Challenging Passages, Challenging Questions | Sunday, April 30, 2023

Thank you very much, worship team. Praise the Lord! Good morning, Cross Connection. You can have a seat.

Before we get into the Scriptures this morning, I want to highlight one other announcement that wasn't in the announcements video. If you have your bulletin, take it out real quick and look inside on the right side at the bottom. It says "Pentecost Barbecue Cookout." I want to emphasize this for a moment. Coming up really quickly at the end of May, the last Sunday in May, is an important holiday in the life of the church called Pentecost.

In Judaism, it is a very important day, but it is also significant for the church because the church was born on Pentecost. It actually marks the birthday of the church, nearly 2,000 years ago. So, we are having a kind of birthday party on Pentecost this year. We are also going to do a barbecue, and because it is the perfect opportunity, we will have a baptism as well. The very first church-wide baptism happened on Pentecost 2,000 years ago.

We are looking for aspiring Grill Masters and Pit Masters. We know you are here; you are the ones who love to make good smoked meats, creating a sweet-smelling aroma for all the people around and for God in heaven as well. We want to invite you, if you are the Grill Master or Pit Master, to talk to Pastor Jason today after the service at the Connection Point, or just go to events.life or events.ccchurch.com and register there. We need your help for our barbecue.

With that, would you take out your Bibles? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will gladly bring you one. We are in the Old Testament, which is the first two-thirds of the Bible, in the sixth book of the Bible, the Book of Joshua. Today, we will be in Joshua chapter eight, so if you want to turn there, we will eventually get there.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I went out to dinner with some good friends. We have been going out to dinner with this couple a bit here and there; they are friends that my wife connected with through work. The wife has been a Christian for a really long time, while her husband is not yet a Christian, but he is a genuinely interested seeker. I know that he is genuinely interested because he asks me really good questions.

Challenging questions arise every single time we get together, which I absolutely love. I look forward to the good and challenging questions. A couple of weeks ago, as we were getting ready to leave someone's house, he said, "Listen, I have a question for you. I've been reading some of the stuff in the Bible." As a pastor, you can't get more excited than when a person who is not yet a Christian says they have been reading the Bible. He continued, "But I have a question." I replied, "All right, what's the question?" He said, "Well, you know, Jesus in the New Testament is presented as God, and he seems really nice and merciful and gracious. But God in the Old Testament doesn't seem like that. He seems kind of harsh and severe. So, what is going on here?"

Now, that is a challenging question, but it's a really good and honest question. I was able to talk with him a little bit about that, and I'm always looking forward to those questions. Why does God seem harsh and severe in the Old Testament? In the New Testament, in the book of First Peter, one of Jesus's followers writes, "Sanctify the Lord God in your heart and always be ready to give an answer or a defense for the hope that you have with meekness and fear." We are exhorted in the Scriptures to be ready for those opportunities.

As a pastor who is engaged outside the walls of the church, I find that I get these kinds of challenging questions frequently. I love it when I do. If I'm with a fire crew at the fire department—where I have been a chaplain for more than 12 years—there are times when these guys will ask me challenging questions. I look forward to them, but those questions can be difficult. I get the kind of questions that, if I were not a Christian, I would be asking. As I've shared before, I tend to be a skeptical sort of person. I think a lot of people in our culture here in the United States are kind of bred to be skeptical.

If I were not a Christian, those are the kinds of questions I would be asking. Even as a Christian, those are the challenging questions that I have wrestled with for a long time and continue to wrestle with. I don't think that is a bad thing. If you find yourself wrestling with faith, God, and the Bible, and maybe even wrestling at times with doubt, that's not a bad thing. Wrestling with God is a significant concept. The idea of wrestling with God is connected to the name Israel. The man who bore that name first was a man named Jacob, and in Genesis chapter 32, there is this wrestling match.

Many Bible scholars and theologians believe that the one Jacob wrestled with was actually God incarnate. After this wrestling match in Genesis chapter 32, God changed Jacob's name from Jacob to Israel. Israel means "one who wrestles with God." Maybe you are that kind of person today. That's not a bad thing; we can wrestle with questions, faith, and doubt.

There are questions that I have wrestled with for a very long time and continue to wrestle with today. I think there will be questions that I am still wrestling with right up until the time I depart this life to step into the next. Maybe I won't know the full answers here and now, but I have this anticipation and expectation that God will vindicate His answers. I trust that God has an answer for those things that grip me from time to time.

