The book of Deuteronomy is the last address of Moses to the children of Israel before they go in and take possession of the land that he promised them. And he said, I'll read these scriptures to you in Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse one, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land wherein thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

In verse 16 of the same chapter, he said, thou shalt consume all the people, which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee, thine eye shall have no pity upon them. Neither shalt thou serve their God, for that will be a snare unto thee.

In chapter 9, beginning in verse 3, he said, understand therefore this day that the Lord thy God is he which goeth before thee. As a consuming fire, he shall destroy them and he shall bring them down before thy face. So shalt thou drive them out and destroy them quickly as the Lord has said unto thee, speak not thou in thine heart after the Lord thy God has cast them out from thee saying, for my righteousness, the Lord has brought me out in to possess the land. for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness or for thy uprightnesses of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord swear unto thy fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.

Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou art a stiff neck.

Now he tells them to come into the land and destroy it. And don't think you're getting this because of your righteousness. No, this is because of the wickedness of the people that he is judging. But he tells them to destroy everybody, man, woman, and child.

And Joshua chapter one, if you turn there for a moment, This is when they're getting ready to enter. Like I said, the entire book of Deuteronomy is Moses' last address before they enter the land.

Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people into the land of which I do give to them. even to the children of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that I have given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, into the land of the Hittites, unto the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, So will I be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I swear unto their fathers to give them.

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayst observe to do according to all that's written therein. For then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and thou shalt have good success.

Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whether so ever thou goest.

Now what courage that must have given Joshua to have this message from the Lord. And you know, as we go on reading, the river Jordan is parted, several million Israelites walked through. And all the inhabitants in the land heard about this. And they heard about what Joshua did to Jericho, how through the blowing of the trumpet, the walls came down. They killed everybody except Rahab, the harlot, and her family. And after that, the town of Ai was completely destroyed. And we read, so the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was noised throughout the country.

Now, can you imagine if you lived in that country, you heard about how they'd come in and they killed everybody in Jericho and not one person was left in Ai and they heard that everybody was to be exterminated. Can you imagine how afraid they were? They'd even heard about what had happened in Egypt, how the Lord God was with them and they knew it's over for us. They were aware of that.

Now look at chapter nine. And it came to pass when all the kings which were on this side of Jordan in the hills and the valleys and all the coasts of the great sea over into Lebanon. The Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, the Jebusite, heard there. Now these are the people God said kill every one of them and show them no mercy. This is where people read the Old Testament and they think, well, the God of the Old Testament was different than the God of the New Testament. No, not at all. He said, kill every one of them because of their wickedness. He said, I'm not giving this land to you because of your righteousness. I'm driving them out because of their wickedness. Shall not the judge of the earth do right? And so they felt like they didn't have any choice. So they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord. They united in this. They thought, we don't have a chance. And so let's all get together and fight with Joshua in Israel.

And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai. I love that verse of scripture. Isn't that what it is to hear the gospel? You hear what Jesus has done. Not what he will do, not what he could do, but what he has actually done. When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, complete annihilation with the exception of the family of Rahab the harlot, they did work wildly. Deceitfully is the word. They were trying to come up with some kind of scheme to save their necks. And they did work wildly. Same word is also translated with wisdom and with prudence. Yes, it was wildly, but it was with wisdom and it was with prudence.

Now this was a deceitful act and somebody says, how can you justify a deceitful act? If I was in their shoes, I would have done the same thing. And the fact of the matter is quite often deceitful acts are used to illustrate the gospel. You remember Jacob? deceiving his father to get Esau's blessing. And he came with Esau's food, with Esau's clothing, so he would smell like Esau. He even had the hair of the goat, so he'd feel like Esau to deceive his father. And we have a powerful type of the gospel there.

And we have just as powerful a type in the deception of these Gibeonites. They did work wildly. and went and made as if they'd 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, patched and old garments upon them and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.

" Now, this place was only 18 miles away, but they did this for the purpose of deceiving because they knew that they would be destroyed by Joshua. No one could stand before him. And they went to Joshua upon the camp at Gilgal and said unto him and to the men of Israel, we become from a far country. Now, therefore, make ye a league with us. Make a covenant with us. That's the word, covenant. He didn't say, we're gonna make a covenant with you. He said, you make a covenant with us. The only hope we have is that you, in your mercy, will make a covenant with us.

