Sunday, October 9 - The Walls of Jericho
2022-10-23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjcS2_EAXNc

Amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

For our email list at -- I guess you can hear me now. And now I can't remember the website. What's the website, Brandon? What's the website? There it is. So sign up on there, and that will give you updates on what's going on with our services and everything, and we'd love to add you to that so that you can be updated. So, all right, we're going to get started today, and we're going to be reading together out of the Book of Stephania. So if you'd like to go ahead and stand. We're going to be reading verses 16 and 17 of chapter 3. And it says, "On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not, O Zion. Let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.

with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing." This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you so much that we're able to gather here today, and we thank you for those that are here with us and those that are watching online. And we thank you for your word, and we thank you even for books of the Bible that we sometimes forget about that we can still find your promises in each of the verses that are here, and how you are a mighty one who is always here for us and who will always save us and who will calm us with your fears and anxieties. And we thank you again so much for your son and for your grace and your mercy, and we just ask that you be with our service today and allow it to glorify you. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so with that, we're going to start our service on Save.

Let's pray for mercy full on me. Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of the Savior, the hope of nations. Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save. Forever author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. So take me as you find all my fears and failures. Fill my life again. I give my life to bottom. Everything I believe in. Now I surrender. Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save. Forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Shine a light and let the whole world see. We're singing for the glory of the risen King. Jesus, shine a light and let the whole world see. We're singing for the glory of the risen King.

Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Shine a light and let the whole world see. We're singing for the glory of the risen King. Jesus, shine a light and let the whole world see. We're singing for the glory of the risen King.

All right. Next, we're going to be moving into our prayer and share time. If you're watching online, there'll be a phone number that you can text if you have any prayer requests or anything you'd like to send us that we can gather during that time. We're going to be muting our service here just for privacy purposes. If you give us a few minutes while we do that together, then we'll be back after that to move into our time of communion. As we're continuing on, we're going to be singing, "Behold our God." "Who has held the oceans in His hands? Who has numbered every grain of sand?" The nations tremble at His voice. All creation rises to rejoice. Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him. Behold our King. Nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him. Who has given counsel to the Lord? Who can question any of His words? Who can teach the one who knows all things? Who can

fathom all His wondrous deeds? Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him. Behold our King. Nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him.

Who has felt the nails upon His hands? Bearing all the guilt of sinful man. God eternal, humble to the grave. Jesus, Savior, is now to reign. Behold our God seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him. Behold our King. Nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him. All right, you may be seated. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, we're going to be moving into our time of communion, and we're going to be singing Glorious Day.

I was buried beneath my shame. Who could carry that kind of weight? It was my turn, till I met you. I was breathing, but not a lie. All my failures I tried to hide. It was my turn, till I met you. You called my name, and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day. You called my name, and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day. Now your mercy has saved my soul. Now your freedom is all that I know. The old made new. Jesus, when I met you, you called my name. And I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness. Into your glorious day. You called my name. And I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness. Into your glorious day. Out of the darkness. Into your glorious day.

In Genesis, the 12th chapter, things begin to, seems to happen very quickly, and so you find God, in Genesis chapter 12, He calls Abraham, and as He calls Abraham to come to the land that He would give him, Abraham ends up following God. But then a famine arises in the land, and Abraham, rather than trusting God, rather than seeking guidance for God, just goes to Egypt, and ends up giving away his wife. God will punish Egypt with plagues, they will find out that Abraham has lied to them, they'll give back his wife, and Abraham will leave. And Genesis chapter 13 begins with sort of an interesting situation. It says, "Abraham, being rich with livestock and silver and gold, he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning."

