[0:00] and get started. I know we're just a couple minutes past time, but that's okay. It is good to see everyone this evening. I hope you've had a good start to your week so far.
[0:12] I hope things are going well for you. We will be in the book of Joshua tonight. Large set of scriptures. You'll see why here in just a minute, but we're going to start in Joshua chapter 10, verse 29.
[0:24] Joshua chapter 10, verse 29. Joshua 10, verse 29. All right. We're going to cover the remainder of chapter 10, all of chapter 11, and all of chapter 12.
[0:46] Okay? Now, I don't know. Well, we may read it in its entirety. It's going to be repetitive, but I want you to hear it so that you can understand what we're getting into. Before we really get into it, we'll kind of explain why we're doing this and kind of where we're at with that.
[1:07] Let's open up with a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you for, Lord, your faithfulness to us. God, we thank you for the opportunity you've given us to come together. We thank you for your word, and we thank you for each privileged moment we have of studying it.
[1:24] Lord, we pray that you would lead us and guide us tonight as we open up the pages of the Old Testament, that the truth of scripture would speak to our heart and our mind. Lord, that we would come to a greater understanding, not just of the word of God, but the God of the word.
[1:38] That we would come to a greater understanding of who you are. And Lord, that that understanding would radically shape and transform our lives for your glory and your honor. Lord, just be with us in all aspects and in all ways, and we ask it all in Christ's name. Amen.
[1:54] We're in a very kind of transitional point in the book of Joshua. Up to this point, we've seen them come into the promised land.
[2:08] We've seen them begin their battles into the promised land. We've seen the miraculous events that transpire from the crossing of the Jordan River to the falling of the walls of Jericho.
[2:18] We've seen their discipline as a result of the sin of Achan and in the battle of I. We've seen God do wonderful things. We've seen them go to Shechem and kind of renew the covenant.
[2:30] We've seen the observance of the Passover, the reinstating of circumcision, the set the people apart. All of these things have transpired. In the 10th chapter, we see a great battle against a mighty army in which Joshua cries out for the sun to stand still.
[2:50] And if you remember when we were looking at that in Joshua chapter 10, that we said this would be the last miraculous, supernatural event recorded in the book of Joshua, in which the Lord God does for his people.
[3:04] We say that kind of because this is the last thing we could say when the sun stopped and stood still. Reading in the text, it says that it slowed down, right?
[3:15] That it did not go down in haste. The day was prolonged. That's supernatural, right? We don't want to discount to events that we're about to read because they are just as miraculous even though they happen naturally.
[3:29] So we'll see that. Beginning in the 13th chapter is the distribution of the land. For a number of chapters, you have the division of the land of what Joshua really was commanded to do.
[3:44] Joshua was commanded to go in and to fight the battles and then to be the political leader. Remember, Joshua is not a religious leader, right? Eleazar is serving in that role.
[3:57] Joshua is very militaristic and political. But there is no separation of church and state and the nation of Israel because they work as a theophany. God is the head of his people.
[4:10] He is the ruler. So Joshua holds what we would commonly refer to as a political position because he has to lead them into battle. And then his main task starts in the 13th chapter, which is to distribute the land and divide the land.
[4:26] Because just being in the land doesn't mean you possess the land. You don't possess the land until you're actually living in it, right? And they're established. And he divides the land up among the remaining tribes.
[4:39] Remember, two and a half are on the other side of the Jordan. And he divides the land up and he sets it apart for the people. And they survey the land. And we have all of that.
[4:50] And the cities of refuge are established. And all these good things are there. But what we have in Joshua 10, verse 29, throughout the remainder of the 10th chapter, into the 11th chapter, and then in the 12th chapter, is, I mean, just to be honest with you, it's quite often just kind of skimmed over in most commentaries.
[5:14] There's a lot of silence in these chapters because it seems mundane. The remainder of the 10th chapter tells us of the conquest of the southern portion of the land of Canaan. The 11th chapter speaks of the conquest of the northern portion of the land of Canaan.
