Would you turn with me in your
Bibles to Joshua chapter 9. We're going to be reading Joshua chapter
9 verses 1 through 11. And it came to pass, when all
the kings which were on this side of Jordan, in the hills
and in the valleys and in all the coast of the great sea over
against Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite,
the Perizzite, the Hittite and the Jebusite heard that they
gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with
Israel with one accord. And when the inhabitants of Gibeah
heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, they did work
wildly and went and made as if they had been ambassadors and
took old sacks upon their asses and wine bottles and old and
rent and bound up and old shoes and clouded upon their feet,
and old garments upon them, and all the bread of their provision
was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua into
the camp of Gilgal and said unto him, and to the men of Israel,
we be come from a far country, now therefore make ye a league
with us. And the men of Israel said unto
the Hivites, peradventure you dwell among us, and how shall
we make a league with you?" And they said unto Joshua, We are
your servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who
are you, and from whence come you? And they said unto him,
From a very far country your servants are come, because of
the name of the Lord your 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, to Sihon, king
of Heshbon, and to Og, king of Bashan, which were at Ashteroth. Wherefore, our elders and our
inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals
with you for your journey, and go to meet and say unto them,
We are your servants. Therefore, now make ye a league
with us. Thus is the reading of God's
Word. What's a sinner to do? What's a sinner to do? That's
the title of our message. That's the first question. What's
a sinner to do? What's a sinner to do when he
has heard of the fame of the Lord God Almighty. What's a sinner
to do when he has heard of the high hand of the Lord upon the
Egyptians, how He destroyed the greatest kingdom in the world
with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with miracles and
wonders that only the true and the living God can do? What's
a sinner to do? What's a sinner to do when he
has heard not only that God destroyed the greatest nation in the world,
several thousands of miles away, but then, not only did he do
that, but God began to destroy other mighty nations closer and
nearer to them. What's a sinner to do when you
hear how God worked mightily in a man named Joshua to destroy
all the kings and all the nations right around the corner from
where you live? What's a sinner to do? What's
a sinner to do? Should a sinner, after hearing
about the power and might of the true and the living God,
stand against that manifestation of omnipotence? Should he gather
together a host of foes to fight with him with one consent against
the true and the living God? What's a sinner to do? The reason
why I keep raising that question, what's a sinner to do, is because
this was the question the Gibeonites had to answer. You see, if you
look at the text carefully, you understand that the first thing
that was taking place and the author is trying to impress upon
you and I is that folks heard something. Several times in the
account it says, and they heard, and they heard, and they heard,
and they heard. Now when you read the book of
Joshua, understand that we are dealing with an Old Testament
account that actually prefigures and foreshadows the work of Jesus
Christ in the New Testament. Joshua is a great and sterling
type of Jesus, is he not? Joshua's very name means the
Lord has saved. The Old Testament Joshua is the
New Testament Jesus equivalent. And so as we look at the life
of Joshua, you can rightly anticipate and rejoice in the manner of
work that Joshua did corresponding to the manner of work that Jesus
did. Now there's a subtle distinction
that I want to lay down with regards to this to help you if
you don't already know these things. Joshua represents Jesus
in this context in his immediate and his personal and his bodily
presence in the land of Canaan. He represents Jesus in His own
work as He came into the world, having assumed our nature, being
the God-man, the mediator between God and man. You know that three-year,
three-and-a-half-year period when Jesus ministered in Galilee,
Capernaum, and all of Israel? The distinction here is critical,
because if you recall, When our Lord went forth to do His work,
after having been anointed of the Holy Ghost, driven into the
wilderness, tested by the devil, He went about to do His ministry,
calling with Him disciples, and He began to preach, and to do
miracles, and to manifest His glory, and His Father's glory.
And who could deny the fact that everything Jesus did was successful? There wasn't one thing that our
Savior did of which anyone looking on him or hearing could say he
failed. No, the Bible says he did all
things well. Even he himself said, I've done
all things well. In fact, my father is pleased
with me because I always do those things which he had commanded.
He contending with the rulers said to them when he showed them
that they were guilty of self-righteousness, which one of you can convince
me of sin? My point is, folks, is that Jesus
physical bodily manifestation on this earth for three and a
half years was a clear manifestation of the true and the living God,
coming in impeccable, flawless power through the gospel. There
wasn't one time Jesus failed. Joshua's excursion through the
land of Canaan for some 110 years, he died at around 110, therefore
he would have been in the land of Canaan for some 60 years,
was marked by a remarkable power of grace. Everywhere Joshua went,
he prevailed. Everywhere he fought the wars
of the Lord, he succeeded. There were only a few occasions
in which God allowed Joshua to understand that he needed to
follow protocol. But for the most part, guess
what, folks? The name of Joshua spread through
all the land. Everywhere you went, you heard
about Joshua. Joshua's name was spread abroad
in the days of Jericho. Remember when the first campaign
of Israel was to destroy Jericho? And a woman named Rahab sought
to hide the two spies. What did she say to the two spies?
