open with me to Psalm 122. To
worship our Lord, hear Him preached, hear Him honored, hear Him magnified. And we have men here that will
do that very capably, very ably. We are very, very thankful. Very
thankful. One verse of scripture. Psalm
122. Psalm 122. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go into the house of the Lord. I'm glad that I wanted to be
here, glad I was able to be here, and I'm glad I know what's going
on when I get here. Yeah, it's a wonderful thing
to come worship with the children of God and bless the saints of
God. Let's bow our hearts in worship.
Would you turn with me to the book of Joshua? Joshua chapter 9. Joshua chapter 9. I'd like to introduce this message
with this question. Do you ever feel like a fraud
and like a deceiver? I've entitled this message, Hope
for Deceivers. Now, this title comes from the
fourth verse about these Gibeonites They did work wildly and went
and made as if they had been ambassadors and took old sacks
upon their asses and wine bottles old and rent and bound up and
old shoes and clattered upon their feet and old garments upon
them and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. They came to deceive Joshua. That was their purpose. They
came to deceive. Now this word, wilily, means
using subtlety and deceit, but you know it's also used in a
good sense in the scriptures. It's also sometimes translated
wise and prudent. And here it's used both ways. Yes, they were deceitful. Yes, they were using wisdom and
prudence. Verse one, and it came to pass
when all the kings which were on this side of Jordan in the
hills and in the valleys and in all the coasts of the great
sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite,
the Perizzite, the Hivite, the Jebusite, heard thereof. There's something they heard.
You know what they heard about? They heard about the Jordan River
parting and the children of Israel marching through with the commission
to kill everybody there, a commission from God. They heard about the
walls of Jericho falling down supernaturally. They heard about
the town of Ai being destroyed. And they heard about this and
they thought, what are we going to do? They were afraid. I don't blame them. I would be
afraid too. To have almighty God as my enemy,
commissioning people to destroy me, I would be afraid too. So they got together, verse two,
that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua
and with Israel with one accord. Now they said, the only thing
we can do is try to save ourselves. You think they would have had
enough sense to know that this is a battle they couldn't win,
they couldn't possibly win, but they tried anyway. So they joined
forces to try to battle Israel, who was coming in to destroy
all the land. Verse three, and when the inhabitants
of Gibeon, that was one of the highlights, as we'll see. The
inhabitants of Gibeon, it was only 18 miles away. When the inhabitants of Gibeon
heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they did work
wildly. They worked in a deceitful manner,
and they had a good reason. And they went and made as if
they had been ambassadors and took old sacks upon their asses
and wine bottles, old and rent and bound up and old shoes and
clouded upon their feet and old garments upon them. And all the
bread of their provision was dry and moldy. Now they had a
torn up, filthy garment. Their provision wasn't any good
at all. Dry and moldy. and their shoes, their walk was
spotted. And they went to Joshua unto
the camp at Gilgal and said unto him and to the men of Israel,
we be come from a far country. They were only 18 miles away,
but they were making it out as they came from a far country. Look at our clothes, they're
dry rotted on us, this journey's been so long. Look at our shoes,
look at our provisions, dry and moldy, it's no good. We've come
from a long way, and the only hope we have is that you will
make a league, that's the word that's generally translated covenant,
that you will make a covenant with us. This is the only hope
we have. We can't make it a covenant with
you. We can't get you to agree with this. We can't do anything.
The only hope we have is that you will enter in to a covenant
with us and that's what we're asking you to do. That's the
only hope we have. You don't bear this like that.
The only hope I have is in a covenant. Not a covenant I made. but a
covenant God made. David put it this way, although
my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, and this is all my
salvation. Not 99% of it, all my salvation,
and all my desire, it's all I want, though he make it not to grow. We want you to make a covenant
with us, that's our desire. Verse eight, and they said unto
Joshua, no, verse seven, and the men of Israel said unto the
Hivites, they didn't know they were Hivites, peradventure you
dwell among us, and how shall we make a league with you? You
might be one of the nations that we've been ordered to destroy
and exterminate. And they said unto Joshua, We
are thy serpents. And Joshua said unto them, who
are you? And from whence come ye? And
they said unto him, from a very far country. We're about as far
away as you can be. That's how far out we are. We're
as far away as we can be. From a very far country thy servants
are come, because of the name of the Lord thy God. For we have
heard the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt. Now that's
the gospels clearly, I know how to state it. The name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation for his namesake. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. His fame, his glory, the Lord
of glory, and all that he did. We've heard about all that he
did. Isn't that what preaching the gospel is, talking about
all that he did? All that he actually accomplished. What did
he actually do? He put away the sins of all his
people. That's what we heard. What a
gospel message. Verse 11, verse 10. And all that he did to the two
kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan, to Sion, king
of Heshbon, and to Og, king of Bashan, which was at Ashotroth,
we heard about all of the things he did. Wherefore, our elders
and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying,
take vittles with you for the journey, and go to meet them,
and say with them, we're your servants. Therefore now, make
ye a league with us. Enter into covenant with us.
