The Northern Campaign

Does it sound good?

Could I get a little bit more vocal in the monitor?

Test, one, two, test, test, test, test, one, two, test, test, one, two, test, test. I hear it in the house. Test, test, test, one, two. That's a little better.

Yep, I think it's good.

Yeah, I think it's good. Who's ready to worship the Lord this evening? My guitar's a little dusty, a little rusty, so bear with me, but we're here to make a joyful noise, amen? Dear Heavenly Father, I just pray that as we come before you this evening, Lord, that we would make a joyful noise to you, Lord, that your spirit working through us would give us a joy in our heart that we just can't help but let out, God.

I just pray that as we say these words this evening, that they would come from our heart, Lord, and that it would just be our prayer and our praise to you this evening. I pray this in your name, amen.

Worship your house and we'll sing your prayers within me because you were for Satan within me.

I want to scream from the mountains, Lord, that every conversation that comes up in our lives, Lord, that we just can't help but talk about you. Amen. And I just pray that that's the spirit that would always be filling us, Lord. I just pray as Ryan comes up for the message this evening, Lord, that you would just fill him with that same spirit, that you would use him, that he would be your mouthpiece, Lord, and that every word that comes out of his mouth would just enlighten the words that you've given to us in the Bible.

I just pray this in your name, amen.

Good evening. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Joshua chapter 11, Joshua chapter 11.

This evening, what we'll cover is what I have so thoughtfully titled the Northern Campaign because in my Bible it says the Northern Campaign. So I figured I'd just go with a really honest, obvious title there because this honestly is the last really of the major battles that we'll see take place in the book of Joshua. Really, chapters 11 and 12 are the end of basically the first half, the first section of the book of Joshua. The last half will be them dividing out the land amongst the people.

But as we come to chapter 11 and this Northern Campaign, it starts off like a lot of them started off. Notice what it says in chapter 11, verse 1. It says, Then it came about when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it that he sent to Jobab, I don't know how you pronounce it. It's that king of Madon, and to the king of Shemron, and to the king of Akshoth, and to the kings who were of the north in the hill country, and in the Arabah, south of Chinneroth, and in the low land, and on the heights of Dor on the west, to the Canaanite on the east, and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

They came out. They and all. They and all their armies with them, as many as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. And so as we look at this Northern Campaign, the first thing that we see is we see the gathering of an army. And the gathering of this army was phenomenal. But as I pointed out, it starts off the way that so many of these chapters in the book

of Joshua had started out. It says, When king Jabin of Hazor heard of it. Well, what did he hear about? Well, he heard about what God had done in the south. If you remember from last week, we talked about the fact that God did something miraculous. There was a five king confederation that came together against not the children of Israel, but against Gibeon, who had made a covenant with the children of Israel.

And when they came against them, Gibeon called on the children of Israel to come help them. But in Jericho, the people had heard of what God had done. In Ai, the people had heard about what God had done. The kings of the south had heard about what God had done. And now the kings of the north have heard about what God had done. I point this out again because I think it's really important for us to pay attention to

God keeping his promises. I think it's so important for us to remember that God, throughout their conquest of the promised land, always kept the promise that he would send his angel before them, that he would send his faithful. That he would send his fear before them, that they wouldn't drive them out in one year. As a matter of fact, we're going to find at the end of this chapter that it's probably somewhere in the neighborhood of about seven years that all of these campaigns go on, but that he would always drive them out and that he would always send his fear before them.

And that's exactly what God did. Because if you think about it in a land where they don't have the sort of communication systems that we have, how did they hear about it? God sent his fear before them. And God always. He keeps those promises that he makes. And so they had heard about what God had done to the southern kingdoms. And so they knew that there were five nations that came together, five city-states that

came together against the children of Israel. This time, they would spare no amount of soldiers. This time, they would gather an army that was unreal. Did you take note of everybody that they gathered? They gathered everyone from the north. As a matter of fact, we're given a little bit of a commentary on this alliance of kings and just how big they were. Notice what it says in verse four.

