The Book Of Joshua

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You got the punchline of the book. It ends very, very well. You got to see how
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God has rescued the Israelites. He has helped them conquer and not one word failed.
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We can actually bow down and pray. God is faithful, is he not? Now as you turn to the book of Joshua, I'm just going to give you a little bit of a preamble and then we'll get into the text.
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Our goal, as always, is to have a good overview of the book, understand how the book flows, what its outlines are, what the main theme that the author of this book wants to communicate, the
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Holy Spirit wants you and I to learn. And while we are going through the outline,
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I want us to have those pegs through which we can go back and say, you know, I can look back at the character of God.
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I can look back at how God worked in redemptive history and how I can rely upon this faithful God whom we serve.
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But while we're going through the outline, one of the other things I want us to focus on is also the Christology.
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How do we see Christ through this book? So those are the two things we will focus on. But before we do that, let me open us with a word of prayer.
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Dear Heavenly Father, you are faithful. Not one word you speak falls to the ground empty.
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You accomplish all that you purpose. You even accomplish that through frail and feeble people like the
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Israelites as they entered this land. And help us, Lord, as we open your word to get a glimpse of you, to get a strong look at your son, our captain, our conqueror, and our savior.
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In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, so outline of the book.
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There's a bunch of ways we can look at it, but we can look at the introduction and conclusion. In chapters one through five, you get to see
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Israel entering the promised land, the beginning of the battles as they are going to begin.
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And how is it that they prepare themselves as a nation, as a people, getting ready to inherit what
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God had promised. You need to remember, this is a promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, that he will in fact give him this land.
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And this is 400 years later. This is now coming to fruition. So this is an exciting time as people are waiting to see how this is going to happen.
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You just had Joshua 23 read. They didn't know this. So here they are on the verge of inheriting the promises.
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And one to five gives us that preparation of the people as they get in. Six to 11 is probably the meat of this book.
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So if you want to say, okay, I want to just get a quick glimpse of what is happening. Six to 11, you get the wars. You get
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Jericho, Ai, Gibeon, the Southern Wars, the Northern Wars. So we're going to spend a bunch of time there looking at what happens.
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How do we see God procuring this victory, this inheritance on behalf of his people?
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And then chapters 12 through 22 is a large section. This is difficult to read.
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If you had sections in Leviticus, you were struggling through this place, you might find it hard because this is actually the inheritance.
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It's actually a very important chapter because it talks about how each of the tribes actually get that land.
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Each of the 12 tribes, what they were promised, they do get. And how does it get marked out? So we'll talk a little bit about the maps.
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Actually, I have two atlases as you enter or as you leave. So you can actually look and see how this feels like because we don't have maps in our
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Bible. We have geographical markers which are translated into maps in our atlas. And then we have the conclusion, which is just a recounting of the
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God's goodness. And just as in Deuteronomy, they were poised on the other side of the
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Jordan getting ready to enter. Now they have come and you almost want to see they lived happily ever after.
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You know, it's like, oh, they're here, but what is it that they need to do next? So it just sets the stage for the next book and we'll see the conclusion.
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So you have Introduction 1 to 5. You have the wars in 6 to 11. You have the land and its inheritance in 12 to 22.
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And then we'll see the conclusion in 23 to 24. But before we get into the book,
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I have a preamble and I'm going to take some time in this and then we will look at each of the texts. When you think of Christ in Hebrews, Hebrews 2 10, we get to see
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Jesus as the author of our faith and King James, it's called the captain of our salvation.
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You can see this parallelism where Joshua is almost like this type of Christ in which he leads his people into the promised land.
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He is faithful to God's word, doesn't waver to the right or to the left. He's the one who takes them across the
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Jordan. He is the one who will conquer on behalf of God for the people. And you will get to see even in their names,
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God is the one who saves. That's really what both the names mean, Joshua and Jesus. You get to see also how
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Joshua is going to encounter Jesus as the angel of the Lord. We'll spend a few moments on that.
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But more importantly, when you look at the book, what you should be thinking of is here is the redemptive history where you have
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Adam failed in the garden. Then you have the people Noah rescued out of the flood.
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You have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. And through this little family, they were in Egypt where they grew into a nation.
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And God had promised to Abraham that there will be a descendant through him.
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All the nation shall be blessed. So Christ to come, there is something that God had planned.
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And this is essential in God's working out of his redemption in the course of history.