[5:30] And the 12th chapter just records the listing of the kings which they defeated. And we will see that. We'll read it in just a moment. And so, quite honestly, when we're studying it, and if we start looking at other resources, and we start looking at Bible helps, the commentaries on this will reign as, like, here's a record of the battles of the southern portion of Canaan, the number of kings they defeated.
[5:58] Here's a record of the battles in which they fought in the northern portion of the kingdom, and the victories they won. And that's pretty much it. And it would be the temptation is to look at it as that way and just to kind of, I don't want to say skim over it, but move through it rather rapidly and not slow down.
[6:21] The question that I ask myself is, but why does God record these for us? Why are they here? Much like when we read in pages of the Old Testament the records of the genealogies, and we read these names that are just so hard to pronounce.
[6:43] Why are these names even here? If we affirm to the reality that this is the Word of God, and if we affirm to the truth that all of the Word of God is profitable, good, fitting, now, some of it we learn lessons differently, so we're not saying each passage is equal, but if we say that men of God were moved by the Spirit of God to record the Word of God, then I think we need to be cautious of coming to a portion which doesn't seem to make sense to us and just kind of skimming over it, reading through it very rapidly.
[7:26] But rather it is in those difficult passages that I think we need to slow down and say, okay, God, why do we need to know all the battles they fought? This is not the complete history of man, right?
[7:44] God has not recorded in His Word numerous battles that were fought, even at this very time in the history of mankind. But yet these battles He recorded for us.
[7:57] These victories He has shown us. And while we may not glean as much as we would say from Romans chapter 8, there's still truth to be gathered.
[8:09] And our task, to be honest with you, on a Wednesday or Sunday night, however it would have worked out that we came to it, is to dig into it and to glean that truth, right?
[8:20] To understand it. I'm going to tell you before we get into the passage, is the book of Joshua has this, seems to be this quandary, okay?
[8:31] Because we're going to read these passages in just a moment, and it's going to say, and all the land was subdued, they possessed all the land, that they're not living so, I've said this before, that they were victorious, and they defeated all these people, and all the land was subdued before them, and they possessed all the land.
[8:46] When we open up the pages of Joshua again, and we read Joshua 13, starting in verse 1, we're going to read that Joshua was old. Now what we're about to read transpires over a period of seven years.
[8:59] We're going to read seven years of history in two and a half chapters. By the time we open up the 13th chapter, it's going to say that Joshua was old, he begins to divide the land, and it'll say, and much of the land remained to be conquered.
[9:16] And you're going to scratch your head and say, well, I thought I just read chapters 10, 11, 12, saying that all of the land was conquered and captured. Well, remember how we describe this going into the book of Joshua.
[9:29] They were fully in the land, fully possessed it. But they were not absolutely in control of all the land.
[9:43] Just as we are in Christ, new creatures in Christ. Yet we still have much in our own lives to win the victories over to be full of Christ.
[9:58] Paul himself said, I'm not yet what I should be, but I press on towards that which I will be. Right? Paul was in Christ, but there was still much of Paul to be conquered by Christ.
[10:14] Here we see them in the land, but there's still much of the land to be conquered. And it's going to be up to the individual tribes as they possess their inheritance.
[10:26] God brought them in to possess it, and then he empowers them to own it. Much like your spiritual life. He gifts us.
[10:37] He adopts us. He redeems us. He restores us. He renews us. He puts us in Christ. And then through the power and presence of his spirit, he empowers us to live in such a way that Christ may be all of us.
[10:56] He doesn't make it easy. Right? We are in Christ. And he is in us. And through the power of his presence, and through the ability of the spirit, we are then empowered to allow Christ to have all of us.
[11:11] That's sanctification. So this is why we pause and we stop here. And I want you to see in these chapters a victorious people. A victorious people.
[11:23] Joshua 10, starting in verse 29. The message won't take long. The reading will. Okay? So just be patient with my dialect, and we will make it through this.
[11:37] Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Akkadah to Libna and fought against Libna. And the Lord gave it also with its king into the hands of Israel, and he struck it. And every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, and he left no survivor in it.
[11:51] Thus he did to its king, just as he had done to the king of Jericho. And Joshua and all Israel with him passed from Libna to Lachish, and they camped by it and fought against it. And the Lord gave Lachish into the hands of Israel, and he captured it on the second day, and struck it in every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libna.
