The Last Battle

I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage.

I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage.

I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage.

I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage.

I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. Hear my cry, O God. Listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth, I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you so much for being able to gather here this morning and to worship you together and to worship with those that are watching online. And we thank you so much for what your word tells us, how you are a tower for us and a refuge in times of desperation

and when we feel overwhelmed, and how you are an unmoving rock that is greater than anything we could ever be. And we just ask that you be with our service today and allow it to glorify you. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right, we're going to start this morning with Raise a Hallelujah. I raise a hallelujah In the presence of my enemies I raise a hallelujah Louder than the unbelief I raise a hallelujah My weapon is a melody I raise a hallelujah Heaven comes to fight for me

I'm gonna sing In the middle of the storm Louder and louder You're gonna hear my praises roar Up from the ashes Hope will arise Death is defeated The King is alive I raise a hallelujah With everything inside of me I raise a hallelujah I will watch the darkness flee I raise a hallelujah In the middle of the mystery In the middle of the mystery I raise a hallelujah Fear you lost your hold on me And I'm gonna sing In the middle of the storm Louder and louder You're gonna hear my praises roar Up from the ashes Hope will arise Death is defeated The King is alive Sing a little louder In the presence of my enemies Sing a little louder Louder than the unbelief Sing a little louder My weapon is a melody Sing a little louder

Heaven comes to fight for me I'm gonna sing In the middle of the storm Louder and louder You're gonna hear my praises roar Up from the ashes Hope will arise Death is defeated The King is alive I'm gonna sing In the middle of the storm Louder and louder You're gonna hear my praises roar Up from the ashes Hope will arise Death is defeated The King is alive Alright, we're gonna be moving into our prayer and share time next. So if you're watching online, there will be a phone number for you to text. If you have anything you'd like to send us, please do that, and we'll share that here. And then we're going to be muted here during that time for privacy reasons. And after that, we'll be back and we'll be back to you.

And then after that, we'll be back and we'll move into our time of communion. And so we're going to be singing together Waymaker. You are here, moving in our midst. I worship You. I worship You. I worship You. You are here, moving in our midst. I worship You. I worship You. You are here, working in this place. I worship You. I worship You. I worship You. You are here, moving in our midst. I worship You. I worship You. You are here, working in this place. I worship You. I worship You. I worship You. Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness. My God, that is who You are. Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness. My God, that is who You are. Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness. My God, that is who You are. Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness. My God, that is who You are.

God that is who you are you are here touching every heart i worship you i worship you you are here healing every heart i worship you i worship you you are here turning lives around i worship you i worship you you are here bending every heart i worship you i worship you way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness my God, that is who you are way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness my God, that is who you are way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness my God, that is who you are way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are And I want us to pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. "Follow me." Let's pray. "Follow me." Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

All right. Thanks, Russell. Before we move into our next song, "Build My Life," I just wanted to share something to kind of pair along with the verses we read together this morning based on Psalm 61. It says, "When we are in trouble, God often feels distant." Notice that David says he's crying out to God from the end of the earth in verse 2. He's wandering far from what is familiar, and God seems far off. But David remembers his past history with God. You have been my refuge, a strong tower. You, O God, have heard my vows. When in distress, David clings to what he knows has been true of God over the course of David's life. Now, therefore, David does not curl up in feelings of futility or hopelessness. He goes to God, trusting that his voice will be heard.

"Hear my cry, O God." He asks the Lord to deliver him. "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I." In other words, David is asking God to take him to a place of safety that he himself cannot attain on his own strength. Picture a rising flood. David needs God to guide him to a rock that gets him higher than he himself could reach, lest he drown. How do you handle distress, emotional, psychological, physical, financial? What is your heart impulse when you feel swamped by adversity? Cry out to the Lord. He will lead you to a place of safety. Perhaps it will not be the safety you expect, and perhaps it will not be immediate deliverance from your present trials. But at the bottom, he will assure you of your final and ultimate safety in the arms of Jesus Christ, the true rock that is higher than you yourself could attain.

This rock not only lifts you above the floodwaters of your earthly adversity, it lifts you all the way up into heaven, by grace, instead of on the basis of your own resources.

Worthy of every song we could ever sing. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you.

Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever sing. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Oh, we live for you. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. Worthy of every song we could ever sing. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you.

Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever sing. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Oh, we live for you. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone, and I will not be shaken. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder, and show me who you are, and fill me with your heart, and lead me in your love to those around me. As we have been moving through the book of Joshua,

we have seen exciting and remarkable things. We've seen God split the Jordan River at flood stage. We've seen the walls of Jericho. We've seen great victories by God's people. We've seen how Scripture in so many ways ties together and fits together from what comes before Joshua to how Joshua points its way ahead. And in a moment, we'll look at a little more of that in Joshua, the 11th chapter. But I want to draw your attention this morning as we prepare to celebrate communion together to the 12th chapter of the book of Joshua. And the 12th chapter of the book of Joshua is one of those chapters that is essentially just a really long list. It's a long list geographically, as it lists a whole bunch of places that we might struggle to pronounce. It's a big list in terms of names that we also struggle to pronounce.

And what it is is divided into two sections: one for the battles that Israel fought on the east side of the Jordan, and then those who Israel fought on the west side of the Jordan, and it just ends like this. As you go through this giant list of names, it ends like this: "In all, 31 kings." And the picture here is a defeat of all of these kings. And as we come to chapters like this, we can sort of tend to struggle with what God is speaking to us. He's just sort of giving us some facts of history, just like when we were in school and we had to memorize - maybe you had to memorize a list of presidents, or a list of wars that we've been involved in, or a list of historical facts and a list of dates. I don't think God's purpose, while He does share history with us,

I don't think His purpose in this chapter is simply that we would remember all of these sort of historical facts. Going forward from here, we're going to see the land of Canaan now becomes the land of Israel, and it's divided by tribes as an inheritance from God. And in many ways, when we list out a will, we list out what we're going to be giving, and so some might look at chapter 12 as a way to say, "Here's what God has done, now let's go through and divide it up." But I think it's more than that as well, not just a list of what God is about to give His people. I think, ultimately, the purpose of Joshua chapter 12, just like all of Joshua and just like all of Scripture, is to show us

the God who is over all things. And in Joshua chapter 12, in this big list of names that we struggle to pronounce, in this big list of places we struggle to pronounce, in this big list of places that probably none of us, maybe with the exception of Jerusalem, can identify on a map, the purpose of this is to point us to the faithfulness of God that spans through generations. Because in Joshua 12, you see a fulfillment going all the way back to Abraham. Not just a fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, but a fulfillment of God's judgment that God also speaks to Abraham about the lands of Canaan. And so as Israel would hear this and read this, what they would see is the faithfulness of God in the past. And when we look back to the faithfulness of God in the

past, one of the things that it does is it firmly plants our feet upon His goodness so that as we look forward to a future that is so often filled with uncertainty or an immediate moment that's filled with conflict, and we live in hurt and brokenness and anxiety, and as we look toward all of this and we say, "How am I able to do this?" One of the things that grounds us upon the rock of God's goodness is to look to what He has done in His faithfulness in the past. And so when we look back to the faithfulness of God in the past, we're also reminded that God has promised to be faithful into the future. And so Joshua, the 12th chapter, is a recordness of God's faithfulness to His people, and as we've

already seen in Joshua, even when they weren't always faithful. I want to read to you from Colossians, the first chapter, as we prepare to celebrate the Lord's Supper, a passage that I think for us points us back to the place where our feet are firmly grounded in the goodness of God and into the future as we see God's goodness stretching before us. So from Colossians 1, beginning in verse 15, it begins by describing Jesus like this: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities. All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the

body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who were once hostile, alienated, doing evil deeds, he has reconciled you in both in his body and flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach to him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which he has proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which by Paul became a minister. Let's pray. Father, as we have read Scripture together this morning, may you be our refuge and strength. And as we look back to your

to your goodness in the past and your provision in the present and your promises for the future, may you make for us a place of refuge in your goodness. We don't always know what lies ahead of us, but we do know your faithfulness has never failed and will never fail. And so as we look back to your faithfulness and our salvation through the death of your son on the cross, may you strengthen us, encourage us, that you would help us to be steadfast and unwavering, that if we are struggling in this moment, that you would strengthen us. If we're fearful, you would bring us courage. If we're wavering, that you would plant our feet firmly on the rock that is Christ. So be with us this morning as we break this bread and drink this

