When the Battle Comes, Call Out to Joshua

Joshua chapter 10, verse 1 states, "Now it came to pass, when Adonai Zedek, the king of Jerusalem, had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it, as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city and one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty."

Wherefore, Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Dahoham, king of Hebron, to Depiram, king of Jammah, to Jepha, king of Lachish, and to Debir, king of Eglon, saying, "Come up unto me and help me, that we may smite Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel."

Let's pray. Father, as we take time to look into this passage of Scripture this evening, I ask that You would open our hearts and speak to us. Lord, that we would glean from the pages of Your Word. There are wonderful things that You want to share with us. Your Word is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and is able to cut deep within our hearts, to divide between joint and marrow, soul and spirit. Truly, it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of our hearts.

This evening, Lord, I pray that You would use it like the surgeon's scalpel to open up our hearts. Father, that You would speak directly to us. I ask that You would bind the enemy from this place. As Michael, the archangel, when he contended with the enemy over the body of Moses, said, "The Lord rebuke you." So tonight, Lord, I ask that You would rebuke the enemy from this place.

Lord, that Your Word, as it's sown, would not be eaten up by the birds, by the enemy, but that it would take root. It would find good ground, ground that's been prepared by Your Spirit. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated.

As we saw a couple of weeks ago, as we were going through Joshua chapter 9, the children of Israel have prevailed in battle against Jericho, which in Scripture is a picture of the world. They then prevailed in battle against Ai, which, of course, is a picture of our flesh being so small, and yet it has such power over us.

Then the enemy in the area—the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Perizzites—all of those "ites" that lived in the land of Canaan, when they heard about these things, we saw in Joshua chapter 9, verse 1...

They came together for different reasons. One group of people wanted to fight against Israel, while another group sought to form an alliance with the children of Israel. We saw a couple of weeks ago that the Gibeonites came and acted cunningly, as the Scripture says in Joshua chapter 9. They deceived the children of Israel.

We discussed how our enemy, the adversary, the devil, comes against us with two tactics. The first tactic we talked about two weeks ago was folly. The enemy seeks to bring folly into our lives. He comes in subtly, like the serpent he is, trying to get close enough to take us out. The Bible tells us, specifically in 1 Corinthians, that he sometimes masquerades as an angel of light. Our adversary tries to lead us astray with his subtle words, just as he deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3. He also sought to deceive Jesus after His baptism in Matthew chapter 3. In Matthew chapter 4, we see Jesus going into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, where He fasted. The enemy approached Him when He was at His weakest, attempting to subtly take Him out. However, we saw that Jesus prevailed against the enemy during that time.

In our last study of Joshua 9, we observed how the children of Israel failed. They fell into a league with a small group of people called the Gibeonites. They acted foolishly, just as the enemy had intended. However, we also learned that God is able to take our blunders and turn them into blessings. He transformed the covenant that the Israelites made with the Gibeonites into something useful. God intended to use the Gibeonites for the service of the temple.

At the beginning of chapter 9, we noted that the enemy also brought force. To delve deeper into this, we turn to Joshua chapter 10. There, in verse 1, we read about a man named Adonai Zedek, the king of Jerusalem, who heard about these events. The enemy was aware of the prevailing army of Israel, so what did he do? He gathered together with four other kings and formed an alliance of five kings.

They don't come against Joshua and the children of Israel because Adonai Zedek knows that this army is too big and too great for him. Instead of going against Joshua and the armies of Israel, he goes against Gibeon. Gibeon was a great city, filled with mighty men of valor, as we read in verse 2. When Adonai Zedek saw that this city of great men, this royal city in Canaan, had fear of Joshua and had made a league with him to be friends, he realized that if they couldn't stand against this army, then surely he couldn't either. However, he decided to take out the Gibeonites; he wanted to get rid of them.

Adonai Zedek in Scripture is a picture of the Antichrist. Notice first his name, Adonai Zedek, which means "Lord of Righteousness." The enemy tries to masquerade as an angel of light, appearing to be something good when, in reality, he is full of wickedness and lies. He is the father of lies, as Scripture tells us. Adonai Zedek comes along, and his name means the Lord of Righteousness. He was the king of Jerusalem, the city of peace, the city of our God. However, that is just how he masqueraded himself; it is not who he really was.

He banded together with four kings: Hoham, king of Hebron; Piram, king of Jarmath; Japheth, king of Lachish; and Debir, king of Eglon. He said, "Come up, let's go against Gibeon because it has made peace with Joshua and the children of Israel."

Interestingly enough, Gibeon in this portion of Scripture is a picture of you and me. You might wonder how that is possible. Many of us who have come to the Lord did so in pretense, in falsehood, seeking to escape judgment. Many of you didn't want to go to hell. I know when I was a young boy and my mom told me about God and His good news, I certainly didn't want to go to hell. Who wants to go to hell? To escape judgment, we turned to the Lord. That is exactly what the Gibeonites did; they sought to get away from judgment. They knew that judgment and destruction were coming, so they went to Joshua. You and I, seeing judgment and destruction on the horizon, also sought refuge.

