 Well today we're in chapter 11 here in the book of Joshua. We'll look as I said at both chapters 11 and 12 But here in verse 1 Joshua chapter 11 will read to verse 5 We'll see how this chapter deals with what we would call a continuing conquest And so beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 5 Joshua chapter 11 we read and it came to pass When you have in King of Hazar heard these things That he sent to you out Joe Bob actually I shouldn't do that the way the pronounces in Hebrew is different than how we say it in English So I'm just going to read it in English because I don't read Hebrew But I know how some of these names are pronounced or sound like but I'll just read it as it's as it sounds and I'll begin again It came to pass when Charlie King of Hazar When Jaban King of Hazar heard these things that he sent to Joe Bob King of Maiden to the king of Shimran to the king of Oshoff The kings who were from the north the mountains in the plains south of Kinneroth in the lowland and in the heights of Door on the west to the Canaanites in the east and in the west the Amorite the Hittite Parasite Jebusite in the mountains the Hivite Below Herman 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 many horses and chariots and all these kings had met together They came and camp together at the waters of Merim to fight against Israel Now Joshua as we're looking at the book of Joshua. We need to remember that Joshua had a strategy Joshua had a plan He had a plan on how to conquer what has been referred to as the Promised Land and The strategy that he had was what we would today simply refer to as The the strategy of divide and conquer as we've been looking at the book of Joshua We see how that they entered in the the Jewish troops entered in at first to the center And so the center part or central Israel was initially conquered we saw how they came against Jericho and how they came against the small city of AI After they took Jericho and AI and that surrounding territory They began to go south and as they were proceeding south They went all the way down south if you're looking at the map of Israel they go all the way down south there by the Dead Sea So they began to take the south So by taking the center and taking the south they were dividing those properties or those portions of Israel from the north and So there was a plan involved. There was a strategy involved in the conquering of the land and it was divide and conquer Now undoubtedly this plan was something that didn't simply come Through experience or human ingenuity and the Bible tells us in Proverbs 16 verse one a man's heart plans his way But the Lord directs his steps So undoubtedly this was simply a plan that was given to Joshua By the Lord and so he began his dividing and conquering by entering into central Israel Going to the territory of the south and now he's ready to conquer the territory that is to the north Now we just read of this man. His name is Jabin here in verse one He came to pass when when Jabin king of hazer heard these things So we're introduced to a king by the name of Jabin now Jabin is identified as a king who rules in a very powerful city called hazer Now hazer was to the north when you look at a map once again You see the sea of Galilee to the north and hazer was in that general area. It was to the north there by the sea of Galilee and It was a city that he ruled in that was a very powerful city Hazer was also a very prestigious city in ancient times as I was doing some review on this I wanted to see if there are any Archaeological notations on this particular city that I could share with you and one source said Concerning the ruins that were discovered on the site of ancient hazer that the city also showed signs of having been a Magnificent Canaanite city prior to its destruction. It had great temples opulent palaces that were split into an upper acropolis It had the lower city and the town had been a major Canaanite city And so this particular city that was ruled by a man by the name of Jamet Jabin had had ample time to hear the things that had been going on to his south You see when you begin to look at the conquest of Of the promised land because we're just reading chapter by chapter We don't really get an inside or a sense of the length of time That would have had to have proceeded from the first entrance into the land to the conquering of the land Conservative scholars estimate no less than seven years So from the beginning when they came in and took Jericho AI went south When they went up to the north you're looking at a period of time that was lengthy We're looking at around seven years And so over the years that it had taken for for them to take Jericho and to take AI and to go down to the south and Establish and and begin to work and rule and all of that Well, that was plenty of time for this King up in the north by the name of Jabin to hear of What was taking place and to be at the ready because in the event that these Jews would be coming up to take his His land his city and and all he would have to be prepared And so he has had time to estimate What's going to take place it took years the campaigns took like I said up to seven years Conquests the news of the conquest has reached his ears And so his response is to develop a coalition And so he develops a coalition in order that he might oppose the Jews and he sends to various kings Even as we read their names He sent to Jobab the king of Medan That is a city that was to the north outside of the city of Tiberias if you were to look at a map and you were to look at the Sea of Galilee and you were to look on the Western shore in the center and go about five miles to the west that's where this particular city was There was another city that's mentioned here Shimran. It's a fortified city You had another another city called Ashtafs, which is the word means when pronounced correctly It means sorcery means fascination It may have that may give us some insight into the the religious faith of the inhabitants of that