Then they came out and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore and with very many horses and chariots. This was an insurmountable enemy. If we thought Jericho was difficult, and it was with its walled city that was sealed up to where no one could get in or no one could get out, then imagine how difficult this was. If Ai was difficult because of the sin that they dealt with, although once the sin was dealt with, they were able to overcome, then they hadn't seen anything yet.

If the five kingdom confederation was difficult, then imagine how this would have looked to them because this is an insurmountable enemy. And I will point out to you the same thing this week that I pointed out last week, and that's that as you walk with God, the battles don't get easier. Now, I know that doesn't sound like the most enticing thing on the face of the earth, but you have to know when you begin to make a ripple in the kingdom for the kingdom of God, when you begin to be a force to be reckoned with as far as evil is concerned, because we face a very real enemy, then there becomes a target on your back. And all of a sudden, the battles will get more difficult, not only because you are more

of a threat to the enemy, but because God will continue to give you more. God will continue to give you that next step. He will give you that next level because everything that you do now prepares you for the next step in the future. Can you imagine if God launched them into the battle of the promised land fresh out of Egypt? No. Remember what happened when they first came out of Egypt?

They took the long way around. Why did they take the long way around? Because they weren't ready for war yet. But they are now. They're ready for war because each of the battles that they've been in has prepared them for the next. And each of those get increasingly difficult to the point where soon they'll have to go in and kick out even the giants. The giants in the land, the giants that kept them from wanting to come into the land to

begin with. But with every increasing difficulty that they faced, God was right there with them. I want to point that out to you. But let's first of all, just take a moment, talk about this insurmountable enemy, right? So there's two things that we're told about this insurmountable enemy. Again, I want you to look at verse four. It says, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore.

Now, there might be a lot of people out there that are not sure about this. There might be a touch of hyperbole involved here with as many people as the sand on the seashore. However, you can imagine what it would have looked like for Joshua to look out on a sea of people. Look at all of the enemies that are brought together against him. Look at all of the city-states and the groups of people that are brought together.

This is essentially, if you will, all of the warriors from the northern half of the promised land, from the northern half of the land of Canaan. And so even if it's hyperbole. To say as many as the sand on the seashore, it was a picture of just how many people that they were against, more than they could have counted at that point in time. And so in their minds, this is an insurmountable enemy for the sheer number of people that they were having to face.

But not only was it such a difficult enemy because of the sheer number of people that they were going to have to face, but I want you to point out what they have. They have very many horses and chariots. Now, the children of Israel didn't have a chariot. They didn't have either one of those. Horses and chariots made them that much more difficult to defeat. Because you see, at that point in time, a chariot would have been like a tank, right?

Because it would have been well-armored. Warriors could have hidden behind it. They could have destroyed multiple people with these, and it would have made the war that much more difficult for them. And so what they faced was a large number of people and far superior technology to anything, that the children of Israel had. In every way possible, the children of Israel were the underdogs in this situation.

But I want to remind you of something, and I think I had her put this up there. Psalm 20, verse 7. You don't have to turn there, but you might just write it off to the side where it says chariots and horses, because in Psalm 20, verse 7, it says, Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but we will trust in the Lord our God. There are so many times in our life where it seems like everything that we're facing is so much more than we have the ability to overcome.

And can I be honest with you? In and of ourselves, it is more than we can overcome. But we don't trust in chariots, and we don't trust in horses. We trust in the living God. And so, as this army has been mounted, God, as always, has a word. He has a word for Joshua. It says in verse 5, So all these kings agreed to meet and came and encamped together at the waters of Morom

to fight against Israel. Then the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them. For tomorrow, at this time, I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire. I love this. It's just a brief little. It's a word from the Lord, right? But it's exactly what Joshua needed to hear. And may I remind us that if we will take our concerns to the Lord,

if we will take our fears to the Lord, God will always speak a word to them. It may be the exact same word that he's always spoken to you before, because what I have found in my walk with the Lord is that the most important thing that I can do is find what I like to call verses to hang my hat on, because I can't come up with anything better than that cheesy statement right there. Because there are points in time where I just have to keep going back to the same promise that God has always given to me, where I keep going back to that same promise that God has given to me so many times, and I say, Lord, this is how I feel, but this is what your word says. Because you'll notice God doesn't say anything overly fantastic to Joshua at this point in time.