We ran to our Joshua, Jesus, seeking refuge. There are many people in the world who have done that, who have sought refuge in the arms of Christ. And then, immediately thereafter, the battle comes. The trial comes. The testing comes. The enemy comes and shakes his fist at you, as this group of people did here in Joshua chapter 10.

Let's read on. It says in verse 5, "Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hoam or Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon gathered themselves together and went up, and they and all their hosts encamped before Gibeon and made war against it." You see, when you and I, when we first come to the Lord, and those people who came to the Lord last week at the Billy Graham crusade, maybe they came out of pretense. Maybe as Billy was preaching and he said, "You don't want to go to hell," people sat there and thought, "You're absolutely right, I don't want to go to hell."

So he gives them a way out and says, "The Lord has made a way out, and you need to come to the Lord and give your life completely to Him so that His sacrifice may cover your sin and mine." Many thousands of people last week got out of their chairs and said, "That's exactly what I want." And you need to come to the Lord.

We know this very week, as they made a league with the Lord and a covenant with God, the enemy, the adversary, the devil, has come against them. Maybe you've experienced that same thing in your life. You may have made a recommitment last week, or maybe even in the last few days you've just reaffirmed that faith in the Lord. And now the battle comes, and Adonai Zedek and his four minions are there gathered around your life, and you're fearful.

But you know our God defeated Satan. Did you know that? Hopefully, you do. Two thousand years ago, there on Calvary, the prophecy of Genesis chapter 3 was fulfilled, where God said that of your seed, woman will come one who will bruise the head or crush the head of the serpent, but you will crush his heel. He spoke there to the serpent in Genesis chapter 3.

Satan, there on Calvary 2,000 years ago, thought that he had won the battle. But in reality, he had only bruised the heel of our Savior. The scars still remain, but He rose from the dead, conquering death, killing Satan, crushing his head. So the battle is won.

Satan is defeated, and yet God still allows him to bring battles and wars against us. What for? Notice that God allowed these five kings to come against the children of Gibeon. The Gibeonites had made a league with Joshua and with the nation of Israel, and thus with God. But now the enemy comes against them. Why would God allow that to happen in their lives? And why does God allow it to happen in our lives?

Well, God allows the trials and these wars and battles to come against us to try us and to show us that we are true, so that we truly are tried and true. He wants to prove our faith. As with Abraham, many of you know the story. There in the book of Genesis, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness in Genesis chapter 15, verse 6. The Apostle Paul in the book of Romans tells us that Abraham, our father, was justified by faith when he believed God.

However, if you go over into the book of James, you read that Abraham, our father, was justified by his works when he offered his son Isaac on the mountaintop. Many people have questioned over the years whether there is a contradiction in Scripture. Paul says that Abraham was justified by his faith, while James says that Abraham was justified by his works. What's the deal? Many have used this to argue that the Bible is not true and that the Christian faith is false.

Yet, James goes on to say that these works were to prove Abraham's faith. You see, in Genesis chapter 15, verse 6, Abraham did believe in God, and the Bible rightly states that it was accounted unto him as righteousness. But then in Genesis chapter 22, the Lord came to Abraham and said, "Abraham." Abraham replied, "Here I am." The Lord continued, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on a place that I will show you."

The very next verse says that Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his servants and his son Isaac, and went into the land of Moriah. When he arrived, the Lord showed him the place. Isaac said to the two servants, "You two stay here, and I and the lad will go yonder to worship the Lord, and we will come back to you."

As they climbed the mountain, Isaac, being a smart man, was probably 20 years old or older at this time. Many people picture him as being a young boy, but that's not the case.

He said, "Dad, we have the wood for the offering, we have the knife, we have the fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham replied, "God will provide Himself a lamb for the burnt offering." They then made their way to the top of the mountain. In fact, we know that the mountain they ascended, Mount Moriah, is the very same mountain where, some years later—4,000 years later—our Savior would be crucified.

There, Isaac yielded his life to the Father. The son yielded to the Father and laid himself down upon the altar. Abraham bound him up and was about to lay his very own son down when God spoke in that still small voice, "Abraham." He responded, "Yes, Lord, here I am." The Lord said, "Now I know that you will not withhold anything from Me."

You see, God knew that Abraham's faith was true because he had been tried. The work that Abraham had just done showed that he truly believed in God and trusted in Him. In fact, the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, known as the Hall of Faith, states that Abraham knew that if he had slain his own son, God was able to raise him from the dead. He had faith in God, and it is our faith that saves us.

The Bible says in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8, "For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." It is by God's grace through our faith that we are saved. Some people say, "Well then, we have something to do with it because we believe." However, the book of Romans states that God has given each of us a measure of faith. Even that faith is a gift from God that He has implanted in every single one of our hearts.