area And then you see something here that I find very interesting and this is something I'll just touch on for you But notice verse 2 when he speaks about the plain south of Kinneroth now I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but I am gonna rhetorically ask the question does anybody know Kinneroth and the answer is you all do Even if at the moment you don't recognize it The word Kinneroth the word Kinneroth means harp But it also has a Greek word that is associated with Kinneroth and it's Ganeser it Ganeser it is is another way of speaking of the Sea of Galilee When you read your New Testament you see the Sea of Galilee and we all today in the 21st century when we speak concerning the That giant lake that is there in the north of Israel. We always refer to it as the Sea of Galilee It's reason it's called the Sea of Galilee. It's because it's a large lake and therefore they refer to it as the sea But in the Old Testament the Sea of Galilee is actually called Kinneroth or the Sea of Kinneroth The word harp there is Ganeser it in the New Testament the word Ganeser it is is the word harp in Greek And the reason it's called harp is simply because it had the shape of a harp And so this is simply giving to us geographic location and the key for us if we didn't know anything else and we wanted to know where this is taking place all we need to know is Kinneroth because Kinneroth is to the north that helped me even as I was reading this and and I knew that this was going to Take place in the north and all but that was a geographic location that helped me to be able to localize what was taking place And so all of this has taken place to the north this is up there by the Sea of Galilee So what does he do again? He develops a coalition to oppose the Jews Now in verse 3 it says to the Canaanites in the east the west the Amorite Hittite Parasite Jebusite Hivite below Herman land of Mitzvah 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 many horses and chariots and when all these kings had met together They came and camped together at the waters of Mirim to fight against Israel And so these people form an alliance and they are going to be opposing what they refer to and would consider invaders They joined their armies and by what is called the waters of Mirim the waters of Mirim if you were looking at the Sea of Galilee and and you saw a Tributary that was leading to it. It's like a line. That's kind of like just a like a small river of some sort that would be called the waters of Mirim and If you've been to Israel, then this will help you It's located in what is today referred to as the hula valley The hula valley we all know the hula valley is where the very first Hawaiian ever danced in the hula valley, but anyway So that's up to the north also and off to the to the west now I wanted to just make an application for just a moment. It's interesting to me I wonder certain conditions people can actually unite for a common cause in This case They were uniting In opposition, but they were uniting Because they wanted to preserve their way of life They united in what we would call today a common cause and their common cause was to resist their enemies and So they unite joining forces to fight against that which they're in opposition to and These are a group of people as we're going to see in a moment I'm going to develop this with you as we go through this study that were really under the judgment of God and Yet they had a heart to unite in opposition To what God was doing Now in their uniting together. It reminds me that of something that happened later on in their history It happened during the time of the prophet Samuel And when you read in 1st Samuel, you see that Israel had gone to fight the Philistines in And the first battle that they had ended poorly for Israel and the Bible tells us in this in this battle They lost some 4,000 soldiers So the Jews were dispirited and what they wanted to do is they wanted to guarantee success And so they had amongst them what was called the Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant was A symbol of the presence of God in the nation of Israel was a place where God Would actually allow his presence to be in order that he might commune with Israel The Ark of the Covenant was something that was of great value to the Jews And so the Jews had lost this battle. They lost 4,000 people They're greatly upset and so they make a determination They're going to continue fighting but now they're going to bring the Ark of the Covenant with them So for them it was really Almost a good luck charm a symbol of God's presence but not in a religious or a holy sense And so when the Ark of the Covenant is brought out amongst the the children of Israel a shout goes up Amongst the people they begin to shout because the Ark is there because they think that this Ark is going to guarantee their success against the Philistines Well the Philistine army Here's the shouting that's taking place and They have great fear Because they so my goodness their God is now amongst them and So they're aware of the stories that relate to God's presence with the children of Israel But the Philistines these these pagan people they were called the sea people these these pagan people Instead of running actually say something that is really amazing. It's found in 1st Samuel 4 verse 9 And this is how they strengthen themselves This is how they comfort themselves in 1st Samuel 4 9 it says that they said be strong and Conduct yourselves like men you Philistines That you do not become servants of the Hebrews as they have been to you Conduct yourselves like men and fight That's what the world does When the world begins to weigh through the options and begin to realize that their way of life The things that they do the things that they like the things that they value are coming under attack They have a tendency of uniting and they fight And guess what they don't quit the world doesn't quit Here's something for you. Some of you are aware of this others perhaps