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We are in Joshua chapter 10,
and we are going to pick up at verse 29 tonight. And we are
in the midst of a section that we were trying to move through
the entirety of last week, chapters 10 and 11. This works out all
right because actually with us having to take a break because
of the facility issues over the holidays, this will be a good
dividing point. We'll cover the second half of
chapter 10 tonight and all of chapter 11, the Lord willing.
This section will go a little bit more quickly because the
real narrative meat is in the first half of chapter 10, as
we saw last week. We're looking in chapter 10 and
chapter 11 at the southern and northern campaigns. And of course,
the story that stands out at the beginning of chapter 10,
or midway through chapter 10, is the sun standing still. We
dealt with that question. I suggested that whatever is
indicated by that language, and we suggested a couple of possibilities,
Whatever is intended to be indicated by that language, if we believe
that the Bible is the Word of God, then we must believe that
that happened. Now, I don't know how it happened.
I'm not even 100% certain what happened. But I know that something
happened. And I know that whatever happened
was the work of God in response to the Word of a man. In response
to the prayer of Joshua. We suggested a comparison, if
you will. We've been suggesting a number
of typological relationships between the character of Joshua
and the story of Joshua in this book, and the ultimate story
of the greater Joshua, who is Jesus Christ. And we said that
not to overpress that typology or that analogy between the two
characters, but there is perhaps an echo of this story when, in a much
greater fashion, Christ stands in the boat and speaks to the
wind and the waves, and the natural world obeys His voice. Here it obeys not the voice of
Joshua, but the voice of Yahweh. There, in Mark chapter 4, as
Jesus stills the storm, nature once again obeys the voice of
Yahweh. Right? Because Jesus has Yahweh's voice. He is indeed the Lord. Well,
we saw the capture and execution of five Amorite kings. Remember
that Amorite is kind of a general term for Canaanite tribes. It
can encompass several different people groups. And then one of
the things that we've suggested last week and several weeks prior
is that the invasion and conquest of the land of Canaan is sped
up. by the strategic decisions that
the Canaanites make. Now they make what they feel
like are the best choices that they can in view of their circumstances. They recognize that Israel is
just rolling over great city-states. They recognize that Gibeon has
made peace by means of deception with the Israelite nation. And
so, the remaining city-states believe that the best chance
for victory is to gather their forces, to band together, and
to come in mass against Israel. But as it turns out, that means
Israel will have fewer battles to fight. The conquest takes
between six and a half and seven and a half years. It unfolds
in this fashion. The central campaign cuts the
land of Canaan in half. Jericho, Ai, Gibeon. Jericho and Gibeon are great
city-states. Cuts the land in half. Then the southern campaign
sweeps through in the second half of chapter 10. The northern
campaign sweeps through in chapter 11. Let's look at that now. Beginning
in verse 29 of chapter 10. Then Joshua and all Israel with
him passed on from Machedah to Libna and fought against Libna.
And Yahweh gave it also and its king into the hand of Israel.
And he struck it with the edge of the sword and every person
in it. He left none remaining in it. And he did to its king
as he had done to the king of Jericho." Then Joshua and all
Israel with him passed on from Libna to Lachish, and laid siege
to it, and fought against it. And Yahweh gave Lachish into
the hand of Israel, and He captured it on the second day, and struck
it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it, as He
had done to Libna." Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help
Lachish. And Joshua struck him and his
people until he left none remaining. Then Joshua and all Israel with
him passed on from Lachish to Eglon. And they laid siege to
it and fought against it. And they captured it on that
day and struck it with the edge of the sword. And he devoted
every person in it to destruction that day, as he had done to Lachish. Then Joshua and all Israel with
him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it, and
captured it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its
king, and its towns, and every person in it. He left none remaining,
as he had done to Eglon, and devoted it to destruction, and
every person in it." Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned
back to Deborah and fought against it. And they struck them with
the edge of the sword and devoted to destruction every person in
it. He left none remaining. Just as he had done to Hebron
and to Libnah and its king, so he did to Deborah and its king.
So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negev
and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left
none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed,
just as Yahweh God of Israel commanded. And Joshua struck
them from Kadesh Barnea, as far as Gaza, and all the country
of Goshen, as far as Gibeon. And Joshua captured all these
kings and their land at one time, because Yahweh, God of Israel,
fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned, and all
Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal." Now, a couple of
comments on this, and we're going to move right into chapter 11.