[12:09] Then Horem king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua defeated him, his people, until he left him no survivor. And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon, and they camped by it and fought against it, and they captured it on the day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and they utterly destroyed that day every person who was in it, according to all that he had done to Lachish.
[12:29] Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it, and they captured it and struck it with its king and all its cities, and all the persons who were in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor according to all he had done to Eglon.
[12:42] He utterly destroyed it, and every person who was in it. Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to Debir, and they fought against it, and he captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck him with the edge of the sword and utterly destroyed every person who was in it.
[12:56] He left no survivor, just as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and its king, as he had also done to Libna and its king. Then Joshua struck all the land, the hill country of the Negev, and the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings, and left no survivor.
[13:11] But the elderly destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. So Joshua struck them from Kadesh Barnea, even as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon.
[13:23] And Joshua captured all these kings in their lands at one time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. So Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp of Gilgal. Southern portion captured.
[13:35] Okay, remember, crossed the Jordan River, cut the land of Canaan in half. That's the southern portion. And Negev is down around the Salt Sea. So they went across and down. Chapter 11.
[13:47] Then it came about when Jabin, king of Hazor, that is, northern portion, heard of it, that he sent to Jobab, king of Medan, and the king of Shemron, and to the king of Akshaph, and to the kings who were of the north, and in the hill country, and the Araba, south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and the heights of Dor, on the west, to the Canaanite, and on the east, and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the hill country, and the Hivite at the foot of Hermon, in the land of Mizpah.
[14:16] They came out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. So all of these kings, having agreed to meet, came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
[14:31] Then the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time, I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.
[14:42] So Joshua and all the people who were with him, came upon them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and attacked them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, so they defeated them, and pursued them as far as great Sidon, and Mizfoth, Maim, in the valley of Mizpah, to the east, and they struck them until no survivor was left to them.
[15:00] Joshua did to them as the Lord had towed him. He hamstrung their horses, and burned their chariots with fire. Then Joshua turned back at that time, and captured Hazor, and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor formerly was the head of all these kingdoms.
[15:15] They struck every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed, and they burnt Hazor with fire. And Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, and all their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded.
[15:31] However, Israel did not burn. Listen to this. This is part of that archaeological discoveries, right? Israel did not burn any cities that stood on their mounds, except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned.
[15:45] And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, and the sons of Israel took as their plunder. But they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left no one who breathed, just as the Lord had commanded Moses' servant.
[15:57] So Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses. Thus Joshua took all that land, the hill country, and all the Negev, and all the land of Goshen, and the lowland, the Rabah, and the hill country of Israel, and its lowland from Mount Halleck, that rises towards Seir, even as far as Belgad, and the valley of Lebanon, at the foot of Mount Hermon.
[16:20] And he captured all their kings, and struck them down, and put them to death. Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings. There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel, except the Hivites living in Gimeon.
[16:33] They took them all in battle. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle, in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
[16:51] Then Joshua came at that time, and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities.
[17:03] There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel, only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, some remained. So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel, according to their divisions, by their tribes.
[17:19] Thus the land had rest from war. Now these are the kings of the land, whom the sons of Israel defeated, and whose land they possessed beyond the Jordan, toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east, Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from Aror, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, both in the middle of the valley, and half of Gilead, even as far as the Brook Jebok, the border of the sons of Ammon, and the Arabah, as far as the Sea of Chinaroth, which is the Salt Sea, by the way, toward the east, as far as the Sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea.
[17:55] I'm sorry, Chinaroth is the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Galilee. Eastward towards Beth, and on the south, and at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah, and the territory of Og, king of Bashan, one of the remnant of Rephim, who lived in Ashtaroth, and in Edry, and ruled over Mount Hermon, and Selica, and all Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites, and the Micathites, and the half of Gilead, as far as the border of Sihon, king of Heshbon.
[18:25] Moses, the servant of the Lord, the sons of Israel, defeated them, and Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave it to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, as a possession. Now these are the kings of the land, whom Joshua, and the sons of Israel, defeated beyond the Jordan, toward the west, from Belgad, and the valley of Lebanon, as far as Mount Halak, which rises toward Sierra.
