Much War (Part A)

The Holy Spirit is bringing something to our attention because what we notice today is that there are many universities and churches and believers who are quick to tolerate lies, mistruths, blasphemous ideas even about the Lord or the scripture and they tolerate these things. They look to salvage something that comes out of hell and then mix it into the church.

And this is why so many churches and almost all of the seminaries are compromised. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Joshua.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the Book of Joshua Chapter 7. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in Joshua Chapter 10 as he begins a brand new message called Much War. Joshua Chapter 10 and two words stand out in this chapter, at least one phrase and another word.

And the word sword will stand out as well as utterly destroyed. And that's what this is all about, this conquest of the promised land. It's about war and finishing what has been started, though the Jews never did finish. And again, life is much that way when it comes to fighting the flesh and fighting the lies that are out there and we come along with the truth and it's just never-ending.

We don't have the right to be sick and tired of it to the point where we are no longer part of the solution because that's why God has us here. Well, this chapter covers infantry war in particular and the engagements include combat field support, night ops, a forced march to the battlefield. And if you've never been on a forced march, you're missing out.

You'll be in shape after one of those. Closed combat engagement with the enemy, target rich environments, illumination rounds, anti-personnel rounds through close air support. And oh, counter-offensives and funnel assaults are also part of the warfare that is going to take place in this one chapter, Chapter 10. And so we're not considering so much love and morality, but rather our role in this world as believers. It's more of a fight against those things that damn souls than it is anything else for we who believe and we are confronted with these serious forces against us. Ephesians 6, we know it. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places. That's the spiritual war that we are engaged. So we come to this book of Joshua and we say, well, we're not just reading a manual or an account on history.

It is more of a manual for us on much war and engaging the enemy, fighting for truth by knowing the truth and telling it and trying, of course, our best to live it. The enemies in this book, Joshua's book, they do represent lies about God. If we want to, of course, give it, have it go parallel to what we're living and cities of those who today murder the unborn, for instance, and now the newborn, who teach children to not be what they were born as male or female, those who hate the only true God and savior, the lies that have gotten hold of these people.

That's the enemy. That's what we are to engage when dispatched by the Lord. And the longer I serve as a Christian, the more I'm convinced that it's mainly against false views. And that's why Paul says in the end, this is how it's going to be with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. So those who oppose the will of God and the people of God are the belligerents, the combatants. And each of these have to be dealt with with the sword, God's word and the support that we need to do this, the logistics that go along with it. They're given by God, Ephesians 6 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. I don't remember if it was Harry Ironside or Alan Redpath that said Joshua was a parallel book to Ephesians.

And for decades I pondered that and didn't see it. And yet I have quite a few quotes from Ephesians to drive the point home that Joshua is making. And so I agree now, after all these years, maybe you got it earlier.

You're still not better than me because of it. But it is the Ephesian letter. It is a book of war, as is Joshua. Revelation 21, 27, we read, but there shall by no means enter in it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. And what I'm getting out of this verse in Revelation 21 verse 27 is that those things that cause abominations or a lie are blocked out because that's the enemy. And so if we come away from this consideration, much war against the lies that Satan has injected into humanity and continues to push.

That's why we're here. They don't believe in creation. They don't believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. They don't believe in the virgin birth. They don't believe in the Bible.

These are lies that have gotten hold of them and we are saved because God dispatched Christians into our lives to fight against these untruths. So now we look at verse one. It's a long chapter. It says, Now it came to pass when Adonai-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it as he had done so to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them. Well, Jerusalem, where Adonai-Zedek is king, that's just five miles from Gibeon. Last chapter, the Gibeonites deceived the people of God because they wanted peace. You can't fault them for that, but Joshua was deceived nonetheless. He did not seek the Lord.

He was told right out. They trusted what they were looking at and what they did not do is look up to the Lord on this matter and they were fooled. This, incidentally, is the first mention of Jerusalem in the Bible and that, of course, causes us to believe that the final draft of the book of Joshua was done in the days after King Saul because Jerusalem did not get its name until David led the conquest of Jabez, which is Jerusalem. Remember when he chopped off the giant's head and he carried it around for three days? One of the places he took that head to was the city of Jabez, David, as though to say, you know what?

You see what I did to this guy? This city is ours. Well, anyway, he ends up, of course, many years later becoming king and Joab, ruthless chainsaw Joab, made his way up the well in Jerusalem. Then Jabez opened the gates. The Jews came in and took the city and it became the city of David and so that they're naming it, calling it Jerusalem here in Joshua 10, centuries before David was even born, indicates that the final draft was produced in David's time and there's nothing, of course, wrong with any of that. Well, Joshua killed the king. He will, this king, Adonai Zedek, he will perish in this campaign and the Israelites will destroy the city but they won't hold the city. It appears that the Jebusites come back into it after Joshua does the damage. We read this, I'm reading this from Judges chapter 1. Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it.

They struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. And then Judges 1 verse 21, but the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem so the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. I'm reading from Judges and the way that language reads to us, it tells us that the final draft of Judges was done before King David but also he would have added when David took the city and it's no longer in their hands but he says to this day at the time of the publication of the book of Judges, the Jebusites were there.

Now as I'm reading this and speaking, I'm saying to myself, I think I've lost everyone except this side of the sanctuary. So let me just go back and just say here Joshua is going to what will be Jerusalem. It's then called Jebus and he is this King Adonai Zedek is from that city and he will perish in this campaign. Joshua will take the city but the Jebusites will again come back. And a little another note about it is originally was given to the tribe of Benjamin but David of course wins it. Now the name Adonai Zedek, it's a nice sounding name. I don't know if I'd give it to a kid but it means the Lord is righteous or the Lord my righteousness or the Lord is my justice.

And there's a little tricky thing about this. One is of course and that's what it means in the Hebrew and there was nothing righteous about this man. He was under the judgments. It was a false righteousness if you translate his name with the Hebrew. For instance, Leviticus 2023, God says to the Jews and you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you for they commit all these things therefore I abhor them. So we know this man is not righteous according to the standards of God. However, in the language of the peoples that lived in the land, Zedek does not mean righteous, it was one of their gods.

And so you can do with that whatever you like, you know what I know about it. But I can add that this unrighteousness that the Jews were casting out of the promised land is still with us. All you have to do is read Romans chapter 1 or a newspaper and you find out the same iniquity is present with us. We're still dealing with this and we will until the rapture comes and the Lord returns. It says in verse 1 that he utterly destroyed, well the mentions utterly destroyed going back up to the verse. Now it came to pass Adonai Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and utterly destroyed it.

Well that's what's going to happen to everybody else too. But there's that dominant word and we should pay attention to dominant words when they show up in a chapter or passage of scripture. The Holy Spirit is bringing something to our attention because what we notice today is that there are many universities and churches and believers who are quick to tolerate lies, mistruths, blasphemous ideas even about the Lord or the scripture and they tolerate these things. They look to salvage something that comes out of hell and then mix it into the church. And this is why so many churches and almost all of the seminaries are compromised. This doesn't help anyone.

It hurts everyone. And so remember the next time someone wants you to tolerate some blasphemous idea, some false idea about Christ, I'm talking about the essentials. Remember that the people of God when they entered into Canaan they utterly destroyed those who were opposed to God. And so on the battlefield of thoughts and ideas and the battle for the mind, we're not tolerant of people who just give Jesus a pat on the back and want to say he was a good man and a prophet and that's it. That is not what we believe. We believe of course he is God the Son, creator of the heavens and earth.

He is the Lord our Savior and a whole lot more. Verse 2, and they feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, one like the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai and all its men were mighty. And so Adonai Zadok and the other kings that he's calling with him to come fight against Gibeon for making a treaty with Joshua, they're pretty upset. Gibeon, that big city with all those warriors over there, bookmark that thought, all those warriors there, if they gave in to Israel, well that ain't good for us and we better nip this in the bud and go at them or else we're going to perish. That's their reasoning. Well this fear that they have, God prophesied of this through Moses, Deuteronomy 2, this day I will begin to put the dread and the fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you, but they won't repent.

That is the key feature that we cannot throw out of this section. They will wring their fingers and they will maybe have much human regret, but they won't repent. They won't acknowledge the Lord for who He is and surrender to Him. And the people in this land of Canaan are a type of the people in the great tribulation period who are going through the judgments and they refuse to repent. I'll come to a verse in a moment to support that, but here in verse 2 it says Gibeon was a great city. Being civilized, and I know I mentioned this in earlier chapters, is not grounds enough to have God withhold judgment.

You can be as civilized, you can have all the technology you want, you can be as interested in humanity's needs as you want, but if you're not right with God, you are against Him. And so again in the great tribulation period, which is coming, there will be many sophisticated people and cities and the technological advancements that will exist more than ever, and yet they will still sin, they will still die, and they still will choose to blaspheme. And so as we look at this judgment coming in on the cities of Canaan, we say, so what?

They were big cities. They were also big blasphemers. Verse 3, Therefore Adonai-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, Sentur-horam, king of Hebron, Piram, king of Jarmuth, Japhia, king of Lakish, and Diber, king of Eglon, saying, Come up to me and help me, that we may attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. And so Adonai-Zedek, he puts together this confederation of kings to come attack Gibeon for siding with Joshua. The Gibeonites had overcome the threat of Israel just to fall victim to another threat. They're stuck in the middle again. Such is life.

These things happened. Where will you land? Will you land on your feet or on your head when life tosses you out the window of the peace that maybe you have been enjoying for so long? And so they call to God's people, the Gibeonites do, trusting God's people rather than their neighbors.