We have heard about the fame of the Lord your God. And therefore,
this is what she said, take care of me. You know what? She had
to raise the same question I'm raising to you as the Gibeonites
had to raise. What's a sinner to do? What's
a sinner to do when you are confronted by the power of God? What's a
sinner to do? Is a sinner to resist? Or is
a sinner to submit? She submitted, didn't she? and
she was blessed of God. It was also said further on in
the text that they heard, if you'll notice in verse 1 of chapter
9, it came to pass when all the kings which were on this side
of Jordan and on the hills and the valleys and all the coasts
of the great sea over his Lebanon, the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites,
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. What's the next
word? Heard! What this underscores and foreshadows
It's God's purpose to send the gospel of the glory of God into
all the world. You know, nations everywhere
know about our Lord Jesus. Isn't that right? You know why
they know? Because when Jesus rose again
the third day, he declared to his disciples, all power and
all authority has been given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Therefore, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.
Right now, today, just as Joshua was famous to all the kings of
the world, so Jesus is famous today. Is he not? Is he not famous
in your heart? Is he not famous among his people?
Interesting though, the text serves to teach us a lesson about
how we are to respond to what we hear. Do you notice the text
said that all these kings gathered together to fight against Joshua. Isn't that what the text says?
They all gathered together, and if you'll notice over in verse
2, it says that they gathered together with themselves to fight
with Joshua and with Israel with one accord. Saints, isn't that
the theme running through scripture? There are two prophetic fulfillments
that take place here. The first is when our Lord came
into this world. Psalm chapter 2, verse 1 and
2, why doth the heathen rage? And the people imagine obeying
things. The kings of the earth have what? Gathered themselves
together against the Lord and against His anointing. That's
what Peter said in Acts chapter 4. Lord, against your holy child
have they gathered together against Him. So what we read in Joshua
chapter 9 is a foreshadowing and prefiguring of that time
when the world would oppose the gospel at the coming of Jesus.
But also, this also represents what would happen in the end
times. If you go in your Bible, Revelation chapter 16, I want
to show you something. It declares to us in Revelation
16, verse 15, the same type of response on the part of the kings
of the world. Listen to what it says. I'll read Revelation chapter
16 verse 12 through 15. And this is concerning the sixth
vial. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates. And the water thereof dried up,
and the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I
saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of
the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the
mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils
working miracles Watch this now, which go forth unto the kings
of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them together
to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. You see the
gathering again? This is the gathering of the
kings of the nations. And folks, I do not believe that
this is merely some political battle that's going to be engaged
in the end times against some political kingdom, whether it
be Israel or the United States. This is all symbolic language,
referring to the nations and their ideology and their worldview
and their doctrines and their philosophies against the gospel
of God's glory. So what's happening in Joshua
chapter 9 is what happened at Calvary, and it's also happening
in these end days. If you pay careful attention
to what's going on in your own world, you'll see the encroaching,
unanimous gathering together of the secular world against
the truth of the gospel. That's what's going on, and it's
going on because they have heard too. They've heard about the
Lord Jesus. They've heard about his success
at Calvary. They've heard about his success throughout church
history and the salvation and the redemption of his people.
And they don't like it. And hearing, they have responded
in their fallen nature to oppose the truth of the gospel. Question,
how about you? How about you? Here's the next
question as we go back to our text so that I can lay this foundation
for you. Have you ever heard the proverb, As he thinketh in his heart,
so is he. This is Proverbs chapter 23.
It says, for as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So here's the next question as
we look at the life of the Gibeonites. What do you think about yourself? What are you thinking in your
heart? Are you a believer in Christ? Do you trust the true and the
living God? Are you the righteousness of
God? Are you a redeemed sinner? Are you an object of God's mercy
and grace? What do you believe in your heart
concerning yourself? The answer to that question is
twofold. It will determine how you have
heard. It will determine how you have
heard. And secondly, it actually renders
for us part of the answer as to how and why the Gibeonites
responded the way they did. You see, the Bible tells us in
Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1, faith is the substance of things
hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Isn't that true?
