[0:00] When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of this, he sent Jobab, king of Madan, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Akshaph, and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Ereba, south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in the Naphthor door on the west, to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.
[0:37] And all these kings joined their forces, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight with Israel. And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them slain to Israel.
[0:53] You shall hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire. So Joshua and all his warriors came suddenly against them by the waters of Meromah, and fell upon them.
[1:04] And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them, and chased them as far as great Sidon, and Mizraphath-Mam, and eastward as far as the valley of Mizpah. And they struck them until he left none remaining.
[1:17] And Joshua did to them just as the Lord said to him. He hamstrung their horses, and burned their chariots with fire. And Joshua turned back at that time, and captured Hazor, and struck its king with the sword.
[1:29] For Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. And they struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to destruction. There was none left that breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire.
[1:41] And all the cities of those kings, and all their kings Joshua captured, and struck them with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded.
[1:51] But none of the cities that stood on mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor alone. That Joshua burned. And all the spoil of these cities, and the livestock, the people of Israel took for their plunder.
[2:04] But every man they struck with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. And they did not leave any who breathed. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant. So Moses commanded Joshua.
[2:16] And so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses. So Joshua took all that land, the hill country, and all the Negev, and all the land of Goshen, and the low land, and the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel, and its low land, from Mount Halleck, which rises towards Seir, as far as Belged, in the valley of Lebanon, below Mount Hermon.
[2:39] And he captured all their kings, and struck them, and put them to death. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel, except for the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon.
[2:54] They took them all in battle, for it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction, and should receive no mercy, but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.
[3:11] And Joshua came at that time, and cut off the Anakim, from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel.
[3:23] Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel, only in Gaza, in Gath, and in the Ashdod did some remain.
[3:35] So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel, according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.
[3:48] This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Good morning, Westside.
[3:58] It's good to be here with you. Have you noticed this morning that the sights and sounds of little children are alive and well in the house?
[4:12] And also noticed a few mothers who are expecting little children to. Well, it's good to be a part of a congregation that is growing numerically, spiritually, but also biologically, bearing children, bringing them into this world.
[4:30] We've been in the book of Joshua for a while. And there are several words that can describe Israel in the book.
[4:42] They are weak. They are the underdog. And they are the new kid on the block.
[4:54] Have you ever been weak? felt like you were or maybe are the underdog? And that infamous kind of label, the new kid on the block.
[5:10] You know how it is. You come into the neighborhood. Everybody's got their friends. You feel like an outsider. You feel weak and alone.
[5:23] You may feel like that on your job. You may feel like that even in your own family. Weak, underdog, new kid on the block.
[5:36] Well, those kind of people are really not supposed to win, are they? How do those who would be described as weak, would be described as the underdog or the new kid on the block, how is it that they win?
[5:54] How is it that they conquer? They win because they put their faith and trust in an awesome God who keeps his word.
[6:08] It's not because of their strength. It's because of the strength of an awesome God who is about the business of keeping his word in this world.
[6:20] And it's good to know, friends, that that not only applies to a people of antiquity, Israel, it applies to you and me today, putting our faith in an awesome God who has revealed himself through the person and the work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[6:48] So we find ourselves in the book of Joshua chapter 11 on this morning. Joshua chapter 10.
[6:58] The nation's latest victory. It is now behind them. We get to see the summary of this victory at the end of chapter 10.
[7:10] Look at that in your Bibles with me on this morning. Joshua chapter 10. Look at verses 40 through 43. And the writer, the narrator, has a way of summarizing things for us.
[7:25] As a matter of fact, we have a big swath of material to cover, and we're not going to preach through chapter 14 on this morning. But we're going to focus on chapter 11.
[7:37] Oh, but there are marvelous implications for us. And if we would hear what the Spirit of God is saying through His Word, you will go out of here with, perhaps you might feel weak now.
[7:51] Oh, but my prayer is that you no longer, you will feel the very strength of God, that you will have the momentum of God's Word and be having worshiped in the midst of the people of God that would take you to a different level.
[8:06] Listen to the Word. So Joshua struck... Now notice these words. Notice what's being said here. Notice the comprehensive nature of what is being said. So Joshua struck what?
[8:18] The whole land, the hill country and the Negev, and the low land and the slopes, and notice all of their kings.
[8:32] He left none remaining. But devoted to destruction, all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded. And Joshua struck them from Kadesh Barnea, as far as Gaza, and all the hill country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon.
[8:52] And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time. Because why was it that he got victory? Because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.
[9:07] In spite of Israel's weakness, in spite of what could have been considered their underdog status, in spite of their being the new kids on the block in Canaan, as it were, then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal.
[9:22] So, when chapter 11 begins, we find yet another coalition forming to counter the Israelite threat.
[9:34] You remember last week, we saw in chapter 10, there was this coalition that formed. Gibeon had surrendered the others around. They formed a coalition and decided to fight.