Paul, in the book of Romans, goes on to say that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I want to share the best way to witness to someone: just read them the Scriptures. As you give forth the word of God, that little bit of faith that God planted in their hearts will begin to grow because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Every single human being that has ever lived or ever will live has been given a measure of faith by God. When that person begins to cry out and believe in the Lord, the Lord immediately allows the enemy to come against them, bringing battles before them so that God can demonstrate that they truly do believe in Him. Read the book of Job, and you'll see that God allows the enemy.

To do unbelievable things to His people, so that Satan, the world, and God can show that this person truly does believe in Him. The Gibeonites came to Joshua, as recorded in Joshua chapter 9, seeking to escape judgment, just as many of you have. In the very next few days, the enemy came against them, and God allowed it so that He could prove that these Gibeonites were true believers, that they truly did follow God, and that they truly trusted in Joshua.

When the battle comes against us, we have one of two choices to make. We can choose to fall to temptation when the enemy brings trials. We can say to Adonai Zedek, "Hey, I was just kidding last week when I made that covenant with Joshua. I didn't really mean that; I just needed to get that guy off my back." Those people who took me to that Billy Graham crusade, I just needed to go forward so that they'd stop hounding me.

I'm just like you; I'm just one of you. The Gibeonites had the choice to say that. They could have told Adonai Zedek, when he surrounded their city with his men, "Hey, you know what, man? We just needed to get those Israelites off our back. We knew they were coming, so we figured the best way to keep them from killing us was to go down there and sign a covenant with them."

The Lord allows the battle to show, "Will you do that? Or if there's a choice that you've made to follow the Lord, is it true? Is it real?" The other choice is that you turn to the Lord when the battle comes.

Let's see what happened. Those five kings came against them, and in verse 6, it says, "And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua." The men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua at the camp of Gilgal, saying, "Slack not thy hand from thy servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us."

Then verse 7 says, "So Joshua ascended." How wonderful it is to know that Joshua ascended, and so did our Jesus. He ascended into heaven in Acts chapter 1. The angels stood there with the disciples as they looked up and gazed into the heavens, and they said, "Man, what's going on here?" The angels replied, "He will so likewise come back."

Once again, you see the one that we believe in, the one that we've made a covenant with. Not only did He make that covenant with us and die upon the cross, but He also raised from the dead and is coming back. We look forward to that day when He will return.

The interesting thing in verse 6, where it says "come to us quickly," is that if you look it up in the Hebrew, the word for "come" and "quickly" is "mera." In Greek, it is "maranatha," which is actually an Aramaic word. In the book of Corinthians, I believe it is, we cry out, "Maranatha, come quickly, Lord Jesus." And Joshua ascended.

The cool thing about our God is that He has made a covenant with us. Whether out of pretense or truth, God has made a covenant with all those people who went forward last week at the Billy Graham crusade. He will not break His covenant. The Bible says that His promises are true; they are yes and amen. God will not break that promise; however, you and I can break the covenant.

Scripture tells us in Jeremiah that we are married to God, yet the children of Israel turned away from Him and committed adultery. You see, God would not turn away from them, but they turned away from God. They made a covenant with Him, and God will not be slack concerning that promise, as 2 Peter 3:9 tells us. God is not slack concerning His promises, but we sometimes are. We turn away from the Lord at times.

Now, I'm not saying that if you turn away from the Lord and fall into sin, you are not saved. However, if you continue to lead a life where you no longer follow the Lord, Scripture clearly tells us in 1 Corinthians 6 that such people who live such a life, who practice such things, will not inherit the kingdom of God. But God said through Paul an amazing thing: "And such were some of you. But you've been washed."

You see, God wants to wash us every single day with the water of His word, as Ephesians 5 tells us. But we are the only ones who can jump out of that tub. We can run off and say, "No, I don't want you to wash me. I don't want you to sanctify me." The Lord will allow us to do that. He will constantly come after us and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and follow me." That still small voice is always behind you. Whether you go far from the Lord or just turn and walk away for a couple of days, God is always right there behind you.

All you have to do is turn to Him. You don't have to undo all the wicked things you've done and then come to God. No, you just need to turn to Him. The children of Gibeon, the Gibeonites, turned to Joshua. They called out to Joshua.

When the battle comes in your life, what do you do? Do you turn to the enemy and say, "Hey, I was just kidding about that contract I made with the Lord"? Or do you turn to Joshua and say, "Lord, I need Your help. I'm calling out to You. Come quickly to us. Come and help us. Save us"? The Gibeonites did that, and Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.

The Lord said unto Joshua in verse 8, "Fear them not, for I have delivered them into your hand. There shall not one man of them be able to stand before you." You see, in the past, Joshua had erred. Remember he erred at Ai when he did not seek the Lord? He did not ask counsel of the Lord. He also erred in Joshua chapter 9 when he didn't ask counsel of the Lord.

So here the call comes from the Gibeonites: "Come up and save us. Come up and help us." And Joshua, you know, it's immediate. He thought, "I gotta go. I can't wait for three days to hear from the Lord. I gotta go right now." And so he went up, and the Lord spoke to him. The Lord said, "Hey man, don't worry about it. Fear not, for I've delivered them into your hand."

