The title of this morning's sermon is, The Mercy and Judgment of God, Part Two. The Mercy and Judgment of God, Part Two. Let me briefly review last Sunday's sermon, since it laid the foundation for this morning's sermon. We looked at 2 Peter 2, verses four through nine, and in those verses, Peter gave three notorious examples of God's judgment. He gives three notorious examples of God's judgment, which we looked at last week. And I left lesson one from last week's sermon in your bulletin, if you wanna briefly look there so I can explain what you're seeing in your bulletins. So lesson one from last week, it contains the three notorious examples of God's judgment. Lesson one, God's judgment was shown by punishing, part one, the angels who sinned, part two, the ancient world, part three, Sodom and Gomorrah. And so Peter discussed these three examples of God's judgment And during two of those examples, he also revealed a significant amount of God's what? His mercy. During three of these examples of God's judgment, there's also a substantial amount of God's mercy that was taking place. And I left lesson two on your bulletins from last week. If you look at it, it mentions the two examples of God's mercy. Lesson two, God's mercy was shown by saving. And so when the flood came out, so too was Noah and his family saved. And then part two, when Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, so too was Lot and his family saved. And then after discussing these three examples of God's judgment, Peter makes his concluding statement, or the point that he had been building up to with the previous verses. In 2 Peter 2.9, Peter said, Then, ere so the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, referring to Noah and his family, and Lot and his family, and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment. And then that would be the angels who sinned, the ancient world, and then Sodom and Gomorrah. And so Peter's point is that when God punishes the wicked, he's still able to do what with the righteous? Spare them or save them, exactly. So even when God's judgments look the strongest, and those are definitely three of the strongest examples of God's judgment, there's also a significant or substantial amount of God's mercy. Last Sunday I said that this morning we were going to look at 1 Samuel 15 when Saul was commanded to destroy the Amalekites, but there's something I wanted to cover first and it ended up being long enough to be its own sermon. We recently had three sermons called, Allowing Sin to Remain. Remember those sermons, Allowing Sin to Remain? And we talked about Israel entering into the Promised Land. And when Israel entered into the Promised Land that was also one of the severest examples of God's judgment because that's when the Israelites wiped out who? You guys know this, right? When Israel went into the promised land, they wiped out who? The Canaanites, right? And so we spent a few weeks when we discussed allowing sin to remain, comparing it with the Israelites allowing the Canaanites to remain. But when Israel went in the promised land and they were commanded to wipe out the Canaanites, that was definitely one of the other strongest examples of God's judgment. And so if you look at lesson one, this will be part four, God's judgment was shown by punishing part four, the Canaanites. God's judgment was shown by punishing part four, the Canaanites. We talked fairly extensively about God's command to wipe out the Canaanites. We looked at the verses in Numbers 33, the verses in Deuteronomy 7, and then some verses in Joshua and Judges. But there's something we didn't discuss, and that was God's mercy. And I want us to see how God punished the wicked, but he still saved the righteous. So even though it might look severe, because often when people want to criticize God, they will mention the destruction of the Canaanites. It seems to be one of the most common criticisms. You'll hear people say it when they want to talk about how unloving or harsh God is. They'll mention the Israelites wiping out the Canaanites. But I want us to see that there was still a lot of mercy. Let me briefly tell you about Rahab, in case anyone's familiar with her. I know it's a common story, but if by chance anyone's unfamiliar with her, here's the situation. When Israel entered the Promised Land, the first city that up here When Israel entered the Promised Land the first city that they encountered was what? The first city they encountered when they entered the Promised Land was? Jericho, exactly. And they sent men in to spy out the city. And Rahab was a harlot. She lived on the wall of the city because she wasn't going to have her home in the middle of the city because people obviously don't want to be seen going into the home of a harlot. So she lived in the wall itself. easily accessible to the spies. And so they encountered her. The spies encountered Rahab the harlot, these Israelite spies, when they went in to look at the city. And when the spies were at her house, the king of Jericho somehow found out about them and then sent messengers, or sent a message to Rahab and said, send out these spies. And because of her faith in God, she was willing to risk her life and hide these spies. And her only request was what? Spare me. and spare my family. That's exactly right. And they did end up sparing her and her family because of her faith. Now I want to briefly read a few of Rahab's words so that you can see just how strong her faith was. Because in my mind this is probably one of the clearest professions of faith in scripture and it happens to come from who? A Gentile, a Canaanite, a harlot, right? Joshua 2.11, Rahab told the spies, she says, as soon as we heard these things, and this refers to God parting the Red Sea and giving Israel some great victories in the wilderness, she said, our hearts melted. Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. And now listen to this, for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. I mean, does she have faith in God or what? That is a strong profession. Now, therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I've shown you kindness, that you will also show kindness to my father's house and give me a true token. And spare, she asked them to spare, and then listen to this, my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, all that I have, and deliver our lives from death. So it's pretty interesting that this entire family ended up being saved by who? By Rahab of Harlot. Now I'm not exactly sure what this family thought about Rahab prior to this, but how do you think they felt about Rahab after this? She might have been somewhat of a shame to them previously. probably well known her profession, but after this I can tell you they must have really appreciated her. And this brings us to the next part of lesson two. Lesson two, God's mercy was shown by saving, part three, Rahab and her family. God's mercy was shown by saving, part three, Rahab and her family. So there's two things that I really want to make sure you notice. First, Just like Noah and his family were saved from the flood, just like