Many years ago, I began to be bothered by something, and maybe you have experienced the same thing. I discovered that there are times when Christians, and not just the average person who goes to church, but sometimes even Christian leaders, teachers, and pastors, seem to sidestep or dance around the challenging things—the hard questions. They dance around them like the children of Israel used to sidestep around Samaria during the time of Jesus, and it bugs me.

There have been times when I have a question or a passage of Scripture that really bothers me, and I don't know how to think through the answer to the question in that text. I go to a Bible commentary of someone I respect, or I watch their YouTube video, or I listen to their podcast episode on that passage of Scripture. It makes me so angry when they skirt the issue and don't deal with the elephant in the room or the major red spot in that passage. They just seem to go right around it.

There are challenging passages in the Bible and challenging questions. As a pastor who gets up and teaches through the Scriptures, I understand the temptation to go around those passages. I knew when we started going through the Old Testament a few years ago here at Cross Connection that we would spend about a decade, a little more than that, studying through the last third of the Bible, the New Testament. After that, I wanted to go into the Old Testament, but I knew we were going to come to some passages that are hard and have some challenging questions. Knowing that, it was kind of like, "Okay, how do we deal with these issues?" Again, the temptation is to skip it—not the whole chapter, but kind of.

I cannot sidestep the issue or dance around it, and the reason I cannot is that these are issues I, even as a pastor, wrestle with. I want there to be an answer; I want to have some sort of justification for why this says what it does and what it means.

Now, with all of that, you might be saying, "Okay, pastor, what exactly is the issue that you seem to be dancing around here in this passage?" Well, in Joshua chapter 8, just before that in Joshua chapters 6 and 7, there are some very interesting happenings with the children of Israel. These are things that we Christians believe actually happened.

In Joshua chapter 6, the children of Israel experienced a great victory at the behemoth of a city called Jericho, a city that was way too big for them to overcome by their own power, strength, or strategy. Yet, the walls of the city of Jericho, the Scriptures say in Joshua chapter 6, fell flat, and the children of Israel took that city. They overcame that city.

Immediately after the victory at Jericho, they moved from this massive stronghold to a little town. If Jericho was this behemoth of a city, then Ai, the next place they went to, was like the junior varsity team. They totally should have been able to overcome the junior varsity team, yet they got spanked and lost 36 of their soldiers at Ai.

This brings up the whole issue in Joshua chapter 7, where God reveals to them that the reason they lost at Ai was because there was sin and wickedness in the camp of Israel. They wrongly assumed that the reason they won at Jericho was because of their power and strength. In reality, the only reason they won at Jericho was that God was with them. When they went to Ai, they lost and were defeated because God was no longer with them.

Why was God no longer with them? Because when they went to Jericho, everything they took as spoil from the battle was to be devoted to God. The word for devoted in Hebrew is "harem," and that word has a dual meaning. It means devoted, but it can also mean accursed. The idea is this: if something is devoted to somebody else, they own it; it’s theirs.

Property that you touch brings a curse upon yourself because you have committed theft. You've stolen from them. At Jericho, everything was to be devoted to God; nothing was to be taken by the people. Yet there was a man named Aiken who took of the devoted things, and he became accursed. That curse spread through the whole nation of Israel, and therefore God was no longer with them. He said, "I can't go with you if there is sin in the camp." This sin had to be dealt with, and the way they dealt with it was severe and harsh.

Aiken and his entire household, after this sin had been uncovered and identified, were destroyed. They were stoned by the children of Israel, and then a pile of stones was placed upon them. All the things from their household were burned. When you look at that, it seems harsh and severe. Why were Aiken and his family judged for this? It seems like only Aiken should have been judged. However, if you think about it, the whole of his tent and household were complicit. They knew what their father or brother had done; they recognized it and were involved in this. Therefore, judgment came upon all of them.

If you read that passage, it definitely seems severe and harsh, but it gets worse. Look at what we find in Joshua chapter eight, where we are today. In Joshua 8, verse 1, the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid nor dismayed. Take all the people of war with you. Arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given it into your hand—the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king as you have done to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil, the spoil of Ai, its cattle, and all that you take as booty, you may take for yourselves. Lay ambush for the city behind it."

They had been defeated in their previous attempt at taking Ai, but now they had dealt with the problem and the sin that caused their defeat. God says to Joshua, the leader of the people, "Arise and go. Do not be afraid nor dismayed." Those words, if you've been with us as we've been studying through the Book of Joshua, are significant.

