Joshua chapter 10, we read Psalm
2 for our scripture reading, because as I said just a moment
ago, this perfectly sets forth the message of this text. Psalm
2 perfectly sets forth this message. The question there was, why do
the heathen rage? Why do the heathen rage? Why
would heathen man be so foolish as to rage against the Almighty? Why would man do that? It said,
the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointed. But it said, he
that sits in the heavens shall laugh. The message of warning
is kiss the son lest he be angry. That's the message of warning.
Kiss the son lest he be angry. Man thinks he's a little king
on this earth and he doesn't want God to rule over him. So
he gets angry with God and he rages against God. But man's
anger is so pitiful compared to the anger of the Almighty. It's so pitiful. The scripture
says, the Lord said, he is angry with the wicked every day. Isn't
that right? Man's anger is so pitiful, so puny compared to
the anger of God Almighty. And the warning of Psalm 2 and
the warning of this text is if we don't bow down and kiss the
feet of the Son of God, if we don't acknowledge Him to be Lord
of all and beg Him for mercy, we're going to perish in the
way. That's how Psalm 2 ended. That's what will happen to us.
We'll perish in the way. Now, here in Joshua, I want to
look at this entire account, and I'm going to try to make
this not laborious, okay? So we're going to move around
a little bit, and I'm going to tell you what's going on, and maybe
the Lord will make this a blessing to us. Joshua 10, verse 1 says,
Now it came to pass, when Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, had heard
how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it, as he had
done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her
king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with
Israel and were among them." You remember Gibeon, this city
Gibeon, some representatives, went to Joshua and they disguised
themselves. You remember that? They put on
these old corn clothes and these worn out shoes and they grabbed
some dry moldy bread and their wine. They didn't use bottles,
they had flagons, these leather patches. They were ripped and
they came and they pleaded for mercy through a covenant. They
pleaded for mercy with Joshua. Every single soul that goes to
the Lord Jesus Christ begging for mercy is going to find it. Every single soul. I cannot find
one account in this scripture where somebody went to the Lord
Jesus Christ begging for mercy and didn't receive it. I can't
find one account in this scripture where a man went to anybody And
that's a picture of Christ, begging for mercy and did not receive
it. That's what Gibeon did and that's
what they got. Well, all of these other kings
heard about Gibeon doing this. And verse 2 says, 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 Adonizedek, king of
Jerusalem, sent unto Hoam, king of Hebron, and unto Pyram, king
of Jarmath, and unto Jephiah, king of Lachish, and unto Debir,
king of Eglon, saying, Come up to me, and help me that we may
smite Gibeon." Let's go kill Gibeon. Let's all get together
and kill him. He went on to say, "...for it
hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel."
Therefore, the five kings of the Amorites, the kings of Jerusalem,
the kings of Hebron, the king of Jarmath, the king of Lachish,
the king of Eglon gathered themselves together and went up, they and
all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon and made war against
it." Now, I love this. I'm going to read this to you,
and then we're going to come back to it, okay? I'm going to
read this to you, but this is what Gibeon did, and we can put
ourselves in the place of Gibeon. And we can see our relationship
to our captain, the one who promised his covenant to us, the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is just wonderful. Verse
6, all these kings are coming. Verse 6, 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. 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. Joshua therefore came unto
them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night, 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 Bethhoron,
and smote them to Ezekiah and unto Makeda." Now we're going
to come right back to that. We're going to see what Joshua
did for these no good rebels, enemy. Okay, we're going to see
what he did. But let me show you ultimately what Joshua did.
While they were slaughtering these armies, They cried, help
us, and here he came. And they started slaughtering.
They started slaughtering five kings, five nations. While they
were slaughtering the armies, those kings ran and hid in a
cave. Verse 16 says, Joshua 10 verse
16, but these five kings fled and hid themselves in a cave
at Makeda. So Joshua said, cover the mouth
of the cave with rocks. Let's finish killing everybody
and then we'll come back and get them. And that's what they
did. All right. Verse 22 right here says, Then
said Joshua, they went and slaughtered all the armies. And then said
Joshua, open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five
kings unto me out of the cave. Verse 26. And afterward Joshua
smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees. And
they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. 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, cast them into the cave
where they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave's
mouth, which remain until this day." And then at that point,
Joshua continued on. Verse 28 tells us, he took Makeda
and smote it. Verse 29 says, he left Makeda
and he went to Libna and he smote it. Verse 31 says, He went to
Lachish, and He smote it. Verse 33 says, Then Horam king
of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua smote him and his
people, until he had left him none remaining. And he kept going,
and he kept going, and he kept going. Verse 40 says, So Joshua
smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and
of the vale, and of the springs, and all her kings, he left none
remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed. If it breathed,
Joshua killed it, as the Lord God of Israel commanded. And
Joshua smote them from Kadesh, Barnea, even unto Gaza, and all
the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon. And all these kings and
their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God
of Israel fought for Israel." Moses said, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. He said, the Lord will fight
for you. The Lord will fight for you. If we are in the covenant of
His grace, if we are in the covenant of His promise, we're safe. I
mean, we're safe. All right, now watch this. It
started out with one king going to war with Israel. As we've
been going through this book, one king went to war with Israel.