cup. May you bless it. May you bless us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Paul writes, "For I received from the Lord that which I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Just a moment, we are heading to Joshua, the 11th chapter. We're going to see the, sort of the, I guess I've entitled it the

last battle. It is not necessarily the last battle that Israel will fight in their conquest for the land. What we find is there is still some unconquested ground that needs to be taken care of, or maybe not. I don't want to spoil that for you. But what we'll see is this is sort of the last recorded battle we're going to see for the book of Joshua. So this is sort of the last big battle, and it's a, it's a sort of a big one. So let's pray, and we'll dive right into it. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and grace. Thank you for your word. Thank you for this record of your goodness, this testimony to your faithfulness, this picture of your power that has encouraged us, that has helped us to see Scripture more deeply

and more clearly. Help us as we continue in our study of Joshua that you would strengthen and encourage us. Be with us this morning as we see sort of overwhelming circumstances and the power of your goodness and provision. Strengthen our hearts this morning. Turn us toward you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So probably most of us have at one time or another found themselves in a very chaotic situation. And for us, or for me, maybe for us as a family, that was like Friday night, about 8:40 at night. And we had some people over to our house because Rachel keeps introducing herself to the neighbors. And so some neighbors came over to have dinner with us. They have five kids. We have three. So there's eight children running around being very, very loud.

It really kind of helps me understand my grandfather, why when all the grandkids would come over, he'd go out and work in the garage. And so I'm thinking about a garage just so I can do that with all of the noise. And so it was already pretty chaotic, and Rachel had gone outside to take our dogs out, and we were all downstairs just talking and chatting. And my phone starts ringing, and it was Rachel, which is a weird thing because usually we don't call each other when we're in sort of the same place. And so I answered the phone, and she's like, "The dogs just introduced themselves to a skunk." And so thankfully, they were both outside, and Rachel was outside with them, so I was not involved in this scenario. The downside that you're probably seeing is if you know the weather, on Friday night, it was pouring down rain.

And so the first thing, you know, we've got to figure out a way to clean up the dogs. And so I checked PetSmart's hours because you can go and buy some de-skunking liquid that you can wash your dogs in, and just sort of a heads up, it works. It does not work perfectly. So if anybody needs a dog for the next couple of weeks, we have two that we would be happy to leave. We would be happy to loan you. And so they closed. PetSmart, the problem is PetSmart closes at 9. Rachel's outside in the pouring rain. I've got three kids that I, there's no way I'm getting them into the car, getting them to PetSmart, getting what I need, and getting out before 9 o'clock at night. And thankfully, our new friends that we've met a couple times, they were like, "Hey, we can just take the kids to our house,

get everybody calmed down, and you can come pick them up when you're done dealing with the terrifying thing that has just happened to your dogs." And so there's chaos. You know, they're trying to load eight kids into a minivan. I'm trying to find my shoes and get out the door and get to PetSmart. Before I'm going, I call another neighbor. He's like, "I'm pretty sure they close at 8." And so I was texting our friend who was a vet tech going, "If they're not open, what do I do next?" And it was just all of these things happening at once, all while Rachel is standing out in the play area with two dogs that smell horrific in the pouring rain. It was just absolute chaos. Everything happening all at once. And as we come to Joshua, the 11th chapter,

this is what we see happening with God's people. It's sort of this chaos that is happening all at once. There's not necessarily from the point of the text that it's sort of this picture of preparation, although there certainly was. The way we're introduced into Joshua, the 11th chapter, is simply chaos. Listen to what it says. "When Jabin, the king of Hazor, heard this," and so hearing about how Israel has conquered the south of Canaan, "he sent to Jobab, the king of Madon, to the king of Shemron, to the king of Akshaph, and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in Erebus, south of Chinaroth, and in the low land, in Naphoth-dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east, in the west, to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country,

