Well, I invite you to turn tonight to Joshua chapter 11, and we're looking at the end of chapter 11, verses 16, to the end of the chapter. You'll remember the context here. The last chapters, we have seen the complete conquest of the southern and the northern kingdom, and now we come to this great summary section that really does show how victorious it all was, and it's meant for us to sense that tonight. So we're going to consider this passage tonight, and the emphasis you'll notice here is on the land, and Joshua on the land. So beginning at verse 16, we will read, this is the word of the Lord. So Joshua took all that land, the hill country and all the Negev and all the land of Goshen and the lowland of Ereba and the hill country of Israel and its lowland for Mount Halak, which rises towards ser as far as baal god in the valley of lebanon below mount hermon and he captured all their kings and struck them and put them to death joshua made war a long time with all those kings there was not a city that made peace with the people of israel except the hivites the inhabitants of gibeon they took them all in battle for it was the lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against israel in battle in order that they should be devoted to destruction and they should receive no mercy but be destroyed just as the lord commanded moses and joshua came at that time and cut off the anakim from the hill country from hebron from debir and anab and from all the hill country of judah and from all the hill country of israel joshua devoted them to destruction with their enemies there was none of the anakim left in the land of the people of israel only in gaza in gath and in ashdod did some remain so joshua took the whole land according to all that the lord had spoken to moses and joshua gave it for an inheritance to israel according to their tribal allotments and the land had rest from war and there will end of the reading of god's word well it's no coincidence tonight that we land on the summary of the conquering of the land this is a great summary section right in the middle of the book of joshua that is really intended to the speak something to the rest that was given to the land you'll notice here that important concept of rest at the very end from strife and from war it's a nice compliment really to this morning's message that abraham did not look for you'll see this as we develop what land was he looking for that land of which he had come out of but he looked for a better land a heavenly land that god has prepared for all those who who love him well how does that fit tonight when we're looking at this this great development here where the land has rest from war and we're going to look at this tonight and consider this great summary of of the land that israel was to receive and the answer is easy the question then for us is where is abraham still he didn't get to see this rest in the land he had nothing but battles in the land you remember in genesis chapter 14 abraham's still in the cave isn't he abraham is still buried waiting for the eternal land well what we have before us then is intended to help us a little bit by giving us a picture and a foreshadowing of the end of the world that's what we've been looking at as we've been studying Joshua when the land is cleansed and purified and rest is given for the people of God and in this way it's meant to help us under understand what we can expect in the interim when all the enemies have come up against us that when the Lord rises up in battle at the end they will all be put under his feet and crushed forever and then we will be given the land that abraham looked for but we have shadows of that here we have foreshadows of that to help us understand some of these concepts well that's first corinthians 15 then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to god the father and the imagery of him delivering the kingdom to god the father is one of a warrior who hands back in in great delight the victory to his father he competed he won the battle he cleansed he purged he defeated all enemies the kingdom is given the kingdom was won the kingdom came in fullness when he destroys every rule and every authority and power that's at the end of the world first corinthians 15 then the kingdom of god comes in all of its fullness and then the resurrection from the dead happens and then abraham gets out of the cave and then we who are dead rise up in our brand new bodies and if we happen to be those who are still alive on that day in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet you will be changed just like that brand new resurrected body not having to face death and then comes the new heavens and the new earth that city that we considered this morning well this is this is important tonight because it's a summary of the lord demonstrating his faithfulness to his promises to fulfill that to to give the land to to everything that he had promised and this gives us a sort of of shadowy sketch of that as we've been looking in hebrews a type of that of israel receiving the temporary land receiving the land over in palestine all a shadow of the heavenly land to those who love him well tonight we see that in sort of seed form if you will and it's meant to for us to celebrate how faithful the lord is to his promises because you'll remember later in joshua the great celebration the end note of