or not Some could care less and others will be greatly interested 1947 ancient history Dodgers had a Manager by the name of Leo de Rocha Anybody here remember the name? Leo de Rocha well-known names. How many of you don't know angel fans Leo de Rocha He was a very well-known Dodger manager. He was not known for being a moral man and Was committing adultery and when he was committing adultery a particular Catholic youth organization Called the commissioner of baseball this is 1947 and said that de Rocha is Undermining the morals of America's youth Because he's an unrepentant adulterer and You know what happened the commissioner of baseball called branch Ricky and told him Who was the general manager for the Dodgers? told him You need to suspend de Rocha Because this youth organization is threatening to boycott baseball games and If you don't suspend him We're going to lose a business and we're going to lose our our our model we're going to lose our our image and So when Jackie Robinson was brought into baseball To play in 47. He didn't play under the skipper. He didn't play under de Rocha He played under an interim manager because there was an uproar By this Catholic youth youth organization because of the undermining of morals and America in 1947 Would not have put up with that Fast-forward to 2013. What would happen now? We'd probably say Well what happened when this african-american basketball player came out and said he's at homosexual He becomes a model the new Jackie Robinson That's what happened that happened since 47 to 2013 The world doesn't stop The world doesn't give up The world continues moving the world continues fighting the world wants its way The church goes to sleep The church gives up But the world doesn't The church loses its traction, but the world doesn't the world keeps pushing It's anti-God agenda and will not cease So we're in a battle, aren't we? we are in a war and Thank God you're here tonight because to me it matters because a midweek study ought to matter We ought to get in the word of God. We ought to be in prayer. We ought to be in fellowship We ought to be aware of the times we're living in You see the Philistines did not want to yield and become servants to the Hebrews So they say fight like men be men That's a word that really should go out to all the believers in Jesus Christ in these last days, don't you think? All right, like people who know what's going on Fight like you understand the cost you see and So the world doesn't stop the world unites forms coalitions Opposes that which God is doing and will fight to the very end Believers ought to have the kind of mindset to realize that we are in a spiritual battle ourselves and We have to be equipped for works of service We have to be ready and we have to be armed and we are dangerous When we are armed and when we're walking in the Spirit we're dangerous to the kingdom of the enemy and so these kings meet together and They are going to fight it says in verse 5 against Israel 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 shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Merim. They attacked them and The Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel who defeated them and chased them to greater Sidon to the Brook, Miss Rippal Into the Valley of Mispah eastward They attacked them until they left none of them remaining So Joshua did to them as the Lord had told him he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire now These kings were powerful these kings were united they were in opposition You see in previous battles the enemy was not quite as prepared and don't seem to be as determined to oppose him So Joshua needs needs encouragement from the Lord Now the soldiers also need encouragement Even though they'd already seen God's hand as he delivered them before yet God needs to encourage them and he's going to do so it's going to encourage this this this military force through Joshua now Their forces may have been smaller than this coalition I want you to notice that it speaks concerning the fact that that there were there was a great multitude there was a great amount of enemies against them and so When we looked in Joshua 413 The number 40,000 was there telling us that they're at least in that passage We're around 40,000 Israeli soldiers and so they may have had a smaller fighting force than the coalition So they had experience they they'd already gone through battles and they were battle-hardened. That's true But they needed to trust in their God Now in in our spiritual lives battles are part of our walk They're they're part of the life that we live we get saved and And every believer in this room knows this beyond a shadow of a doubt when you got saved Life didn't get easier did it or it maybe it did for you it didn't for me It didn't get easier life became a little tougher Because I had made a choice to to now be living in opposition to the current of the world you see and so When I got saved I No longer could yield to the impulses of my my flesh that worse at one time were just the natural thing to do I now had to learn to Recognize myself to see myself to reckon myself to be dead in Christ and get alive I had to begin to understand that the old impulses were still going to attempt to drive me to behaviors But I needed to recognize myself as being Crucified with Christ and yet alive in Jesus. I needed to see myself as as more than a conqueror I needed to understand that God would be with me never leave me never forsake me I needed to understand that I was going to go through life and there was going to be hardship And that's part of the Christian life in this world. You shall have tribulation Jesus a big good cheer. I have overcome the world There will be opposition there will be pressure and all of that I needed to understand that I had to be aware of that And I needed to know that that though I was going through these things that there were going to be normal and they're going to be actually natural and in the Case of Israel God had already