and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah, and they came out with their troops, a great horde, a number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. And all of these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Miram to fight against Israel." And so, first of all, you can see this is all of northern Canaan. And notice how the author of Joshua describes this, right? You have sort of two main kings by name. You have two kings of major cities as well. And then you have kings, right, from the north, the south, the east, the west, from the hills and from the valleys, from every place you can name. This is a biblical way of saying all of them everywhere. So while you've seen some small alliances so far in Joshua where you'll have four or five kings sort of gather together

against Israel, the picture here now is all of Canaan, what's left, all the northern part of Canaan, everybody, every king, whether you're on the east, the west, the north, the south, whether you live in the mountains, whether you live in the valleys, they are all coming together all at once. And additionally, we see something new as well, that they are coming with a whole bunch of military assets. Their troops are unlike anything we've seen in Joshua so far. It's a great horde. Or another way of describing it is like sand on the seashore. They have horses and chariots. The soldier on foot, oftentimes in ancient chariots, what they would do is they wouldn't just sort of fight from the back of the chariot. They would sort of attach long, sharp poles or knives to the wheels, and then he would just run through the oncoming enemy,

chopping them down at their legs, running them over with these chariots, and in addition to that, you have horsemen as well. And so you don't just have a large army facing you. You have a large army that also has horses and chariots. Now, Josephus, in one of his books, The Antiquities of the Jews, he kind of walks through the events we've seen in Joshua, and this is what he says, and you have to be careful with Josephus because sometimes he likes to exaggerate the numbers a little bit, but here's what he says about this battle. Now, the number of the whole army was 300,000 armed footmen, 10,000 horsemen, and 20,000 chariots. Now, we don't know for sure how many soldiers Israel is fielding at this time. We know when they come across the Jordan, there's an escort of 40,000. We know when they go to Ai,

there's a group of 30,000 that goes off into an ambush. But either way, it seems from this picture of what's being described, Israel is outnumbered and they're outgunned. We're also seeing here not just a distinct change in the tribes unifying and the size of the army and the kind of equipment they're bringing. We're also seeing a distinct change in the attitude of the people. So in the first half of Joshua, you have this picture where people will hear what God has done, and it says they melted away. They sort of dissolve. If you've ever thrown butter into a pan to melt it before you cook something, you throw that sort of solid chunk of butter and it just sort of flattens out and dissolves into liquid. It's a picture of what's happening to Israel's enemies. And so this is what Rahab

will say about Jericho. When we heard what you were doing, our hearts melted, right? They just dissolved away. We'll see it later on. The Amorites and the Canaanites in Joshua chapter 5, what? They hear and they dissolve, but then something changes. And we begin to see in the second half of what we've covered so far, we begin to hear that they hear what God has done and they gather against Israel. So in Joshua chapter 9, they hear what God has done and they gather together to fight. Joshua 10, in the very beginning, they gather together to fight. Here in Joshua 11, they gather together and fight. And so what changed from a people who at one point were hearing and melting to now they're hearing and they're preparing for battle? Two things that I think happened. First of all, Joshua chapter 7, we have the first

battle of Ai, where Israel goes up against this city and they do so not having listened and followed what God has said to do, specifically on the part of Achan, and they lose that battle. And from that, every tribe in Canaan now says, "This army that looked unstoppable, that crossed the Jordan, that knocked down the walls of Jericho, now they can be beaten." And one of the things you see is after Ai, all of the attitudes of their enemies begin to change. They're emboldened. And when we see Achan's sin, so often the tendency for you and I is to minimize and dismiss our sin. But in Achan's sin, we see it doesn't just affect him. It affects his entire country, those who have lost their lives at Ai because of them, but it also echoes into

the future. And in every one of these battles where the attitude of the Canaanites has changed, all hinges where Achan sinned. You see, this one man's sin doesn't just affect him, but it affects his nation, and it affects the future trajectory of his people. And so these people, knowing that Israel might be able to be defeated, begin to depend on their allies and their tactics. But the second thing that has happened, and we see this in Joshua chapter 11, is that God has hardened their hearts. We'll read sort of the summary of the war beginning in verse 18: "Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon, and 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." So all of these forces, as you begin Joshua chapter 11, and you see all of these powerful kings from every corner of Canaan, from the mountains to the valleys, they're all arrayed against Israel by the hand of God who has hardened their heart. And that might seem to us maybe a little unfair, both to the people of Israel and both to these Canaanites who are about to die at the hand of Israel because God has hardened their hearts. We might look at God and say, "Well, why would he harden their hearts? Is he giving them no choice but to go and to fight and oppose Israel?" I'll say this, God is not manipulating Canaan into fighting them. He's not forcing them into battle. He's