For the last several weeks, those words are a repeat from something we see previously back in chapter one. If you're in chapter eight, just turn to the left several pages to chapter one. In the opening of this book, God said to Joshua and the people in Joshua chapter 1, verse 2, "Arise and go." These are the exact same words that we find in Joshua chapter 8, verse 1: "Arise and go."

As He tells Joshua in chapter 8, "Do not be afraid or dismayed." Look at Joshua chapter 1, verse 9. God said at the very beginning, before they crossed over the Jordan River and before they had taken Jericho, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor dismayed." The words are repeated in chapter 1, verse 2, and chapter 1, verse 9: "Arise and go. Be not afraid nor dismayed" are repeated again in chapter 8, verses 1 and 2.

Why are the words repeated? I would suggest at least two reasons. First, to remind Joshua of the promise that God has previously made, to remind him of what He has previously said: "Be courageous, be strong, be of good courage." Secondly, to assure him that God was now with him. You see, when sin came into the camp because of Achan's sin in chapter 7, God said, "I'm no longer with you." But now that they have dealt with the sin, God says, "Be strong, be of good courage. Do not be afraid nor dismayed because I am with you."

This is a reminder to Joshua and the people he is leading. Point number one: Israel's victory depended not on their power but on God's presence. This is a really important truth to learn, not just for the children of Israel 3,400 years ago, but for us as well.

You see, the danger when we experience victory in our lives is to begin to assume that that victory was by our own strategy or our own power. Constantly, when we start to trust in our own strategy or strength, we have a tendency to fall flat on our faces and be humbled. Has anybody ever been in that camp? I certainly have. And there, in that place, it is a reminder that my strength comes not from me internally, but it comes from God, whom I trust in. So my victory is dependent not upon my own strength.

Power is not based on my strength, but on God's presence in my life, just as it was for the children of Israel. Now, at this point, you may say, "Well, that's all well and good; there's no controversy there." So, what is the challenge in this passage?

Let's look at Joshua chapter 8, beginning at verse 3. I will fly through this quickly; you can read through it verse by verse later. I will just hit some of the high points. Joshua arose, as it says in Joshua chapter 8, verse 3, and all the people of war went up against Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night.

Previously, when Joshua had sent two spies to Ai to scout it out, they came back and said, "Hey, it's the JV team; we can handle these with our second string." They suggested sending just two or three thousand people, but those two or three thousand were put to flight, and 36 people died. Now, Joshua says, "Okay, 30,000 of you are going to go lie in ambush by night." He commanded them in verse 4, saying, "Lie in ambush against the city behind the city and be ready."

Then, in verse 5, he said, "I and all the people who are with me will approach the city from the front. When the people of Ai come out against us, like they did before, we will turn and run. We shall flee before them, for they will come out after us until we have drawn them out from the city. They will say, 'They are fleeing before us as at the first.' Therefore, we will flee before them. Then, those in ambush shall arise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. When you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire."

So, Joshua says, "Here's the plan: 30,000 of you are going to go by night, and you're going to position yourselves behind the city to lie in wait. The rest of us are going to approach the city from the front. When the people of Ai come out, as they did before, we will run and draw them out."

Now, look at verse 14. It happened that when the king of Ai saw it, all the men of the city hurried and rose early to go out against Israel to battle. He did not know, as it says in verse 14, that there was an ambush against him behind the city. Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them and fled by the way of the wilderness.

So, all the people who were in Ai were drawn away from the city, leaving it open as they pursued Israel. In verse 17, the Lord said to Joshua, "Stretch out the spear toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand."

Verse 19 says they arose quickly, entered the city, took it, and hurried to set the city on fire. The men of Ai looked behind them and saw the smoke of the city ascending to heaven. They had no more power to flee this way or that. The people who had fled before the wilderness turned back on their pursuers.

Joshua now turns back upon them. When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. At the end of verse 22, it states they struck them down so that they let none of them remain or escape.

In verse 24, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, they turned back to the city until they were consumed. All the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. Verse 25 notes that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai. Joshua did not draw back his hand until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai, according to the word of the Lord.

In verse 27, it is mentioned that Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. A couple of weeks ago, my friend asked me why God in the Old Testament seems to be so harsh and severe. It says there, according to the word of the Lord which He commanded Joshua, that they utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. They struck it with the edge of the sword, and all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai. Joshua did not draw back his hand.

