I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me back to Joshua, Joshua chapter 10. Joshua 10. The men of Gibeon are in trouble. But their trouble, like ours,
always proves to be a blessing because they cried unto the only hope
of their safety. Joshua 10, verse 6, and the men
of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp in 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. Beloved, Psalm 46.1 sets forth
a precious truth. that we need to hear often. God is our refuge and strength. Now listen to this, a very present
help in trouble. Trouble. Trouble drives us to
the Lord. And he knows our needs. and He
knows how to draw us. A psalmist wrote in Psalm 77,
verse 2. Psalm 77, verse 2. In the day of my trouble, I sought
the Lord. In the day of my trouble, I sought
the Lord. Is that not so? When things go well, we think
that, well, everything's going just fine, you know. We are so
easily forgetful. We forget. We forget. But if the Lord sends trouble, we're going to remember that's
His way. Psalm 50, verse 15. The Lord exhorts us. Psalm 50
verse 15, call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver
thee and thou shalt glorify me. I'll deliver you. You know, I've
noticed the Lord may not be pleased to deliver us out of the presence
of trouble. Call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee. What if
he doesn't take us out of the presence of it? He'll deliver
us from the fear of it. I told you, I used to tell my
kids this all the time. The situation never changes,
only the way you look at it. It doesn't change, just the way
you see it. If the Lord gives us peace and
delivers us from despair, from doubt. He's delivered us. You say, yeah,
but you're still in the midst of it. It's okay. It's okay.
Brother Henry used to say, it's all good. It's all good. It's
good. It's good. The men of Gibeon
unburdened their heart and they cried unto Joshua. Beautiful
picture of our Lord. They cried unto him as needy
servants. That's what they said, we're
your servant. And we're dependent upon you
to have mercy upon us, to be our
strength. Slack not your hand from thy
servants. You're the provider, we're the
needy servants. Oh, how gladly, how quickly we
take our place before the Lord. We find it a great, great comfort,
a great pleasure. Don't you find it just so comforting
to just be honest with the Lord and say, Lord, I'm in trouble. Lord, help me. Lord, forgive me. Lord, forgive
me for doubting you. Forgive me for forgetting to
ask. Until now, Lord, you've brought
me. And Joshua, hearing their cry,
did not fail to respond. Look what it says in verse seven.
So Joshua ascended from Gilgal. He and all the people of war
with him and all the mighty men of valor. Now, what a picture.
What a beautiful picture. of our Savior who never failed. No record. Show me one place
in Scripture where anybody, anybody ever came to him seeking mercy,
mercy. I'm not talking about somebody
dictating to him or reprimanding him. I'm talking about somebody
that came to him for mercy. Show me one place in Scripture
where he failed to help, Jew or Gentile. Rich, poor, centurion,
soldier. Soldier came to him, asked for his servant's healing. Lord said, I'll go with you.
He said, no, no, no, you don't have to go with me. You just
speak the word. He said, I'm a man of authority.
I say you go, he goes, you come, you can come. Lord, you say the
word. You know what the Lord said about
that? Great is your faith. He was a Gentile, he was a Gentile
soldier. The Lord answered that Gentile
soldier as quickly as he healed Peter's mother-in-law. A leper, a stinking leper, needy
leper came to him and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. And he said, I will. He did that for that leper just
as quickly as he went to Lazarus, his friend, his beloved friend. And he spoke to him, Lazarus,
come forth. Nicodemus came to him by night
with the insinuation, most writers seem to believe this, that he
came under the guise of night, under the darkness of night,
you know, to speak to the Lord. and the Lord heard him, and the
Lord spoke to him, and gave him instruction, gave him some help,
and came to him, and he asked the Lord's conversation, and
the Lord answered him as quickly as that dying thief. He said,
Lord, would you remember me when you enter into your kingdom?
Verily I say unto you, today you're gonna be with me in paradise. The scripture says, verse eight,
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. Let me just make this note here. There's no record that Joshua
spoke to the Lord here. It said, and the Lord said unto
Joshua, fear them not. Now I don't doubt that Joshua
considered it, thought on it, what was getting ready to happen
here, but here the Spirit of God teaches us something about
the ever-present awareness of our need. I want you to turn
over to Ephesians. Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3, verse
20. Ephesians 3.20. Look at this. None to him that is able
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us. The spirit of God has told us
that we don't even know what to pray. I don't know what to
ask for. And you that know him, when you
have that time, when you enter into your closet, When you enter
into your closet and you pray unto your father in heaven, here's
what the scripture says. The father who seeth in secret,
he seeth, he knows, he hears, he's gonna reward you openly.
