The Mediator Warrior

Well, if you have a copy of God's Word, we're going to be in

Joshua chapter 10, so turn there.

Joshua 10 · chapter mention

And while you're turning there, let me say it's a joy to be with

you guys. Obviously, I've known of the

church and it's it's great just to get a chance to get out here

and to see what's going on. I've known Ashoka Michelle a

long time and you guys got some wonderful people in getting

Ashoka Michelle. And so it's just great to see

you guys again. Heard you rush the floor last

night. Is that true?

Yeah, OK. I want that same kind of energy

right now while I preach. I am thankful to be here on a

day after the, the the devil's lost.

And so that's a, that's a good thing.

That's the key to the sermon today.

The devil always loses. And so we'll be encouraged by

that. But it really is a joy to be

with you, thankful for your partnership in the gospel.

It's always a privilege to open God's Word with God's people,

and particularly this is a a wonderful.

Text that we're going to look at today.

Now it's a it's a fascinating text and it, it might be even a

bit of a tough text to hear, possibly even understand.

Some have used this passage to sell books where they have

wildly missed what's going on here in the text.

But though this is a tough passage, if we can recognize

what's going on here, we will see that in a fallen world, in a

tough world, in a broken world, this text is glorious.

And it speaks to us of things we must come to know and let shape

who we are, because it's a text by way of narrative that will

help us see that the the people of God have real enemies.

We just prayed about that. Enemies that we bring on

ourselves by our own sins, but also enemies without who plot

against us because we live in a fallen world.

And it's vital for us to remember that when we come to

the Bible, when we come to places like Joshua, we are

coming to real stories. This is a real story that we

have a spirit inspired account of.

These are real happenings. This is not a cartoon.

This is not a fable. And through it all though, this

morning we're going to see the promises of God for his people.

Because in the background of this text, really all over this

text are the promises we find in places like Genesis 12 and

Genesis 15, promises that God has made to Abraham.

And it says this in Genesis 12/3.

He says, I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors

you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will

be blessed. Then Genesis 1513 through 16

says this. And the Lord said to Abram, know

for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in the land

that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be

afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the

nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out

with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your

father's in peace. You shall be buried in a good

old age, and they shall come back here in the 4th generation.

For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

Brothers and sisters, that's where we have come this morning.

And God's redemptive plan in Joshua chapter 10, the iniquity

Joshua 10 · chapter mention

of the Amorites is complete, as we're going to see the kings of

the Amorites take their stand against God's man and against

God's people. Now Leviticus 18 deals details

for us. What are the sins of the

Amorites? What is their iniquity?

They have defiled the land by idolatry.

They have indulged in what can only be called repulsive,

sexually immoral practices. They've actually sacrificed

their own children to a fake God named Molech.

And yet God's promises ring true.

He will protect his own, and he will even bless the nations that

bless his people. And he's going to do so through

a mediator warrior. So then this morning, as the

spiritual descendants of Abraham, I want to turn our

attention to the Word. As we do, I want us to remember

God is patient. He has given 400 years to the

amorite. He is patient.

He is slow to anger. He is abounding in steadfast

love. But he will by no means clear

the guilty time comes when he will no way and no way excuse

their sins of idolatry, of sexual immorality, and of child

sacrifice. He will deal with it.

I'm going to see that here in Joshua 10.

And so let's read the Word. And then after we read again,

I'll pray a brief prayer. The author writes this as he's

carried along by the Holy Spirit.

And as soon as Adonizedek the king of Jerusalem, heard how

Joshua had captured AI and devoted to destruction, doing

the AI and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king,

and how the inhabitants of Gibeon made peace with Israel

and were among them, he feared greatly because Gibeon was a

great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was

greater than AI, and all its men were warriors.

So Adonizadet king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, king of Hebron,

to Parum, king of Jarmouth, and to Jaffe a king of Lakish, and

to the Beer king of Eglon, saying, Come up to me and help

me, and let us strike Gibeon, for it has made peace with

Joshua and with the people of Israel.

Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem,

the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmouth, the king of Lakish,

and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces and went up with

all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war

against it. And the men of Gibeon sent to

Joshua 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.

So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war

with him, and all the mighty men of valor.

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. So Joshua came upon them

suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal.

And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck

them with a great blow at Gibeon, and chased them on the

way of the scent of Beth Iran, and struck them as far as Azaca

and Makeda. And as they fled before Israel,

while they were going down the ascent of Beth Iran, the Lord

threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azaca,

and they died. There were more who died because

of the hailstones and the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord

gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel.

And he said, in the sight of Israel sun stand still at Gibeon

moon in the valley of Azerlan. And the sun stood still, and the

moon stopped until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the book of Jashar?

The sun stopped in the midst of the heaven, and did not hurry to

set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it

before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for

the Lord fought for Israel. So, Joshua?

Returned and all Israel with him to the camp of Gilgal.

These 5 kings fled and hid themselves in the caves of

Makeda. And it was told to Joshua, The

five kings have been found hidden in The Cave of Makeda.

And Joshua said, Roll large stones against the mouth of The

Cave and set men to guard it. But do not stay there

yourselves. Pursue your enemies, attack

their rearguard. Do not let them into their

cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand.

Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking them with

a great blow until they were wiped out.

And when the remnant that remained of them had entered

into the fortified cities, then all the people returned safe to

Joshua. In the camp of Makeda, not a man

moved his tongue against any of the people of Israel.

And Joshua said, Open the mouth of The Cave and bring those 5

kings out to me from The Cave. And they did so.

And they brought those 5 kings out to him from The Cave.

The king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmouth,

the king of the Quiche, and the king of Eglon, when they brought

those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of

Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with

him, Come near and put your feet on the next of these kings.

And they came near, and they put their feet on their necks.

Joshua said to them, Do not be afraid or dismayed.

Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all

your enemies against whom you fight.

And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he

hanged them on five trees, and they hung on the trees until

evening. But at the time of the going

down of the sun, Joshua commanded.

And they took them down from the trees, and they threw them into

The Cave where they had hidden themselves.

And they set large stones against the mouth of The Cave,

which remain to this very day. Let's pray and ask for God's

help as we turn to His word, Father.

But we know these things have been written down for us upon

whom the ends of the ages has come.

So Father, would you help us now?

Father, now would you show us yourself?

You show us our sin and then would you show us our Savior?

Father, now please sanctify us in the truth.

We know your word is true. We pray this in Jesus name,

Amen. As I mentioned a minute ago, I

grew up with three brothers, no sisters.

My poor mom basically lived in in a male dormitory and we love

to fight. We fought all the time.

We were big WWF wrestling fans. I don't know if there's anybody

in here like that. They say confession is good for

the soul, but we grew up in a Christian home as well.

So not only did we love wrestling, we loved reading

stories like the one we just read, and also the Samson story

and the David and Goliath story and on and on.

I could go. At that point in our lives, we

cared a little bit less about Isaac trying to find a wife.

But when you bring together young boys who are WWF fans and

stories like this, we grew up wondering things like this.

What would have happened if Samson had fought Goliath?

What would happen if Joshua and the Pharaoh got into hand to

hand combat? And if we had ever been given

toy action figures of these characters like we were Hulk

Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior, we would have pitted them

against one another with our boyish imagination.

You know, years ago, a pastor alerted to me, alerted me to an

article about manufacturers who were just trying to capture on

that sort of imagination. They were producing little Bible

action figures like Samson and Goliath and Joshua and David,

with the Jesus action figure expected to be the runaway

bestseller. And one of the things this

article posed to the toy maker as what happens if these toys

get mixed in with the other toys?

What do you do if a child pits Spider Man against Jesus in a

showdown and the maker of the toy simply answered?