One thing that we need to kind of offer perhaps as a caveat,
because we're going to move from Joshua into Judges, is something
that we alluded to last week. There are different Hebrew terms
that can be used to describe conquest and destruction in this
case. And what is being indicated here
is not the utter annihilation and then possession of these
lands and city-states by the Israelites. But rather, the military
conquest of them, the decimation of their leadership, and then
Israel moves on. In the first half of the book
of Joshua, Israel conquers the land. In the second half of the
book of Joshua, they divide the land. But in the second half
of Joshua, and in the early chapters of Judges, they are still endeavoring
to settle the land. And one of the things, if you'll
recall, that the Lord says to Israel in the book of Deuteronomy,
is that when you come to conquer Canaan, I am going to drive the
people out little by little, because the people of Israel
are not numerous enough, nor well organized enough, enough,
enough. How many times did I say enough
there? Not enough. You won the evening with that.
That's good. They're not well enough organized to occupy the
entirety of the land, right? If the whole land empties and
they seek to move in, it's not going to work, right? The woods
are going to reclaim the territory. So what you see at the beginning
of the book of Judges seems very different than what you're reading
about here in Joshua chapter 10. In Joshua chapter 10, it
sounds like total annihilation, right? Complete possession. There's not a Canaanite alive
anywhere anymore. You get to the beginning of the
book of Judges, you say, wait a second, what happened? The Canaanites
are still in control of a lot of territories, including some
cities that back in the book of Joshua, Israel was said to
conquer. Well, they conquer them, and then they move on, and Canaanites
move back in. So you've got to recognize what
is going on in this story and what is not going on. They are
conquering the land, but they haven't secured the entirety
of the land. They're killing many Canaanites,
but they're not killing every single Canaanite that exists
in this territory. And many of these battles to
secure and possess specific city-states and territories, those battles
are going to go on for a long time. And we're going to be looking
in the first two chapters of the book of Judges at three reasons
that those battles do go on. And some of them are good and
some of them are not. And I'll just tease you with
that so that you'll come back when we do Judges, right? Now,
one of the other things that we need to think about here,
because the text, I think, forces us to reckon with this, is how
thorough the destruction really is. They do not burn many cities. You notice the cities are not
devoted to destruction. The inhabitants of the city.
There are only three cities, if I recall correctly, that are
actually burned to the ground by the Israelites because God
makes special dispensation upon them. Jericho, obviously, being
the most noteworthy example, is the first fruits. But the
people are to be wiped out. And I just want to say that that
bothers some Christians today. And it's a sign of the fact that
we have kind of a sissified church. That we really have a church
that is soft, where our perspective on events like these are shaped
more by our culture than by scripture. Now, I don't rejoice in bloodshed. I don't delight in the death
of a wicked man. That's what the Lord says in
Ezekiel 18. I do not delight in the death
of a wicked man. I desire that the wicked man
repent and live. However, Romans 9, verse 25,
the Lord will be glorified in judging the lawless on the last
day. He is glorified in judging sinners
and the ungodly. And He will be glorified in saving
His elect and in condemning the reprobate. And so this is not
a moment to wring our hands and to despair because of the bloodshed. Remember again, what we've mentioned
multiple times before, Genesis chapter 15, the Lord tells Abraham,
I'm going to give your descendants this land, but not for another
400 years because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.
This is not an act of purposeless or gratuitous violence. This
is a very purposeful act of violence. It is an act of divine retribution
against immoral, idolatrous, violent people. Does that mean
that God does not save His elect? God will save His elect, and
there will be people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language
surrounding the throne of God on the last day, praising the
Lamb by whom they are redeemed. But you and I need to reckon
with a holy God who will judge sin and sinners. Scripture says
that God has made even the unrighteous for judgment. In other words,
every one and every thing in this created order has a purpose. Remember that next time you are
inclined to think that your life is without purpose. Right? There's nothing in this world
that does not have no purpose. Right? But you've got to recognize
that God is going to be glorified whether in the salvation of those
who repent or in the judgment and condemnation of those who
refuse to repent. That's what we're looking at
here. And you need to remember that Jesus is revealed in Scripture
as a lamb and as a warrior. Revelation chapter 19. He rides
on a white horse. He comes to lead the armies of
God against the ungodly. They trample the ungodly until
the blood rises in the streets, right? You and I need to recognize
that we are dealing with a very different world when we read
about the world of the Bible. But we're also dealing with a
God who is more holy than most of us have ever really considered. I mean, we think about the holiness
of God, and we still have in our minds what we hear insidiously
and repeatedly in books and television and movies. I just think that
people are basically good. Well, that's interesting, but
it's just not true. It's just not true. People are
not basically good. Since the fall, people are basically
evil. And that doesn't mean that we
ought to hate people, that doesn't mean that we ought to hope for harm
to people. We should not delight ourselves
in the death of the wicked, because God does not delight in the death
of the wicked. We should be able, like David, to grieve when a
reprobate king, like Saul, dies. David weeps. And when a man comes
to him trying to take credit for this, as if thinking that
David will rejoice in it, David has him put to death. Right?