Reward us when we don't even know what to think or ask? Yeah, yeah, absolutely right. Isaiah 65, 24, listen to what
Isaiah was moved to say by the Spirit of God. And it shall come
to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they're
yet speaking, I'll hear. Isn't that comforting to know?
He really hears. Somebody says, well, sure he
does. No, I'm telling you, that's an amazing thing to me. That's
an amazing thing. that there's not one believer
in this world that speaks unto the Lord, cries unto the Lord,
and the Lord doesn't hear that one personally. He's God. He's God. We just think too lowly. He's
God. The Lord knew Joshua's frame
and therefore he knew his need of assurance. I'm standing right here right
now, whether you know it or not, I'm tore all to pieces inside. I'm right on the edge, right
on the edge. Well, you don't seem like you're
on the edge. Well, that's okay, that's fine. I'm glad I don't
appear that way to you. But in my heart, I'm thinking,
I'm speaking on behalf of God. to God's people, that God Almighty,
there's some people here that the Lord's everlastingly loved.
I'm convinced of that. And the Lord's here. And I'm,
this lump of clay is standing here saying something. He told
Joshua, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I've delivered
them into thine hand. There's not a man of them gonna
stand before you. The Lord knew, the Lord knew.
And gave him assurance, even though it's not even recorded
that Joshua said anything to him, the Lord knew. Verse nine,
Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly. Went up from Gilgal
all night. He came up suddenly at the word
of the Lord. Well, you say, yeah, but it was
Gilgal The men of Gibeon that asked for them, the Lord moved
them to ask. And so it was at the word of
the Lord. Didn't hesitate to do that which they requested
and what the Lord had promised to accomplish. He said, I've
given them into your hand. They said, come up here, the
Lord said, I've given them to you. Beloved, whatsoever thy
hand findeth to do, Do it with all thy might. There's no work,
nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whether
thou goest. If we got anything to do, let's
do it. Let's do what we can. Let's do that which is honoring
to our Lord. Verse 10, and the Lord discomfited
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 Azedkah, and unto Machedah." Notice that which is set forth
here by the Spirit of God. What did the Lord say in verse
8? He said, "'Fear them not, for
I have delivered them into thine hand. not a man that's gonna
stand before thee. I've given them into your hand.
What does verse 10 say? And the Lord discomfited them
and slew them with a great slaughter and chased them along the way
and smoked them. It was the Lord himself that
confused them. I've given them into your hand
and the Lord confused them and slew them The Lord did this. He is the mighty conqueror. The battle is the Lord's. I've
given them to you. I'll do it. I'll do it. We're
such weak creatures. Aren't you glad he doesn't leave
it up onto us to do? Deuteronomy 20, verse four. Deuteronomy
20, verse four. Your God is He that goeth with
you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. Remember, He's never gonna leave
us. He's never going to forsake us.
But again, we're so prone to doubt. He chased them, He slew
them all the way to Beth Horon. I looked up the names of these
places. They were going to Beth-horon, it means the house of hollowness. Azedek, it means dug over. Makeda, place of shepherds is
what it meant. And the only thing that I could
find concerning those three places, that's where they were running.
This is what I saw in that. They were going where they thought
they were gonna find a refuge. They were going, we're going
to go somewhere. We're getting whipped here. And
so here where we're going, we're going to go to the place or the
house of holiness. We're going to go to the place
called Dugover, a place of shepherds where they thought themselves
to be safe. And God followed them. It says
in verse 11, it came to pass as they fled, from before Israel,
and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast
down great stones from heaven upon them unto Ezekiel. And they died. They were more
which died with hail stones than they whom the children of Israel
slew with a sword." Now, this verse of Scripture right here
begins, I want to try to go through verse 14. But this verse of Scripture
begins a revelation of some miracles, three miracles, that was wrought
of the Lord, by the Lord, in the defense of Israel and the
victory over their enemies. Now, I'm gonna tell you right
now, this right here, from right here to the end of this message
right here, verse 14, I pray that the Lord allow me
to say, I'm asking right now, Lord, give me some understanding.