These challenging passages invite challenging questions, especially from the antagonistic skeptic in your life and mine. This is the friend or family member who may not believe but loves to point out the inconsistencies or challenges in the Bible. They might ask, "Does this mean that your God allows or condones genocide?"

This is one of those passages that pastors are honestly tempted to skip on Sunday, to dance around it and say, "Well, we have to go through Joshua chapter 8 because it comes after Joshua chapter 7 and before Joshua chapter 9. We were in Joshua chapter 7 last week, and now we have Joshua chapter 8." So how do we go through it? One way that many people often do is to look at a passage of scripture like this and allegorize or spiritualize its meaning.

Not to point the finger of accusation in any way at another, but the Catholic Church's teaching on passages like this can be quite revealing. You can even check it out if you'd like. Bishop Robert Barron, who lives up in Santa Barbara, has written and spoken on this passage. He interprets it in a way similar to the early Church Father Origen, suggesting that we should look at these passages metaphorically, allegorically, or symbolically.

What is happening here is something that you should reflect on for your life and say, "I need to utterly destroy the sin in my life." We take it as a metaphor, an allegory, or a symbolic significance to emphasize the importance of crushing and utterly destroying sin in our lives. All of which is true; it's not necessarily a horrible way to interpret it. However, I would suggest that it leaves some open questions on the table, does it not?

Alternatively, we could look at this passage through the interpretation of a very well-known Reformed Bible teacher, John Piper. He states that it is right for God to act in this way whenever He pleases. God gives life, He takes life, and He rules and governs everything. Everything He does is just and right. He can do what He wants; He is the Sovereign God who created all of this, and it all belongs to Him. From a theological standpoint, all of that is true. If you believe that God is Sovereign and He is the Creator, then you would have to agree that this is accurate.

While none of that is theologically wrong, it still leaves some questions on the table, does it not? It doesn't necessarily silence the skeptic, the person who genuinely says, "I don't get it." This isn't the first time we've been confronted with this issue. When I first started going back to the Old Testament, I knew that we would encounter some passages in the book of Deuteronomy that were of this exact same flavor. We talked about this a couple of years ago, back in February of 2021. You can find it on our YouTube channel, where I taught on Deuteronomy chapter 7. The language of "utterly destroy" is used in that passage as well. I shared with you something that I still believe now: if you go back and read similar writings, you will find this theme recurring.

The genre from this period of time is actually called "War texts." If you read the War texts from the Hittites, the Hivites, the Babylonians, or the Egyptians, you will find similar language that is called hyperbolic War text language. We do have evidence of hyperbole being used in ancient Near Eastern War texts.

When it says they were utterly destroyed, blotted out—man, woman, child, beast—it may not mean that they actually destroyed every single person or animal. It's similar to what you might say today if you said, "I hope the Padres crush the Giants." Do you literally mean you want them to go out there and dismember them? Some of you might, but probably not. You might also say, "I hope that the Yankees dismember the Rangers." While you could actually mean that, you are likely using hyperbole.

It is quite likely that in these ancient Near Eastern War texts, we have evidence of hyperbole being used. How would we know? We would know if, as it says in Joshua chapter 8, or as we will see in Joshua chapters 11, 12, and 13, the children of Israel utterly wiped out or utterly destroyed certain groups. We would recognize it as hyperbole if we later find that those same people still existed. That would indicate they were not utterly destroyed, and that's actually what we find.

The language might actually be, and probably is, hyperbole, as we see in many War texts from the ancient Near East. Still, I have questions. I am challenged by that. A number of questions continue to come to mind. For example, is it just? Is it right for God to condemn and judge groups and individuals in this manner? That is the question, isn't it? That is the question we wrestle with because we live in a society that highly values justice and fairness. You probably work at a company right now that has an entire division dedicated to these principles.

Committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, they are all about equity, justice, and fairness. We live in a culture that is always talking about what is fair, what is right, and what is just. When we see texts like this, we ask ourselves: Is it just? Is it right for God to condemn and judge groups or individuals in this manner? That is the first question.

The second question is how we reconcile the apparent contrast or contradiction between Yahweh in the Old Testament and Yeshua in the New Testament. Yeshua, Jesus, is meek, merciful, kind, forgiving, and gentle. We often say, "Yeah, we love Jesus. Jesus is my homeboy; I like him." However, many people express sentiments like, "I like Jesus; I just don't like his people," or "I don't like that Old Testament guy named Yahweh. He seems kind of like a punk teenager who's just looking for the next guy to beat up." So, why is there an apparent contradiction between Yeshua and Yahweh? That is the second question.

