The Conquest of Canaan Continues, Part 2

Tonight, we want to look at number three, and that is the judgment. From the judgment to the enlargement. And from the enlargement to the encouragement. That's all in Joshua chapter 10. So let's pick up the narrative where we left off last week in verse number 16. It says this. Now these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in the cave of Maked. And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Mak. And Joshua said, Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and assign men by it to guard them.

But do not stay there yourselves. Pursue your enemies and attack them in the rear. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand. And it came about when Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished slaying them with a great slaughter until they were destroyed. and the survivors who remained of them had entered the fortified cities, that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Mak in peace. No one uttered a word against any of the sons of Israel.

The first thing I want you to notice about this judgment is the action of these kings. Now think about this. These are the leaders. These are the people in front. These are the ones who are supposed to model strength and courage, right? And what do they do? They run and h in a cave. They're afraid for their lives. They're scared to death. They don't want to be slaughtered. So they run. This is their action. They really believe. Listen, they believe that they can escape the judgment of God. They believe they can escape the sword of Joshua.

They've seen the hailstones come down. Okay, and they've seen how those hailstones have come down only on their men and not Israel. Well, that would be in and of itself fearful. And then they saw the extent of a whole day. More of their people being slaughtered. So they've seen the hand of God. They have already heard about the hand of God because we know that from the testimony of Gibeon. We know that from the testimony of Rah in chapter 2. So the people in Israel, she Be in Canaan already knew about the power of Almighty God.

His name had gone before him. So they knew about this, and now they've seen it firsthand, and they are scared to death. And they run and hide like a bunch of little babies because they don't want to f their ultimate destiny. Folks, let me tell you something.

Nobody wants to face the judgment of God. Remember, Joshua, Jehovah is salvation. And so when you read the book of Joshua, you realize that Joshua is that type of Christ. And so, Joshua is going to be the one that's going to pass judgment on these five kings. They don't want to face that judgment, and no man does want to face judgment, but they will. They will. The Bible says in the book of Acts, the 17th chapter, these words: Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.

The reason you need to repent is because there's coming a day you're going to be judged. So you need to turn from your sin. That's why the Bible says in Hebrews 9:7, it's a put it under man wants to die, after that, the judgment.

And so everybody's going to be judged, but man doesn't want to face his ultimate destiny. He does not want to be judged by God. So, what's he do? He thinks of a way to escape that judgment. That's what these kings did. They went to go hide in the cave. Maybe they get back far enough, no one will know they're there. But Joshua knew they were there because somebody told him. And next you go from the action of the kings to the fortification of the kings. What does Joshua say to do? He says, put all the stones in front of them, large stones, keep them there, don't let them escape.

And then go and pursue your enemy from the rear. Keep pursuing them, the relentless pursuit of evil. Keep pursuing them, slaughter them, utterly destroy them, and then we'll come back. That's what they did. You see, what these men thought was a place of refuge became to them a place of ruin. You see the unbeliever, listen, thinks that in his own ingenuity, in his own creativity, in his own ability, he can escape the judgment of God by doing certain things or going certain places. But he can't. It's inevitable he's going to be judged.

He would like to escape, but he cannot escape. Because they have trusted in something else to save them. They have trusted in something else to give them life. These five kings hide in a cave, thinking they can escape the judgment of Joshua and the nation of Israel, but they cannot. It's there before them, and they will be judged. The Bible says over in the book of Nah, 1st chapter 6, verse, these words, Who can stand before his indignation?

Who can endure the burning of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken up by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he who knows those And he knows those who take refuge in him. No one will be able to stand that day. No one will be able to speak on that day because they will stand before Almighty God. And we must realize that the judgment of God will come upon unbelieving men. You can hide wherever you want to hide. You can do whatever you want to do, but you'll never escape the judgment of God unless.

un you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, give your life to Him, know that He bore in His body the judgment of God for you. Unless you believe that, you will face the judgment of Almighty God. This is the way it is. So we move from the action of these kings to the fortification of these kings to number three, the humiliation.

these kings, the humiliation of these kings. Go back with me to Joshua chapter 10, verse number 2. Then Joshua said, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring these five kings out to me from the cave. And they did so, and brought these five kings out to him from the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Yarmuth, the king of Lach, and the king of Eglon. It came about, when he brought these kings out to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war, who had gone with him, Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.

So they came near and put their feet On their necks. Now, think about that. This is the humiliation of these kings. It was an oriental custom. That when one king defeated another king, the other king would lie before him and become his footstool. And you would take your foot and put it on the neck of the king. To show the dishonor of that king in the honor of your king. And you would demonstrate their humiliation because of their defeat. And that's what Joshua called his men to do. And it was a promise, listen, that not only did God do this, but God will do this with everybody else.

