Joshua Chapter 10:1-42

We make efforts, and sometimes these efforts are, they're not real strong efforts, but the Lord tells us to do something, and we go, okay, well, Lord, we're going to do that.

And you know what God does? God takes your efforts, and He blesses them beyond what you're capable of accomplishing. 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 two of his teaching, We Are in a Battle. Turn with me to Joshua chapter 10. Now it came to pass when Adonai Zadok, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had 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 Zadok, 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. Verse ten, 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. So, you know, they're having like a really bad day, huh? I mean, they're losing the battle and then there's these hailstones that are killing them, but apparently didn't kill any of the Israelites. There's an interesting thing in here. I find it very fascinating that they're in the middle of this battle, and they, I don't, we don't know if they're outnumbered or not, we're not told that.

But these other armies are fairly organized, and obviously they were of a sufficient number that Joshua was a little freaked out and needed some reassurance from the Lord. And so what happens is they start the battle, but who finishes it? See, here's what happens, and guys, if we can get ahold of this, we make efforts, and sometimes these efforts are, well, they're maybe even feeble. They're not real strong efforts, but the Lord tells us to do something and we go, okay, well, Lord, we're going to do that. And you step out into that and you start to do that, and you know what God does? God finishes it. God takes your efforts, which may be small, but hopefully are diligent, and he takes them and he blesses them beyond what you're capable of accomplishing. And so that's one thing that, you know, we want to continue as a body, as a fellowship, to be diligent. We want to continue to pursue excellence in areas of ministry and stuff.

But you know what? There's also the confidence that God is going to bless it beyond what we're able to manufacture. 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, Son, stand still over Gibeon, and moon in the valley of Ejilon. So the Son 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 Son stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

Wow. Now this book of Jasher that it's speaking of, there was a book of that day that contains some of the exploits, if you will, of some of the heroes of the faith. It's referred to also in 2 Samuel 1, verse 18, when it says, And he told them to teach the children of Judah the song of the bow, indeed it is written in the book of Jasher. It was more like a commentary, if you will, on some of the heroes of the faith of the Bible. So it was never included in the Bible, but it is referred to. It says the Son stood still. Now, I don't know if you've ever gotten the email that the guy from Nassau, the story goes that there was a computer program and they found that there was a day missing in solar history or whatever. I don't know. I tried to dig around and find out if there was verification for that, and I couldn't find it, to be honest. So it's a great story.

I'm just not sure how based in reality it is. But anyway, here it says the Son stood still. Now, do you know how the Lord did that? No, I mean, I don't know. I'm asking you. Do you know?

Because I don't know. Do you know how the Lord? I don't know how the Lord did that.

But you know what? I can't explain it, and I'm okay with that. Because isn't that really the definition of a miracle? Something you really can't explain?

I mean, I can't explain it. Therefore, it is a miracle. And I'm okay with it being a miracle. God still does miracles. God did miracles then. He does miracles now. And I'm okay with not completely understanding. Sometimes in your life, God will do something that really blows your mind that you can't explain, and it's okay.

It's okay. Because that is the kind of God that we serve. He's a miraculous God, and He does miracles.

He's done them for, yeah, He's done them for a long time. He created man out of the dirt. If you remember, He had the Red Sea part, and it's an amazing thing, and you probably, you may have heard this before, but you know, there was a lot of liberal theologians say, well, you know, what we believe is that at that section of the Red Sea, the Red Sea wasn't very deep. It was only about three inches deep. So it was just a slight little wind that blew, and see, the Red Sea just parted.

It wasn't that big of a deal. Well, isn't it amazing that the entire Egyptian army drowned in three inches of water? So, you know, there's a miracle in there somewhere no matter which way you go. But you think about things like the resurrection. You think about the life of Lazarus.

He was dead. I mean, you know, as far as testimonies go, you know, that's a good one, you know? I mean, I don't want to be like hanging out with Lazarus in heaven very much, you know?