Faith, watch this now, is the substance of things hoped for. What that means, children of
God, is faith is able to operate on the premise of things not
seen, but rather things desired and hoped for. It actually operates
without the necessity of evidences on an empirical level. Am I making
sense to you? This is how the Gibeonites heard
what was said. You see, the text tells us that
the Gibeonites also heard, listen to it, We're over in verse 3.
And when the inhabitants of Gibeah heard what Joshua had done unto
Jericho and Ai, did they do the same thing that these kings did?
Did they gather together and say, you know what? We're going
to oppose the truth of the living God. We're going to fight against
his truth. I don't like him encroaching
against my property. I have no desire for him to rule
over me. You see, the issue is, how are
we hearing? Are we hearing with ears that
say, and hearts that say, I don't like what I'm hearing? Are we
hearing, and this is my suggestion to you, the way the Gibeonites
heard. And they heard with an ear of
faith. You know, first of all, the Bible
says faith cometh by what? Hearing. And hearing by what?
The Word of God. I'm here to suggest to you that
the distinction between the Gibeonites And all the kings of the East
and the West is this. When they heard the word, they
believed it. When they heard the word, they believed it. Now,
remember now, the Old Testament gives us shadows and types and
illustrations of New Testament reality. Therefore, when you
read the Old Testament, you must ask yourself, how does this proclaim
the gospel? How does this point to Christ? And how do I relate to the characters
in the text? I suggest to you that Pergivionites
represent every redeemed sinner. The Gibeonites represent elect
sinners who know that by nature they do not deserve the mercy
of God, they do not deserve the grace of God, but they're coming
to Christ anyway because they can't help themselves. They cannot
help themselves. I want you to see a number of
things. Remember now, my title to you is, What's a sinner to
do? What's a sinner? And I want this to so press itself
upon your heart, particularly you who are outside of the kingdom
of God today, you who do not know Christ today. I want you
to know you are privileged to hear the word of God today. You
are privileged to hear the message. And I hope by the time I'm done,
you have seen the glory of God in Christ and you might ask yourself,
what am I to do with what I heard? So the Gibeonites responded,
look at it in verse four. And they did work wildly. Do
you see that? The word wildly can be translated
a couple of ways. It can be translated in a negative
connotation as being subtle, as being manipulative, as being
less than honest. But that same Hebrew word can
also be translated this way. And they did work prudently.
They did work wisely. They worked in a mystery. They
want in a form of wisdom that only men and women who understand
the gospel can get it. They did work wildly. Listen
to what it says. And in their working wildly,
they made as if they had been what? Ambassadors. I think that's
a good way to respond to the gospel. How about you? I think
that's a good way to respond to the gospel. They said among
themselves, you know, We believe in this God. We believe in His
power. We recognize that He has triumphed
out there and that He's triumphing in here. And we are going to
respond to the clear truth of the Word this way. We're coming
to Him. And we're submitting ourselves
to Him. And we're declaring to Him we're ambassadors. Isn't
that interesting? Now here's the conundrum or the
conflict in your mind if you read the Old Testament passage
from a literal, historical, grammatical, let's say a legal perception
of the scriptures. It just don't seem right that
they would come to Joshua manipulative. Isn't that right? Wouldn't it
seem like they ought to just come and be honest and just say,
you know, Josh, we don't like you and we're enemies of you
and we're natives of the land. Look, but they come submitting. They come declaring that they're
ambassadors. And if you remember the text,
we'll develop it in a moment. They said, we're your servants.
What a way to come to God. We're your servants. What a way
to come to God. Now, can I tell you why they
did that, children of God? They did it because not only
had they heard about God's exploits from Egypt to Canaan, but they
had listened carefully to what the Lord had said about what
he would do to those who would submit to him, even if they deserved
the wrath of God. In other words, they listened
carefully. Go with me in your Bible to Isaiah
chapter 55, I'm going to show you exactly what I'm saying.
Keep your hand here, go to Isaiah 55, and I want you to hear what
God says to listening sinners about how to profit from listening
to His Word. You who are listening to me today,
listen to God and listen to His Word. Here's how you'll be blessed
by hearing God's Word. This is Psalm 55, I mean, Isaiah
55. I'm going to read verse 3 through
verse 5. And these verses have been commonly
read to you, I'm sure, but I want you to hear these words. Incline
your ear. Do you hear that? Incline your
ear. You know what that means? When
someone's speaking, and particularly God, listen carefully. Bow that
ear down. Get everything you can get from
what's being said. Pay close attention to God. Do you know that takes grace
from God? Do you know it takes grace to listen to God attentively? The Proverbs says in Proverbs
20, 12, The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made
both of them. Now listen to it. Incline your
ear. Incline your ear. And come unto
me, watch this, here and your soul shall live. Isn't that good? Isn't that good? Saints, you
know what the text is actually telling us? To come to Christ is to hear
the gospel. To come to Christ is to hear
the gospel. It's not to move from the back
aisle to the front aisle and make a decision for Jesus. It's
to right where you are Hear the word, believing the testimony
concerning Jesus Christ. You know what the promise is?
