All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn to Joshua 9, Joshua chapter 9. I'd like to deal with the whole
chapter of this book and of this chapter, I mean, all the verses
of this chapter. And in this chapter, we have
passage of scripture which sets forth as clearly as any passage
of scripture that we could possibly consider in all the word of God
concerning the clarity, the truth of the indescribable mercy and
grace of God to undeserving sinners. And if he would see mercy, if
we would see mercy such as this, let's look here and pray that
the Spirit of God give us some understanding as to what's being
set forth. Always remember, all these scriptures
speak of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ to show mercy and
compassion to his people. So when we look at this, remember,
this is not just history. This is the gospel. Here's the
gospel right here. Joshua 9, verse 1 and 2, and
it came to pass when all the kings, which were on this side,
Jordan, in the hills and the valleys and all the coast of
the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the
Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite heard
thereof that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua
and with Israel with one accord. Now brethren, the first thing
we want to see here is the universal resentment of all men born in
this world, born in sin, against the God who rules in heaven and
earth, the resentment of all men. The scripture says, concerning
this passage in verse one, it came to pass when all the kings,
which were on this side, Jordan, all the kings on the west side
of Jordan, where Joshua and the people of Israel had crossed
over in two, these kings, who, generally speaking, could always
find other issues to divide them, they united when it came to this
one thing. They would join in a common cause
to fight with Joshua and the people of Israel. Now, this world's
religions, They can always find among themselves many reasons
to find fault with each other. You say this, we say this, you
say that, we say that, yeah, but we say, you know. But I can
tell you this, when it comes to finding hatred, resentment,
to the issue of God's sovereignty, God's glory. Man's total depravity. Unconditional election of a people
of God's choosing. Particular redemption. If you
want to find out the number one thing that, by and large, all
religions especially hate, it's this one point, particular redemption.
that when Christ Jesus laid down his life, he laid down his life
for his people only. Everybody in this world and their
brother, they can find fault with each other on all these
little issues and this, that, and the other, but buddy, I'm
telling you, when it comes to the glory of God and the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ and God's sovereignty, God's right
to rule, they're going to unite Turn to Psalm 83. Hold your place
on Psalm 83. They're gonna unite against God's
truth, against God. Psalm 83, verse two to five. For lo, thine enemies make a
tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They
have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against
thy hidden ones. They have said, Let us cut them
off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no
more in remembrance, for they have consulted together with
one consent. They are confederate against
thee." So I can tell you this, when it comes to every other
issue, all these little gods, these little false religions
we talked about, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, They'll
squabble among themselves about all the little petty differences,
you know. But when it comes to this one thing, when it comes
to God Almighty being God, they'll all unite against Him, against
us. I'm telling you, the Lord promised
that. Verses three to six. And when the inhabitants of Gibeon
heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, they did work
wily 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 clouded upon their feet and old
garments upon them. All the bread of their provision
was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua and to
the camp at Gilgal and said unto him and to the men of Israel,
we become from a far country Therefore, make ye a league with
us. Now, the first thing that we
noticed about this group of inhabitants that's found in this land, the
inhabitants of Gibeon. Now, I want you to notice all
the kings, verses one, one, two, all the kings united. They were
together, all these different Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites,
But when the inhabitants of Gibeon, there was a little group that
was found all amongst these people. They were of some of the same
families. Look in verse one here, the end
toward verse one, the Perizzite and the Hivite, the Hivites. Look down at verse seven. I'll
pick this up in a minute. And the men of Israel said unto
the Hivites, so these men were, they were really cut out of the
same lump as some of those that had raised up themselves to fight
against Joshua and against Israel. So these, when these inhabitants,
the scripture says, all these other kings that united were
gonna fight against, but when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard
what had to what Joshua had done to Jericho in Ai. They heard
what had been done, the devastation. They did work wily. That word means different things. It does mean craftily, it does
mean shrewdness, but it also means prudence. It's a word that
means prudence. And what these inhabitants of
Gibeon did, that's just a group of people, Again, like I said,
let's just be real careful. They were cut out of the same
lump. They came out of the same slough to spawn as all the others
did that had raised themselves up to fight against Joshua. These
inhabitants, they came wily. They came with some prudence.