In that case, I would hope that the parents would step in and

put Jesus in a safe place. To this that pastor lamented the

world emperor of Revelation 19. The sovereign of all the

universe having to be protected by parents from leftover Spider

Man action figures. Think about the irony of that

statement. And I'm afraid if we,

particularly for those of us who have grown up in the church,

watching things like Hanna Barbera cartoons and, you know,

going to Vacation Bible School and seeing flannel graph cutouts

of cartoon characters of the Bible and then later on having

vegetables, vegetables of all things, portraying biblical

characters. We can sometimes miss the

reality of what is going on in the scriptures and then we can

certainly miss what is going on in a story like this one.

I mean, we don't have to look forward to see we do not live in

a fairy tale. World.

This ain't Disney. Sadly.

Disney ain't Disney anymore. But we live in a real world, a

fallen one. We have real enemies that seek

to destroy us, to enslave us. Many of these enemies are

internal enemies of our own sinful appetites that want to

lead us to destruction. Sins like lust and greed and

selfishness and foolishness and anger and obsession with the

approval of others. But we also have external

enemies because of the fall and because of the curse of sin,

things like sickness and disease and conflict and war.

And behind it all there are principalities and powers.

And there is an accuser that the Bible tells us once nothing more

than to sift us like wheat. And I'm afraid if we view

biblical truth through the lens of a cartoon or through the lens

of figurines, we're going to miss exactly what is going on

here in Joshua 10. We're going to miss how serious

the war is. But more than that, we're going

to fail to understand that God fights for us and he does so

through a mediator who has come to defeat all of our enemies.

And that's what I want to focus in on this morning.

The Lord fights for his people, and He does so through a go

between man, through a mediator warrior, for through someone who

will speak to God on behalf of the people and who will fight

for God on behalf. Of the people.

Now here's the context of where we are in Joshua chapter 10.

Joshua 10 · chapter mention

Joshua and God's chosen people, Israel, they've come out of

slavery in Egypt. They are continuing the conquest

of the promised land. They're told they're to rid the

land, the rid the land of sin and idolatry.

God has given them some major victories over cities like AI

and Jericho. But we've also seen the people

have been disobedient. At least some of the Israelites

have been disobedient, like a man named Akin.

And then in Chapter 9, we see that the Gibeonites who rightly

fear Israel, they make a peace treaty with her.

And now we're going to see God's people act decisively in order

to honor that treaty. And more than that, we're going

to see the Lord himself act decisively in order to keep it.

And that leads us to the first part of the text.

I want to break this down, really just four scenes that we

see in these verses. And the first one is this.

We see the plot against Israel. Look at verse one again.

As soon as Adonizedek the king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua

had captured AI and devoted it to destruction, doing the AI and

its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how

the inhabitants of Gibeon made peace with Israel were among

them, he feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like

one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than AI

and all its men were warriors. So Adonizedek, the king of

Jerusalem, he sends to Hohem, king of Hebron, to Pyram, king

of Jarmouth, Jaffa, king of Lakishin, Dabir, king of Eglon,

saying come up to me and help me and let us strike Gibeon for it

has made peace with Joshua, with the people of Israel.

And then these 5 kings you see there at the end of verse 5,

they gather their forces and they go up with their armies and

they make war against Gibeon. Reports come to the king of

Jerusalem, Adonizedek, that Israel is laying waste to the

land. They've sacked AI, they've

sacked Jericho, and now they've made a peace treaty with this

impressive city, Gibeon. And so Adonizedek fears greatly.

He knows Israel poses a threat to him.

He knows Israel poses a threat to his possessions and

ironically it is the King of Jerusalem who is rallying a evil

access if you will, of Amorite kings to come up against Gibeon

and then ultimately against Israel herself.

Interestingly, this is the first time the word Jerusalem shows up

in the Bible, though the city itself had appeared under

another name in Genesis 1418, it being that being the city of

Salem. Fascinatingly, there in Genesis

14, there is a king of Salem with a similar name.

His name is Melchizedek, which means the king of Righteousness.

