Okay, we're continuing now in
our study in the book of Joshua. And this evening, we come to
Joshua chapter nine. Joshua chapter nine. And I must
say I've enjoyed these studies. I've given much time and energy
toward it. And it's been a personal blessing
to me and I trust it has been to you. I'm taking the title
for the message from verse 25. Joshua 9, verse 25. And the title
of the message is, Behold, we are in thy hand. Behold, we are in thy hand. As it seemeth good and right
unto thee to do unto us. You do it. You do it. Now that's
the very place in my heart I want to come to before God Almighty. Behold, I'm in your hand." That's
a good place to be, is it not? David said in Psalm 31, my times
are in thy hand. And then the old songwriter said
upon that verse, my God, I want them there in the hand of the
Lord. Many religious people in our
day, you know this is so, many religious people in our day would
have us believe that God is in our hand. Don't they say that? But just the opposite is true.
We're in the hand of Almighty God, everybody is, all humanity
is in the hand of Almighty God, and He can do with us as He will,
when He will, He can save us or leave us to perish according
to His sovereign will. That's why I read there in Daniel
chapter 4 as the man that God unhorsed and put in the dust,
King Nebuchadnezzar was taught of God and he confessed that
the Lord God of heaven does according to His will and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he does according to his
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of this
earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, Lord God
Almighty, what doest thou? Now, we find here in this verse
also a confession of the men of Gibeah who made a league with
Joshua. They unconditionally surrendered,
did they not, to Israel to save their lives from total destruction. God said those seven nations
in the land of Canaan, he said, spare them no quarter, destroy
every one of them. Here, they unconditionally surrendered
to Israel to save their life from total destruction. They
agreed to be the servants to Israel. I tried to emphasize
that in the reading, look at verse 8. And they said unto Joshua,
we are thy servants. And again, down in verse nine,
and they said unto him, from a very far country, thy servants
are come. And then again, down in verse
11, we are thy servants. Make a league with us. And then
again, in verse 24, they declare, we're your servants. Now, what
a blessing to be a servant of the Lord. And as they say in
verse 25 there, as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do
unto us, you do it. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? They totally surrendered. They
put themselves into the hand of Joshua and said, Joshua, you
do whatever you want to with us. We are your servant. Now, isn't that the place every
believer takes before God Almighty? in whom we also have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, is not this the confession
of every believer? We're in the hands of the Lord,
We have been made servants of the Lord by the Lord's own choice,
and he makes us willing in the day of his power. We're willing
servants unto the Lord, and he uses us as he will. As he sees
fit, he puts everyone in the body of Christ according to his
good pleasure. Total surrender and total submission. You remember Isaiah said that,
Isaiah 6, 8. He said, here am I. When he saw
the Lord high and lifted up, he said, woe is me. And then
he says, here am I, Lord. Send me. Send me. I'm in your
hand. Behold, I'm in your hand. You
send me. That's total surrender. That's total submission. I thought
of this occasion, too. You remember what Saul of Tarsus
said to the Lord. on his road of destruction as
he went to Damascus. And when he met the Lord Jesus
Christ and the Lord put his heart and face in the dust before the
Lord, he trembling and astonished said, this is Saul of Tarsus,
Acts 9, 6. What will you have me to do?
Behold, I'm in your hand. What will you have me to do?
And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go to a city, and it shall
be told thee what thou must do. Saul of Tarsus went to that city,
and the Lord made him a great preacher to the Gentile church,
and to the church as a whole, did he not? An apostle to the
Gentiles. Now, a couple of things here
I want to glean from this chapter. First one is found in verses
one and two. And it came to pass when all
the kings which were on this side, Jordan, in the hills and
the valleys, in the coast of the great sea, over against Lebanon,
the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the
Hivites, and the Jebusites, they heard thereof. Now these folks
heard too, but they weren't broken. They were hardened. that they
gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with
Israel, and they did so with one heart, with one accord. They were in harmony to destroy
Joshua and Israel. These six nations, or these seven
nations gathered together, confederated to gang up on God's people to
fight with Joshua and to fight with Israel. Now hold your place
there. and find Psalm 2, Psalm 2. I thought of this scripture
when I read that, Psalm 2. It talks about the kings of the
earth. Remember, Psalm 2 verse 1. Why
do the heathen rage and the people imagine the vain thing? The kings
of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord. And against his anointed they
say, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords
from us. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. All these nations
of the land of Canaan, they were all getting ready to gang up
on God and to put Israel and Joshua out of business and our
Lord sits in the heavens and he is quite amused by it. He laughs at them, knowing what's
going to happen. Now, all the enemies of God,