Verse twenty-five, what does it say? Joshua then said to, Do not fear or be dismayed. Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight. God is going to defeat all your enemies. Every single one of them. So, the symbolic act of coming and putting your foot on their neck as if they have now become your footstool. Was an act that would help them understand that they will win not only this victory, but every other victory in the land of Canaan. That was the promise of God.

Now think about this. Think about this. This is so symbolic of the end of the world. When the king of kings com and makes the enemies of this world his footstool. Psalm 110 says it very clearly. Psalm 110, verse number 1. The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet. That's the exact same thing that the king of kings and lord of lords is going to do. That verse, Psalm 110, verse number 1, is quoted again in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. But the most remarkable thing is how it's referred to in Romans chapter 16.

Listen to this. Romans 16, verse number 30. I'm sorry. Romans 16, verse number 20. And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. And the God of peace, Romans 16, verse number 20, will soon crush Satan under your feet. Remember the prophecy in Genesis 3:15? The prophecy that says that the serpent will bruise the heel of the promised seed, but that seed will crush the serpent's head. The Bible says that Satan will be crushed under your feet and under my feet.

Now you think about that. What Joshua does in Joshua chapter 10 by symbolically having the chiefs of war put their feet On the necks of those kings to show their utter defeat and their humiliation was symbolic of what the Son of Man will do to all of his enemies. But not only that, because we are joint heirs with Christ, we are part of the crushing of the serpent's head. In other words, Satan is almost like our footstool. Because we join in with our Lord God in the ultimate defeat. And so Satan is crushed under your feet.

Why? Because of the cross of Calvary. Because of what Jesus Christ did when he ultimately defeated Satan. He's coming back again, of course, to enact that defeat and to set up his kingdom. But our Lord God is the ruler. Of the world. The next thing I want you to see in Joshua 10 is the execution of the kings. It wasn't just enough to put your feet on the necks of these kings in order to humiliate them and to dishonor them. You had to kill him. And not only did you have to kill him, you had to hang him.

Listen to this: verse 26. So afterward, Joshua struck them and put them to death. Good enough, right? No, not good enough. And he hanged them on five trees. And they hung on the trees until evening. And it came about at sunset that Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees, and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and put large stones over the mouth of the cave to this day. Very day. This was their execution. Say, well, why was it so cruel? Why humiliate them and then execute them and then hang them on a tree?

Why do we have to go to great lengths? Because you have to show the enemies of Canaan sin Will never win. Evil never wins. And Joshua is being obedient. to what the word of the Lord says. Deuteronomy twenty one verse number twenty three. It says this, verse 22. And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, he is put to death and you hang him on a tree. His corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day. For he who is hanged is acc of God, so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

These men were worthy of death. They were worthy to be hanged because cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. These men were cursed because of their disobedience to God and their unwilling to submit to the true God of Israel. And doesn't it say in Galatians chapter 3, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, and our Lord is the one who hung on a tree, right? Because he bore the curse that you deserve. So, you could have his life. So, again, we have the great symbolism of the end of man in terms of judgment.

He is cursed, he is damned forever. Unless you believe in the one who took your place on Calvary, who took the curse of God upon you, upon him. So you could be set free from that curse forever. And Joshua was the man who was obedient to God. They hung them on the tree. They took them down, they buried them that day because that's what God said needed to happen, and thus he fulfilled the execution just as it was told. And what's the text say? It says very clearly, they put them in the cave. What cave was that?

The same cave that they believed would allow them to escape judgment. They were buried in that cave. And the rocks were put in front of it. And what's it say? The stones over the mouth of the cave are there to this very day. This becomes the fifth memorial stone in the book of Joshua. The first two were the crossing of Jordan.

Number three, the king of Ai Number four was the stones over Achan. Number four was the stones over the king of Ai. And number five are the stones over the mouth of the cave with these five kings, a memorial of the judgment of God. A memorial that stands to this day that God will always judge sin. God will always judge the sinner. There, you need to make sure that you repent of your sin. The fifth thing in which you see is the glorification of the true king. That 's verse 25. When Joshua said to them, Do not fear or be dismayed.

Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight. God is to get the glory here. It's God who does the fighting, right? Joshua wanted his men never to forget this is God's job, this is God's business, God's going to do this because He's in charge. He didn't want them to think that they could take the glory for anything. He wanted them to keep perspective to make sure they understood that this was not about them, it was about the Lord God of Israel. So you go from the judgment to the enlargement, and that is the enlargement, meaning the enlargement of the kingdom of Israel expanding southward.

Two things you see. You see, number one, the direction of that enlargement, and you see the destruction in that enlargement.