And what's interesting about that short little verse is that it seems like Abraham goes back to where he first made the covenant with God in Genesis 12, where he first built an altar to the living God in the land of Canaan, and he essentially goes back to the very beginning. After his sin, after his self-reliance, after his struggle, after all of the problems, he goes back to where he began in his relationship with God. It's interesting in Revelation as Jesus is talking to the churches, and the church in Ephesus, if you read through Paul's letters, when Ephesus was a church devoted to the gospel, Ephesians is one of the deepest pictures of the gospel. And this vibrant, Bible-believing, gospel-filled church over the years has lost sight of what is important, and God will say to them,

"I have this against you, that you have abandoned your first love." And then he will say this, "Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent, and do the things that you did at first." And God calls this church in Ephesus to go back to where they had met God at the beginning, like Abraham did. And we as a church, as both a community and as individuals this morning, as we come to the Lord's table, we come to our hope in the gospel, we come to the good news about Jesus dying in our place, rising again for our victory, as Paul will say, the gospel is the power for salvation. And we come back to that thing that was at the very, very beginning. And Paul will say to us that the gospel isn't just what brings us into the family of God, but in 1 Corinthians, the 15th chapter,

he will tell us that it's something that we must continually find ourselves, reminding ourselves, and it is the rock of our Christian faith. And so, like Abraham, like the church in Ephesus, like Paul calls the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we're going to go to the place at the beginning, the place that sustains us, and the place that gives us hope. We're going to celebrate the gospel together. So let's pray, and then I'll read from Matthew 26. Father in heaven, we come seeking forgiveness, renewing our hope, asking for strength and direction, and we thank you for Jesus, and we thank you for grace, and we thank you for how you strengthen us. So as we celebrate the gospel with this bread and cup this morning, may you renew our souls, may you breathe new life into us,

that you would, if needed, bring us to repentance if we're discouraged, that you would give us courage if we're fearful, that you would take our fears away, that you would help us to see that the battle truly does belong to you, that Jesus has fought our battle and has won at Calvary. Thank you for the good news you've given us. Thank you for your spirit that equips us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As Jesus eats with his disciples on the night before he is crucified, he will take bread, and Matthew will say, and blessing it, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat. This is my body."

And then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." And as Paul will remind the church, as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we are proclaiming Jesus' death until he comes. This morning's reading is from Joshua 8. And the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not fear, and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, and go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai and his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king, as you did to Jericho and its king."

Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay in ambush against the city behind it. So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. And he commanded them, "Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us, just as before, we shall flee before them. And they will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, they are fleeing from us, just as before. So we will flee before them. Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city. For the Lord your God will give it into your hand. And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city

on fire. You shall do according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you. So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people. Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people and went out, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai with a ravine between them and Ai. He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai to the west of the city. So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley. And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early

to the appointed place toward the Arabian, toward the Arabah, to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. So all the people who were in this city were called together to pursue them. And as they pursued Joshua, they were drawn away from the city. Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel. Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it unto your hand." Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place. And as soon as he stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they returned to set fire to the city.

So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to the heavens, and they had no power to flee this way or that. For the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against their pursuers. And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. And the others came out from the city against them, and they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped. But the king of Ai they took alive and brought him near to Joshua. When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness, where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword. And all who fell that

day, both men and women were 12,000, all the people of Ai. But Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction. Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder. According to the word of the Lord that he commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it before a heap of ruins, as it is to this day. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded. And they took his body down from the tree, and threw it at the entrance of the gate of that city, and raised over it a great heap of stone, which stands there to this day. At that time, Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal. Just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses,

an altar of uncut stone, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool. And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he had written. And all Israel sojourned, as well as native-born, with their elders and officers and all the judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark, before the Levites, Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded at the first to bless the people of Israel. And afterward, he read all the words of the Law, the blessings, and the curse,

according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, this morning as we see what you have given us to begin to understand how you take broken people, make them whole, help us to see the choice between following you and turning after our own way. Help us to see how you have saved us through your Son, and help us to see the importance of community and covenant in Joshua 8. Just may your Spirit be with us to equip us, to encourage us, to convict us as we spend time in your Word. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So on the December 28th, 2009, they blew up one of the memorable landmarks of my childhood. So I grew up in Vermont, and along a lot of the Vermont-New York border runs Lake Champlain, which is a very long lake, and in places a very wide lake. And one of the ways that you get back and forth between Vermont and New York, if you live sort of in the upper half of Vermont, is there is a bridge over a narrow point in the lake. If not, you either have to go all the way down around the bottom, or find a ferry that goes across the lake, park your car on a boat, and have them take it across the lake. And so the bridge was, for many people, the best way to get across the lake from one side to the other. It cut down on people's commutes, it helped travelers, it helped tourism, all of these things. On December 28, 2009, they exploded it into a whole bunch of pieces.

