SUCCESS: message c
Psalm 139: 1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
INTRODUCTION
I chose the Scripture we just read because it talks about God searching and knowing our hearts. He knows what we are thinking before we even think it. And because of His extensive knowledge of us, the Psalmist asks God to search his heart to see if there’s anything in it that is an offense to God. He’s asking God for a spiritual check-up.
And really, part of coming to this church assembly each week is for a check-up. It is a time for us to come before God and ask for what the Psalmist asks for;
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
And for that check up God uses the instruments of His Word, and preaching teaching singing and praise to reconnect us with our own spirits, so His Spirit can speak truth to us. So, we come again to the time that we open the Word of God. We are continuing today with our look at the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. But this Bible story, just like every Bible story is like a mirror through which we examine ourselves.
We looked at the wilderness wanderings of Israel as a reflection of the lessons we should learn in the times of our own wildernesses.
And now, in the Book of Joshua, Israel has entered a season of success. The wilderness is behind them. The Jordan has parted. The Promised Land is in sight. The walls of Jericho will soon fall. It is a season of coming success. But times of success test the heart to see if there is any wicked way in them. Today, we are going to look at three hearts that were revealed during the 2 to 3 weeks between Israel crossing the Red Sea, and Israel’s attempt at taking the city of Ai. They were just at the start of a very successful season for their nation. But success brought out 3 different attitudes from the hearts of the people.
When God poured success onto these people, He squeezed their hearts—and what came out revealed the truth inside.
These three stories place before us three tests of success. And the overall lesson is about humility, obedience, and repentance in the face of success. And whether you realize it or not, every one of us will face these same tests at some point in our Christian walk.
prayer
I. The humble heart was drawn toward God. (Rahab)
Joshua 2:1–11 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
The first heart we meet on the road to success is the heart of Rahab. During times of success, we have to value and hold onto humility, in ourselves and others.
Deuteronomy 8:11–14, 17–18 “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God…
When your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold are multiplied…
your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God…
You may say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.”
Proverbs 16:18–19 “Pride goes before destruction…
Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.”
1 Corinthians 4:7 “What do you have that you did not receive?
And if you received it, why do you boast as though you did not?”
A. Tell the Story: Rahab’s Humble Heart
We left the story last time with Israel having crossed the Jordan river and camping a mile or so from Jericho, at Gilgal. And God gave specific instructions to Joshua about how they were to go against Jericho. But before he got instructions, and even before they crossed the Jordan, Joshua sent two spies into Jericho to scope out the city. Jericho is fortified, fearsome, and confident in its walls. The spies go into the city, and we are not told why, But, they end up at the house of a woman named Rachab, and she is a prostitute. Why did they choose to go there? Well, they stay the night in the city, maybe she makes money by offering room and board for travelers. And in addition to that she plied her trade as a harlot. It is hard for us to imagine this lifestyle. But I suspect that she did not arrive there because of career counseling at the community college. People usually end up in prostitution because of violence or desperation. Probably both. And it is a unimaginable life. Inviting complete strangers into your home, people who have come from all kinds of walks of life. I this this was a woman whose life was broken and empty, whose reputation is ruined, and whose future seems hopeless.
But Rachab had one thing that others in the city did not; a humble heart. She, just like the rest of the city had heard about this massive migration of people who had come out of Egypt, and now were just a few miles away on the other side of the Jordan. So, when she saw these two men, she opened her home to them.
They were sent as spies, but it seems that the whole “spying” thing wasn’t going well. Almost immediately, the king of Jericho is alerted to their presence in the city.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
But instead of turning the men over to the king, she has hidden them, and now she lies to the messengers.
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)
Why is she doing all of this. Because the stories she had heard about Israel humbled her heart. She heard something powerful. She heard about a God who was actually powerful. She heard how Israel came out of Egypt, and the miraculous deliverance from Pharaoh. She heard how the Red Sea parted 40 years earlier. She heard how Israel defeated kings.
