[0:00] Okay. Welcome. I'm Steve Taberski from all of y'all know me. Anyway, I've got a reputation for not speaking too long.
[0:17] So what I'm going to do today is recap before we get started so that it goes longer. So in the beginning, God created...
[0:30] Now I'm going to start us off where actually we're in Joshua, as you know, and I hope that you guys have your Bibles with me and you'll turn to Joshua 10.
[0:41] But I'm going to recap where we are up to this point. You know, the Israelites had been in captivity for 400 years under Egypt. And God miraculously rescued them through Moses and led them on to go to the promised land.
[0:58] The land flown with milk and honey, everything was going to be wonderful. And, you know, they got all the way there. And you know the story, they sent 10 spies in to scope things out to see what we're going to get.
[1:12] And 8 of the 10 of them came back with a report that there is no way that we are strong enough to take this land from these people.
[1:24] There's giants there. There's cities. There's walls are fortified. There's no way that we can do it. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, said, The Lord said we can go.
[1:35] He's going to be with us. Let's go. But they listened to the 8 and not the 2. So as a result, they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all of the fighting age men passed away.
[1:51] And now there's a new generation. And the new generation, oh, by the way, Moses also died. Now we don't have a leader anymore, but Joshua, one of the two spies, stepped up to be their leader.
[2:07] And now Joshua was instructed by God to be courageous. Don't fear. Get over there. Take this land.
[2:17] And the people also told Joshua the same thing. Let's be courageous. Let's take this land. God has given it to us. All of a sudden, now the land was no different.
[2:29] They still had giants. The cities were still fortified. They were still mighty armies. But this generation has decided that God is bigger than those obstacles.
[2:40] The previous generation, the obstacles were too big for God to handle. They didn't have the faith. Now the new people were going to be obedient and trust God and go take the land.
[2:52] So, they're on the shores of the Jordan River at flood stage. And God miraculously stopped the water of the Jordan River, allowing the children of Israel to walk across the Jordan River on dry land so that they could take the land.
[3:16] The first stop was Jericho. So, they had sent spies into Jericho. Now God had instructed Moses to send the ten spies.
[3:29] He never instructed Joshua to send any spies. But Joshua did. He sent the spies in. And we know that while they were there in Jericho, they met a woman named Rahab, who was a harlot.
[3:42] And Rahab informed the guys that everyone knows about you. Everyone knows that your God, what your God has done.
[3:57] They knew about what their God had done to the Egyptians 40 years previously. You know, how the Egyptians tried to pursue him and got wiped out.
[4:11] They knew that they were in the crosshairs of Israel. That God had told them to take over the land.
[4:24] To go in and take it. They were scared to death. And she made a deal with them. If I help you, will you save my family? And they said, we will.
[4:36] So, she ended up hiding them and lying to the people who would come searching for them.
[4:48] Say, hey, we heard there's some spies in the land. Do you know anything about us? Well, she's like, I don't know. I think they went that way. You better hurry up. You can probably catch them. And they left.
[4:59] So, they kept, they were able to, we all know, conquer Jericho simply by marching around.
[5:13] They marched around the city over seven days. They marched around it 13 times. They followed exactly the instructions that God had given them. The walls fell down.
[5:24] They took over the city. One guy, and I'm recapping a lot of stuff that you've already heard. There's some people that haven't been here forever and haven't heard these things.
[5:37] So, we have to fill them in on what's going on. There was one guy named Achan that disobeyed what God, God had told them, you take the city, but don't take any loot.
[5:54] You know, everything is going to be for the Lord's. And Achan decided, well, this stuff is really too good to not take. And he took some things and hid it in his tent, buried it in his tent.
[6:11] Well, the next place was a place called, we've been saying AI, and I think Glenn might have said the proper pronunciation is AI. AI. So, I'm going to say AI, but you know it's AI.
[6:26] So, AI. They were going to go, and they had gotten word that, you know, AI, don't worry about those guys. They're not too strong.
[6:37] They're not too tough. We can take them. Matter of fact, you don't even have to send the whole army. They sent maybe 3,000 guys. And they didn't discuss it with the Lord.
[6:50] They had become, you know, pretty self-confident at this point. Like, we're like undefeatable here. And they got their butts kicked by the guys of AI.
[7:05] I. By I. Not me, but I. And that's when they went back to the Lord and said, you know, what's going on?
[7:17] You brought us out here. Now you promised this and all that. And the Lord informed them about the sin of one man, that he had taken some stuff.
[7:27] They went through their iterations, found out that it's Achan. They dealt with Achan, and they repented, and they asked the Lord, you know, asked now.
[7:39] Now they're inquiring of the Lord what to do. They ended up destroying AI. There's another city, Gibeon.
[7:53] Now, Gibeon had heard about what's going on over there. And it's funny how these people had, you know, when I was a kid, they said, you know, the way you want to get a message across, there's telephone, telegraph, telewoman.
[8:11] You've heard that one. Well, they didn't have telephone, telegraph. They must have had a bunch of women back then because word had spread that what was going on.