And they purposed to approach Joshua and the nation of Israel
in hope of finding deliverance from destruction in a very crafty,
very prudent way. What did they do? They pretended.
They pretended to be ambassadors from a far country, desiring,
according to their wording, to enter into a league of peace
with Israel. And to make their story more
plausible, They went to great lengths, the scripture reveals,
to give the appearance of being travelers from a great distance. What did they do? Well, they
put some old sacks upon their asses, and the wine bottles were
old and split, and the shoes were old and patched, and all
of the provisions that they had were molded, and that's how they
approached Joshua, in that sight. Now, let me say this before we
go any farther. These that had come to Joshua
seeking peace were those who had heard and knew something
of God's judgment upon the land in which they lived. They were
from there. They were from there. They came
as all men are in themselves. Let me tell you something about
them. They were liars. These were liars. And they were
guilty liars, deceivers. And the very attempt that they
were using to deceive actually set forth in picture and type
what they were by birth and what we are by birth. Hey, you know,
When I first started looking at this chapter right here, I
pretty well had it in my mind the way that what was going on,
what was being said. And as I began to look at it,
I, by the grace of God, saw something different here. And by the grace
of God, I pray it comes out of my mouth as it is in my heart. But these men, I don't want to
take anything away. These guys were deceivers. These
guys were liars. connivers, and they're coming
in a very wily, wily, but prudent way. They're coming and they've
got the clothes that they've got on, they're clothed in the
poverty, tattered garments. But again, now, I want you to
look at something. We need to look past the historical
point of here, the history of it, and let's look at the spiritual.
Are these men guilty? Yes, they're guilty. Are they
coming, are they in a land that God Almighty had told Joshua,
He said, I'm gonna give this all to you. I'm gonna put all
these down. I'm gonna destroy all of them.
I'm gonna destroy it. Yes, they are. But their clothes
that they had on was actually pictures of our ruined nature. self-righteous rags, filthy rags
of self-righteousness. And the food that they carried,
they said, look at this bread. It's just all moldy and it just,
you know, but does that not set forth the emptiness and the uselessness
of any nutrition? of that which we by nature would
feast upon. Now here, these men are setting
forth something. They're guilty, they're liars,
they're clothed in tattered rags and they're just, they got all
this old, you know, moldy bread and the wine's gone, their wineskins
are cracked. And the lie. I do not want to
take anything away from what these guys are, because I'm telling
you, We all might be, by the grace of God, finding ourselves
in a place like this. They lied about being from a
far off country. But even in their lie to try
to deceive, truly they set forth the truth concerning all men
born in Adam who come into this world. Alienated enemies in their
mind by wicked works. These men were sinners, sinners
like us, reeking of what they truly were, like us, nothing
more than deceivers, deceivers. Here, these deceivers, they're
coming and they had one hope. They've got one hope. They're living in a country that
but for the grace of God, they're gonna die. God's gonna destroy them. And
they've got one hope, one hope only, is that Joshua would show
them covenant mercy. They came and they said to him
in verse six, latter part, We become from a far country, now
therefore make ye a league with us. You know how easily we could
consider their tactics and pass judgment upon them for the way
that they're seeking mercy. But would anyone here not truthfully
admit the frailty of our own actions to come before God to
be found approaching Him. Let me ask you this. Were we
brought nigh to God by our perfect approach or by the blood of Christ? Are we being kept by our own
works of perfection or by the power of God through faith in
Christ Jesus? Beloved, let me tell you something.
