Joshua 10:1-18- God's sovereignty drives us to action

Joshua 10:1-15

        God’s sovereignty drives us to action

Well brothers and sisters, I hope you have been enjoying this series from Joshua.

Before we get into today’s passage, I just want to give you a quick recap of what has happened so far in this book.

Fasten your seat belts, this recap is going to be quick.

The Israelites had been wandering the desert for 40 years.

Moses led them through the wilderness to the edge of the promised land.

Moses died and Joshua became the leader.

Joshua sent some spies to check out the lay of the land that they were going to conquer.

Those spies went to the city of Jericho.

Rahab the prostitute helped the spies escape so that they could report back to Joshua.

Joshua led the Israelites through the Jordan River.

God repeated what he did with Moses at the red sea.

Joshua and his men marched around the city of Jericho, the walls came tumbling down.

Joshua and his men slaughtered everything in Jericho apart from Rehab and those who were in her house.

After the victory of Jericho, Joshua and the Israelites had a loss at the city of Ai, because Achan, one of their own, had sinned. He had stolen some things which had belonged to God- to the treasury.

The Israelites stoned Achan and his family to death as a punishment for his sin.

Joshua and the Israelites then attacked the city of Ai again, and conquered it.

The Gibeonites who lived near Jerusalem realised that they were going to be slaughtered by Joshua and so they deceived Joshua into making a covenant with them.

Johsua and his men, swear to the Gibeonites 3 times that they would not destroy them.

And this is where we are up to in chapter 10.

Did you get all of that?

In chapter 10 it tells us that 5 kings who had heard the Gibeonites had made a peace deal with Joshua and the Israelites, banded together and made war against the Gibeonites.

The king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, all banded together and made war against Gibeon, because they had heard that Gibeon had made peace with Israel.

They wanted to stop Joshua’s conquest and so defeating Gibeon would certainly help.

It tells us in verse 2, Gibeon was a great city. Gibeon was in fact a “tetrapolis”, which means it was four larger towns, all under one rule, Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath-Jearim.

If these 5 kings defeated Gibeon, it will certainly make others think twice before making a deal with Israel.

And so as these kings gathered together against Gibeon to make war against her,  and what did Gibeon do?

They sent an SOS call to Joshua and the Israelites (their new buddies)

Look at verse 6 with me:

⁶ And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, “Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.”

Now, Joshua, again had a decision to make.

If you remember Joshua had promised the Gibeonites that the Israelites would not slaughter them. His promise was that he would let them live. Even though the Gibeonites had lied to Joshua and pretended that they had come from a far away country, Joshua kept his word, and he allowed them to live.

Joshua had made no promises to them, about protecting them from other enemies.

And so when the Gibeonites came asking for help, Joshua could have said no.

After all, he had made no promise to them about protecting them. He may have even thought that it would have been beneficial to leave this one to play out, as his enemies would have been damaging each other.

But Joshua, didn’t leave the Gibeonites to defend for themselves.

Joshua heard the cry for help and he did.

Joahua went above and beyond what he promised.

He only promised that he wouldn’t kill them, but he went above and beyond that promise as he went to help them fight against theirs and his enemies.

It was the Gibeonites who got themselves into this mess in the first place.

They were the ones who deceived Joshua, they were the ones initiated the peace deal, and yet now because Joshua had given his word to the Gibeonites, he went above and beyond what he promised and went to help them.

Joshua heard they cry for help and so he and his men marched all night from Gilgal to Gibeon, and launched a surprise attack on all 5 kings.

The 5 kings and their armies fled and Joshua and his men slaughtered them all that day- that very long day, which we will get to a little a later.

Now as skilful and as strong as Joshua and his men where, after all, they marched all night and fought the next morning: tactically brilliant, and as skilled as they were with their sword: it is clear that the main point that the author of this passage wants us to get us this:

It was God who fought for Israel that day and in fact it was God who fought for Israel during the whole conquest.

The end of chapter 10, verse 42 sums it up for us

Look at that verse with me:

And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.

And how exactly did God fight for Israel?

Verse 8….. “For I have given them into your hands”

Verse 10….. “And the Lord threw them into panic” (the enemies)

Verse 11….. “The Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of hail stones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword”

Verse 13….. “And the sun stood still and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies”.         “The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry so set for about a whole day”

God fought for Israel, it was Him who gave them the land, it was Him who made the enemy panic, it was Him who threw down stones from the sky, it was Him who made the sun stop, it was all God.

Yes Joshua and his men captured all these king and their lands, but it was only because as it says in verse 42 that God was fighting for Israel.

