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.