guaranteed them victory But Israel still needed to fight all the way back in chapter one in verses five and six It has said there no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses So I'll be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you and then he goes on to say be strong Get of good courage for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land Which I swear to their fathers to give them so God had said I'm not going to leave you I'm not going to forsake you I'm going to give you victory hold fast, but you're going to go through tough times and guess what? Every one of us in this room understand to some degree what that means Because all of us go through battles and all of us go through opposition ourselves And so they're going to learn what victory is and they're going to learn that they're going to have victory in the Lord And so in verse seven Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Marum And they attacked them and so he uses a tactic here of concentrating overwhelming force at high speed so this kept them off balance and It made it almost impossible for this for the for them to respond effectively against him And so he came upon them and he did exactly as the Lord had said he would do and he hamstrung according to verse 9 Their horses and he burned their chariots with fire now now today when we when we think of horses and chariots We think well, that's kind of like well, that's that that doesn't sound very frightening to me And that's only because we're in a mechanized age But you know right outside here if you go outside by the fences over there We there's some horses over there and some of you were raised around horses and all I I never really was other than that one They used to drop a nickel in and you could ride on in front of the supermarket That's pretty much the only horse I ever was on other than the ponies They used to bring through the neighborhood and put us in a little cowboy hats and chaps and and guns and get your pictures taken But I never was a cowboy though. I do love cowboy music and So I don't have a concept and I suppose the majority of us don't really have a concept of what this is really speaking about when it Speaks of chariots and it speaks of horses But you need to just remember one thing that the chariot was the what we would call a tank During the times of Joshua These these chariots were battle chariots and the horses were battle horses and Those horses drawing those heavy chariots that were armed and had On the on the wheels they would have razors that would just mow you down and they'd run over you with them These were tanks and when you would see all these chariots coming towards you fear would Immediately enter into you because it would be like you standing outside with a slingshot against the tank There was nothing you could do and yet God it said don't be afraid I'm going to be with you and even though they look like they can conquer you you are going to end up hamstringing Those horses those horses will not be able to run and do battle against you. You're going to take care of those chariots So that was almost an impossible thing to believe But that's exactly what God does God will give to you victory so many times and it looks like there's nothing there except defeat Well in verse 10 Joshua turned back at that time and took hazer and struck its king with the sword For hazer was formerly the head of all those kingdoms and they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword utterly Destroying them There was none left breathing Then he burned hazer with fire So all the cities of those kings and all the kings Joshua took struck with the edge of the sword He utterly destroyed them as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded But as for the cities that stood on their mounds Israel burned none of them except hazer only Which Joshua burned and all the spoil of these cities and The livestock the children of Israel took his booty for themselves But they struck every man with the edge of the sword Until they had destroyed them they left none breathing as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant So Moses commanded Joshua and so Joshua did he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses Well hazer once again, I mentioned hazer to you as we began Hazer was the principal city. So when striking hazer he cuts off the head thus killing the body He kills all the inhabitants and in doing so he's guaranteed that none would arise to seek retaliation in the future Now again verse 11 says he burned hazer with fire Now interestingly enough this has been verified through archaeological finds in the area one source says One archaeological stratum dating from around 1200 BC, which is the time of Joshua shows signs of catastrophic fire and Uniform tablets found at the site referred to monarchs. They named idni adi where idni may be the origin of Jabin and so there's archaeological proof that this actually took place and they are found in the ruins the burned Remnants of a once mighty city now in verses 12 through 14 It says all the cities of those kings and all the kings Joshua took and struck with the edge of the sword So after defeating their enemies Israel now is going to take the spoils of war the way they did at AI in Joshua 8 to it said you shall do to AI and its king as you did to Jericho and its king only its spoil in its Cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves lay an ambush for the city behind it And so they were able to take in pillage the cities now verse 15 I want to spend a moment looking at that with you because verse 15 says as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant So Moses commanded Joshua and so Joshua did he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses Joshua Joshua was a great soldier when you look at the qualities of Joshua You see that he had tremendous qualities This was a man Who was a man of character a man of integrity? He was spiritual. He was decisive. He was courageous. He was inspirational. He