The defeat of Sihon and Og sent shockwaves through the entire land of Canaan, because these two kings were among the most powerful rulers in the region. Sihon controlled Heshbon and the vital King’s Highway, had previously conquered Moab, and ruled strong fortified cities; Og ruled the vast kingdom of Bashan with sixty walled, heavily fortified cities and was himself remembered as a giant, one of the last of the Rephaim. Together, they represented a massive military barrier east of the Jordan—far stronger than any single Canaanite city-state like Jericho or Ai. When Israel destroyed them completely, Canaan immediately recognized that their own defenses could not stand against a nation whose God could topple such formidable rulers. This is why Rahab said the hearts of Jericho “melted” at the news (Josh. 2:10–11); the fall of Sihon and Og was undeniable proof that Israel’s God could overcome any fortress, any king, and any army, striking fear into every city west of the Jordan.
She heard how God Himself walked with His people. And the Bible says that when she heard those stories, her heart melted—not in fear, but in faith.
So, when these two men ended up at her door, spies for Israel, she welcomed them. And later when word got out that they were spies. She protected them. Here’s what happened.
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)
She risked her life to hide them. Why did she do that? She gives us the answer.
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.
12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”
One very interesting phrase in her appeal, “Swear to me by Yahweh.” She uses the covenant name of God. How did she know it? Well, it’s likely that either as part of the lore about Israel that had come down over the previous generation included the name of their God who delivered them, or it could be that the spies, in their conversations with her told her the name. But here’s the important part; She had come to believe in the One True God. She saw the evidence, and now she risks her own life and the life of her family to protect these spies, so that she may find mercy in the eyes of Yahweh. Now, Rahab had nothing to offer God—no pedigree, no reputation, no past righteousness—but she had humility. And when God’s success approached her city, her humble heart was drawn toward Him.
God’s success didn’t frighten her. It didn’t harden her. It didn’t anger her.
The Success of the Israelites awakened faith in her.
Success revealed a heart ready to accept God’s Word, God’s people, and God’s plan.
And because of that faith, the spies promise her that if she will bind the red rope that she used to lower them over the wall, in the window of her home, and if she brought all her family into her house, then the invading army would save every life in her house. And she did so.
A question has come to mind every time I read this story. We are told that Rachab’s house was part of the city wall. It had to be, because she uses a rope to lower them over the wall, out of a window in her house. But we are also told that when Israel last marched around Jericho, the wall would collapse. So how does Rahab’s house remain intact if it is on the wall? Well, I read several commentators about this, and in sum what had to happen was that God brought down the wall in the place where the army needed to enter, but He left it standing in other places. We can quibble about details, but here’s the point; it wasn’t enough for Rachab to make a pact with the two spies, and the invading Israelites. God had to save Rachab and her family. Her house was on the wall, and God had to keep her house standing. Can you imagine what a sight that must have been? Israel marched for 7 days around the city. The 7th day, they marched around it 7 times. Rachab’s house is on the wall, and the window that she used to let down the spies over the wall was likely visible. She had that red rope strung like christmas lights in the window.
It reminds me of another passage of Scripture.
Exodus 12: 21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
And now the destroyer wasn’t the death angel, it was the army of Israel. 13 times they marched around that city. And we are told that instructions were sent to every soldier, “Don’t touch the Rachab’s house with the red rope in the window.” 13 times they march around the city, and 13 times, one soldier says to another, there’s the window with the red cord, don’t touch it.
Now, the spies had made an oath to Rachab because they believed her word. But man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart. If Rachab’s heart would not have been humbled before God, God could have said, “I am not bound by the oaths of men. Rachab’s heart is corrupt. She deserves death along with all the inhabitants of Jericho.
This is my imagination, but when they marched around the last time, blew their trumpets and shouted, the wall falls for them to enter, but when the dust clears, standing tall in the midst of the rubble, with stones and bricks lying in heaps around it, is a house perched on a remaining foundation, with a red rope tied in the window. I even imagine it like God took out any stairs to the house, so that even if the soldiers forgot, or if the Canaanite fighters were fighting around that house, nobody is getting to Rahab and her family. God miraculously preserved this humble heart.
And because of that faith and humility, Rahab and her family was saved and became part of Israel. She ended up marrying an Israelite. Matthew 1 gives the lineage of King David and Jesus.