[18:45] Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel, as a possession, according to their divisions. In the hill country, and the lowland, and the Rabah, and the slopes, and the wilderness, and the Negev, and the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, the king of Jericho, one, the king of Ai, which is, as I, Bethel, one, the king of Jerusalem, one, the king of Hebron, one, the king of Jarmuth, one, the king of Lachish, one, the king of Eglon, one, the king of Gazer, one, the king of Debir, one, the king of Gadar, one, the king of Horma, one, the king of Ehred, one, the king of Lidna, one, The king of Adullam, one.
[19:17] The king of Maqqata, one. The king of Bethel, one. The king of Tapua, one. The king of Hefer, one. The king of Aphek, one. The king of Lasharan, one. The king of Madon, one.
[19:28] The king of Hazor, one. The king of Shemron, Meran, one. The king of Akshaph, one. The king of Tanakh, one. The king of Megiddo, one. The king of Kadesh, one.
[19:39] The king of Jakname in Carmel, one. The king of Dor in the Heights of Dor, one. the king of Goim and Gilgal one, the king of Terzah one, and all 31 kings.
[19:52] Joshua chapter 10 verse 29 through chapter 12 verse 24. I appreciate your patience. We see in the remainder of Joshua 10 and then through the 11th chapter seven years worth of battles.
[20:10] As we have said, the 10th chapter records for us the defeat of the remainder of the kings of the south. And then there is this great transition from the southern front to the northern front.
[20:22] And in the 11th chapter, we have the record of his battles in the northern portion. Chapter 12 records for us the listing of the kings. As I think it was Tony Evans who said, the 12th chapter is there just to remind the people who would read later.
[20:35] These are actual historical events which happened somewhere. These are not just great stories. These are not things that are mythological events. These are not great tales.
[20:46] This is history. And this is something that happened to these local kings at this place. This is a representation of 31 small kingdoms defeated by the nation of Israel.
[20:57] Some of them singular battles. Some of them when kingdoms come together as we see going into the 11th chapter. And what we see here is a victorious people. And we want to try to glean at least some truth and application from this victorious people as they are now taking possession of the land.
[21:14] Sure, a lot of the land remains to be possessed. But they are now fully in the land. They have defeated everyone that has risen up against them. We've seen that. There are those who did not rise up against them and did not come to oppose them who are still there.
[21:28] That we know historically will eventually cause them problems. Because they will not suppress and move out all the inhabitants of the land. Rather, they will allow a number of them to stay. And they will remain there. And in their intermingling, they will end up being a thorn in the flesh in the land of Israel and will cause them issues.
[21:44] But yet we see here now they at least have the ability. And if they were to live with the self-discipline and the empowerment that God gives them to take full possession of everything God has promised them.
[21:55] God has brought them in and has risen them up as a victorious people. And I want you just to see three great truths from this passage. Things that we need to pay attention to and things that we need to glean from.
[22:10] Because we want to be victorious people who not just are in Christ, but allow Christ to be fully in us. We want to live that victorious Christian life. We want to live a life that is fully His, fully surrendered, fully possessed of Christ.
[22:27] I have thought a number of times that while I will be overwhelmed with the inheritance that I do get to possess. And while I will be overwhelmed with the glory of heaven and the wonders of whatever position He calls me to hold in heaven.
[22:43] Knowing that this work will be done on earth. Because one thing that will not happen in heaven is there will be no pastors or preachers, right? There will be no need in declaring the truth of the gospel because the gospel will be immediately right in front of us.
[22:55] But I also know the reality that everyone of the saints in heaven have something that they do. There is something that, and maybe I will be a street sweeper and that is okay. Whatever it is that He has called me to do. And while I think that the glories of that inheritance will be overwhelming.
[23:08] And the crown that we will cast at His feet will be magnificent. I am afraid that one of the tragedies we will understand in heaven is the things that could have been on earth. I believe we will see a number of things that Christ may reveal to us that if we had allowed Him to have full control over us.