But we also need to appreciate the justice of a holy God in
pouring out judgment on the ungodly. And if we do not understand the
justice of this, we don't understand the holiness of God, we also
don't understand the greatness of our sin. Because this is what
our sin deserves. This is what every one of us
deserves. We live in a world where there is unspeakable evil. A few of you know that. Some
of you don't. But there is unspeakable evil
in this world. And a holy God must bring judgment
against that. Randy. I think the problem with
Christians today in being able to accept most of what the Old
Testament is teaching is a misconception of God and Him just being holy. them not having the right definition,
I'm sorry, love, and not having the right definition of love
to begin with. That's right. And then taking
the holiness completely out. Yeah, Jesus is just a long-haired
hippie, you know, who is just kind of puppies and kittens and
bunnies. Yeah, exactly. And I'm telling you, I mean,
people fall before the Lord trembling. Peter in Luke 5, he's on his
knees saying, Depart from me, I am a sinful man, O Lord. Right? And Scripture in Hosea and Revelation
describe the ungodly on the day of judgment, when judgment is
poured out, crying to the mountains, to the hills, Fall on us and
hide us from the face of the wrath of God. Right? From the face of the one who
sits on the throne. And we need to reckon with this. When people
bring this up as an objection against Scripture, I mean, you
know, I love this, I hate it, but I love it. When an unbeliever
wants to say, well, what kind of a God would do such a thing? And I want to say, in what kind
of a world are you capable of sitting in judgment of God? Where
does your sense of right and wrong come from? You're offended
by what you believe to be immoral. That in itself is testimony that
the law of God is written in your heart and by that law you
are condemned. Yes, this is troubling. It should
be troubling when we see violence. But this is just violence. Because
this is God's vengeance, right? When man takes vengeance, it's
unjust, right? The most just wars that men ever
fight have a whole lot of injustice in them. But this is God doing
justice. And when we want to sit in judgment
of God and say, that's immoral, I want to say, who defines morality? It's not immoral. It's actually
God's holy, righteous response to immorality, to the violence
that you and I are offended by. But you and I need to recognize
that we would be rightly the objects of that justice, of that
vengeance, that divine judgment. if it were not for the fact that
that judgment was poured out on Christ on the cross. And the
only hope that you and I have is to cling to Him, right? To come with empty hands and
a broken heart and to lay hold of Christ by faith. Because either
that judgment will be poured out on Him or it will be poured
out upon us. But God will be just because
He is holy. Does that make sense? Okay, so
I know that we've come back to those ideas a couple of times,
but we must because, you know, the only time that the world
takes notice of the book of Joshua is in polemical arguments about
the justice of God, you know, the Canaanite genocide and why
this is a problem for Christians. And I'm telling you, it's not
a problem for Christians. There are a whole lot of pastors
and theologians who have compromised on this very point. They have
compromised the holiness of God. They have compromised the integrity
of Scripture because they're troubled by this and they don't
have a good answer. And I want you and I to know what these
passages are conveying and how we ought to use them, right,
in thinking about our own sin. and thinking about the price
that Christ paid for our sin, and in thinking about how then
to engage an unbelieving world when they want to critique God
because of what they perceive to be unjust. We continue in
chapter 11. When Jabin king of Hazor heard
of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of
Shemron, and to the king of Oxshath, and to the kings who were in
the northern hill country, and in the Erebah south of Chenaroth,
and in the Lolan, and in Naphoth Dor on the west, to the Canaanites
in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites,
and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under
Hermon in the land of Mizpah. And they came out with all their
troops, a great horde in number like the sand that is on the
seashore, with very many horses and chariots. And all these kings
joined their forces and came and encamped together at the
waters of Merim to fight against Israel. And Yahweh said to Joshua,
Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will
give over all of them slain to Israel. You shall hamstring their
horses, and burn their chariots with fire.' So Joshua and all
his warriors came suddenly against them by the waters of Miram,
and fell before them. And Yahweh gave them into the
hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them as far as great
Sidon, and Misrephoth Maim, and eastward as far as the valley
of Mizpah. And they struck them until he
left none remaining." And Joshua did to them just as Yahweh said
to him. He hamstrung their horses and
burned their chariots with fire. And Joshua turned back at that
time and captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword. For
Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. And they
struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to
destruction. There was none left that breathed, and he burned
Hazor with fire. And all the cities of those kings,
and all their kings Joshua captured, and struck them with the edge
of the sword, devoting them to destruction, just as Moses the
servant of Yahweh had commanded. But none of the cities that stood
on mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor alone, that Joshua burned. And all the spoil of these cities,
and the livestock the people of Israel took for their plunder,
But every person they struck with the edge of the sword until
they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed.
Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded
Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all
that Yahweh had commanded Moses." So Joshua took all that land,
the hill country, and all the Negev, and all the land of Goshen,
and the lowland, and the Ereba, and the hill country of Israel,
and its lowland from Mount Halak, which rises towards Seir, as
far as Baal Gad, in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.
and he captured all their kings and struck them and put them
to death. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There
was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except
the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all
in battle. For it was Yahweh's doing to
harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in
battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction, and
should receive no mercy, but be destroyed, just as Yahweh
commanded Moses. And Joshua came at that time
and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from
Debor, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and
from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to
destruction with their cities, There was none of the Anakim
left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath,
and in Ashdod did some remain. So Joshua took the whole land
according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and Joshua
gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal
allotments, and the land had rest from war. Now, what you
have there in chapter 11 is kind of the final wrap-up summary,
the northern campaign and the wrap-up summary of the remaining
parts of the engagement. So, Joshua made war with those
kings a long time. That's an indication that we're
summarizing here. This isn't happening in one day.
This isn't happening in one week. Again, the conquest stretches
over a number of years, and even beyond that, there's going to
be some mop-up operations for a little while. For instance,
the mention there in the last paragraph of the chapter about
the Anakim or the Anakim, the giants. You're going to learn
something about them in chapter 14, and I think you will enjoy
what you learn. We'll come back to that in a
few weeks. So, there is some summary going on here, rather
than detailing every single engagement and all of the time that it took.
Now, there are a few points that we need to see. One is actually
a point that we made last week, but I want to re-emphasize here.
Notice in verse 20, It was Yahweh's doing to harden their hearts
that they should come against Israel in battle in order that
they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy,
but be destroyed just as Yahweh commanded Moses. If you remember
last week, one of the things that we said was, that the gathering
of the Canaanite forces in mass seemed like a very daunting and
disastrous thing, right? I mean, this is a terrible moment
for Israel, so to speak. But it actually turns out to
be God's blessing that brings victory. So one of the applications
we suggested last week is that you and I need to remember that
when we're having a crisis, We need to remember that sometimes
the crises that come into our lives are God's way of bringing
about blessing. We can't see that at the moment.
Maybe we can't see any way that anything good could come out
of the evil that confronts us. And yet this is God's promise,
Romans 8.28, that God works all things together for the good
of those who love Him and are called according to His promise. And
that's something we have to lay hold of, that we have to cling
to. And say, even though I can't see the good that God may bring
out of this, I know that there will be good. Would God ever
bring my enemies in mass against me? Yes. He did it here. He does
it multiple other times in Scripture. God hardens the hearts of the
Canaanites. He withdraws the grace that might
have prompted them to do something more wise, right? He provides
the counsel that is necessary for them to be confirmed in their
stubborn resistance to God's will. He says, come out. All of you, come out. Bring it
all together, and we're going to put an end to this war right
now. Does Israel understand that's
what Yahweh's doing at that moment? I don't know. There's no indication
that He explains that to them. Would He ever do that in our
life? Would He bring enemies against us for some greater purpose?
This is why we say you cannot read the tea leaves of providence
in the present. You want to be so careful of
attempting to do that, and you want to be very skeptical of
anyone else in your life who tries to do that. You know, sometimes
we're in a situation in our life where we may want to cautiously,
humbly say, it may be that the Lord is doing this or that, it
may be that the Lord is opening a door, closing a door, whatever.
But the reality is, we can't read the tea leaves of providence
as we are living in those events. Because the truth is, we don't
know what God is doing. At any given moment, He could
be hardening the Canaanites to come out, and that could be an
act of chastening His own people. Does He do that in the Old Testament?
