Joshua chapter 10. You know, I love it when we can get the next generation involved in serving in the church as well. The boys were very excited to pray for the offering and then they did what we adults do too. They saw people and we get shy. You know, fear is a very natural thing. Did you know that? We all face that. And matter of fact, we see some very fearful people in our story here this morning in Joshua chapter 10, as we go there together this morning. Joshua chapter 10. The book of Joshua is a very fascinating book. You know, the person Joshua itself, in many ways, is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the captain of our host. He is the one who delivers us from our enemies. He is the one who brings us victory. And just as the name Joshua means God is salvation, it is Jesus Christ who saves you and me this morning, amen? And before we go into our story here, let me just start out and first ask you, it is so important to make sure that you're saved this morning. And when I'm asking you whether you're religious, or whether you pray or go to church, or whether you have a baptismal certificate, I'm asking you whether you have peace with God in your heart this morning. Whether you have that assurance from God based upon His word, His promise, that you're going to heaven, that you've been saved out of from going to hell. That you do not fear that burden and guilt of unforgiven sin. but because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for you when your sins, when my sins were laid on that cross, when he died and he cried out, it is finished. That is what you believe in and trust to go to heaven this morning. If that is not you, if you've never fully considered that or understood that, if you've never had that time in your life where you consciously made that choice to receive what Jesus Christ did for you on that cross, let me encourage you, all the things that we're going to talk about this morning, the basis for it is that you're saved. So if you're not saved here, there's a warning. Today is the best day to settle out once and for all. No religious activities, no good works, no good heartedness could ever get you even an inch closer to God. Did you know that? And we all have that conscience, we all have God's fingerprint of creation inside of us, so to speak, and this God-sized hole that we seek to stuff and fill with all the activities and things in this world. Yet the world only gets more and more miserable. And Jesus Christ is the answer. So let me encourage you this morning. Let me plead and beg with you this morning. God may come back before the end of this day. He very well may come back before the end of this week. And so if you do not know where you would stand before Him, in heaven or in hell, settle it today. Trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross. this morning. And if there can be any help or encouragement in that, by all means, don't hesitate to ask. Amen? And so, folks, that is so important because you need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt this morning that you have Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit living inside of you. You need to know that. Or else, the illustrations and the truths we're going to study this morning, you're really going to struggle with that. As we look into Joshua chapter 10, we're reminded of the New Testament truth where the Lord pronounced that greater, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You see, in Joshua 10, there after the victory at Ai, that's a city, not a computer program, after the victory at Ai, the people of Israel had learned that lesson through Aikenson that, you know what, we need to be right with God. And so, they were, it seems, actively trying not to do anything wrong. They wanted God's blessing. They wanted God's presence. They wanted the victory. And they wanted to claim and take in the promised land, the promises God had given to them. But, While they were at least trying not to do actively anything wrong, they though failed to do what was right. You see, it's not just about stopping anything wrong that is so vital for us in our relationship with Jesus, for victory spiritually. It's also starting to do what is right. So Joshua and the leadership, they failed to walk with the Lord. They failed to pray and to seek God's counsel, to seek God's word, before making decisions and ended up making a covenant. They became allies, unknowingly, with the Gibeonites. The people of the city of Gibeon, a city about 25 miles from where they were at. Those were the Hivites. They were living in the city of Gibeon and Moses had told them very clearly, specifically about all these nations, including the Hivites, don't make a covenant with them. Don't ally yourself with them. So here they were. Yet was God's plan over? Was there no hope for Israel anymore? Did they have failed and everything was done? Absolutely not. So let's look at Joshua chapter 10 verse 1 there. Joshua chapter 10 verse 1, where we see after God continues to give them victory after victory, guess what? The enemy isn't sleeping, is he? It says, Now it came to pass, When Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it, as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, that they feared greatly. Because Gibeon was a great city. as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than I, and all the men thereof were mighty. When the righteous prevail, the wicked are enraged." Let's bow in prayer. Oh dear Father in heaven, how we need your help this morning. Dear God, only your Holy Spirit knows exactly where our life is at, and Lord, what we need this morning, and Father, I pray that by your great mercy, you would empower the words of this message this morning. Lord, you'd give me wisdom, you guide and direct my thoughts and my speech, and Lord, help me to be your humble messenger. What