You shall live. I'm here to show you that that's
exactly what happened to the Gibeonites. Go back to our text
now. Let's learn a couple of things.
Let's understand a couple of things back in Joshua chapter
9. The Gibeonites had obeyed the command of Isaiah 55 verses
1 through 3. They listened. God promised that
if you listen to me, if you come to me through hearing, and faith
comes by hearing, you will live. Not only did they operate out
of that principle, do you know that there is a stipulation in
the Old Testament that said, God told Israel, when you come
into the land, I want you to wipe out all of the indigenous
rulers of the land. Seven nations I want you to destroy.
Part of those nations are given to us in verse 1 of chapter 9.
Destroy them without any qualifications. Destroy them without any equivocation. Destroy them. When you come upon
them, destroy them. There shall be no league made
with these seven nations. They must be destroyed. They
were under the wrath of God. They have been given many generations
to repent. They have rebelled against the
revelation of God. And when Joshua and the children
of Israel came in, they were to execute God's judgment upon
God's enemies. You see, there's a time when
after hearing so long, you are culpable of the wrath of God.
But then it also goes on to say, both in the book of Deuteronomy,
as well as in the book of Exodus, listen to this, and notice how
merciful God is. But when you come upon the stranger
or the sojourner there, do not vest him, do not treat him like
the man or the woman who identifies with the land of Canaan, because
you also were a stranger in Egypt as well. Do you think that if
the Gibeonites had read Deuteronomy chapter 10 or Exodus chapter
22, from which I'm quoting, and began to say to themselves, now
you know what, fellas? here come the true of the living
God and he's destroying everyone in the land and it doesn't seem
to be any help anywhere in terms of the salvation of sinners this
appears to be unmitigated judgment and wrath due to us because of
our idolatries and yet there's a stipulation in the word here
which says if we are sojourners here if we're just pilgrims passing
through If we're folks that are just passing through Canaan,
but don't identify with Canaan, don't cast our lot with Canaan,
maybe God will have mercy on us. Isn't that interesting? And that's exactly how the Gibeonites
thought. So here's what they did. Based
on hearing the Word of God, based on understanding the certainty
of a sovereign God, bringing his judgment upon the ungodly,
but also based upon a revelation of that stipulation of mercy
to the man or woman who might find themselves being merely
a sojourner, a passer through the land, God would have mercy
on them. So they proceed to head towards
Joshua, to appeal to Joshua on this ground. I'm a sojourner
here. I'm just passing through. I haven't
cashed my lot with these people, even though I live here. I live
here. I dwell here. I look like them. But Joshua, we're just passing
through. We're ambassadors too. In fact,
we're your servants. What a way to come to Joshua.
What a way to come to Joshua. Now, did it work? Look at our
text. I'll show you a couple of other
things. Look at our text. It tells us when they came, verse
5, verse 4 rather, having worked lawfully, they put on all clothes
after having declared themselves or framed themselves to be ambassadors. They took all sackcloth, ashes,
and wine bottles, old and rent and bound, old shoes cladded
upon their feet, old garments upon them, and all their bread
and provision was dry and moldy. You guys get the picture? You
get the picture? You know how they appeared to
Joshua? Two things, I want you to get this. They appeared like
they had come from a long ways. Like they had come from a long
ways on a long journey. Secondly, they had appeared before
Joshua as having been old and worn out. Three times it speaks
about the garments being old and the clothing being old and
the shoes being old. You know why? Because in our
fallen state, you and I are under the curse of sin. And everything
in this first covenant system is old, waxing old and fading
away. Everything about the old man
is a part of that system that God is destroying. And so what
these Gibeonites are saying is, we recognize that we are, watch
this now, sinners. We recognize that in our Adamic
nature, we're part of that old principle, that old covenant,
that old law, the old words, and that if you don't do something
for us, we're going to perish. Do you guys see that? That's
exactly what they're saying. And so they're coming to Joshua
on the premise of the knowledge of the word of God and from a
heart of faith. Now, this is the reason why I
raised the question to you. As a man thinks in his heart,
So is he. Did these Gibeonites really believe
that they were strangers and pilgrims in the land? Did they
really believe that to come to Joshua the way that he did, the
way that they did rather, that Joshua would have mercy on them?