was resolute All of those qualities that he has Reveals him to be a great leader One who is worthy to follow and one that you can trust You can trust a spiritual individual a man who fears God You can trust a man who's decisive somebody who's not Vasylating constantly doesn't know exactly what to say Always kind of looking for a way to not have to deal with something Always putting things under investigation until he can come up with a conclusion He was decisive. He was courageous This was a man that that didn't flinch in the sight of war. He wasn't afraid of battle. He was inspirational He was the kind of man that would cause those around him who were valiant soldiers To take heart and to want to go and to want to fight and he was resolute He made a decision and he held fast to it And that's that's the kind of leader that you want to follow and that's the kind of leader that you'll trust But what was the key to his greatness? All of those things that I mentioned and I could have mentioned many more we've been looking at Joshua We've seen these things in him already. What was the key? What is the key to his greatness and and this is something that is so simple that that the average person misses it This is the thing that the average person doesn't see Especially those who are leaders They don't see it. It's interesting, but it's true The key to his success if you will the key to his greatness was obedience Obedience and want you to see that verse 15 once again look what it says The Lord had commanded Moses his servant So Moses commanded Joshua and so Joshua did What God had told Moses and Moses had given to Joshua Joshua obeyed his obedience to God and His faithfulness to what had been handed to him Revealed the quality in him. That was the key to his greatness revealed his faith It revealed the source of his character the source of his integrity it revealed that he was a man under orders and That he was faithful to that which was delivered to him and That is a man you can trust Paul when he was writing to Timothy and 2nd Timothy chapter 2 said the things that I've given to you I want you to deliver the faithful men Who are able to teach who can deliver them to other faithful men so on and so on and so on through the history of the church Because the church was intended by God to be led by men who were faithfully obedient to God's word That's what the church is intended to be led by men who are obedient to God who take what God is given to them and Do it Joshua did what he had been commanded and Joshua left nothing undone Joshua was a man who was obedient to the Lord Oswald Chambers said the golden rule for understanding in spiritual matters is not intellect But obedience if you want To understand the things of the Lord the deeper things of God Though it is a great thing if the Lord should lead you to go to school I'm very supportive of those who have a heart to to gain in education to be used by the Lord in a variety of ways Through the degrees that they earn. That's a wonderful thing I was speaking to some guys just yesterday several pastors that I meet with on a monthly basis and I said, you know Calvary Chapel has had a had a reputation in the past that We were Anti-intellectualism and there are those who have actually written books concerning Calvary Chapel philosophy who have stated in print that Calvary Chappals are are filled with a fear of higher education. That's not true. What so ever? You know, I was telling the guys. I said, you know when I go to the doctor I'm very grateful for the training the doctors had I don't want to go to a doctor who says, you know what I've watched a lot of doctor shows And I really feel inclined towards doctoring and I'd like to take out your gallbladder just to see what it's like I I don't want to go to somebody who has a feeling that he's got a calling to be a doctor I do appreciate when you had a sense of calling to be a doctor who's also trained and So in ministry in ministry, there's a sense of calling you have to have an anointing of the Holy Spirit that you have to have But it's also a blessing when you have also training and You're able to learn certain things and put certain things into practice and all of that but all the training that you have is Useless if you think that the training in and of itself is what constitutes spiritual maturity Because knowledge puffs up that love builds up and When you look at at at knowledge in and of itself Knowledge is the great temptation that was first offered to Eve When Satan said to Eve When you take of this forbidden fruit you shall know even as God knows You're going to know the difference between good and evil. It was a temptation to knowledge because knowledge is power and Knowledge that isn't under the authority of God is dangerous And one of the most dangerous people you'll ever encounter is somebody who's highly educated with no morals Because they can end up like that doctor who's killing those babies Highly trained at it for a long time with no morals killing children So education in and of itself without morals and obedience to the higher things can be a dangerous thing and So what we want is we want to grow and the way that we grow is through knowing the word of God and obeying God's word and Growing spiritually will always be tied up with simple obedience to the things that we study in God's word It's not what we don't understand. That's the problem It's what we do understand and refuse to obey that that is the problem There are big times that I have spoken to people who have had a problem And I have shared with them listen This is what the Bible says and this is how that problem can be solved and I'll give them a scripture and and and they'll say I already know that I Already know that That's when I quote out of John 13 now Jesus said if you know these things Blessed are you if you what if you do them? It's not enough for you to say oh I already know that see there are a lot of people who who say that they at one time were Christians and They're no