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, (The famous Boaz of Boaz and Ruth fame. No wonder he had compassion on the outcast moabite Ruth, his own mother had been a Canaanite prostitute.) Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.
She was King David’s great great grandmother. She became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ Himself. All because she humbly bowed before the Lord.
B. Apply the Point to Today: A Humble Heart is Drawn to God
The question in the Test of Acceptance is this:
“When God gives you success—does it make you more open to humility in yourself and others.
Success often tempts us to grow proud, to stand taller, to look down on those who don’t seem as put together as we are. Or we look at others who seem to be doing better, and instead of asking, “Are they right?” We respond in jealousy, not humility. Rachab could have done that. She could have looked at Israel and their God and said, “Who are they to judge me?” “If God is so great, why did He let my life go to crap?”
But success in God’s hands is meant to grow tenderness, not pride; compassion, not superiority; openness, not isolation.
Ask yourself:
There’s a second heart that we are considering today.
II. The selfish heart drifted away from God. (Achan)
Joshua 7:1–5 But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things[a]; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri,[b] the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel. 2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” 4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.
The next heart we meet is very different. This is the story of Achan.
A. Tell the Story: Achan’s Selfish and arrogant Heart
After the miraculous fall of Jericho, Israel had tasted victory for the first time in a big way. The city wall fell without Israel lifting a finger. The battle belonged to the Lord. The had no causalities in the battle against Jericho. They completely destroyed all life except Rahab and her family. And God had given clear instruction: “Everything in Jericho belongs to Me.”
Joshua 6:17-19 “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction…” “But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction (ḥerem), lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things…” “But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.”
Anything that could burn, they burned. Anything metal went to the Lord, in the treasury managed by the Levites.
Everybody followed these instructions, except for one man.
But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things[a]; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri,[b] the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them.
He would later confess, “21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia,[c] two hundred shekels[d] of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels,[e] I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Achan, however, saw something glittering in the rubble—a beautiful Babylonian garment, some silver, some gold. And while everyone else was celebrating victory, Achan drifted into compromise.
He took what God forbid. He hid it in his tent. He pretended before others that all was well. Times of victory can tempt us to sin.
Achan might have thought:
And it is often most tempting to commit sin during times of victory. “Everything is going my way, God is on my side. Since God has blessed me, I must be right.”
But hidden sin is never harmless. What ended up happening was that after the conquest of Jericho, Joshua began looking to the next town that they would conquer. Some commentators suggest that Ai was an unwalled village about 12 miles from Jericho. After Jericho it must have seemed like a very miniscule challenge. In fact, Joshua’s advisors minimized the task.
2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.”
And Joshua followed their advice. But Joshua forgot something. Before Jericho, Joshua sent spies, but he also heard from the Lord. Remember that the commander of the Lord’s army appeared to him and gave him specific instructions for how to take Jericho. This time Joshua hears from his spies, but he doesn’t go to the Lord for instruction.
We often do this in times of success. If we have a very hard or complicated task in front of us, we are down on our knees in prayer; Lord lead me, guide me, direct me, show me the way, close the wrong doors, open the right ones. But then when we have small tasks or decisions in front of us, our attitude is, “Lord, I can handle this one.” We lose the humility, we forget to search our hearts for sinfulness.
Joshua didn’t seek instruction from the Lord. If he had, God would have told him, “Somebody took what they shouldn’t have in Jericho.” But he didn’t.
4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.
Achan’s sin led to Israel’s defeat at Ai. Thirty-six men died. Joshua was devastated.
The nation was shaken. All because success revealed the selfish heart of one man and the proud heart of the nation.
We can forget the important part of the verse, “If God is for us, who can be against us.” We relish the phrase, “Who can be against us.” But forget that it’s conditional. Our enemies cannot prosper against us, only if God is for us.
B. Apply the Point to Today: A Selfish Heart Drifts From God
Success whispers dangerous lies:
Success doesn’t tempt us to do things we never would have done before—
it tempts us to indulge the sins we secretly already wanted.