the message, your holy word is awesome. It's tremendous. It's an awesome responsibility and it's at the same time the best message ever known to man's ears. Father, I pray that your church family would have ears to listen this morning. Lord, would you help us to get right with you? Would you revive us, O Father, in these last days? Father in heaven, would you strengthen our faith in our walk with thee? Would you Help us to be more faithful gospel witnesses. Lord, if there's anyone in our midst, young or old, Lord, or listening online that does not have peace with God, that is not assured of heaven through Jesus Christ, Lord, I pray that this morning they would trust you for salvation. Lord, I pray that each and every child I've got here this morning would leave confident of your victory and trusting in you. We pray this all in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. when the righteous prevail. In other words, when the people of God were succeeding, they were triumphing, they were going from victory to victory, as we just recounted shortly here, we see that the people who hated God, the wicked, God-defying nations around them, they became afraid, first of all, and then that fear turned to hostility. They were so furious, they were full of anger and hatred, they started to go to war against Israel. Now this wasn't just a little disagreement they wanted to settle somehow. This was to get rid of the people of Israel once and for all. That was to extinguish them before they ever got really a foothold in the land, so to speak. Now, folks, we see when God is on the move and when the people of God are successful and are going from victory to victory, the enemy of God, Satan, is not sleeping either. And he'll always try to stir up strife and battles and resistance and opposition. So there's nothing new there. We shouldn't get discouraged or dismayed by that. God certainly wasn't surprised. He already had a battle plan for Joshua. Did you know that? Notice in verse 3 there. In Otis verse 5, They're specifically listed once again. Just assume that I know how to pronounce them all right. Verse 5, Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it. Solomon already had the wisdom to recognize that he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked. In other words, when God's people are doing right, when they're following God, it's like, oh, there's the self-righteous better than thou. Oh, there's the religious sticks, you know, that believe in this imaginary God and that tales in their Bible. Oh, you know, here they go, thinking they're so much better than everybody else. And immediately the resistance and the mockery and the spiritual warfare starts. Folks, we have to realize that we, just like Israel of old, too, live around people that do not want us to succeed in our relationship with Jesus Christ. where in that regards, in no different situation than the people of Israel were, they're all the way back with Joshua. The apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4, verse 4, recognized that the people, the unsaved in the world, think it's strange that you run not with them through the same excess of riot. They think it's weird. Why do you don't have time Sunday morning and Sunday night? Why do you not go to the party and drink and be involved in all our fun sinful activities? What's wrong with you Christians? And so they can't understand it. They don't like it. It's strange to them and therefore they need to derail it. They need to accuse us and they need to oppose us and it says they're speaking evil of you because of it. They're speaking evil of you because of it. You know, already the Apostle Paul even said to the Galatians there in chapter 4 verse 16, I will therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. Right? Many times when we tell people the truth of God, they don't like it. And we become their enemy. It's uncomfortable! Let's face it, amen? I mean, how much did you enjoy it when you recognized that you're guilty before God? The Holy Spirit started to convict you and you recognized, you know what? I'm not saved. You know what? I'm deserving hell. You know what? I need that God, that Jesus, that I can't see and yet I know is real. And I need to trust His Word. That's not very comfortable, is it? But you know what? It's good. It's necessary. But when we tell people the truth, will easily become their enemy. Jesus Christ said in John chapter 15, let's turn over there real quick, in John chapter 15, how they hated Him without a cause, as already the psalmist mentions as well. In John 15 there in verse 25, they hated Him without a cause. Now, you and I, we may have, and certainly do have, faults and failures and shortcomings. So, there may be some legitimate reasons, you know, to dislike us, for sure. But for Jesus Christ, there was no such reason. So, the fact of the matter is, they hated God, they rejected God, even when there was no reason to do so. So really any reason to hate the people of God even today is just excuse at best. Notice in John chapter 15 verse 18. If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you, Jesus said. If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. And then he gives a very interesting reason for their motivation to oppose God, God's agenda and God's people in this world. He says in John 15 verse 22, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not sinned. But notice, but now they have no cloak for their sin. There's no covering anymore. Now the unrighteousness has been exposed. The lack of faith in God has been exposed. The rebellion against God has been exposed. As a matter of fact, Jesus has made everything necessary and possible for you and for me to be reconciled to God. To know God personally, to live at peace, to be restored to our design by God. Yet people reject it. In John chapter 3 verse 19, the Lord