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So as you look at these things, you want to be thinking of how all of these. I'll point out a few things as we go through. But one more introductory comment.
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There's a lot of wars that happen here. But the thing that I want you to focus on is the
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God who wages war on behalf of his people. It is God who accomplishes the redemption.
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He's the one who's going to make those walls fall down. He's the one who's going to stop that son from moving on its course.
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He's the one who's going to bring hail and destroy the people that are fighting against the
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Israelites. He's the one who's going to get the Hornets to move the people out of the land. It is God who is the active agent.
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It is not Joshua with this cunning strategy, although he is a leader and he is going to under God lead the people.
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Third introductory comment. This is a historic book. So if you look at the all of the
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Old Testament, you have the first five books, which is the Pentateuch. The next section of books is called the historical books.
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These are accounts of Israel's history. What happens? So you're going to see a narrative over here. And after that, you have the poetic and the prophetic.
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But when you're in the historic book, especially whether it is in the Old Testament or in the new, which is the New Testament history book that we have?
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The book of Acts in both of these things, you need to be remember, this is describing something you don't want to go to a descriptive book and say, oh, they did something, and therefore
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I must do it, too. Please do not start a war. That's not the point of this book.
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When people look at a book like Jonah, they say, wow, you believe in that?
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They kind of mock you when they read. Those are not Christians who don't recognize the
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God of the Bible. Look at Joshua. They say, what are you, a jihadist? Is your God cruel and wicked?
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Does he not care for the innocent people? And we're going to spend a few moments on that so that we are thinking rightly before we get into the book of Joshua.
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Many a time, people think, oh, this is how life ought to be, and when I see calamity, pain and suffering, and especially ordained by a
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God who is said to be a God of love, I can't compute. They don't equate with me, and therefore
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I need to reject the God of the Bible and elevate the people that seem to be suffering under this hand of this terrible
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God. It is indeed a dangerous thing to fall into the hand of God. Our responsibility is to elevate the view of God to the people so people have a good glimpse of the holiness, the justice, the purity and the patience of God that waits for his judgment to come at its appointed time.
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So as believers who are gathered here today, I want to focus on a few things as we before we get into the text on the wars.
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Firstly, wars in the plan of redemptive history, God has worked through his nation who is appointed to in the book of Joshua come into the land and there will be other wars that follow where God will accomplish his plan through his people.
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And in fact, this morning, I don't know if you noticed in Psalm 149, there was something about a double edged sword and how
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Israel is glad to be an agent of God for his purposes.
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Now, that said, there are difficulties as we
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New Testament believers look back at history and see how there is blood splattered all over these pages.
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What does it teach us about the character of God and the purposes of God, especially in the lives of his people and in that of the world?
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So the fundamental thing you need to be thinking of as you look at wars is there is wickedness and there is righteousness.
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Many people would say, oh, look at all these innocent people in the book in in Joshua, you're going to see men and women, young men and young children, even the animals wiped out completely.
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And to someone who just looks at that verse and nothing else would say, how could God ordain such a thing?
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You need to go back in the pages of history, even back to the time of Abraham and the promise and what
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God was doing over those 400 years. Someone would say, how could you kill these little children? Do you know what these land people did to their children and why
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God was wiping them out? There are two things mentioned explicitly.
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One is the sexual sins of the people, and the other one was their child sacrifices.
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Very innocent indeed. There is horrific sin and wickedness in this nation that God has patiently endured for 400 years.
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In fact, he says, I'm going to wait until their wickedness overflows and the judgment is right. And there will be a wiping out of these people because they have inherited the wind, as it were, as they have not returned to the
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God of righteousness. But their wickedness is overflowed and the land is going to spew them out. Now, until we see the character of God and his patience in judgment, we will not be able to understand what is going on here.
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Now, a greater problem is this. So it's one thing if God were to say giant earthquake, everybody died.
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What can I use to those types of things? Tsunami. Here, it is not just a natural calamity that's going to happen, but it is going to be
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Israel as agents of God's justice who need to be executing. His righteousness upon these people hard for us to compute, but this is exactly what
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God is teaching the Israelites. Here is what I've rescued from. Here is the land and here is exactly why these people ought not to co inherit, cohabit this land with you, that you learn from them, worship their idols and follow after in wickedness after them.
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And you, as my agents need to wipe out these people to bring forth the justice hard, hard words for us to understand.
