, Achan confessed because he got caught. It was not from his heart. In Tagalog, «nahuli e».
You know, many people are repentant. You know why they’re repentant? They got caught. They got embarrassed. My friend, go beyond embarrassment, go beyond the pain of being known as a sinner. Go beyond that. Repent because you have grieved the heart of a loving God who loves you and died for you. And that my friend, is what you need to learn. Sin is really against God. If you are not grieved by sin, but you are only saddened because you got caught, your wife discovered, people began to know, you got embarrassed, that is shallow repentance. Now, God will accept all kinds of repentance, but He wants true repentance. So can I share with you an example of fake repentance? It’s a drama. I want you to imagine you are Achan. Okay? Can you imagine? It’s a movie now, okay, you are Achan. God says your sin will find you out.
(Joshua 7:16–18) «Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel by tribes». 12 tribes. They drew lots. Oh, «the tribe of Judah was taken». «Okay, Judah, all the families of Judah fall in this line». (v.17) «And then he brought the family of Judah near, and He took the family of Zerahites». «All the rest who are not part of Zarahites, go home». Now if you are Achan, what will you be thinking now? «Oh no, it’s getting closer». «Then he took the family of Zerahites; and he brought the family of Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken». Now if you are Achan, you know what you should have done already? You volunteer. «Boss, boss, boss, I am guilty». No, no. Achan was still thinking he could get away with it. Maybe the lottery will somehow go to the wrong person.
You know, God knows who is guilty and the guilty party will soon be discovered. Let me tell you. If your sin is not exposed now, someday, it will be exposed in the presence of God. And that’s why I tell people, repent now. You know why I want to repent now? I want to confess now because God gave me a promise. If I confess my sin now, He will no longer remember them. He will forgive me. So I better confess now. Amen. Some of you are waiting. You want to wait for the last minute, five minutes, two minutes and before you die, «Peter, I will repent before I die». My friend, how do you know when you will die? Read. (v.18) «So he brought his household near man by man. And (who?) Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi was taken».
So friends, what is very sad is Achan got caught. Look at the next verse. (Joshua 7:19–20) «Joshua said to Achan, 'My son, I implore you, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, Give praise to Him; tell me what you have done.'» In other words, «you’ve been caught»! «'Now tell me what you have done. Do not hide it from me.' Achan answered, 'Truly, I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, this is what I did:…» What did he do? Look at what he did. (Joshua 7:21) «I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver, a bar of gold fifty shekels in wieght, then I coveted them and took them; they are concealed in the earth…»
Notice the process: I saw, I coveted. That’s why I tell young men, if your testosterone is very high, the first look is still acceptable. First look. But don’t look again, okay? Understand, men? Now, some men say, «Peter, one look only, but I look a long time». No, no. Protect yourself, okay? You know your weakness. I know my weakness. I flee, I run. I don’t fight temptation. I flee. This guy he saw, he coveted, he took, and he concealed. What is repentance? «It is a change of heart and mind that brings us closer to God. It includes remorse and turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love of God and love for God, and a sincere desire to obey His commandments».
That, my friend, is repentance. Only the grace of God will give you heart. You want to repent, number one, you want to change your heart. You change your mind. You realize what you are doing is wrong, not because you got caught. It is wrong. It’s against God. And then what do you do? You feel bad. You turn away from sin. So if, example only, sin, this is sin, what do I do? I turn away. And what do I do? I turn towards God. That is repentance. Now, confession and repentance, they go together. I want to give you a promise from 1 John 1:9. This is the good news. Together, let’s read together. 1 John 1:9: «If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful, (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness».
Now, I will give an example of somebody who understood repentance. Would you like to know so that you will know the difference? What enters your mind when you think of David? Tell me, David. What enters your mind? For some people, Bathsheba. Who is Bathsheba? David committed adultery with Bathsheba and David killed the husband of Bathsheba. So let me ask you a question. Did David commit a very serious offense? Yes. Murder, adultery, deception, lying, horrible. But one thing I want you learn about David, David knew how to repent. You will never see David committing the same sin twice. But David suffered consequences of sin, but he accepted the consequences of sin. God told him, «you are forgiven, but you’re going to pay the consequences of sin».
Ladies and gentlemen, forgiveness is different from the consequences of sin. The penalty of sin is forgiven by Jesus on the cross. He paid for it. But the consequences, many times, follow. And many people are angry at God because they don’t like the consequences of sin. The truth is true repentance is you ask for forgiveness and you be willing to accept the consequences in hunility. Can I share with you how David repented of his sin? My friend, Psalm 51 is one of my favorite chapters. You know why? I need that Psalm. Look at how he confesses sin. Everybody read this, (v.1) «Be gracious to me. (Notice, he appealed to God’s grace.) Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of your compassion blot out my transgression».