Our only hope is that you'll make a league or a covenant with
us and agree not to destroy us. We can't get you to do it. We
can't win this or earn this, but this is the only hope we
have. We're pleading for your mercy.
Make a covenant, make a league with us. Now, there are two covenants. You
already know that. Only two. Governor of Works,
Governor of Grace. Which one do you want to be under? Verse 12. This our bread we took
hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came
forth to go unto you. But now, behold, it's dry and
it's moldy. And these bottles of wine, which
were filled, were new. And behold, they be rent. And
these are garments, and our shoes are become old by reason of the
very long journey." Now, if you're going to be looking for grace,
how are you going to come? You're not going to say, these
shoes are good. I got a good walk. This garment, good shape,
good food. If you come like that, you're asking him to pay you
what he owes you. Look at the way I've been. I've
got this coming. No, if you want to come for grace,
I come with a ragged, filthy, ragged righteousness that I want
to get rid of. Oh, it's horrible. My walk is
so horrible. My food, I don't get anything
out of it, nothing. I am completely dependent upon
you to make a covenant with me. That's all that I have, nothing
else. That is the way they came, and
that's the way you and I should approach the Lord. No other way. You know, there's a man that, was writing me, we were having
some correspondence, and he would always ask me in his letter,
he'd say, how's your walk with the Lord? And I heard it enough to where
I said, what do you want me to say, good? What kind of answer
am I supposed to give to that? And I think he got the point. But at any rate, look at the
way they came. moldy, tattered shoes, rags,
the provision was no good. Verse 14, and the men took of their vittles
and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. And they should
have asked counsel at the mouth of the Lord. They should have
sought his direction and they didn't. Why not? I reckon the
same reason why we don't when we don't. I don't know. They
didn't. They didn't. It wasn't right,
but they didn't. And look what happened as a result,
verse 15, and Joshua made peace with them. Now, they didn't deserve
it in any level, but Joshua made peace with them. and made a league,
a covenant with them to let them live. And the princes of the
congregation swear unto them. And it came to pass as the end
of three days after they had made a league with them, that
they heard that they were their neighbors and that they dwelt
among them. They found out they'd been swindled.
They found out they'd been deceived. Now I would, if it was me, I
would say, boy, that covenant's null and void. That's the way
I would handle it. That covenant's null and void. You did this under
false pretenses and it's not right, but such is the covenant. I'm so thankful. And the children of Israel, verse
17, journeyed and came into their cities on the third day. Now
their cities were Gibeon, and Shephira, and Beeroth, and Kirthjath-Jirim. And the children of Israel smote
them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn
unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation
murmured against the princes. They weren't very happy with
this. They murmured against the princes, but, verse 19, the princes
said unto the congregation, we have sworn unto them by the Lord
God of Israel, now therefore we may not touch them. We're not even allowed to touch
them because of this covenant. This we will do to them. We'll
let them live, lest wrath be upon us. We're not gonna go ahead
and break our covenant. We know what'll happen if we
do. This we will do. We'll let them live, lest wrath
be upon us because of the oath which we swear unto them. And
the princes said unto them, let them live, but let them be ewers
of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation as
the princes had promised them. They were spared, but they were
going to be slaves in the house of God. It doesn't sound too
bad to me, do you? I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.
We're going to see that in just a moment. It's going to be brought
up. Verse 22, and Joshua called for them. And he's speaking to
them saying, wherefore have you beguiled us, deceived us? Saying,
we're very far from you when you dwell among us. Now therefore
you're cursed and there shall none of you be freed from being
bondmen and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house
of my God. And they answered Joshua and
said, because it was certainly told. thy servants, how that the Lord
thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land
and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you.