Jesus says that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. They love their sin and they by no means want God to take away their sin. Not recognizing that is exactly that sin that is destroying them and hurting them and condemning them to like a fire ultimately. And so when the world rejects God and the people of God, you and I are not be surprised that the five kings of the Amorites here in Joshua chapter 10 opposed the people of God, wanted to keep them from claiming the promised land of God. It was no surprise. God anticipated it. God knew it. And so the people of God need to not be afraid or be dismayed when we face rejection. Matter of fact, in Proverbs chapter 24, verse 19, in verse 20, Solomon is encouraging the saint of God this morning. You see, if you came here this morning looking for a message that, oh, everything is going to be alright and God loves you, don't worry, be happy, and let's give you all a pat on the back, feel warm and fuzzy, I'm afraid you came to the wrong place. And I hope I don't become your enemy because I tell you the truth. Amen? It takes a ton of love to tell the truth. It's easy to hate. It's easy to seek revenge and lash back. It's much, much harder to forgive. It's much harder to repay with kindness. It takes much more greatness of character and love of heart to share the truth. So in Proverbs 24, verse 19, King Solomon is encouraging the saint of God and says, Do you know what fret means? To be anxious, to be frustrated, to be like rubbed up and vexed. Don't be frustrated. Don't be all in turmoil and just rubbed up and rubbed sore, so to speak, in your mind and your heart. Fret not thyself because of evil men. Folks, the fact of the matter is you and I can't change people's hearts. Do you know that? You can't change people's hearts. So why would you and I fret about that? See, to change people's hearts is God's responsibility, isn't it? Now, our responsibility is to be a faithful message of the truth. Our responsibility is to be a faithful message of the truth as far as our life, our testimony is concerned. Our responsibility is to love them and tell them the truth, but it's not our responsibility to change them. So why would we be so frustrated? Why would we seek to follow the example of Lot, who was vexed with the unrighteous conversation of the wicked around him? No, fret not thyself because of evil man, neither envious of the wicked. Don't want what they have. You got it so much better, dear child of God. So much better. And so with that, let's move back to Joshua chapter 10 as we continue in that passage of scripture. We first recognize here that when the righteous prosper, the evil are afraid and are angry. the enemy of God will seek to stop that. Now, the next thing I want to notice here is the identity of the enemy. The identity of the enemy. Notice in Joshua chapter 10 verse 4, we see the reason there why they're attacking the Gibeonites, those new allies of Israel now. Come up unto me and help me that we may smite Gibeon, for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. So their problem was Israel. Their problem was the people of God. Their problem was the plan of God. The plan of God was to give them all of Canaan. And yet these Amorites, those five kings, they had a problem with that. And they were going to stop God's plan. When has that ever worked out well for anybody, amen? Folks, I seriously pity all the anti-Semite and all those Nazis that are really stirring themselves up and crawling out of every hole in every country, including in our country and in Montreal and in Berlin and Washington DC. And it's shocking to see, folks, the demonic warfare that's going on in our day and age. but it's not a surprise. A, it's nothing new, and B, it's been prophesied, and it's exactly the same attitude that Joshua... ...fulfill God's purpose, so they wouldn't claim God's promises, and so they wouldn't bring glory to God. I wish... Some of the Nazis in Canada would read the story of Esther or the story of Nehemiah and his enemies. And all of those who were angry for anyone that sought the welfare of Israel, as it says in Nehemiah there. None of them ended up succeeding and none of them ended up well. But that's a different story. It's just so fascinating to see sometimes how we see parallels thousands of years later. Because a lot of that is really spiritually rooted, of course, as we know from the New Testament. But notice verse 6. And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp, to Gilgal, saying, Slacken not thy hand from thy servants. Come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us. For all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. So Joshua sent him from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, all the mighty men of valor. Basically what's happening here is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? And so because these five cities were enemies with Israel, as soon as Gibeon became friends with Israel, now Gibeon became the enemy as well, right? So that's what's going on here. We've seen that all throughout history, right? For example, a lot of very unlikely allies that all of a sudden became friends against the common enemies such as the United States and the Soviet Union against the Germans and Nazis there in World War II. Three times, God emphasizes here in detail by name, everybody loves to read those names, amen? He emphasizes three times, just in those 10 verses and a few more times throughout the whole chapter, He emphasizes by name the identity of those five cities and those five Amorite kings. And I notice that because usually when God repeats something, He does that because He wants to emphasize it. Not to make it hard to read for us, amen? So, it must have been significant for God to really clarify their identity and it makes total sense. Why? Because the Israelites were