But now there's a new king. His name is Adonizedek, or the

Lord of Righteousness. The author is showing us by way

of contrast how the iniquity of the Amorites is complete.

There once reigned a true ruler of righteousness in Salem who

blessed Abraham, but now there's a false ruler of righteousness

who seeks to do Abraham's descendants harm.

And this defection of Gibeon, A Amorite group itself, this

defection of Gibeon to Israel's side, is causing great fear, and

that's for good reason. We see here in the text, Gibeon

is an impressive city. It's larger than Bethel and AI.

It's closer to Jerusalem, so it's geographically strategic.

It's a royal city, meaning it also has a king, and it's famous

for all of its men being courageous in battle.

And yet they still readily and easily bowed the knee to Israel.

And so this fake ruler of righteousness is afraid.

Take notice, though, of what happens in the text.

Adonized a deck. Instead of taking the route of

Rahab, who turned to Israel's God, who turned to Yahweh in

faith, And instead of going the route of Gibeon, who's now

sought a peace treaty with Israel, instead of realizing

that those who bless Abraham's people will be blessed, instead

Adonized a deck plots against them.

Instead of joining Israel and their God, he seeks to to kill

them. He seeks to, to to move against

their allies by rallying these other 4 kings.

We see here something of what Paige read for us already this

morning. We see something of Psalm 2.

The nations are raging and the peoples are plotting in vain.

The kings of the earth are setting themselves and their

rulers against, are taking counsel together against the

Lord and against his anointed. But as we heard Paige read He

Who Sits. In the heavens laughs these 5

kings. They're taking their counsel

together, setting themselves up against Israel.

So take a moment to realize how significant it is that they fear

Israel. It demonstrates for us just how

powerful our God is. Israel is not some impressive

Kingdom, yet Israel is a group of slaves who have been

wandering in the wilderness for 40 years and more than that is

now. 5 kings and five peoples against one.

And yet they are formidable enough that they strike fear in

the five. And the question is why?

And the answer is pretty simple, because Yahweh is on their side.

Brothers and sisters, we learned something for our own

application this this morning for.

For for thinking through our own spiritual warfare in the

heavenly places, we know this morning that evil powers are

plotting against us. And yet as they plot against us,

our God in heaven laughs. Greater is he who is in US than

he who is in the world. That leads us to the second

scene of the text. We see the power of the Lord.

Look at verse 6. And the men of Gibeon sent to

Joshua the camp to 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.

On the Hill. Country are gathered against us.

So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war

with him, and all the mighty men of valor.

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. So Joshua came upon them

suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal.

And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck

them with a great blow at Gibeon, and chased them by the

way of ascent of Beth Iran, and struck them as far as Izaca and

Makeda. And as they fled before Israel,

they were going down the ascent of Beth Iran.

The Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as

the Zaka, and they died. There were more who died because

of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the

swords. There's a fascinating play on

words here. There's this urgent appeal made

from Gibeon. It's in the form of an emphatic

imperative. It could maybe even be better

understood. Not just please come save us,

but you must come save us. And the reason this is a play on

word is that the person they call to come save them is a man

whose name means the Lord saves, Yeshua, Joshua the Lord saves.

And the verb usage in verse 6 for help us is set in contrast

to the verb usage in verse 4 when Adonizedek is maliciously

calling on the other 4 kings to come help him.

This again is setting the contrast to highlight the

iniquity of the Amorites. We see the contrasting intents

of these two people. Israel comes to save the

Gibeonites, while the Amorite kings are seeking to do their

own people harm. So Gibeon says to Israel, hey

guys, that pact we made, it's time to make good on that pact.

They know that they cannot withstand the onslaught of the

five and they call for a formidable ally to come help

them in the fight. Years ago, I was a teenager at a

minor League Baseball game here in.

In. Zebulon, NC.

And they were these drunk guys in the stands who are mad at us

because we wouldn't stand up and do the wave.

So they were being belligerent. We thought they're so

belligerent right now that a fight's about to happen.