You see them moving south to destroy the kings. It says in verse number. 28. Now Joshua captured Maked on that day and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed it. and every person who was in it. He left no survivor. Thus he did to the king of Maked. just as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Mak to Lib, and fought against Lib, and the LORD gave it also with its king, into the hands of Israel, and he struck it, and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword he left no survivor in it.

Thus he did to its king just as he had done to the king of Jericho. And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lib to Lach, and they camped by it, and fought against it, and the LORD gave Lak into the hands of Israel, and he captured it on the second day, and struck it, and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libna.

Then Horam, king of Gez, came up to Lakes help Lak, and Joshua defeated him and his people until he had left him no survivor. And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lak to Eglon, and they camped by it and fought against it, and they captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword, and the elder destroyed that day every person who was in it. according to all that he had done to Lach. Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up to Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it.

and they captured it, and struck it, and its king, and all its cities, and all the persons who were in it, with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor, according to all that he had done to Eg, and he utterly destroyed it, and every person who was in it. Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to Dab, and they fought against it, and he captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed every person who was in it. He left no survivor.

Just as he had done to Hebron, so he did to De and its king, as he had also done to Lib and its king. Then Joshua struck all the land, the hill country, and the Nege, and the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings. He left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord the God of Israel commanded. And Joshua struck them from Cad Barnea, even as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. And Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the LORD the God of Israel fought for Israel.

So Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal. Notice the destruction. Notice what it says.

He left no survivors. He left no survivors. He left no survivors. He utterly destroyed them all with the edge of the sword. He left no survivors. He left no survivors. Why? Because that's what God commanded him to do. And later on you will see where Joshua will chide the children of Israel because they don't continue the same way he did. Caleb did. Read about him in Joshua chapter 14. He wiped out everybody. And there's a great lesson here, my friend. We need to understand that evil must be dealt with.

Sin must. Be eradicated from our lives. You got to get rid of it. Can't hold on to it. Can't mess around with it. Can't play with it. You got to get rid of it. Why? Because if you don't wipe them out, They're going to creep back in. They're going to defile you. And while we might not fight the Canaanites in the land, we fight the carnality within ourselves, don't we? And that's why the Apostle Paul said these words way back in Colossians chapter 3, these words, therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead.

Mortify the members of your earthly body. Cut them off. Get rid of them. What? Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come. God's wrath comes upon those kinds of things because those kinds of people experience the judgment of God. You know, Joshua provides for us a great illustration of that. And we need to look at our lives and say, are we hanging on to some sin, some certain sins, some secret sins that keep us from winning life's battles because they keep tearing us down on the inside?

Got to deal with those things, right? Joshua did. He shows us the destruction there in the land. That caused there to be an enlargement. Joshua finishes now two-thirds of his mission. He's done with the middle with Jericho and Ai and Gibeon. He's done now with the southern section. Chapter 11 now he deals with the northern section. He's obedient to God and following God's holy wor. Ten times in the tenth chapter, we are told that God is going to take care of the mission. Verse 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 19, 30, and 32.

It's the Lord who fights the battle. And when we want to rid ourselves of those things that keep us from being what God wants us to be, it'll be God who fights the battle as we submit ourselves to his authority and to his rulership in our lives. If God assigns you a task, he will always assist you in that task because that's the way God is. Wh leads us to the encouragement. Think about this chapter. I want you to think of three things with me: first of all, the graciousness of God, second of all, the goodness of God, and thirdly, the greatness of God.

This chapter is about the graciousness of God. Joshua made a big blunder in chapter 9. He made a big blunder by signing a peace treaty with the enemy. He was deceived. But God is a God of grace. And God would override that, and he would use that. To be the method by which he would begin the defeat of the southern nations. And that's the grace of Almighty God, isn't it? You know, we make mistakes, we make blunders, we get deceived, we get duped into doing things we shouldn't be doing because we're not really in touch with God and doing what we should be doing.

And all of a sudden, we realize that we made this huge mistake. And our God is a God of great grace. And God would use that to show Joshua not only his grace, but his goodness. Chapter 10 is about the goodness of God because God would cause all things to work together for good, right? Because Joshua was one who loved his God and was called according to his purpose. And so God in his graciousness would use the events of the treaty to bring about good for Israel so that they would defeat the southern kingdoms.

It's about the goodness of God. It's about the greatness of God. God and his mighty power being displayed through the hailstones, through the length of a day. Ten times mentioning that he would fight for them, and he did fight for them, and they won the victory. It's about the greatness of Almighty God. How about you? What have you learned from chapter 10 of Joshua? What have you seen in that chapter that will enable you to live a life of great victory as Joshua himself did? I tr that the things you've learned will enable you to live for your God.