[23:25] And rather than just being content to be in the land, we see the could have beens. What He could have done with us. Think of the nation of Israel here. And I know we will get to this in just a moment.
[23:37] That God is omnipotent and He understands all of these things. But if they had been not just content to be in the land, but had wanted to fully possess the land, think what God could have done with them.
[23:51] So much of what we see in the book of Judges is tragic. It doesn't take very far. If you are reading through the Bible reading plan, you are in the book of Judges. And you are in that place where this man begins to have his own little priest, right?
[24:04] And he has his own little ephod there. And he raises up his own God. And this is the first mentioning there. In those days there was no king in Israel. And every man did what was right in his own eyes. And we understand.
[24:17] You know that it is really about to start a downward spiral. And you know why? Because the tribe of Dan will not be content with their land. So they are going to try to go somewhere else. But we understand that if they had been faithful and not just been content to be there, but to be fully there, God was calling them to be a billboard to a world that would draw them to him.
[24:39] We see that even when we read the prophetic books. You read the book of Jeremiah. Now you are in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet for a reason, right? Jeremiah is not a real happy-go-lucky kind of guy.
[24:51] When we finish the book of Jeremiah in a reading plan, you get into the book of Lamentations. And the book of Lamentations is really remorseful and just kind of dark. And it is just weeping over the nation of Israel.
[25:02] But we are right there in today's reading. You read two chapters in the book of Jeremiah. Chapters 30 and 31. And there is so much joy in those chapters.
[25:14] But what are those chapters about? When God restores his people and he calls them back, what does he say? That he will restore them and make them fruitful. And he will draw the nations to them. This is the could have been.
[25:26] And the will be's. We understand that. So we want to live as victorious people. And these are the truths that we need to understand. Number one, we see the servant which God uses.
[25:40] The servant which God uses. Over and over again in this passage, we read of Joshua and Israel. Joshua and Israel. Joshua and Israel.
[25:50] Joshua really is the servant that is leading the nation of Israel. He is taking the place of Moses. You remember how Joshua was described when we were first introduced to him at the beginning of this.
[26:03] Right? Moses is the servant of God. And Joshua is the servant of Moses. Right? Joshua is introduced to us as the servant of Moses.
[26:19] Kind of the assistant, if you will. And now he is thrust into this position. We know from reading the end of the book of Deuteronomy that the anointing of Moses, just a portion of that is upon him.
[26:31] The calling and the laying on of hands and the commissioning before the nation of Israel. And now all of a sudden he is going from serving Moses to being the servant which God is going to use to lead his people.
[26:44] But what we find in this passage, there is no more sin. There is no more stumbling. There is no more making alliances with people they shouldn't make an alliance with. There is no more aching looking into any of these things. Here we begin to see what it takes to be the servant which God uses.
[26:57] And over and over and over again we read this phrase. All that the Lord commanded him, he did. Everything God commanded him, he did. In the 40th verse of the 10th chapter.
[27:09] Thus Joshua struck all the land and the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left no survivors but he utterly destroyed all who breathed. That sounds terrible, right? But look at this next verse.
[27:19] Just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. I think at times we read these passages of scripture and we go, man, Joshua must have a problem.
[27:30] He must be sick. Look at what he is doing. He is destroying all these people. Don't leave off that last phrase. Just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. I have a sneaking suspicion that there were times that Joshua really didn't want to go to battle.
[27:46] There were times it would have been much easier to enter into an agreement to make peace. It would have been much easier just to be content with the land they already own and say, well, let's divide up this land.
[28:00] And the reason I have that sneaking suspicion is because Joshua is a man just like I'm a man. And we all have that tendency, right? That we're tired of fighting. We're tired of... Man, this is a seven-year battle yet over and over and over and over and over again.
[28:14] We see this description of Joshua. All the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded him. So he did. They go into the northern portion and all these kings come down and it's this vast army.
[28:25] And God says, don't be afraid. You're going to defeat them. And they have these chariots, right? The nation of Israel does not have chariots. And there's all these chariots. And Josephus, the historian, the Jewish historian, who definitely was not a believer, but he's a Jewish historian at the time of the Romans, numbered these chariots up into the hundreds of thousands.