[9:45] And they lost. They lost. From northern Canaan, verse 2. And elsewhere in the land, they came out in great numbers.
[9:59] Notice the word, it was a horde of people that had come out. Their forces include those with horses and chariots. And all of these came to fight Israel.
[10:11] Look at verse 5. All of these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at Marom to fight with Israel. Many against one nation.
[10:26] Many peoples against a singular kind of people. It's one thing to come to the neighborhood and be greeted with the welcome wagon of the neighborhood.
[10:40] It's another thing to move to the neighborhood and be met with the coalition of the neighborhood gangbangers. That compares to Israel's situation here.
[10:57] But it's in this situation, when surrounded and these other people are gathering against them, that the Lord tells Joshua something in verse 6.
[11:08] Not to be afraid because within 24 hours, they all would be dead. Similar words have been spoken to Joshua in chapter 10 and verse 8.
[11:24] And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not fear them. For I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.
[11:35] And once again, here it was, in the face of opposition, the voice of the Lord arises. Above the noise of the opposition, above the din of the crowd, God's voice has a way of arising.
[11:55] Have you ever experienced that? Where in a moment of fear, your fear has a way of being arrested by God's word.
[12:06] Perhaps it's something that you heard on Sunday or maybe it's something that you memorized years ago. But in the midst of fear, God's word has a way of rising like oil that comes to the surface on top.
[12:23] The value then of hiding God's word away in your heart. The psalmist said he didn't, didn't he? Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.
[12:38] And again, those same kind of word that we have stored in our heart has a way of rising up and helping to counter the fears that you and I face.
[12:51] Look at verse six. And the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear them, for tomorrow, this time, I will give them over, I'll give over all of them slain to Israel.
[13:01] You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire. Rendering, basically, it's going to render these horses inoperative at least as far as their use for war.
[13:16] And so it happened. The Lord gave them into the hands of Joshua and his warriors. And you see that in verses 17, seven to nine, just like he said he was going to do.
[13:29] A coalition that comes up and then we see the victory over them. But notice in verses 10 through 15, we see the conquest of the cities.
[13:39] After the defeat of the coalition and the field, Joshua proceeded to strike the cities, including Hazor. The extent of the victory achieved by Joshua and Israel is noted in verses 10 through 15.
[13:54] But again, notice once again, the language of capture, the language of defeat that prevails there. Look at, I'm going to begin reading at verse 12.
[14:05] And all the cities of those kings and all their kings, Joshua, here it is, captured and struck them with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded.
[14:19] But none of the cities that stood on the mounds did Israel burn except Hazor alone that Joshua burned. And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock the people of Israel took for their plunder.
[14:30] But every man they struck with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them and they did not leave any who breathed. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses' servants, so Moses commanded Joshua.
[14:43] And so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses. Notice, Joshua's comprehensive obedience. You might say he dotted the I's and crossed the T's of obedience.
[14:58] Notice the comprehensiveness comprehensiveness of the conquest as seen in verses 16 through 23. Verse 16 says it all. Look there with me.
[15:09] So Joshua took all the land, the hill country and all the Negev. All the land. Far south and far north is included in those of the territory that's mentioned there.
[15:24] You see the boundaries are given in verse 17. Look at all. He captured all their kings. Verse 17. They took them all in battle.
[15:34] Verse 19. They did so because their defeat was the Lord's doing. It was His will that the land be purged of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
[15:45] Genesis chapter 15 speaks about the Amorites and the iniquity not yet being fulfilled. Some 400 years after that was spoken to Abraham in Genesis chapter 15 verse 14.
[15:57] It was fulfilled. What it was being fulfilled at the time that we see in our text today. He had spoken through Moses. The conquest and you look at verses 21 and 22 also included these giants, the Anakim.
[16:10] These are the ones that had intimidated Israel the 40 years before when they went in and you remember when they sent out the spies and reports that those giants are there and we can't do anything with them.
[16:20] We are dwarves in their sight. even they got moved out of the way and we see that in verses 21 and 22. Verse 23 is a summary verse.
[16:32] It repeats. You see the book ends there with verse 16. It repeats. Joshua took all the land. So Joshua took the whole land according to all the Lord had spoken to Moses and so Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments.
[16:51] So what's happening here is that the narrator he's previewing what is going to come ahead as far as the allotment of the land. Took all the land.
[17:04] And here's what I want you to see here on this morning. That enough ground had been gained to stop the fighting. Israel, the new kids had gotten the upper hand in Canaan.
[17:21] They were new. The upper hand in Canaan. No longer was there any major threat. Armies no longer could be mustered for strength in the land.
[17:33] The momentum that had been established just as the horses had been hamstrung so the inhabitants of the land had been disabled there.