He really doesn't say anything very brand new at this point in time. He basically reiterates, maybe a little bit of different language, basically reiterates the exact same thing he's been telling them ever since he came into the land, ever since before they crossed the Jordan, because before they crossed the Jordan, what did God tell them to do? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

Right? It's the exact same message. We just have to hear it over and over again, which is why it's so important for us to put God's word in our heart, because we don't need a brand new word from God. We need to remember the word that God has spoken to us. And the more that we put it in our hearts, the more that we can call upon it when the enemy seems to be more than we can handle.

And so he tells them, first of all, do not be afraid. Now, I looked up the word afraid, and I actually did kind of enjoy what it had to say. I looked it up just in a Bible dictionary, and this is what it says. The word afraid means to be fearful or, and this is what I really liked, full of dread. Full of dread. Now, I think that there is no better way to picture being afraid than that phrase right there.

Full dread. Because when you fear that thing that's in front of you, what do you not want to do? Go anywhere near it. You dread having to do that, right? You ever had something that you've had to face, and you're like, okay, I know this is coming. I know this is what I have to do. And on the inside, you're like, but I don't want to. Right? And you just dread it.

You don't want it to come. And that's exactly how Joshua would have felt at that point in time. Why? Because he knew the enemy was great. And so what did God tell him? He said, do not be afraid. Do not be full of dread. Why does he tell him not to be full of dread? Because, notice what he says next. He says, hold on, I just lost my place. I hate when I do that.

He says, do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow, at this time, I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You see, the word that God speaks is that at this time tomorrow, that enemy, they're all going to be gone. They will all be before you slain. And I love this because God even puts a time frame on it for him. Right? Because the enemy is big and he gives him the time frame to know

this is exactly when you can expect victory. Now, there's still going to be something that Joshua has to do. He still has to go in and fight. But there's a promise of victory. And brothers and sisters, in our lives, we face an enemy. And even though we're going to have to go in and fight, we know that the victory is ours because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.

And so, God says, don't be afraid. Instead, go in and fight because I'm going to deliver them all slain to you. And then the last thing I want to point out to you is this. He says, and you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire. The idea of hamstringing is that they would actually cut the tendon on the back of the leg to where the horse could no longer run.

They would burn their chariots. And all I could think was their greatest strength, their horses and their chariots would be rendered useless. I think that's important for us to pay attention to because the strength of the enemy when facing God is always rendered useless. The greatest weapons that are fashioned against us can't stand in the face of God because he renders them useless.

The only power that the enemy has over us is the power that we allow him to have over us. Other than that, with God on our side, the greatest strength, the greatest strength is always useless. So, God speaks this word to Joshua and tells him, don't be afraid. Go in. Defeat them. You're going to defeat them and then you're going to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.

So now it's time for the battle. Notice what it says in verse 7. So Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them suddenly by the waters of Morom and attacked them. The Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel so that they defeated them and pursued them as far as great Sidon and Mizraphoth Maim and the valley of Mizpah to the east. And they struck them

until no survivor was left. And Joshua did to them as the Lord told him. He hamstrung their horses and he burned their chariots with fire. The first thing I want to point out is that Joshua went in to battle. You know why that's important to pay attention to? Because he was facing a difficult enemy. And it's one thing to hear the promises of God. Man, Lord, you just told me

don't be afraid, go to battle. Hot dog. I got the promises of God for tomorrow. Right? Or I've got the promises of God. I'll do that in a week. Right? No, he went in to battle. Matter of fact, I want you to know the verbiage that was used. Joshua didn't wait for them to attack him. What did he do? He attacked. Right? He was like, you know what? Let's just do this thing.

