WARRIOR

joshua chapter 10 tonight we are continuing our study in the book of joshua and this has been a bit of a break from the book you'll remember last time that we considered the sun standing still and that wonderful passage 1 through 15 now we look at the second half of this chapter and we'll continue in our study tonight of Joshua chapter 10 page 219 let's give our attention tonight to the word of the Lord these five kings fled and hid themselves in the cave at Makeda and it was told to Joshua the five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makeda and joshua said rule large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them but do not stay there yourselves pursue your enemies attack their rear guard do not let them enter their cities for the lord your god has given them into your hand when joshua and the sons of israel had finished striking them with a great blow until they were wiped out and when the remnant that remained of them had entered into the fortified cities then all the people returned safe to Joshua in the camp at Makeda. Not a man moved his tongue against any of the people of Israel. Then Joshua said, open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me from the cave. And they did so and brought those five kings out to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lashish, and the king of Eglon. and when they brought those kings out to joshua joshua summoned all the men of israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him come near put your feet on the necks of these kings then they came near and put their feet on their necks and joshua said to them do not be afraid or dismayed be strong and courageous for thus the lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight and afterward joshua struck them and put them to death and he hanged them on five trees and they hung on the trees until evening but at that time at the time of the sun going down of the sun joshua commanded and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves and they set large stones against the mouth of the cave which remained to this day as for maketa joshua captured it on the day that day and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword he devoted to destruction every person in it he left none remaining and he did that he did to the king of maqueda just as he had done to the king of jericho then joshua and all israel with him passed on from maqueda to libna and fought against libna and the lord gave it also and its king into the hand of israel and he struck it with the edge of the sword and every person in it he left none remaining in it and he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. And Joshua and all Israel with him passed from Libna to Lashish and laid siege to it and fought against it. And the Lord gave Lashish into the hand of Israel and he captured it on the second day and struck it with the edge of the sword and every person in it as he had done to Libna. Then Horeb, king of Gezer, came up to help Lashish. And Joshua struck him and his people until he left none remaining. Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lashish to Eglon and they laid siege to it and fought against it and they captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword and devoted every person in it to destruction that day as he had done to Lashish. Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron and they fought against it and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and its king and its towns and every person in it. he left none remaining as he had done to Eglon he devoted it to destruction and every person in it then Joshua and all Israel with him turned back to Debir and fought against it and he captured it with its king and all its towns and they struck them with the edge of the sword and devoted to destruction every person in it he left none remaining just as he had done to Hebron and to Libna and its king so he did to Debir and to its king so Joshua struck the whole land the hill country and the negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings he left none remaining but devoted to destruction all that breathe just as the lord god of israel commanded and joshua struck them from kadesh barnea as far as gaza and all the country of goshen as far as gibeon and joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time because the lord god of israel fought for israel then joshua returned and all israel with him to the camp at gilgal and there will end of the reading of the word well typically we have um a very low view of god that is in need of constant uh correction god is often treated in our day as sort of a good nature deity a kind a cosmic grandpa in the sky who exists to to serve us and and this is how God has been presented it's not it's not helpful it's not right in fact it it greatly it's even very bad for our children we think of how God is is presented to our children and because there's such a weak passive presentation of him this happens in our Christian institutions all the time such a pathetic presentation of God it's no wonder our children don't take him very seriously it's no wonder that we live in a day where people don't take god seriously we just see him with all the language that we understand today of his kindness and his mercy as a god who is weak we exchange it for a view of weakness we somehow conclude that because he's so merciful and kind to us that that that amounts to a low view of God's power. But that's not how the scriptures portray him at all. We constantly need to be corrected as to who God is. And probably part of the defective view of God is because we have left Jesus himself in the state of humiliation. You think of what Rome does to leave Jesus in crucifixes. They leave him impaled on the cross in the state of humiliation and so when we think of jesus and we think of meekness and we think of kindness and we think of these sort of qualities we immediately attribute that to passivity and weakness well this is one of the helpful things about studying the scriptures and looking at the whole picture of the lord and one of the things that the scriptures constantly say to us is that god is a warrior god is a warrior you don't want to trifle with and there needs to be this recapturing today of what isaiah captured about the lord when he saw a glimpse of his glory and the first thing that he did was duck down and cover himself and said woe is me i'm