this book is the lord fulfilled everything that he promised that he would do for israel and giving them the land so we want to look tonight here at this theme of the land taken, the land purged, and then the land given rest. And those are the kind of three themes that we'll work with as we come through this. So you'll notice the great emphasis here up front that the land is taken. This is the summary now of the conquest. It's surprisingly optimistic, isn't it? Because we know there's a lot of problems coming for Israel. But I'm not sure the author wants us to think about any of that right now he he wants us to stay focused on this great moment of of israel and joshua completing this great conquest and you'll notice here the optimism here all the kings are wiped out the anakim are wiped out we'll look at why that's significant and then notice in verse 23 that joshua took the whole land according to all that the lord had said to Moses all the land was given as an inheritance to Israel so what a what a great moment in the study of Joshua we've we've got quite a significant section here don't we that celebrates the Lord's faithfulness to his promises well Joshua doesn't want us to focus too much on the future yet let's look at this moment here of what has happened it's a huge moment there are certain emphases here that we don't want to miss in this short section. A few things that are important here for us to study tonight, and I think you'll be pleased to know. I don't know if anything was raised this morning in Sunday school about chiasms, as I referenced, that Hebrews 11 might have one, but I think I found one here. I really do. A chiasm is, if you've been studying this at all, a literary device that is intended for us to see the centerpiece. There's a centerpiece in the passage that everything else is working to and from and it gathers that the truths of the structure of the passage gather to the centerpiece that he wants you to think about well what is it you'll notice this if you can maybe have a little diagram you could draw you'd see it the first section says the land is taken you'll notice that and then the second section says the kings are destroyed but in the middle is this shocking powerful statement of the lord's utter sovereignty in the whole thing and then he circles back in parallel with the kings being destroyed the anakim are destroyed and then the land is given rest so land taken kings destroyed centerpiece anakim destroyed land given rest you can see it there i think well that was my best effort to try to find one and um maybe it's unique maybe it's not but um let's begin with where he emphasizes here the land taken what does he want us to see about this so joshua then took all the land the mountain country all the south all the land of goshen the lowland and there the jordan plain the mountains of israel the lowlands the major mountain ranges are mentioned there mount hermon that we we know about this is a summary of canaan this is a summary of the areas of canaan the major boundaries of canaan that are captured here in this little section and joshua took it all it's capturing the conquest it was a long period of time you know we've been studying 11 chapters if you think you think sermon series are long try to take the land of Canaan this took a long time it says for Joshua didn't happen in one night but what he wants us to feel in this section is the sweeping conquest of Canaan and then you'll notice in verse 17 that Joshua went out and captured all the kings and he struck them all down joshua made a war a long time with these kings there was not a city and notice this this kind of sets up the centerpiece there was not a city that made peace with israel except the hivites the inhabit the inhabitants of gibeon all of these nations rose up not one of them bowed the knee not one of them after even seeing the sun stand still said you know this may not be a good idea joshua takes them all in battle he wants you to stand back and say and feel the sweeping conquest of this but here's the encouragement the whole time the lord has made clear he's giving the victory hasn't he we've been studying this he's been saying to us this whole time in our study of Joshua I don't want you to fear remember last time the inhabitants were as the sand of the seashore and we looked at that was the promise made to Abraham that his descendants would be as the sand of the seashore and and notice this was a great threat under this this snakehead Jabin and the lord said i don't even want you to fear the largest mounted up army against you the lord will deliver them the lord will bring conquest the lord will give you the victory and we looked at that was um that's how we are to look at all of life the lord isn't it freeing that he says to you tonight i don't want you to live in fear no matter what's happening in the earth i don't want you to live in fear don't fear i hold the king's hearts in my hand to do what i will do and we're gonna come back to this thought because this is hard for us that's why we fear because we don't understand that i hold the king's heart i turn the king's heart wherever i want it to go i mean the psalms say this so you'll notice this here this important section that we're studying here that joshua makes this war a long time he takes all the land and all the kings and the lord has said i'm going to give you the victory