And I think I was like 14. I started to get pretty nervous

about it. These are older guys.

And then I just remembered what sitting next to me is my uncle,

who was an undercover cop in Atlanta.

He could bench press 500 lbs and as soon as he sat up there, as

soon as he stood up, they sat down.

Like this is what we do. If we're wise in combat, we get

a formidable ally to help us. That's exactly what Gibeon has

tried to do here and again for our own application this

morning. Thankfully, brothers and

sisters, for those of us who have been made right with God,

for those of us who have found peace with God through the

gospel, we've already sung it this morning.

We understand the right man is on our side.

The Lord of hosts is with us in the battle.

Now. Israel is helping Gibeon in the

fight. Joshua acts in accord with his

treaty. Immediately notice the urgency

to keep his word. They March up all night from

Gilgal. He hurries to help Gibeon.

And on his way, the Lord again, for at least the third time in

the book, reassures him. Do not fear.

God reminds them of His power, His presence, and his promises.

He says, I have already given them into your hand.

In fact, God speaks here in the past tense of how he's going to

deal with the Jerusalem coalition.

He has already determined the outcome.

He says to them, hey, this is exactly what is going to happen.

And so Joshua attacks early in the morning, but in keeping his

promises of the outcome, it is the Lord who is the subject of

all the verbs in verse 10. It is the Lord who throws the

enemy into a panic. It is he who strikes them with a

great blow. It is he who chases them down.

It is he who strikes them as far as Makeda.

This is the Lord's doing. He is the decisive actor in this

play. Moses has already had the people

sing a generation ago that the Lord is a man of war, and that

is true and notices weapons. But in one sense the Lord brings

rocks to a sword fight. And yet these aren't small

pebbles. His artillery are large

hailstones from heaven. These massive stones rain down

on the enemy as the divine warrior now decimates the

Jerusalem. 5 We see something vital for our own spiritual

warfare here. Yes, Israel.

Will still need to obey and fight.

They have hard work to do and so do we in our own in our own

spiritual battles. We have to put on the armor of

Ephesians 6 in order to take on the enemies and to dominate our

own sin, but be strengthened in the faith, friends, Israel along

with us. We fight from victory, not for

victory, because the outcome has already been determined.

Which leads us to the third scene.

We see the prayer of the mediator warrior.

Look at verse 12. At that time Joshua spoke to the

Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the

sons of Israel. And he said, in the sight of

Israel, sun stands still at Gibbean and moon in the valley

of Ashlon. And the sun stood still, and the

moon stopped until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the book of Joshua?

The sun stopped in the midst of the heaven and did not hurry to

set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it

before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for

the Lord fought for Israel. So Joshua returned in all Israel

with him and to the camp at Gilgal, and these 5 kings fled

and hid themselves in The Cave at Makeda.

These staggering events are happening at the exact same time

as the previous verses, and this is an astounding miracle of

cosmic proportions. Essentially, the sun stays up in

the sky for twice as long as normal so that the enemy can be

illuminated for Israel to exact its vengeance upon them.

Some obviously do not believe in the supernatural.

They would say this could not have happened.

Friends, if we believe that God created the heavens and the

earth, this is not impossible. He who made the laws of nature

can do as He desires with the laws of nature.

If He upholds the universe by the word of His power, then the

one who made science can make science do as He requires.

These verses, far from disproving the Bible, highlight

its own honesty and factuality. In fact, the author references

another work. He does exactly what we all have

to do in papers. He says, don't just take my word

for it. Look at the book of Jashar.

Now this was a non canonical book.

It's also mentioned in Second Samuel.

Most scholars believe it's a poetic retelling of the accounts

of the heroes of Israel. Men like Joshua.

Men like David. Yet verse 14, when the dust

settles, what is astounding is not that God has acted by

throwing massive stones out of heaven on the enemy.

What is astounding is that he has done so based upon the

appeal and interceding of a man of flesh and blood.