breaking apart for i am a man of unclean lips and i dwell among those with unclean lips in other words there was a reverence there was an awe that this warrior had come near to him and yes would cover his sin and that he can live enjoyment of him but even after moses when moses needed this refreshment of this great truth when when after they were in great fear of the egyptians all of israel were fearing the Egyptians and the Lord kept saying to them stop Moses kept saying stop you will see the salvation of your Lord you'll see the power of your Lord that as soon as after the sea covered them that song is something isn't it I will sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted both the horse and the driver he has hurled into the sea the Lord is my strength and my defense he's become my salvation he's my god and i will praise him my father's god and i will exalt him the lord is a warrior the lord is his name you stretch out your right hand and the earth swallows your enemies in your unfailing love you'll lead the people you've redeemed in your strength you'll guide them to your holy dwelling the nations will hear and tremble anguish will grip the people of ballistia the chiefs of edom will be terrified the leaders of moses moab will be seized with trembling the people of canaan will melt away terror and dread will fall on them by the power of your arm they will be as still as a stone he wanted this great truth constantly set before israel when they lived in fear of the nations and they lived in times of great fear of what was happening in the earth and this is the confidence for us that he wants us to have this god who is a warrior is defending you and that's the sort of same thing that we're called to live with by faith as we considered this morning and so we're looking at certain things certain truths about god tonight that are captured for us in joshua chapter 10 that the lord is a warrior and and we're seeing certain things emphasized for us that will help us to understand his great power, his unmatched power, his kingdom rule and kingdom victory. So those are really the kind of three points you could, if you're taking notes, you could write down, is we're looking at sort of his great kingdom power up front, his kingdom rule and his kingdom victory, so that it would encourage us to have strong faith in the warrior that we are called to follow and to not live in fear in our times he's unmatched in power last time we considered the first half of joshua chapter 10 and remember five kingdoms five kings and kingdoms had assembled against joshua um at against gibeon actually because gibeon and remember gibeon were warriors these were not weak men gibeon had come and submitted to israel they had come and made this covenant it was a deceptive covenant but it was a covenant obviously that the lord wanted israel to uphold for even saul when he messed with gibeon the lord was furious these gibeonites these warriors were brought under tribute and they were brought under the the the reign of israel the nations are furious that israel has plundered their great warriors at the border they're furious that their great warriors were taken and who had submitted to joshua so these great men of gibeon called to israel you remember and they said help us five nations have come against us five kings have come against us remember what the lord said don't fear i've delivered them into your hand not a man of them will stand against you remember what the lord did in that last section it was really a fun section to study it was amazing section of study because the lord he demonstrated his unmatched power he he went after them and chased them on the road who did the lord i don't know what that looked like but it must have been awful remember in joshua 5 the angel who was the lord who told joshua take off your shoes you're on holy ground he was the one who had his sword drawn in front of israel as they went out this warrior had gone out to level the enemies and remember what he did he killed them with a great slaughter he chased them along the road he rained down big hailstones from heaven on them this was an egypt-like deliverance at the red sea this was a big moment in joshua the lord was doing the killing the lord was doing the fighting and we stopped and we're mesmerized that it is as the lord doing the fighting who can stand how scary the divine warrior had his sword drawn and then he stopped the sun for them we looked at all that the details of that in other words all of creation he had i mean think of what we considered hebrews this morning about the heavens and the earth being made by the power of god all of creation was in his hand all of creation served to deliver them and it was a warning to the nations it was a long day that day the sun stood still in the midst of heaven a warning that god even holds the sun and the moon in his hand now look at verse 15 that was the first half then joshua returned and all israel with him to the camp at gilgal story over right this this narrative is not done the author here is so captivated by this particular event look at the last verse of chapter 10 in verse 43 then joshua returned and all of israel with him to the camp at gilgal that's the same thing verse 15 then joshua returned and all israel with him to camp at gilgal verse 43 then joshua returned and all israel with him to the camp at gilgal what we have here then in the second half of joshua 10 is take two it's take two so the event was hugely significant for israel it was something that israel was to to to really study and to understand that we're looking at the story from two different perspectives if you will or different emphases that are given the first really captivating us with the standing of the sun the sun being still the lord's sheer power exhibited for israel over all of creation we were mesmerized by he wanted us mesmerized by that he wanted the nations to live in fear but now the author wants us to think about certain things that we learn from this battle certain other things that are important so important we learn things that are were intended to encourage israel and to be something that we will always look back to to encourage the church the church of all ages from joshua chapter 10 and that's where my prayers tonight is that is that in our days of great confusion and in our days of great frustration with evil and great frustration with how far things have gone that we would be