[17:45] That's what we're seeing here as they moved. They conquered the southern coalition in Canaan and here we see in chapter 11 as you can see the header conquest here in northern Canaan.
[18:00] one of the ways to help us see what is happening here in the land how many of you ever keep up with boxing? I'm not a boxing fan but everybody here knows what a TKO is doesn't it?
[18:11] Don't they? A technical knockout. Now what happens with the technical knockout? Well the one boxer does not really totally disable the other boxer but what happens is that the referees deem well this other guy he can't continue on like this.
[18:33] He may have some consciousness but we need to stop the fight. He can't go anywhere and that's the way Israel as it were had scored a TKO in Canaan in the land and the inhabitants of the land could not continue.
[18:54] Now as we will see as we go on in Joshua that there were pockets of opposition but there had been enough victory enough Israel had thrown enough blows there that essentially the land was there.
[19:11] The cause of the success of the conquest and we see at the end of 23 that the land had rest from war it was before Israel for the taking the cause of the conquest.
[19:26] Look at chapter 12 it's how many of you have a trophy case at home or certificates on the wall some of you and I know some of you all you probably left your trophies at home with mama and daddy I mean you got all you remember when you used to play football and basketball and ladies used to do the cheers and all of that you know we've been through that you know the trophies the certificates all of that well what you've got here is sort of like a trophy case and these kings that had been defeated there were 33 of them that were there two of them had been defeated on eastern east of the Jordan river and 31 had been conquered on the western side of the Jordan river these were tokens of the accomplishments that were on display and so what you have at the end of chapter 12 you have in Joshua the second major section of the book it ends in chapter 12 well you say well
[20:36] Pastor Jay what was the first major section I thought you were going to ask so therefore I'm going to let you know if you look at Joshua chapters 1 through 5 what's going on there you have preparation to enter into the promised land you remember where he sends out the spies and Rahab is there and so you've got encouragement the Lord encourages Joshua but then they go into the land and they hear encouragement but all these folks are shaking their boots they've heard about what God has done and so you have a family that is rescued there in Jericho but then there are other ceremonies as they prepare the captain of the Lord told he's there in Joshua chapter 5 so all of this in chapters 1 through 5 preparation to enter into the promised land but then in chapters 6 through 12 you have this battle for the promised land it's the conquest and in those chapters you remember Jericho and Ai and Gibeon and then we see all of these this kind of warfare
[21:39] Israel so battle there's the battle taking place and then beginning in chapter 13 you've got the allotment or the distribution of the promised land but the end of chapter 12 is a great place to know that God was making good on his promises what had been anticipated and this is why it's great to know the storyline of the Bible and that the Bible is not simply a bunch of stories but there's a storyline from Genesis to Revelation that helps us to see how these what could be disparate kind of stories and accounts how they all hang together showing us that God is at work in human history to bring the people to himself through the person and the work of his son but if we look back what's happening the promises that we see in Genesis and Exodus and in the Pentateuch the first five books of the Bible some of them are coming to pass particularly the land promises
[22:43] God is making good on that's what the conquest was about the book of Joshua cannot be understood apart from what we read in Genesis through Deuteronomy it's about God making good on his promises to give his promise to Abraham to give his descendants a piece of real estate known as Canaan mentions that Genesis chapter 12 verses 1 through 7 well if there's any particular scripture that you need to embrace and understand it's Genesis chapter 12 particularly verses 1 through 3 and on to verse 7 listen to it as I read it for you this morning critical piece of scripture if you're going to understand the storyline of scripture you need to park there for a while listen now the Lord said to Abram go from your country and from your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and
[23:43] I will make of you Abram a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonest you I will curse and in you in your seed in your offspring all the families of the!