just being deceived about another neighbor of theirs, about the Gibeonites and their identity. They thought they were a nation very far away that wanted to become their allies and come to find out they were the Hivites, they were the people of Gibeon. And so I think, at least in part because of that, the Lord is making it such abundantly clear who they were dealing with here exactly. And I wanted to illustrate this a little bit here with a few maps that I wanted to show you this morning. Let's see if this works. Nope. Oh, there we go, all right. Just to give you a bit of a bird's eye view, so I hope you can all see this here. So we see the people of Israel, they were camped at Gilgal. They had conquered Jericho, they had conquered Ai. They were deceived into making a league with Gibeon and so they ended up being opposed by the Canaanite king in Jerusalem. By the way, this is pretty much the very first time that we see that name Jerusalem mentioned. We see it referred to by Jireh and Salem in Genesis. So that's interesting to notice. But then we also see Jeremiah, we see Lachish, we see Eglon, Debir, Hebron, five Canaanite cities that banded themselves together to destroy Gibeon and with that to destroy Israel. And so here's a bit of a different perspective where you can see them coming in. I apologize that it's a bit blurry. When it's still blown up bigger on the picture, it looks a little different, but just for you to physically picture this here. So you see Jericho here, and there's the two battles at AI here being described. And then you see them move up to Gibeon where they battle those five kings. And then eventually they go to all of these cities and of course conquer them as God gives them the victory. And so once again you see kind of how they come in here from the other side of Jordan, kind of split the country. This is the southern part and then up there eventually they'll conquer the northern part. And again, you see all these cities here where they have the different battles. Hebron, Debir, Lachish, Eglon, and so forth. So I hope this helps a little bit to visualize this here, because it's important to understand. King Adonai is, excuse me, King Adonai Zerek in Jerusalem, King Hoham in Hebron, King Piram in Jarmuth, King Jephiah and Lachish, and King Debir and Eglon. Those were all Amorite kings. Now the Amorites are very interesting people. They're first mentioned in the Table of Nations there in Genesis chapter 10. They were descendants of Noah, and descendants of Ham, his son, and eventually through Canaan, all the way down to the Amorites in Joshua's day. Now initially, Abram, when he was in the Promised Land in Genesis 14, he actually had pretty good relationships with them. But that changed when the people of Israel came from the other side of the Jordan. There were two Amorite kings here as well, and so they King Zion and King Og. That's a great name. Anyways, to make a long story short, the people of Israel, a short story of those kings, were likewise then opposed by the Amorite kings on the other side of the River of Jordan, the western side. The hemorrhoids live again. seemingly in peace under the leadership of Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 7, and seemed to kind of end up dissolving themselves during the kings, during the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. And one of the last mentions we see them being pressed into labor there under King Solomon, basically. And so they're nonexistent today. But the fact of the matter is, they were a great hindrance to the people of God. to enter and conquer the promised land. And they continue to be a snare, a spiritual stumbling stone, so to speak, for Israel. The Amorites are consistently referred to as people that were immoral people. and people that were idolatrous people and that tempted Israel to follow them in that as well. So that's where you see at the end of his life in Joshua chapter 24, you find Joshua having this big speech there at the end of his leadership and he confronts and Joshua of Israel and says, hey, you got to decide. Are you going to serve the gods of the Amorites and those dumb idols, those demons of darkness? Or are you going to serve the God of light? Are you going to serve the God of Israel? Are you going to serve the God of the Bible? Right? And so he kind of confronted them to make that decision. The Israelites were warned to not intermarry with the Amorites, not because of racism, but because cultures back in Joshua's day were intricately connected to spirituality. And so it would inadvertently involve turning their hearts away from worshiping God and worshiping Baal and Ashtoth and so forth. And so, when that did happen under Ezra, he made short process of that in Ezra chapter 9. Why is this all important? Well, first of all, so you can understand your Bible a little bit better. But secondly, we have to recognize ... described in the book of Joshua and how God's people are triumphing at this time when all these different nations had created their national identity centered around their gods. And so, in other words, the people of the Amorites and the God of the Amorites were intricately connected. Just as the other people looked at Israel and said, well, the people of Israel and the God of Israel are basically one and the same. And so we have to understand the historical context here. In other words, a nation's prosperity, a nation's military victories were associated with that deity. that there's more than just a clash of cultures or nationalities. There is a lot of spiritual warfare going on. And we'll see here, one by one, and as we go through chapter 10, some really cool miracles, by the way, happening, where God specifically is defying and defeating those idols one by one. This is, of course, all pointing towards Christ's kingdom, ultimately. How Jesus Christ will ultimately, as