simply allowing them to do what they want to do. So another way of seeing God harden hearts, we see this in the first chapter, is that God, as Paul talks about this, they will say this about the people. He said, "Even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, animals, and creeping things." And so what Romans 1 tells us is that there's been this exchange made in our hearts where we stop worshiping the Creator, we begin worshiping the creature, and then three times in the next several verses, Paul will say this about God. He'll say that God gave them up. So in verse 24, he gave them up to

their lust. In verse 26 of Romans 1, he gave them up to their dishonorable passions. In verse 28, he gave them up to a debased mind. And you say, "Well, God's giving them up. What does that mean?" God looks at these people in their sin and says, "If that is what they want to do, I'm going to let them." And this is what God has done with the Canaanites. He says, "If they want to follow their own way and worship what they want to do, then I'm going to let them." And remember, God has given them chance after chance. We saw last week how Abraham was welcomed into Jerusalem by Melchizedek, who was both the priest of the Most High God and the King of Jerusalem. But this time in Joshua chapter 10, the King of Jerusalem is

the one organizing against God's people. And you've seen this city go from righteousness to unrighteousness. God has given them chance after chance. In Genesis 15, God will tell Abraham that they haven't filled up sort of the cup of the wrath of God, that God has given them all of this time and all of these chances. We see God welcoming in the outsider in Rahab, who becomes part of the lineage of Jesus. How even though they lied and they cheated to fool Israel, the Gibeonites are brought in and they don't just serve as Israel's servants, but they serve around the tabernacle, the place of God. We even see the Gibeonites and Nehemiah working to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And so there has been mercy given in the book of Joshua. But here what we see is people who have been hardened. And when we see that language, what we're seeing is God

saying, "You know what? If you want to pursue this course, I'm going to let you." And so many of us are terrified of God disciplining us, or God correcting us, or God bringing consequences into our life. I'll tell you what's more terrifying, when God looks at us and says, "All right, if you want to do that, you go do that." And what we're seeing in Joshua, the 11th chapter, is God just letting them do what they want to do. God hardening their hearts. Their hearts have become so calloused, and God says, "If that's the direction you want to go, you are welcome to go in that direction." And the result of this unrestrained pursuit of sin is an absolute hatred of God. Someone who can't stand the sight of God, who reacts violently toward the people of God. Our dog before the two we have now, Rigby, she was mainly a good dog,

and I don't know what happened in her past, and I've shared with some of you before, she had an absolute hatred of UPS. Didn't matter if the UPS driver was a man or a woman, you could actually tell if you were expecting something from UPS, you'd just sit with Rigby, and then she would just start growling, and about five minutes later, here comes the UPS truck, right? She chased guys back into their truck. In fact, for a while, the guy would kind of look out real careful before he got out of his truck, and she hated all delivery people, but not quite as bad. One day, the FedEx guy comes, jumps out of his truck, goes, "I'm great with dogs," and I was like, "Ah, not this one." Tosses her a treat. She catches the treat while looking

him dead in the eyes, spits the treat out, and just starts snarling. But UPS was her ultimate hatred. I don't know what happened to the heart of Rigby that hardened her heart against UPS. This is the picture of the northern part of Canaan. They have become so entrenched and so habitual in their sin that they see no other option than to oppose God at every step. And what we learn from Joshua 11, it's not just the judgment of God in sending Joshua to fight and destroy them, but God's judgment is also in the hardening of their hearts, simply saying, "You know what? You want to do that? Go do it." One of the scariest things for us is to come to that point where God simply says, "If you want to live that way, I'm going

to let you." And so God's people are now facing a force. It's not just large in size. It's not just united. It's not just equipped with the best people. They hate God's people. But then there's one more thing. Like an infomercial that goes, "Well, just one more thing, but wait, there's more." And there is more for this. And it's probably a twist you wouldn't expect. It's giants. So at the end of the chapter, Joshua 11, 21 and 22, "Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from the hill country of Judah, and from all the country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction and their cities. There were none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza and Gath and in Ashdod did some remain." When we hear that word "Anakim,"