This isn't some fake illusion. This is not David Blaine making

you think he's levitating. It's not David Copperfield

making a jet plane disappear. This is not an illusion.

And the text marvels at this, says up to the point of this

writing, there has been no day like it.

We're at the voice of a man. The entire solar system stops.

Previous miracles like the stopping of the waters of the

Jordan, the victory of Jericho, both of these have happened

because of God's own divine initiative.

But here the tide turns and it all happens because of the

intercession of one man on behalf of his people.

For God hears and acts based upon the voice of his mediator.

And that leads us to the final part of the text.

We now see the plight of the enemy.

Look at verse 17. And it was told to Joshua, these

5 kings have been found in The Cave at Makeda.

And Joshua said, roll large stones against the mouth of The

Cave and set men by it to guard them, but do not stay there

yourselves. Pursue your enemies, attack

their rear guard. Do not let them enter their

cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand.

Joshua, the sons of Israel had finished striking them with a

great blow until they were wiped out, when the remnant they

remained of them and entered the fortified cities, and all the

people returned safe to Joshua. At the camp at Makeda, not a man

moved his tongue against any of the people of Israel.

So. The keys, the kings flee from

the battle, and Joshua has his men imprison them in The Cave

they have sought refuge in, and Joshua here gives it an emphatic

command. Again, his troops are not to

stop. There's another play on words

here in the Hebrew. He basically says to them, in

contrast to the sun and moon, do not stand still, and just as the

sun cannot make it down into its safe place, do not let your

enemy make it to their resting places either.

And so the men of Israel pursue the enemy.

And it now uses the same language of the men of Israel as

it is used for God in verse 10. They strike them with a great

blow until they are wiped out. And Israel's victory is so

decisive, they return to the camp in complete peace.

Literally no one would even move their tongue against the

Israelites. Similar to what happened in

Exodus 11/7, on the night when the death Angel passed over, it

said that on that night, not even a dog would sharpen its

tongue against Israel. That's how safe it had become.

Not even a dog would bark at them.

A cat maybe, but not a dog. Now, friends, I want us to see

the end of these kings. And as we prepare to read these

verses, these are stark verses, want you to realize as we read

these, this is exactly what the Lord is going to do to our

enemies in your struggles with principalities and powers that

are seeking to destroy you. This is what their end will be.

Verse 22 Then Joshua said, open the mouth of The Cave, bring

those 5 kings out to me from The Cave.

And they did so. And they brought those 5 kings

out to him from The Cave. The king of Jerusalem, the king

of Hebron, the king of Jeremoth, the king of Location, the king

of Eglon. And they brought those kings out

to Joshua. Joshua summoned all the men of

Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone out

with him, Come near and put your feet on the necks of these

kings. And they came near, and they put

their feet on their necks. Joshua said to them, Do not be

afraid or dismayed, be strong, courageous.

For thus the liberal do to all your enemies against whom you

fight. And afterward Joshua struck them

and put them to death. And he hanged them on five

trees, and they hung on the trees until evening.

But at the time of the going down to the sun, Joshua

commanded, they took them down from the trees and threw them

into a cave where they had hidden themselves.

And they set large stones against the mouth of The Cave,

which remain to this very day. Joshua now deals with these who

have plotted against him, who have attacked his ally.

It's captivating the scene. He brings them out, He takes the

chiefs of the men of war, and he has them put their feet on the

next of these kings. This is an intentional act.

It's to symbolize the finality of victory, the decisiveness

they have. They have dominated so severely,

they have won in such a way that they have now made their enemies

their own footstool. And there's more going on than

even just that. There's echoes of Genesis 315

here, the promise that someday somebody born of the seed of the

woman of the seed of Eve would crush the serpent's head.

In the midst of this act, Joshua gives the men of Israel the same

reminder that God had given him, the same assurance that God had

given him in the battle. He says, do not be afraid, but

be strong and courageous, for the Lord will do this to all of

your enemies. And the final act is told with a

certain directness, is it not? Joshua deals with them, those

who had threatened his life, threatened his people,

threatened his allies. Joshua runs them through with a

sword, and then he hangs them up on five trees.