Please bring back to my memory these things that you've shown
me and taught me. Let me express, I mean, this
is a prayer. I'm telling you right now. Lord,
help me here, because in these three miracles right here, we're
going to behold, they're three miracles. They're marvelous miracles. But I see something in this that
was just such a blessing to me, and I pray that the Lord bless
it to us right now. Here was the first miracle. There
was a casting down of great stones, the scripture says, upon those that fled unto Azekah. The Lord executed judgment upon
the people who had raised their hand against him and against
his people, the people of his affection. Joshua was given victory
as he battled these kings, and these kings were fleeing, and
while they were fleeing, and here's the myth. Now, you have
to understand something. Israel is fighting them. They're
killing them. They're killing them. What does
that mean? That means that Israel is right
there in the midst of them. It's going to be hard to kill
somebody if you're not right there with them with the sword. If
you're not right on top of them. And God sends down these great
stones. Hail stones is what it said,
and they were given victory. God sent down these stones and
with pinpoint accuracy was killing the enemies of Israel. All creation moves as the Lord
ordains. You know, God created this earth. created the heavens and the earth
and the seasons, you know, and everything, our understanding, moves according
to His will. If you want to know, according
to the order of Almighty God, if you want to know when the
sun is going to come up, one year from today, when did it
come up today? That's when it's going to come
up next year. When is the season going to begin? When did it begin last year?
A year before that, a year before that, a year before that. That's
when it's going to begin next year. God made it like that. The Lord gave an order to the
sea, don't go any farther than right here. Plant life, animal life, human
life, it's set. set according to his decree.
But what if he's pleased to change something in our sight? What
if he's pleased to open up a Red Sea? Red Seas don't open up. When God says open up, they do.
How about the Jordan River? How about flies and lice and
darkness and blood and water? Water don't turn to blood. It
does when God tells it to. Here they're fleeing, the Lord
told them, He said, don't be afraid of them, I've given them
into your hand. And they start fleeing and Israel's
fighting them. And they're killing them by the
sword. And it came to pass as they fled, before Israel going
down, the Lord set down great hailstorm and killed the enemies
of God and not one of God's people. Because it said we're touched,
not one of them. Almighty God is moving. God told him, he said,
not a man is gonna stand before you. Though Joshua did slay many,
the scripture sets forth that God, look at verse 11, came to
pass as they fled from before Israel and were going down to
Bethlehem that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven
upon them unto Azekah, and they died, and they were more which
died with hailstorms than they whom the children of Israel slew
with the sword." God killed them. I'm talking about, that was a
miracle. But think of the awareness, the power that God Almighty has
over all men. He rules in heaven. God knows. God sees. God delivers. He's
promised, I'm not gonna leave you. I'm not gonna forsake you. But then in 12 and 13, two other
miracles took place. 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 Agilon. And the sun stood still,
and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves
upon their enemies. It's not just written in the
book of Jasser. So the sun stood still. in the
midst of heaven, hasted not to go down about a whole day." I read those and considered those.
That's truly a miracle. Two miracles that were truly
amazing. Oh, but the picture that's set
forth. I take nothing away from the
miracles. That's a miracle. That's a miracle. But the scripture starts off
in that 12th verse, and here's what it says. Then spake Joshua
to the Lord. Then spake Joshua to the Lord. Now, Joshua is a man but he was
a man that pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a great
defeat. There was a great victory. There
was a great victory that was gonna be wrought right here over
those five kings that raised themselves up against the Lord. And I want you to just go with
me for just a moment and look at the great victory that was
wrought and won at Calvary. Now, this is where I'm going
with this. That mighty victory right there, oh, the victory
over all of God's enemies. There are five kings there, but
I'm talking about the enemies of God's people, sin, Satan,
this world, flesh. I'm talking about a mighty victory
over all the enemies of God's people, against God and God's
people. So when it says in Joshua, verse
12, Joshua spake to the Lord, the capital O, capital R, capital
D, L-O-R-D, all caps. Joshua spake to the Lord. Just
go with me here, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one of whom Joshua's
type. He gonna speak to Jehovah. He
submitted himself, Lord submitted himself. When we talk about this, we're
way over our heads, aren't we, Neil? We're talking about the
Lord, God in the fullness of the Godhead bodily spoke to the
Godhead. Somebody say, I don't understand
that. Okay, I don't either, but I believe it. Joshua spoke to
the Lord, and this is what he said, Stand still. Here in this blessed
miracle, it's a miracle, but oh, I want you to look and consider
a blessed conversation, an eternal conversation that took place
in time and the fulfillment of it in time. They were fighting
a battle right there. There was a battle fought at
Calvary. And I looked these words up. It says, son, stand still. Stand still. That word stand
in my marginal reading. Stand, if you've got one, it's
what mine says. Be quiet. Silent, that's what
the word. Stand, son. speaking of Him who
is the Son of Righteousness. And here's the expression, here's
this conversation between the Lord Jesus Christ and Jehovah,
the Father. Son, stand still, be quiet. Oh,
and in the obedient work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that
day when He stood before His accusers, the Lord Jesus, and
they accused Him, and they lambasted him. They called him out. I heard him say he's gonna destroy
the temple three days and build it back. Yeah, I heard. What
does scripture say? As a lamb dung before his shearers,
he didn't open his mouth. Why? He was there to redeem his
sheep. And he's going to the cross.