He does. He sometimes brings enemies against Israel to teach
Israel a lesson. Or, He could be hardening their
heart, bringing them out to hasten the day of their judgment and
destruction. But here's the beautiful thing about providence. I don't
have to know what God is doing at any given point in time or
any circumstance that I face to know what I'm supposed to
do. Because my response to circumstances is always to be the same. I'm
to be faithful. Wherever I am, I am to trust
God, I am to be humble, I am to be penitent, and I am to be
obedient to all that He has commanded. That's my response. It doesn't
matter whether it is a temptation from the devil, a time of testing
from the Lord, a season of blessing, a season of burden. What am I
supposed to do, Lord? Be faithful. How can I be faithful
in this situation? Trust God, give thanks, be humble,
repent, and obey. That's it. I mean, I don't want
to oversimplify this, but I really think it's that simple. That's
what we're called to do. And that's what we see faithful
men of God and women of God in Scripture doing time and time
and time again. And unfortunately, we live in a day
and in a context where there have been major ministries, best-selling
books, a whole lot of money made around the idea that I've got
to discern God's will in this moment for my life, and I need
to stay right in the center of that will, or I'm not going to
be blessed. Listen, I want to be in line with what God wants
me to do. But you know how I know what
God wants me to do? He gave me a book. And in it, he tells me,
this is how you will be faithful. Trust me. Stop trusting in yourself. Stop trusting in your resourcefulness.
Don't think that you've got the wisdom or the strength to figure
this out or to work this out. Trust me. Humble yourself. Repent
of your sins. Be obedient to what I command.
And believe that I'm going to work this out. You don't have
to figure it out. You don't have to figure this
out. And I'm arguing that in many cases, you can't. Okay,
sure. Sorry. I was just gonna say that
the attack in America is not from, like, hordes of other nations. We're being destroyed. The church
is apostate to the core. In many ways. Absolutely. So
we look at, you know, when gay marriage comes or these temptations
to church, to compromise with the culture, that is a battle. I mean, that is a front lost. And God is showing very clearly
who his people are that are holding the line. It's a different sort
of attack. It's a different sort of battle
that we're involved in right now. That's right. That's exactly
right. That's exactly right. Diane? One time when I was having
to deal with a lot of issues, I happened to look in the back
of my Bible and do a private little study and I picked up
the word pride and proud. And so then I went through my
Bible and I put a piece of paper in each one and colored in each
time that the Bible spoke about pride and proud. And my Bible
looked like a porcupine when I got to it. But I read those
verses and believe you me, I was to the point where I didn't think
I could handle problems on my own anymore. Absolutely. Absolutely. Praise God. Amen. Amen. With fear and trepidation,
I want to piggyback on the application that Charlie's making because
I think this is exactly right and where we need to go. When
we think about the dangers confronting the church today, I think we
mistake our enemy. Quite often. Right. And I want
to say this respectfully and carefully, but but I'm going
to just say it because the elections passed. I'm thankful that the
candidate that advocating killing children in the womb didn't win
that election. And I'm terrified for what it
means for the church. I'm terrified. for what it will mean for the
church. Because if the other candidate had won, you and I
would know that we have an enemy in the White House. My fear is
that some of you think that we don't now. My fear is that we
think we have an ally, that we think maybe we have a brother.
And maybe now we think America is going to be a Christian nation
after all, and things are going to be great once again. And I
think that's like a fairy tale that you're living in. I really
do. I think that the other candidate would have been a disaster for
our nation. And I'm fearful that this president-elect will be
a disaster for the church. When we think about the enemies
that confront the church today, we look at the obvious villains
carrying pitchforks. And I'm telling you, the church
is dying from what's going on inside of it. The church has
never been overcome by what was going on outside of it. Rome
tried to stamp the church out of existence, and all that happened
is the church grew. It flourished under violent persecution. You know what killed the church?
Making it the state church. You know what killed the church?
It didn't kill the church. Understand, I'm using a figure
speech here. Church never died, never will die, gates of Hades
will not prevail against it. But you know what was not good
for the church? Roman persecution didn't do anything to the church.
But the emperor becoming a nominal believer did. You know why we had to have a
council of Nicaea? It's because Arianism was poisoning
the church. And it didn't end there, by the
way. After the Council of Nicaea, nearly the entire church became
Arian for a while. And if it weren't for a handful
of faithful men that God raised up to hold the line, that doctrine
would have been lost. Praise God that Jesus' promise
is real and true. You and I tend to look at enemies
outwardly. And what I'm telling you is that
what sickens the church, pollutes the church, and leads the church
into apostasy is what's going on inside of it. And we need to think about that. We need to think about that.