even yet today, united in one purpose, do they not? To throw
God off his throne. Don't they say things like, Like
this, we'll not have this man to reign over us. We have no
king but Caesar. All the enemies of God, even
today, united one purpose to throw God off his throne, to
put God out of business. Those will become friends to
implement their vain attempt to defeat God and put God out
of business. Some of you older ones will remember,
you remember back in the 60s that saying that went around,
God is dead. You remember that? That was a
big thing back in the 60s, God is dead. They tried to put God
out of business. Now, they're dead, God hasn't
changed. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. It's just like, you remember Pilate and Herod and the Jews
and the Romans joined forces to put an end to the Lord Jesus
Christ, to put an end to His ministry. You remember in Acts
chapter 4, where it says that Herod and Pontius Pilate and
the Jews and the Gentiles, they were all gathered together against
the Lord and against His Christ. They were going to gang up on
the Lord Jesus Christ and put Him out of business. But everything
they did, they only did according to God's eternal purpose. And
rather than stopping the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, it
just was a springboard that the gospel might be preached in all
the world, and the Lord Jesus Christ gives his life for his
people. There on Calvary Street, they
put him to death. But it wasn't what they did,
it's what God was doing at the cross, that's our hope. Now,
here's the second thing I want us to look at. From verse 3 down
through verse 15, When the inhabitants of Gibeah
heard what Joshua had done under Jericho, remember that city was
completely destroyed, everybody and everything in it was destroyed,
and again the other cities Ai, you remember it was taken and
it was destroyed as well, 12,000 inhabitants of Ai, men, women
and children. And here are these men of Gibeah,
they heard what Joshua had done and they did work wildly and
went and made as if they had been ambassadors and took old
sacks upon their asses Wine bottles, old and rent, bound up old shoes,
bound up their feet and old garments and all the provisions of their,
were dry and moldy. They went to Joshua and said,
we've come from a far country. Let us make a league with you. We want to join up with you.
We want to be your servants. Here they made this devious plan. There was an exception to those
who wanted to fight with God. There was an exception. These
men did not want to fight. They wanted to surrender. Now granted that the means they
took to deceive Joshua Wasn't it right? They lied, but it worked
to their better benefit, did it not? There was an exception
to those who wanted to fight with God. These people of Gibeah
wanted to surrender and submit. Now, all this came to pass, as
it says in verse one, and it came to pass again in verse 16,
and it came to pass. Now, whenever you read that in
scripture, Know this, it just wasn't an accident. This happened
by the good and sovereign providence of God. It came to pass because God in
his mercy, God in his purpose, he brought it to pass. It is
true that these men lied about their circumstances. I mean they
just flat lied. And for a while they deceived
Joshua and Israel. They made a league with Israel
for their protection to save their lives because they were
scared to death. If they knew if they fought,
they'd lose. They'd be destroyed. It says
here several times, and I've tried to emphasize this, in verse
three, they heard what Joshua had done. Down in verse nine,
it says, we have heard the fame of him, what he had done in Egypt. And to the kings on the other
side, we have heard what God had done. Others heard too, you
remember? Those other nations, they heard
too, as it says there in verse one, they heard thereof too. The men of Gibeah heard, and
the other nations they heard, they heard at the same time.
I heard that God was, God is gonna destroy everything within
His way. Others heard too the victories of Israel by the hand
of God, by the power of God, but it did not break them, it
only hardened them in their heart. You see, the same sun that hardens
the clay will also melt the wax. That we read in Romans 9, that
he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, that he will
harden whom he will harden. The men of Gibeah were melted
and broken. You remember too, Rahab heard,
you remember back in Joshua chapter two, remember, turn back over
there. Joshua chapter two, verse 10
and 11. You remember Rahab had heard
too. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the
Red Sea when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the
two kings of the Ammonites, Amorites rather, that were on the other
side, Sihon, Og, whom you utterly destroyed. As soon as we heard
these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there any more
courage remain in any man because of you. For the Lord your God,
He is God in heaven above and in earth, beneath. Some heard
and were melted. Some heard and were hardened
in their heart. Isn't that exactly what happens
when the gospel is preached? I mean, everybody hears the same
message. They hear the word. Some hear
with understanding. some here being blessed by the
Spirit of God. Now, don't turn to this because
you're familiar with it, but let me see if I can find it and
read it to you. In 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14,
Now, thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in
Christ, and make manifest his savor, of his knowledge by us
in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the
one a savor of death unto death, to the other a savor of life
unto life. Who is sufficient for these things?