I'm not going to wait around for them to come to me even though I'm dreading what's coming. I'm going to fight them. I'm going to fight them. And he's going to face it head on. And he faces it head on and he eventually goes into battle. And that brings me to a really important point. God's promises always prompt obedience. God's promises are intended to prompt obedience.

I hope that each one of you has a devotional life. If you don't, you should. I actually listened to this thing today that talked about all the things that if you read the Bible at least four times a week, the difference that it makes in your life. If you read the Bible at least four times a week, if you read the Bible once a week, I didn't intend to share this, but I'm going to share it anyway.

If you read it once a week, it changes you, but not really. I mean, it's still good for you to read it once a week, but no significant changes take place in life. Two times a week, again, still no significant changes. Three times a week, some changes take place, although still not overly significant. But if you read the Bible at least four times a week, the changes that take place

in your life are phenomenal. Alcohol use drops by six times a week. Alcohol use drops by 60%. Pornography use drops by over 60%. Negative thoughts drop by over 40%. Feelings of discouragement and depression drop by 35 to 45%, all because a person reads the Bible at least four times a week. Now, you take that and move on to like every day of the week and just imagine.

So you should have a devotional life, but you know what it's like when you read in your devotions, right? And God speaks a word to you. You know that moment? Like some mornings, some evenings, whatever you do, your devotional time, you read and you're like, that was good because I read the Bible, but I didn't really feel like God spoke anything to me. But man,

then there's that time when God speaks to you and you're like, whoa, that was for me. It's like it leaps off the page edge. It kind of smacks you around a little bit and you're like, ha ha, that's for me. But it then needs to prompt obedience in your life, right? And the obedience part, that's the hard part. But it's always intended to prompt obedience, not just a good feeling

inside of you. I think I've shared this with you before. When I was living in Kansas City, wishing I could be on full-time staff at a church, but instead I was working a job that I hated, I was finding every way that I could possibly get out of that job. And I will never forget reading in the book of Jeremiah where God told the children of Israel, Jeremiah writes them a letter, and it's in Jeremiah chapter 29.

Everybody knows Jeremiah 29.11, but there's a background of Jeremiah 29.11. The background of Jeremiah 29.11 is that the children of Israel were in captivity to Babylon. And so God told Jeremiah to write them a letter. He said, buy a house, get a job, settle in, because you're going to be there for 70 years. Do everything that you can to settle yourself in the land

because you're going to be there for a while. But I know the thoughts I think towards you, declares the Lord, thoughts for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. And you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart and I will be found of you. And you know what? God told me at that point in time in that scripture,

I distinctly remember this sitting on my couch in my old house in Johnson County and God said, that's for you. You're going to be there until you're not there anymore. And I remember just having this feeling of peace rush over me. And it was over a weekend. This feeling of peace just rushed over me that I don't have to strive and strain and figure my way out of this job.

Instead, what I need to do is trust that I will be here until I'm not here anymore. But you know what happened? Monday came. And I still wasn't excited about Monday. But I had to make a decision because God's promise was intended to prompt obedience in my life. So when I showed up to work that Monday, I determined I will not complain about my job. I will work as hard

as I can at my job. And that's exactly what I determined to do until it finally came to the point where I actually thought, you know what? I think I'm going to go to trade school so that I can learn more about carpentry so that I can become a better employee for my boss. And you know what? Around that time, I got laid off. And around that time, I got a job down here.