The third question is about the significance of a passage like Joshua chapter 8 for us today. Should we just ignore it? Let me tell you, you have probably been to a church or know some believers who say, "Listen, I'm a New Testament Christian, and I don't really look at the Old Testament." There are many good Bible teachers, people I respect, who have a wealth of teaching in the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation, including a lot of material in Revelation. However, they don't talk much about Deuteronomy, Joshua, or Judges. Some of these teachers, whose names you would recognize, may have their names on their Study Bibles. You go to their websites and find that they don't have much to say about Deuteronomy or Joshua. I know this because I've looked for guidance when I thought, "Man, this is a challenging passage." I found that many prominent teachers have nothing to say about Joshua chapter 8.

So, what is the significance of this passage? Should we ignore it? Those are the questions I hope to address, and I have like 77 pages of notes to explore these topics.

In 20 minutes, I'm going to try to address a significant question. I don't have 77 pages of notes, but almost. Are God's actions and passages like this justified and righteous? That's the question you're confronted with by your brother, your co-worker, or maybe your child when they come home from university. They may approach you with a kind of skepticism about these things, sometimes a little antagonistic.

Thanksgiving is coming around, and you might think, "Oh gosh, I just don't want to get into it again." The antagonistic skeptic believes they have finally found their argument to challenge you. They think they have discovered a new and awesome way to deal with these Christians who believe these things. They come up with a novel question to ask, and I just want to say to the skeptic, it's not a new question. In fact, it's a question that was asked 4,000 years ago by the first follower of God by faith, a man named Abraham.

Four thousand years ago, God had a conversation with Abraham and informed him that He was going to judge and destroy five cities that existed in antiquity, cities that no longer exist. The two well-known cities, perhaps you've heard of them, were called Sodom and Gomorrah. God said to Abraham, "I'm going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah." Abraham responded with questions. He might have put it another way: "Objection, Your Honor, there's a problem."

This is recorded for us in Genesis Chapter 18, where we read that Abraham said to God, "Suppose there are 50 righteous people in the city. Would you destroy the place and not spare it for the 50 righteous that were in it? Far be it from you that you would do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked. Far be it from you!"

Here is the question that the skeptic is asking, and perhaps it has crossed your mind before as well: Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? It's not a new question; it's 4,000 years old.

When confronted with the justice and judgment of an Almighty, all-powerful Judge, the question arises in my mind, yours, and Abraham's four thousand years ago: Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right?

It's like this: If there is one Judge who will judge all, then we have an expectation that that Judge will be right and righteous in His judgments. Can I get an amen? We live in a fairness society. We want equity, we want fairness, we want justice, and we have an expectation of such things.

Do you realize this morning how privileged you are in all human history and all civilization to have an expectation of things being done fairly and right? Go read some history; go study the rest of cultures and the rest of the world. The fact that we live in a culture where we can anticipate and expect that likely there will be justice is an amazing thing. It has not always been that way, and we are not guaranteed that it will continue to be that way, but we have this expectation of justice.

Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? Abraham objects. He even says, "Far be it from me! I'm just dust, and I'm standing before the holy God." He is just posing a question: Are you going to be righteous in dealing with this? That question hangs in the air without an answer in Genesis 18.

However, in the very next chapter, God does not answer it with His words, but He does answer it with His actions. When the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, along with three other cities in the South, were destroyed four thousand years ago—of which we have archaeological evidence today—God rescued the one righteous man who was there. He also rescued two other individuals, the daughters of that one righteous man. He rescued another, his wife, but she kind of didn't make it.

God rescued Lot so that He would not slay the righteous with the wicked. He didn't answer it with His words, but He answered it with His actions. He spared the righteous, which, if you were with us a few weeks ago, is exactly what God did in Jericho. Remember, once again, God rescued a woman.

In Jericho, there was a woman named Rahab and her family. When God would destroy the whole city, He spared the righteous. The objection that you or your skeptical friend might bring up fails to recognize that the sense of justice and the desire for fairness you have can only be explained if there is a God.

What do I mean? Simply this: If it is true, as many agnostic and atheistic skeptics assert, that we exist here today by random chance and mutation over billions of years, then there is no such thing as an objective standard of right and wrong. Everything is on the table; everything is subjective. If there is no God, what does that mean? It means that if there is no God, it is not right for you to say that the rape of a child is wrong. You might ask how that is possible or how one gets to decide. It is completely subjective if there is no God. There is no moral law because there is no moral lawgiver to say what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false.