the New Testament says, put all of His enemies under His feet one day. So that's what we have to keep in mind here as we study this together. But I want to look a little bit more at the life of Joshua here. As we go back to Joshua 10, verse 8. Joshua 10, verse 8. And I want to draw a little bit of an application out of this passage of scripture. I find this very powerful. You see, we have to recognize where Joshua's coming from. He just messed up big time. He just led the people into a covenant that he shouldn't have. He got themselves into this trouble. They wouldn't have needed to fight for the Gibeonites, but now they were obligated to, and he had messed up. He wasn't on praying ground when he did that. He hadn't consulted the wisdom of God and the Word of God. Yet how does God respond? How does God react? I love this. As Joshua this time does stop first and consult the Lord, God turns his missteps into stepping stones of his plan for Joshua. God turns his missteps into stepping stones in his plan. And he wants to do that with you and with you and me as well, if we're willing to rely upon him again. I really think we can see here this growth and this repentance of Joshua where first there was AI and specifically with the Gibbonites, he messed up in the previous chapter. He did not walk with the Lord. He did not ask the Lord. But now he does. And God blesses. And God gives him instructions again. And the things that could have messed up the whole plan, the whole agenda here, and now the Gibeonites and the Israelites are allies, and it's all over. God says, no, no, I'm just gonna use this. Yes, this was a mess up. But you know what? My plan doesn't change. God's plan never changes for you, did you know that? And so He's going to accomplish it one way or another. Joshua had learned his lesson, he repented, he learned how to prevent his mistake, as this time he does talk with the Lord, and moves forward in victory. Folks, we see that all throughout the Bible. Think about David, King David, and the son, King Solomon, that came from his adulterous marriage. Think about the Apostle Peter, who denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times, and it was on that basis that the Lord turned around and called him to follow Him, and called him to lead His sheep. Think about the Apostle Paul. Do you think sometimes Apostle Paul, while he was sitting in prison for four years, was wondering, man, are things really going according to plan? Well, let's look at Philippians chapter 1 and verse 12, his attitude. Philippians chapter 1 verse 12. But you should understand, brethren, that the things which happen unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. God's plan wasn't over. Oh, things weren't really going maybe according to Paul's plan there in prison, but you know, that didn't disturb God and the agenda he had at all. No, rather he even used those adverse circumstances and those hindrances to further his plan to use Paul to share the gospel. That is so cool! But I would you should understand brethren that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all the places. And many of the brethren, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." How do you turn defeat into victory? A lot of times we just want to dwell upon our sin. Or we want to dwell upon the difficulties and hindrances of others, the situations. We're downcast, we're in fear, we're in despair, we're in depression. And here we see here Joshua turning around back to the Lord. He doesn't stay swallowing in self-pity and regret, focusing on the sin. We're reminded of a story I once read of two frogs who fell into a bucket of milk on a farm. One frog eventually stopped kicking his legs, saying to his fellow frog, you know what, nevermind, this is not gonna work, we'll never get out of here. This is too slippery, the bucket is too deep, forget this. And he drowned in the milk. But the other frog just would not give up and would not give up. And with his last strength, he kept kicking his legs and kept kicking his legs. And after a long time, with his last strength, he was able to push himself and jump out of the bucket by pushing himself against a piece of butter that all his stirring and all his kicking had created in the milk. Folks, God wants to use even your missteps this morning in turning them to stepping stones to move you forward in His plan. Are you willing? Will you let Him? Will you trust Him? Will you turn around and rely upon Him again like Joshua did? See, we see here as we move forward in the story how it is God who fights the battle for His people. Their job was just to trust His plan. and to just obey and follow His instructions. Notice in verse 9, Joshua chapter 10 verse 9, And Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night. And the LORD discomforted them before Israel. Discomforted means they were routed and totally defeated, just scattered away. And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them, the Amorites, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Betharon, and smote them to Esachah and unto Makedah. Look at this brilliant strategy God gave Joshua. They have an all-night march in order to make a surprise attack on the enemy. Do you know why? Because the last enemy, the last thing, such a huge enemy, five armies, the last thing they expected was for Joshua to come through to his covenant with Gibeon was for them to show up behind them and attack them. A surprise attack. So many times, the last thing the enemy expects the Christian to do is to go on a counter-attack. The enemy expects us to be afraid, expects us to run or to hide, to be defeated, to be in dismay and despair. You know, I find it interesting when you study the models of, you know, the British SAS, their special forces, or the U.S. Marines, or even the Israeli army. Very fascinating. Their motto is always