these people are giants. Remember when the twelve spies went in from the wilderness and said, "We can't go fight those people because everybody's really tall and they're giants." That's who we're talking about in Deuteronomy 9. It says, "A people great and tall, the sons of Anakim, whom you know, of whom you have heard." It said, "Who can stand before the sons of Anak?" Goliath is a descendant from these people. Remember those three cities of the Philistines that don't get destroyed where they still live? Remember when Goliath faces David, standing likely nine feet tall, wearing 125 pounds of armor. The tip of his spear, his spear is described as being a weaver's rod with a with an iron head, and he talks about how many shekels it weighs. It's literally 15 pounds. If you want to replicate

that at home, get a real thick stick, tape two gallons of milk to the end of it. That's what Goliath was fighting with, and probably what some of you do CrossFit with, right? You got this stick, and it's really heavy on the end, and you wave it around, and you build some strength, right? Most of us are not going to be throwing a 15-pound spear in addition to the wood that's involved. This guy is huge. So in addition to people who are hating Israel, united against him, horses and chariots, you throw in a bunch of giants as well. It seems a little overwhelming. It seems like everything's happening at once. 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. 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 Mer, fell upon them, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them, chased them as far as great Sidon and Mishraim, and eastward to the valley of Mizpah, and they struck them until he left none remaining. Joshua did to them as the Lord had said to him. He hamstrung the horses and burned the chariots with fire. So facing this onslaught, God first encourages his people, right? He says, "Don't be afraid." Now, if you've ever said to someone, "Don't be afraid," you know that oftentimes we don't listen very well, right? It's easy to say, "Don't be afraid." It's a whole lot different story to say, "Stop being afraid," right? You can say to somebody, "Don't be afraid all day long," and they're still going to be

scared, right? Especially in this case. Oh, God, it's easy for you to say, "Don't be afraid." You're not the one who's outnumbered and outgunned, and there's giants about to fight you. What I love about how God deals with us is he doesn't simply say, "Don't be afraid." He's then going to tell Joshua and Israel what he's going to do. You see this pattern repeated through the Psalms, you know, "Praise God." You say, "Well, why should I praise?" And then it's listed. "Don't be afraid." And now he's going to tell us why. And one of the things we see is that God's presence and power are at the center of Joshua chapter 11, the center of this entire book. Ten times in this chapter, you're going to see God speaking, whether he's instructing or encouraging or commanding or reminding of what has been already said. You see, from our perspective,

we see the chariots and the horses and the giants and the thousands of people arrayed against us from God's perspective. Right? We see God over all of these things. And so God begins by promising and encouraging. But then in verse 8, he just fulfills that promise. So remember, we belt up this army for the first five verses. Here's the battle. Verse 7, "So Joshua's warriors came suddenly against them by the waters of Miriam and fell upon them, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them, chased them, and struck them till there was none remaining." We've spent all of this time, and the author of Joshua intentionally emphasizes the greatness of the battle, and then just simply says God did what he said he was going to do. He makes it look easy, because for God and his power and his greatness, it is. God doesn't promise and

encourage, but he also fulfills. And then God commands. In verse 20, we read this a minute ago, "For as the Lord is doing to harden their hearts, that they should come to Israel in battle, in order they should be devoted to destruction, and should receive no mercy, but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses." God has had this as his plan, not just in this moment. God's not surprised by the army that's arrayed against Israel. He's not surprised at the circumstances and the struggles and the hurts that are arrayed against you. God knows what he's doing. He knows where this is going. He doesn't just command, but he gives them the strength to obey. And you see God protecting his people. But it's not a protection from battle, although he certainly does that. He protects them in this moment spiritually. Look at verse 6. The Lord says to

Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give all of them over, slain to Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire." Why does God say get rid of all the military hardware? Hamstring the horses because they can't rock right. Burn all the chariots. You'd seem like because this is the initial battle. Now Joshua is going to spread out from this initial battle where he kills all the fighting men and he's going to go from city to city and eliminate anybody else. Doesn't it seem like maybe some of this military hardware being abandoned by the Canaanites would be great for Israel to use? Let's get some horses. Let's get some chariots. Let's make this easy. Why does God say no horses, no chariots? In fact, I'm not just going to say no horses, no chariots. I'm going to command

you to put them permanently out of commission. Why would God do that? God is protecting his people in this. In one sense, he's likely protecting these people from these things being used against them. Israel at this time didn't have horses and chariots. They don't know necessarily how to use them. Some of them may not be used. Some of them may be left behind. It would be easy for the resistance and the enemy to take them. But God, I think most of all, is protecting them from their wandering hearts. In Psalm 33, it says, "The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue." Wouldn't it be easy? If you're an Israelite, you've just defeated this battle, all of a sudden you have 10,000 chariots and horses. Wouldn't it be easy to say, "Now we can do this on our own. We've got

enough equipment. We've got enough stuff." And God is protecting these people from their wandering hearts. But additionally, by removing all this military hardware, God's preparing this land for peace. This ends like this. So Joshua took the whole land, that all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments, and the land had rest from war. And so God, in calling them to destroy this, he's protecting his people. He's protecting them from those who might take those chariots, use them against them. He's protecting their wandering hearts from trusting in themselves, but he's also preparing this land for peace. And so as we look at Joshua chapter 11, are you guarding your heart? Are you caring for your heart? In this chapter we see a group of people who for more than 400 years have been turning their hearts to something else, and it

results in judgment. And before that we saw Israel in the wilderness who constantly turned their hearts to something else, and it resulted in judgment. And so when we come to the book of Hebrews, we hear this warning, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil and unbelieving heart, leading you to fall astray from the living God, but exhort one another the power of community every day, for as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, for we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold in our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." So how are you caring for your heart? God calls his

people to care for their hearts one way by taking away those things that they may fixate their heart upon. And so I would call you this morning to take a look at where your hope and your joy is focused. Care for your heart. The psalmist says this, he prays it this way, "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." The psalmist prays, "God, look at my heart. Identify those areas where my heart is going after something else, and move my heart back to what matters." And so Joshua, the 11th chapter, calls us to look at our heart and say, "Where am I fixed? What am I chasing? What am I hoping in?" Not just our hearts,

but it causes us to look at our eyes. Right? Joshua and the people, they have two options, right? They have, they can look at this army, with the giants, with the chariots, with the horsemen, and all the kings and the people of northern Canaan, where they can look to the power and the might of God. Right? We have options. And I don't know about you, but when I'm having a rough day, when I'm having a struggle, my tendency is to take all that bad stuff and just pile it right up in front of me, right? Well, this is happening. I didn't want this, and I didn't plan for this, and this isn't working, and that's not working, and I'm hungry, and I'm tired, and I haven't had coffee yet, and I pile all these bad things up, and I just stare at them, and my mood gets worse and

worse. My day gets worse and worse. Do you remember what the psalmist says? I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? Help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. And so here's the psalmist in the valley, and it'd be easy to stack all those troubles in front of him, right? There's enemies, there's sorrow, there's hurt, but God says lift up your eyes and look to him. You see, you and I find ourselves in the same place as Joshua, facing this army that's coming against us, and we can either look at all the struggles, or we can look to the God who saves. Like the psalmist, when we find ourselves in the valley, we can look to all of the brokenness that surrounds us, or we can look to the God who saves. I asked Evelyn if I could talk about this a little

bit this morning, and she's doing horse riding lessons, and we've been really, really blessed with an amazing teacher who loves Jesus, who's incredibly patient, and he's a real cowboy. You're not just a guy with all hat and no horse. And so we were talking, and one of the things he's constantly reminding when you're on the horse is you've got to keep your eyes fixed forward. And he says that because it's real easy to start looking and to lose your balance and lose your grip, and then to not pay attention to what's in front of you. And what happens to you and I so many times, if we're not paying attention to our eyes, we'll fix it on distractions. We'll fix it on problems. Sometimes we'll even take and pile our problems up in front of our vision instead of looking to the goodness