This is an argument for the existence of God that has been around for centuries; it is called the moral argument for God. Someone who popularized it in the last 75 years is C.S. Lewis, who wrote about it in his book, "Mere Christianity." Actually, he didn't even really write the book; he spoke it as a series of lectures on the radio during the bombing of Britain in World War II, addressing the people of the nation. He said that God exists because if God does not exist, you have no basis for your argument that this is wrong and that is right. If there is no God who exists, then it is all about might makes right, and whoever is stronger gets to dictate what is right and wrong.

Friedrich Nietzsche, probably the most well-known atheist in all of history, also popularized this idea. He said that if there is no God and we have killed Him, then we can expect nothing more than bloodshed and death because there is no right and wrong. So, when your skeptical friend says that something seems wrong, I would say that their sense of injustice in this situation is a reflection of the moral law that points to the existence of God.

It challenges your atheism because only if there is a God can you say this is wrong and this is right.

Point number two, if you're taking notes: objective morality depends upon a moral lawgiver. This is essential. Objective morality depends upon a moral lawgiver.

Now, regarding the moral law, is it right for God to judge in this manner? I want to try to answer that question with four reasons why I think it is right for God to judge in this manner.

First, God does not judge arbitrarily or randomly; He judges with cause. Some of you here this morning are employers, and you know that term "with cause." There have been a few times in your experience of employing people when you said, "You're fired with cause." I didn't wake up in the morning, have a bad cup of coffee, and not sleep well because my dog kept me up all night, and then decide, "Yeah, you're fired." That would be a random, arbitrary firing.

It's when that person stole something or did something unethical, and you go, "Hey, listen, I hate to say it, but you're fired with cause." When God judged, it was not without cause. He is not arbitrary; He is not random. He doesn't wake up in the morning and roll the dice, saying, "Okay, smite button for you." He doesn't do that.

The second reason is that God does not condemn and punish quickly. We all know someone who has a short fuse; one small wrong move in their presence, and boom, they just snap. We all know someone like that. I want to encourage you today: God is not like that. The Scriptures reveal that God is slow to anger. He is patient; He is long-suffering with us.

The Scriptures say that with the people of Canaan, who were being judged at the time of Joshua, He gave them more than 400 years to cease their wickedness and repent. Before God destroyed the world in Genesis chapter 6 with a flood, He gave them 120 years to repent.

Flood came, and destruction followed. He is slow to anger. The challenge for us is that we turn 20 pages in our Bibles and realize we have gone forward 700 years without understanding that God was patient during all those years. This leads us to the third reason I think it's okay for God to judge in this way: God sends Messengers before He judges to call people to repentance.

One of the most well-known examples we studied at the beginning of this year is the Book of Jonah. God was going to judge and destroy the great city of Nineveh, but before He did, He sent the reluctant prophet Jonah to tell the people to repent. The only reason Jonah did not want to go was that he was worried God would be merciful and forgive them if they repented, which He did.

We have an entire section of our Bibles dedicated to God calling sinful people to repentance; it's called the prophets. Have you ever looked at Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah, Micah, and all these different names that are sometimes hard to pronounce? Habakkuk—what's all that there for? It's there to remind you that God, who is slow to anger and not arbitrary in His judgment, always sends Messengers first to call people to repentance before He judges. He sent Noah to preach to the people of his time; he was a preacher of righteousness. He sent Lot to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; he was also a preacher of righteousness. He sent Jonah to Nineveh and Isaiah to the people of Judah. Time and time again, God sends His Messengers to call people to repentance.

This leads to my fourth reason why I think it's okay for God to judge in this way: God, as He is revealed in the Scriptures, is righteous in His judgments. How many of you here this morning have ever served on jury duty? Lift up your hand really high. If you're not raising your hand, you probably broke the law and didn't show up. What is a jury? We are privileged to live in a nation that has one of the best justice systems in the world. It is not perfect; it fails, and we all recognize when it fails. However, those failures become newsworthy to us because we have the expectation that, normally, it works.

What is it that we do? We take twelve individuals, a random sampling of people, and we put them together to hear testimony and see evidence. When they make a united decision based upon the evidence they see and the testimony they hear, we listen to what they have to say. We say, "Okay, their judgment is right."