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But this is where God's people actually obey and execute what God has called them to do.
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When we think of life, we normally think in terms of temporal life and goodness and comfort.
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You need to be thinking in terms of eternal pain and suffering and the consequences thereof.
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And when you think back at what happens to these people, whether they lived or whether they died, where is their ultimate end?
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You'd be able to look back and see how God is dealing, especially with the infants who will die.
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And finally, you need to be thinking of God's will revealed. If God hadn't said anything, you know, just take all the pages of scriptures and put them above what happens as nations move and fight with one another and execute what they have to do.
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But here you have an insight into the purposes of God as God reveals not just his character, but his plans and his patience and his loving kindness, both in waiting for all this time for these people, but also in protecting his people through these events that happened.
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And just so you know, that God is not a God of favoritism. He is a God of justice, both in dealing with the
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Amorites and the Canaanites and with the people of Israel. These very people, which you heard in the end of Genesis Joshua 23, when they will follow after the gods that they were, they wiped out all these many years ago, they will face the same judgment that God has brought into their place.
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So with that, let's open to Joshua chapter one and look at what God does through his people in redeeming, in inheriting the land.
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So in Joshua one, you get to see the commission of Joshua in in the
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Pentateuch, you get to see how Joshua and Aaron were the leaders in in Deuteronomy and the beginning of Joshua, you get to see how
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Eliezer is the high priest and Joshua is now the new leader, the commander preparing to enter the land.
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And I wanted you to look at verses one to two, nine, and I'm going to read a few verses here. So you get to see how this book starts off.
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Verse one, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of none,
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Moses, servant, Moses, assistant, Moses, my servant is dead now. Therefore, arise, go over this
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Jordan, you and all these people into the land that I'm giving them to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon.
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I have given to you just as I promised to Moses. And then he describes this region that will belong to them.
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In verse four, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, just as I was with Moses.
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So I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. So that's the promise that Joshua has.
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Here is this young guy picking up these huge boots of Moses.
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And as he is ready to lead, God says, I will be with you. I'll be the one who's accomplishing this and I will accomplish this conquering on your behalf.
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And then versus six through nine, there are, there is this word, it begins in verse six, be strong and courageous.
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And it's just, it is repeated three times in the matter of four verses, be strong and be courageous for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.
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And verse seven and eight is crucial for us to understand how Joshua is to do this. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant commanded you.
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Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may have good success, wherever you may go.
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And verse eight, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it from, for then you will make your way prosperous.
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And, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you once again?
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Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord. Your God is with you wherever you go.
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And so this is the instruction for Joshua. Let the word of God not depart from you.
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Stay, stick to it. And I will be the one who accomplishes my word in your midst.
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So chapter one then continues as the people recognize Joshua as the new leader. And they say, you know, we will follow just be strong, be courageous and follow
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God's word. And then in chapter two, you get to see the beginning of this land.
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Uh, in Joshua two, you have two spies who go into Jericho, Jericho.
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You need to remember is this fortified city. It has walls. You, you need like battering rams. If you wanted to get into this land, it's not easy.
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Here are these, these Israelites coming over the, the will, uh, from across the
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Jordan. It's not easy to take a land, a city that is fortified.
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Uh, you need to be seed having a siege for very long periods of time. In fact, when, uh, scholars look at Joe at this account of Jericho, they said, come on, this is not true.
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We don't have any archeological evidence for this type of thing. And then, uh, there was an archeologist who did discover the ruins and they said, well, this is kind of very old.
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It can be in the time and Joshua actually came. And then in fact, it was in 1990s that they actually did discover the details of this excavation and it meant it fits the account in the
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Bible to a T. You and I didn't need that archeological data to believe the word of God is true and sure, uh, but it is just amazing how people who scoff at the
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Bible, uh, just have to wait and see how, uh, there is nothing in these scriptures that are false.
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But in Joshua two, you get to see two spies sent. In fact, one of the commentators said, you know, the first time they sent spies into Canaan, uh, there were 12, two of them did a good job,
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Joshua and Caleb. And the other 10, not so much of a good job. And God says, you know, the other 10, you guys can stay home.