It says in verse 9, "Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly." He didn't wait. When he heard the word of the Lord, he immediately, without hesitation, went. There are some of you tonight who have heard the word of the Lord. The Lord has told you what you need to do, and yet you hesitate. You say, "Well, I don't really know. I'm gonna wait and see."

You see, the Lord delights in those who, when they hear the word of the Lord, immediately do what He has called them to do. They may seek counsel, but if the Lord is telling them to do something in His word, be sure that God always speaks through His word. There are many people who say, "Well, God just told me in my heart." Well, if God told you in your heart, then He will confirm it through His word. If He doesn't, don't make a move until He does. His word is true; our hearts are fickle.

You notice that yet? Does anybody in this room know that their heart is fickle? I do. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9, that my heart is wicked, desperately wicked. I don't even know the depths of the depravity of my heart. We were singing that song this evening.

The more I see You or the more You show me who You are, the more I see myself as I am. As the Lord begins to show Himself to us, I realize that I am really, really wicked. I have to cry out to the Lord. Lord, I see that I'm wicked and that I can't do anything apart from You. That's a good place to be, where you realize your own wretchedness and your own sinfulness, and then you fall upon the Lord.

You don't fall on the ground in self-pity and say, "I'm so wicked and wretched; I can't do anything." No, you fall upon the Lord, who has done it all already. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me, as stated in Philippians 4:13. The antithesis of that is found in John 15, where the Lord says, "You can do nothing apart from Me."

It's a good place to be when you know that you can't do anything apart from the Lord, but you can do all things through Him. The Lord desires that we would have that understanding. Until we do, He allows battles to come into our lives to show us that we need Him.

The Gibeonites made the right choice the first time when they called out to Joshua. They said, "We need help. Come save us." Joshua went straight up, and the Lord said, "Hey, I'm going to be with you. Don't fear. I'm delivering them into your hands." So Joshua went suddenly; he didn't wait. He went up from Gilgal all night, and the Lord discomfited them, or routed them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon. He chased them along the way that goes up to Beth Horn and smote them to Azekah and unto Makeda.

Makeda is the place where they make drills. In fact, Ivan has been looking for his Makeda for about five years, ever since I started here. Ivan, it's in Israel. The Lord, it says there, discomfited them. If you look that up in a thesaurus, you'll find that it also means He embarrassed them.

So here are these five kings. They think they're all bad and go against the Gibeonites, but God comes down there and embarrasses them. The Psalms tell us that God laughs at them from heaven. Isn't it a wonderful thing to know that God laughs at His enemies from heaven? They come against Him with all that they have; they've got their tanks, their guns, and everything they possess, and God just kind of chuckles. "You're going to come at Me with that? That's it, huh? Hey, we've got nuclear bombs."

Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? Maybe I should refresh your memory. They're not there anymore. You see, the Lord looks from heaven and sees His enemies, and there are many. God laughs. The Lord embarrassed them, discomfited them, and routed them from before Israel. Notice that Israel didn't really need to do much of anything; God did the work.

In our lives, when the battle is hot, we need to call out to Joshua. He will fight for us if we trust in Him. There are many people who think it seems dumb to trust in someone they can't see or to trust in the Bible. How do they know that this is the spoken word of God? Well, God says to test and see. Take that step of faith. The Gibeonites did that. They called out to Joshua, and Joshua came. The Lord discomfited the people before Israel and slew them with a great slaughter. The children of Israel chased them all the way to this place, and it came to pass that as they fled from before Israel and were going down to Beth Horon, the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died.

Here are these people, these five kings who thought they were all bad, running away from Gibeon as Joshua comes. The Lord starts raining down hail upon them from heaven, and these guys begin to die. There were more who died with the hailstones than those whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. God killed more of them than Israel did. He just took them out, casting down rocks—probably not icy hailstones, but very likely rocks of some sort that God cast down from heaven.

There are several scientists who have an explanation for this whole situation, but I'm not going to get into that tonight. If you want to look into it, talk with me after the service. The Lord cast down hailstones, killing more of them than the children of Israel killed with the sword. Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of all Israel, "Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Aijalon."

So here the Lord is casting down these rocks upon this escaping army, and the children of Israel are chasing after them.

They were just watching what the Lord was doing, but the sun was starting to go down. So, Joshua said, "Hey, Lord, stop the sun." In great faith, Joshua spoke directly to the sun. He said, "Sun, stand still, and moon, stay where you're at." And the sun stood still in verse 13, and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is this not true? Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hastened not to go down about a whole day.

You can go into our library, the little library we have over in the high school room, or you can go over to Westminster Library, and you can get every single commentary there is on this passage of Scripture. You can look into what all these different scientists and theologians think about this. They say this is absolutely impossible—that the sun would stand still. Well, Scripture tells us that the sun stood still and the moon stayed.

In fact, if you start to look back into ancient cultures throughout the world, you find that many cultures speak about a long day or a long night. The Incas, I believe it is, in Central America, have actually had writings found that speak of a long night. You might say, "Well, it was a long day in Scripture." Well, they're on the other side of the world, so for them, it was a long night. There are all kinds of different cultures that back this up. Yet scientists today say that's impossible.