Lot and his family were saved from Sodom and Gomorrah, Rahab and her family were saved or they were delivered from Jericho. And second, what do you hear in Rahab's words to the spies? You hear what? You hear of her what? You hear of her faith. You hear her faith in God. You hear her fear of God. Now the world, it acts like fear of God is this terrible thing. But how does the Bible describe fear of God? Is it a terrible thing or a good thing? It's a good thing. The world would probably look a lot different if there was more fear of God, right? And Rahab had a very healthy, wonderful fear of God. It was that fear of God that moved her to do this. Proverbs 1.7 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. So you don't even have knowledge. You might think you're knowledgeable, but you don't have a fear of God. You don't have any knowledge. And then Proverbs 9.10 and Psalm 111.10, it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So here's what you need to know. Rahab, she was delivered from God's judgment the exact same way that Noah and Lot were delivered from God's judgment. And that's by having a fear of God or having faith in God. Hebrews 11.7, listen to this, by faith Noah, this is talking about Noah, by faith Noah, it was Noah's faith that saved him. Being divinely warned of these things not yet seen, he was moved with a godly fear. That's what it says. So what is it that saved Noah? Same thing that saved that saved Rahab, fear of God and faith in God. By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of these things not seen, was moved with a godly fear, and he prepared an ark for the saving of his household. Now, Rahab, she didn't prepare an ark, but she saved her household too, by which he condemned the world, and he became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. Let me say that last part one more time. Noah became an heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. Now, last week, we talked about who being righteous by faith. Remember that? We talked about Lot being righteous by faith. And no matter how righteous, Noah might have looked to us. And in all of Scripture, I mean, he must look like one of the most righteous men. But we still see here in Hebrews 11, 7 that he was righteous by what? By faith. He was an heir of the righteousness which comes not by his works or godly life, but by faith. Now I want to pause for a moment, and I want to share an observation with you about the this account with Rahab, and I'll confess that this is simply an observation, because I can't say exactly why God did things the way He did here, because God doesn't tell us why He did things the way that He did here. But as soon as Israel entered the Promised Land, before they defeated one single Canaanite, before any of God's judgment or any of God's punishment was poured out, what do you first see through the account with Rahab? You see God's what? You see God's mercy. You see God's mercy. You see His salvation. And who exactly is being shown this mercy? A harlot, a Canaanite, of all the people. And so when I see Rahab, a harlot, who is saved, and I see how she was saved as soon as Israel enters the Promised Land, It's almost revealing something to us, or it's almost making an example to us, or a point, that before any of God's judgment was poured out on any of the Canaanites, Rahab reveals something. It reveals, or she reveals, that anyone can be spared of God's judgment. It reveals that anyone can experience the mercy of God. Anyone can be saved. If they have the same thing Rahab had. What's that, her righteousness? Or her sinlessness? Or her godly moral lifestyle? No, her faith. Her fear of God. Her faith in God. The same thing Noah and Lot had also. And I'll tell you something interesting. Most of the time Rahab is mentioned in Scripture, including when she's mentioned in the New Testament in Hebrews 11 and James 2, you're still reminded of her being what? It mentions that. It says Rahab the harlot, Rahab the harlot, Rahab the harlot. It's like God keeps reminding us she's a harlot so we can see God's mercy and know that if it's available to her, a harlot, then we know that it is available to us too as long as we have a genuine saving faith like she did. And Rahab and her family, excuse me, they were not the only group of Canaanites that were shown God's mercy. And this brings us to the next part of lesson two. God's mercy was shown by saving part four of the Gibeonites. On your bulletins, lesson two, God's mercy was shown by saving part four of the Gibeonites. And then you can turn to Joshua 9.3 if you're not already there. So Joshua 9.3. It says, but when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, and if we pause right here, what had Joshua done to Jericho and Ai? Destroyed them, right? Leveled them, demolished them, they were destroyed. Now Gibeon is about seven miles from Ai, and that's not very far. And so more than likely, the Gibeonites thought that they were what? Next, that's exactly right. They thought they were next. And so what motivates them to do what they end up doing in this chapter, in this passage, is they recognize that, and they have this fear of God's judgment. And so they come up with one of the most unique, and I'd almost say entertaining, plans in scripture to avoid God's judgment. If you're unfamiliar with this story, I believe you'll find it fairly interesting. Let's look at verse four. They worked craftily, and they went and they pretended to be ambassadors. Now ambassadors are people from far land. They're acting like they're these delicates from far away some foreign nation traveling all this way to see the Israelites. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins that were torn and mended, verse five, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves, and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, they said, we have come from a far country. They must have accentuated the word far. Far, very, very, very, very far away. therefore make a covenant with us. So they disguised themselves and when they were asked, when they were asked where they're from, they did not provide an answer. They just said we're from far away. We'll be from anywhere you want us to be from, we're just not from Canaan. We're from anywhere else. So what did the Gemini's do though? They were doing what? Huh? They were lying. They sound a lot like who else? Who else lied? Who else lied? What other Canaanites lied? Rahab lied. Apparently there's a lot of liars in Canaan. Maybe that's why God wanted to judge them. Okay, so you've got Rahab lying, you've got the Gibeonites lying. There's these similarities between them. Now I need you to notice some important words at the end of verse six. And it's the words, make a covenant with us. Make a covenant with us. Some other translations might say the word treaty instead of covenant. Now if you think about a covenant or you think about a treaty, we know that it's something you establish when you want to join someone. when you wanna be on someone's side, or when you want someone on your side, or when you wanna be at peace with someone, right? That's