And Achan’s story teaches us that the real danger is not failure—it’s success without integrity.
Today, success can tempt us:
But God sees what is in the tent long before anyone else does.
Achan’s selfish heart drifted away from God.
Success just exposed it.
III. The repentant heart returned to God. (Joshua and Israel)
Now we come to the final heart—the heart that returns home. Rahab had a humble heart, Achan had a selfish heart, now Joshua and Israel have to have a repentant heart.
A. Tell the Story: Joshua and Israel’s Repentant Heart
Failure at Ai broke Joshua’s heart. He fell on his face before God. He cried out in confusion. How could God let this happen?
Joshua falls on his face in prayer before God. And his prayer is very interesting.
6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!
This prayer floors me. Because Joshua is not just on his face before God, he begins his prayer sounding like the Children of Israel complaining to God in the wilderness.
When Israel was at the Red Sea, with the army of Egypt barreling down on them.
Exodus 14:11–12 “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?
… It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
When they wanted food...we should have died in Egypt...when they wanted water
When they first came to Canaan...
Numbers 14:2–4 “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!”
Now, when they have 36 deaths at Ai, Joshua falls down before God and says, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!
Now, he does get more sane after that first sentence.
8 Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 9 The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?”
But I love God’s response,
10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
The defeat exposed something Israel needed to deal with. God revealed Achan’s sin.
Every time there is a hiccup in our success story, sometimes our first response is “why Lord?” When it may be time for us to examine our hearts and confront our own sin.
Israel confronted it. The sin was removed. And once the camp was clean, God spoke again.
And the very first words God spoke after their repentance were these:
“Fear not, neither be thou dismayed… arise, go up to Ai.”
Repentance restored fellowship.
Repentance restored direction.
Repentance restored courage.
Repentance restored success.
And this time, when Israel went up to Ai, God gave them a plan. God went with them into battle. God delivered victory into their hands.
Success didn’t restore Israel.
Repentance restored Israel—and then God brought success.
This is the heart that God is always ready to bless: a heart that gets back up.
B. Apply the Point to Today: A Repentant Heart Returns to God
There will be moments in life when success collapses.
When the thing you thought would work doesn’t.
When your strength fails you.
When your hidden sin finally shows.
When your confidence is shattered.
The question is:
“When success turns to failure, will you stay down in pride—or will you rise up in surrender?”
CONCLUSION — THE THREE HEARTS OF SUCCESS
We have seen three very different responses to success:
1. Rahab — The humble heart is drawn toward God.
She was open. She was sensitive. Success awakened her faith.
2. Achan — The selfish heart drifts away from God.
Success exposed his greed and compromise.
3. Joshua/Israel — The repentant heart returns to God.
When success collapsed, repentance opened the door to restoration.
And now, the question for each of us is simple:
Which heart do you have?
Which heart is success revealing in you?
Closing Prayer
Father, we come before You today humbled by Your Word and by the lessons we have seen in the lives of Your people.
You have reminded us that success is not the moment we relax—it is the moment when our hearts are most clearly revealed. You showed us how humility drew Rahab close to You, how hidden pride destroyed Achan, and how even Joshua, Your faithful servant, fell on his face when defeat exposed what was in the camp.
Lord, search our hearts today.
If there is any pride, any hidden sin, any self-reliance, expose it before it destroys us.
If there is any fear, discouragement, or confusion—remind us that You are the God who meets us even when our prayers sound broken and our faith feels shaken.
Teach us to walk humbly in every season—especially in the seasons of blessing.
When You lift us up, help us remember that every victory, every open door, every blessing comes from Your hand.
When we succeed, make us grateful.
When we prosper, make us generous.
When we win, make us worshipers.
And when we stumble, bring us quickly back to repentance and restoration.
Lord, make us a people whose hearts honor You in both triumph and testing.
Give us courage to obey You, integrity to walk in the light, and wisdom to see success not as a finish line but as a proving ground for our faith.
We thank You that You are merciful, patient, and faithful—
the God who brings down walls, lifts up the humble, and restores those who return to You.
We ask all of this in the mighty name of Jesus.
Amen.