Victory Assured through God

Call to Worship

Old Testament

Gospel

Intro:

AG:

In ancient times, King Jehoshaphat faced a vast army and didn’t know what to do. Instead of panicking, he gathered the people and led them in prayer and worship. His army went out singing praises, and miraculously, their enemies turned against each other and defeated themselves! The Israelites won without even having to fight. This story reminds us that regardless of how tough the situation seems, surrendering to God in trust can lead to unexpected victories.

TS: : In Exodus 23:20–33, God assures the Israelites of His guidance, protection, and provision as they journey to the Promised Land. He lays out a covenant that includes blessings for obedience and warnings against idolatry and disobedience, emphasizing His presence among them.

RS: This passage reminds Christians that God goes before them in their spiritual journey. It offers comfort that, despite life's challenges, believers can trust in God's divine guidance and protection as they navigate their faith amidst a fallen world.

The sermon teaches that God's covenant faithfulness ensures that He will lead and protect His people. It stresses the importance of obedience to God's commands and the blessings that come with faithfully following Him, showcasing the consequences of straying from His path.

1. God’s Assistance Promised

Exodus 23:20–23 LSB

“Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to keep you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. “Keep watch of yourself before him and listen to his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him. “But if you truly listen to his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. “For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I will annihilate them.

My angel.

Usually taken to be a reference to the Angel of Yahweh, who is distinguished from the Lord who talks about Him as another person.

Yet, He is identified with God by reason of His forgiving sin and the Lord’s name being in Him (v. 21).

Neither Moses nor some other messenger or guide qualify for such descriptions.

The key to victory in the upcoming takeover of the Land would not be Israel’s military skill but the presence of this Angel, who is the pre-incarnate Christ.

CONDITIONAL:

They must

Truly listen to his voice

Required listening to and following the Angel of Yahweh.

Following where He led them

Do all that I speak

It further required obedience!

The narrative records instances of both listening to Him and the opposite as well as the consequences.

Jericho-

God’s plan was that they march around it in silence 6 days. On the 7th, they marched 7 times and in the end: Joshua 6:15-16

Joshua 6:15–16 LSB

Then it happened that on the seventh day they rose early at the breaking of dawn and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times. Now it happened that on the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city.

Joshua 6:20 LSB

So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down beneath itself, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.

Ai (the ancient town, not a computer)

They were to destroy everything in Jericho. One man took some of the items and this was the consequence of that disobedience.

Joshua 7:4–5 LSB

So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

God was serious in His conditions!

Then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

As long as they met the conditions, God promised to fight for them.

AP: GOD leads and protects His people!

Seek Him in times of trouble

2 Thessalonians 3:1–5 LSB

Finally, brothers, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, who will strengthen and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

The Lord is faithful

He will strengthen and guard us!

God is able to deliver us! Nothing is as powerful as He.

1 John 4:4 LSB

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

God still leads us through the Word.

Scripture teaches us as the Holy Spirit illuminates it.

1 Corinthians 2:14–16 LSB

But a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined. But he who is spiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will direct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Charles Spurgeon vividly illustrated that point with these words:

Unless the Holy Ghost blesses the Word, we who preach the gospel are of all men most miserable, for we have attempted a task that is impossible. We have entered on a sphere where nothing but the supernatural will ever avail. If the Holy Spirit does not renew the hearts of our hearers, we cannot do it. If the Holy Ghost does not regenerate them, we cannot. If He does not send the truth home into their souls, we might as well speak into the ear of a corpse.

God’s Warning and Blessing

We see here a pattern that is often repeated:

Promises of blessing and warnings of things to avoid.-

This section is part of the covenant God formalizes in Ex 24.

Covenants in Old Testament times were , often mirroring Ancient Near Eastern suzerain-vassal treaties where a sovereign imposes terms on a subject, or royal grants.

They defined relational obligations, involved oaths, signs, and sacrifices, and are categorized as either unconditional (divine promise) or conditional (blessing/curse based on obedience).

Warnings:

Exodus 23:24 LSB

“You shall not worship their gods, you shall not serve them, and you shall not do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly pull them down and shatter their sacred pillars in pieces.

Israel was warned to leave no trace of the pagan practices once they took possession of the land.

This, along with Ex 23:13

Exodus 23:13 LSB

“Now concerning everything which I have said to you, beware; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.

Don’t mention their gods, tear down their sacred spaces, etc.

These instructions were to be followed in the conquest of Canaan. They were eliminate all reminder of the pagan deities the inhabitants worshiped.

Exodus 23:32–33 LSB

“You shall cut no covenant with them or with their gods. “They shall not live in your land, lest they make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

They were to abolish them and make no compromise.

This is one of the rare moments when God explains why.

Any compromise would become a snare.

It would tempt them to compromise their faith.

Sadly, they ignored this and what God warned of happened. Israel’s faith faltered and they adopted pagan practices. The story of Judges records a downward spiral of idolatry, conquest, repentance and deliverance. They spiraled down deeper into pagan practices with each repetition

Yahweh demands complete allegiance and shares His glory with no other.

Exodus 20:3 LSB

“You shall have no other gods before Me.

Isaiah 42:8 LSB

“I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.

Blessings:

Exodus 23:25 LSB

“But you shall serve Yahweh your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst.

Proper devotion and worship would bring reward

Good harvests

Good water

Physical health and fertility with safe pregnancies.

all things the so called pagan gods offered, but God was truly able to deliver!

Exodus 23:26 LSB

“There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

Long life

All of these blessings would be theirs if they would follow God’s covenant requirements.

God was painting a clear picture to inspire them to obey and be blessed.

Exodus 23:27–30 LSB

“I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. “And I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. “I will not drive them out before you in a single year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. “I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take the land as an inheritance.

Psychological Warfare

God would go before them and put the Canaanites into disarray.

He would fill them with terror and cause confusion.

GOD was going to do the work of the conquest.

Joshua 2:9 LSB

and said to the men, “I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.

Gradual capture of the land

MacArthur Study Bible NASB (Commentary) The occupation would be a gradual but effective process taking longer than a year to accomplish, but ensuring full control of a land in good condition and not left desolate by a sweeping and destructive warfare. The reference to the multiplication of wild beasts if the land was desolated underscores the fertility of the land and its ability to support life.

Exodus 23:31 LSB

“And I will set your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out from before you.

God gave the boundaries of the land.

map of promised land as promised

MacArthur Study Bible NASB (Commentary) It would extend from the Gulf of Aqabah

AP: God blesses us.

Ephesians 1:3 LSB

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

MacArthur Study Bible NASB (Commentary) In His providential grace, God has already given believers total blessing “Spiritual” does not refer to immaterial blessings as opposed to material ones, but rather to the work of God, who is the divine and spiritual source of all blessings

Conc

God helps us accomplish HIS plan!

Trust Him to see you through!

Works cited:

John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Ex 23:23.