I'm here to tell you that it's impossible to come to God and
come to God through Christ any other way than believing what
the Word of God says. For my view of things, I see
the Gibeonites as having received the gift of faith and being drawn
to the Savior on the grounds of faith alone. And as I said
to you, let me remind you again, faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. You know what that means? That
means when you look at me, I don't look like a child of the living
God. When you look at me, I may not on some occasion talk like
a child of the living God, especially if you ask my wife. On other
occasions, it's very clear, it's very clear, listen to me now,
that if I am a child of God, it's only by faith. And that's
true for you too. There is no ostensive evidence
that you are a child of God. There is no evidence that though
you're born of God, I'm talking about with the empirical eye,
I'm talking about with the scene because you see the just shall
live how? By faith. They walk by faith and they die
in faith. What that means is I'm not looking
to your outward exterior to determine whether or not you are a child
of the living God. You know how I know? By whom
you believe and what comes out of your mouth or out of the abundance
of the heart that the mouth speak. Now what these men did was confess
something. They confessed something. And
that's what faith does. When God begins to work in your
life, children of God, you know what he does? He removes you
out of the kingdom of darkness and plants you into the kingdom
of light. Isn't that right? Then he begins to show you, which
we call the first work of the Spirit, your sin. He begins to
show you that you're a depraved, hell-bound sinner. He begins
to show you the corruption and depravity of the old man. He shows you that you and I are
old, waxing old and fading away. And if we don't have a Redeemer
to bring us into the newness of life, we'll perish under the
wrath of God. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And I think that that's at least in part what's going on with
the Gibeonites. However, there's a larger truth, and we'll move
forward on this. The Gibeonites said, we came
from a far country. Now, in reality, they were part
of the Hivite people. And the Hivite people lived right
there in Canaan. The Israelites are going to find
this out in a few moments. But just as a word of truth,
and this will help us understand something about the duality of
being a Christian. The Christian is a citizen of
two worlds, is he not? We are in the world, but we are
not of the world. We live here on this earth, we
have been born into this world, we have a certain stock and identity
with this world system, but our citizenship is where? In heaven,
from which we look for our Lord Jesus Christ. Am I making a little
bit of sense? But, do you know the only person
that knows your citizenship is God? And another believer might
have a sense that that's true, depending on how you proclaim
the gospel to them. However, you and I live in this
mixed bag of being both in the world and not of the world And
that's the challenge that we have here on the one hand. They
were here bites on the other hand. Listen to me They were
pilgrims and aliens just like every believer. How did how do
I know that? How can I be emphatic about that?
The reason why is Joshua received this Notice what the text goes
on, and I want you to see that these are the lessons of the
Gibeonites too, as they listen carefully. They profess to be
strangers and pilgrims, as the Hebrew writer puts it. But I
want you to see now the prudence, the prudence and prevailing of
coming to Christ alone. I'm over in verse 7. Listen to
it. And the men of Israel, and the
men of Israel, said unto the Hibbites, see that's the author
calling the Gibeonites the Hibbites, peradventure you dwell among
us and how shall we make a league with you? The Israelite leaders are pressing
upon the Hibbites, that is the Gibeonites, the possibility that
they're lying. The Israelite leaders are pressing
upon the Gibeonites the possibility that they're only earth dwellers.
that they're only men of Canaan. The Israelites' leaders are suggesting
and implying to the Gibeonites that you have no right to the
covenant. You have no grounds to come to
us for mercy. You have no basis by which you
might seek mercy from the true and the living God. This might
just be the case. I want you to understand what's
going on here. This is so interesting. The Gibeonites knew that this
might possibly occur. Why? Because as a type of redeemed
sinners, you and I have no right, no claim, no absolute claim to
God's glory. Do you know God can reject you
and me anytime he wants to? On the grounds of what we are
by nature. God can look at me and say, Jesse,
you stand. You are nothing but a hell-bound
sinner, guilty of violating every precept of my law. I see nothing
in you of my son's righteousness. To hell you go. And my God would
be just. My God would be just. But mark
this now, if God does that, he did it according to his law.
He did it according to his law. So you remember earlier, I said
that we are dealing with a typology whereby Joshua represents Jesus
in the land of Canaan in his earthly ministry, his excursion
for three and a half years. And you guys do know that as
Jesus went about preaching and teaching, people came to Jesus,
didn't they? Some came to him and he rejected
them. Others came to him and he received
them. And if you notice carefully,
the ones Jesus received, Humanly speaking, some of us would have
rejected. The ones he rejected, humanly speaking, some of us
would have received. I remember a time when the disciples
were walking with the master, and a rich young ruler came to
Jesus, and the rich young ruler said, Master, what must I do
to obtain eternal life? Jesus said, Sell everything.