We're all brands plucked from the fire of God's judgment and
justice by the mercy and grace of God. I first read this chapter and
I thought, those sorry suckers. Deceitful. I thought, wait a
minute. These men were no more innocent
of guilt They were no more deserving of God's mercy. They were no
more deserving of Joshua showing them friendship and entering
into a league with them than Rahab was. Or the woman of Canaan whose
daughter was vexed with the devil. Or Peter who denied the Lord
Jesus Christ, or David who took Bathsheba, or me, or you. Oh, consider how many of us.
Now, I'm gonna just bring it home just for a minute here.
How many of us, actually, I'm talking about after you heard
the gospel. I'm not talking about if you
came up like me sitting in false religion. I'm talking about some
of you here that, you know, grew up hearing the gospel of God's
grace. I'll put myself in that group
after I started to hear it and first time I heard it, thought
it was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life, because
that can't be right. I mean, I know everything, but
I know that ain't right. But how many of us sat for years
under the sound of the gospel, hearing it weekly, with an attitude
that said in our heart, this is a savor of death unto death? How long did we sit there listening
to that? Continuing there until the Lord was pleased to powerfully
rescue us from this lying, conniving, wretched son of Adam that we
are. These men were liars. I'm not
gonna take anything away from that. These guys were liars.
They were liars. But for the grace of God, there
was no difference between them and Israel, Joshua, no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Verses seven to 14. And the men
of Israel said unto the Hivites, peradventure ye dwell among us.
You say you're not from here. That's what you said. But peradventure
you dwell among us. And how shall we make a league
with you? And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who
are ye, and from whence come ye? And they said unto him, 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, and all that he did to the two
kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, and Sihon, king
of Heshbon, and Daog, the king of Bashan, which was at Astaroth. Wherefore, our elders and all
the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals
with you for the journey. Go to meet them. and saying to
them, we're your servants, therefore now make ye a league with us. This is 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 is dry and it is molding,
and these bottles of wine which were filled were new, and behold,
they be rent, and these our garments, our shoes are become old by reason
of the very long journey, and the men took their victuals and
asked not counsel, and the men that is of Israel, took of their
vectuals and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. Now,
beloved, there's an amazing truth that's set forth in this passage
of scripture that I will readily admit goes beyond our ability
to adequately comprehend. truths that are so gloriously
set forth concerning the amazing grace. That's what I named this
message here, amazing grace. It sets forth the amazing grace
of Almighty God in spite of our dimness of light to perceive.
One of these blessed truths that I'm telling you, we hear it, we know it, We believe
it, and we say, Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. We see through
a glass darkly. But I was reading something this
morning, going over these notes, and as I looked back at this,
I looked back at verse eight that I just read, verses seven
to 14, but I looked back at verse eight, and I saw something that
just blessed my heart, And once I read it, it was just, I could
not contain my emotions. It was so precious. And they
said unto Joshua, we are thy servants. And Joshua said unto
them, who are ye? From whence come ye? Beloved, looking at Joshua here
as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and hearing actually
Joshua, but as a picture of Christ, asked these men, who are you? Who are you? And where'd you
come from? And they lied to him. They lied
to him. You say, well, that ought to
tell you something about him. When the Lord asked Jacob, what's
your name? He said, well, Jacob said what
he is. I'm a liar. My name's Jacob. Whenever Isaac asked Jacob, what's
your name? Who are you? He said, I'm Esau. His daddy asked him, he said,
are you truly Esau? Are you really? Now, don't lie
to me, boy. Are you truly Esau? He said, yes, I am. Yes, I am. You say you mean to tell me that
God Almighty could show mercy to a lion, two-faced, good for
nothing, scoundrel like that? Well, let me say this, if he
doesn't, I don't have any hope. Because I'm telling you, I see
in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. Joshua asked him, who are you
and where'd you come from? He said, well, we're from a far
off place. They wouldn't even tell him. Deceitful. Christ Jesus came to this world
to save sinners. of whom I am chief. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. It didn't say blessed is
the man in whom there is no sin. It said blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute it. They lied to Joshua. They lied to him. But oh, thanks
be unto God, that he, for the glorious sake of his son, the
blessedness of his shed blood that covereth all of our sins,
he doesn't impute it to us. We're guilty. These men were
guilty. They lied, they lied, they lied,
they lied, they lied, they lied. Joshua listened to the report
given by these men. and according to their report. Now listen to what I'm saying.