We all recognize that sometimes it fails. In the book of Isaiah, this is what God reveals about Himself in chapter 11: "He shall not judge by the seeing of His eyes or the hearing of His ears, but with righteousness He shall judge and decide with equity how He rules the Earth." You see, God does not judge like we judge. We judge by what we see and hear, and sometimes we get it wrong. But God does not judge by the seeing of the eyes or the hearing of the ears; He judges with righteous judgment.

What does that mean? It means that God is able to judge my heart and yours. He knows what actually happened in the heart. He says, "I will judge." However, God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked. We often do. When someone does something wrong, something horrible and terrible, we are happy when they die. We even have YouTube video shorts of "Swift Justice," and we cheer.

What is "Swift Justice"? It's when a dash cam captures some idiot doing something stupid, and right next to them is a cop in a car that isn't clearly marked. Then, boom, they light them up, and we all go, "Yeah!" We love "Swift Justice." We take pleasure in judgment.

God does not delight in the death of the wicked; He judges with righteous judgment. You and I have a sense of justice—that's all it is. God is the embodiment of perfect justice. In the end, God will judge; His judgment will be complete, true, and good.

If you're taking notes, point number three is that we can depend upon the complete truth, goodness, and justice of God. That's a good truth.

I'm grateful that there have been many people in various places throughout history who hoped for justice. They lived under severe injustice and had no hope of justice in this life. Their only comfort was the belief that God will judge. As they sat in Birkenau, Treblinka, or Auschwitz, they thought, "My only hope is that God will judge." While this is an encouragement to some, it is also a terror to many. Why? Because God will judge, and there is no escaping it.

The second question I want to address is how we reconcile the apparent inconsistency between Yahweh in the Old Testament and Yeshua in the New Testament. I would suggest that there is actually no inconsistency at all. When someone objects to the idea of inconsistency between Yahweh and Yeshua, they are revealing their elementary understanding of the Bible. If you read from Genesis to Revelation, you will discover that God in the Old Testament is merciful and gracious. In Exodus chapter 34, verse 6, He reveals Himself as follows: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, I forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin. I am slow to anger, but I will not clear the guilty. I will visit iniquity," which means He will judge iniquity, transgression, and sin. However, He is slow to anger.

Point number four is that we can trust that God's nature is dependable and unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; He will not change. He was merciful and gracious in Exodus to the children of Israel, at Jericho to the family of Rahab, to Noah at the time of the flood, and to Lot. He continues to be merciful and gracious to me and to you in our failures. He says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I hope you'll get to know Him as He truly is.

God revealed Himself in the Scriptures. Finally, the third question is: What is the significance of passages like this for us? Should we just ignore them? The reason we are taking the time to go through Joshua passages, which I will acknowledge many pastors skip, is probably partly because I'm stupid. However, it is also because I think these are very important truths. They reveal essential truths, and this has a multi-dimensional significance.

There are three things I want to point out. First, it is significant for practical and historical reasons. It is practically and historically significant in that God did, in times past, judge sin. It is important for us to understand that in times past, God has judged, and it is significant for us to recognize that this judgment was because of sin. However, it was also for the purification of a people and a place for His redemptive purpose. This was a one-time event in history, a purging of a place—the land of Canaan, the Promised Land—so that the children of Israel could occupy that land and God could bring about His redemptive plan through Jesus to bring salvation to all of humanity.

So, there is a practical and historical significance. Secondly, there is a personal and spiritual significance. Just like Origen identified 1,900 years ago, there is a spiritual, allegorical, and metaphorical significance to a passage like this. You and I, on a daily basis, are engaged in a spiritual battle, and we need to seek to utterly destroy sin by the power and presence of God in our lives. If even just a little bit remains, a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Thus, there is historical significance, practical significance, and spiritual personal significance. Finally, I will close with this.

Very important eschatological significance. What do I mean? In history past, God has judged humanity for their sin. In future history, prophecy reveals that God will judge humanity for sin. His judgment will be severe, and it will be complete. There is a day of judgment. Eschatology speaks of things in the future, of things having to do with the last days. These things were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the age have come. There will be a final judgment at the last day.

While our Lord is called the Prince of Peace, and we Christians are called to be peacemaking ambassadors for Him, He will one day return to judge the world. So, I'll wrap it up with this question: Do you suppose that the people of Jericho, the people of Ai, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were more worthy of judgment and punishment than we? I tell you no. But unless you repent, you will also likewise perish. There is a judgment coming; that's what eschatology tells us.