the point of a covenant, that's the point of a treaty. And that's what's happening with the Gibeonites here. So I'm not gonna defend what the Gibeonites did, they're lying and the way that they went about this was wrong, but you need to notice they wanted to be on whose side. They want to be on Israel's side, which is really to say that they want to be on whose side? God's side. They wanted to join Israel's side, which is to say they want to join God's side. They want to be at peace with Israel, which is really to say that they want to be at peace with the God of Israel, Yahweh, or they want to be at peace with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now you might hear this and you might say, yeah, of course. Of course they want to be on God's side. Everyone wants to be on God's side. No, that's not true. All the people who experienced God's judgment did not want to be on God's side. If we just think back to last Sunday's sermon, the angels who sinned, whose side did they want to be on? They want to be on Lucifer's side. They want to be on Satan's side, the ancient world. Did they want to be on God's side? They hated God. They wanted to be on the side of their sin and rebellion. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah, did they want to be on God's side? They wanted to be on the side of their terrible perversion and terrible wickedness. They rejected God so that they could engage in their sin. And all the other inhabitants of Canaan, they did not want to be on God's side. You need to make sure you notice this distinction between the Gibeonites, who were Canaanites, and the other Canaanites. They wanted to fight against God, or they wanted to fight against Israel, which is really to say that they wanted to fight against God. And I want to ask you to do something so you can have some confidence in what I'm saying. I want you to see the difference between the Gibeonites and the other Canaanites. So if you write in your Bible, you can circle the words, make a covenant with us and write Joshua 11, 19. So circle the words, make a covenant or treaty with us and write Joshua 11, 19, and then briefly turn to the right to Joshua 11, 18. I wanna look at the verse right before it too, please. So turn a little to the right to Joshua 11, 18. Now Joshua 11, 18, it is a summary verse. It is summarizing all of Joshua's time in Canaan. And it says, Joshua made a long war with all those kings. That's all the kings of Canaan. This is not talking about Joshua's situation in Joshua 11, it's talking about Joshua's situation in all of the book of Joshua. He was fighting all these different kings of Canaan. And now listen to why Joshua had to fight all them. Look at verse 19. There was not a city, not one single city that made peace with the children of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All the others they took or they had to take in battle. Now first notice the inhabitants of Gibeon, those are Hivites. So I want this to be very clear to us. The people who lived in Gibeon are Hivites. And so the terms Hivite or Gibeonite can be used interchangeably because the Hivites are Gibeonites and the Gibeonites are Hivites. So whenever you read about the Hivites, read about the Gibeonites. If you read about the Gibeonites you're reading about the Hivites, they're the same people. Now second notice, notice that it doesn't say Israel didn't make peace with these people. What does it say? It says these people would not make peace with Israel. It says that these cities wanted to attack Israel. And attacking Israel means attacking Israel's God. And so you see this contrast. You see it says none of these cities made peace with the children of Israel. What did the Gibeonites try to do in Joshua 9? make peace with Israel. So when you look at the Gibeonites and you look at the rest of the Canaanites, you're seeing them as opposites of each other. The Gibeonites want peace with Israel. I'm not defending how the Gibeonites went about it, but I'm saying they wanted peace with Israel, which means they wanted peace with Israel's God. Now the rest of the Canaanites, did they want peace with Israel? No, it says right here, they all attacked them. They were all very hostile to them. They did not fear Israel's God. Please listen to these quotes from some respected Bible commentators about Joshua 11, 19. Matthew Henry said, it is suggested in Joshua 11, 19, that other cities might have made good terms for themselves if they would have humbled themselves, but they never so much as desired conditions of peace. And so Matthew Henry is saying that these other nations could have tried to establish peace with Israel like the Gibeonites did, but they didn't want peace with Israel. They wanted to attack them. Now Rahab and the Gibeonites on the other hand, they wanted to know God's mercy. They wanted to be spared from his judgment. Now Adam Clark said, no city made peace with the Israelites but Gibeon, therefore it became necessary to destroy them, for their refusal to make peace with Israel was proof that they willfully persisted in their idolatry. And so Adam Clark's point is the reason that the Canaanites did not make peace with Israel is they did not want to worship Yahweh. They wanted to continue worshiping what? The gods of Canaan or their false gods, their idol, continuing their idolatry. And I think it's really important to understand this because so often the destruction of the Canaanites, this judgment of God's is used often by unbelievers or critics of Scripture to really criticize God's nature and His character. And there's a lot more we can say about this and I think we'll probably discuss it next Sunday how this does relate to God's nature. But you need to know or see that these people who didn't want to make peace with Israel, they chose judgment over mercy. They rejected God and they embraced their idols. They rejected worshiping Yahweh so they can continue in their idolatry. They chose sin over repentance. And that's why they were destroyed. Now if you turn back to Joshua 9, look at verse 7. Joshua 9, verse 7. Then the men of Israel, they said to, or more like they asked the Hivites, they said, perhaps you dwell among us, or perhaps you live here in Canaan. How can we make a covenant with you? So the Israelites are looking like they're clearly suspicious, right, of what's going on. But the Gibeonites, or the Hivites, they said to Joshua, and you notice in verse seven, notice the Israelites called them Hivites. They were even suspected, or it said they're called Hivites there, identifying them as being from Gibeon. But they said to Joshua, they said, where are your servants? And Joshua said to them, who are you and where do you come from? The second time they've been asked this. So verse nine, they said to him, again, we're from a very far country, your servants have come. So the second time they sidestepped the question, they don't say where they're from, Instead they say why they came. They say why they came, because of the name of the Lord your God for we have heard of His fame 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 