[28:42] He put a number upon this battle. And this is supposedly just this huge battle that is coming down against the nation of Israel. And they're looking at this and they're behind them in military capacities.
[28:54] And God says, don't be afraid. You're going to defeat them. And then God tells him, burn the chariots and hamstring the horses. To us, it doesn't seem that doesn't. Okay, so that's what he does. And it says, and then he did that.
[29:05] He burned the chariots and he hamstrung the horses. And you know what he did? Do you know what kind of advantage chariots and horses are when you're fighting hand-to-hand combat? There was a lot of land still to be defeated there.
[29:19] And Joshua just won this battle. And part of the plunder was the chariots and the horses. He could have put his men in chariots and on horses and said, hey, let's go fight this way.
[29:29] We can cover a lot more ground this way. But God had told the nation of Israel not to trust in chariots or horses, right, but to trust in him. So what he did is he burned what would have been advantageous for him in the next battle because he would rather trust the Lord his God than trust the strength of a horse or the ability of a chariot.
[29:48] He did it because that's what God told him to do. One of the things that gets Solomon in trouble is he builds all these great stables and he acquires all these horses.
[30:01] He wasn't supposed to do that. He's supposed to trust God. See, the servant which God uses are those who surrender to him even when it doesn't make sense.
[30:12] And then it says at the end of the 11th chapter, all that God had commanded Moses and Moses had commanded Joshua, so Joshua did. We're reminded of this simple reality that the servant that God uses are those which walk in obedience at all times, not just when it seems to be convenient.
[30:38] It probably would have made a lot more sense to keep the chariots and the horses. It probably would have made a lot more sense to bypass some of these smaller cities.
[30:50] It probably would have made a lot more sense to do things differently. But all that he was commanded to do, he did. The servant that God uses is a servant which surrenders completely to the command of God, understanding while we may not be able to reconcile it in our mind and we may not be able to understand it, this is what God has commanded me to do, so I'm going to do it.
[31:17] As hard as it is for us to read passages of scripture like this, think how much harder it must have been to be Joshua in this position. The nation of Israel is not a military people.
[31:31] They're not like the Roman Empire or even Alexander of the Greeks who just all of a sudden rose up in military strength and are going around conquering land. They're not that.
[31:43] They're sojourners and wanderers and redeemed slaves who are going to a particular place that God has promised them. And they do everything God commands them to do.
[31:54] This is the servant God uses. One of the glaring realities in this passage that we see is the second thing. The severity of sin's consequences.
[32:09] The severity of sin's consequences. We must never try to separate this fact from the events that we read.
[32:23] God is not just taking land and giving it to the nation of Israel. The land is important to the covenant.
[32:36] The Abrahamic covenant was around people, a place, and a promise. Right? But if you go all the way back to the promise of this land to the nation of Israel and you follow it biblically and historically as God raises up his people, God is demonstrating his judgment upon the inhabitants of the land for their sin.
[33:10] The nation of Israel is his tool of judgment for the inhabitants of the land. The land's choice to sin.
[33:24] As a matter of fact, later on we read in Scripture that they were cast out because of their sin and unless the nation of Israel repent of their sin, they too will be cast out.
[33:36] It's not just about the land. God is giving us a grand picture of the wages of sin.
[33:47] We read in the New Testament, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. And that's awesome. But I don't think we get a full scope of the wages of sin until we go read passages like this and we see God is not just a big mean God and God is not a God who's just taking land away from someone.
[34:09] God is showing us the wages of sin. The people that are dying here are people who are dying in sin and rebellion and they're dying in idolatry.
[34:22] As we've said, we separate this because it's just human nature to say, well, that's okay. I mean, it'll be all right. They can't be as bad as some people and they can't be as bad as others.
[34:34] And we try to make light of sin and we try to make light of rebellion against God and we try to make light of idolatry and all of these things.
[34:47] My friend, listen to me. When we read passages like this, what we're really reading is this is the wages of sin. This is what it looks like. This is the severe nature that sin brings upon man.
[35:03] Utter destruction. And all of its ugliness and all of its kind of like ickiness feeling that it just doesn't feel right.