take the fight towards the enemy. Always go on the attack first. Take the fight to them, because usually that's the last thing they expect. I'm reminded of the story of Russian soldiers during World War I who were gassed in a gas attack by the German army, and yet those who survived, despite all the injuries, tumbled out of their trenches, picked up their guns, and ran towards the shocked German army, who expected no resistance, who thought this was going to be an easy win. And they were so freaked out, the Germans, that they ran. And the Russians defeated them in that battle. Strike the enemy first! when he least expects it. Folks, we've been given an offensive weapon, did you know that? In the spiritual war. For good reason we're told to pick up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God in Ephesians 6 verse 12. So take that weapon and take the truth of the Word of God and take the fight to the enemy. I'm reminded of a pastor that I heard about one time. What he would do every time his church would struggle, he would immediately go to his office and plan and strategize. He would get with the deacons and the men in the church and they'd pray and they'd fast and they'd immediately find out a plan how to really push out the gospel and how to rally the church in earnest prayer and how they could do even more for worldwide missions instead. So that's how he would immediately respond, time and time again, anytime the church was attacked. Anytime people struggled in the church. Anytime there was some resistance, some hindrances, some enemies. Eventually, you know what? The enemies seemed to have found out that the cost of attacking the church was just too high. And that anytime they were attacked, they just lashed out for the cause and the glory of Christ even so much harder. Folks, I think that is a commendable strategy, that is the attitude, that instructions God is giving Joshua here. And they're chasing the enemy away, all the way to Ezekiel and Makeda, in verse 10 there. That's about 22 miles away from the battle, from Gibeon. A disastrous blow to the enemy. God had once again shown Himself strong, and He had defeated the enemy. God had answered their prayer and given them the victory. Folks, I want to share with you, as we're almost done this morning, I want to share with you what I often call God's phone number. Who remembers? What verse of Scripture do I call God's phone number? All right, all of you need to write that down right now, okay? This has been given to me by a dear saint of mine in my childhood years. I was probably just this age. has been a comfort and a huge help for me ever since. I have never forgotten it. So that's why you ought to write it down. Psalm 50 verse 15. Alright. Psalm 50 verse 15. Psalm 50 verse 15. And call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. Never hesitate to call God's phone number. I think it's commendable here how lastly we see Joshua's integrity. Folks, it's always right to do the right thing. You see, he didn't respond with deception back, did he? Oh, those gibbonites, those tricky guys, they got us. Let's deceive them back. No. He glorified the name of the Lord. The glory, the honor of God was associated to their nation, right? And so, he was concerned, just like you and I ought to be concerned, to have a godly testimony in front of the Gibeonites and in front of the Amorites. And so, by keeping his word, Joshua showed the world that Jehovah was unlike the idols of the Canaanite nations. He's a God of truth, and he's a God that keeps his word. He was unlike, the people of God were unlike the unbelieving nations. They did not retaliate deception with another deception. The God of Israel keeps his word, just like Joshua keeps his word. And demonstrated that to all people. God would also keep His word to fulfill His promise and give all of Canaan to Israel. He keeps His word in regards to the judgment that He pronounced upon those unrepentant, those wicked, God-rejecting heathen nations in Canaan. God keeps His word and keeps His promises to His people and to His enemies, by the way. And also to you and to me today. Do you believe that? Do we actually believe that? Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him, and keep His commandments to a thousand generations. Solomon recognized in 1 Kings 8, verse 56, that there has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He had promised to Israel. That's the God we serve. Why would we ever doubt Him? God cannot lie. God cannot break His promise. Paul said that in Titus 1, verse 2. And so just as God can never break His word, neither should you and I ever break our word. The Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5, verse 37, But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay. for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." In other words, say what you mean and also mean what you say. Be truthful, be honest. Joshua was loyal, not to the Gibeonites, he was loyal to God. And with that displayed to all the nations that the God of Israel was different. And he keeps his word. Do you believe that Jesus keeps His word to you? Do you believe that His promise of victory, His promise of peace even in a world full of turmoil and darkness, His promise of victory over the forces of evil and the enemies of God in your life and in this world, do you believe that Jesus Christ has the victory? That indeed He made a show of all the principalities and powers and triumphant over them on the cross when He cried out, It is finished. Do I truly believe that this morning? Is that your God? Who is the God of Joshua? You want to have victory in your spiritual life? Follow Joshua's examples. Believe in a God that keeps His word. Keep your word yourself and allow God to use your missteps and turn them into stepping stones of his plan instead. Are you gonna trust him for that?