The hanging of the bodies on the trees is a symbolic way to show

the cursed fate of these 5 kings.

Deuteronomy tells us cursed as anyone who has hung on a tree.

The Bible is filled with Irene is now.

The bodies of these kings are taken and thrown into the very

place where they had sought refuge earlier they thought

would bring them. Safety has ended up as their own

tomb. And to the day of this riding,

this new rock sealed tomb is still there.

And it's at this point that the sun finally goes down on what

has been an extraordinary day, day that is so vividly

illustrated. The promises made to their

forefather Abraham. The iniquity of the Amorites is

complete and God's judgment is upon them.

So then I want to give four quick applications for us in the

New Covenant. The first one is this.

We face enemies, enemies within, enemies without.

We are in a war. Our battle is not against flesh

and blood. Our battle is against

principalities and powers who have aligned themselves against

us. Our battle is with our own sin.

We must make war with our sin. We must make war on our enemies

because they will certainly make war on us.

Let me just say a quick word about idolatry, the things in

your life that may be more precious to you than the Lord.

Be careful like these kings, that you don't end up thinking

that the very things that are give you refuge and safety.

Or maybe to say it for us this way, the things that you think

are going to bring you happiness and fulfillment, be careful that

those things don't end up being your own spiritual tune.

That leads to our second application.

Put on the armor of God. We need to know the truth.

We need to walk in holiness. We need to meditate on the

gospel. We need to stand firm in the

faith. You need to be strong in the

Word, vigilant in prayer. I would commend reading

Ephesians 6 later today. Think about putting on the armor

of God as we enter into this fight and enter into this battle

#3 entrust yourself and your enemies to the Lord.

We are to be active and responsible in our fight, and

yet we can rest at night knowing God is sovereign.

The text shows us that God fights for His people.

He will one day make every wrong right.

Ultimately, our only chance is. Full reliance upon Him and the

recognition that we cannot do this in our own power.

We are utterly dependent upon God to act in accord with who He

is and who and what He has said and what He has promised to us

in His Word. And then fourth application,

victory is coming. Do not fear, be strong and

courageous, for the Lord will do to all of our enemies what He

has done here, His past acts or previews of future grace for us.

They are a guarantee that our enemies within, our enemies

without, will one day be fully and finally dealt with.

It may not be in this life, but victory is coming.

And how do we know that's true? How do we know that our biggest

enemies will be dealt with? Sin within, powers without, as

we know that because we have an even better mediator warrior in

this text they say that they've never seen anything like this

God listening to the voice of a man.

But we have, we have heard of a man who bears this same name,

who will be on a boat and the winds and the waves will pick up

against it, and he will say to them, Be still, and creation

itself will listen to this man. Who is this man?

They ask that even the winds and the waves obey him.

We have heard of a man who stands before a grave containing

his friends. All those around are saying

there is no hope, it is over. This man is dead.

And this Joshua, this mediator, turns to his father, he turns to

the heavens, and he says this, I know that you always hear me.

And then he speaks to a corpse. Lazarus, come forth.

And he does, sadly, the nation's Rage Against them, the kings and

the rulers will take their stand against them, even Israel's

leaders themselves. Yeah, this is exactly how he

solves our sin problem. This is exactly how he takes on

our enemies. He does so as the true king and

Lord of righteousness, who has never sinned yet at the.

Cross. He becomes sin for us, so that

in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

He bears in His own body the judgement do our eternal enemies

of sin, and then He hands over to us in the great exchange a

righteousness that is not our own, if only we will turn to Him

by faith. If you're here this morning and

you're not a Christian, the only way that you can be made right

with the Holy God is by turning to this one in faith, by

trusting in him and him alone, if that's.

You There are plenty of people here who would like to talk to

you after the service about what it looks like to repent of your

sins and put your faith and your trust here and in here alone.