Well, if God created the heavens, can't He stop them? Can't He just say, "All right, slow down"? There are also some scientists who say, "Hey, if the earth stops spinning, we're traveling." Do you know how fast we're traveling right now? It's somewhere about 16,000 miles per hour that we're spinning around in our solar system. Many scientists say that if the earth stops spinning, then all of us would fly off by inertia at 16,000 miles per hour and we'd fly off the face of the earth.

However, a study was done a few years ago by some physicists who wanted to investigate this. They said if the earth slowed down at a gradual rate, it would only take 15 minutes for it to come to a stop, and no one would ever feel it. So God could just say, "All right, slow down." It slows down, and nobody on earth even has a clue. They wouldn't even get motion sick.

I was at Magic Mountain yesterday, and I got motion sick, let me tell you. But you see, scientists can hurl all their theories at God. They are the enemies of God, and God just laughs at them again.

Because the scripture says, "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." On the day of Christ Jesus, God gives them a big fat F for fool. This includes all those scientists, Darwin included, who said, "Well, there is no God. We don't believe in Him." The book of Romans, chapter 1, tells us all about those people who didn't want to know about God. God gave them over to a debased mind. The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man. This is a straight miracle.

Notice what it says about this miracle as we go on in verse 14. There was no day like that before or after when the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. God says there has never been a day like this before or since. Truly, this is a miracle. The Lord says there will never be a day like this where He hearkens to the voice of a man. But here, Joshua says, "Son, stand still," with great faith. And God says, "All right," and He does it.

Because the Lord fought for Israel, we see what the Lord will do for His people when we allow Him to fight for us. So many Christians today are trying to cast out the demon of cigarettes or cast out the demon of lust. However, there is no demon of lust or demon of cigarettes inside of you. It's the wickedness of your heart. The only one who can rid that out of your heart and mine is the Lord God. When we allow Him to fight for us, He does amazing things. He is able to make time stand still so that the Lord can bring about great things.

For the Lord fought for Israel, and Joshua returned, along with all Israel, to the camp at Gilgal. But these five kings fled. These guys, who were so big and bad, thought, "We're going to get these Gibeonites, and we're going to stop this army that's coming through." Now they have run, and these five kings cling to themselves and hide in the cave at Makeda. It was told unto Joshua that the five kings were found in the cave at Makeda. Joshua said, "Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave and set men by it to keep them. And do not stay, but pursue after the enemies and smite the hindmost of them."

Smite all the people who were at the back of the army. Suffer them not to enter into the cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand. When the battle comes, you and I do battle every single day of our lives as we walk with the Lord. If you're not walking with the Lord, then the battle won't be hot. However, the battle gets very hot in your life and mine as we begin to follow the Lord.

That's why Paul would tell the church at Ephesus to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand. Stand in the wicked day, and having done all, stand therefore. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of truth, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, take up that shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. The word for darts there could actually be translated as missiles—the fiery missiles of the wicked one.

The Romans, in the day that Paul wrote that, had a spear, a javelin that had a hollowed-out lead point on the end of it. They would fill it with pitch or tar, light it on fire, and throw it at the coming army. It would hit the shield, and the pitch and tar would fly all over the place on fire, burning people to death. They were called missiles. That is what the enemy is hurling at every single one of you, trying to take us out, trying to burn us. He can't take us down into hell to burn us eternally, so he wants to burn us now.

The Lord says to put on the whole armor of God. Put it on and don't take it off. There have been many preachers who have taught that every morning you’ve got to put it on. I say to you, don’t take it off at nighttime. Keep it on all the time so that you'll be able to stand in the wicked day, because every single day with the Lord is a wicked day when the enemy comes against us. He desires to take you out.

Jesus told Peter, "Satan has desired to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail." What a wonderful thing that Jesus is interceding for every single one of us continually. He's praying for us that our faith would not fail. However, He also allows us to go through those tests to prove that our faith is true, just like He allowed the Gibeonites to be at the hands of Adonai Zedek and his men.

Joshua was told that these guys fled into caves, so he said, "Hey, roll big stones over the mouths of these caves and don't hinder the whole army. Don't keep the whole army here. Go pursue after these guys."

Take them out. Don't allow any of these army men to go into the cities because the Lord has delivered them into your hand this day. It came to pass when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter until they were consumed that the rest which remained of them entered into the fenced cities or into the walled cities. All the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makeda in peace, and none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.

Then Joshua said in verse 22, "Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings unto me out of the cave." You see, the Book of Revelation tells us that there is coming a day when Jesus is going to say, "Hey, bring that old dragon, that little serpent before me." The Bible says that we are going to look upon him and say, "This is the one? This little Chihuahua? Is this the thing that barked at me all those years and scared me half to death?"