They claimed it was structurally unsound, and if we kept driving over it, it would eventually fall into the lake on its own. And so they sort of hurried that process along so they could get sort of constructing the new bridge. And what we found is that that bridge was important to a whole lot of people, right? It was one of those things you knew intellectually, but when it was gone and before the new one was built, you realized that all of a sudden everything changed. And one of the things that happened was people who commuted from New York into that part of Vermont, or from that part of Vermont into New York for work, their commutes went from under an hour to four hours each way. Because there wasn't a really good way to get from here to there. And that bridge tied together not just two states, but it tied together a whole bunch of people. It tied together a whole network of roads.

And they tied together a whole bunch of businesses. And as we've been moving through Joshua, one of the things that I never really realized about Joshua, and one of the things that has been striking me about Joshua, is that in many ways Joshua serves as this bridge that connects what God has done in the past, and you see it in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as promises to Abraham. We'll see some of that this morning, to what he will do in Israel's future all the way through to us. And this remarkable book that so many times we look at, and we just sort of see it as an interesting story, right? A battle here, an ambush here, a river splitting in half there, is really more than just a good story, right? A bridge to what God is doing, not just for Israel in the time of Joshua, but for all of his people for all time. Let me just give you an example of how Joshua ties things together. And you may sort of, this may sound a little bit familiar to you, but one of the places that things that happens in Joshua chapter 8, is you find this region of Ai, and it's likely, sort of geographically,

the Ai was a sort of a military outpost for the town of Bethel. And as you heard Brent read, he talked about all the men of Ai and all the men of Bethel, I think it's in verse 17, go out to fight against Israel. Bethel was sort of the main town. Ai is where all of the soldiers and the army is, and so as Israel is fighting, they're not just fighting Ai, but they're fighting Ai and Bethel. And the interesting thing about this sort of geographic area is that it is incredibly, incredibly important in terms of Scripture. And this is where it will sound familiar. In Genesis, the 12th chapter, Abraham, after meeting God, will move to the hill country east of Bethel, pitched his tent. With Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, there he built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord.

And after returning from his ill-advised sojourn in Egypt, where does Abraham return to? That area by Bethel and Ai. He will make an altar like he did at first, and he will call upon the name of the Lord. But later on, a man by the name of Jacob will be running from his brother Esau, and he will stop for the night, and he will sleep, and God will give him this dream of a staircase to heaven, angels ascending and descending. It's in Genesis 28. And Jacob will wake up from this dream and say, "Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! There is none other, this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." And in verse 19, Jacob will call the name of that place Bethel.

It means house of God, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. And what you find is that it doesn't just sort of happen with Abraham, and it doesn't just happen with his grandson Jacob, right? This is a significant place. This is where the Ark of the Covenant will be sort of stored until Solomon's temple, until David ill-advisably tries to bring it into Jerusalem, and it will stay there until Solomon's temple is made. The house of God, where the tabernacle will be. When Elijah is getting ready to go to meet God, and he's walking with Elisha, there will be priests at Bethel that remind him of this. This is a biblically significant place. But in this text, we see back to Abraham, and God's covenant to Abraham, and the place where Abraham sort of starts out his real walk with God, where he bells his first altar was by Bethel and Ai. But then we also see this passage

in Joshua pointing us ahead, not just a bridge to the past, but a bridge to the future. And what's interesting, the very last verses of this text, what you find are three things that are very, very significant, and we'll talk about them in a moment. We find a king, we find a cross in front of and outside of a city, and you find a covenant with God's people. And so you have this sort of remarkable link to the past, and this remarkable picture of the future. Now, this is not just simply an intellectual exercise for us, right? We may just say, well, that's interesting, but how does that apply to me? Especially when we come to God with our hurts, and we come to God with our struggles, and we come to God with our doubts, and we're not sure where to go and what to do, and it feels like maybe our life is sort of in pieces.