Brothers and sisters, for us on that cross, as he is drowning in

his own blood, He is. He is praying the Psalms.

He is praying for deliverance while Pagan occupiers of the

land stand around and make fun of him and the sun darkens and

goes down at midday. The earth shakes as he deals

with the curse by becoming a curse for us, as Paul reminds

the Galatians, cursed as anyone who has hung on a tree.

In that moment, the true king of righteousness now becomes the

king on the tree. And it looks as though he has

been rejected. It looks as though he has been

defeated. It looks as though God does not

hear him, and yet we're told in the book of Hebrews he cries

with loud cries to the one who is able to save him from certain

death. And on that first Easter

morning, he was. Heard.

Brothers, sisters, don't just marvel the fact that the sun

stayed up in the sky for a whole day.

Marvel at the fact that the sun went down at midday because the

Lord of Creation bowed his head and death and did so for sinners

like you and me. Don't just marvel at Joshua's

total victory of putting dead kings in the tomb covered by a

stone. Marvel that centuries later a

dead king walked out of a stone stone covered tomb.

There certainly has been no day like it.

Friends, we live in a world where we don't just have issues,

we have enemies. And we need something more than

therapeutic niceties to fix it. We're like the giving nights.

We need a warrior to come quickly.

We need a man whose name means the Lord saves.

And we have him. His name is Yeshua, Joshua,

Jesus. And there's a day coming when at

the voice of a man, the entire eastern sky is going to split

open. And on that day he is going to

enact total victory over his enemies, including the last of

these, death itself, as he will speak to the tombs.

And once again, God will listen to the voice of a man.

On that day, Revelation 6 tells us that what happened here in

Joshua 10 will happen again to our enemies.

It tells us that the kings of the earth will flee to the

caves. It says that they will beg for

the rocks to fall on them so they can hide themselves from

the wrath of the Lamb. Paul also speaks of this final

day when he writes to the Corinthians.

He says this. Then comes the end when he

delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, after destroying every

rule and every authority and power.

For he must reign until he has put all things, all his enemies,

under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed

is death, for God has put all things in subjection under his

feet. Brothers and sisters in a broken

fallen. World Do we believe that day is

coming? Or in some ways, are we just

watching Veggie Tales and trying to make ourselves feel better?

Do we really believe? What Paul tells the church at

Rome that soon the God of peace will crush Satan under your

feet. Friends, we should believe that

because the gospel is true, we are not just playing with action

figures. The right man is on our side.

The Lord of hosts is with us in the battle.

Let's pray and ask for the Lord to imprint these things upon our

minds and our hearts. Father, we we can say with the

psalmist, may it be true of us, some trust and Chariots and some

trust in horses, but we we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Father, I pray for these brothers and sisters.

Father, I pray that you would be near and dear Father, I pray

where we need to be convicted. And Father, would you convict

us? And Father, will we need to be

encouraged? Would you please encourage us?

Father, make make in our lives this hope that we know is true.

Make it secure. Father, give us unwavering

confidence in your word and in your promises.

May we understand every single day as we wake up and we put our

head on the pillow that Jesus wins.

And someday, Father, he's coming back to set all things right.

May we live in light of that truth now.

And Father, would you, through US, help us to share that

message with others. Father, we live in a very broken

world. People need to know the hope of

the gospel. Father, would you use these

brothers and sisters? And Father, would you give them

favor in their evangelism? Father, as they move forward as

a church and as they continue to to build what the Lord is

building here, Father, would you, would you please help them

to speak this message to one another on days when some of the

Saints are wavering in their hope?

Father, would you help other brothers and sisters speak the

gospel to their lives? Father, we, we want your glory,

so we need your help. Would you help us now even as we

get a chance to observe the victory that we see in the

Gospel through baptism? Father, would you strengthen us

in the faith as we get a chance to observe that there has been

one who has taken from the Kingdom of darkness now unto the

Kingdom of the Beloved Son. Would you give us great faith

and great hope? We pray these things in Jesus

name, Amen.