the lord delivered them into israel's hands the lord delivered them into joshua's hands now notice the emphasis here in this first part of the chiasm verse 16 how it's emphasized joshua took the land verse 18 joshua made war verse 21 joshua came and cut off verse 23 joshua took the whole land verse 23 again joshua gave it as an inheritance what you think there's something being emphasized here one of our greatest struggle in reading the bible is to take a passage like this and of course say well what in the world is happening here what is the what is the lord showing us and i think this is one of those great moments where we come to what jesus was demonstrating on the road to emmaus when he was walking with those emmaus disciples and he said to them as they were confused about Jesus and the kingdom and his own death and what was happening when he said, oh, slow ones and foolish ones to believe all that the prophets and he referenced there the Pentateuch, the law, the Psalms and the prophets, all that they have spoken. Concerning who? me me oh cleopas have you considered joshua 11 joshua did joshua did joshua did joshua did when he's been saying the whole time the lord is the one who's done have you considered this what does his name mean the lord is what salvation what does my name mean? Savior. You see, what we have here at the beginning is the summary of this to tell us something about the Messiah and his kingdom. He was speaking of me, Jesus would have said. He would have looked right at Joshua 11 and said, he's speaking about me. Haven't you seen where I've traveled? he could have said, as he walked through the land of Palestine. Haven't you seen where I've been going strategically? Haven't you seen how I've been conquering the regions with the gospel and preaching the gospel of the kingdom? Haven't you seen how even the demons bow the knee to me and recognize me? That's Mark. Haven't you seen my power develop, that breaking the shackles of a demonia? Haven't you seen that, John? Seen that, O Cleopas? Jesus did all these things. And then he went to the cross, and he died, and he rose, and the announcement of the disciples to the ends of the earth was, everything's been put under his feet. And guess what that means? The land is his. On the last day, when he comes again in glory, our Joshua will destroy every single enemy. He will take the land and burn it with fire and make a brand new heavens and new earth. And every king who has not bowed the knee will utterly be destroyed. Every evil, every force, every wickedness, Satan himself will be cast into the lake of fire. And the whole land which is prefigured here will be given to you as an inheritance. This is the new heavens and the new earth that he's going to give. this is what abraham looked for cleansed won purged so you see the story here this is the victory of the messiah psalm 110 we've been really meditating on it i think that's the key sort of um a verse for for joshua the lord said to my lord sit in my right hand until i make your enemies a footstool for your feet rule in the midst of your enemies he shall judge among the nations he shall execute heads of many countries he shall drink of the brook by the wayside therefore he shall lift up his head joshua's is pictured here as the warrior who fought the battle won the victory gave the land you see and i think there's something important to encourage you in verse 21 what joshua did now this this is the parallel verse to the cutting off of the kings we haven't got to the centerpiece yet the parallel verse to the remember land taken land rest second point kings destroyed parallel anakim destroyed centerpiece we'll get to the centerpiece in a minute notice what he did at that time he came and he cut off joshua the anakim from all the mountains of judah and israel and he utterly destroyed them with their cities now why is this offset why is that offset well i'll tell you why it was because when the spies originally were sent out from the first generation that had been brought out of egypt that generation that perished in the wilderness when they were sent out here's what they said when they came back when when moses sent them out remember the men who had gone up with him said we are not able to go up against this people for they are stronger than we are so they brought to the people of israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out saying the land through which we have gone to spy out is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people that we saw were of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim. The sons of Anak who came from the Nephilim. And we seem to ourselves like grasshoppers. So we seem to them. Remember, the Nephilim showed up in Genesis 6. They were big people. It's like Reverend Stromberg in the pulpit the other night. You know, just a big guy. The Nephilim. The sons of Anak. Big, strong people that we feared. Did you know that rebellion got them kicked back for 40 years wandering in the wilderness? And that that generation perished because there was no faith what we've been studying in hebrews there was no faith the anakim were the worst of warriors you know goliath was of the anakim right fierce opponents and i think that's why a few were left around so that goliath would show up later but that's just my conjecture it's an important point that these anakin come up because