That same gospel message that's a savor of life unto life, to
his elect, to his people, the same message is a savor and fragrance
of death and judgment and the wrath of God to those who will
not hear. For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God,
in the sight of God speak we of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's the third thing I
want us to see. We have another gospel picture
in these men coming to Joshua in the way they did in their
poverty. They came in their poverty. They didn't come with pronouncing
how great they were and how many riches they had, and they just
came as bank-rupt sinners. That's how they came. In verse
nine, down through verse 14, he said, we are your servants,
Verse 12, this our bread we took hot for our provisions out of
the house on the day we came forth to go unto you. But now
behold, it's dry and it's moldy. These bottles of wine which were
filled were new. Behold, their rent and our garments
and our shoes become old by reason of this very long journey. They put themselves in a place
of poverty, did they not? portrayed themselves as bankrupt
sinners before God. Now these Gibeonites are a good
picture of sinners coming to the Almighty Joshua in all their
poverty, of their tattered rags, of smelly self-righteousness,
of their ruined nature, their moldy bread that is stale and
worn out, their shoes ragged, worn out, no wine in their bottle,
no spirit of God within them, dirty, broke, bankrupt, dirty,
guilty, smelly before God. Coming before the Lord Having
heard of the might of his power, the wonders of his grace, the
marvel of his mercy, and the willingness of the Lord to save
sinners, that's how we come. As mercy beggars, not bragging
on ourselves, but begging for mercy. Are not we like these
Gibeonites? Only we don't come with deception. We come with truth before God. We are described in scripture,
aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, without God, without
hope, and without Christ. And yet it says there in verse
14 of Ephesians 2, we're made nigh unto God by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you see the picture there?
That's a beautiful picture. Here's the fourth thing I want
us to look at. In verse 14 and 15, the overruling
providence of God in the matter of making a covenant of peace
with these Gibeonites. Verse 14, the men took up their
vittles and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. They
should have went to the priest who should have used that Urim
and Thummim to ask the Lord in wisdom about this matter of making
a covenant with these people who were strangers. But by the
good providence of God, and I don't know how else to say this, they
didn't do that. They were restrained from doing
that. And Joshua says in verse 15, he made peace with them. He made peace with them, made
a league with them to let them live. And the princes of the
congregation said, amen. That's a good thing. And they
swear unto them. Now, another picture here I think
we see of the gospel. Notice the marginal reference
there is Deuteronomy 7, verse one and two. Let me just tell
you what that says. God told Israel to destroy all
seven nations in the land and to make no covenant with any
enemy in the land of Canaan. Just destroy every one of them.
But I found this reference too. Also in Deuteronomy 20, verse
10 and 11, the Lord told Israel, when you come to a city, and
declare peace unto it, if they surrender, make peace with them,
if not, destroy them. And it came to pass." There was
a provision of mercy. When you come to a city and you
tell them we're going to destroy unless you surrender, he said,
go ahead. If they surrender, you make peace
with them. And that's exactly what happened. This too is a
picture of the gospel of our great Joshua, the Lord Jesus
Christ. You remember Joshua is a picture
of our blessed Savior, is he not? He sends out his ambassadors,
he said, going to all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He sends out his ambassadors of the gospel to declare the
message of reconciliation. God is reconciled in Christ through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And all those that submit and
believe the gospel, they too shall be reconciled unto God
in Christ. All those that continue in rebellion
against God shall be justly damned. Now, let me read that verse to
you. Don't turn, let me just get it for you quickly, all of
you familiar with it. in 2 Corinthians 5.18, And all
things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that
is namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's stead now, surrender, be ye reconciled, give up, surrender. For God made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." Now, here's the next thing I want us to look
at. Verse 16 all the way down to verse 21. We won't read all these verses,
but let me just summarize them. And it came to pass, verse 16,
at the end of three days. Three days after they'd made
a league with them that they heard that they were neighbors.
I mean, somebody news got out. These men aren't from a far country. They just live 20 miles down
the road. and that they dwell among them. And the children
of Israel journeyed and came unto the cities the third day.
Now the cities of Gibeah were Kephira, Beroth, Chordath-jerim. And the children of Israel smoked
them not, because of the princes of the congregation, and sworn
unto them by the Lord God of Israel, You cannot touch them. And all the congregation murmured
against the princes, and the princes said to the congregation,
We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel, now therefore
we may not touch them. This we'll do to them, we will
even let them live lest wrath be upon us because of the oath.
which we swear unto them, and the princes said unto them, let
them live, but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water
unto all the congregations, as the princes had promised them."
Now, the plan of the men of Gibeah is discovered to be a fraud,
and it just takes three days until it leaks out. But still because the covenant
had already been made, they were safe from the revenge of the
man of Israel. They could not touch them, lest
they violate God's, they swore by the name of God of heaven,
lest the wrath of God would come upon us. They smote them not
because of this covenant. Is not this our case as well?