able to look back to joshua chapter 10 and be encouraged by the words that are here understanding the mission of the church today That's important because Joshua is the great commission of the Old Testament. And we know that the great commission of the New Testament is a little bit different, isn't it? So we're looking at that tonight. And I want you to notice here this crucial theme that is given in verse 42. That is the sort of embedded central truth of this section. And it is that the Lord fought for Israel. the lord fought for israel really important we'll notice here first then his unmatched power back to the story we've been through it once now we this gives a kind of a good justification for re-preaching sermons doesn't it i think so i think i just found it anyways you always can learn something new you always can learn something new all these five kings adonai zedek number one the lord is righteous have run and hidden in the cave so in the previous section the lord was killing the armies out by the road chasing them by the road and the kings huddled together these wimps by the way and they went running into the cave at makeda these big powerful kings of the nations joshua hears about it and he tells his warriors roll a stone over the cave essentially to block them in to guard them and he says we're going to go finish the battle first so he locked them in the cave and he sends men after the armies to attack them from the rear and the purpose of that was remember the lord was chasing them and so we're also getting the perspective of Israel's responsibility in this fight which is another take on the matter it's not that the Lord does all the fighting and we just sit back and watch that's another important point to all of this Israel's engaged in the fight Joshua didn't want them hold up in their cities that would make it hard to defeat them and to wipe them out which was the command so by attacking them from the rear they would turn back and fight to defend those on the rear and this is what the lord said don't let them enter their cities when joshua didn't and there was a great slaughter he put them to death and that one phrase here we shouldn't miss that shows the lord's power in verse 19 for the lord your God has delivered them into your hand the Lord your God maybe better translated has given them to you he's given them to you not a man shall stand before you said the Lord verse 12 then Joshua spoke to the Lord when the Lord delivered up the Amorites to the children of israel he wants us to think about the lord's great power that he's so sovereign over the nations that he has the power to hand them over he has the power to hand them over the sense you get here is Joshua, here's your gift. Here's the nations. They now are brought in submission and are to be destroyed. It's Psalm 68. When he ascended on high, he gave gifts to men. They're yours. The nations are yours. This is where I think it's so important to think through the difference between the Old Covenant and Old Testament and the New Testament. The nations were handed to Joshua for complete destruction. You'll notice how that's emphasized here. None of them were spared. Not one of them were spared. And I think the first thing that we're struck with is how serious, again, in the book of Joshua, God hates and takes sin. how bad is sin and evil in the sight of the Lord? If I had time tonight, and I've said before, this is why people are critical of the book of Joshua for harem warfare and wiping out. If I had time tonight, I'd go through the evil of the Canaanites. I'd go through what they did to women. I'd go through what they did to infants. I mean, you think abortion's bad. these nations were wicked. And remember, there was a cycle of iniquity. It had progressively gotten so bad that it was time. Remember, when the iniquity of the Amorites is complete, when that's complete, then it's time for me to judge them. We've looked at this. There was a time of repentance. But the whole point is that it had worked a full cycle of evil. You see it playing out in America. I can't help to think that this is important for us. God judges the nations. What do you, Corazon and Bethsaida, if the mighty works that had been done in you had been done in Sodom, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I can't help but to think and say tonight, I'm so glad to live in the new covenant. When Christ was going to the cross, he said something that I think doesn't get the attention that it should. All authority, he said in the Great Commission, heaven and earth has been given to me. Go, therefore. If you're old covenant, go, therefore, and pull out the sword. But Peter was told to put it back. All authority in heaven and earth, he says, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all nations to myself. This is the marvel of the new covenant. Think of what all the writers were anticipating when they celebrated the nations streaming in. All the ends of the earth have seen what? The sword of God? all the ends of the earth said the psalmist have seen the salvation of the lord you know that's happened if i could talk tonight and trace from a little room in jerusalem where the gospel's gone and how far it's gone over the face of the earth how many nations have been streaming in and you saw all the peoples today and you could see the multitude that no man can number you would say wow it has happened they've come every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that christ is lord but we live in a different context in the day of mercy and think what he's doing this is why i think it's helpful to look at joshua in their context but then look at it in ours what is he doing he's delivering the nations into our hands for what purpose you know we have little confidence i think today in our prayers of the lord's delivering power of people out of darkness but do you know that's what he's doing you know in any given week in this church just in this church any given week i can look out and see a whole array of visitors from the nations. I mean, America's really an amazing place. It is the nations in one spot. And the Lord's doing it. He's handing them to you. That's His power. And what does He tell us to do? Go and kill with the sword? Disciple them. Baptize them. Teach them. All that I've commanded. Think of Saul to Paul. I think this is, looking at it from our standpoint, important for us. That God is so powerful that His