He's not gonna defend himself. Was he guilty? No. Was he made
sin? Yes. Did he know sin? No. Did he bear our sins? Yes. And he was silent. He was silent. Son, here's the
expression, everlasting covenant of God's grace. Son, stand still. A battle's being wrought. Oh,
humanly speaking and historically speaking, the sun was going down
on Joshua and the inhabitants of Israel. But that battle's
gonna be won. Stand still. Still. He suffered. The just for the unjust. And the sun did not go down. for a day. Oh, I contemplated that and my
heart just rejoiced and I thought on the day that he laid down
his life, you know what God did? He hid the son. The son did go
silent, did go dark on the day that he died. He did. He did. There was the father
who forsook him. That son didn't shine. Three
and a half hours, didn't shine. Blacked it out. But he didn't
block it out for the victory of his people over their enemies,
didn't block it out. He blocked it out when he forsook
his son. For him, yes, he turned his back on him. He forsook him,
forsook him. but not on his people. Sun, stand
still. The sun never fails to shine
upon the people of God's mercy. Sun, stand still. And moon, oh, that moon, where's the moon
get its light? From the sun. Moon doesn't produce
light. Moon's a picture of his people.
It's a picture of his elect, his bride. Sun, stand still. And moon, look at the wording
of it here. Last part of verse 12. Sun, stand
still upon Gibeon. You stand still and you light
those that have appealed to me for mercy. You light them. and moon in the valley of Agelon."
I told you a place right there.
Turn to 1 Chronicles 6. I thought to myself, what is
Agelon? What is Agelon? What's the significance
of Agelon? 1 Chronicles 6. More read verses 65 to 69. And
they gave by lot out of the tribe of the children of Judah and
out of the tribe of the children of Simeon and out of the tribe
of the children of Benjamin. These cities which are called
by their names and the residue of the families of the sons of
Kohath had cities of their coast out of the tribe of Ephraim and
they gave unto them of the cities of refuge Sheikah and Mount Ephraim
with her suburbs. They gave also Gezer with her
suburbs, and Jotmim and her suburbs, and Beth Horam with her suburbs,
and Ajelon with her suburbs. Ajelon was one of the cities
of refuge. It was a place where there was
comfort, and there was safety. and protection from the avenger
of blood. And that day, that battle's being
fought, and the Spirit of God, Joshua, to speak to the Lord,
spoke to the Lord, a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in the
glorious conversation of that covenant of grace. Son, stand
still. Be silent. and bear all that
was demanded of him. And moon, and moon, here's where
I want you to be, in the Valley of Agilon. You're gonna be found
in the city of refuge. You're gonna be found where peace
is wrought, where God has sent protection, where God Almighty
is our refuge. The scripture says in verse 14,
And there was no day like that before it or after it that the
Lord hearkened under the voice of a man. For the Lord fought
for Israel. I have no reason to think that
the historical value of that day was so significant. And God
Almighty, by these miracles, he sent down hailstones from
heaven and pinpoint accuracy, killed the enemies of God as
they fled to all these places of refuge. And God killed everyone. There wasn't one of them left.
He killed all of them. All the enemies, pictures of
all the enemies of God, slain, a picture of that. And the battle,
I mean, the miracles of that sun and the moon and it not moving,
it happened that day. It happened that day. But that
which it pictured, the battle that was fought at Calvary by
our mighty conqueror. We're more than conquerors through
him. He's our conqueror. He's the mighty conqueror. And
at Calvary, looking at verse 14. There was no day, no day like that before it or
after it. I'm talking about the day of
our Lord's crucifixion, when that battle was won and it was
finished. There was no day like that, that
the Lord, listen to this, Jehovah, hearkened unto the voice of a
man. The man, Christ Jesus. Jehovah,
hearken to his voice. The Lord fought for Israel. There was no day like that day.
What day would ever be reckoned like that day? There was no day
like it. Not before, not after. One sacrifice
for sin. He hath forever perfected them,
that belief. No day like that. I pray God
bless this to our hearts.