How does Joshua chapter 8, with this bridge back to God's promises to Abraham, and this picture forward to our salvation in Jesus, how does this help me in my struggles right now? Because all of us in our life will go through those times where it just seems like life tips over. And oftentimes, the advice that we give to people when that happens is, you just got to get back up and try again. In fact, I've done this with my kids when they fall down. If you've seen the Batman movies, I will always say to one of our little kids, I'll say, "Well, why do we fall back down? So we can learn how to get back up again." Just like Bruce Wayne's dad said to him when, you know, when Bruce Wayne fell down and his dad said, "You just got to learn to get back up again." But there are times, if we're honest, where it just feels like we're too broken to get back up. Right? That our life is in too many pieces.

Maybe it's because of our sin. Maybe it's because we're discouraged. Maybe it's because of our relationships with those around us. Maybe it's because of loss that we have experienced, and we come to this text just feeling like we can't just get back up and try again. And what we will see in Joshua chapter 8 is that is exactly where God's people begin this morning. Right? They have gone from this amazing victory where they have surrounded Jericho. God has brought the walls down, and before that amazing victory, He has brought them over the Jordan River at flood stage, which we know from history would have reached that flood stage probably a mile across. God stops the river, not just for a little path, but for miles and miles. The people walk across on dry ground. They have known since they've come into the Promised Land nothing but victory, and then they get to this outpost city of Ai

and are soundly defeated. In fact, Scripture will say this in Joshua 7:5, "The hearts of the people melted and became as water." And up until that point in the book of Joshua, that phrase has only been used of Israel's enemies. That they're terrified, and they're running, and they're hiding, and they're paralyzed with fear, but now Israel is at that point where they are paralyzed. And it comes down to the fact that there is sin in the camp, and their loss is because of God's judgment upon them. And following the instructions of God, we saw last week the glory and the justice of God as they deal with the sin in their camp. But as we come to Joshua chapter 18, the people are still broken, and they're still discouraged. But we see in the midst of that sort of shattering moment.

And I was thinking about this, because things break in different ways, right? Sometimes you'll break something, or you'll drop something, and it'll dent. Sometimes you'll drop it, nothing happens. Sometimes you'll drop it, and it chips. But then there are those things that you drop, and they just shatter into a million pieces. And when we talk about being broken and shattered, what we're talking about is not we're just a little dented, or a little banged up, or a little chipped. We're talking about the fact that it seems like our life has gone into a million pieces. And we know that the people are feeling that way because of what God says in Joshua 8, verse 1. The Lord said to Joshua, "Do not fear. Do not be dismayed." That word "dismayed" in the Hebrew literally means "shattered." And God looks at Joshua, and He says, "I know you're afraid, and I know you're shattered."

And He says, "Don't be, because I am with you." And then He begins to give instructions, right? And here's the remarkable thing, that God looks at His people, and He knows that they are afraid, and He knows that they are feeling shattered. And what is remarkable is He does not dismiss their fears or their brokenness, right? Isn't that our tendency when we're dealing with somebody who is afraid or broken? Maybe we just dismiss it and act like it doesn't exist, and we just keep going. Or, I think more frequently, we tend to sort of minimize somebody's fears. Well, there's nothing to be afraid of. Or we minimize their brokenness. Well, you just got to get up and put things back together. But God doesn't dismiss, and He doesn't minimize the fears and the brokenness of His people. And so what God will do is He will say the first thing that needs to happen in the midst of