You see, God's promises prompt obedience. And when we are obedient, God brings a victory that we can't even imagine because we don't know the thoughts that he has towards us. And that's exactly what Joshua does. God tells him, don't be afraid. Instead, go in and wipe them out. Hamstring their horses. Burn them. Burn their chariots. And Joshua could have been like,

oh, I'm just so at peace now knowing that you're going to give me victory. But I still don't want to go fight. No. It brings obedience. And that's exactly what Joshua did. He goes in and he fights. And what did God do? The Lord delivered. The Lord delivered exactly like he said he was going to do because when we obey, God always does what he says he's going to do

because God always keeps his promises because that's the kind of God that he is. God did exactly what he said he was going to do and he delivered the peace to the people and then notice what it says. A little summary of Joshua in verse 9. Joshua did to them as the Lord had told him. And so then it goes on from there because there's more battles. This sort of verse 10

through the end of the chapter kind of goes through the rest of what we call the northern campaign. That was the main battle but it turns into lots of other battles. Notice what it says. Then Joshua turned back at that time and he captured his army. And he struck its king with the sword for his or formerly was the head of all these kingdoms. They struck every person

who was in it with the edge of the sword utterly destroying them. There was no one left to breathe that he burned his or with fire and Josh Joshua captured all the cities of these kings and all their kings. He struck them with the edge of the sword and he utterly destroyed them just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. However, Israel did not burn any cities that stood on their mounds except his or alone.

Which Joshua burned all the spoil of these cities and the cattle sons of Israel took as their plunder but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they all had destroyed them. They left no one who breathed just as the Lord commanded Moses his servant. So Moses commanded Joshua and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

Thus Joshua took all that land the hill country and all the Negev all the land of Goshen the low land the Arabah the hill country of Israel and its low land from Mount Halak that rises towards Seir even as far as Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. And he captured all their kings and struck them down and put them to death. And Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings. That's how I know that this was not just that one battle.

It spreads into all of the campaign throughout the north of the kingdom. of the kingdom. It says, And there was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon. They took them all in battle. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them. That they might receive

no mercy but that he might destroy them just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then Joshua came at that time and cut off all the Anakim and cut off all the Anakim from the hill country from Hebron from Debir from Anab from the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel only in Gaza in Gath that should sound familiar to you and in Ashdod some remained.

So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war. Alright there's two things I would like to point out to you. Number one is why did he destroy all these cities? I want you to notice what it says in verse 20.

It says for it was of the Lord to harden their hearts to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them that they might receive no mercy but he might destroy them just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Now that bothers some people because they read that and they think why would God harden the hearts of these people? Ryan you've been telling us that God gave them an opportunity to repent. He did.

They did not. Therefore God hardened their hearts. You see we have to understand something about the grace and the mercy of God. God's patience God's grace and God's mercy. It always has an effect on us. But it has one of two effects upon us. For some of us God's grace and God's mercy and God's patience it softens our heart. His kindness leads us to repentance.

And as we sin and we see God show his grace to us it leads us to a place where we go oh Lord I am so sorry for my sin. Thank you for being patient with me. Thank you for being gracious towards me. And our hearts are softened because of his patience. However some people take the grace and the mercy and the patience of God and their hearts are instead hardened.

Why are their hearts hardened? Because they view God's patience as God's acceptance. Too many people in the world view God's patience and mercy in their lives as God's acceptance for their lifestyle. It usually goes something like this. Don't you think if I was doing something wrong God would have judged me by now? I've heard people say this even with false

doctrine. They'll say don't you think that if this false doctrine was wrong God would have rooted it out by now? And they take God's patience and they take God's mercy and they take God's grace and they view it as acceptance therefore instead of their hearts being softened and his kindness leading them to repentance God's kindness pushes them to more sin and their hearts become hardened. And so God being the God that he is says fine if that's what you want then that's what you'll get.

Sometimes one of the scariest things that God can do for us is give us exactly what we want. Because if we live a life that does not want God to be a part of it then there will come a point in time where God will say fine I won't be a part of it and he will harden our hearts. We saw it with Pharaoh. We saw it with the way that God dealt with Pharaoh that God gave Pharaoh opportunity after opportunity but as Pharaoh hardened his heart God solidified the hardness of his heart.

We see it here with the people in the land. We see it with those that were dwelling in the land of Canaan. They hardened their hearts towards God therefore God solidified the hardness of their hearts. And you know we even see it in the book of Romans. Even in the New Testament we see that God will ultimately give them over. Same idea. God will give them over to their passions.