Because of the eternal covenant of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we are spared from the holy justice of God, and the wrath of God
cannot touch us. Because of that covenant engagements
made between the Father and the Son, which is made by the holiness
of God, by the holiness of God's oath, for it is impossible for
God to lie. This eternal covenant of grace
is not made by the fraud of man, but by the eternal holy God. David said of that covenant of
grace, it's ordered in all things and is sure, this is all my hope
and all my salvation. Remember from our study in Hebrews
13, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead,
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep to the blood of
the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work
to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in
his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and
ever. And then he says, amen. Amen. Now here's the last thing I want
us to look at. Verse 22 down to verse 27. Joshua makes them servant to
the house of the Lord. Joshua called for them, and he
spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have you beguiled us, saying,
We are from a far country, when ye dwell among us? Now therefore,
you're cursed. You're under this curse, a curse
of servitude. And there shall none of you be
freed from being bondmen, ewers of wood, and drawers of water
for the house of my God." And they answered Joshua and said,
because it was certainly told thy servants, here's their excuse,
That servants were told how the Lord thy God commanded his servant
Moses to give you all the land, to destroy all the habitants
of the land before you. Therefore we were so afraid for
our lives because of you and have done this thing." We've
done this thing to save our life. Now, and now behold we are in
thy hand as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us.
You do it. And so did he unto them, and
delivered them out of the hands of the children of Israel, yet
they slew them not. And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood, draws
of water for the congregation for the altar of the Lord even
unto this day in a place which he should choose." Now, at the
bottom of the page there, verse 27, jot down Ezra 7, 24, and
that tells us about those metonyms. You can go back and look at that
and read it again. Joshua makes these men of Gibeah
servants to the house of the Lord. Notice it says there in
the last part, to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for
the house of my God. To supply water and wood for
the worship around the altar of the Lord as it says down in
verse 27. Now, what a blessing they received. To be servants to the Lord God
who is God, The curse that was upon them was turned into a blessing
to serve the Lord in the house of the Lord, to serve the altar
of the Lord, and they did this for hundreds and hundreds of
years. They became willing servants
to the Lord. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Now, is not this our case as
well? We've been redeemed from the
curse of the law by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
been made servants of the Most High God and serve Him out of
love and gratitude. What a blessing! to be put in
the household of God and to serve Him around the altar of God. That is, the Lord Jesus Christ
is our sacrifice and our altar. You know, it's a high title to
be called, it's a high title to be called the servant of the
Lord. Is it not? How many times do
we read that Paul calls himself, he calls himself, I haven't looked
this up and don't have the exact number, but I would say many
more times he calls himself the servant of the Lord, Then he
calls himself the Apostle of the Lord. Wouldn't you say that's
so? He calls himself the Servant of the Lord. The Servant of the
Lord. The Servant of the Lord. Oh, by the way, I'm an Apostle.
But a Servant of the Lord. A winning, loving, bond slave
of Christ. That's a high title. To be a
Servant of the Lord. You remember what David said? Psalm 84. For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked."
What a blessing. What a blessing to be in the house of the Lord. To be a servant of the Lord. Again, I say it's a high title.
You know why I say it's a high title? Isaiah 42 verse 1, you
remember? Behold my servant. my left, and whom my soul delighteth."
The Lord Jesus Christ takes that title of the servant of the Lord. That's who believers are. They
serve the Lord. Now in closing, look at verse
25 for just a moment. And now behold, they say, here's
their confession. We're in thy hand, as it seemeth
good and right unto thee to do, unto us, Do it. Do it. This is our attitude in
the service to the Lord, in the Lord's house, around the Lord's
altar, in the family of God. This is what grace teaches us. Every poor sinner that is brought
to the Lord Jesus Christ, this is our confession. Lord, behold,
we're in your hand. We're in your hand. Now I kept
thinking about that statement, behold we're in your hand. And
finally, finally the Lord gave me this scripture. Remember upon
Calvary 3 when the Lord Jesus Christ was dying for the sins
of his people. He said, Father I commit my spirit
into your hands. That's Submission and total surrender. Isn't that our confession? Behold,
I'm in your hand. Do with me as you will. He prayed,
Lord, not my will, thy will be done. Do what seems good in your
sight. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? And whatever he does, it is right.
He has made us under our God, kings and priests, and we shall
serve him now and forever. All grace now and glory forever. To be the Lord's servant is to
be the Lord's free man. We have liberty, freedom to serve
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember when we studied the
prodigal son when he came home? Remember what he said? Just make
me one of your servants. Just make, I'll be just as happy
as can be, my father, to serve you. Just make me a servant.
If I hold him in your hand, you can make me a servant. We read this in the revelation,
Jesus Christ, who is a faithful witness, the first begotten of
the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him
that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
and has made us kings and priests unto God and his father, to him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. He made us kings and
priests, servants to the Lord. And we shall serve him forever,
to him be glory forever and ever. Amen. May God give us grace to
seek peace with our Almighty Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ,
upon the blessedness and the ground of the covenant of eternal
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, and upon that sacrifice he made
for us. He made peace for us with his
own blood.