[8:21] And the people of Gibeon had heard about what Joshua and the Israelites had done to Jericho. They heard about what they had done to AI.
[8:33] And they even had heard about that God had instructed them to not make any treaties with any people in the land of Canaan because you are to just completely destroy these people.
[8:48] But you could make a treaty with someone from afar off. So Matt told us last week about the Gibeonites. They came up with this idea that we're going to disguise ourselves as weary travelers, worn out clothes, worn out shoes, moldy bread, all this stuff.
[9:07] And then we're going to come to Israel, Joshua and Israel, and say, oh, you know, we've traveled from afar off. Look at our clothes. Look at this bread. And they conned them into making a treaty with them so that they could be saved.
[9:26] Well, three days later, Joshua and the team learned that they lied to us. And they asked them, why? Why did you do that? And they told them about their faith in the God of Israel that they were surely going to be destroyed unless they made a treaty with them.
[9:47] So they made the treaty. That brings us now to my day. So now you only got 10 minutes left. Now, to chapter 10.
[9:59] So let's start reading in chapter 10. I'll start reading in verse 1, and I'm using the NIV this time. Now, Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and had become their allies.
[10:27] He and his people were very much alarmed at this because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai, and all of its men were good fighters.
[10:43] Again, how do these guys, you know, hear about all this stuff? But evidently the grapevine was good. Spies. Spies.
[10:54] Yeah. So Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, appealed to Hoan, king of Hebron, Pyron, king of Yarmouth, Japhai, king of Lachish, and Debir, king of Eglon.
[11:12] Come up and help me attack Gibeon, he said, because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites. So all of these kings, all of these places were places that were part of Canaan, that were going to be conquered eventually by Joshua, as what at least Gibeonites believed it.
[11:37] That's why they tried to make a treaty and they were successful. How many of you, maybe some of you in here, especially those of you who came to the Christ later in life, where you had a lifestyle, where you had friends, friends that you ran around with and friends that you did things with that were worldly and all that, and all of a sudden now you're not friends with them anymore.
[12:13] They view you as enemies. Like, Gibeon was part of the group, you know, and now they've made a covenant with Israel, the God of Israel, and they don't want to have anything to do with it.
[12:25] Matter of fact, we're going to see, as here, that they want everyone to make a coalition here, and let's attack them, because they've made this covenant with Israel.
[12:41] Sometimes we, you know, we get ostracized, because we have a relationship with God, and these guys certainly did. Matter of fact, in James 4.4, it talks about us, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
[12:59] And of course, anyone who's an enemy, or who's a friend of God's is an enemy to the world as well. That's how they were.
[13:09] If you're going to be a friend with Israel, then you obviously are not a friend of ours. Let's read on. In the next verse, it says in verse 4, Then the five kings of the Amorites, the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Yarmouth, Lachish, and Eglon, joined forces.
[13:30] They moved up with all of their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it. The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp of Gilgal, Do not abandon your servants.
[13:45] Come up to us quickly and save us. Help us, please. Or because all of the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.
[13:58] So this group of guys that conned their way into a treaty, and the treaty was, We know that your God has instructed you to destroy us.
[14:12] Do not destroy us, and we will be your servants. So that was the treaty. And these guys were desperate.
[14:25] So Joshua had a decision to make here. He could have said, You know what? Our treaty is that we won't destroy you.
[14:35] That doesn't mean that I have to help you out at all. He could have said, You know, this is God's judgment on you. You deceived us, And God's going to turn all these people against you to destroy you.
[14:51] And maybe that might have crossed his mind. Maybe we can do that. And these guys, Have you ever been in a situation where it looks like Things are just so bad they can't be overcome?
[15:10] You're like, Goodbye cruel world. It's just, You know, That's where these guys were. The only recourse they had was to seek salvation from Joshua.
[15:24] And that's the way we are sometimes too. Where we can get to a point where, And some of us it takes that. To just bust you down so far That the only recourse you have is to cry out to God.
[15:41] I can't handle it. I can't handle it. It's better to not get in that situation. But, Sometimes God just has to bring you down to that.
[15:53] Some people. So anyway, It would have been an easy thing for Joshua to just say, Hey bud, You're on your own. I never agreed to defend you from other people.
[16:05] I only agreed to not destroy you. And not only that, The only battles that Joshua and them had fought so far Has been like a one on one.
[16:18] This guy is telling him that, He doesn't say that there's five of them. He just says all of the kings of the Amorites are coming on us. So now, Joshua is facing not just one army, He's facing multiple armies at the same time.
[16:35] So again, It would have been easy for him to, To back off and say, You know, Sorry, I can't help you. But, In verse 7 it says, So Joshua marched up from Gilgal, With his entire army, Including all the best fighting men.
[16:53] The Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid of them. I have given them into your hand. Not one of them Shall be able to withstand you. Isn't it neat how God can take our blunders, And even our disobedience sometimes, And turn it around and make something good come from it.
[17:16] If Joshua, So their blunder was making a treaty with these folks. You know, The Bible clearly says, And Matt went over, That they did not consult God Before they made this treaty.