your fear and your brokenness is you need to fix your eyes upon Me. Take the focus off of yourself and see the God who stands in front of you. God's not minimizing or dismissing their fears. He's saying you're looking at the wrong thing. Right? Instead of looking at the fear and the brokenness, which is very real and you feel very deeply, look at Me, the God who takes broken things and makes them whole. The God who takes people who are afraid and makes them strong. Look to Me. You see, this is one of our problems. There's so many times we're looking at the wrong thing. I'm reminded of the Apostle Peter, and this is an incredibly familiar story. Matthew 14. It's been a very long day. They've fed a whole bunch of people by the power of God. The disciples get into a boat. Jesus goes up onto the mountain to pray. Middle of the night, the lake gets kind of stormy, and they look out. Jesus

sees from the mountain his disciples in the little boat, tossed throughout the storm, and Jesus, being the Son of God, just decides to walk out on the water to the boat. And the disciples see this guy walking on the water, and a lot of them are fishermen, and they know that's not how water works, and so they're a little afraid. And so some of them are saying, "It's a ghost." And Jesus says, "It's Me." And Peter, being sort of impetuous, says, "Jesus, if it's really you, let me come out to you." And so Jesus says, "Come on out." So Peter jumps over the side of the boat, and begins walking toward Jesus. And Scripture will say this, "When he sunk in, he was afraid and began to sink." And you can kind of relate to Peter, because he jumps out, he's so excited to see Jesus, and that Jesus is walking on the water, he jumps out, begins to walk on the water, and then it sort of clicks with Peter, right? If you've ever seen the road runner and the coyote, right?

He is running, and he runs right off that cliff, and he just keeps running for a second, and then he realizes where he is and begins to fall. It's a little bit about what Peter does. He begins to realize that you can't walk on water, the wind is blowing really hard, the waves are tall, and he's not Jesus. And he looks around at his surroundings, and instead of looking at Jesus, then he begins to sink. And Jesus will reach down and grab Peter, lift him up, fixing his eyes on him. And so many times, this is where you and I are in our brokenness and in our fear. Right? We're looking around at everything but the place where we should be looking. And in verse 2, God moves from seeing their hurt to turning their eyes toward him to giving them a plan. "And you shall do to Ai and its king, as you did to Jericho and its king, only its spoil and livestock you shall take as plunder for yourself, lay an ambush against the city behind it."

And now God is going to lead his people. And I love this because God starts by acknowledging their hurt, comforting them, directing their attention to him, and now he's going to go in front of them as they fight this battle. And it's interesting to me that so many times what we do is we turn this around in the opposite direction. We say, "Alright God, this is where I'm going. Come along if you want." But that's not what God calls us to do. He calls us to follow him. And so many times, instead of seeking to discern where God would have us to go and where he is leading us, we simply head off in a direction and hope that he comes with us. And so you see God here saying, "I will lead you to where you are to go." And there's going to be this pattern that sort of emphasizes this through the rest of this sort of battle scene in the book. It's God's going to speak to Joshua, Joshua's

going to speak to the people, and then Ai is going to face defeat. And you're going to see it here in this sort of long section. You'll see it again in another short section where God will say to Joshua, "Extend out your javelin." Joshua will do that as a signal to the people of Israel, and then Ai is destroyed, and then you'll see it again in two verses later on in this pattern that God is in control of what is happening. But also in this verse, there is something that is incredibly heartbreaking in light of Joshua chapter 7. Remember Achan stealing the plunder from Jericho that was devoted to God? Here in verse 2, God will say about Ai, "Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourself." Remember what's gotten Israel in trouble? What's led them to this fearful, heartbreaking situation?

Somebody who couldn't not take plunder for himself? And the heartbreaking thing about Achan is if he had only trusted the plan of God, he would have gotten to Ai, and that plunder that he so desperately desired God would have given him. But rather than waiting for God's time and in God's way and God's manner, Achan jumps ahead on his own, and as a result, you find his sin bringing heartbreak and brokenness to God's people. In verse 18, you see God leading. The Lord said to Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, and I will give it into your hand." And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. And what you see here is a picture of God giving this city to the people. And for Joshua, this would have had an incredible significance.