Sion king of Heshbon, to Og king of Eshon who was at Ashtoreth. Therefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us saying, take provisions with you for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, we're your servants Now therefore make a covenant with us. And the Gibeonites response, it's actually very, very well crafted. Because they mention a number of things that would provide evidence that they would want to come and join Israel. Like the deliverance from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the victories in the wilderness. A number of things that were distant enough in the past and distant enough from this location that it wouldn't reveal that the Canaanites were actually close. But they don't mention anything. that had happened recently. They don't mention the crossing of the Jordan, they don't mention the destruction of Jericho, they don't mention the destruction of Ai because then that would end up revealing their identity. But they do mention things that would make it clear why they wanted to join Israel. And then they request a covenant for the second time and watch as they try to convince the Israelites that they're from a far country. Verse 12, they said, for our provision from our houses on the day that we departed to come to you. But now look, it is dry and moldy. These wineskins which we filled were new, and see now they're torn. And these, our garments and our sandals, have become old because of the very long journey." If they gave out Academy Awards for Best Actor or Best Costume Design in the Old Testament these guys would have won that. So verse 14, then the men of Israel they took some of their provisions. So the Israelites took some of the possessions or belongings of the Gibeonites to inspect them. And then verse 15, okay, and then notice this, but they did not ask counsel of the Lord. So Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the rulers of the congregation swore to them. Now, the words swore to them, it's actually more serious than it looks in this verse. If you just briefly look down to verse 19, briefly look down to verse 19, it says, then all the rulers said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel. So what did they actually do? As a really serious oath, they swore to God. They swore to God that they would protect them, that they would let them live. And so it was irrevocable. Even though this oath or this covenant was entered into under false pretenses, the fact that they swore to God or took an oath or covenant of this type means that there was no way under any circumstances that it could be revoked. Now I wanna pause and explain something. I hope the reason that I chose this account from scripture is clear. We're talking about the judgment and mercy of God and this is a good example of judgment being poured out on the Canaanites while the Gibbonites are going to end up being shown mercy. And so the righteous Gibeonites, and they are righteous, I might not look it yet, but I'll explain how they're righteous. The righteous Gibeonites end up being spared or delivered, while the unrighteous, the wicked Canaanites, end up being punished. So it fits in perfectly, I hope, with what we're trying to talk about, the righteousness and mercy of God. But with that said, there's something that takes place in this account that is unrelated to the mercy and judgment of God. You might say that's unrelated to the point I'm trying to make with this sermon or the previous sermon. But I feel like I need to discuss it to be faithful to the text. And so this happens sometimes when I'm preaching where there's a point or like a nail you're trying to drive into the coffin and really drive home that point. But then there's something revealed in the text that doesn't completely relate to what you're saying. And you're trying to balance your faithfulness to the text. And this is one of those situations. So I wanna be faithful to the text because arguably verse 14 could be the main point of the passage. Verse 14 could be revealing the main practical application for us to take away from this. and I don't think that I can overlook it. And that practical application is contained in what words? Did not ask counsel of the Lord. I don't feel like I can skip these words or I won't be doing justice to the text. Now there's a lot we can learn about decision making from the mistake that's shown there, from the mistake that the Israelites made. And I wanna make sure that we don't make these mistakes ourselves. I wanna make sure that we learn from them. And so this brings us to lesson three. Lesson three on your bulletins. Israel failed with the Geminites because they, part one, didn't consult the Lord. Israel failed with the Geminites because they, part one, didn't consult the Lord. And so verse 14, it is clearly written as a criticism of Israel. They failed here. The amplified, which will insert or inject other words and amplify the verse to give a better understanding, it says that Israel foolishly did not ask for the counsel of the Lord. And so the idea is, if Israel had consulted the Lord, then he would have helped them see the truth. And so if you're ever wondering for an example in scripture where people didn't pray first before making a decision, it's hard to beat the example here that's shown in this account. If you write in your Bible, you can circle the words, but they did not ask counsel of the Lord, and you can write Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. You can write Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. That's what they should have done. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, it says, And Israel did the exact opposite of this. They didn't trust in the Lord, they did not acknowledge him, and they did lean on what? Their own understanding, exactly. And so what's interesting about this account is Israel was deceived. They were deceived, but that's not how they're criticized. Their ultimate or larger failure or the reason that they're criticized is for not consulting the Lord. So yeah, they were deceived, but that's not what they're criticized for. They're criticized for not consulting God. They should have said, okay, this seems good to us, but what does God have to say about this? Lesson three, the next part of it, Israel failed with the Geminiites because they, part two, walked by sight. Lesson three, Israel failed with the Gibeonites because they, part two, walked by sight. If you want another verse that you can write in your Bible relating to this account, you can put 2 Corinthians 5, 7, which says we walk by faith, not by sight. And Israel did the opposite of this verse, too. They walked by sight instead of walking by faith. In verse 14, notice the words, Then the men of Israel took some of their, that's the Gibeonites' possessions. And so this means that the Israelites received some of their stuff, inspected it, the Gibeonites were like, hey, look at all of our stuff here. The Israelites take some of it, they look at the worn out sacks on the donkeys, they look at the torn and the mended wineskins, they look at the patched sandals