[17:35] Had they consulted with the Lord, They more than likely would not have made a treaty with the Gibeonites. And if they hadn't made it a treaty with the Gibeonites, Then this Adonisidek Probably wouldn't have created a coalition To come after Gibeon.
[18:00] And if they hadn't created the coalition To come after Gibeon, Then Joshua and his band of army Would have had to have taken on all these people One at a time.
[18:16] But God was able to say, You know, Let's speed things up here. We're going to grab them all together At one time, And you can take care of five more. That takes care of five battles right there.
[18:28] We'll get it over with. So God is using their blunders To create something that not only is going to To speed up them taking over entire Canaan, But it's also going to give them an opportunity To display his might and his power, Which we're going to see.
[18:50] Let's read on. Look at some of this awesome power in the next verses. After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise.
[19:02] So he came up on this coalition by surprise. The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel. So Joshua and the Israelites Defeated them completely at Gibeon.
[19:15] Israel pursued them along the road Going up to Beth Horon And cut them down All the way to Azka and Mekadah.
[19:29] As they fled before Israel on the road Down from Beth Horon to Azekah, The Lord hurled huge hailstones down on them.
[19:39] And more of them died from the hail Than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. So I was reading some of the stuff They were talking about.
[19:52] You know, there's always going to be people That want to Take a miracle that God performs And try to explain it In a way that You know, oh, well this A natural This natural thing happened And, you know, it wasn't It wasn't big enough But And it's possible, you know, That a huge hailstorm could come And With hailstones big enough to kill people But it seems like If it was just a natural phenomenon That it wouldn't be selective As to who the hail falls on, you know?
[20:29] But It killed the enemy And not the good guys So I don't know what phenomenon that would be But To me it's just a mirror You know Guided missiles Yeah Guided hailstones On verse 12 And on the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel Joshua said to the Lord In the presence of Israel Sun Stand still over Gibeon And you Moon Over the valley of Agilon So the sun stood still And the moon stopped Until the nation Avenged itself Of its enemies As is written in the book of Asher I don't know what this book of Asher is But evidently it's written down somewhere So now God has not only demonstrated his power Through these hailstones He has actually Stopped the sun That was the request And if we read in the next verses
[21:30] The sun stopped in the middle of the sky And delayed going down About a full day There's never been a day like it before Or since A day that the Lord listened to a human being Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel The sun stopped Now that's impossible Right There And there You'll see And if you ever study this And commentaries and stuff There's all kinds of people That want to try to explain this as well Of all kinds of stuff And what's really neat Some of the stuff that I read There are these guys These astrologers And stuff that can Somehow I don't know how they're doing it But they can go back And they can account for all the times And they all And they've come up 24 hours short somehow What Where is that day?
[22:25] Well there it is right there About a day And I think they even Headed down to hours It was like 23 something hours Lost Somewhere And there it is right there It's right here in the Bible Is when Joshua prayed And the Lord listened And the Lord stopped the sun It goes on In verses 16 Now the five kings Had fled and hidden In the cave at Mechadah And when Joshua was told That the five kings Had been found Hiding in the cave at Mechadah He said Roll large stones Up to the mouth of the cave And post some of the men There to guard it But don't stop Pursue your enemies Attack them from the rear And don't let them Reach their cities For the Lord your God Has given them Into your hand So these five kings And I'm not going to Because I think my ten minutes Is almost up We're not going to go over All the rest of What happened But these five kings
[23:26] Ended up Being killed by Joshua He pulled them out They had them lay down And had the commanders Put their feet On their necks And that always reminded me In Psalms I think it's in 110 It talks about The Lord making your enemies Your footstool And you know This was a humiliating thing For the kings And you know They were executed And then The rest of this chapter Goes on To talk about How then Once Once they had Completely destroyed The armies Then they went To the different cities And destroyed This all All of the cities That these kings Just like They were instructed To do So Lessons from this is Just trust God And obey When you don't understand
[24:26] And things just look like This is insurmountable This is You know Not even God Can handle this Not even God Can sort this out for me He can This God That can That can stop The sun in the sky This God That can Select Have a hailstorm Come and select Who the hailstones Are going to hit And then When we look back At Jericho The same God That was able To make The city Walls Fall down And Rahab's House Built into the wall Yet her house Stays intact And they were able To rescue How that can happen How can that happen Well we got a God That nothing's Impossible for He can handle it He can handle Your problems Just trust Him And just obey And everything
[25:26] Will work out Alright Let's pray Father I thank you So much for Loving us I thank you for These stories In the Bible Lord that we can Learn from And we can see Lord And Lord I apologize For not praying Before I started this story Lord I get up here And get flustered And get excited About what What you have For us And Lord I just pray That all these Words that Have gone out Today will cause People to think And cause people To realize That you are King And you are The great I am That is capable Of Lord there's nothing That you're not Capable of And you can Handle our Problems Just help us To have faith In that Trust you And obey you In Jesus name Amen Amen Amen