Joshua Chapter 10:1-11

See, at that point, at least Joshua or Caleb thought on that day, these are the guys that we were so afraid of.

We wiped them out. And they looked back and they thought, wow, the Lord did exactly what He said He was going to do. As we stepped forth, the Lord made us victorious.

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Don't let your enemies or your fears keep you from walking in the promises of God. Pastor David encourages us in this today as he continues his study in the book of Joshua chapter 10. But first, when you're in trouble, where do you turn most often?

Do you look to yourself or the advice of your friends or do you go straight to God? We want to help you experience the hope that comes from looking to the Lord when your life turns upside down by sending you Pastor David McGee's CD series titled Lessons from the Wilderness. In this encouraging resource, Pastor David looks at one of the most difficult periods of King David's life to show you how you can wait confidently on God no matter what you're facing. Lessons from the Wilderness is our thank you for your gift this month to share the hope of Christ with others. So please visit crossthebridge.com for your copy of Lessons from the Wilderness.

Now here's David McGee with part three of his teaching, We Are in a Battle. Turn with me to Joshua chapter 10. Now it came to pass when Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had taken Ai and how utterly destroyed it as he had done 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. That they feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai and all its men were mighty. Therefore Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hohem, king of Hebron, Piram, king of Jormuz, Japhia, king of Lachish, 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. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jormuz, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it. Verse six, and the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp of Gagal, 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 together against us. So Joshua ascended from Gagal, he and all the people of war with him and all the mighty men of valor, and the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear them, for have delivered them into your hand and not a man of them shall stand before you.

Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gagal. So the Lord routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Ezekah and Makkadah. And it happened as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth-horon that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Ezekah, and they died.

And there were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with a sword. Verse 12, then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, sun stand still over Gibeon, and moon and the valley, Vejolan. So the sun stood still and the moon stopped till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

And there has been no day like that before it or after it that the Lord heeded the voice of a man for the Lord's fault for Israel. Verse 15, then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gagal. But these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in a cave at Makkadah. And it was told Joshua saying, the five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkadah. So Joshua said, roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them.

And do not stay there yourselves, but pursue your enemies and attack their rear guard. Do not allow them to enter their cities for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand. Then it happened while Joshua and the children of Israel made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter till they had finished that those who escaped entered fortified cities. And all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkadah in peace.

And no one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. Then Joshua, verse 22, then Joshua said, open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five kings to me from the cave. Verse 23, and they did so and brought out those five kings to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lasheesh, and the king of Eglon. And so it was when they brought those kings to Joshua that Joshua called for all the men of Israel and said to the captains of the men of war who went with them, come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings. And they drew near and put their feet on their necks. Then Joshua said to them, do not be afraid nor be dismayed. Be strong and of good courage for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight. Verse 26, and afterward Joshua struck them and killed them and hanged them on five trees and they were hanging on the trees until evening. So it was at the time of the going down on the sun of the sun that Joshua commanded and they took them down from the trees and cast them into the cave where they had been hidden and laid large stones against the cave's mouth which remained until this very day. See, it's a battle. It's a battle. What happened to these kings?

As soon as they reared their ugly heads out of the cave, they were killed. You realize that's what we should do with our sin? Don't take it out and play with it. Don't condone it. Don't approve it.

But realize it is what it is. It's sin. It's the very thing that placed our Savior on the cross.

Don't make friends with it because it does not want to be your friend. See, we have a war to wage and the victory to proclaim against our sin, to wage war on it. It's a serious thing.

It's a serious battle. And God had plans for this land, didn't He? This is Israel.

This is the place. God had plans like Bethlehem, like Jerusalem, like Calvary, like Pentecost, the upper room. He had all these plans for this room. But what had to happen was these battles had to be waged in order to receive those blessings because you know what? The land of blessings is very often the same land of battles that we have in our life. So, and Joshua didn't understand all that plan, did he?

I don't see it in the Scripture. I don't see God sitting down with Joshua and go, okay, Joshua, here's the deal. What's going to happen is we're going to go through some stuff. There's going to be this guy, his name's David, and he's going to take Jerusalem and then we're going to end up, get really populated. And then there's going to come profit, but he's more than a prophet. He's going to be a king. He's more than a king.

He's actually my son. He's going to come down. He's going to be here 30 years, come minister.

People do some really cool things with fish and bread. And then he's going to be crucified. He doesn't go back through all that with Joshua. Joshua is on a mission that for the most part, he doesn't have the details of.