righteous judgment, this is what is deserved. What we're studying in Joshua. What's happening right now is the marvelous plan of God to show mercy to the nations. And I'm grateful for the new covenant when Paul was preaching said, you know, to all the pagans who were worshiping in Lystra and Derbe and they were worshiping Hermes and Zeus and he said, listen, God in bygone generations allowed and suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways and they faced judgment. But in these last days, he's commanded men everywhere of all nations to repent and believe and be saved. If God is overwhelming in his mercy, is not destroying them like this today, he will. He's not handing us swords. You see how important it is that we stay focused on the mission of the church and ministering and helping and ministering to those whom he brings to us. That's why the encouragement, you know, I think the other night we heard to partner and support the mission of the church is so important. I was thinking this morning when we were installing deacons, how wonderful it was in that little form that we read that it said, you know, this is why you should support the deacons and supply them the funds. You're giving a glass of cold water this way to the least of those because the deacons go out and their intention is, in all this work that they do, is to minister and seek out ways to help people. They're streaming in. They're streaming in. and that's I think the first important thing to recognize here of this is what was deserved of the evil of the nations of Canaan was judgment and to understand our particular context in the midst of all of this but I want to encourage us with another thought tonight from this text that I think is very important and it's his kingdom rule that you can't escape here now it's time the peoples of southern canaan have been dealt with now it's time to deal with the kings the people are being subdued but what of the kings of the earth joshua says let's go back to the cave i want you to bring those five kings out to me right now so in front of israel and in front of the warriors listen to verse 24 come near he says to them and put your feet on the necks of these kings and they drew near and they put their feet on their necks joshua said to them do not be afraid nor be dismayed be strong and of good courage for thus the lord will do to all your enemies whom you fight what a hugely symbolic action here um that was and it'll turn to something real in a minute but the symbolism here was so important for israel and important for us you know we um we had a dog for a while that was a real piece of work he was a dog we could not get control of it was a big german shepherd we don't have that talk anymore um i love that dog but one thing that we learned about that dog was he needed to be submitted we read all the books on how to submit a dog because the dog was trying to establish its dominance over all the children and um how do you submit a dog well you can read about that and i don't want to say too much animal rights don't like this today so it's not a good subject But, once he's submitted, the dog takes his place in line. This is like that symbolism here. It's an act of complete subjugation. They were placed under the feet of Israel. They stood on their necks. The Lord says, I want you to be encouraged, Israel. I will do that to all your enemies. And Joshua, after this, takes the kings out. And he hangs each one of them on a tree. And at dusk, he took them down and threw them back in the cave and threw the stone over it. Where do I begin with this? It's meant to encourage that all kings, all presidents, all rulers, all leaders in this world will bow down. They will bow down. Do they act like that in the day of their strength? I love Dr. Bittner's emphasis the other night from Isaiah 42 that when he was speaking of the servant in Isaiah 42, it moves from Israel to Christ. And I think that's exactly what we need to do here. What was always the promise in the Old Testament of what would happen to the kings of the earth? Kings shall come to the brightness of your rising. And who showed up at his birth? It's an amazing thing that as you read here, you really do see the story of Christ. You really do see Christ in Joshua 10. You see the Messiah. Adonai Zedek, which means the Lord is righteous, here was a wicked king. Here was a king who acted like he was a righteous king. here was a king of jerusalem who paraded himself as righteous and he was an oppressive man he was just what psalm 82 we sung about you gods who think you're execute justice for the poor and the mercy show mercy to them but the lord came and he was the righteous one here's what i couldn't get away from thinking about this text this week and looking at the whole story. When the king came, when Jesus came, the king, and Herod the king was on the throne, how did they treat him? What did they do to him? Well, we did what was done here. We hung him on a tree. And we put a large stone over the cave. And yet there's a fundamental difference. Death could not hold this king. These five kings in Joshua 10 are still there. They're still in the tomb. Not Jesus. He's the one king where the stone was rolled away. And when he rose triumphant over the grave, what did the apostles proclaim? Psalm 110. Psalm 110. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. that warrior in Psalm 10 would be celebrated as every king and every people being put under his feet. This is how the psalm ends. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. He will, therefore, lift up his head. You get this picture of a warrior coming down and taking on every king of the earth. And after he's defeated them all, he lifts up his head and he takes a drink. It's over. That's what's captured here. You see the encouragement to the church tonight. There's not a peoples. There is not a king. There is not a nation, there is no nation on the face of the earth that will not bow and be put under the feet of Jesus, the Messiah. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 says. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and every power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. It's 1 Corinthians 15. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. He's even putting death under his feet. Your deaths. Never happen again. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it's plain that he that he is expected who put all things in subjection under him when all things are subjected to him then the son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him that god may be all in all that's happening in full on judgment day and i think this is important for us today for what reason tonight. It's because we live in fear today of rulers, and of powers, and of kings, and of governments. I've said this before, you know, every single kingdom is going to fall. Every single kingdom throughout history has fallen. Which one has always stood? The United States is falling before you slowly as it may be it's falling it's fallen it's babylon fallen fallen they will all bow to christ that's what we say in our heidelberg our eternal king who rules and governs us by his word and spirit who defends and preserves us in the redemption he obtained for us it's psalm 2 beloved now therefore you kings be wise be warned you rulers of the earth serve the lord with fear Celebrate his rule with trembling Kiss the son or he'll be angry And you will perish in the way For his wrath can flare up in a moment Blessed are those who take refuge in him See what they needed to hear You see what Israel needed to hear We need to hear it today Our warrior Will do this to all of our enemies And the thing is is again in the new covenant we live in a great day of mercy don't we today he subdues them which way like those kings who came to jesus at his birth and bowed down and presented to him frankincense incense and myrrh he subdued them with salvation and that is something we should pray for i think you would be marvel to test you to say have you prayed for your president's salvation? Or have you criticized him left and right? He needs it. One final point. I know I'm getting long, so really short. Joshua wants us finally captivated with the Lord's kingdom victory. So notice this, his kingdom power, his kingdom rule, his kingdom victory. The rest of the chapter all has a formula to it. It's very simple. ending with their destruction, it says he lists a nation and he says all their full destruction as it was done to the king of Jericho. And he repeats this little formula here. It's a sweeping conquest to the southern Canaan. Southern Canaan is conquested. The conquest has happened to southern Canaan in chapter 10. And verse 40 says, Joshua conquered all the land, the mountain country, the south, the lowland and the wilderness, the slopes and all their kins. He left nothing remaining but destroyed all that breathes as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. And it ends by saying that Joshua took all of it at one time. It happened fast. Why? Because the Lord God fought for Israel. I think the ending note here is important for us to remember that in all that's happening, beloved, and in all the struggle, and in all the discouragement living in this world, the world is the Lord's. Everything therein, He established it upon the seas and the waters. It's all His. But the important truth for us to remember today is this. The battle belongs to Him. In His timing. In His way. In His wisdom when we don't understand it. You know, we've got all these things coming at us. We've got a revolution coming at us. We've got a sexual revolution. You've had things happen that have totally surprised us and we have not figured this out. Our enemies are actually stronger than the enemies that Joshua faced. What do I mean? We don't wrestle with flesh and blood. We wrestle with principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this present age. None of it is a match for him. You see? None of it. He could stop the revolution tomorrow if he wants. He could change things in a moment if he wants. But I think what this is encouraging us to is like this morning. Faith in the warrior. Psalm 124. If it had not been that the Lord was on our side. Let Israel now say. If it had not been that the Lord was on our side. When people rose up against us. Then they would have swallowed us up alive. When their anger was kindled against us, then the flood would have swept us away. The torrent would have gone over us. Then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken and we've escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord. That's what he wants from us from this chapter. Who made heaven and earth. And that's the final note. we can't fight this sin and evil is too great for us we're in the fight but the Lord can and he will ultimately cleanse the land forever you understand that's what the new heavens and the new earth is all about that's what Joshua was telling us he will cleanse the land forever and give well there will be no more evil he will wipe evildoers off the face of the earth we sang that this morning from a psalm demolish the wicked that ultimately will happen that's what the new heavens and the new earth's all about you will have no more of this the wicked will be gone but today's a day of mercy today's a day of salvation and the lord is a warrior i close with this when you open up the end of revelation he's not riding on a donkey and i saw heaven open and behold a white horse and the one on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God and all the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron. he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of god the almighty on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and lord of lords that's what the church needs recovered today a view of jesus like this who we're serving who the warrior is how powerful he is and that he will win the battle and so we continue on hating sin hating rebellion loving righteousness looking to the son of god and praying that today the nations would be brought to his feet in salvation in mercy be encouraged beloved the battle belongs to the lord the battle has always belonged to the lord let's pray lord thank you for encouraging us in your great power and in your kingdom rule and in the victory that is accomplished through the son of god he's not entombed he broke out of there and today all nations all peoples as he has been raised and seated are being put under his feet may we be a people who have confidence in our warrior king and pray Lord that the nations would come in and those whom he hands whom you hand and bring in in this little place that they Lord would be ministered the ministry of righteousness and that we would have hearts for the lost recognizing how great a day the new covenant is in Jesus name we pray Amen