on the Gibeonites' feet, they look at the old clothes, they look at the dry, crumbly, moldy bread, and then they said what? Okay, looks good to us, let's do it. We'll make a covenant with you. Now I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands, but have any of us ever walked by sight instead of by faith before? Any of us ever done that? Maybe, maybe I'm the only one. Have we made a decision based on how it looked? Or have we made a decision based on how it sounded physically without considering what it looks like or how it sounds spiritually? Have we looked at the circumstances and said just like Israel did, okay, this looks good to me. sounds good to me, everything looks good, all the circumstances, so let's do this, only to regret it later because we didn't do what? Say, it looks good to me, but what do you think about this Lord? What do you think about this? I suspect we've all done this, which is why we can learn from Israel's example. Now the last part of lesson three, Israel failed with the Gibeonites because they, part three, acted hastily. They acted hastily. as you read the account, even as you read through the chapter it seems like everything took place very, very quickly. The Gibeonites meet the Israelites in verse 6. The Israelites are suspicious so in verse 7 they ask the Gibeonites if they're local. The Gibeonites respond in verses 8-13, the Israelites inspect their stuff in verse 14, and by verse 15 Israel has already done what with them? made a covenant with them, or established peace with them. And so I'm sure it took longer than five minutes, but it looks like it took about five minutes. I'm sure it took longer, but it looks like it happened very, very, very quickly. I'm almost surprised how little Israel actually questioned them, or how the leaders of Israel never said something like, at least give us a day or two to discuss this. At least give us a day or two to take this to the Lord and see what he has to say about this. It's a very big deal, covenanting, with another nation or another people, inviting you to become part of our nation. That is a huge issue. Give us some time to consider it and pray about it, but nothing like that. So the Israelites acted hastily, and does the Bible warn us about acting hastily or quickly? It does, right? Here's a few of a number of verses I could give you warning us against acting hastily. Proverbs 14, 29, it says, he who is hasty exalts folly. Proverbs 19.2, hasty feet miss the way. Proverbs 25.28, a city that is broken and without walls is a man who acts hastily. And a city that doesn't have walls is what? Just defenseless, very vulnerable to attack. And it says, if you act hastily, you make yourself defenseless. So here's the question, have any of us ever acted hastily? Have we ever made decisions too quickly? when we should have been patient and given the circumstances some time or perhaps given the Lord some time. I'm sure we've probably all done this and we have probably all been forced to look back with some regret. Unless we're simply procrastinating, because I'm not trying to provide an excuse for people who lean toward or tend toward procrastinating, but assuming you're not procrastinating, very rarely, it seems, do we get in trouble for waiting too long before making decisions or saying things or coming to conclusions. Very rarely do we get in trouble for waiting, especially waiting on the Lord too long. It just doesn't seem to happen. And while we're talking about being hasty, I wanna share one area that, at least in my opinion, seems to be the biggest struggle regarding acting hastily for Christians. In the time that I've been in ministry, people seem to be the hastiest with their finances. They seem to be the hastiest when it comes to purchases. And we're hasty with our finances because we can come up with any number of reasons to justify purchases. We can come up with any number of reasons that we need this and we need it. We need it now. And we're hasty with our finances because we often think we're getting a good deal. We often think that this deal isn't gonna last. We often think that another deal like this is not going to come along. Have you ever noticed whenever you wanna buy something, though, you can almost always find a good deal? Now, is that just coincidence that whenever you wanna buy something, there's always a good deal for it? Or do you think successful businesses are also successful at making it seem like you're getting a good deal? Okay, which one is it? Is it just very coincidental? Is God always blessing you that every time you want to buy something, you just happen to find it on sale? Do you know that when businesses list things on sale, they're just trying to make it look like it's a good deal when it's really not? So we want to be sensitive to that. Now, we're often hasty with our finances, even though it means taking on debt. And The Bible has some very strong verses regarding not taking on debt. And it's amazing how we can justify increasing the debt in our lives when some very strong verses command us not to have debt or not to be in debt as believers. So let me give you one simple encouragement to prevent being hasty with your finances. This is what we've applied in our home. I would encourage you to apply something like this in your home or decision-making process. If you wanna buy something, wait two weeks If you really wanna save money, wait four weeks. And see if you still wanna buy it. And I guarantee you, when you look again in two or four weeks, you're still gonna be able to find what? The good deal. Okay, they will not all disappear. You'll still find a good deal. But if you wait two or four weeks, you'll get to know more certainly if this is something you really wanna buy. Because most of the regret that people experience following bad purchases or purchases that they regret takes place within what? The first couple weeks. Most people, if they make a bad purchase, will tell you within a couple weeks, we shouldn't have bought this, it was a huge mistake. If you wait those couple weeks, give it a little time, be patient, then you'll probably often find that you don't still wanna buy it anymore. And if you do still wanna buy it, then you can be a little more certain that it's a good purchase. And again, I guarantee you'll find a good deal out there. Now, if you struggle with your money, I'd encourage you to listen to some sermons I preached on finances back in March. There's three of them on the website from back in March that I preached on God's principles for finances. Now back to Joshua 9. It's almost like Joshua made a bad purchase here, or the Israelites made a bad purchase, because it doesn't take too long for them to regret the decision that they made, or learn that they made a mistake. They don't actually regret it. Verse 16, it happened after the three days, so it didn't even take them two weeks, three days, after they had made a covenant with them, and the key word is after, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. So we're never told how Israel found out this truth about them, so there's no sense