Can anybody else identify with that? I mean, I feel like my life somewhat is a thing. I don't have all the details, but God just says, do this and do that and fight for me and you'll win. Okay, I'll do it. And if we sit and we wait for all the details, we'll be sitting and we're waiting until we go to be with the Lord. You won't get all the details. March out, fight for the Lord, and the Lord will give you the details as you need to have them, but we need to be engaged in this fight. William Booth who started the Salvation Army said, while women weep as they do now, I'll fight. While children go hungry as they do now, I'll fight. While there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl in the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight.

I'll fight to the very end. He understood it was a battle going on. That's why he named it the Salvation Army.

Army is a military term. And we sit here and we look and we go, wow, they killed these guys. They hung on trees and then they took them down.

Why did they take them down? Because in Deuteronomy 21 verse 22 tells us, if a man has committed a sin deserving of death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. For he who is hanged is accursed of God. When somebody hung on a tree, it was a recognition that they were cursed by God. This is the scripture that's referred to in the book of Galatians that says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that's referring back to this Deuteronomy passage, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Jesus got the curse.

We got the blessing. And Jesus was willing to do that for you and willing to do that for me. Verse 28, on that day Joshua took Makedon, struck it and its king with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them, all the people who were in it.

He let none remain. He also did to the king of Makeda as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua passed from Makeda and all Israel with him to Libnah and they fought against Libnah. And the Lord also delivered it and its king into the hand of Israel. He struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword. He let none remain in it, but did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua passed from Libnah and all Israel with him to Lachish and they encamped against it and fought against it and the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel who took it on the second day and struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword according to all that he had done to Libnah. And then Horem, the king of Gezer, came up to help Lachish and Joshua struck him and his people until he left him, none remaining. From Lachish, Joshua passed to Eglon and all Israel with him and they encamped against it and fought against it and they took it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword and all the people who were in it. He utterly destroyed that day according to all that he had done to Lachish and so Joshua went up from Eglon and all Israel with him to Hebron and they fought against it and they took it and struck it with the edge of the sword, its king, all its cities and all the people who were in it. He left none remaining according to all that he had done to Eglon but utterly destroyed it and all the people who were in it. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to Deborah and they fought against it and he took it and its king and all its cities and they struck them with the edge of the sword and utterly destroyed all the people who were in it. He left none remaining as he had done to Hebron so he did to Deborah and its king as he had done also to Libnah and its king. So Joshua conquered all the land, the mountain country in the south and the lowland and the wilderness slopes and all their kings but left none remaining but utterly destroyed all that breathed as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.

Now understand you know don't sit there and get freaked out because Joshua did these things. He did this under the command of the Lord and understand something too. Don't think well you know I don't understand how God could just pull the trigger on all these people.

God didn't just pull the trigger on all these people. It says that God was waiting 420 years while the people of Israel were down in Egypt. God was waiting for these people to come to repentance. These people were involved in all sorts of pagan rituals and sexual things and their worship and human sacrifices, horrible things. They sacrificed their babies to Molech.

They would have this statue and build a fire around it until the statue was red hot and then when it was red hot they would place babies into the arms of the statue and finally God said enough, enough. I've given you enough time to repent and you won't repent so now judgment is falling. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's Word in just a moment but first no matter how wise you are listening to your own advice when you should be trusting God is dangerous. That's why we want to send you Pastor David McGee's CD series called Lessons from the Wilderness. Journey through one of the darkest times in King David's life and discover how you can wait confidently on God no matter what struggles you're facing because his plans are perfect and he always comes through for you. Lessons from the Wilderness is our thank you for your gift this month to share the hope of Christ with others so please visit crossthebridge.com for your copy of Lessons from the Wilderness. This is Pastor David McGee with Cross the Bridge.

You know I want to thank you for listening to Cross the Bridge. I also want to tell you about an exciting website. The website is lostlovedones.org and it works very simply like this. You go to the website and you put the first names of up to 10 people that we begin praying that they get saved. Now it takes two things to get saved presentation and prayer and what we're offering is prayer and also there's different tools there to help you present the gospel to them so we're there with you helping you with the presentation helping you with the prayer. There's over 920 people that belong to the prayer team on Lost Loved Ones and you can join the prayer team as well and help us to pray for others who don't yet know Jesus and together we can see a huge revival starting with your lost loved ones.

Now back to today's message. Joshua is uniquely parallel to the book of Revelation. Uniquely parallel to the book of Revelation. The main leader in Joshua's name is Yahshua.