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I'll just send two this time. So you have these two guys who come into this land and they, and they, as they spy, they meet this woman called
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Rahab. And Rahab, uh, I'd like you to just turn with me to Hebrews 11, 13 and 31, because I want us to know what the
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Bible in the new Testament talks about Rahab before we actually talk about the accounts in Joshua, Joshua 11, 30 and 31 by faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were, they had been encircled for seven days by faith,
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Rahab, the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies,
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Rahab, the prostitute. Rahab, the Canaanite, Rahab, the prostitute, and the
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Rahab who would actually lie in order to protect these spies. Rahab was not rescued because of all her strength and courage and nobility and, and, uh, goodness of heart.
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She was rescued because of faith. You heard this morning. She believed in the
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God who had appointed for Israel to come in to the land.
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And, uh, what she does is, uh, she puts a lot with the people of Israel. She, she, she talks about the account that the people have heard and believes in the
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God that is, uh, that is who has sent these people of Israel.
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And, uh, and it is only in Hebrews 11, you get to see the interpretation of what was going on in Rahab's head.
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It is not just a selfish, uh, protection of her own people, which does happen, but it is rather that she trusted in the
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God who would rescue her. So if you look at chapter two, the
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King comes and asks Rahab, have you had these people? And she says, yes, but she deceives them into following after a false goose, wild goose chase while she lets the
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Israelites out. But then there is something that happens in the end of chapter two, where you get to see how
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God would even rescue this Canaanite woman in this land where everything is going to be wiped out because she trusts in God.
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And then there is this, this rope that they are, she is supposed to hang out this call it, um, rope.
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Uh, but that's the rope through which she, um, that, that would signify her home and that would be, uh, preserved when the
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Israelites attack. And in fact, um, many people use that to talk about the scarlet thread of redemption, how
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God's work in and through the book of the new Testament, uh, old
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Testament and the new, we get to see how God is a God who rescues. If you think about it, what is it in rehab that would have procured redemption for her?
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Nothing. She was destined for destruction with the rest, but by faith, she trusts.
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And God is a God who rescues those who are perishing like you and I. And then we have, uh, in, uh, chapter three, the crossing of the
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Jordan. And in fact, there are many parallelisms between Moses and Joshua, as we look at it, even as God showed his power and bringing them, uh, the
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Israelites out of Egypt through the Red Sea. So also in the Jordan, which is actually at speed, it's overflowing.
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You have, uh, not just the warriors crossing over. You have women, children, old people that are well, not very old, but.
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Uh, older people. I don't know how many of them had injuries, but here are people that have to cross, uh, uh, a river that isn't paid this time of the year.
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And God just stops the water all the way back up and rising up while these people can cross through.
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And, uh, you get to see how God shows his power as he brings them across the
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Jordan, and then right there, you have this beautiful account of each of the men, eat one man from each of the tribes, picking up a stone and creating a memorial and reminding themselves.
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Even as we enter this land, we don't have, we don't have all the wars done, but we know what
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God is going to do. And right here, as we've seen what God has done, as he has stopped the river, we want these stones to remind us to, uh, so we can look back and say, our
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God is the one who brought us into this land by stopping the river Jordan. Now, imagine this.
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We are still in the introductory section, but if you are entering the land and you are now in a foreign land where people actually know that there is an invading army and what would you be focusing on sharpening your bows and arrows, your spears, uh, how do
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I get ready? You know, make all these, uh, sounds to pump yourself up.
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What you get to see here is something very, very different. In chapter five, you get to see the way that people prepare for battle is through circumcision.
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This is the second generation that is coming here. And these people are circumcised setting, uh, acknowledging the, how
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God sets his people apart as his own and being ready to go as his people into the battle.
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It is the battle is belonging to the Lord. It is not in the strength of their arm or in their weaponry that they go in to fight.
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Now, uh, right after the circumcision, you have the, uh, the Passover in the land, the first one in the land that they, they, uh, celebrate before they go in.
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And in fact, I want to just read for you chapter five, verse 12, the manner sees the day after they ate the produce of the land, and there was no longer manner for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
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So God's provision through the wilderness now comes to an end as the people have entered the land of milk and honey.
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And they can enjoy the fruit of the land itself. And then we read in verses 13 through 15, the commander of the
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Lord's army. When Joshua was by Beric, by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.
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And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries?
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And he said, no, but I am a, I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worship and said to him, what does my
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Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you stand, where you are standing is holy.
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And Joshua did. So just as you remember, uh, in Genesis three, um,
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Moses encounter with a Holy God and the taking away of his sandals here,
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Joshua comes in, looks at this man. And, uh, there is a battle of the Israelites with the
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Canaanites in the land. And who is this man for? Is this us and them? And he gets a very strange answer.
