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Northern Kings Unite Against Israel 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Alright. Today, 2 short but very insightful chapters as we look at Joshua chapters 11 and 12 verse 6 of chapter 11. But the Lord said to0:22 Joshua, do not be afraid because of them. For tomorrow about this time, I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with0:33 fire. Just a, a side note as we, continue our journey through the Bible this week. In fact, yesterday, I had the opportunity to be a part of kicking off America Reads the Bible, here in0:45 Washington at the Bible Museum. So all of this week from 9 AM till 9 PM every day, we're gonna we're gonna have folks reading through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I began in0:57 in Genesis yesterday morning. The speaker was there. And so I just encourage you to be praying. The Lord says, the Bible says, the Lord himself says, my word will not return unto me void. So let's be1:08 praying that as the word of God is spoken over the nation, that it would have the desired effect. As people hear the word of God, they would respond to the word of God, and that men, women, and1:20 children would be saved, and that folks would be drawn back to the Lord. Alright. In chapter 11, we have the conquest of the northern city states of Canaan, followed by a catalog1:32 of, of victories in chapter 12 under the leadership of both Moses and Joshua as they conquered both the southern and the northern regions of Canaan. Alright. Verse1:44 1, chapter 11. And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor heard these things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron,1:56 to the king of, Achshaf, and to the kings who were in, who were from the north in the mountains, in the plains south of Kenarath, in the lowland,2:09 and in the heights of Dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east and in the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the mountains, and the Hivite2:20 below Hermon in the land of Mizpah. So they went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many2:32 horses and chariots. And when all these kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Niram to fight against Israel. Okay. Now2:44 these these kings, when we talk about kings, they they did not have massive countries or domains. They were, I mean, think of think of more as today, like mayors in cities. Now they had armies, but they were2:55 smaller. So these weren't, these weren't vast, domains. However, when the scripture uses the words, like, as many as the sand of the3:07 seashore, the imagery here is that it was overwhelming. It was large, in terms of comparing Israel to these armies. So they're3:19 it's conveying a message here. Now, verse 6, but the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid because of them. For tomorrow about this time, I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall3:31 hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire. Now the armies of the north were forming this coalition to come against Israel. We see the same thing today. It just it's fascinating.Fear Not: Trust God's Power Over Military Might 3:42 Then the Lord again spoke to Joshua as he faced what looked to be overwhelming odds. It was, do not be afraid. Now before almost any major move of god, we3:54 see these words in scripture, do not be afraid. Why? Why do we see that? Because in those situations, when we need we need god to move, our faith4:06 is often challenged. And and and by the way, our our default position is to fear, to fear the unknown, to fear the things that look overwhelming, but we need to be conditioned to go to god. In4:18 those moments of crisis, we often don't, we don't do that. We don't cry out to God. And the result is that we're seeing things in the natural and and what we can do. And, frankly, we can't we we4:30 can't overcome. And and and and what's around us, the challenges we face, the obstacles we face appear to be overwhelming, and the result is fear. So4:42 but now I wanted to take note of something here, the instruction to hamstring the horses. Why does god tell them to disable these valuable assets that they're going to be able to4:54 acquire in this battle? We're gonna have to go back to Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 16 16 where it reads, but he shall not multiply horses for5:06 himself. Now this is instructions for this is 400 years in advance of kings, okay, before kings come in as they were a theocracy, then they move to a, a covenantal5:18 monarchy. But he shall not multiply horses for himself nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, you shall not return that way again.5:30 So God did not want Israel to depend upon their military might, but rather on the power of God. Psalm 20 verse 7 says, some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we5:42 will remember the name of the Lord our God. Joshua is a trained military leader as we've previously discussed, and and we need to be trained and equipped. Right? I I5:54 think as as I often talk about those who enter the political realm, you know, I've I've had people say, well, you know, I I feel like god wants me to run. I said, okay. What have you prepared? Well well, no. Well, we6:06 need to do our part. God calls us, but long before he called me into the political room, he began to prepare me. I didn't know exactly what he was doing, and it wasn't comfortable6:18 all the time. It was stretching me, training me, things that I didn't, until really in recent years saw the benefit of. So the the Joshua was trained. He6:30 was equipped. He was prepared. And oftentimes, by the way, and Joshua is an amazing man just as Moses was. We cannot despise the the scripture says it's6:41 about small beginnings. There are some things that we we feel like, well, that's beneath us or, you know, that's not that's really not what I was thinking about. We need to be pursuing God in humility and and6:53 learning, as he gives us these opportunities and taking those opportunities to be equipped. Because, when that time comes, the door opens,7:05 the opportunity is there. We need to be prepared and equipped, but our confidence must never be in our ability or our resources. It must be in the power of god as the, the battles we face will almost always,7:17 and I can attest to this, will be almost always more than we can handle ourselves. Alright. Verse 7. So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly, andSudden Victory and the Price of Sin 7:29 we see that word again, by the waters of Mimran, and they attacked him. So we don't have all of the the details of this attack, but the 1 thing we read, Joshua came upon them suddenly. This, again,7:41 as I pointed out before, a common tactic of Joshua. We assume that he probably marched his men, during the night, through the night at a good distance and came upon them, and they were not prepared. Verse 8,7:53 and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to greater Sidon, to the brook of Meriphath and the8:05 valley of Mizpah eastward, they attacked them until they left none of them remaining. So Joshua did to them as the lord had told them. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire. Joshua8:17 turned back at that time and took Hazor and struck it with the king the and struck its king with the sword, and Hazor was formerly the head of those kingdoms. And they struck8:29 all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing. Then he burned Hazor with fire. So all the cities of those kings and all their kings Joshua took and8:41 struck them with the edge of the sword, he utterly destroyed them as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. Pretty confident you're probably reading this and thinking they killed everyone. This doesn't seem8:52 right. And I've gotten several emails along this journey as we've been looking at the Old Testament about the what the bloody, violent events that we we see in the Old Testament.9:04 Yes. It is a visual illustration of the spiritual reality of today. This is a vivid picture of the price of sin and how god deals with9:16 it. Well, somebody say, wait wait a minute. Wait a minute. All these people sinned? Well, let's go back to what god told Abraham in Genesis chapter 15 when he promised the land to Abraham's9:28 descendants. And in, Genesis 15 13, he said, then he said to Abraham, know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs,9:40 and will serve them, and they will afflict them 400 years. And also the nation whom they serve, I will judge. Afterward, they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for9:52 you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation now listen. But in the fourth generation, they shall return here for the iniquity of the Amorites is10:04 not yet complete. And we we read that God said that he had removed the inhabitants of the land and was giving it to Israel. The land vomited them out because of their iniquity and10:15 their sin. God gave the occupants of that land 400 years to turn from their sins. Is that not merciful? And and some sought him and mercy and10:27 found it. Rahab, the Gibeonites. Alright? The reason we have a sense of compassion today, and we read this and we say, wait a minute. I don't know. I mean, we look back on this with10:40 a a little uneasiness. Alright? I'll put it that way. It's because of the common grace of god. As an expression of his nature and his character, that grace is reflected in all of creation10:52 and and even in our hearts. And though it it was present from the very beginning of creation, it has been brought into clearer focus through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, which benefits all11:04 people. All people experience the the benefits of common grace. It's the saving grace that makes the eternal difference. But all of society, all of the world benefits from God's common grace, and11:15 part of that is a sense of right and wrong. Now think about it. If we know good from evil, it's because God has made it known through his image in us. He as Paul said, he has written the law on11:27 our hearts in in Romans chapter 2. So how then we how can we then sit in judgment over the very god by whom, we make such judgments? We wouldn't know right from wrong11:39 if it weren't for god. Now let's look at the conclusion of this chapter, verse 21. And at that time, Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains, from Hebron, fromGiants Defeated: Rest from War 11:51 Debir, from Anab, from the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. None of the Anakim were left in the land of the12:03 children of Israel. They remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and Ashdod. Now they saved here the giants for the last, and I think this is interesting because these were the occupants that caused the previous12:14 generation to to fear, to lose faith, and then fall in the desert because of their unbelief and disobedience. Verse 23. So Joshua took the whole land according to all12:26 that the Lord had said to Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes, then the land rested from war. The opposition to what12:38 God has promised you and me as followers of Christ is it's real and it's powerful. But as we obey God, we need not fear the opposition. For12:51 as we revere God in the word we often see as fear, but it means reverence. As we reverence God, we can be confident because we find that confidence in God no matter what we face.13:03 For it is God himself who has secured the victory for us. Father, I pray that you would increase our faith, that, lord, as we face overwhelming odds, and13:14 that's just the nature of of creation. It's it's we we've seen it. We see it illustrated in these battles in the old testament that were in the physical, or, lord, in the spiritual.13:27 The these battles we face are often overwhelming, and and it manifests itself in many different ways. Lord, I pray that we would not be fearful. But, lord, our you would increase our faith as we13:39 as we, number 1, abide in you through your word, finding the confidence and the strength, the direction. And and, lord, use us use us to to bring13:50 victory to those who are in bondage, Lord. Today, we wanna see those captives set free by sharing with them the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this, it is the truth that sets men, women, and14:02 children free. So, Lord, I I pray that you would strengthen us. We do pray, Lord, that you would bless the reading of your word that is going across the the nation this week from from Washington. And,14:14 Lord, may it not return unto you void. We thank you. We thank you for your word and pray, father, the Holy Spirit would continue to guide us and direct us, showing us how to take your word, apply it to our lives in this14:26 world in which we live, that we might make a difference for your kingdom for all eternity. For we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning. Have a blessed day, and I pray the14:37 lord would use you this week for his glory and honor. And until next time, keep standing on the word.14:47 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan available for free at frc dot org slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:59 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Northern Kings Unite Against Israel3:34 Fear Not: Trust God's Power Over Military Might7:24 Sudden Victory and the Price of Sin11:41 Giants Defeated: Rest from War
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