Therefore, we were so afraid of our lives because of you and
have done this thing. We heard certainties. You know,
that's what the gospel is all about is certainties. Certainties,
the certainty of the absolute justice of God, how he must punish
all sin and he will by no means clear the guilty. The certainty
of my own sinfulness and inability to save myself. The certainty
of salvation by divine grace. The certainty that if Christ
died for you, you can't be anything but saved. We deal with certainties. We heard these certainties and
we knew we had to enter into coven. There wasn't any other
hope for us. 25, and now, behold, we're in thine
hand. As it seemeth good and right
unto thee, do unto us. Now that's the attitude of every
believer, every single one. We're in his hand. He can do
with us whatever He's pleased to do, whatever He does is right.
We're in His hand. Now, you've never worshipped
until you've worshipped one who you're in His hand, and He can
do with you whatever He's pleased to do. They worshipped. Verse 26, and so did He unto
them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of
Israel, that they slew them not. And Joshua made them that day
ewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and
for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day in the place which
he should choose." Now, these other nations thought, we're
going to fight. We're going to try to work our
way out of this. These fellows knew that there's
nothing they could do. They understood that. They understood
the only way they could approach God is if he would be pleased
to make a covenant with them. Chapter 10. Now it came to pass when Adonai
Zedek, king of Jerusalem, this is interesting, this is the first
time we read of Jerusalem in the Bible, right here. It had
been called Salem when Melchizedek was there, the King of Salem,
and this man's name means King of Righteousness, and I guess
it came off something from being associated with Melchizedek,
and he was one of the kings, and I guess maybe they called
all the kings this. But this was this fellow's name, means
King of Righteousness, but he didn't know anything about righteousness,
as we're going to see. Now it came to pass when Adonai Zedek,
king of Jerusalem, had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had
utterly destroyed it, as he'd done to Jericho and her king,
so he did to Ai and her king and how the inhabitants of Gibeon
had made peace with Israel and were among them. They feared
greatly because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities,
and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were
mighty. Wherefore Adonai Zedek, king
of Jerusalem, sent unto Hotham, king of Hebron, and to Pyram,
king of Jareth, and to Japhethi, king of Lachish, and to Debar,
king of Eglon, saying, Come up unto me, and help me, that we
may smite Gibeon. for it hath made peace with Joshua
and with the children of Israel. Therefore, the five kings of
the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king
of Jeremiah, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglin, gathered themselves
together and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped
before Gibeon to make war against it." Now, I think this is interesting. If I were Joshua, I would say,
we'll just get these Gibeonites off our hand now. Let them go. Let them get smitten. The way they deceived us, that's
what they deserve. And I would have just stepped
back and let these five kings do whatever it was they wanted
to do. Verse six, and the men of Gibeon
sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal saying slack not thy
hand from thy servants come up to us quickly and save us and
help us for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the
mountains are gathered together against us. Now here's one of
the glorious things about the Lord's covenant when the Lord
enters into covenant with you he's completely responsible for
your salvation in every respect in every respect. Now, like I
said, I can see why. Get him, go ahead. No, the Lord
in his covenant took complete responsibility for the salvation
of Todd Nybert, no matter how unworthy and deceitful and what
a fraud he was. He took complete responsibility
for my salvation. Verse seven, so Joshua ascended
from Gilgal. He and all the people of war
with him and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said unto
Joshua, fear them not. For I have delivered them into
thine hand. There shall not a man of them
stand before thee. Now remember, they're going to
fight for these Gibeonites. That's the only reason they're
fighting. And this is why the Lord gave them this command. You're going to protect those
that have been entered into covenant with. Joshua therefore came to them
suddenly and went up from Gilgal all night, and the Lord disconfitted
them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at
Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth
Horon, and smote them to Azekah unto Makedah. And it came to
pass, as they fled from before Israel and were going down to
Betharon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven
upon them and Azekah, and they died. And there were more that
died with the hailstones than with the children of Israel slew
with the sword. The Lord was fighting this battle.
Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered
up the Amorites before the children of Israel. And he said in the
sight of Israel, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon
in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and
the moon stayed till the people had avenged themselves upon their
enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? So the
sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to
go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that,
before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice
of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel."
You see, he is the one who made physical law in the first place.