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The answer is, uh, no, I'm neither you. I'm not here to accomplish the purposes of Israel, nor am
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I here to defend the people of the land. I'm here to accomplish the will of God, the army of the
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Lord. I'm here to do what God wants to do. And it is not that God is there with Israel to somehow accomplish their own intended purposes, but there is
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God's purpose that is going to go forth. And Israel just happens to be the, uh, people that he will use in order to accomplish his purposes.
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It is not Israel, but God's purposes that is foremost. And looking at the way in which Joshua worships this commander, uh, the commentators see this as the theophany of Jesus Christ that we have here.
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And so you have Joshua worshiping Jesus before you have the wars begin. And, uh, ultimately it is
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God who rescues the people, uh, to delivers these people into the land hand of the
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Israelites chapter six, you get to see the fall of Jericho. It's a very famous story. So many of us know this.
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Well, uh, there is no, uh, strategy for siege. In fact, one of the things they discovered, uh, in the ruins of Jericho was they had a lot of food inside.
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It wasn't as if they starved them to death and then they came out and they then broke the walls down.
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It was not like in any other siege. The, they had enough food in the, inside the building and the walls had come down supernaturally.
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And so, you know, the story day one, they go around the, um, the walls.
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Six days. They repeat the same. The seventh day they do it seven times, blow the trumpet. And God brings the walls down.
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And then God had told them this land is good. This town is a Haram. It is devoted to destruction.
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There is nothing you shall take from it, but you shall destroy it all. Uh, and the people go in and they are able to win this war.
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And, uh, there is no one who escapes from this land. But as you look at the wars,
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I want you to contrast this first battle with Jericho with the second one, which is I Jericho is a big town.
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It is, it is an important town. It's a fortified town. It's a hard town to take, but God in seven days just brings the whole thing down and the people are wiped out in chapters eight and nine.
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You, um, you get to see a very, uh, in chapters eight, you get to see a very different account.
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Uh, seven and eight, I'm sorry. In chapter seven and eight, you get to see a very different challenge with a much smaller town of AI.
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Um, and what happens is when. Uh, when the people spy into the land of AI, they say, well, this is not as big as Jericho.
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We don't need to send a lot of people. We'll send us a smaller contingent. They go there, they get beaten and J and Joshua comes back and he is, he has fallen on the ground.
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He just can't understand what has happened. Very second battle that they have to face defeat. All that needs to happen is the people of Canaan hear about what has happened and they're going to come and surround this, uh, women, children, and, uh, uh, people of Israel and wipe them out.
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Uh, how can we survive? If even we don't win against a small town like AI and God shows that there is, uh, there is only one way in which they can participate in the purposes of God, and that is to obey him and follow after him.
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So in, in, uh, Jericho, they, uh, Joshua instructs the people carrying the tabernacle and the people that followed after to a
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T what needs to happen. This is the word that God has given. And we will not swerve to the left or to the right.
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And as they follow after him, God accomplishes the miracle of the falling, uh, walls, and he is the one who delivers the land into his town, into the people.
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And of course there is rehab and her family alone that is rescued. In fact, there's just a comment on rehab.
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If you look at Matthew one, five rehab is one of the ancestors of Jesus.
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So just think about that for a moment. That Jesus would choose to come through a line of a
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Canaanite prostitute liar and redeem us on our behalf.
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You want to be thinking about when we think of salvation, we always like to see these great men who did all these great, wonderful things.
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And here you get to see that God is a God who rescues, um, like pastor
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Dave would say from the utter gutter most to the uttermost. Now in Jericho, everything went well, but in AI, they lost and God does this mighty work of raising
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Joshua up. Here's the leader of the land who was just kind of lost all hope. He strengthens him.
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He tells him, I'm going to show you what the reason for this defeat is. He calls the tribes one by one, the clans, the families, and ultimately the man who was responsible,
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Aiken Aiken was responsible for the defeat at AI. And what he had done, we're going to read for a moment before we continue in this book.
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So in Joshua 7, 19, we read, Joshua said to Aiken, my son, give glory to the
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Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done.