Verse seven, and the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, remember, these are men God had ordered to destroy. And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, peradventure ye dwell among us. And how shall we make a league with you? You see, God commanded them all to be killed, destroyed. Show them no mercy, no pity. And they said unto Joshua, we thy servants. Now what this is, is unconditional surrender. We are your servants. Whatever you do with us is right, just, totally, and good. We can't manipulate this. We can't change this. We are your servants.

And Joshua said unto them, who are you? And from whence came you? And they lied. 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 of the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt. Now, I love what they're saying here. We came because of the name of the Lord God. His name represents his attributes. We have heard of his power. We have heard of His holiness. We have heard of His justice. We have heard of His independence. We've heard of His sovereignty. We know that we're no match for Him. We've heard of the name of the Lord God.

Remember this, the name of the Lord God is most clearly displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to know the character of God, look at the cross. Now, he says, or they say, in this deceit, we've heard of the name of the Lord thy God, we know we don't stand a chance before him. We've heard of the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt. We heard about the parting of the Red Sea. We heard about the destruction of the most powerful nation in the world. We heard all of that and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan, to Sion and Hespon, to Og, king of Basin, which was at Astaroth, wherefore our elders, And all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, take Bittles with you for this long journey, 18 miles. But they made it out as if they'd been traveling for weeks. Saying, take Bittles with you for the journey, and go to meet them. And saying to them, we're your servants. Once again, unconditional surrender. We are your servants. Whatever you do is right. We're in your hands. You can do whatever you're pleased to do with us. We're nothing more than your servants. Therefore now, make ye a league with us. Enter into covenant with us. Make an agreement that only comes from you. It's a one-sided covenant. I know we can't make a covenant with you. We've already broken the covenant. We're dead. You make a covenant with us.

Verse 12, this our bread we took hot from our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you. But now behold, it's dry, 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. Our provisions are dry and moldy. Our garments are old, dry rotted. Our shoes patched from the holes in them that we used to make this long journey.

Now, this was the use of deception. And they were deceivers. But think about this. You think they would come saying, look how good our garments are. We've got plenty of provision. Our walkers, our shoes are okay, maybe not perfect. They don't come to the Lord like this. They don't come saying, you know, my righteousness is not that bad. My walk, it might not be perfect, but it's not that bad. My provisions, they're okay. They didn't come like that at all. They came saying our government is utterly worthless and evil. There's our walk. We can't boast about our walk and think, well, you need to do this for me because of how good my walk is. My provisions, they're no good. They're no good.

Now, if you want mercy, this is the way to come to the Lord. Not talking about how good you are, talking about how bad you are. Not talking about how much you have, but how much you need. Not talking about your walk. Look, I've walked right. I've checked all the boxes. But you're, by the grace of God, saying my walk's bad. It's filled with holes. This is the way they came. They came in their need. Would you be pleased to make a covenant with us to spare our lives? Now, that's the way you come to the Lord. Not talking about the good you've done. Not talking about how good your garments are. Not talking about how good your walk is with your shoes. Not talking about how good your provisions are.

You see, when you come to the Lord's presence, you come with a need for mercy. Grace has to do with God's character, not ours. He gives grace because He's gracious. But mercy, has something to do with need. Look across the page in Judges chapter 10. I mean, we have Judges chapter 10. This passage, I don't think I'd ever seen it before, and it really seemed to speak to me. Judges chapter 10, verse 15, and the children of Israel said unto the Lord, we've sinned. Do unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee. Deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, the false gods, and served the Lord. And look at this next line. And his soul was grieved for the misery of the children of Israel. That's how they became miserable. God is moved by that. And we have that in this story. When your sin is all your fault, you need mercy. If you need mercy, you don't come saying my garment's okay. You don't come saying my walk is all right. You don't come saying my provision is okay, but you come saying my righteousness is worthless. My walk is worthless. My provisions will do me no good. I need you to make a covenant with me to be in league. And he's talking about the covenant David spoke of when he said, although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me, I didn't make it with him, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant. ordered in all things, ensuring this is all my salvation and all my desire.