That is exactly what Joshua does here with these five kings. He says to his men, "Go get them out of there. Bring them out." After they had already killed most of the men of these armies, the others fled into the cities. Joshua, there at Makeda, says, "Hey, bring these guys out of this place. Open up that mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me." So they did so and brought those five kings unto him out of the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmath, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

It came to pass when they brought out those five kings unto Joshua that he called for all the men of Israel. He said unto the captains of the men of war, which went with them, "Come near and put your feet upon the necks of these kings." They came near and put their feet upon their necks. Joshua says, "Bring these guys out here, these guys who maybe caused you to be afraid." He tells his captains to put their faces in the dirt and put their feet upon their necks.

So here are these five kings. They don't look so big when they're on the ground with their faces in the dust and the feet of his captains upon their necks. There are some of you this evening who have allowed the enemy to stay in certain areas of your life—little caves that you kind of walled up. Little bits of wickedness in your heart that you just kind of thought, "Well, it's in a cave; let's just leave it there."

Joshua could have just left these five kings in this cave to starve to death, but he says, "No, bring them out of there." This is exactly what the Lord would like you to do with those little things that you've allowed to remain hidden.

Held from Him, He'd like you to bring it out and lay it down, seeing it for what it is: really foolish. These guys look like nothing here in the dust. The Lord says, "I've delivered them into your hands." All the sin that is in your life, the sin that so easily ensnares you, the Lord has given you and me power over it.

You may ask, "But how? How do I get rid of this? How do I take care of this?" I was reading a book several months ago by a man named Alan Redpath. It's on the book of Joshua and is called Victorious Christian Living. In this very chapter, he talks about getting rid of these things in your life. At the end of the chapter, I wrote in my book, "How?" with a big question mark. When I read through it, I felt pretty discouraged. I was saying, "Lord, yeah, this all makes sense. This is all scriptural, what this guy is saying, that we can get rid of these things. And yes, you've given us power over sin and death. You've come to set us free from hell. You came to set us free from sin."

I say, "Lord, yeah, that sounds great. I know that Your Word says that, but how?" The Lord says, "Bring it out." First John chapter 1, verse 9 tells us, "If you confess your sin, He is faithful and just to cleanse you, to forgive you, and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness." Confess means to make it clear, to agree, to bring it out and say, "Lord, yeah, it wasn't a fib; it's a lie. I'm a liar." Bring it out and say, "Yeah, it wasn't just a look; it was lust. It wasn't just a thought; Your Word tells me it was adultery or it was murder."

To bring it out before the Lord, lay it in the sand, and put your foot upon the neck of it, saying, "Lord, this is it. This is who I am." Every single person in the world tries to make themselves look better than they really are. All God wants you to do is come to the point where you realize you're a failure. There will never be anything else unless the Lord does a work in your life.

Every single day, I have to come to that place where I realize, "Lord, I'm just a failure." There are days when I try to prove that I'm not, but the Lord shows me by the end of the day that I am. The worst part about it is He uses everyone in this church to show me, which isn't fun because my pride doesn't like that. But the Lord wants me to come to that place, and He wants you to come to that place where you take the stuff and say, "I'm not going to do that."

You take the stuff out of the cave, lay it down before Him, and say, "This is what it is. It's down before You. I'm never going to be anything apart from You being everything in me." So you may ask, "Well, how do we get rid of this?"

You bring it before Joshua; you lay it before him. Then Joshua said unto them in verse 25, "Fear not, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage." This is the very same thing that God spoke to him in Joshua chapter 1, verses 6 through 9. "Do not be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus"—and underline this—"for thus shall the Lord do to all of your enemies against whom you fight." I want you to double underline "you." For thus shall God do to every single one of those hidden things in your life, every single one of those enemies. God will do this.

Even the enemy of our souls, Satan, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 16, verse 20, when Paul was finishing his writing to the church at Rome, says to them, "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." You see, there's coming a day when the Lord is going to do away with Satan, but there are also those little itty-bitty things in our lives that the Lord wants us to bring out, lay them in the dust, and put our foot upon the neck of it. Then the Lord says to us, "Thus I shall do to all of your enemies against whom you fight," but you have to fight them.

There is a little itty-bitty thing in our lives that the Lord wants us to bring out, lay them in the dust, and put our foot upon the neck of it. Then the Lord says to us, "Thus I shall do to all of your enemies against whom you fight," but you have to fight them. For those who would like to say, "I'm just going to sit right here in the middle of the promised land; I'm just going to wait in Gilgal, and Lord, you get rid of all the enemies, and then I'll go in and take the land," the Lord says, "No, I want you to get up, I want you to go in, and I want you to take it. I want you to get up and lay this stuff before me, and I'll kill it; I'll get rid of it."

Because notice in verse 26, he says, "And afterward Joshua smote them." Afterward, Joshua smote them, and he slew them, and he hanged them on five trees. They were hanging upon the trees until evening. What does God want to do with my sin and yours? He wants to hang it upon the tree. He will slay it; he will kill it if I bring it before him and allow him to do it. Yes, you will struggle with it again, but the Lord is constantly and consistently, if you allow him, cleansing us.

