Good morning and welcome to Walking with Jesus Through the Word, one chapter per day. I'm Pastor Jason Van Bemmel from Forest Hill Presbyterian Church. It's day number 305 and we're in Joshua chapter 9. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word and for the gift of being in your Word each day. For 305 days now, we've been blessed to gather together and be in your Word and be built up by you. We pray that you would speak to us today. that you would be our teacher, that you would write your word on our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Joshua chapter nine. As soon as all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland, all along the coast of the great sea toward Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites heard of this, they gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel. But when the inhabitants of Gibeon, heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning, and went and made ready provisions, and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins worn out and torn and mended, with worn-out patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him with the men of Israel, we have come from a distant country. So now make a covenant with us. But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, perhaps you live among us. Then how can we make a covenant with you? They said to Joshua, we are your servants. And Joshua said to them, who are you? And where do you come from? They said to him, From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashteroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, we are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us. Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you. But now behold, it is dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst, and these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey. So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them. At the end of three days, after they had made covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them. And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Shephora, Beeroth, and Kiriath-Jerim. But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. But all the leaders said to the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. This we will do to them. Let them live. lest wrath be upon us because of the oath that we swore to them. And the leaders said to them, let them live. So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them. Joshua summoned them and he said to them, why did you deceive us saying we are very far from you when you dwell among us? Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my God. They answered, Joshua, because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God has commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. So we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing. And now behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it. So he did this to them. and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord to this day in the place that he should choose. Well, so we come off of two thrilling military victories that were very different from each other, right? The victory over Jericho was miraculously ordained by the Lord in such a powerful demonstration of His judgment on Jericho and the Canaanites and His salvation for His people Israel. And then we had the Ai battle, where at first Israel had to flee because of the sin of Achan. And then they won, but it was through the Lord's blessing. But the Lord's blessing came through cunning military strategy, where you lure the men out of the city and you set an ambush behind. They won victory over Ai and Bethel. So now they've taken on three Canaanite cities. They've destroyed all three Canaanite cities. They've killed all the people of these cities. The rest of the inhabitants of the land are getting very nervous and very anxious. And so most of the kings decide that they're going to come together and they're going to fight against Joshua and Israel as a unified force. If they band together, perhaps they can stand. But the inhabitants of Gibeon know. They've heard the reports. They've heard the Word of God. They've heard the covenant promises of God. And they know. that God is giving this land to Israel, and that all of the inhabitants are going to be displaced, wiped out, removed, because the sin of the Amorites is full, as God has said it. And these people were child sacrificing, pagan worshiping, human trafficking, awful people. And God was handing their land over. It was the promised land that he had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob some 500 years prior. So the men of Gibeon are men of cunning. They are wise in the ways of the world and in the ways of deception and diplomacy. And Joshua and the elders of Israel do not consult the Lord. They come and they meet with them and we're told that the elders and Joshua did not seek the Lord. They didn't get guidance from God through a prophet, but they entered into covenant with them, and then they heard that they were locals, that all this show of worn out wineskins and worn out sandals and dry bread that was all a show, that they lived right there. Three days journey from where they currently were, were their major cities. So they were cursed because of their deception, but they were blessed because God's people had entered into covenant with them. This shows a lot, like this shows that when God makes a covenant promise, he absolutely does not break it. And so when his people make a covenant promise, we are called not to break it. We live in a culture where we make promises sort of quick and easy and we discard them just as quickly and easily. But God makes a covenant promise that even will eventually cost him the life of his son for sinful people who hate him. And he doesn't change. He doesn't make us shape up before he gives his son for us. But while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He doesn't hold back, even though it costs him the greatest thing that he has and is most painful to him. Even though his son pleads with him in the garden, if there's any way for this cup to pass from me, God makes a covenant promise. God keeps a covenant promise, even to his own hurt. And so that's why God's word says, the righteous man swears to his own hurt and does not change. And this is demonstrated in Joshua and the leaders of Israel. They could have used the deception of the Gibeonites as an excuse to wipe them out. But they had entered into covenant with them. They had made a solemn oath and promise to them in the name of the Lord. And you can't make a solemn oath and promise in the name of the Lord and just say, well, you guys were just tricking us and so we're out of here. So they keep their promise as a reflection of the character of God who keeps his promise. But the Gibeonites are going to be servants. They're going to be servants, which is interesting. They're going to cut wood and they're going to draw water for the worship of God. which means they're going to have opportunity to see the Gospel being displayed in the sacrifices, to hear the Word of God proclaimed by the priests and the Levites. They're actually being given a position of service, of lowly service for sure, but actually a spiritually privileged position of being drawn in and shown the one true God and His ways, that He is holy, that His holiness demands a sacrifice, that His law demands obedience, and all of this is going to point to Christ, who is the perfect righteousness and the perfect sacrifice. So, foreigners even deceptive foreigners, are graciously being brought in to a place actually, yes, of humble service, but a place of spiritual privilege. And that shows the grace of God at work, even in the Old Testament, to bring His glory to the nations of the world. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this chapter. Thank you for what we can learn from it. We pray that we would be people of our word, who would swear to our own hurt and not change. We thank you that when you promised salvation to your people, you did whatever it took to save us, even though it cost you everything. We thank you for such great grace. Help us to show grace to others and help us to be people of our word and people of grace. We pray this in Jesus' name. Well, tomorrow we're going to move on to Joshua chapter 10. Hope you can join me for that. And as always, of course, I hope you have a blessed day in the Lord.