[35:15] The reason it doesn't feel right is because we know that's not the way it's supposed to be. But the reality is that when men choose, men, women, when mankind chooses to sin and to rebel against God, and this is a choice, by the way, this is what you get.
[35:35] The inhabitants of this land heard the declaration of the glory of God from the very beginning when God called Abraham there. In Shechem, he constructed a tabernacle and he called upon the name of the Lord his God.
[35:53] Remember that phrase? Genesis chapter 12. He called upon the name of the Lord his God. He goes around, he calls upon the name of the Lord his God. He calls upon the name of the Lord his God. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?
[36:05] God displaying his judgment upon them, right? Remember Abraham taking his people and getting back and God demonstrating his ability? Remember Abraham's failures and his sins and when he lies about his wife Sarah?
[36:17] And yet God blesses him and God uses Abraham to pray for those who almost sinned with his wife Sarah in the book of Genesis and they needed Abraham's blessing.
[36:27] And all these testimonies that even in spite of Abraham's failures and his weaknesses and his stumblings and God is demonstrating his glory and God is demonstrating his presence, over and over and over again in this land and in God is patient.
[36:41] God waited 400 years. 400 years. Time matters to man but is of little concern to God because about the time that man thinks he's got a way with it and can construct his own gods and build his own temples and worship in any way that he thinks he can and builds his own altars and decides it's okay to offer child sacrifice.
[37:15] God always brings a day of reckoning. This is that day of reckoning. Which should cause us to pump the brakes in our own lives because you say, where's the application in that?
[37:28] When we think we're getting away with sin in our life, I think the inhabitants of the land of Canaan thought that for a long time too. Until God's instrument of judgment came.
[37:48] I don't believe God is calling nations to come into my personal life and judge me. There are people who declare a lot of things that go on in our land as God's instrument of judgment against us may very well be.
[38:02] We see it over and over again in scripture where God raises up nations to judge people who are unrepentant. God raises up nations. That's the whole reason he's going to raise up Nebuchadnezzar, right?
[38:14] You read the book of Habakkuk and all it is is about God raising up and calling his people in and then judging them and then judging those people who judge his people and it just makes you kind of go, wow. But understand this.
[38:27] Sin has a severe consequence connected to it. In the end, it utterly destroys those who are ruled by it.
[38:42] Every single time. Utter destruction. Sin's not a game. Sin's not a game.
[38:52] It's not to be played with. It's not to be taken lightly. It's to understand the severity of what is awaiting us on the other side.
[39:04] That time and day of judgment. And while we may not always know the instrument or the day, we do know the reality when we open up scripture.
[39:15] We see the severity of sin's consequences. The third and final thing we see in this and this is something that we just have to reconcile.
[39:28] Okay? There are those things when we open up the portion of scripture that we say, sometimes I have a hard time in my mind understanding these things but by faith we accept these things.
[39:39] Okay? We see the servant which God uses. We see the severity of sin's consequences. The third great truth, the thing that we must hold on to in all this is the sovereignty of God in the midst of it all.
[39:54] There is the sovereignty of God. The very first verse is there in the 10th chapter in verses 29 and following.
[40:05] Verse 30 says, The Lord gave it also with its king. We go down to verse 32. The Lord gave Lachish into the hands of Israel. And then over and over again we read of these other battles.
[40:18] And it says there at the end of the 10th chapter in verse 42, Joshua captured all these kings in their lands at one time because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. The victory is not ascribed to Israel's military capacity.
[40:33] The victory is not credited to Joshua's leadership. The victory is never credited to their strength or their might. The victory over and over and over again is credited to the Lord giving it to them.
[40:46] That God is in control. Even when they're outnumbered as we see in the beginning passages of the 11th chapter, God says, Don't fear. Don't worry about it.
[40:57] I'm going to give them into your hands and then you're going to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots. God speaks of things yet to be as if they've already been. God is absolutely in control.
[41:10] Probably the greatest verse we have here of the sovereign rule of God is found near the end of the 11th chapter in verse 20.
[41:24] We've read something similar to this before when we read the book of Exodus and we read of Pharaoh. You will read of this also in the book of Romans. Romans chapter 9 when Paul writes of God's dealing with Pharaoh.