According to their report. You ask them. Verse eight. We are thy servants, Joshua said.
Who are ye and from whence come ye? It's what they said. We know
that, you know, that God's given you all this land here, but we
ain't from here. We're not from here. They lied until the end. We're not from this place. And
that story seemed to have some truth to it, but serious error
was made. I want us to just, I mean, as
the Spirit of God has laid out all of this, laid out Joshua,
laid out the children of Israel, the elders in Israel, these inhabitants,
these lying scoundrels, what they're doing, where they're
from, they're from there, and they're lying to it. I mean,
just bald-faced lying, right up in your face. Lying to him. That story seemed to have some
credence to it. Serious error. Look at verse
14. What was the error? And the men
took of their victuals and asked not counsel at the mouth of the
Lord. I want you to Hold your place
and turn back to Numbers 27. Numbers 27. Numbers 27, verses
18 to 21. Numbers 27, verse 18. and before all the congregation,
and give him a charge in their sight. You tell him something. You put him before Eleazar the
priest, and you give him this charge, this commandment. Thou
shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation
of the children of Israel may be obedient. And he, that is
Joshua, shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel
of him after the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At
his word shall they go out, at his word shall they come in,
both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all
the congregation. Now this is what Joshua was commanded
to do. You ask counsel. You ask counsel
before Eleazar the priest. What are we to do? We're to ask
counsel before our great high priest. We ask Him. We're to
ask Him. That's how we get, you ask Him.
Any man lack understanding, come to me. He gave his disciples
understanding in the scriptures. Come unto me, all ye the weak
and heavy laden, I'll give you rest, come to me. But something
happened here. These men who were from there,
lying, but they were seeking a league, they were seeking peace,
and they're coming in there, They're lying, they're conniving.
And Joshua did not ask counsel of the Lord. And the scripture
says, verse 15 to 20, and Joshua made peace with them, made a
league with them to let them live. And the princes of the
congregation swear unto them. And it came to pass at 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. And the children of Israel journeyed
and came unto their cities on the third day. Their cities were
Gibeon, and Shepira, and Bereoth, and Kirjath-Jerim. 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. But all the princes said unto
all the congregation, we have sworn unto them by the Lord God
of Israel. Now therefore, we may not touch
them. This we will do to them. We will
even let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath
which we swear unto them." Now, here we're going to start seeing
the marvel of the glorious work of God's mercy to a people found
within the borders of this cursed nation. They were from a place that the
curse of God was upon. When did God curse this earth?
After the fall. The earth was cursed for Adam's
sake. Where did we come from? We came
out of it, too. We were here. We came out of
a place that was cursed. And they sought not counsel. Was Joshua right? No. No. But did God overrule? Yes, He did. And these men, they
came and they sought peace. They sought counsel. And Joshua
failed to ask counsel at the Lord and made a league with them.
Made a promise to them. And after they made a promise
to them, they found out a few days later, y'all are from here? You're liars. Yeah, but they
made a league with them. They made a promise to them.