speculating. But I'm sure that when Israel learned this truth, how did they feel? Betrayed, embarrassed, humiliated, angry, frustrated. Verse 17, then the children of Israel, they journeyed and they came to there, this is the Gibeonites cities, on the third day, obviously still within the boundaries of Canaan, Now their cities were Gibeon, Kephara, Beroth, and Kirjath-Jerom. But the children of Israel did not attack them because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel." And now look at these words, and all the congregation complained against the rulers. All the congregation complained against the rulers. And this is one other place in the sermon where I want to be faithful to the text that's a little unrelated to the sermon. So I'll make this brief. The nation of Israel was upset with their rulers. And there's a great lesson here, or kind of a gem or treasure from scripture, about leadership, I would say, that I want to briefly share. Whether it's in the home, or whether it's in the workplace, or whether it's in the church, being a leader means being in a position to be what? blamed or criticized. That's exactly right. Have responsibility placed on your shoulder. So if someone ever asked me, I'm thinking of being in charge of this. And it could be in the church if someone said, hey, I'm thinking of being in charge of VBS. I'm thinking of being in charge of this place. Thinking of being in charge of some fellowship. Thinking of being in charge of whatever it is. One of the first questions I would ask is, are you willing to be blamed if things don't go well? Are you willing to accept the responsibility of things not going well? And if the answer is no, then that's not necessarily a sin or compromise on your part, but it more than likely means that you're probably not ready for that position. If a young man came to me, and he said, how do I know if I'm ready to get married? There's a number of questions I'd ask, but at least one of the questions would be, when your family suffers, or when your family struggles, are you going to be comfortable taking responsibility, which is sort of code for blamed, for what's happening within your family. Because as the head of the household or head of the family, that does fall on our shoulders as men. So if that's not a responsibility or a blame that you're willing to accept, then you're probably not ready to be a husband or a father yet. Being in a position of leadership means being willing to be blamed, being willing to accept responsibility. And one of the reasons I want to mention this is we're going to look at 1 Samuel 15. I'm not telling you when, when Saul's supposed to wipe out the Amalekites, because I've bumped it back each Sunday. And Katie says, stop telling everyone when you're going to look at 1 Samuel 15, because you keep bumping it back. And so I want to say next Sunday, but I'm not going to say it, but I'm pretty certain next Sunday. Which I was pretty certain of three weeks ago. But I'll say this. Saul was a leader, and he was not willing to do what? Accept blame. He was not willing to accept responsibility. And if you had to boil down all of Saul's faults, That's largely one of them, because David also did a lot of things wrong, but he would accept blame. He would accept responsibility. One of the reasons Saul was such a failure as a leader, everyone else is always wrong. He's always right. He wouldn't accept responsibility or blame. Verse 19. Then all the rulers said to the congregation, we have sworn to them, sworn to the Gibeonites by the Lord God of Israel. Now, therefore we may not touch them. This we will do to them. We will let them live, lest wrath, God's wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them. And the ruler said to them, let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation as the rulers had promised them. Verse 22, then Joshua called for them. He called for the Gibeonites. And he spoke to them saying, Why have you deceived us, saying, we are very far from you when you dwell near us? Verse 23, now therefore you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves, woodcutters and water carriers, and then notice this, they're gonna be woodcutters and water carriers for the house of God. So they were gonna be servants to the Levites, their priests, and the temple, and then the tabernacle. Now the Gemini's have been very deceptive up to this point, but they're finally gonna tell the truth. And verse 24, look at this. They answered Joshua, they finally come clean, and this is the truth. They said, this is why we did it, because your servants were clearly told that the Lord your God commanded his servant Moses. So somehow they learned all this. I don't know how the Gabianites knew all this, but they knew that Moses had been told some number of years earlier that all this land was gonna be given to the Israelites and that they were going to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore, we were very much afraid for our lives because of you, and we have done this thing as a result. Now, here's the important question. While it was wrong for the Gibeonites to lie, just like it was wrong for who else to lie? Rahab, right? What motivated this lie from them? Their what? Their faith in God. Their fear of God. Their confidence in God doing what? What he said. What he said. These were people of tremendous faith. Tremendous confidence. Just like Rahab, the Gibeonites had a very healthy fear of God. And just like Rahab, they had a strong faith in God. When God said, I'm going to give this land to the Israelites, the Gibeonites believed it. When God said, I'm going to wipe out all these inhabitants, the Gibeonites believed God. Now, did the other nations, did the rest of the Canaanites believe God? No, they said, we will wipe out Israel. We will keep this land for ourselves. We don't care what God has said. We don't care what Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has said. We will keep our land. We can defeat Israel, which means we can defeat God. The other Canaanites were the exact opposite of the Gibeonites. Would the Gibeonites have went to all this trouble if they didn't think that God was great and powerful? Would the Gibeonites have went to all this trouble if they were not afraid of God's power and might? you see the difference between the Gibeonites and the rest of the Canaanites. So the Gibeonites they should have went about things differently, but the fact is they avoided the judgment of God. They experienced or received the mercy of God because of their faith in God. And now look at their submission to Israel, which is really to say their submission to the God of Israel. Verse 25, Here we are in your hands, do with us as seems good and right to do to us. So he, this is Joshua, did to them and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel so that the Israelites didn't kill them. Verse 27, and that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation, and now notice this, for the altar of the Lord in the place which he would choose even to this day. Now those words, in the place which he would choose, mean the place