Because he's going to be the guy that just comes in and trumps everybody. You know, I mean, somebody always told me, yeah, well, I used to struggle with drinking, but, you know, God delivered me, praise God, you know? And somebody else, oh, I used to struggle with drugs and sexual proficuity, and God delivered me. You know, and it comes around to Lazarus and Lazarus. You know, I was dead. And God got a hold of me and brought me back to life. And then he probably walks off, and everybody goes, it's Lazarus again, isn't it?

Yep, he's pretty much got us all, but... But it's the miraculous, the miraculous of the resurrection, the miraculous, the virgin birth. I mean, I don't understand why people try to explain these things sometimes, because the definition of a miracle is that it's hard to define. Lewis has a quote, the writer of the Chronicles of Narnia says, the mind which asks for a non-miraculous Christianity is a mind in process of relapsing from Christianity into mere religion. Isn't that a good quote?

I'll read it again. The mind which asks for a non-miraculous Christianity is a mind in process of relapsing from Christianity into mere religion. I believe the miraculous happened on that day. And I know that some would say, well, that's kind of ridiculous that God would stop the sun for one man. Well, God was demonstrating his power to the world for this one man on behalf of this one man.

And you know what? And it was very God-like that he did this. This is just in his keeping, in his nature, in his character, because he did something many years later that didn't make a lot of sense to many of us. He allowed his son to die on a cross. And the perchance that one of us would respond to that and receive the forgiveness of our sins through his death, that doesn't make much sense either. And just like God displayed his power on this day, he displayed his love in that way that you can scratch your head on and you can't really.

It's hard to define, isn't it? But that's the nature of the miraculous. And the awesome thing is, is that we serve a miraculous God that still does miracles, praise God. Verse 14, it says, 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 fought for Israel. Now, if you remember, there's another time in Scripture that like 40 minutes was turned back with a king, but that's a whole other story.

But it wasn't this as the son standing still. 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 why 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.

So get the picture. What they were doing is they were retreating. The kings kind of duck and hid in this cave while the rest of the guys were retreating. So Joshua said, We'll just cover them with rocks and then we'll finish fighting these guys and then we'll come back to these kings.

And so that's what they're doing here. 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.

Now, back to today's message. 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 Lachish, 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. A lot of times people get into passages like this and they have problems with it because somehow in their mind they've made a disconnect with the God of the Hebrew Scriptures and what they see some things Jesus saying. There's no contradiction here.

Actually they, if you will, they balance each other out. See Joshua hadn't been told to go win the battle. He hadn't even been told to wage a campaign. He had been told to wipe out the inhabitants of this area, of this region. I've read some stuff that they get freaked out at Israel that Israel never really owned this part of the world or whatever and then they came in and they drove everybody out. They did so under the direction of God.

God's the one that told them, this is your land, go in and possess it. Here's the thing, we need to understand because there can be a disconnect when we read about these battle sequences we can go, oh wow, they're fighting and stuff. That really doesn't have anything to do with me and my Christianity and me following Jesus.

It should have everything to do with it. When we get saved, we don't get saved to a playground as it's been said. We get saved to a battleground and there is a battle. Life lesson here is we are in a battle. If you've been wondering why bullets have been whizzing around your head while you're barely playing on the playground, this is the reason, this is a battleground and what happens out on the battleground, battles happen.

Bullets whiz around. Joshua chapter one verse nine, the Lord tells them when they're starting out, he says, have I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go and the same could be said to you as you walk with him.

The Lord your God is with you wherever you go. See, sometimes we begin to think that the battle is ours to fight. The battle is not ours to fight. Now it is our role to engage in the battle. It is our role to make sure that we have a sword with us and that it's out but the real battle, even as we sang tonight, the real battle belongs to the Lord. He is the one that's strengthening us. He is the one that is equipping us for the battle. Psalm 24 eight says, who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle and it says, you know, they weren't gonna say anything bad about the children of Israel anymore. Do you know why? Yeah, I mean, they'd pretty much gone around and they're getting ready to go around more in this chapter and they've gone around and they've won all these battles but let me ask you a question.