In Exodus chapter 17, Israel is getting ready to fight the Amalekites. Moses will put Joshua in charge of the army that is to fight against Israel's enemy, and then God will send Moses up on a hill overlooking the city. And if you remember, what God will tell Moses to do is, "Hold your staff in the air." And as Moses holds his staff in the air, Israel is victorious. And then what happens, right? It's a long battle. And so his arms get tired, because just sort of statically holding something above your head is difficult, and his arm begins to sink, and Israel begins to lose. So he strengthens his arm back up, and they begin to win, and it droops, and they begin to lose. And so they say, "Moses' arms have to be held up above his head."

So they get a chair made of rocks, and they sit him in it, and Joshua stands on one side of Moses, holding Moses' arm as he holds the staff that symbolizes God being over all things, and over his people, and over this battle, and Israel wins the battle. Now here is Joshua doing the same thing. This isn't a magic javelin. This is a picture acknowledging and symbolizing God's presence at the head of Israel's army. I love that Joshua is demonstrating, and God is demonstrating his victory to the people. And so here you have this picture of dismay, of being shattered and disable to victory. But not through their own strength, but through the God who reveals himself, and who sees their struggles, and he directs them and makes them victorious. And I would say this, in your most shattered moments, this is what you need. To see God, to follow him, and to know that your strength is not in you, but it is in the one who gives

you strength, the one who is over all things. Now this text doesn't just bring encouragement for the fearful and the dismayed. It also faces us with a choice. In the book of Joshua, we've seen very clearly that there are two sides, and we're really good at dividing people up, right? It's one of our strengths. We're good at picking sides. This is us. This is them. And we don't like each other. And we've done it in a million different ways, and I think through the brokenness of sin in this world, we're going to keep dividing ourselves into teams and fighting each other. In the book of Joshua, we see that there's two sides, but they're not the sides we would expect. It's not the side of us versus them. If you remember Joshua, as he comes face to face with the theophany of the pre-incarnate Jesus, and he sees this heavenly warrior, and he begins to worship, he says, "Hey, are you on our side

or their side?" And the heavenly warrior says, "Neither." The question is, "Are you on my side?" And God makes it clear that it's not you versus them or us versus them, but it's God on one side and the rebellious people who deserve judgment on the other. Joshua chapter 7 and Joshua chapter 8 confront us with this choice. Will we follow ourselves and the desires of our heart, or will we follow God where He leads us? Will we put our trust in Him and follow Him and obey Him? And on the one side is the God who saves. And on the other side is the glorious God who justly judges sin. In Joshua chapter 7 and 8, we also see that God's judgment is impartial. Right? It's not about who you are or where you're from.

It's whether you follow God or not. And one of the ways in which we see this is in Joshua chapter 7, after Achan is stoned, burned, and then buried, we find this, "They raised over him," this is the Israelite Achan, "a great heap of stones that remains to this day." And over the king of Ai, the leader of Ai, "they raised over him or it a great heap of stones which stands to this day." One of the messages that God is sending to his people through this, it doesn't matter whether you're an Israelite or a Canaanite, right? He's already saved Rahab and he's already condemned cities. He's already saved Israel and condemned Achan. It's not an issue of who you are, it's who you are with. Are you following God and obeying him and trusting him and saved like Rahab? Or will you reject him and chase your own way

and find yourself under judgment like Achan and Jericho and Ai? God's judgment is fair and it is true and it confronts us with a choice. And in chapter 8, verse 29, we find this: "He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sunset, Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised it over a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day." And in doing so, Joshua is going back to the law given by God in Deuteronomy chapter 21, which says this: "If a man has committed a crime punishable by death, he is put to death, you shall hang him on a tree. His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.

You shall not defile the land that your Lord God is giving you for an inheritance." And one of the reasons they take this king, and they hang him on this tree in front of the city, is they are making a public declaration this king represents this city that is quick to attack, and quick to follow false gods, and quick to run into sin. There's almost an eagerness you read about the city of Ai and violence. And we know from the history of this place that these people have deeply rejected what God has called people to do and to live and to believe. And he has given them chances. Remember he says to Abraham, "It's 400 years." Because their sin has not been fooled up. God has given them a chance, and they have rejected him.