Pat, just a couple of weeks ago in his service, was talking about the person who takes the gold. The refiner puts it into that smelting pot, fires it, and the impurities come to the surface. Then he takes them and scrapes them away. How does the refiner know when the gold is pure? When he can see his reflection in it. You see, God wants to take us—our dirty lives. He sees that this is a big, huge lump.

Gold is often filled with impurities. When it is laid into the fire, that trial, that test, that battle, that war, the fire is turned up. As it melts, all of your fears come to the surface. All of your lust comes to the surface. Your anger comes to the surface. God knows it's there, but sometimes we don't realize it's there. When it comes to the surface, God asks, "Would you like me to take away this anger?" If I say yes, Lord, take it away, He clears it off. However, if I say no, He takes me off the fire, and all those impurities settle down to the bottom again. The gold hardens once more, and you know what? You'll have to go through that very same fire again and again until it goes away.

God puts us in the fire and allows that stuff to come to the surface. I've said this before, and people think I'm absolutely nuts. In fact, my mom is one of them. I've prayed for trials, and she says I'm a fool. But you see, in the midst of the trial is when that stuff comes to the surface so that God can take care of it. Until it comes to the surface, it just resides in my heart. If I fight the Lord and say no, no, no, then He'll take me off the fire for a time, but that fire will come again to bring it to the surface. This way, I can see it and agree with God that this is wicked, this is wrong, and Lord, I want you to take it. Then the Lord takes it, slays it, and hangs it on a tree—the tree on which He was crucified.

It says there that Joshua hung them on trees and left them there until evening. It came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun that Joshua commanded they be taken down off the trees. He cast them into the cave where they had been and where they had hid, and laid great stones in the cave's mouth, which remained there until this day. Whenever this was written, it was still there. That day, Joshua took Makeda and smote it with the edge of the sword.

As we continue through this, I want you to note every single time it says that he smote it with the edge of the sword. Who did it? It says here that Joshua took Makeda and smote it with the edge of the sword. The sword in Scripture is always a picture of the Word. Joshua took it and smote it with the edge of the sword. Therefore, he utterly destroyed them and all the souls therein. He let none of them remain. So he did to the king of Makeda as he had done unto the king of Jericho.

And then Joshua passed from Makeda, and all Israel with him, and he went unto Libna. He fought against Libna. Who fought? Joshua did. The Lord delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel. Joshua smote it with the edge of the sword. There it is again. He let none of them remain in it. Again, he didn't let them remain. Which verse were we in? Verse 30. He let none of them remain, but he did unto the king thereof as he had done unto the king of Jericho.

Joshua passed from there, from Libna, and all Israel with him, to Lachish. He encamped against it and fought against it. The Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and they smote it with the edge of the sword. All the souls therein were destroyed according to all that he had done unto Libna. Then Horem, king of Gezer, came up. He was an old guy, king of Gezer, but he came up to help Lachish. Joshua smote him and his people until he had let nothing remain.

From Lachish, Joshua passed into Eglon, and all Israel with him. In verse 34, they encamped against it, fought against it, and took it on that day. They smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein were utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done unto Lachish. Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron. They fought against it.

Now, Hebron in Scripture is a very neat place; it's a picture of fellowship. The enemy constantly fights against us in the area of our fellowship with the Lord. Notice what Joshua did: he went up against it, took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword. He destroyed the king thereof, all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein. He left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon. He utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein.

Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir, and they fought against it. He took it, the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and smote it with the edge of the sword. They utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining. As he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and the king thereof, as he had done also to Libna and her king.

So Joshua, in verse 40, smote all the country of the hills.

And of the south, and of the valleys, and of the springs, and of the kings. He left none remaining but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. And Joshua smote them from Kadesh Barnea, even to Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon. All these kings and all their land did Joshua take at one time because the Lord God fought for Israel. Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp at Gilgal.

Over and over again in this passage of Scripture, we see several things, and the Lord wants us to take note of these things. Gilgal is mentioned five times in this Scripture. Gilgal was the place of commitment; it means rolling. It was the place that God had rolled the reproach of Egypt away from the children of Israel. In the book of Psalms, chapter 37, when we read, "Commit your way to the Lord," that word "commit" is the same root word as Gilgal, a place of rolling, where you roll all that you are over to the Lord.

Joshua fought is mentioned seven times. The sword, with which he slew them, is also mentioned seven times. Interestingly enough, seven is the number of completion. God wants to completely annihilate all the sin that's in my heart and yours. How does He do it? With the sword. Joshua fights with the sword; he let nothing remain. Four times we see that he took it, also four times. He smote it five times, and he utterly destroyed it six times. Over and over again in this Scripture, we see how God overcame the enemies of His people. Joshua fought with the edge of the sword. He took it. He utterly destroyed it. He let none remain.