God does that with cultures right before he judges them. And may I say sometimes God does that with individuals right before he judges them. He gives them what they want. And if that's the direction you're going to go and you refuse to repent after all of God's kindness after all of God's graciousness after all of God's patience then he finally says then fine.

You can go your own way. He hardens your heart. And that's what he did with the people of the land. And he did that in order to now show his holiness in judgment. The second thing that I would like to point out to you is this. Notice what it says in verse 21. Then Joshua came at that time and he cut off the Anakim from the land. Do you remember when they spied

out the land? Joshua and Caleb and the other ten bad spies. They spied and they said it's a beautiful land. It's a land flowing with milk and honey. Look at these huge grapes that we have right here before you. It's an amazing land but there are huge walled cities like Jericho. There are mighty warriors. The people swallow us up and there are the remember the word?

Sons of Anak the Anakim. They're giants and we were like grasshoppers in their eyes. Well I love this because Joshua and Caleb were like dude it's okay if God's got this God's got this. It doesn't matter how big the giants are. God's going to go before us and he's going to defeat them because quite frankly they couldn't beat the little guys let alone the giants.

So if they need God's help to beat the little guys and he can do that why can't God beat the giants? It's kind of like when Peter was walking on the water right? You know there Peter is and he sees Jesus walking to him on the water and they're like it's a ghost and he's like no I'm not a ghost I'm Jesus. And he says well if it's you call me to come out to you on the water.

And so that's exactly what Peter does. Peter starts walking on the water and then he looks at the wind and the waves around him right? And when he sees the wind and the waves around him he starts to sink. But what I think is funny is why was he scared of the winds and the waves? You're not supposed to be able to walk on water anyway. The calmest of waters you can't walk on right?

I can't defeat any enemy in my life so I don't care if it's the small enemy or the giant I need God to beat both of them. And that's exactly what Joshua does. He defeats many of the sons of Anak the only ones that were left as it says were in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod and fascinatingly enough and we'll get to this in a couple of weeks but when Caleb asks for the land he asks for the land where the giants are. I love that because I love that about Caleb.

Last thing that I'll point out to you is this. It says the land had rest from war but as sort of a summary statement we read that and I want to point something out and I didn't come up with this on my own I read this in a commentary but I found it fascinating and so I wanted to share it with you. What we see throughout the book of Joshua but especially in this chapter is the complete destruction of the people of the land. And again especially in our western culture sanitized minds we struggle with understanding that.

But David Guzik in his commentary so aptly pointed out that the complete destruction of the land tells us three things. Number one it reminds us of the complete depravity of the Canaanites. It reminds us of the complete depravity of the Canaanites. We need to be aware of something. What we saw took place take place on October 7th with what happened to the children of Israel

because that's who they are. They're the children of Israel. What we saw happen to the Jews the horrific things that are hard to even repeat. That's the sort of thing that was going on in the land. The ritual sacrifices that were taking place in the land the burning of children today we've sanitized it and we call it abortion. We call it choice. That's what was going on

in the land. Human sacrifice was taking place. Theirs was to the God of Molech. Ours is to the God of pleasure and to the God of convenience. You see all of the things that were taking place in the land were horrific in nature. And the depravity was so complete that all God could do is judge it. And so when we see this complete destruction of the land we are first of all

reminded of the complete depravity of the Canaanites. The second thing that we are reminded of is the complete nature of God's judgment. The complete nature of God's judgment. Because when God judges sin God judges it completely. We saw it in the flood. We saw it at Sodom and Gomorrah. We see it in the Canaanites. And as Peter tells us in his epistle what we saw take place

in God's previous judgment is coming again. Even though people refuse to believe it that kind of judgment is coming again. And it should cause us to want to make sure that we wage the right kind of war now. A war for the souls of people. Because what we see here is that complete nature of God's judgment. And then number three we see the complete nature of Israel's obedience.