you know today there are a lot of things we feel we can't stand up against happening there are a lot of giants coming at us and the greatest failure of the church right now is to live in fear of this it's so important the greatest failure of the church is to live in fear of governments kings culture and wickedness as if the lord is not on your side that's our issue that's why this is raised and joshua takes him out easy no problem they're no match for joshua you see it see the encouragement in that i think we need that encouragement we're not ultimately slaying anakim i mean this is this is the the big thing i think we have to remember in the in the church today there are movements there are things there are giants, there's wickedness, there's spiritual hosts of darkness, as Paul says in Ephesians 6, that are coming at us. Who is on your side? It's Joshua. It's the Lord. They're not a match for him. I'm going to come back to this. This is a really important point. He wants us in awe of the delivering powerful hand of the lord through joshua in this text and now we get to the centerpiece verse 20 all this war all this fighting all this opposition all this evil all these anakim who wouldn't repent. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle for the purpose that He might destroy them and that they might receive no mercy. But that He might destroy them as the Lord had commanded Moses. That's a deep verse. That's a powerful verse. How sovereign is the Lord, beloved? Centerpiece. You see the centerpiece of this? It's the utter sovereignty of God. There are many who struggle with God's sovereignty. Electing people to salvation, but even more so, they really struggle with the idea that God could ever harden a heart. Is this verse unclear? I mean, that would be the first thing to ask. Is there anything that's not clear about this verse? If you're dealing with anyone who struggles with election and sovereignty and God choosing for salvation, you'd have to come to this verse and say, well, read this to me and tell me, what's unclear here about this? It's pretty clear. It's the idea that we may not like this idea that really is what we struggle with. That's not what I'm asking. Is it unclear what's being said? This was a big point for Paul in Romans 9. Is there injustice in God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then, conclusion, he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he will. You realize God has that much control over the human heart? Do you know he has that much control over every single heart? And what's happening? He has the power to soften or to harden. That's what Israel learned about Pharaoh. For this purpose I raised him up that I may show my power. And Paul goes on. He says, I know that troubles you. But does that little piece of clay, when it's being molded, put his finger up to God and say, What are you doing? We're little pieces of clay. Why would God raise this here? Well, you're looking at all the problems in the world and you're thinking everything's out of control. You're thinking all the evil's coming up against you that has no purpose. Oh, it has a purpose. One pastor asks a really important question here. Do you think God came to a people who lived a blissful life, spiritually neutral, and cruelly said to them, I'm just going to harden your hearts. That's not what he did. He came to the same kind of heart as Pharaoh. A heart that loved evil and despised God. and who, if you study the narrative of Pharaoh, often hardened his own heart in conjunction with God hardening his heart. God just hardened the peoples of Canaan's hearts to fulfill what they wanted to do all along. They were not neutral. But why reveal it right here? That's what I kept asking. Why? Well, there are things happening in the world right now, and what do we say? You think they're sovereign. Shame on you. We sit astonished at wickedness. What surprises us is how nonsensical it all is. Who do these people think they are? Who do these people think they are? Really. We sit in fear thinking that such rebellion and such evil is sort of happening in an out-of-control manner. We moan about it. Listen to me. They're doing exactly what they want to do. But have you ever thought that the reason there's so much wickedness and rebellion and evil is precisely because in doing what they want to do, God is also judging. Have you ever thought about that? That that's why things are going this way. Notice how it said, the land was taken. All their kings were killed because it was of the Lord to harden their heart that they might receive no mercy. That was the end judgment on their long rebellion. You don't know the things they did to people. You don't know the evil they did. Why? Because Jacob I've loved. And I promised to give them the land. The marvel is really not that he had the hardened hearts. They were as hard as could be. He just directed those hard hearts to do what they wanted to do. The marvel is that He should soften hearts and give people new hearts to love Him. That they might embrace Joshua with the great goal that He would give you the land. It's not theirs. there are two seeds in this earth it's not their land he was simply executing his righteous judgment that was a righteous judgment that we all lost in adam we had our chance to take what is not theirs and to give it to you this was at the principle in the heart