That's how we want it. We would like unbelievers to trust us more than fellow unbelievers. We would like when things get serious about their own mortality and about God, we would like for the unbeliever to feel comfortable enough to come to us and not go to the world. He mentions Hebron here in verse 3. We'll get a lot of that when we get to chapter 14 when Caleb says, let me take Hebron, the land of the giants. You know, it just, the taste has never got out of Caleb's mouth. That whole thing about there are giants there and we're like grasshoppers. He just never, he never let that get away from him. And when he gets into promised lands, I want the land where the giants are.

I'm 80 years old. I'm still able to take these guys out and he does it and just, you got to love the man Caleb. That's why so many parents, I think, name their kids Caleb.

I hope that's the motive more than, I like the name, sounds good. Well, that's fine, but I hope you understand the man. Verse 5. He was a gentle man too, incidentally. His daughter will come to him. Give me the springs. And he does.

I just love that character. Anyway, verse 5. Therefore, the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuah, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up.

They and all their armies camped before Gibeon and made war with it. So the southern campaign is beginning ahead of schedule. Joshua doesn't see this coming. He's got this, his own pace he's working at.

Jericho, Ai, Bethel, all right, Gibeon, and he's working in his pace. God is saying, you need to push this up some. So here they are going to find themselves where in the territory where 40 years ago their ancestors were afraid to touch.

Now they're going to go in. Now we today, of course, we face conjoined enemies of truth. So I have to say this so we don't, again, you can see though it's just the book of Joshua and he's talking about the conquest of the Jews.

The conquest is still on. It's internal and it's external. For example, we have the fruit of the spirit. Well, that doesn't just fall into our lap. How many of you are just, I'm just a gentle person? Well, you may get that one right, but you might not get the long suffering right or one of the others or discernment or whatever we have to fight for. But the external threats that we face, militant atheism, I mean, atheism used to be, I don't believe in God, leave me alone. Now it's becoming, I don't believe in God. I'm going to make sure no one else believes in God.

I'm going to do whatever I can to stop anybody from believing God. We also have to deal with militant homosexuals who are determined not only to get others to accept homosexuality, but to applaud it, to bless it, to celebrate it, to parade it and beyond. Militant liberals who just have lost their minds.

They think they're smarter and better than everybody else and they have no proof and they know it, but it doesn't stop them. Then of course, militant Islam, nothing new there, but she's got advocates now. And then there is the militant media. Notice I did not say mainstream. I can say that.

There are some pockets of media that are not against righteousness and truth, but it's expanded and so it's not only your major news networks, it is Vimeo and YouTube and Twitter and all the rest of them. It's just such an age. This generation is just so unfortunate. I mean, when I was born, things were named like, you know, the tiger, you know, the hawk and now it's Facebook.

Anybody got a tweeter for me? I'm sorry. I don't know if you're catching it, but I am catching it. So you should be, you should be, wait, that name is corny. It's spineless.

I mean, how would you like to be a, you know, an athlete? And they called you the tulip. Here comes the tulip, everybody. This guy's ferocious. Okay. I forgot I'm here. I just kind of have my own little rant because I go do these things. Anyway, coming back to this, this Federation of conjoined enemies that I've listed, then there's our own flesh. Woo hoo.

Got to love that. We hate the flesh, our own flesh, our own tendency to do wrong. When we know we're wrong, you know, I know this is not honest and we're doing it anyway. Romans 7 24, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

Much war. That's what the New Testament tells us. You read the epistles, you don't walk away feeling good about yourself. You walk away, I got work to do. I've got no time to feel sorry for my sinful state.

I've got work to do. Verse six, and the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal saying, do not forsake your servants. Come up to us quickly, save us and help us for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered against us. Joshua, here's your chance to let the Gibeonites perish for pulling that move on you.

Don't go or delay. You know, I got to make some butter or something, but he's too noble a man to do any such thing. He gave his word to the Lord, two men in the presence of the Lord. Remember David, David wouldn't kill Saul.

He'd be so, man, kill that guy. And David, I will not touch the Lord's anointed. He had these convictions from the Lord and he did not move away from them. As he got older, of course, and into the palace, the temptation was so intense for that man that we learn, we learn it's not enough to know, it's not enough to want. Solomon knew more than anybody in his day and it wasn't enough. Solomon wrote, can a man take fire to his bosom and not set himself on fire?

And that's exactly what he did. Also, Gibeon, sixteen miles away, uphill, incidentally, the language will tell us that in verse seven, but before we get there, don't look, don't look, we'll get there. This could be a trap. Joshua, they're coming. You know, the confederation is coming to attack us. They would put Joshua right in the middle of the Gibeonites and these kings. Joshua, what is the solution? Because I'm sure his general said, if we go there, we're going to, what if these Gibeonites break the treaty? They don't serve the Lord.

Joshua said, I got a solution for that. Big battalions of God. He will take all the men with him, all the forces he has. He will put his rear guard there on Gideon and he will deal with the kings. Verse seven, so Joshua ascended from Gilgal.

He and all the people of war with him and all the mighty men of valor. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Joshua. Cross Reference is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you're interested in more information about this ministry, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.

You'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. By doing so, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Joshua right here on Cross Reference Radio.