Follow me. Abandon all of that. Follow me. That man was so grieved
that the text said he went away sorrowful. You know what the
disciples did? They almost fell apart. They
could not believe that Jesus rejected that rich young ruler. You know why he rejected him?
He came in his own self-righteousness. He came under the assumption
that he could get right with God by his good works. He came
on the grounds of his own merit. In fact, he was arrogant enough
to say, what must I do? You know he had never heard the
gospel. He had never heard the gospel. And in order for Jesus
to teach his disciples a lesson about how you come to Christ,
he had to reject that man. On the other hand, there was
this Syrophoenician woman, and the demoniac from Decapolis,
and the blind man, and the lame man. All of these folks are unclean! ostensibly and outwardly unworthy
of the kingdom of God. Some of these folks couldn't
darken the door of the temple. And yet they came to Christ.
On what grounds? The same grounds these Gibeonites
did. You know what that is, folks?
Faith. Faith. A God-given faith that says,
I must have Christ. See, the Bible tells us in John
chapter 6, verse 37, and you know it, all that the Father
giveth me, what, shall come to me. And he that cometh unto me,
I will in no wise, what, cast out. And you and I don't have
a problem with that proposition, but you and I might have a problem
with the people that come. Be careful, because the only
people God's saving is what our pastor read in 1 Timothy chapter
2 verse 15. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. These Gibeonites were sinners.
They were sinners. They professed that they were
sinners. But they professed more. They professed that they were
pilgrims and strangers passing through this world. That's what
I am. I don't know about you. I'm a sinner saved by the grace of
God. I'm a sinner redeemed by the blood of Christ. I'm a sinner
in this world making my way through this world because I believe
the gospel. I believe that God has a people that he chose in
Christ before the world began. And somehow, I don't know, by
a work of God's mercy, I'm one of them. How about you? I'm one
of them. I'm a Gibeonite. Here's another
truth. When God brings the sinner to
himself, by the mercy of God, see Joshua's a great type of
who? Christ! These Gibeonites are coming to him. Be careful
to understand something. God doesn't require perfection
on your part when you come to Christ. He doesn't require perfection
on your part as to the manner in which you come. Because the
perfection that He requires, He has already provided in His
Son. Watch this now. So coming to
Christ by faith is not coming to Christ by a perfect human
faith. Coming to Christ by faith is
not saying, I've got to come to Christ by a perfect faith.
Or I've got to come to Christ by a mature faith. Oh, I've got
to come to Christ by a faith that says that I must be completely
upright and totally honest and sincere when I come. If that
were the case, none of us would come. In other words, don't get
on the Gibeonites because they work wily. Think about whether
or not what they did worked. It worked. Do you hear me? Listen to me. If there's anyone
in here today who is contemplating coming to Christ. Don't wait
until you have a proper disposition to come to Christ. Don't wait
until you have a maturity level that says, now I think I'm ready
to come to Christ. If you do that, you're not ready.
You come just as you are according to the hearing of the gospel
and what the Word of God declares. Desperate, needy, hell-bound
sinners finding in Christ alone all your righteousness. That's
what they're doing. That's what they do. They're
simply declaring what they have heard in the Word. If I come
as a sojourner, if I come as a beggar, if I come as a broke
man, if I come admitting that I'm a servant of the true and
the living God, God might just have mercy on me. I'll show you
another truth here. This is glorious. The people that are speaking
to these Gibeonites right now is not Joshua. It's the elders. Go back to the text. Show you
something. It was the intention of the Gibeonites
to come to the one man who could make a league with them. And
that's Jesus Christ. But as they were headed to Jesus,
guess who they had to meet up with? The rulers of the church. These are the leaders of the
church. And do you notice what the leaders of the church are
doing? They're trying to determine external merit on the part of
these Gibeonites as to whether or not they can enter into a
league. These leaders represent the Pharisees and the Sadducees
and the scribes and the workmongers and the legalists in our church
that would intercept the sinner coming to Christ to get saved
by saying to you, do you meet all the grounds and criteria
by which you can come into the covenant? Now watch this. Here's a good lesson for you.
On your way to Christ, don't listen to anybody. Don't salute
any man. And definitely don't stop to
talk to religious folk, because if you do, you'll get in trouble.
They didn't even respond to these folks. Look at the text. It tells
us here over in verse 8, and they said, no, verse 7, and the
men of Israel said unto him, by his providence, you dwell
among us, and how shall we make a league with you? Listen, they
don't even respond to them. Who do they talk to? Joshua. Listen to the text. And they
said unto him, I'm sorry, verse 8. And they said unto Joshua,
we are your servants. Oh, I don't know if you see it.