Then a couple kings went to war with Israel. That was five kings
right there. Now watch this. Chapter 11 verse
1 says, And it came to pass when Jabin king of Hazor had heard
those things, heard about these five kings and what happened.
that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shemron,
and to the king of Akshaph, and to the kings that were on the
north of the mountains, a bunch of kings up there, and to the
kings of the plains south of Chinneroth, and to the kings
in the valley, and the kings in the borders of Dor on the
west, and to the Canaanite on the east, there's a bunch of
kings in the land of Canaan, and on the west, And to the Amorite,
there was a bunch of kings in there, and to the Hittite, a
bunch of kings in there, and the Perizzite and the Jebusite
in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land
of Mizpah. And they went out, they and all
their host with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon
the seashore in multitude." You can't imagine how big this army
was. He said it's as many as the sand
on the seashore. Started coming out to fight with
Israel. They had horses and chariots, very many. And when all these
kings were met together, they came and pitched together at
the waters of Merom to fight against Israel. Why on this earth
would you do that? Why would you do that? The scripture
says, don't put your trust in men. Isn't that what it says?
Don't put your trust in horses. Don't put your trust in chariots.
Don't put your trust in numbers. Why would any man foolishly go
to war with Joshua? People say, I'm not at war with
him. If we do not bow to the commandment of his will and his
word, If we do not kiss the Son, that's His commandment, kiss
the Son. If we do not kiss the Son, lest
He be angry, then we are His enemy. If we don't beg for forgiveness,
repentance, mercy, then we are by nature His enemy. And there's
only one end for us. We're going to perish in the
way. That's it. Now verse 6, the Lord said unto
Joshua, Be not afraid because of them. For tomorrow about this
time will I deliver them up, all slain before Israel. Thou
shalt hoe their horses, and you are going to burn their chariots
with fire.' So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him
against them by the waters of Merom suddenly, and they fell
upon them." This number that is like the sand of the seashore.
They fell upon them. Verse 8, And the Lord delivered
them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them
unto great Zidon, and unto Mizrifath-mayim, and unto the valley of Mizpah
eastward. And they smote them until they
left them, none remaining. And Joshua did unto them as the
Lord bade him. He hoed their horses, and burnt
their chariots with fire. Now verse 14 says, And all the
spoil of these cities And the cattle, the children of Israel,
took for a prey unto themselves. But every man they smoked with
the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, neither left
they any to breathe. Now verse 15 says, As the Lord
commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua,
and so did Joshua. As God said to Moses, this is
what I demand, this is my law. Moses, the law, said that to
Christ, and that's what Christ did. Joshua did it. He left nothing
undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses. Every jot, every tittle
that was commanded in the law of Moses, Joshua fulfilled it.
And that's what Christ did. That's what Christ did when he
came. He fulfilled every bit of it. Verse 23 says, So Joshua
took the whole land according to all that the Lord said unto
Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel, according
to their division by their tribes, and the land rested from war."
That was their hope, right? That was the end of their hope.
Joshua took all that land. They did all that fighting, and
He doled it out. This was their inheritance, and
the land rested from war. Now, we're pretty much done reading. But chapter 12 is the summary
of what they did, the summary of who they killed, who Joshua
smote. Verse 1 says, These are the kings
of the land which the children of Israel smote. He started in
verse 2 with Sihon, you remember him? Verse 4 was Og, that's who
Rahab heard about in all of Jericho and their hearts melted within
them because you slew those two kings, Sihon and then Og. And then in verse 9 he said the
king of Jericho won, killed one king in Jericho. The king of
Ai which is beside Bethel won, killed one king there and then
he lists all of those kings and at the end of verse 24, It says,
all the kings, thirty and one. Thirty-one nations. God killed
thirty-one nations of people for the sake and the inheritance
of His children. Thirty-one nations of people. And men stand up and say, God
doesn't hate anybody. God loves everybody. Thirty-one nations
of people. He said in Isaiah 43, I have
given men for thee. He said, people for thy life,
fear not. Fear not. Now, right here is
the fulfillment of God's covenant, okay? Here is the, here's our
hope. Here's our hope, right here.
Look with me at chapter 11, verse 19. There was not a city that made peace with the children
of Israel, save the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon." They
were the only ones. All other, they took in battle.
I want the same hope, and I want the same covenant that Gibeon
had. Don't you? Don't you? God is coming through. I can't
help but think about the masses. I can't help. This is my career,
if I can say it that way. This is what I do. And in preaching
this message, in the desire to spread this message to every
single person who will listen to it, I cannot help but think
about the masses, the masses and masses and masses of people
that our Joshua is going to destroy. It's real. It's very real to
me. Joshua is coming through and
it's going to be masses and masses. It is literally going to be nations
upon nations upon nations. We mentioned this recently and
it's true. People say this is a bloody gospel.