longer a Christian because it just doesn't work Now what they've done is they basically claimed to know Christ based on maybe attending church or having a few Bible studies Or maybe reading some of the Bible and then they wanted something desperately that wasn't within the will of God for them in their life They didn't get it. They were upset and therefore God isn't real because he didn't give me what I wanted obedience It's it's simple and yet it's difficult because it requires dying to sell Joshua was obedient and his obedience gave his leadership credibility That obedience Was also true in the ministry of Jesus Christ himself There was a it was so obvious that there was an occasion when a Roman centurion Had approached the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of a servant of his who was very ill and Jesus when he spoke to in the centurion spoke to Jesus about his servant who was ill Jesus had said I'll come to your house and and and the Roman centurion Centurion responded it's found in Matthew 8 verses 8 through 10 where it says the centurion answered and said Lord I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof But only speak a word and my servant will be healed, but he goes on to say for I also Am a man under authority having soldiers under me I say to this one go when he goes to another come and he comes and to my servant do this and he does it When Jesus heard it he marveled and said to those who followed assuredly I say to you I have not found such great faith not even in Israel This man said I too am a man under authority. He saw something in Jesus Johnny 29 Jesus said the one who sent me is with me. He hasn't left me alone for I always do what pleases him Jesus was under authority authority of his father we are under the authority of our God and And when we are under the authority of God that simply means that we are going to be obedient to him Joshua obeyed God and That's what made Joshua a powerful leader and that's what made men and a nation able to follow after him as The Lord had commanded Moses his servant so Moses commanded Joshua and so Joshua did He left nothing Undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses now in Deuteronomy 7 1 and 2 It says when the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess and has Cast out many nations before you the Hittites Gershites Amorites Canaanites Parasites Hivites Jebusites Seven nations greater and mightier than you and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you You shall conquer them and utterly destroy them You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them and that's exactly what Joshua did He took care of business Now in verse 16 So Joshua took all this land the mountain country all the south all the land of Goshen the lowland The Jordan Plain the mountains of Israel and its lowlands from Mount Alak to the ascent of Seir Even as far as well God in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon He captured all their kings struck them down killed them Joshua made war a long time with all those kings The land of Goshen we hear of that if you're looking at a map and you're looking at Egypt The land of Goshen would be to the top north and all the way to the eastern area that would be called the The land of Goshen Mount Alak is south of the Dead Sea Seir is a mountain range in Jordan south of the Dead Sea also and by all God is in the north at the foot of Mount Hermon So it's just giving you a geographic location of all the places that had been taken in verse 14 there was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel except they have hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon all the others They took in battle and we remember that the Gibeonites deceived them into a peace treaty For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle that he might utterly destroy them And they might reason that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them as Lord had commanded Moses the people in That area when you read this you may be thinking that sounds kind of harsh but the people in the area were given over to their various sins and None not the least being the sin of idolatry and As they yielded to these sins They be they were voluntarily hardening themselves against God and and their sins had produced a hardness and this hardness yields to an insensibility to God and An unwillingness to be repentant and so this hardness to God and an unrepentant heart is Enough cause for God to bring judgment Proverbs 28 14 says happy is the man who is always reverent But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity Proverbs 29 one says he who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy So hardness had taken place in these people and so God judgment against them Romans 2 4 asks a question. Do you despise the riches of his goodness? Forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance So we need to understand that that just because we haven't been judged immediately when we do some sinful act Does it mean that God is showing approval of it? It simply means that God has given a space to repent. He's given us some time to do so He's given to us opportunity to think it through to be convicted in order that we might repent seek forgiveness and change But if we harden our hearts continually then the only thing that's going to happen for us would be judgment He goes on in verse 21 to say And at that time Joshua came and caught off the anarchy From the mountains from Hebron Debra from Annab from all the mountains of Judah From all the mountains of Israel Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities None of the anachem were left in the land the children of Israel They remained only in Gaza in Gath and in Ashton So joshua took the whole land according to all That the lords had said to moses and joshua gave it as an inheritance to israel According to the divisions by their tribes and then the land rested from war Anachem Who are these anachem? They're in a movie called star wars. You know, who