And he can suspend it. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? He's in absolute control. Verse 15, and Joshua returned and all Israel
with him and do camp to Gilgal. But these five kings that had
fought against and united against Israel, They hid themselves in
a cave at Makeda. And it was told Joshua, saying,
the five kings are found hid in a cave at Makeda. And Joshua
said, roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave and set
men by it for to keep them. And stay ye not, but pursue after
your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them. Suffer them not to enter
into their cities, for the Lord your God hath delivered them
into your hand. And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children
of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a great slaughter,
till they were consumed, that the rest which remained of them
entered into fenced cities. And all the people returned to
the camp to Joshua at Makeda in peace. None moved his tongue
against any of the children of Israel." Don't you love that
scripture? That reminds me of Exodus 11, seven, against the
children of Israel, shall not a dog move his tongue, against
man or beast, so that you may know how that the Lord doth put
a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. Verse 22, then said
Joshua, open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five
kings unto me out of the cave. You know, five, I don't understand
numerology and the scriptures, but there's something to it.
Seven, perfection. Five is said to be the number
of grace. And that's because all the things in the tabernacle
are divisible by five. Five this, five that, or divisible
by five. There may be something to that,
I don't know. One time I brought a message on what I called the
five stones of David. when he picked up five stones
and somebody wrote me and said, that's the most ridiculous thing
I've ever heard. When I said something about that,
and they even told me I was an ignorant. I didn't write, I just
didn't write him back. You know, but at any rate, I
don't know if this is, it may be the number of grace. I don't
know. Five, five. Then said Joshua, open the mouth
of the cave and bring out those five kings into me out of the
cave. And they did so. And he brought forth those five
kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the kingdom
of Hebron, the king of Jarmath, the king of Lachish, and the
king of Eglon. And it came to pass when they
brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for
all the men of Israel and said unto the captains of the men
of war and went with them, come near, put your feet upon the
necks of these kings. And they came near. and put their
feet upon the necks of them. And Joshua said unto them, fear
not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage, for thus
shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom you fight. Now who are your enemies? I know who my enemies are. My sins. My sin and my sins. Now let's look what the Lord
does about these enemies. And afterwards, Joshua smote
them, slew them, and hanged them on five trees. Now that's what
the Lord did with my sins. nailed to a tree. Verse 27, And it came to pass
at the time of the going down of the sun that Joshua commanded,
and they took them down off the trees and cast them into the
cave wherein they'd been hid, and laid great stones in the
cave's mouth, which remain unto this day. Now here's what happened
to my sins. They left me. They were made
Christ's and he was nailed to a tree. And they took him off that tree
and put him in a cave in a tomb. And he came out without them. Where are they? They are no more. Verse 28, this is the last verse.
I know I've read a lot of scriptures, but that's a good thing to do,
isn't it? Verse 28, and that day Joshua
took Makeda and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the
king thereof, he utterly destroyed them, and all the souls that
were therein, he let none remain. And he did to the king of Makeda
as he did unto the kings of Jericho. Now, with regard to my enemies,
my sins, he's let none remain." Now, with regard to these men, they were deceivers. They were deceptive men. I can relate with that. I can
relate with that. You can too. They knew, beyond the shadow
of a doubt, that the only hope that they had is if Joshua would
be pleased to make a covenant with them. The only hope they had. Now,
I can tell you this with full assurance. God, who cannot change,
who will by no means clear the guilty, the God of glory will
meet you on the ground you want. If you want to come to Him on
the footing of your works in any way, He'll meet you there. And you don't want to know about
the results. But if you come on the footing
of pure, free grace, he'll meet you there. He'll meet
you on the ground you want to come. Now, I want to be like
these Gibeonites. These guys, they were deceitful,
but they used some spiritual wisdom, didn't they? I want to come on the ground
of pure, free grace in a covenant that was made before the world
began. And I repeat this scripture one
more time, 2 Samuel 23 5, although my house be not so with God. David's house was a mess. I mean, it was a mess. After that issue with Bathsheba
and Uriah, the next chapter, one son rapes his daughter. Then Absalom murders his son
for raping his daughter. And after that, Absalom tries
to take over Israel. David has to flee for his life.
I mean, his house was a mess. I don't think that you could
get away from saying, although this house be not so with God. Yet, yet, yet, have he made with
me an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things and get
this next word sure And this is all my salvation
And this is all my desire though we make it not to grow Hope for
deceivers