Now, what does this mean for us today?

First it means this:

God fights for you..

God fights for you….

Just as God fought for Israel in the days of Joshua, he fights for you today.

God has promised you, life and life to the full, and he went above and beyond keeping that promise to you, by sending his son: Jesus, to die on a cross for your sins, to raise him back to life and give you His Holy Spirit.

Even though we didn’t deserve this wonderful gift of life, because of our wilful and unwilful sin, he gave it to us anyway.

Through his Son- Jesus, he has given us life and life to the full.

He fought the devil and defeated him, He fought death and defeated it, He fought the evil of man and defeated it, and he did that all, for you.

Not only did he fight for us at the cross, but he continues to fight for us day by day, as we walk with him. He promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us.  He is now at his father’s right hand side, advocating for you, protecting you, wanting the best for you.

Romans 8:32 tells us that He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things.

God fights for all who are in Christ Jesus.

Like a good shepherd who protects and cares for his sheep.

That also means today, since Jesus came to earth, died and rose again, God no longer fights for one particular nation, that is a nation in terms of one country, or one ethnicity, or one geographical location, or one government,

No, God fights for what Peter calls in 1 Peter 2:9, the one holy nation

…..and who is that one holy nation?

It is the church,

The people of God

Those as Peter describes in 1 Peter 2, as the spiritual house of God, the ones who are connected and built on the cornerstone of Jesus.

Friends, when Jesus came to this earth, died and rose again, he broke down the walls of hostility between Jew and gentile (non- Jews), and expanded God’s kingdom, as God intended from the beginning, a kingdom, a holy nation which now includes people from all tribes, all tongues, all nations, who have bowed and confessed to the name of Jesus.

When Jesus came to this earth, the caterpillar of Israel became the butterfly of the church.

Through Jesus, the temple- the body of Jesus, became available to all people from all nations, no longer just a physical temple in one location.

Through Jesus , the one perfect sacrifice was made for all sins for all those who trust in the true lamb of God- Jesus…………specific animal sacrifices at specific places are no longer needed.

Through Jesus the heavenly city of Jerusalem became available for all people, not just a small city on this earth for a select few.

And friends, as God fights for us, the church- God’s people, we don’t fight against flesh and blood, but we fight against the spiritual forces of this world.

Which means, we don’t fight with the metal sword in our hand, but we fight with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. We fight, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6, with weapons of righteousness, as we continue to proclaim God’s word and continue to live a righteous life through the work and person of Jesus.

And this brings me to my last point today, which I am going to spend a bit of time on, because if we get this……it should effect how we live our lives.

My last point is this, and it is the title of this sermon and so it should be no surprise:

God’s sovereignty should drive us into action.

God’s sovereignty should drive us into action.

We can see throughout the book of Joshua, in fact we can see throughout the whole bible, that God is sovereign.

That means God is in control of all things.

That means that God already knows what is going to happen tomorrow, the next day, next year, he knows what is going to happen at the end of this age, He knows and determines all things.

He knows what you are going to say before you even say it- He knows, and he determines all that will happen.

Time and time again in Joshua,

God told Joshua, “I have given you this land”.

Past tense

God had already given Joshua the land before he had even taken it.

Before Joshau went into battle,

God often told Joshua, “I have given you this people, I have given you this king”

Past tense

Now, when God told Joshua these things….Joshua didn’t sit on his hands and watch, NO….he got up and fought.

Friends, if we grasp God’s sovereignty, it shouldn’t cause us to sit on our hands, but it should drive us into action.

Some people would say, well, if God knows what is going to happen, then why even bother praying, why?

Because God wants us to pray,

He wants us to be part of his plans,

He wants to reflect his glory through us, so that He can boast through us just as He boasted through Joshua, as it said in chapter 10 verse 42 that Joshua won his battles because God fought for Him.

Friends, I want to encourage you today with these promises from God, which are so assured that they are written in past tense.

It is from Romans 8:30

And those whom he predestined (choose)

Past tense

He also called

Past tense

Those he called he also justified (declared right before God)

Past tense

Those he justified, he also glorified (made sinless in heaven)

Past tense

Friends, your salvation has already been determined by God, it is done.

The question now, is what are you going to do about that?

Nothing, sit on your hands……

Or, are you going to keep fighting the good fight, against the devil, the world and your sinful desires.

Are you going to keep wielding the sword of the spirit which is the word of God?

Are you going to step into places that reject Jesus and boldly proclaim him as king?

In pray, that like Joshua, we may be strong and courageous as we do that.

Let us pray.