Would you enter a covenant of grace with me? If you don't, there's no hope for me. I'm in your hands. You can do with me whatever you're pleased to do. I'm utterly in your hands. Would you be pleased to make a covenant with me?

Now back to judges. Oh, Joshua 9. And the men took of their vittles and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. Now what they should have done, they should have asked the Lord what to do, but they didn't. You know, I know why they didn't, because the Lord had determined to have mercy on the Gibeonites. That's why they didn't.

And there's so many examples of this in the scripture where something happened. Let me show you another example that's turned up. Judges 14. This is a demonstration of how the Lord is in control of everything. And Samson, chapter 14, and Samson went down to Timnath and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up and told his father and his mother and said, I've seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said to him, is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren or among all my people that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said to his father, get her for me for she pleases me well. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord.

The Lord moved him to do that because he sought an occasion against the Philistines. For at the time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel. And through this event, he's going to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines through this man, Samson. But you could see, why are you doing this? He didn't know this was the Lord's intention. The Lord has always got his purpose.

So they asked, the men took of their vittles and asked not counsel of the mouth of the Lord, it was the Lord's purpose. And Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them to let them live and the princes of the congregation swear unto them. Now, isn't this the gospel, the Lord made peace? having made peace through the blood of his cross. And the reason he did it is because of his covenant. He had a covenant made before time began. And through the Lord Jesus Christ, he made peace and Joshua made peace with him and made a league with him 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'd made a league with him, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. They deceived us. We've made this covenant with them, and they've deceived us. And the children of Israel journeyed and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Jeparoth, and Beoroth, and Kirjath-Jeram. And the people 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 in the congregation, we've sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel, now therefore, we may not touch them. Well, this we will do to them. We'll let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swear unto them. And the princes said to 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. That's a lot better than getting killed, isn't it? As a matter of fact, being a year of wood in the house of the Lord, we're gonna see that's what this was. Now let's go and read it.

And Joshua called for them and he's speaking to them saying, wherefore have you beguiled 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 ewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. That's a pretty good curse to be under, isn't it?

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 sore afraid of our lives because of you and have done this thing.

I love this language of certainty. Here's why we did this. We heard certainties. And that's what the preaching of the gospel is all about. Certainties. God is, as he describes himself in his word, That is certain. He's holy. He's all-powerful. He's sovereign. He's all-wise. He's independent. He's immutable. He's eternal. The certainties of the character of God.

Man is, as the Bible declares him to be. This is certain. This isn't something we just, here's my view. Man's dead in sins, unable to save himself. Here's a certainty. Salvation, this God who saves these dead men, salvation's of the Lord. That's certain. You know, people debate, for instance, about election. That's certain. He chose who would be saved. Redemption is of the Lord. He by Himself purged our sins. Regeneration is of the Lord, that's certain. The Spirit quickens whom He will. It's the Spirit that quickens. The flesh profiteth nothing. We're dealing with certainties and this is what they heard. It was declared unto them what Joshua had done. And we knew any attempt to save ourselves would be in vain.

Verse 25, and now behold, we're in thine hand. As it seemeth good right unto thee, do unto us. 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 it came to pass, chapter 10, when Adam Nizedek, King of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had literally destroyed it as he'd done to Jericho and her king. So had he done to Ai and her king and the inhabitants of Gibeon and 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.

Now remember, these are the men of the land. These are the kings of the land. When Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hotham, king of Hebron, and to Piram, king of Jarmuth and Japhthah, king of Lachish, and to Debar, king of Eglon, saying, come unto me and help me that we may smite Gibeon, for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. We're going to wipe them out because of this covenant they made with Israel. Come with me to wipe them out. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of the Hebron, the king of Jarmath, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglin, gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon and made war against it.

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 you'd think they'd say, tough, that's your problem after the way you've deceived us. But because they entered into this covenant, not because of any merit on their part, they were deceivers. But because they entered into this covenant, the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, slack not thy hand from thy servants. Come up 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 sent it 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 thy 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 disconfitted them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethlehem, and smote them to Escha, and then to Mechadeth.