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Do not hide it from me. And Aiken answered Joshua, truly. I have sinned against the
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Lord God of Israel. And this is what I did. When I saw among the spoil, a beautiful cloak from Shinar and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then
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I coveted them and took them and see they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath entering the land, the first battle, getting to see the hand of God and stopping the
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Jordan and bringing the walls down. And yet the heart of man is just as rebellious and sinful. Instead of saying,
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I see the glory of God and I'm thankful for what he has given. He's given me all this land that I have not toiled for.
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Instead, the lust of Aiken looks for this petty things that not just consumed him, but made him reject the
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God who had explicitly forbidden people from doing so. So because of Aiken's and we had people die,
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Israelites die at eye and God, just as he's dealing with this wickedness of the people in the land, he deals with the wickedness of the people in the tent and Aiken and his family would suffer because of his sin.
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And then in chapter eight, you get to see how AI is actually one in war.
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Now you see Jericho and AI. Now, from chapter nine through 11, we're going to see the broader scheme of the wars and the taking over of the land.
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But in nine, you have a very interesting situation where Gibeah, which is not so far from AI and Jericho, these people recognize that Israel is going to come and run over them.
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And so they resort to deception. They come over and say, well, we are from a very far land.
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We've heard of how your God has done so many mighty things for you. We really would like to be in a treaty with you.
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We love your God and we want to be friends with you guys.
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And so Joshua and the leaders, instead of seeking the
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Lord's counsel, enter into a fast treaty. Well, you know, we see your food is all stale.
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Your clothes are worn out. Your slippers are bad. Even our slippers are better. And we've been working 40 years. So, you know, maybe you guys are fine.
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So they go and sign a treaty and the very, uh, they make a covenant very importantly in the name of the
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Lord with these people that they will not enter into war with them. And then the very next day they find out these are our very next door neighbors, the very ones that God had commanded them to be destroyed.
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But because of the covenant that they made in the name of the Lord, they honor it, except that these Gibeonites would now be servants of Israel.
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They will, uh, work as woodcutters and such. And the Gibeonites are just thankful.
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Okay. You know, we got a life and we are happy, but these very Gibeonites, we're going to see some of them later in the, in the old
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Testament will be those kind of thorns. There is going to be trouble that comes to the people because of their foolish and hasty, uh, treaty that they've made with these, with the people of Gibeah.
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But even in the sin of the Israelites in making this fast treaty, you get to see how
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God works out the, uh, taking over of the land in chapter 10, um, chapter, the rest of chapter, um, in chapter 10, you get to see that Adonai Zedek, uh, king of Jerusalem, it sounds like Milky Zedek, Adonai is
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Lord Zedek is righteousness, but he is anything but righteous. And this Jerusalem is before the
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Israelites would, uh, come and make that the capital city. And, uh, this king hears about how
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Joshua's captured AI, uh, what has happened to Jericho and how Gibeah, which is not really a small town, it's a big town and they have come into a treaty with this people.
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And so he gathers all the, uh, five of the Kings from the South. And then he goes after, uh,
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Gibeah because they have, uh, kind of abandoned their own country people and they have, uh, made a treaty with the invading people.
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And so through this Alliance, as these five Kings come together and fight against, uh,
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Gibeah, Joshua comes with the, with the Israelites and you have the Southern campaign begin.
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So rather than just going town by town, by town, you now have all of these Kings come together and God hands over all of these people into, um, the hands of Israel.
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So if you look at, um, um, uh, the, uh, through Joshua, I'm not going to read
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Joshua 10, but you get to see how, um, God would give these people into the hands.
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And I want to read just maybe a couple of verses in, uh, verse eight of chapter 10, do not fear them for I've given them into your hand.
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Not a man of them shall stand before you. They cannot resist you. You will overcome them.
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So Joshua came upon them suddenly having marched up all night from Gilgal and the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth Horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makeda.
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Beth Horon, uh, is for the north, north and west of, uh,
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Gibeon. You can see that in the map when we are done and, uh, moving down in verse 11, as they fled before Israel, they were going down Beth Horon and the
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Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah and they died.
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There were more who died because of the hail stones than the sons of Israel killed with a sword. And this is not just a couple of towns over.
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This is a huge, it covers miles. And God was the one who was driving out these people from before them.
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And in fact, in verse 12, you get to see the miracle. Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the
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Amorites over to the sons of Israel. And he said in the side of Israel, sun stands still at Gibeon and moon in the
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Valley of Ashkelon. And then you get to see in verse 13, the sun stopped in its myth in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.