Randy. The church is purified by fire, and without that tribulation, Without testing. Absolutely.
And so here's the positive thing to get to get back to where we
started there in verse 20. What if it's God's will to bring
our enemies in mass against us? Because sometimes it is. Right? What if it's God's will to do
that? Guess what happens when Rome tries to persecute the church
out of existence? The church flourishes and spreads
to every nation under heaven. Right? Paul, in his lifetime,
twice, in one chapter of the Bible, Colossians chapter 1,
twice can say, it's been preached in every nation under heaven.
You think that we're still waiting to do that. Paul says, that happened
in my lifetime. We continue to seek doing that
work, but Paul says, it happened in my day. That's what happened
when Rome tried to stamp the church out. Guess what happened
when the whole church seemed to be going down the path of
an apostate false doctrine? God raised up men like Athanasius
to make sure that that didn't happen. And we have the great
creeds that we recite every Lord's Day. We have things like the
Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed
because holy men of God stood up to carefully and clearly articulate
the truth in the face of error. God's people flourish when the
enemy is camped at the gates. And I'm afraid that the state
of the American church is what it is because we have not recognized
that the enemy has been inside the gates for a long time. long
time. And we're sick because of it,
and we're weak because of it. Yep, Marilyn. I was visiting
with a lady that's going to another church. She was asking if we
were going to have services on Christmas Day, and I said yes. And she seemed very pleased that
her church leadership gave them the day off. Yeah, that's a good
thing. Because really, I mean, there's no better place to celebrate
the birth of Jesus than at home. I'm being facetious. I am going
to say something about this on Sunday, and I told the elders,
a couple of the elders, I want to say this very gently and pastorally.
We need to recognize what I said two weeks ago, the significance
of the Lord's Day. Christmas is a special time. There's nothing
wrong with celebrating Christmas. There's nothing wrong with being
with your family. There's nothing wrong with celebrating the fact that our
Son, the Son of God rather, came into the world to save sinners,
right? The Lord's Day is the day that
Scripture calls us to come together to worship, right? We ought to
be celebrating that every day. And yeah, celebrate the birth
of Christ on Sunday. Go to church. Debbie. I do. I'm trying to avoid making
that specific application. But yeah, I do. I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah, I actually think, yeah,
we saw this principle in action. And I think you see the fruit
of God's good work today. I really do. And I thank God
for that. Absolutely. So think about that. That's true in a congregation.
That's true in the church as a whole. But that's true in your
life as well. You and I need to be able to recognize that
and not despair and not throw up our hands and not quit. Recognize
the enemies at the gates. That's OK. This is when God shows
up. This is when God does great things.
Stand still and watch the salvation of God. Right. Be faithful. How? Trust him. Humble yourself under
his hand. Repent of your sins. Be obedient
to his word. OK, two more applications quickly. We gotta wrap up. One is this
hamstringing horses thing. Everybody notice this? We've
got a lot of horse lovers in the room, right? Everybody made uncomfortable
by that? I want you to see this theme, if you will, in chapter
11, and notice its relationship to chapter 10. Back in chapter
10, verses 12 to 14, where God causes the sun to stand still,
and then rains hailstones on the enemy, and the text says,
God killed more people with the hailstones than the Israelites
did with their swords. Why would you hamstring horses
and burn chariots with fire? Josephine? That's exactly it. So that you would not trust them. Guess what God tells His people
not to do? Deuteronomy 17. Do not multiply horses and do
not go back to Egypt to get horses. You gotta understand, horses
are the ancient equivalent of bombers and tanks. A mounted
warrior has a significant tactical advantage on an ancient battlefield.
To be able to fire from a chariot into foot soldiers, you're untouchable. They've got very little that
they're going to be able to do against you. With cavalry and chariots,
an ancient army had an enormous advantage on the battlefield.
And God says, when you find them, You disable them. You hamstring
those horses so they are worth nothing on the battlefield. You
burn those chariots so that you will never be tempted to go there. The thing is, they didn't kill
the horses. That's true. But they disable
them. They make them lame. So they
could still plow with them. Cut the tendons. Cut the tendons. Oh, they could still plow with
them. You could. You could, potentially. So they're
lame. They can't run. They can't fight. Now, understand, again, we'll
deal with this sensitively, I love horses too, right? But who made
those horses? Who made those 2,000 pigs that
Jesus lets run down into the sea and drown? God's got a bigger
point to make here than the point that we get fixated on. God is
sending a message to His people, and He's sending a message to
the Canaanites as well. Because let me tell you something, you
don't do this, right? When you find a weapon on the battlefield,
you pick that thing up. God says you don't need them.