I do. These men understand that if
mercy is to be found, it won't be found in the people of God. If mercy is to be found, it won't
be found in the church. If mercy is to be found for a
guilty sinner, it's only found in Christ. Now watch this. Therefore,
the prudence and prevailing of these Gibeonites, they prevail,
we're going to see this in a moment, is that they came to Joshua alone. They didn't even talk to the
rulers. Why didn't they talk to the rulers? Because if they'd
have opened their mouth, they'd have been guilty. Why didn't they respond
to the rulers? Because if they'd have opened
their mouth, they would have been guilty. And the only thing they would
have gotten from the rulers is judgment. We are already guilty
by nature, aren't we? We're already defiled by nature.
We're already wronged by nature. You come to Christ on the grounds
by which the scriptures say you come to Christ by faith, trusting
in the merit and blood of his righteousness. That's how you
come. So they didn't say anything to these men. They turned to
Joshua and appealed to him. And listen to what it said. They
said unto him, we are your servants. And Joshua said unto them, who
are you? And from whence come you? Now
here's where they begin to make their profession. And they said,
from a very far country, your servants are come because of
the name of the Lord. I want to ask you the question
now. Do you see the gospel in this? Do you see how these men
are responding to Joshua according to the covenant? See, everyone
that comes to Christ comes to Christ because they're given
of the Father. Not anyone's coming to Christ.
But those who do come to Christ are coming to Christ because
they were chosen in Christ. They're coming from a far country,
even old eternity. They're coming out of a covenant
of mercy and redemption. They're coming from a long way.
In our black churches we call it a mighty long way. You know
what that long way is? The purpose of grace in Jesus
Christ for guilty sinners from the beginning of time to the
end of the world. They're coming a long ways. They're
coming from a place where God has revealed to them that God
had a purpose for them from way before the foundation of the
world. They identify with the testimony, they declare that
they're strangers and pilgrims in this world, because that's
what faith does. I don't know about you, but when God saved
me, it was very evident, and we heard this by our pastor this
morning, that He gave us a new nature. And in giving me a new
nature, it was evident that He had He had detached me from this
present world system. There was something that happened
when God saved me that broke me free from the clutches of
this world system. When God saved me, it became
evident that I was an alien of this world system. Does anyone
know what I'm talking about? When God saves you, immediately
you begin to see the world in a different light. You begin
to see it like God sees it. You begin to understand it like
God understands it. And you find yourself now inclined to pursue
the true and the living God because that's what the spirit of adoption
does. It causes you now to pursue Christ. And in pursuing Christ,
you become an alien of this world system. Do you know what these
Gibeonites did, ladies and gentlemen? They turned their backs on the
whole world of Canaan. These Gibeonites said, It's either
all these kings of the world or Joshua. These Gibeonites said,
now let's think about this. These guys have marshaled themselves
together with all of their arguments, with all of their oppositions,
with all of their agendas to oppose the truth and try to squash
out the truth. Now we could join ourselves with
them and maybe we might have the victory. No such thought
came into their mind. You know what came into their
mind? He's the true and the living God. And if I have any hope,
I'm coming to Him. I'm coming to Him. Right now,
right where you are, it might be that God is causing you to
be a Gideonite. And let me say this once more
as I begin to wrap this up. Don't come to religion. Listen,
don't even come to well-meaning Christians, because they'll bind
you up and keep you from coming to Christ. I'm here to tell you.
They might mean well, but before they bring you to Christ, they'll
tell you you have to clean up something. Don't come. Don't come. And they'll ask you, you know,
how much do you know about the Bible? Who cares how much you
know about the Bible? Have you heard the gospel? Has
your heart been fixed on Jesus Christ? Is your soul now bound
to see the Savior and find His approval? That's all that matters.
How long you've been in church, it doesn't matter how long you've
been in church. In fact, the less you've been in church, the
better. The less you've been in church, the better. What denomination
you belong in? Who cares about a denomination?
You need Christ. And I need Christ. And these
Gibeonites knew that they needed Christ. They held their peace.