of God who brings us stability, keeps us anchored, and keeps us safe. So where's your heart? Where's your eyes? What are you doing? God's power, and I love this, because there's this debate in the church about the sovereignty of God and man's action. Does God do it or do I do it? What you find is that when you see God is sovereign over all things, it does not cause us to sit back and say, "All right, I'm just going to let God take care of this." When you see that God is in control, it energizes and mobilizes God's people to do amazing and mighty things. One commentator says that the sovereignty of God is the elixir that stimulates the church to action. Look at what it says in Joshua 11. "Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give them all over slain to Israel. You shall hamstring their

horses, burn their chariots." God says, "You don't have to be afraid. I'm going to take care of all of them. I'm going to kill them all for you." And then Joshua and all his warriors came suddenly against them by the waters of Maran and fell upon them. Joshua doesn't hear God say that and say, "All right, guys, pack it up and go home." He trusts in God's sovereignty and follows God's leading, that God is the one who equips and directs and brings them to this point. And that's not for us to simply say, "Okay, sort of let go and let God do it, and I'll sit over here and do my thing." But rather, when we understand that God is over all things, including all of our enemies, it moves us to action. Listen to how Peter says it. "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of

God's very grace." Whoever speaks as one who speaks the oracles of God, whoever serves as the one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belongs the glory, dominion forever and ever. Amen." Notice what he says, "If you're speaking, you speak what God has given you. When you serve in your strength, you do it not through your own effort, but through what God has given you. And when you realize that God is the one who directs and is sovereign and who equips you, it doesn't cause you to stop, but rather it propels you forward with joy because it is God who is working in you in these moments." So those three questions: Where is your heart? Where are your eyes? What are you doing with your

hands? God is sovereign over all these things. What are you going to do? Are you going to trust him and follow him? Or will you simply sit by? Joshua chapter 11 pictures the final recorded battle of the book of Joshua, but it points us forward to another battle. Another battle in the future of God's people where on one side is judgment and the other side is joy. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, the one sitting on it called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself, and he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and by the name which he is called is the

word of God. And the armies, the raid and fine linen, white and pure, were following him on horses, and from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron, and he will tread the winepress of his fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has the name written: King of kings and Lord of lords. Let's pray. Father, as we look back to this victory over an overwhelming force by your power through your grace, help us to realize the victory that is ahead of us is also through your power and your grace that we would not be discouraged. May we this morning examine our hearts, examine our eyes, and examine our hands to see

what it is that we are delighting in with our hearts, what it is we are focused on with our eyes, and what it is we are doing with our hands. Energize us for the work of your kingdom, direct us to you, and turn our affections towards you. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and sing about the hope we see. How great the chasm that lay between us, how high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. Then through the darkness your loving-kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished, the end is written. The end is written. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Who could imagine so great a mercy? What heart could fathom such boundless grace?

The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. The cross has spoken. I am forgiven. The King of kings calls me his own. Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Hallelujah! Praise the One who set me free. Hallelujah! Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in Your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to breathe. Out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to breathe.

The silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. Jesus, yours is the victory. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Oh God, you are my living hope. We'll be continuing in Joshua one more week and then we'll take a little bit of a break as we come to sort of prepare our hearts to celebrate the arrival of Jesus, and so for the four weeks starting the Sunday following Thanksgiving, we'll be walking through those sort of big themes as we see the hope and the peace and the

joy and love that is announced by the birth of our Savior. Also, on Wednesday nights, we are talking about what it means to be thankful and how to be thankful and how thankfulness anchors our life in a theology of thankfulness. That's Wednesday nights at 7 p.m., and so we'd invite you to join us for that as well. So we're going to sing. I'm going to pray. We'll read a verse of Scripture and sing the doxology and be dismissed. Father in heaven, I thank you for your grace. I thank you for the peace that you have given us. As we see Joshua bringing peace to the land, we thank you that your son Jesus has brought peace to us, that he has defeated our enemies of sin and death and hell and Satan, and that we can

have peace in him. So help us as we move through this week. May we watch our hearts and our eyes, and may we put our hands to work for your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As Paul writes in Thessalonians, he says this, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, with soul and body, be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you who is faithful, he will surely do it." Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and God. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Son, Holy Ghost, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Son, Holy Ghost, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Son, Holy Ghost, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Son, Holy Ghost.