You don't need those weapons. You don't need human ingenuity. Hold your place here for just
a second. Turn over to Psalm 20. This is a psalm that I find
myself frequently praying for individuals, but there's a really
important principle right near the end of it. As we're praying
in this psalm for God to bless, to bring salvation, to bring
help to those who are in need, Notice what he says in Psalm
20 and verse 6. Now I know that Yahweh saves
His anointed. He will answer Him from His holy
heaven with the saving might of His right hand. Some trust
in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of Yahweh
our God. They collapse and fall, but we
rise and stand upright. O Yahweh, save the King, may
He answer us when we call." Don't miss the fact that there's a
reference to Christ right there. Verse 6 and verse 9. Some trust
in chariots, some trust in horses, we trust in God. We are not to
trust in the size or strength of our military. We are not to
trust in our resourcefulness in taking care of ourselves.
That doesn't mean that it's wrong for Israel to have a military,
and it's not wrong for America to have a military, and it's
not wrong for you to prepare yourself for times of adversity
and danger. But let me tell you something,
it is wrong. And by wrong, I mean sinful and idolatrous for us
to trust in those things. Where is our security in this
life? You say, well, I'm well-provided for in retirement because I worked
hard and invested well. I hope you did. I hope you worked
hard and invested well. And I hope you enjoy the fruit
of that in your retirement. But let me tell you, that's not
your security. A proverb writer says, riches have a tendency
to take wings and fly away. Your security is in the Lord.
And God wants to make that point emphatically to His people. He
says, when you find their horses and when you find their chariots,
you disable them so that you will never be tempted to use
them. And that's something we need to hear. Right, Dick? They're ferocious fighters, there's
no doubt. There's no doubt. God ultimately either gives victory
or brings defeat on the field of battle, and it doesn't matter
the size, the strength, the equipment, the tactics. Ultimately, the
battle belongs to the Lord. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so
the principle is right there. Think about in Acts 19, when
Paul is preaching in Ephesus, and many people are coming to
the Lord, including a large number of magicians, and they bring
their books of magic together, and they total up the value,
50,000 pieces of silver. How much could you get for those
things on eBay? You take those down to Half Price
Books, they'll give you cash. And what did they do with those
books of magic? Do you remember? They burned them. Have you ever had
a book burning? I mean, I'm such a book lover.
I don't think we ought to burn books. But let me tell you something.
There were a few books that I had in my life that I knew were idols. And I destroyed them. That's what you do with idols.
You don't put idols on a shelf. You don't put idols in the back
closet. You put idols in the flame. And that's what these horses
and chariots are in their day. We put idols in the flame. Last
point, and then we'll wrap up. Chapter 11, verse 15. Do you
notice all through this chapter, this refrain, Joshua did just
as the Lord commanded, just as Moses commanded, and then here's
kind of the summary of that. Just as Yahweh commanded Moses
his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all
that Yahweh had commanded Moses. There are a handful of places
in the Bible where this kind of a thread runs through a text.
One of them you saw in the book of Genesis, in Genesis chapter
6, 7, and 8. Moses did according to all that
the Lord commanded. Or, excuse me, Noah did according
to all that the Lord commanded. And then another one in the book
of Exodus. Moses did all that the Lord commanded in the construction
of the tabernacle. Here's the third one that's obvious,
right? Joshua did exactly what the Lord
commanded his servant Moses. Moses passed that faithfully
on to Joshua. Joshua was obedient to all that
God said. This is the model of Yahweh's
servant. This is a paradigm of obedience. You know what a paradigm is,
right? It's a grid, a lens, a model, a template, a form. You say,
what does obedience look like? When we pray in the Lord's Prayer
every Lord's Day, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
How do you think God's will is done in heaven? You think the
Lord speaks His Word and the angels say, in a minute. You know, you think the Lord
speaks His Word and the angels do it half way. No. When the
Lord speaks in heaven, His will is done. with urgency, with reverence,
with enthusiasm, right? As those who are seeking to please
God and not men. How is God's will supposed to
be done on this earth? The way that Joshua does it here,
right? Thoroughly, completely, with attention to detail. If
you think that being under grace rather than under law means that
we can just play loose with the details of what God says, you
misunderstand profoundly what it means to be under grace. This
is not about not giving God careful, strict obedience to what He commands.