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And there has been no day like it before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man for the
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Lord fought for Israel. And you get to see again, once again, how, uh, the
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Southern Kings and, uh, it ends in verse 28, as these five Kings are destroyed. And then the campaign continues through the
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Southern regions as other Kings are also, um, overrun as Israel takes over Southern Israel.
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And in chapter 11, you get to see the Northern, um, conquest,
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Southern conquest. If you want to think of the map, you have the Dead Sea and, uh, it's around the West and North of the
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Dead Sea where these regions are captured. But in chapter 11, you get to see from the
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Sea of Galilee and above North and West, you have this town called Hazor. And so Jabin and Hazor is probably the biggest town in all of Israel at this, all of Canaan at this point in time.
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And he does the same kind of Alliance as Adonai Zedek did. And he brings all these people, and this is going to be a much more challenging war and they come against Joshua.
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And once again, God tells to Joshua, you shall not fear them. And God in verse eight gave them into the hand of Israel who struck them and chased them as far as great
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Sidon and, and beyond. And he, they struck them until he left none remaining.
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And so once again, you get to see in chapter 11, the Northern Conquest as this is not just if, if in Jericho and AI, you get a very detailed account of how things happen as you come into chapters 10 and 11, this is more of a broader, it's like zooming out and seeing how things happen.
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These don't happen in a few days or weeks. These take years, but over time you get to see the Southern Kingdom, Southern Kings deposed and likewise the
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Northern Kings. And in chapter 12, you get this account of all the various Kings who are taken over through the conquest.
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So that's the bulk from six to 11, you get to see the wars and how God gives the land to the, to the
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Israelites by fighting on behalf of his people. And then chapter 12 to 22,
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I'm not going to read this. It's difficult to read because there's a lot of boundary markers.
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You go this way, turn to the East, go to the North. And, you know, it's very hard for us to map it, but it's crucial because each of the tribes has given the allotment from, as just as God had promised to them.
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And in addition to each of the tribes, you see chapter after chapter, you get to see also the cities of refuge that were promised in the
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Pentateuch. You get to see how the Levites were to be provided for, because they don't own any towns and you get to see, you get to see not just on the
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East, on the West of the Jordan, but also the Eastern side, the land that the Israelites had settled.
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So you come up to chapter 22 and you get to see the land that has been laid out. And then we see chapter 23, which was read before us.
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So as you see chapter 23, this is a looking back at what God has done on their behalf.
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God is the one who has fought on their, on their behalf. And then you get to see in a, let me just read verse six, be very strong to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from it, neither to the right hand or to the left.
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This is Joshua saying to the people of Israel that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mentions of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the
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Lord, your God, just as you have done to this day. You know, there's very little times in the
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Bible when you actually see the people of God, actually faithful to the God who has rescued them. And Joshua is actually one of those neat books, except for the account of Achan that is recorded for us.
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You get to see actually the people did what God had asked them to do. And God showcased his hand in their midst.
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And in verse nine, for the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations.
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And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. And then he talks about, uh, the consequences and the rest of chapter 23, if they would not follow after their
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God. So here you are at the end of all these victories, you look and see how God has given you these lands to inherit.
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These are now your homes where you go and stay. But if you would forsake God and go after these false gods, you will also face
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God's judgment. In fact, in verse 14, I am about to go the way of all the earth and, and, you know, in your hearts and souls, all of you that not one word has failed of all the good things that the
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Lord, your God promised concerning you all have come to pass for you. Not one of them has failed.
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You know, after these years of battle, Joshua got to said, you know, I was pretty smart.
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You know, remember that AI campaign? Um, you know, we sent these guys in the back, we kind of drew out, brought them out, and then we captured them and we took care of all the people, you know, that was a pretty good strategy, wasn't it?
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No, it's all about the word of God that has accomplished his work in our behalf. I just happened to be the agent.
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Remember the meeting encounter with the commander? He's the one who's leading the Lord's armies. I just am following behind him.
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He is the one who's who, um, in fact, in verse 10 of 23, one man of you puts to flight a thousand since it is the
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Lord, your God who fights for you. And so Joshua, as a good leader, reminds the people, it is the word of God.
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He's the one who promised and accomplished this. His word is what you need to be anchored on and following rather than, uh, assuming it is your own power and go after other gods because these victories you want are not your own.
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It is, it belongs to the Lord, your God. And so we come to the end of the chapter and we'll, as we close,
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I want to just, uh, look at Joshua's charge and then look back at the redemptive history where this book ends in Joshua 24 was 14.