This is a bloody end. This is a bloody end. And there's only one hope. All
of that that we just read proves to us that man has one hope. We are all the enemy of God. He's coming through to slay his
enemy. That's it. We have one hope. Gibeon was
just as much the enemy as the rest of them. And we have one hope. I want
the same hope and I want the same covenant that Gibeon had. Now this right here today is
our hope. I told you we'd go back. Look
back with me at chapter 10, verse 4. Chapter 10, verse 4, all these
kings said, Come up to me and help me that we may smite Gibeon,
for it hath made peace with Joshua. That's the only hope a sinner
has. How did Gibeon make peace with
Joshua? How did Gibeon make peace with
Joshua? The answer is in chapter 9, verse
15. It says, Joshua made peace with them. That's how Joshua
made peace with them. That is the only way a sinner
can have peace with God. That's the only way. The Lord
Jesus Christ has to make peace for that sinner. And in the same
way that Gibeon cried out to Joshua, here come their enemies.
And I tell you what my enemies are. My sin. I cry, Lord, help
me. This old wicked flesh. My adversary, Lord save us, save us, please. But in the same way Gibeon cried
out to Joshua, here they come, please come quickly, help us,
save us, don't leave us. In the same way that it said
Joshua immediately, as soon as he got news, immediately. He
could have left them alone. Do you remember in that story
that they came to realize, they lied to us. You remember that?
They lied to us. All Joshua had to do was stay
in his place and they would have been wiped out. And he wouldn't
have had to worry about them anymore. Done with them. That's
what God should have done to me. Just leave me alone. But as soon as Joshua heard their
cry, Joshua ascended from Gilgal. And in the same way Joshua did
that, the Lord Jesus Christ ascended from His throne. I love in the
book of Daniel, Daniel is begging God, he's pleading to God. They're
in bondage. They were in bondage 70 years. And Daniel's seeing the sin of
his people and he's begging God and it says, before he was finished
praying, The command came forth from the throne of God and he
sent the angel down and the angel said, God heard your prayer and
he's answered you even though you haven't finished asking.
And that's what Christ did for us. He ascended from his throne. He came all the way down into
the heart of the battle and God was in him reconciling his people
to himself. He came down here and he slew
every enemy. I mean, He slew every enemy.
Look with me back at chapter 10. This is just amazing. This
is so amazing. Verse 6 says, 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.
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. Joshua
therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night,
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 Bethhoron, and smote them to Ezekiah and to
Makeda. Now watch this. And it came to
pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going
down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven
upon them unto Azekah, and they died. They were more which died
with hail stones than they whom the children of Israel slew with
the sword." They're running. Joshua's chasing
them and fighting with them and they're running. And God said, you're not going
anywhere. If God be for us, who can be
against us? That enemy started running and
God just threw hail on them. The next time it hails, you remember,
that came directly out of God's hand. More men died from the
hail that God threw on them than the sword of the children of
Israel. God does not need for us to fight His battles. The battle is the Lord's. Isn't
that great? The battle is the Lord's. Now
we're almost finished. Verse 12 says, Then spake Joshua
to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites
before the children of Israel. And he said, now watch this,
he said in the sight of Israel, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon,
and thou moon in the valley of Ailon. And the sun stood still. And the moon stayed until the
people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this
written in the book of Jasher? That's a historical record that
was kept. He's saying, is that not in your
local library? That's in the history books.
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. Why did the Lord hearken to that
man? Because of who that man represents. There is not one
thing in heaven, there is not one thing in earth that can stop
Joshua from winning the victory for his people. Not one thing. Joshua just finished slaying
one army right there and here come the Amorites. And Joshua
said in the sight of all the children of Israel, so everyone
can hear, he pointed up and he said, son, stand still. Don't you move one inch until
I finish slaying every single enemy. I'm sure it was high noon. It
says it was in the midst of the heavens, right in the center
of the heavens. And that sun stayed right there for 12 hours
or 24 hours, whatever they consider to be a whole day. Verse 14 says,
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. This whole account is pointing
us to a day when our captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, fought
with every single one of our enemies. It was on the day of
that precious cross. God the Father said, Son, stand
still. And I love how he said, stand
still on Gibeon. You stand still on that enemy
right there that I've made a covenant with. You shine on them while
I finish this battle. And God the Father said, Son,
stand still. And God the Son said, Father,
forgive them. And the glorious news of our
redemption is God Almighty listened to the voice of the God-man.
He forgave His people in the blood of His Son, and Christ
right there won the victory. He won the victory. There was
no day like that before it, and there's never going to be another
day like that again. And the reason is because that
battle was fought once. once. There will never be another
battle ever again. There are no more enemies for
God's people. No more enemies. It is finished. The battle is
over. It is finished. There will be
no more war. It's finished. The end of all
conflict. It's finished and Jesus Christ
is Lord. He is Lord. Here is our end. This is our end right here. because
of this hope and this covenant that we have, okay? Last verse,
I close with this verse. Joshua 11, verse 23, let's read
it one more time. So Joshua took the whole land,
everything went to Joshua, according to all that the Lord said unto
Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel. It
all went to him and he gave every bit of it out for an inheritance
unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes and
the land rested from war. It was over. It was over. Let's
all stand together.