It's recognizing that you and I will never be able to obey
God in such a way as to be saved thereby. That Christ is the one
who has obeyed the law perfectly in every respect, and notice
that Jesus is the greater Joshua who does according to all that
the Lord said. We're going to find out in the
book of Judges that not all of Joshua's generation did as well
as he did. And you and I daily fail to do
what He has done. But it doesn't change the fact
that that's the paradigm for obedience. God is not looking
for good enough. He's not looking just for best
effort. When He speaks, He speaks with authority. And we ought
to be people that say, Lord, speak for Your servants listening.
I want to do all that You say. I want to do according to everything
that You command. What's the beginning of the Ten
Commandments teaching us, right? You shall have no other gods
before Me, and You shall worship Me as I command, not as the rest
of the world teaches you to do. You don't worship me according
to your ideas. You don't offer to me what you
think seems good. You listen to what I tell you
to do. And that's how you honor me. Think about how John uses
this principle in 1 John. The ladies have been in 1 John
for a few months now. And we've been talking about
the various evidences and tests of eternal life that John weaves
through that letter. And one of them is the moral
test, we said. The way in which we live, the
way in which we respond to God's law. By no means saying that
we do so perfectly or in the way that we ought. But to recognize
that the high demand of God is whoever says, I know Him, and
does not keep His commandments, is a liar. He's a liar. because whoever says he abides
in Him ought himself also to walk even as He, Jesus, walked."
1 John 2 and verse 6. That's my pattern. I'm looking
at the greater Joshua. I'm supposed to be looking with
my eyes fixed upon the Lord Jesus and to say, Jesus lived His life
so as to fulfill all righteousness. Praise God that He did, because
I never will be able to do so, but His obedience is imputed
to me and received through faith. Does that then free me from the
need to obey God? No. It frees me so that I might
obey God. Because let me tell you, without
that imputed righteousness of Christ, you might as well throw
up your hands right now and quit. Don't even try. But forgiveness,
righteousness in Christ means that now I am freed from the
condemnation of the law. I am freed from the need to justify
myself by means of my obedience. And now, I'm freed to be able
to go out and obey. The Spirit dwells within me,
works within me to will and to work according to God's good
pleasure. And so we need to see that. We need to recognize that
it's not as though in the Old Testament God says, I expect
my people to obey me in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament
you don't have to worry about it because you've got grace. No, this is the template
of obedience. This is what Yahweh's servant
looks like. And guess what? Yahweh's servant
loves His Word. and listens to his word and seeks
to walk in the light of his word. Even though we do so imperfectly,
we need to have that same commitment today. All right. Does that make
sense? That's a good pause. Now, in a couple of weeks, a
few weeks now, I guess, three weeks, whatever it'll be when
we come back, first of the year, we will survey the second half of the book,
but we will not be going verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph
as we've done. We're going to hit some highlights
between chapter 12 and chapter 21, and then we'll look at the
last few chapters with very close attention. So that'll be our
plan for the next several lessons of our study. Let's close with
prayer. Heavenly Father, we see before
us in the text this evening a reminder of your sovereignty even over
the forces of wickedness. And we see a reminder of your
authority over all the world that you have made. We are reminded,
O God, that we are subject to your law, and that apart from
your grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are objects of wrath.
And a wrath that is rightly directed against the unrighteous. And
we're thankful, O God, indeed, that Jesus is the greater Joshua,
who perfectly obeyed all that Your law commands. And we are
thankful that we are righteous in Him, not in ourselves, O Lord,
but rather by means of the merits of His perfect obedience to Your
law. And we're thankful, O God, that
that grace frees us so that we might serve You with enthusiasm,
so that we might hear your law not as a message of condemnation,
but rather as a message of instruction and edification. And we thank
you that you teach us not to trust in ourselves and not to
trust in the resources of this world, but rather to trust in
you and the victory that you will bring forth. Oh God, impress
these lessons upon our heart this evening and let them bear
fruit in our lives. In Jesus' holy name we do pray.
Amen.
The Book of Joshua: Ch. 10:29 - 11:23
Series The Book of Joshua
| Sermon ID | 121516922210 |
| Duration | 51:35 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Bible Text | Joshua 10:29 |
| Language | English |
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