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He says, uh, Joshua charges this people once again. Now, therefore fear the
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Lord, serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness, put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and Egypt and serve the
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Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day, whom you will serve, whether the gods, your father served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the
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Amorite Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the
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Lord. And, uh, let me just stop here for a moment before I go further. Here is a recounting of the conquest of the land that God has accomplished.
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Just as, um, Moses would do this in the Pentateuch, he would remind them, here's what God did to the, uh, to Egypt.
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Here is how he provided for you. Here is how he took care of these Kings. As we were getting close to this land, more, um,
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Joshua does the same. He says, you need to remember, remember that it is God was done this time and time again, and, uh, you can, you can trust in this
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God who has rescued you. You can put in your lot with this
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God and worship him. I know for myself as your leader, it was not my strength, but it is the
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God of heaven and earth that I will serve. What about you? And here is this, uh, people that they, uh, respond.
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And it is just interesting just to see this, you know, these people answered far be it from us that we should forsake the
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Lord to serve other gods. And then they go on and speaking and Joshua and verse 19, he's like, okay, you know, that's good.
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Let's stop and move forward. Joshua says to the people, you are not able to serve the
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Lord for he is a Holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the
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Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you after having done you good.
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Remember, this is exactly what Moses was telling the people. He was reminding them that there is blessing for obedience and there is curses for disobedience.
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And I've seen you for 40 years in the wilderness. And I know that you do not have it in you to accomplish all that you think you can do right now as you're feeling good.
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The you will, you endure, will you continue in the path that God has called you to?
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And, uh, that's exactly what Joshua was saying here. You are not able, and you need to remember the character of your
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God. Holy, jealous, and he will be just justice. You have executed justice.
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So shall it be to you. And verse 21, the people say again, no, but we will serve the
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Lord. And look at what Joshua says in 22. He said to the people, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the
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Lord to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses. And verse 25, he makes a covenant, gives the statutes and the rules.
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And in 26, he wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and he put a large stone so that the people can see this stone shall be a witness against us.
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For it has heard the words of the Lord that he has spoken to us. And it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your
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God. There are times in our life. And we think, you know, things are going well.
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I followed God. I have done things well, everything that the Lord has called me to do. I have, you know, been able to do,
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I've enjoyed his grace, his goodness is his mercy. And, uh, I think I can do it from here on.
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And really as this book ends, you'd almost think all these major towns taken out.
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There is just a few more in the land that they need to move as they fill out.
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They are not taken out because God says, you know, we don't want these foxes to come in and inherit. There is going to be a time, but you need to be continue this process of driving out the people.
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So you don't intermingle and don't let them corrupt you. And you would think, okay, we've gotten the majority of the land, not a big deal to finish everything else.
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God has helped us thus far. He can help us further. And so when Joshua ends, you think the next book would say, yeah, they just went took care of the rest of the land and they, they had the
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Messiah. Sadly, that's not what happens, you know, from judges all the way up until first Kings, you get to see the dangers that these people face in this land, exactly what they were told not to exactly what they said they will obey
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God and serve him. Those were the very things that they failed to do. And the very next book is a spiral that is just out of control.
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We need to remember it is God who saves us. It is
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God who keeps us and God who enables us to accomplish his purposes in our lives.
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This morning, we heard this message about how we need to be a people trusting in God, and we need to be a people that need to be reminded of the salvation of God.
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Uh, let us never presume just because of the victories that Joshua and his people won that by the arm of flesh, we can move forward.
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Uh, we need to be a people that remember God has done many things mighty in our lives, and we need to be a people that are by faith looking to God for that day when we will cross the
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Jordan, when one day we will see God face to face between now and then.
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I pray that our lives would not be like the Israelites in the judges and the rest of the books, but rather that we would be a people that are humble and trusting in the
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God who rescues us. Let us pray. God, we thank you for preserving these words and instructing us even as you worked in the lives of the
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Israelites all these many years ago. Help us to remember that you are sovereign, you accomplish exactly what you purpose in nations, and you are the one who is able to keep us to the very end.
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We thank you for Jesus, our savior. We thank you that he died and on our behalf in order that the righteous requirement of the law is unconditionally met by his finished work on the cross.
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We thank you for saving us, for rescuing us and help us a lot to live today and the rest of our life here on earth for your glory in Christ's name we pray.