This is so important. Was it the children of Israel that they were really afraid of? No, it was their God. They were fearful of their God and that's so important because you know what, guys? Our enemies, the enemies of our faith might not fear us. As a matter of fact, some of them will just flat not fear us but they do fear our king, the one that we serve, the one that has empowered us, the one that has called us to this battle from the first get-go. So it's the Lord that we serve and it's the Lord that is strikes fear into the hearts of our enemies.

So you know what? Don't fight without your king. Make sure that you're always fighting in the ways, with the ways of the Lord. Now, again, this is interesting that as far as these mistakes, Joshua, remember, made the treaty with the Geminites which was wrong but then what happened to these pagan people is they were allowed, if you remember, that we talked about last week, to serve in the temple and then they were under the protection of Joshua, Yahshua. Oh, there's such a neat picture there. You know, we've been allowed as pagan Gentile heathen dogs, we've been allowed to enter into this treaty that we don't deserve and we've got no business in really but God loves us so much that he has extended that favor to us and now we get to serve God, we get to live for the Lord and we are under his divine protection.

It's an awesome thing. And notice he says, Joshua says, to all your enemies against whom you fight. So when he says this, he says, the Lord will just do this to all your enemies.

That's not what he said. He said, I'll do it, the Lord will do it to all your enemies whom you fight. Guys, again, we're in a battle. We are in a battle. You see that battle in the life of Paul and he says, you know, the things that I don't want to do, I end up doing them.

The things that I want to do, I don't do those things. There's a war going on inside of us. Paul talks about it in Romans 6 and 7 in chapter 8 and that's something that's going on in our lives and maybe you thought that that's just you. That's not just you. It's a battle that's going on in every one of us as we seek to live for the Lord. And our biggest enemy in that is not our neighbor, it's not our kids, not our parents, not our spouse. It's us.

It's us. And so the Lord has empowered us in that battle to battle our fleshly nature, our carnal nature that will just get into trouble. I mean, if you can, well, some of you don't have to imagine.

You can just remember when you were younger and a little wilder and you went out on a Friday night to quote, do whatever you wanted to do on a Friday night or maybe you spent years there, I don't know. But anyway, your chances are you got probably in fairly a good amount of trouble. Why? Because you were doing what you wanted to do. See, we need to realize that as we engage in doing what we want to do, we need help. We need help.

What we need to be doing is what God desires us to do and He will protect us through that. That's a struggle. That's a fight. But that's a fight that we win by fighting.

And that's a fight that we can't afford not to fight. We think of these things. We think of fighting and Christianity.

We think, oh, that's not right. Well, yes, it is. The Bible talks about fighting. The Bible talks about battles.

It talks about these things. And if you remove that element from Christianity, what you're left with is not Christianity. It's some weak, stale, man-made religion. It's not followers of Jesus, folks.

So this fighting thing is part of it. And let's look at what happens in 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 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 a 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. He 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 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 to come minister so 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 chapter 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 has given 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. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him.

And he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll-free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

So many people look to their friends or within their own thoughts when faced with a problem. Even King David struggled with listening to his heart and not trusting in God's promises. Pastor David McGee wants to encourage you to wait confidently on God through whatever trial you're facing by sending you his CD series, Lessons from the Wilderness. 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 now for your copy of Lessons from the Wilderness.

You know each day comes with its share of stresses. So what better way to wake up than with an encouraging word from the Lord? Visit crossthebridge.com and sign up now for David McGee's email devotionals. Each devotion includes scripture and a message from the heart of David McGee. It's easy and it's free. Sign up today at crossthebridge.com. And be sure to join us next time on Cross the Bridge as we continue in the book of Joshua. We'll see you then.