The complete nature of Israel's obedience. Now they've learned a lot of lessons. They've learned a lot of lessons especially about the importance of obedience in the things of the Lord. Therefore their failures had taught them we'd better do exactly what God tells us to do. And that's exactly what they did. As long as Joshua was leading them, they obeyed completely.

And so we see that now the land had rest from war. Again, with a little bit of math, knowing about how old Caleb was before they entered the land and knowing about how old Caleb was when he was given his inheritance in the land, most people believe that the entire time of battle that took place was somewhere around seven years that took place, chapters 1 through 11 of Joshua. So the land had rest from war. Now, as we move into chapter 12, I'm going to summarize for you because what we are told in chapter 12 is the summary of Israel's victory.

We start off in chapter 12, verse 1. It says, Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel defeated and whose land they possessed beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the valley of Arnon, as far as Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east. Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from Aror, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, both the middle of the valley and half of Gilead, even as far as the brook Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon. And the Arabah, as far as the sea of Chinneroth, toward the east, and as far as the sea of the Arabah, even the salt sea eastward, toward Beth-Jeshimoth, and on the south, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

In the territory of Og, king of Bashan, one of the remnant of Rephaim, who lived at Ashteroth and at Edre, and ruled over Mount Hermon, and Seleka, and all Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Amiakathites, and half of Gilead, as far as the border of Sihon, king of Heshbon. Moses, the servant of the Lord, the sons of Israel, defeated them, and Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave it to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, as a possession. Now these are the kings of the land, whom Joshua and the sons of Israel defeated beyond the Jordan, toward the west, from Baal-Gad in the valley of Lebanon, even as far as Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir. And Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession,

according to their division. And for the rest of the chapter, he gives all the kings, as he defeated, and I would encourage you to go back and read that later. We're not going to read that right now. So the first six verses are the kings that Moses defeated on the east side of the Jordan. The other list of kings are the kings that Joshua defeated on the west side of the Jordan.

Now, why is chapter 12 in there? Well, to give us something that will help us fall asleep later while we try to read it, right? Actually, if you really want to fall asleep, you should listen to someone read it, which is why I'm not going to read it to you right now. Why are we given this? This list of kings, because you know what's a really good thing to do?

To go back and reflect on God's faithfulness in your life. You see, this list of kings is a reminder of a God who keeps his promises, of a God who did exactly what he said he was going to do. Can you imagine for Joshua looking back and going, I can't believe all of these things happened. Have you ever gone through a time in your life that's just very, very intense, and you don't necessarily see all of the victory, you know they're happening, you know God's doing amazing things through it, but then you sort of sit back and catch your breath and you go, I cannot believe everything that has happened over this past, you name the amount of time.

And you start looking back and you start kind of writing down God's faithfulness, and I think you should do that, right? We talked about the Ebenezer stones, writing down God's faithfulness. In recounting that, it pushes you to the future, because past victories, past victories guarantee future results, right? That's what we know. God's past faithfulness speaks of what God's going to do in the future.

I remember, I don't remember which book I was teaching through. I think it was Acts, and it was after I'd been the pastor here, because at the beginning of 2020, I was like, ah, I can finally catch my breath. That was stupid. I couldn't. But at the beginning of 2020, before all of the pandemic stuff hit, it was March, maybe February of 2020, I started going, man,

I cannot believe what God has brought us through as a church these past few years. I say that because we're kind of at that same time of year when I became the pastor here six years ago now, if you can believe that. And I thought, man, the past three years have just been such a whirlwind. And it's been amazing to see God's faithfulness through this time. And I started kind of recounting.

And wherever I was studying, I just specifically remember the commentator saying this. What in your ministry, can you point to and say, if it weren't for God, this would not have happened. So I just sort of reflected on that one evening after I'd read that in a commentary. And after I'd read that and kind of reflected on it, all I could think was, we're all still here as a church.

Because I got to be honest, things don't always happen this way when a sitting pastor dies and people still want to come around and listen to the youth pastor talk. Like that's a, that's a testimony to God's grace. That's a testimony of the miraculous nature of God. And I sat back and reflected on God's faithfulness of, of the fact that he took a kid who didn't have any clue what he was doing, and maybe still doesn't, and showed himself faithful on my behalf, allowed me to get through losing someone that was so close to me.

