2020-02-16 Joshua 10
Notes
Transcript
1 Now King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and completely destroyed it, treating Ai and its king as he had Jericho and its king, and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living among them.
2 So Adoni-zedek and his people were greatly alarmed because Gibeon was a large city like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were warriors.
3 Therefore King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent word to King Hoham of Hebron, King Piram of Jarmuth, King Japhia of Lachish, and King Debir of Eglon, saying,
4 “Come up and help me. We will attack Gibeon, because they have made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”
5 So the five Amorite kings—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon—joined forces, advanced with all their armies, besieged Gibeon, and fought against it.
6 Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Don’t give up on your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, for all the Amorite kings living in the hill country have joined forces against us.”
7 So Joshua and all his troops, including all his best soldiers, came from Gilgal.
8 The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will be able to stand against you.”
9 So Joshua caught them by surprise, after marching all night from Gilgal.
10 The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel. He defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them through the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
11 As they fled before Israel, the Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky along the descent of Beth-horon all the way to Azekah, and they died. More of them died from the hail than the Israelites killed with the sword.
12 On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 And the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance on its enemies. Isn’t this written in the Book of Jashar? So the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed its setting almost a full day.
14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord listened to a man, because the Lord fought for Israel.
15 Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.
Jsh 10:1-15
Jsh 10:1-15
I. Integrity is not passive.
I. Integrity is not passive.
6 Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Don’t give up on your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, for all the Amorite kings living in the hill country have joined forces against us.”
7 So Joshua and all his troops, including all his best soldiers, came from Gilgal.
A. When someone does you wrong, it is easy to distance yourself from them.
A. When someone does you wrong, it is easy to distance yourself from them.
6 Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Don’t give up on your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, for all the Amorite kings living in the hill country have joined forces against us.”
7 So Joshua and all his troops, including all his best soldiers, came from Gilgal.
Illus: Scripture is difficult. It calls believers to take radical self sacrificing steps.
Words like turn the other cheek, or love your enemies and pray for your persecutors don’t make sense in the world in which we live.
We tend to follow the blowup and run form of dealing with relationships.
When someone hurts us or does us wrong we do what we can to destroy the relationship so that there is no chance for reconciliation.
Our coping technique is to permanently distance ourselves from anyone who had done us wrong.
Frankly we are growing less and less tolerant of any voice that differs from ours.
Why on earth would you want to be around people who oppose you, hurt you, or deceive you.
Here is why? God’s grace, mercy, and faithfulness is most clearly seen when we love and sacrifice ourselves for those who would harm us.
37 But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.
38 “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
39 But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
40 As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well.
41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.
42 Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Mt 5:37-
B. Integrity is more than not doing harm, it is doing right even at a cost to you.
B. Integrity is more than not doing harm, it is doing right even at a cost to you.
6 Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Don’t give up on your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, for all the Amorite kings living in the hill country have joined forces against us.”
7 So Joshua and all his troops, including all his best soldiers, came from Gilgal.
Jsh 10:
Illus: Think for a moment about the cross. As Jesus hung on the cross he was looking down at the soldiers who mocked him. He looked at the man who had beaten the nails into his hands. He looked on at the members of the Sanhedrin who had organized the the events of the day. He looked down on men betting over his clothes, the few things that were his on this earth. He looked at the some of his former folowers who had joined the mob screaming for his death.
Jesus did not look at them and say, you get what you deserve. Instead, he said, father forgive them. Even from the pain of the cross, Jesus loved the people who crucified him.
Think about peter who denied him 3 times. Jesus came and reconciled peter back to himself.
The christian life is a self sacrificing life. It is keeping promises at a cost to yourself. It is choosing to serve others in costly ways.
There is no harder task than serving people who have done you wrong. YET that is exactly what Jesus did… and what he calls you to do.
Christian integrity is the call to die for people who are against you.
I’m not talking about this fake “The bible says I HAVE to love them, it never says I HAVE to like them.”
It is to do right for others even when they don’t do right to you. It is to be a living picture of Jesus to them.
17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
James 4:
II. God honors the faithfulness of His people.
II. God honors the faithfulness of His people.
jsh 10:8
8 The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will be able to stand against you.”
A. God’s power is given to people who are faithful to him.
A. God’s power is given to people who are faithful to him.
8 The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will be able to stand against you.”
Illus: There is this fear that if you do what the bible says… love your enemies, sacrifice yourself for people that are opposed to you.... that they will win and you will lose.
And if you are looking from a purely worldly perspective you are probably right.
But we don’t see things from a worldly perspective, but from God’s. And God does not lower himself to the ways of this world to win pointless battles.
God gives power to people who follow his ways of doing things.
Isreal most likely did not want to honor their agreement with the Gibeonites. But they did, and God honored the people’s integrity.
The reason we do not experience the power of God is that we are not following God, nor living in obedience to Him.
God will not honor a life that does not follow both his direction and his ways.
That means the whole love your enemy, turn the other cheek, and forgiving someone 70x7 things matter in experiencing the power of God.
Col 1:9-
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,
11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.
B. We hold to integrity and Christlikeness knowing it is God who is in control.
B. We hold to integrity and Christlikeness knowing it is God who is in control.
10 The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel. He defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them through the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
11 As they fled before Israel, the Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky along the descent of Beth-horon all the way to Azekah, and they died. More of them died from the hail than the Israelites killed with the sword.
8 The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will be able to stand against you.”
9 So Joshua caught them by surprise, after marching all night from Gilgal.
8 The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will be able to stand against you.”
9 So Joshua caught them by surprise, after marching all night from Gilgal.
10 The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel. He defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them through the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
11 As they fled before Israel, the Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky along the descent of Beth-horon all the way to Azekah, and they died. More of them died from the hail than the Israelites killed with the sword.
Illus: How would your life change if your really believed God was in control?
The text makes a distinct point that because the Israelites fulfilled their vow to the Gibeonites, God took care of the way.
We don’t live believing God is in control.
We live constantly worrying. We live from controversy to controversy. We live fearful of the world around us.
As the unbelieving world looks at the way Christians react constantly to the newest controversy of the day, what do they see? Do they see a people who do not trust God nor have faith that He is in control? What if they saw a people who are unshaken because they know God is on His throne. What if they saw a people who loved when they were hated? What if they saw a people who lived out the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.
III. Prayer is the humble act showing your complete dependence on God.
III. Prayer is the humble act showing your complete dependence on God.
12 On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 And the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance on its enemies. Isn’t this written in the Book of Jashar? So the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed its setting almost a full day.
14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord listened to a man, because the Lord fought for Israel.
jsh 10:12
A. Is your life marked by integrity and the dependence of prayer?
A. Is your life marked by integrity and the dependence of prayer?
Illus: I don’t believe we have a big enough view of God.
Joshua prayed and God made the sun stand still.
My challenge for your today is to gain a real view again of the power of God.
God is ready to do remarkable things in your life… He is ready to do to do remarkable things in our church… but we need to go back to seek God and do things his way.
When we seek God and do things His way… watch what Jesus promises.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.