I know so many people want to do end times prophecy updates and eschatology teaching. Most of it is a complete speculative endeavor, like Bible Code cryptography, and 95 percent of it is complete fiction. That's why it sells in books called "Left Behind," but it gets a lot of people in seats. The primary motivation for studying end times eschatology is this: God will judge. Do you suppose that those He has judged in times past were more worthy of justice than you and me? No. That was the question that Jesus was asked in Luke Chapter 13. Some people brought to His attention a group of people who had been killed unjustly.

Jesus said, "Do you think that those who died were worse sinners than the rest in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will also likewise perish." That's the message. The bad news is that there is a day of judgment that will come. The good news is that God was gracious to Noah, Rahab's household, the righteous in Sodom, and the city of Nineveh. Time and time again, God is slow to anger, merciful, and forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. In Jesus Christ, you can be forgiven as well; that's the only way to escape.

There is an eschatological significance in these passages that is very important. Amen. Would you stand with me as we close in prayer and invite the worship team to come? As we close today, I should probably give you point number five: my salvation depends upon trust in God and His ability to save. I want to leave you with that thought because there is a day of judgment that will come, and God does not delight in judgment, and neither do I. Neither do any of us.

God has made a way for us to receive His grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and I want to offer that to you today as we close in prayer.

Father God, I pray that you would meet us here in this moment. We thank you for your Word, which does not mince words and does not hide truth, but makes it so very clear that we will be without excuse. You offer salvation, grace, and forgiveness because at your core, you are merciful, gracious, forgiving, and long-suffering, slow to anger. You said that if we confess with our mouth that you are Lord and believe in our heart that you raised from the dead after dying for our sins, we shall be saved. Whoever believes in you will not be ashamed; whoever calls upon you will be saved.

If, as we are standing here in an attitude of prayer this morning, you say, "I would like that salvation," I am going to ask you to do something very simple: just lift up your hand. If that's you this morning, lift it up high so I can see it. Anyone here?

CEOs, I see you in the back. God bless you! Lift your hands up high. God said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." You've been fighting it for a long time. God says now is the day of salvation. Lift up your hands so I can see them. God bless you!

The Scriptures say if you call on the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. I want to lead you in a very simple prayer, calling out to God right now. It's a prayer of confession, and He said, "If you confess your sins, I am faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness."

So I just want to lead you in a very simple prayer. Prayer is talking to God, and we believe that He hears us and answers our prayers. If that's you, where you're standing, you can pray with me out loud.

Dear Jesus, I recognize that I am a sinner. I have not lived up to Your perfect standard, but Jesus, You died in my place. I thank You for Your love. I thank You for Your forgiveness. I thank You for Your grace. I pray that You would come into my life, forgive me of my sin, and help me to follow You by faith. In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, I'm going to ask you to do one more thing. If that's you this morning, I want you to come up here and stand with us. We have a team of prayer leaders. I want our prayer team to come on up right now. We have a group of people that want to pray with you this morning and give you a Bible. If that's you, come up and meet with one of these prayer team leaders.

As we sing this song, we'll just take a few minutes of your time. We want to give you a Bible, and we want to pray with you. God wants to do a great work in your life. If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. All the old things have passed away; behold, all things become new.

As we sing this song, come up and meet with some of our prayer team leaders. We want to pray with you. God, we thank You in Jesus' name. Let's sing.

Good morning, Cross Connections! Pastor Garrett here, and I have a couple of announcements for you this morning. First, coming up soon is our church camping trip at Herky Creek Campground. That's going to be from May 19th through the 21st, which is a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You can sign up for that at ccchurch.com/events.

We know that there are a lot of new people here, and we want to welcome you. One resource that you might not know about, especially young moms, is that we have a mom's room right across from the sanctuary next to our church office that is specifically designed for you.

You can watch the service live on a big TV and bring your kids in there too, especially if you're nursing a little one. My wife uses it all of the time; it's an awesome resource for you. We just wanted to highlight that for anybody who's new or visiting this morning, just to let you know that is an option for you. Moms, no dudes allowed, of course.

If you have not yet signed up for a growth group, it is not too late, but we want you to get signed up soon. Go to ccchurch.com/grow and find a growth group that's right for you. It's a great way to get connected and be discipled, growing in your faith. We would love for you to be plugged in there.

Last but not least, after the second service today, we are having another youth barbecue fundraiser to help raise some money for summer camp. I hope that you can join us after the second service. We're going to be serving you some delicious tacos, so come hungry and definitely support our kids getting to summer camp.