[24:05] will be! Abram went as the Lord had told him and Lot went with him Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran and Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son and all the possessions that they had gathered and the people that they had acquired in Haran and they set out to go to the land of Canaan and Abram passed through the land to a place at Shechem to the oak of Morah and at that time the Canaanites were in the land then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your offspring here it is verse seven I will give this land so he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him right there first land promise I'm going to give this he was in Canaan said I'm going to give this piece of property you guess what over the years there were those who had populated that and God had actually given them an eviction notice because he was going to put his people in they were going to be dispossessed that's what the conquest was about the
[25:10] God who had made and reiterated his promises to give the people the land Canaan here in Joshua he was delivering on his promises! There he is right at the front of the book in chapters 1-5 but then you see the actuality of that being fulfilled in chapters 6-12 the God of the promise was at work in the midst of his people to fulfill his promise to give them the land and so what we see at the end of chapter 12 is evidence of the conquest these kings these trophies as it were 33 kings had been defeated and a beachhead had been established for victory in Canaan this beachhead you remember the shores of
[26:13] Normandy World War II where the allied basically it set the stage for the end of the war in Europe not long after very long after that was victory in Europe because that beachhead had been established and so in Canaan here the power of the enemy had been broken victory of the enemies of the land was the norm that was the pattern defeat for Israel was the exception the major battles were behind them and occupation chapters 13 and following was before them so they can look back and see how God had worked awesomely and mightily on their behalf Jericho and Ai and Gibeon or beachhead as it concerned battles and getting into the land boy I wonder if they sang awesome
[27:15] God back there that would be a good play God is an awesome God that would be a good place for them to lift that course after seeing all that God had done for them they had seen God is faithful and true to his promise not one word not one word of what he had spoken had failed well you say well pastor that's all good and well for them back there what about us today well while the book of Joshua cannot be understood apart from what we read in Genesis through Deuteronomy the book cannot be applied in the Christian life without reading it through the lens of the gospel so we need Genesis through Deuteronomy to understand it but we need the lens of the gospel on this end to apply it to your life and mine and when we do so we discover several things
[28:18] Joshua and Israel's victories over their foes what they do is that they are a preview and picture of Joshua's New Testament namesake the Lord Jesus Christ they are preview and a picture of Jesus ministry Jesus his name if it was in Hebrew would be Yahashua the Lord saves Jesus the Greek version the version of that the ministry of Jesus and check this out brothers and sisters just as the ministry of Joshua and Israel was an invasion of the land so the ministry of Jesus in a very fresh way was an invasion of the kingdom of God into the darkness of this world Jesus came as one who was stronger than Satan who was the strong man and he was able to bind the very forces of darkness and the gospels show
[29:22] Jesus actually plundering Satan's kingdom the most formidable forces of that day demonic power and disease and death were all defeated by Jesus listen Matthew chapter 4 verses 23 and 24 and see if you can hear echoes of what we've already heard in Joshua and he that's Jesus went through all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people so his fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick and those afflicted with various diseases and pains those oppressed by demons epileptics and paralysics and he healed them sounds sort of like conquest to me speaking of Jesus Peter in his sermon at Cornelius the South says this how God anointed
[30:25] Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him yet listen to this yet as powerful as and meaningful as the ministry and the victories of Jesus were the more strategic work of Jesus took place where on the cross and as Joshua's obedience was comprehensive so was Jesus he was obedient unto death even death on the cross for it was there brothers and sisters and friends that forgiveness for sins was secured and victory of unseen forces of darkness was achieved it was through the cross and Paul spoke of it Colossians in this way and you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God made him alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses!
[31:25] and canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands this he set aside nailing it to the cross he disarmed and here it is the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphant over them in him what am I saying the death and the resurrection they are the grounds for every other victory in the Christian life the cross of Christ was you might even say the beachhead for the Christian God's promise moved to and through the conquest so God's promises lead us to Christ and the cross and also the blessing of the Christian life they flow through Christ and his beachhead victory at Calvary has not Jesus won the critical battle is not his victory the victory that gives rest that you and I must enter into by faith the
[32:26] Christian life is to be lived in the strength of what has been accomplished through Jesus we must constantly live in view of in recognition of Jesus past victories with those in mind our battles in this world do not end with the victory of Jesus but the victory of Jesus is the basis for our triumph over the world and all that's in the world love the song says this when I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died my richest gain I count but lost and poor contempt on all my pride when we see and survey the cross of Christ and see it as our ultimate point of reference for life and for living and for reference for ministry and witness in this world it flows from the conquest of the cross of
[33:32] Jesus Christ your strength friend flows from that your strength in the midst of weakness your strength and feeling like an underdog flows exactly from that Paul put it well he said God forbid that I should both save in the cross of Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world the glory in the cross and the Christ of the cross the nature of the conquest compares with the nature of the cross work of Jesus and here's the deal both are decisive victories and decisive victories await those who live courageously and obedient both were comprehensive victories that have breadth to them the conquest and the cross both of them are life changing victories the conquest enabled
[34:37] God's people to possess what God had promised and so the cross enables all who embrace it to receive that's all that's needed for life here and in eternity so my prayer today for you my prayer today for myself is that we would find ourselves living in courageous obedience both in the shadow and in the strength of the cross of Christ is that what you want to do we do it by faith oh boy there's so many times that we feel weak in this world and feel so overcome by the flesh from within it's a bear sometimes the lure of the world from without and there is a being known as the devil and he is a the prince of darkness grim as
[35:43] Luther described him but what else does he goes on to say we tremble not for him his rage we can endure for lo his doom is sure one little word will fail him may we find ourselves living courageously and obediently in the shadow and strength the cross of Christ finding in him and through him and by him absolutely everything that we need let's pray lord we love you thank you for your people here this morning give us strength the strength that flows from the cross lord and as the allotment as the distribution follow the conquest lord may we see flowing from your cross absolutely all that's appropriate and fitting for worship and witness and mission in this world is our prayer in
[36:53] Christ's name amen amen amen!