or the places that God would choose for his altar, which would be later the tabernacle, and then the temple. So again, there's emphasis on the Gibeonites serving this way. Now I wanna pause, and I wanna tell you something that I found particularly interesting during my studying this week. Rahab and the Gibeonites, they have a number of things in common, as we've already discussed. They're Canaanites, and they're what? Liars. And they were destined for God's judgment, but they were able to experience God's mercy because of their faith in God. And the last thing I want you to know about Rahab and the Gibeonites is despite their lies they seem to have a very blessed and a wonderful history after this. Let me tell you about Rahab first. Rahab went on to marry a man from the tribe of Judah named Salmon. And then Rahab and her husband Salmon had a son. Anyone know the name of that son? Boaz. And then Boaz married a woman named Ruth, and Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed, and Obed had a son named Jesse, and Jesse had a son named David, and then David had a descendant named Jesus. And so Rahab ended up being the great, great grandmother of David, and she ended up being the great, great, great, great, great, great, however many greats, grandmother of Jesus. There's not many women listed in the genealogy of Jesus, but Rahab gets to be one of them. Matthew 1.5, Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and that was David's father. So here's what I want you to consider. There's a lot of women that God could have chosen to be the great, great grandmother of David, and there's a lot of women that God could have chosen to be the great, great, however many greats, grandmother of Jesus. but the Lord chose Rahab. And so who would have thought that this woman, this Gentile, and not just a Gentile, but a Canaanite, and not just a Canaanite, but a harlot, would save her family and find herself, not just being in David's line, but find herself in the Messianic line. Now let me briefly tell you about the Gibeonites. If you look back at verse 23 and 27, it says that the Gibeonites were gonna serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the altar of the Lord in the tabernacle and then in the temple. So what they did was they brought wood that was used for the sacrifices and they brought the water, because they're not faucets, you gotta carry this water some distance, they brought the water for the ritual washings for the Levites and the priests. And here's something you need to know, this is important, I hope this might inform your future reading of the Old Testament. The Gibeonites from Joshua 9 stopped being called the Gibeonites. Does anyone know what they started being called by chance? they started being called the Nethenim. And I don't know if they stopped being called the Gibeonites to distance themselves from being Canaanites, but they were no longer called Gibeonites. So whenever you read Scripture and you see the title Nethenim, you need to know that you're looking at the Gibeonites from Joshua 9, or you're looking at the descendants of the Gibeonites from Joshua 9. The Nethenim are mentioned 16 times in the Old Testament. 15 of those times occur in Ezra and Nehemiah. So the Nethenim are mentioned 16 times, 15 times in Ezra and Nehemiah because those are the books when Israel or the Jews returned from exile, leaving Persia to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild what? The temple and the city, and they were the temple servants. Now the Nethanim or the Givenites, they could have stayed in Persia, just like the other 97% of the Jews did, but they were part of that very small minority that took that return trip back to Jerusalem to engage in one of the biggest work projects any group has ever engaged in, which really shows their devotion to who? To God. and to his house. And here's what's particularly interesting about all this. The Nethenim are so closely related to the priests and the Levites that almost every single time you read about the Nethenim you see them mentioned with the priests and Levites. For example 1 Chronicles 9.2, in the cities were Israelites, priests, Levites, and the Nethenim. Ezra 7.7, the priests, the Levites, and the Nethenim came up to Jerusalem. Nehemiah 7.73, the priests, the Levites, the Nephilim dwelt in their cities. Now I'm not gonna read all the verses about the Nephilim, so I put the verses on the bottom of your bulletin if you wanna look up the rest of those verses about the Nephilim being with the priests and Levites. But here's the important part. Since the Nephilim basically served side by side with the priests, that means that they were very close to what? They were very close to the tabernacle, then they were very close to the temple, close to the sacrificial system, which means they were very close, very crucial to the religious life of the nation. They were the closest Gentiles, or non-Jews to the worship of the Lord. In the entire Old Testament the closest Gentiles or non-Jews to the worship of the Lord were the Gibeonites or the Nephilim, but it goes beyond that. The Nephilim were not just closer than all other Gentiles, they were actually closer than the other 11 what? tribes because of their side-by-side service with the Levites or the priests. Now, Dr. Gerald Vreeland, in his commentary on Joshua, he said the Gibeonites cut the wood for the sacrifices, they brought the water for the ritual washings. No other Gentile had such a close view of the atonement as they did. And so here's my point. Rahab and the Gibeonites lied, and while I'm not denying their lies, God still honored their faith in him and their fear of him. And interestingly, despite their sins, there's no record of Rahab, and there's no record of the Gibeonites ever being punished for what they did. In fact, it seems like Biola accounts, they had a pretty wonderful and blessed history after this, after they joined the nation of Israel. And I'd say, and I would say that Rahab and the Gibeonites look particularly blessed when you compare them with the rest of the Canaanites who were wiped out, right? And so they had a pretty tremendous history after this. And the last thing that's interesting about this account relates to the nation of Israel itself. Because despite Israel's carelessness or failure in consulting with God they were never punished for this mistake. In fact I'd go so far as to submit to you that Rahab and the Gibeonites actually ended up being what to the nation of Israel? Practically blessings. Practically blessings. Rahab was a blessing through the descendants that came from her. and then Jesus. And the Gibeonites ended up being blessings to Israel through their faithful service. So I guess I look at the situation with Rahab, with the Gibeonites, with the Israelites in this chapter and I see a lot of sin. Sin abounds in this chapter. But what abounds even more? Romans 5.20 where sin abounded, grace abounded even more. And that's what I see in this. Now I want to conclude by telling you, and actually when I say conclude Not like in the next 30 seconds, so a few minutes here. I wanna