The main leader in the book of Revelation is named Yahshua. Now what is Joshua doing? Joshua's going in to occupy a land that has been overrun with evil and to set that which was wrong and make it right.

Well guess what? Jesus in the book of Revelation takes over a land that has been overrun by evil and take that which is wrong and makes it right. There's a lot of parallels here. See and the Lord offers everybody here and everybody around us the offer of forgiveness. Second Peter chapter 3 9 tells us the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness but is long suffering towards us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. See just like God waited for these people to come to him in the book of Joshua they all had the same opportunity remember Rahab the harlot they all had that same opportunity when Israel came into the land Rahab said you know I've been messing up I want to follow your God your God is God I want to know him and I want to follow him let me go with you and they said great come on nobody else did that apparently but that's what God desired that's what God desires now and occasionally a Rahab or a David or somebody like you and I will go you know what I'm tired of all the rest of this stuff I want to follow you because you're you're the real deal you're you're really God I want to follow you and leave all this stuff behind but there's many around us who won't do that and you know what there's a day coming and it breaks my heart I won't say this with glee pounding on a pulpit and yelling and foaming at the mouth I say it broken hearted there's coming a day where judgment will fall and the opportunity to follow the Lord the opportunity to have forgiveness for your sins will cease to exist but in the meantime God is waiting God is waiting and the message is real clear God loves us God sent his son to die for us and he wants us to receive him and he wants us to tell others and if we reject that gospel of john's real plane we perish we will perish if we receive that then we don't perish and that's that's part of the fight and that's guys if it was just us then you know maybe you could question the fight maybe some days yeah you're tired or whatever but it's not just us there's lives at stake remember Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against it let's understand that picture there it's not like the gates of hell are out walking around declaring war on the people of God they're gates they're a defensive object you know what that tells me we are to be on the offensive and when we're on the offensive that even the gates of hell will not be able to withstand the power of the Lord through us and in us as we declare this war and that's what's going on in it that's what's going on in the world there's a battle going on verse 41 and Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza and all the country of Gaussian even as far as Gibeon and all these kings and their land Joshua took it one time because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gegon guys we're supposed to be engaged in a fight we're told first Timothy chapter 6 verse 11 Paul is speaking to Timothy here and he says but you old man of God flee these things and pursue righteousness godliness faith love patience gentleness fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession the presence of many witnesses and then as he's getting ready to be executed by the Roman court under Nero and second Timothy chapter 4 verse 7 he says I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith see those three things go hand in hand fought the good fight finished the race kept the faith this is what we're supposed to be doing fighting the good fight finishing the race and keeping the faith the same God that gave Joshua the victory in these battles is the same God that wants to give you the victory in your battles now some of you may go well I'm just not strong enough to win exactly you need his strength in order to win these battles in order to be victorious in these battles maybe some of you're in battles right now that are really they're overwhelming maybe they're battles for loved ones or somebody else or friends that don't know the Lord and there's a battle going on and you just you can't see how you're gonna win as a matter of fact you think your enemies are so overpowering that maybe you shouldn't even fight maybe you should just go another direction do you realize the chapter that we've read tonight and these different cities that Joshua leveled under the power of God are the very cities that years ago at Kadesh Barnea they looked at them and they said there's no way these are battles we can't win so let's not fight let's go wander around the desert at some point in your life let me promise you you'll look back at some of the battles that you thought that you couldn't win and you will have won them you'll look back at situations where you didn't think it was possible to have victory and you'll see that you were given victory the very thing that you're in the midst of right now you're not going to be in the midst of forever see the enemy comes and goes well you're just fighting that one battle just kind of you know in a circle and you're just always going to be stuck in that one place always fighting that battle that is a lie you will be victorious whatever you struggle with you won't struggle with it forever even if you're even if you're in here and you're 15 years old and you live to be 75 and you struggle with it for the next 60 years when you go into heaven you won't struggle with it anymore so at some point in your life you are victorious in that place and the very thing that perhaps causes fear perhaps causes anxiety should be the very thing that drives you to the Lord that's what drove Joshua to the Lord that day he went to the Lord and said look there's all these cities there's all these kings there's all these armies and they're lying against us and the Lord said don't be afraid Joshua I'm with you guys don't be afraid afraid the Lord's with you the Lord loves you the Lord has a plan for your life that's better than the plan you could come up with and even tonight you can't sit in here and go yeah yeah that's all you know that's all well and good but pastor David you know I've made such huge mistakes in my life I've just I've messed it so totally up that there's no way that God can use me oh loved one you can't mess up that much that God can't even use your mistakes he used the mistakes of Moses