And now the king of Ai stands in the place of his city as a symbol of the judgment on his city. As a representative of his city. I would say that this also points us to Jesus. You say, "How does this relate to Jesus?" At the end of the Gospels, what happens to Jesus? He's led out of the city, outside the gates of the city. He's hung on a tree with a wooden cross. That evening, his body is removed from the tree, so he does not spend all night on the cross. And he's placed into a tomb in the rock. The king of Ai, outside the city, hung on a tree, placed in a tomb made of rocks. And in the New Testament, you have Jesus led outside the city, hung on a tree, and placed in a tomb in the rock.

But there is a difference, a significant difference between Ai and Jesus. You see, the king of Ai, still under that pile of rocks. Jesus, however, the truly innocent representative for his people, will rise again in victory, conquering death and sin and hell and Satan. And not only does he stand in the place of his people for their sin, but in his victory, he gives it to his people. In fact, Paul will say it this way. Paul doesn't miss this picture. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. And what he's saying is that Jesus stood in the place of his people as a representative of his people. For it is written, quoting Deuteronomy, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so we might receive the promised spirit by faith."

And Paul will look back and say, "Cursed is anyone who is hung on a tree." And here our Savior was hung on a tree, not because he was sinful, but because he stood as a representative of his people. Because you were sinful, and because I was sinful, Jesus took the curse that was reserved for us. And because Jesus, outside the city, hung on a tree, stood in our place, and he rose again conquering death, his righteousness and his victory is given to us. You see, Jesus stood in our place so that we would be able to stand with him. You see, Joshua chapter 8 doesn't just point backwards. It points forward toward the Gospel. After this victory, the people will meet on two mountains, as God has commanded through Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 11, and again in Deuteronomy chapter 27. And listen to this:

"And there, in the presence of the people of Israel," this is Joshua. He wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he had written. "And all Israel, sojourners, as well as native-born, with their elders, officers, judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded at the first to bless the people of Israel." And afterwards he read all the words of the Law, the blessing, and the curse. "According to all that is written in the Book of the Law, there was not one word that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them."

And after this battle, and after seeing how God restores a broken people, how we are faced with a choice, how this points to Jesus, we come to this picture of the covenant, where God's people gather together, and they encourage with the blessings and the curses of the law, encourage and warn each other. This picture of community centered around this picture of the presence of God, reminded of who God is, and what He has done, and not just the leaders, right? I love how it says all the people, right? Men, women, and children all hearing what God has to say. Join together in this community, right? Because God takes the broken and the shattered and the fearful, and those who follow Him, who follow Jesus, who stood in their place, He brings us into this community that strengthens, encourages, and warns. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your church and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thank you that we can encourage one another with Scripture as we read it together and as we listen to it and study it. Thank you for the grace that you've given us, and thank you most of all for Jesus, who was taken outside the city so that we could be brought in. Thank you for hope. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and we're going to sing about how God gives the victory on the battle we face.

When all I see is the battle, you see my victory. When all I see is the mountain, you see a mountain moved. And as I walk through this shadow, your love surrounds me. There's nothing to fear now, for I am safe with you. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And if you are for me, who can be against me? For Jesus, there's nothing impossible for you. When all I see are the ashes, you see me. You see the beauty. When all I see is a cross, God, you see the empty tomb. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees with my hands lifted high. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you.

And every fear I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you. Almighty Fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadows. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. Almighty Fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadow. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadow. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees with my hands lifted high. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you. In every field I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you. In every field I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you. In every field I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you. In every field I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you. In every field I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. The battle belongs to you. Oh, God, the battle belongs to you.

We're going to have a word of prayer, and we're going to read a verse of Scripture and sing the doxology. Father in heaven, thank you that you do fight for us. So help us this morning. If we are weak and we are broken, that we would turn our eyes towards you. Thank you for the community of the church that you have placed us into. Thank you for our brothers and sisters in Christ. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Paul closes the book of Ephesians like this: "Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, with love incorruptible."

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you.