They held their peace. And they found themselves in
the presence of Joshua. That's how faith works. A couple more
things, folks, and we'll wrap this up. The prudence and prevailing
of coming to Christ. To whom did they appeal? Verses
7 and 8 said they appealed to Jesus. What did they find? The
rulers found that they indeed were sinners. Listen to what
the text says. They said over in verse 11 and
12, Wherefore our elders, the elders of our inhabitants of
our country, spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the
journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your
servants. Therefore now make a league with us. You see how
demanding they are? Faith demands to close with Christ. Listen to verse 12. This our
bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day
that we came forth unto you but now behold it's dry and moldy
and these bottles of wine which we feel were new But behold,
they be rent, and these our garments and our shoes become old by reason
of the very long journey. And the men took of their vituals
and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord." Who did that?
The leadership. The leadership took the external
evidence of our Gibeonite brethren, and they said, okay, this is
good enough evidence for us. They didn't even seek the Lord.
Why didn't they seek the Lord? Because the Lord didn't give
them grace to seek Him. Because it was the Lord's purpose
to bring the Gibeonites into the covenant. Because the Gibeonites
are undeserving, hell-bound sinners like you and I, who have no grounds
on the basis of our merit or our good work to enter into the
covenant, but by mercy alone. And God in his providence blinded
the leaders to the reality of their citizenship as the Hebites,
until after Joshua established the covenant with them. Listen
to what it says. Listen to how it goes on to speak.
Verse 10, And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league
with them, and let them live. Isn't that interesting? And the
princes of the congregation swearing to 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. Too late! Too late! I'm saved now! I know the grace
of God in Christ. The law can't harm me now. Christ
has become my surety. He's become my substitute. He's
become my righteousness. Yes, I'm a sinner. Yes, I'm a
bad sinner. Yes, I'm a guilty sinner. But
I'm the righteousness of God in Christ. Today I live by the
mercy of God. So even though you can look at
my past and you can find all kind of stuff against me, listen
to me. God has made a covenant with me, ordered in all things
insure. This is all my comfort and all
my hope. This is the mercy of the gospel.
Isn't that good? One more thing I'm done. I love
the account. I love the account of the Gibeonites. It tells us in the subsequent
verses, especially when Joshua comes to find out what's going
on. Verse 22, And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them,
saying, Wherefore have you beguiled us, saying, We are very far from
you when you dwell among us? Verse 23, Now therefore you are
cursed, and there shall none of you be free, from being born
men. I like that curse. I love that
curse. Can you imagine Jesus saying,
you came to me as an undeserving, hell-bound sinner and somehow
faith operated in such a way like that woman with the issue
of blood who pressed through the crowd and touched the hem
of his garment and Jesus said, who touched me? And that woman
in trembling and fear said, Lord, I touched you. And the Lord Jesus
said, go your way, your faith has made you whole. Go your way,
your faith has made you whole. She came trembling. She wasn't
supposed to touch the master. She was unclean. She was unclean. She was just like these Gibeonites.
She had no grounds to touch the master. But all she had was the
hope that the master would show mercy to her. And he did. And he did, and she found mercy. This is what these Gibeonites
say, listen to it. Now therefore you're cursed with the curse,
Joshua says, you shall be bound and you shall be hewers of wood
and drawers of water for the house of my God. What a bondage! What a bondage! Now, here you
are, a city that was marked out for destruction. Under the curse
of God long ago by the law of Moses and by faith through hearing
by grace you came to Joshua and now he's made you to be employed
in the house of God. Isn't that good? What a curse!
In the Hebrew, the word for curse is a dual word and it can be
translated according to the context to be cursed or to be blessed. Either way. In some context,
they translated cursed, and in some context, they translated
blessed. Now watch this. You and I have been cursed with
the gospel. Yes, we have. Cursed is every
man that hangs upon the tree. If Christ was cursed, I was cursed.
Because when Christ was cursed, I was cursed in Him. Do you know
you and I have come under the curse of the gospel? And you
know what that curse is? That curse is it's impossible
for you and I to ever depart from Christ. God has bound us
to Jesus Christ by faith and you and I now are bondmen, slaves. What a glorious slavery. That's
one slavery I love. slaves in the house of our God. I'm bound to have to carry the
water of the gospel. I'm bound to now have to hew
down the wood of divine truth and help build the temple of
God. That's my job as a Gibeonite. I'm bound to help restore and
to preserve the habitation of God through the Spirit, because
God's cursed me. Anybody here want to curse today?
You hear what I'm saying? God's cursed me. And God's cursed
you if you believe the gospel, because He's cursed you in His
Son, Jesus Christ. Now I could go on and talk more
about this because I'm here to tell you, once God saved these
Gibeonites, these folks were blessed for generations to come. They had no right to God. Only by faith did they obtain
the promise. And this is the message of the
gospel to you and me. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptations, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Is there a sinner that
needs a Savior today? I've got one for you. His name
is Jesus. He's our Joshua. Amen.