[41:42] In Joshua chapter 11 verse 20 after it talks about the battles he's won verse 19 says There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon.
[41:54] They took them all in battle. Now stop right there. There was not a city that made peace except for the Hivites living in Gibeon. Which means that's an option.
[42:05] Right? They didn't all have to die. Because even though we know that the inhabitants of Gibeon did it kind of secretly not kind of secretly but very secretly and they weren't necessarily honest and honest at all they lied all the way through it they made peace with them.
[42:22] Right? We have Rahab the harlot and her family who has made peace with them. So there's the precedence that's set. But nobody else did that. Everybody else fought.
[42:32] Everybody else fought. Everybody else fought. Why? For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them that they might receive no mercy but that he might destroy them just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
[42:55] By faith we understand this. the reason they did not make peace the reason they chose to come out in battle is because that's how God wanted it.
[43:11] He hardened their hearts so that they would come out and fight a battle they would lose. There are some scary passages all through scripture.
[43:23] a lot of scary passages. We can think of when Christ says depart from me I never knew you.
[43:34] That's terrifying to think that we can know Christ know of Christ do great things for Christ but Christ would never know us. But probably some of the most core rattling soul shaking passages that we find that we tend to skip over found in the early parts of the book of Romans Romans chapter 1 begins and I believe it's actually stated in chapter 2 makes this great sentence God gave them over to a debased mind.
[44:12] God gave them over. Now immediately preceding that it talks about how men pursue things that are not natural to them. Men pursue sinful desires.
[44:24] Men go after their own lusts and men go after all these things and it speaks of man's choice and then it declares so God gave them over to what they wanted. He let them have their way.
[44:36] We find it again in I believe it's 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that those who choose to believe the lie.
[44:49] I believe it's speaking of the end times but we're not going to get into that right now. That those who had heard the truth but rather chose to believe the lie that God gives them over so that they will not believe the truth.
[45:06] Upon that passage is where I believe we can find the precedence that those who have the opportunity to hear the gospel and yet choose not to respond to the gospel willingly choose to believe the lie be it I'm good enough on my own or there is no heaven they willingly choose not to believe the gospel that after the rapture of the church or after the end time events come they will not have the chance to respond to the gospel.
[45:32] So this is dangerous people saying well I'll just wait until I see the church disappear and then I'll respond. The Bible explicitly says that if you choose willingly to believe the lie then you will be given over so as to not be able to respond to the truth.
[45:46] those passages rattle me because it says God gave them over and it's the same thing here God hardened their heart they could have made peace but they would not do it because God let them have their way in their heart and their way led to death because see the sovereignty of God overrules every situation.
[46:25] These people were not able to enter into peace because the choices they had made to sin prior to this led to the reality that God gave them to their own ways and their own ways led to their death.
[46:45] See we don't ever want God to leave us alone. Don't ever want him to leave us alone. God hardened their hearts so as they would have to go to the battle so that in the battle they would be destroyed.
[47:02] See we have a hard time with the sovereignty of God because we think it makes it look God unfair but understand long before God hardened their heart the men had already decided to sin in their heart and all how they loved their sin.
[47:19] So God says you don't want anything to do with me? Okay. I'll let you have your way. I'm not going to fight that battle. The sovereignty of God is throughout the entire events of scripture and we have to look at these passages and these battles that we fight and say God is in control.
[47:44] He is the ultimate ruler. Joshua is not making the decisions. The nation of Israel is not out picking battles. Even the inhabitants of the land who are coming out to fight against them ultimately are not in control.
[47:56] God is the only sovereign. He is the one who is orchestrating these events because if we try to reconcile them by man's standards we will look at this and say it doesn't make sense.
[48:10] But when we look at it through the eyes of a holy sovereign God we see what he is showing us. Sin has a consequence. We want him to continue to draw us to himself and we want to walk into that place of peace with him and we want to surrender to be that servant that he uses for his glory.
[48:30] Ultimately we want to be a victorious people. Joshua chapter 10 verse 29 through chapter 12 verse 24. Thank you for your patience.
[48:41] Thank you brothers.