Notice, he begins with grace. «Lord, be gracious to me». He’s not saying «I deserve forgiveness». No, no. «Be gracious to me according to your lovingkindness», nothing to do with him. That is true humility. That is true repentance. Notice the pronoun, personal pronoun. «Me», «my». David assumed responsibility. The pronoun of «I, me» in the first two verses appeared nine times. Are you aware of that? Confession, repentance is personal. You assume responsibility. Look at the next verse. (v.2) «Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. I know my transgressions, my sin is ever before me». You see that personal pronoun? David did not say «because of Bathsheba, she took a shower. She should not have removed her clothes».
How can you take a shower? You keep on peeping, and then you will blame Bathsheba. You see, David did not blame Bathsheba. David did not blame the architect. Why did you design my palace to be overlooking? No, no, no, no. David assumed responsibility. «Me, I». Notice the way he uses the word 'sin', 'iniquity', 'perversion'. Sin. What is sin? Short of your standard, transgressions, crossing the line. David is saying «I’m guilty», but you know, look at his prayer. Assuming responsibility, coming before God, that’s how you ask for forgiveness. That’s how you repent. You assume responsibility and you say, «Lord, it’s me. I appeal to your kindness». Look at the next verse. I love the way David prayed. I just want to highlight certain verses.
David understood repentance is of the heart. (Ps 51:10) «Create in me a clean heart…» «Lord, change my heart». Sometimes you need to pray that prayer. I need to pray that prayer. «…O God, renew a steadfast spirit…» «Lord, put a new spirit in my heart». Do you all feel today that you need a new heart? Yeah. What about the next prayer? I love this prayer. You know what David said? (Ps. 51:12) «Restore to me…» I love this. Everybody read, «Restore to me the joy…»
You know, many times you don’t have joy. Can I tell you how you don’t have joy? Sin robs you of joy. I hope today you learn to connect the defeat of your life with the root problem. No, I’m not saying just because you have problem, it means you’re in sin. I’m not saying that, but I’m saying learn to connect the defeat of your life, what’s going on in your life with the reality is there sin in your heart, in your life? And once you deal with it, you surrender that to God. Do you know how God described David at the end of David’s life? David was awful but look at how God described him in the New Testament. God described David as a man after what? I love this. (Acts 13:22) «A man after My heart». Wow! You know, David was a man after God’s heart. So it is possible to have failure, to be defeated, and to be restored and for God to say, «you are a man after My heart».
Is God amazing? Yes or no? I don’t know about you but, to me, I find that comforting, that it is never too late to change. But can I tell you something? It’s later than you think. Never too late to change, but change now. What’s the message today? You can turn defeat, tragedy into blessing. How? Recognize the reality of failure. Learn from mistakes. It may be not yours, but learn, recognize. What’s the second R? You Refocus on God, because as you pray, God will speak to you. And the truth is, we all need to repent. Amen. Amen. To Refocus on God is to repent. Get rid of the sin. Now, what sin is it in your life that God wants you to get rid of? You need to deal with that privately. Don’t allow the day to get by without dealing with that sin. And lastly, you need to Respond in faith.
As we close in prayer, I want to give all of you a chance to tell God privately whatever sin is in your heart, in your family. You tell God today, «I want to surrender that to You. I want to surrender that thing that’s displeasing to You». Can I tell you something? God changed my heart. He can change your heart. God took away certain addictions in my life. He can do the same with you. Let’s pray.
Father God, as we all bow down before You, I wanted to speak to each one of our people here. If there’s anybody here with sin that they need to get rid of, will You now speak to them right now?
And to those of you who want to get rid of certain things in your life, but you feel you cannot, why don’t you raise your hand and I’ll pray for you. Praise God. Yes. God is convicting you. «There is something in your life that’s not pleasing to Me». I want you to raise your hand and you surrender that to God. Anybody else, higher, between you and God? There is something in your life, in your family, that you are holding on. Perhaps it’s your pride, perhaps it’s your respectable image, your hard heart. Why don’t you surrender that to the Lord? Anybody else? Raise your hand. As you raise your hand, you say, «Lord, I surrender that to You». Anybody else? Between you and God.
Lord Jesus, You see the heart of Your men and women today, as they lift it up to You, the things that are in the ban, the things that are not pleasing to You, they’ve been keeping it in their family, in their lives, in their heart. And today, Lord, as You expose it, we surrender that to You. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen and amen.