conclude by telling you something about last week's sermon. Occasionally, and I'd say it's probably only happened three or four times, all the feedback that I'll get about a sermon will be identical, or almost exactly the same thing. And last Sunday's sermon was one of those instances where almost all the feedback I received, anything or everything any of you shared with me about last Sunday's sermon, related to the same thing, and that was Lot being identified as a righteous man despite what? All of his sinfulness, all of his ungodliness. Many of you seem to be very encouraged by that reality that despite all of Lot's flaws, and he was a terribly flawed man, he could be considered righteous by faith, and that is a great encouragement to me too. Now my hope is that you can walk away from this morning's sermon with the same encouragement, because was Rahab a very flawed woman? She was a harlot. In our minds, there probably aren't many people who are more flawed than prostitutes. The Gibeonites, were they flawed people? I mean, they're like professional liars of the Old Testament. You know, they were terrible deceivers. They could have approached Israel with integrity and humility, but instead they took this deceitful approach. They seem to think nothing of concocting this lie. as long as it would get them saved. And then this is what you have. You've got Lot from last week. Lot was a weak, terribly cowardly, selfish, worldly man. Rahab was a city prostitute. Gibeonites, terrible liars. But Lot, Rahab, and the Gibeonites, they were all able to avoid the judgment of God. They were all able to enjoy the mercy of God because they had two things. Lot, Rahab, and the Gibeonites had two things, and I wanna be very clear about these two things. One of the things we've already discussed a number of times up to this point, and that's faith. This is our second sermon on the mercy and judgment of God, and one of the points I really hope to make is, if you want to experience God's mercy, if you want to avoid God's judgment, be a person of faith. Put your faith in Christ. Don't trust in your righteousness, because your righteousness is really what? It's really unrighteousness, exactly. It's filthy rags. at least in God's eyes, and those are the only eyes that matter. But I want to provide some balance to this, because the second thing that Lot, Rahab, and the Gibeonites had was repentance. The second thing they had was repentance. And their repentance, it is not directly mentioned in these verses, but you can definitely indirectly see it. It took Lot a while. I mean, you cannot fathom his foolishness, how long he stayed in Sodom, was delivered from it, and went back to it. But at some point, Lot was willing to do what? and he didn't do what his wife did, which was what? He was willing to repent at some point. He was willing to turn his back on his sinfulness and the wickedness of that city and not look back. Rahab, Rahab repented of her harlotry, or she would not have been able to remain in the nation of Israel, and she definitely would not have been able to marry a man from the tribe of Judah. So it doesn't say she repented of her harlotry, but it's safely assumed, or else she would have been kicked out of Israel and there's no way Sam would have married her. The Gibeonites, they had spent their lives worshiping and serving the gods of the Canaanites. But after this, what did they start doing? They spent the rest of their lives worshiping and serving the God of Israel. So they turned from, sort of like, you know, in Ruth. the way that Ruth was willing to turn from the gods of Moab, the Gibeonites were willing to turn from the gods of the Canaanites, embrace Yahweh, serve him faithfully the rest of their lives. So I wanna talk about having faith that allows us to experience the mercy and justice of God, or excuse me, experience the mercy of God and avoid the judgment of God. But I wanna do this balanced, and I wanna remind you that James 2 discusses two kinds of faith, a living faith and a A dead faith. So when we talk about faith, let's understand, only one of those faiths, a living faith, experiences the mercy of God and avoids the judgment of God. That dead faith doesn't. And James is very clear about that dead faith. He mentions it a number of times. And how does James differentiate between living, saving faith versus dead, unsaving faith? Living, saving faith produces something. It produces works. It produces repentance. Living, saving faith produces works. Those works don't save, but those works are the evidence of having a living, saving faith. And if you don't have that, if your faith does not produce works, if it has not produced repentance, then you don't have a living, saving faith. You have a dead faith. You have the same faith as who that believes? The demons, right? James 2.19 says the demons believe. You have their faith. So when James wants to give an example of living, saving faith, interestingly, he chooses two people. In James 2, after he gives his example of dead faith, the demons, James wants to give an example of living, saving faith. He chooses Abraham. And you say, that makes sense, he's the father of faith. I can understand why James chooses Abraham. Who's the second person James chooses as the example of living, saving faith? Of all people he could have chosen in the entire Old Testament, along with Abraham, he chose Rahab. Rahab is the example James chose of living, saving faith. Rahab was put in pretty good company when she was chosen with Abraham. James 2.25, Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified, justified means declared righteous, just like Lot last week, by works, meaning that she had works that showed her faith was real, when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? Now, I'll say, and I suspect that this has become a sad reality to all of us who fully understand the gospel. If you understand the gospel, I assume that this is a sad realization for each of you. It's the realization that there's a lot of so-called righteous people or moral people who don't look nearly as sinful as who? Lot, Rahab, the Canaanites or the Gibeonites. They think they're righteous. They don't expect to be judged by God, but they're gonna stand before the Lord someday, and they're gonna find out that they're not righteous. They're actually terribly what? Terribly unrighteous. They will not know the mercy of God. They will know the judgment of God. And so the point is, however flawed you are, and each of us are flawed, people. Each of us are flawed in our own way. Just like you read about this morning. However cowardly or greedy or worldly or selfish you've been, like Lot, however much you've lied and deceived people, however untrustworthy or however dishonest you've been, like who? The Gibeonites? However much you fornicated or committed adultery or been sexually immoral, like who? Like Rahab, you can be justified or you can be declared righteous in God's sight, like law, like Rahab, like the Gibeonites, if you have the two things they have, faith in God and the desire to repent and turn from your sins. Let's pray.