And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethlehem, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon the Ascans. They died, and they were more which died from the hailstones than which the children of Israel flew with the sword.

The Lord was involved in this battle, wasn't he? He was casting great hailstones against them for the protection of these deceivers, because of this covenant.

Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when The Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of Israel, son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon. And the son stood still. The moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.

Is it 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 know who else he's fighting for? Forgive me not.

And Joshua returned and all the Israel with him into the camp Gilgal. But these five kings fled and hid themselves in a cave at Machedah. And it was told Joshua, saying, the five kings are found hidden in a cave at Machedah.

And Joshua said, roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them. 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 hands.

And it came to pass when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed, that the rest which remained of them entered not in defense cities, and the people returned to the camp, to Joshua at Mechida, in peace. None moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. Then said Joshua, open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave. And they did so. and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jermuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglin.

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 which went with him, come near and 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.

' And afterwards Joshua smoked them, slew them, hanged them on five trees. And they were hanging upon the trees into the evening and 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 had been hid. and laid great stones in the cave's mouth, which remain to this day.

" Now that seems brutal, doesn't it? Ruthless. But the Lord was nailed to a tree. He was cast into a cave. And when He was hanging on that tree, all of our sins were on Him. But when He came out of that tree, none remained.

At 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 this to the king of Makeda, as he did unto the king of Jericho.

Then Joshua passed from Makeda, and all the Israel with him, and Libna, and fought Libna, and the Lord delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel. And he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, he let none remain in it. He did unto the king therefore, as he did unto the king of Jericho,

This is talking about his conquest, all because of this thing of Gibeon.

And Joshua passed from Lebanon, all Israel with him, into Lachish, and came against it, and fought against it. And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, according to all that he'd done to Lebanon.

Then Horam, king of Gaza, came to help Lachish, and Joshua smote him and his people, until he had left him none remaining.

And from Lachish, Joshua passed into Egland, and all Israel with him, And they had camped against it and fought against it. And they took it on that day and smote it with the edge of the sword. And all the souls that were therein, he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.

And Joshua went up from Eglin, and all Israel with him, but to Hebron. And they fought against it. And they took it and smote it with the edge of the sword. And the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein, he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglin. He destroyed it utterly and all the souls that were therein.

And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debar and fought against it. And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and they smoked them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the cities that were therein. He let none of them remaining, as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debar, and to the king thereof, as he had done also to Labna and her king. So Joshua smoked all the country of the hills, and of the south, and the vale, and the springs, and all their kings, and left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God had commanded Israel.

And Joshua smote them from Kadesh, Barnea, even into Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even into Gibeon, and all these kings, and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel, And Joshua returned to Israel with him into the camp of Gilgal.

Now all these battles began because of him delivering the Gibeonites. Now the story's not over, and I'm not going to get into it, but do you know hundreds of years later, a famine hits the land when King David is king. And David goes to inquire of the Lord, why is this famine? He said, King Saul killed some Gibeonites. And since he did that, I am against the land. So this covenant is perpetual. Hundreds of years later, it's still in operation. And the Lord's covenant is eternal.

Now, if I'm gonna come for mercy, I hope I am. If I'm going to come to the Lord for mercy, and you only come for mercy when you're not a victim. Your sin is all your fault, completely. If you're a victim, you're not looking for mercy, you're looking for justice. But if you come needing mercy, I'd come just like these Gibeonites did. My garment is moth-eaten, rotted. It'll do me no good. My walk is filled with holes. I've got no provision. My only hope is that you'll make a covenant with me, a covenant of peace.

Let's pray. Lord, we're amazed at your word. We're amazed at our foolishness. And we're amazed at how you take your word to show us our foolishness and show us to come to you not in our own merit. Enable us to truly come into your presence like the Gibeonites at all times. As we face this coming week, we pray that we might be enabled to walk by faith with our Savior. We ask that we would be given opportunities to preach your gospel to others. Lord, we would remember our sick. We pray for Claire, we pray for Jessica, we pray for your Help with Rick on his surgery. Bless us. Bless them. Bless us for Christ's sake. In his name, we pray. Amen.