of what jesus was saying when he said to him who has it will be taken who does not have it will be given that principle the centerpiece is this for you are a people holy to the lord your god and the lord has chosen you to be deuteronomy a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth for you are a people holy to the lord your god listen to this the lord your god has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the lord said is love on you and chose you for you are fewest of all people but it's because the lord loves you that's the marvel and because he's keeping his oath that he swore to your fathers that the lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and a redeemed and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of pharaoh the king of egypt want to know how merciful god is he took that promise to israel and he opened it up to the ends of the earth to all the nations and then he says to the church today i chose you as the fulfillment of this that's first peter first peter 2 you are chosen priesthood you are my chosen people to give you the land to give you what i promised abraham the lord is doing this to execute his righteous judgment that's why things are haywire but soon he's coming and so what's emphasized at the end of this at the far end of the other of the chiasm rest so joshua took the whole land according to all that the lord had said to moses and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by tribes. Then the land rested from war. All the land was given to Israel as their inheritance. Again, it's a type, it's a shadow. They died. But notice the distinction. The land had rest from war. He gave the land rest. But it was still incomplete. What do I mean? Something was still incomplete. What have we been considering? All of this anticipates the coming of Christ when He will come on the last day. He's been seated above all principalities, power, all kings, and everyone's been put under His feet. He is going to come back and He is going to cleanse the land. He's going to create a new heavens and a new earth. He's going to execute his righteous judgment. And then on the last day, the land, not just the land, rests from war. Did you notice what was crucially left out of this? The people had not fully entered their rest. You understand this is a type. What did Hebrews say to us? For if Joshua had given them rest, them, gave the land. It's a shadow. If Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. The beauty of what Hebrews was saying is that we enter that rest in Christ and we await the final rest that is ours when he comes again to give us what Abraham was waiting for. and then we will dwell in a new heavens and a new earth in righteousness forever resting this is a mini picture of that and it's meant to be an encouragement to us that god is faithful he's going to win the battle because i don't think we realize how fierce the battle is and the warfare and how big it is cosmically how much spiritual stuff is happening behind the background how much demonic activity is going on how much satan is involved and how wicked it is he has to come and do this and then he will give what is promised to us in the gospel the sabbath rest so that there will be no more sin no more sorrow no more suffering no more war no more death there are a lot of things to fear in the weight like the anakim the lord wants you to live by faith the greatest enemy of death is before you as we considered this morning and like we heard we have a testimony of our ownership of this land in death for christ has risen and he will come again and he has risen from the grave and he has promised to you beloved he's going to give you the city he's built for you why because he loves you because he loves you god's not ashamed to be called your god he's built a city for you he's giving you the land he's giving you rest and he wants you tonight to respond to this by looking in faith to the greater joshua who is jesus and trust him believe him we all stumble in many ways how wonderful it is that He throws His arms open to us. And you should marvel tonight. Not on the hardening of the heart. You should marvel that He has the power over the human heart to soften it to the ends of the earth. And that He's doing that today to people. And that He's softened your heart tonight. That's the question. Are you being hardened in unbelief? Or are you being softened to believe the Gospel? And the answer He would say tonight is come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest amen let's pray heavenly father thank you for the rest that you give us we're so thankful for your sovereignty things would be far worse if this were not the case we are so thankful lord for your mercies to us and we are thankful lord for the victory that christ is one we are also thankful to live in the new covenant that you have opened up these promises to the ends of the earth to all the nations and that your tender mercies and your covenant faithfulness your covenant steadfast love is sounding out so oh lord may people respond with soft hearts we pray or if you were not in charge of the human heart why would we even be praying right now but you are so we pray to you soft in that hard heart out there and bring in lord all of your sheep for you have the power to do it that gives us great hope thank you oh lord for this message tonight in jesus name amen