is anachem? Well, I just give you I just Cut and paste this because it said it well the anachem Our race of giants descended from anach They dwelt in the south of the land of Canaan near Hebron According to genesis 14 They inhabited the region afterwards known as Edom and Moab in the days of Abraham Their formidable appearance as described by the 12 spies Sent to search the land filled the Israelites with terror They were giants is what they were The Israelites seemed to have identified them with the Nephilim The giants found in genesis 6 and numbers 13 That lived before the flood Joshua finally expelled them from the land Accepting a remnant that found a refuge in the cities of Gaza Gath and Ashton Now those three cities by the way are philistine cities The philistine giants whom David encountered in 2nd Samuel as As well as Goliath and 1st Samuel were descendants of the anachem We all know of Goliath But Goliath wasn't the only giant Goliath as we know through studying scripture and taking into consideration Um The dimensions was a man who was nine foot nine inches tall And I I've read in the past how people say that's why I don't believe the bible is accurate because It speaks of human beings that reached the height of over nine feet But uh, there was an individual who was the tallest individual alive at his time. He was eight feet ten inches tall And so even in in recent time we've had individuals who are well over eight feet tall This was a particular race though that has been referred to here the anachemes And they were a race of giants they were fearsome and formidable and very frightening To the to the jews And even as stated even as I was reading this a moment ago When uh joshua and Caleb and the other ten spies Went to spy out the land in preparation of taking it conquering it We read how that they went out there went from the top to the to the bottom and they were gone for For quite some time and they returned and they even brought some remnants of the fruit of the land to demonstrate how How lush and how it was producing such wonderful things and all and and as they came back They said it's great. There's no doubt about it and the land is absolutely beautiful And but there's one problem that we found with it that that concerns us greatly and and it's the fact that they have giants in the land The giants that are being referred to there are the anachemes the the ones who were they were over nine feet tall And and the way they spoke concerning them was simply this they said They are we are like grasshoppers in their site Which is one way of saying it but the thing that i've always found interesting in that passage is when they said also And we are grasshoppers in our own site the anarchy giants Great opposition The problem that they were going to encounter was human problem. They were giants The giants had this haughty attitude. It's kind of like goliath had even as he showed it to david David looks at him and and then goliath looks back at david and What is this? What am I a dog that you'd come and chase me down with sticks? I come over here. He says so I can I can kill you and I'll give your body to the To the words of the air. Let's get this done quickly I had a cutout when I was taking you through the battle of david and goliath and I had a nine foot nine in Inch cut out of a you know So it was human size that looked human and I some of you may have been here It was a couple years ago a few years ago and I stood next to it and I came up basically basically through the belt I mean that's how huge goliath was And he's looking down at this this little shepherd boy And he comes with five smooth stones and a sling shepherd sling But david's strength was not in his ability to cast a stone in a sling though. He was an expert at it It wasn't even his courage that he had because the man was an absolute warrior himself who took down the wolf He could take down the lion Bear handed basically he was he was a soldier. He was a warrior. This is a man who was fierce and there's no doubt about it But he was coming against an opponent who was nine foot nine a battle hardened opponent one of the giants david said well you come to me with your weapons of war, but I come to you in the name of god and I have to tell you Today he's going to give you into my hands And I'm going to take your head off your body I'm going to feed your body to the birds of the air Because I come to you in the name of god And if we could if we could only understand that Then those things that have become giants in our lives would be overcome Because it's not in your own strength. Listen carefully. It's not in your own strength You can't do it in your own strength It's in the strength of the lord And your strength doesn't come through you standing up Your strength comes when you kneel down And you submit yourself to god And you say god Help me. I can't do this That was the key to joshua's greatness Yes, he was courageous and yes He had integrity and yes, he was valiant in every way that you could be But there was something about joshua that we need to learn from today and that is He was obedient Trusted god he did what god said God blessed him god will bless us too If we're obedient also see Now finally chapter 12 It's just a list of the names of the kings that were conquered So we're not going to go through that it simply says in verse 24 All the kings 31 So what you have in chapter 12 are the kings that were initially in the first few verses The kings that had been conquered by moses and then from verse 7 to the conclusion continuation The kings conquered by joshua And so quite obviously we don't need to go through these names of all these kings other than there's one Interesting verse in verse 6 and then i'll close with this where it says in chapter 12 verse 6 Moses the servant of the lord and the children of israel Had conquered moses the servant of the lord had given it as a possession to the rubinites So that shows us that there were mexicans in israel back at that time The rubinites