And he said, we can't touch them. Why? Why? Hold your place and
turn back to Deuteronomy 20. There was a reason. It wasn't just because they were
good guys. And just because they were just deciding to have a little compassion that
one day, Deuteronomy 20, verse 10 to 11. When thou comest nigh
unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto
it, and it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open
unto thee, then it shall be that all the people that are found
therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve
thee. Now here is what God said. You
go against a place that you're going to fight against, and they
seek peace with you, and you give them peace. He said, there'll
be tributaries. They're going to be servants
to you. That's what's going to happen. They made peace with
this group of fellows from Gibeon, and after they made peace, all
the congregation murmured against the The princess, but the princess
said, I can't do it, can't do it. No, no, we can't go against
what we did. We gave them and gave our word
according to the glory of Almighty God. We gave them our word. We swore unto them, verse 19,
swore unto them by the Lord God of Israel, we swear by the Lord
God of Israel that we're gonna show peace to you. We made a
covenant with Him, according to the word of the Lord, in the
name of the Lord. We gave Him our word in the name
of the Lord. A covenant, we entered into a
covenant. We can't break it. Why? Because
it's a picture of God's immutable covenant of God's grace. Hold
your place, I'm gonna wrap this up. Psalm 89, Psalm 89. Psalm 89, no, they murmured against
them, they said, these guys, these are conniving liars, they
cheated, they came to us under falsehood. Joshua said, no, we made a covenant
with these men, in the name of the Lord, a covenant. Psalm 89, verse 28 to 34. My
mercy, will I keep for him forever,
forevermore. And my covenant shall stand fast
with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his
children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they
break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I
visit their transgression with a rod and their iniquity with
stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness
will I not utterly take away from him, nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that
is gone out of my lips. These men had made a covenant
with peace, with these liars, with these connivers. Now let's
just bring it down as I wrap this up. These men are pictures
of us. And by the grace of God sought
peace, They were from a cursed place. But they said, we need
you to make a league with us. And Joshua made a league with
them. And all the other people in the congregation, they murmured
against the princes that had been together to make that covenant
of peace. And they said, no, we gave them
our word. We made a covenant with them
and we cannot break it. Beloved, Oh, the preciousness
of that truth concerning the Lord. When I see the blood, it's not that we're not guilty,
we're guilty. Christ has borne our guilt, paid
the debt. Sin is still with us. When I
see the blood, I'm gonna pass over you. Verses 21 to 27, this will be
it. The prince said unto them, let them live. but let them be
hewers of wood and drawers of water." God had said, if you
make peace with somebody in the places you're going to fight,
they're going to be tributaries to you. They're going to be your
servants. That's what they're going to be. You let them live, but they're
going to serve you. Here they said, the princess
said unto them, let them live, but let them be hewers of wood,
drawers of water unto all the congregation as the princess
had promised them in Joshua He called for them, he spake unto
them, saying, Wherefore have you beguiled us, saying, We are
very far from you when you dwell among us. Now therefore ye are
cursed. And I looked that up to find
out just exactly what that meant. What it actually meant is that
they would be set apart for menial service in the temple. When I
read it, I thought just what you did. You're cursed. What
does that mean? It's not the same word as we
think of curse. You're going to be set apart
for service in the temple. That's what he means. Joshua
22, he spake unto them saying, wherefore have you beguiled us?
We are very far from you when you dwell among us. Now therefore
you are 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,
destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore,
we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done
this thing. Now therefore, behold, we are in thine hand, as it seemeth
good, and right unto thee to do unto us do. 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 hewers of wood, drawers of water, and all the congregation
for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day in the place which
he should choose." Here we behold the marvel of God's mercy to
undeserving people. They sought peace. They sought
peace. Peace was made with them. The
Lord had told Joshua, you go someplace now, they want peace,
you make it with them, but they're gonna be your servants. Beloved, as these Gibeonites
were bound to a life of servitude, to Joshua, to Israel, their servitude
pictured truly. glorious freedom that is enjoyed
by every vessel of God's mercy. You say they were servants, that's
right. They were servants, just like we are. Paul said, Paul,
Romans 1-1, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated under the gospel of God. We're his servants. Thankful for it. Bond slaves. I don't want to get any higher,
Bear, than being a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
to be his servant. That's what we are. He said,
I thought you're his bride. I am. I thought you're heirs
of God. We are. God's people are. Join
heirs with Christ. We are. We're gonna go through
the rest of this life being thankful to be servants. Servants of the
Most High God. They were submissive servants.
What they said, Joshua asked them, why'd you do what you did?
Because we was afraid. I was afraid. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Wisdom. You do to us whatever
you see fit. We're your servants. I pray God
bless this to our hearts for Christ's sake.