What does God want to do in my heart? He wants to take it. He wants to utterly destroy all the wickedness therein. How does He do it? With the edge of the sword. How do I answer that question that I wrote in the back of my book? How, God, with the edge of the sword? When I find that I'm leading a defeated life and I say, "Lord, I just can't seem to get victory over this area," you know what God always says to me? "You're not reading My word enough." And you know what I have to say? "You're absolutely right. I'm not." Because when you're reading My word,

When I spend time with the Lord in His Word, He promised that it would clean me out. The washing of the water of the Word. Joshua slew them with the edge of the sword. The first thing you've got to do is call out to Him. Joshua, Jesus—it's the very same name in Hebrew. The Lord is salvation. Yeshua. God, You are my salvation. You are the one who has taken away death and sin.

Yet, so many of us live defeated lives. The Lord desires that we have that victorious Christian life spoken of throughout Scripture. But the only way for that to happen is when I first come and call out to the Lord, saying, "The enemy's coming hard against me." The Lord allowed that battle in your life and mine to show that we're weak and need Him. We have a choice: whether or not we're going to fall upon Him or fall into the world.

That's why it's so dangerous to walk the line. It's a lot easier to fall into the world. When you cling to Christ, the world is far away. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

You see, the Lord doesn't want you and me to be on-the-wall Christians, where we walk the line with one foot in the world and one foot in the church. That is a very dangerous place to be. If you're doing that tonight, you really need to question whether or not you truly know God. You've got to ask the Lord, as David did in Psalm 139, "Lord, search me and see. Show me."

I had to ask the Lord that very same question today as I was looking through this passage. "Lord, You need to search my heart. I don't want to be a hypocrite and stand up here." The Scripture says that those who teach are worthy of a stricter judgment. That scares me half to death. I know that part of that judgment is that every single time after I get down, I reflect and think, "I could have done better." A lot of that judgment is something we bring upon ourselves.

But also the Lord, I'm going to stand before Him one day, and He's going to bring into account every word that I've said. The Bible says if I lead one of you astray, it would be better for me to have a millstone wrapped around my neck and to be thrown into the depths of the sea. That doesn't sound like fun. I don't like that. But I pray, just like Pat a couple of seconds ago said, I pray that I never lose sight of that.

See, I've got to come to the Lord and I've got to say, "Lord, search me. Show me the caves in my heart that I can bring out those wicked things, those dominating things of the enemy." I can lay them down in the dirt before You, and the Lord says, "Step up. Put your foot upon the neck of it. I've given you authority over this." Did you know that Scripture says in Matthew chapter 28, before Jesus ascended, He said, "All authority has been given unto me. Therefore, go." You know what that means? He says, "I'm giving you My authority." The Lord has given us, mere men, His authority.

And angels look on and wonder, "Why? What do you see in that guy? I don't understand." You know what? I don't understand either. I don't get it. But I sure am stoked that the Lord has chosen us to follow Him and to serve Him. But why has God done that? God has not done that so that you can go and help out at church. God has done that so that you can be with Him. Amen.

The Christian life is not about doing things; it's about being with the Lord. That's what He's called me to. And in the midst of that, He's allowed me to serve you. But I'm not called specifically by God for this. What I'm called to, and every single one of you in this room is called to the very same thing, is to be with the Lord every single day—every single day, morning, evening, and night. That's what God desires of us.

He doesn't want just for you to sit down and pray before you eat your meal, although I'm sure He enjoys that time with you. But make that not the only time that you spend with the Lord during the day. As you follow the Lord, and as He begins to expose those caves, those things in our hearts that are only exposed through battle and trial, He wants us to bring them before Him so that He can slay it, so that He can hang it upon the tree.

So that He can rid it out of my life and out of yours. But it's Joshua who smote it, and it's Joshua who utterly destroyed it. We have this hope that there is coming a day when we are going to stand before the Lord. He has already justified us, and He is in the process of sanctifying us. There is coming a day when He is going to glorify us, and all the sin that so easily ensnares us will never deal with us again. Boy, do I look forward to that day. Oh, Joshua, come quickly. Save us. Help us.

Let's pray. God, I thank You for Your Word and that this has application to us. These aren't just little answers or things on paper; this is Your spoken Word. God, would You speak it to our hearts tonight? Let us not soon forget the things that You have spoken to us tonight. Lord, I know there are those this evening who, even now, You have revealed just areas of their lives that need to be laid down.

As we are going to worship in a minute, Lord, I pray that You would reveal those things and give us the strength by Your Spirit to bring them out, lay them down, and allow You to slay them. Oh, Lord, please do that purifying work in us. Purify our hearts, Lord. Cleanse us. Clean us out. As that song says that we sing so often, "Refiner's fire, my heart's one desire is to be holy." Lord, I have to admit that my heart's one desire is not very often Your refining fire. God, make it so.

Tonight, there are those of you here in this room who know you need to get right with the Lord. Where you are sitting in your chair, all you've got to do is call out to Him. In the depths of your heart, call out to Him. Father, I pray that You would stir the hearts of Your people in this church and in this community, that we would see a great outpouring of Your Holy Spirit.

Lord, let us see people on fire for You. As they are, let them go back to their jobs, back to their schools, back to their homes, and let the fire catch. Lord, let Your fire fall, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.