And then also continuing on. And the church didn't just fall apart. Instead, God, God caused it to thrive. And I looked and I went, that's God's faithfulness. And I just, I remember just reflecting on that. And it was so important for me. And what I didn't realize at the time was the reason why I needed to reflect on that is because late March of 2020 was coming.

And I needed to hold on to God's faithfulness because I was going to be challenged in a way that I never knew was possible in everything that would come in the next couple of years. And it's been amazing to see God's faithfulness through all these things. And I just think it's really good every now and then to sit back and go, Lord, remind me of all of the victories that you've been giving because I know they're there, but I know it's all been coming so fast. I know so much has been happening and I just need to reflect on it for a little bit.

That's what chapter 12 is. It's the reflection of the faithfulness of God and the life of Joshua. But as we reflect on that, I started thinking about something. I thought, you know, really chapter 12 ends the first section, of the book of Joshua, the battle section, the interesting section. Stick with me for the last half. Okay. I'll try to make it as interesting as I can,

because starting from chapter 13 on through the end of the book is going to be the division of the land. There's really no more battles. There's some cool stories. There's some cool moments, but all the battles are done. Now it's distributing the land to all of the tribes so that they'll go in and finish the work that needs to be done. And so I thought, what a good time for us to recap the lessons that we,

we have learned about God and the lessons that we have learned about taking the promised land about entering God's rest about being who God has called for us to be. And so I've summed it up with three lessons and we'll close with these three lessons. The number one lesson that we learned is that God has to lead. God has to lead. When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan river,

the ark of the covenant was in front of them. In front of them because God had to lead the ark of the covenant stayed in the midst of the Jordan because God had to bring the victory and the ark of the covenant brought up the rear when they defeated Jericho. What was at the beginning of the Jericho march? The ark of the covenant, God, God was at the beginning of the march because God had to lead when they were defeated in AI.

Who did they not seek? The Lord, because God has to be in the lead. When they were defeated in AI, when they finally defeated AI, how did they do it? By seeking God because God has to be in the lead. And I thought, I can't get ahead of God. I have to seek him and I have to follow his direction. And until I have received God's direction, I can't move. But once I've received the direction,

I need to follow and I need to follow now because in order for me to walk in the promises of God, to walk in the rest that God has for me, God has to be the one in the lead. The problem in too many of our lives, in our lives is we're the ones in the lead. We're the ones trying to tell God what he should do. And we're the ones trying to tell God how he should do it.

And so if we are to see God's victory in our life, God has to be in the lead. Number two, faith is key. I have to believe the promises of God, meaning that I have to know the promises of God. I have to hear from God, but then I have to believe those promises. And you know what? I have to believe, I have to believe those promises in spite of how hard they are to believe in spite of how in spite of the inability that I sense in my own life.

I have to believe God even when it doesn't make sense. Can you imagine how Joshua would have felt when he gave him the instruction? I just want you to walk around the city of Jericho. Lord, you don't understand that doesn't make any sense. It doesn't have to make sense. You just have to believe and the belief that when God says, that's what we have to do. And we have to believe in spite of the size of the difficulty that we face.

We have to believe in spite of the size of the difficulty that we face because faith is key. And then number three, obedience is necessary. Obedience is necessary because faith is always intended to produce obedience in our lives. There's an old song. I think we, we went over this way back at the beginning of of the book of Joshua, but it goes like this. Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey because when God gives us a promise is to produce obedience brothers and sisters there remains a rest as we're told in the book of Hebrews for the children of God and we are to walk in that rest but God has to be in the lead.

Faith is our key. And we must walk in obedience. Amen. Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you. We thank you for the time that we've had in your word. I thank you for these wonderful stories, these wonderful lessons in the book of Joshua and God, I pray that you would continue to speak to our hearts. Draw us close to you. Help us to rest in you. Father,

Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.