The sermon titled 'The Lord Delivers the North to Israel' discusses the events of Joshua chapters 9 to 11, where God orchestrates the military victories of Israel over various Canaanite kings. The speaker emphasizes that the book of Joshua is more about God's actions and His glory than the exploits of Joshua himself. It outlines the military campaigns that divided and conquered the land of Canaan, leading to the fulfillment of God's promise to Israel. The sermon explains the significance of God hardening the hearts of the opposing kings, resulting in their destruction as a form of divine judgment for their sins. The speaker also highlights the importance of obedience to God, exemplified by Joshua's actions compared to King Saul's partial obedience. Additionally, the sermon addresses the symbolic significance of burning chariots and hamstringing horses, illustrating a reliance on God's power rather than military strength. The presence of giants in the land is also discussed, with an emphasis on God's omnipotence over perceived insurmountable obstacles. Overall, the message encourages believers to trust in God's promises and act with faithful obedience.

So the sermon text for today is Joshua chapter 11, but for context we'll be starting in chapter 9 verse 1 reading to verse 2 then jumping to chapter 10 verses 1 through 5. I was assured there was a method to the madness, so So we'll start there chapter 9 And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan in the hills and in the lowland and all the coasts of the great sea toward Lebanon, the Parasite, or I'm sorry, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Parasite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite heard about it, that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord. Then chapter 10, verse 1, Now it came to pass when Adonai-Zedek King of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it as he had done to Jericho and its king. So he had done to Ai and its 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 like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.

Therefore, Adonai-Zedek, King of Jerusalem, sent to home King of Hebron, Periam, King of Jarmoth, Japhia, King of Lachish, and Deborah, King of Egwon, saying, Come up to me and help me that we may attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmoth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon gathered together and went up they and all their armies and camped before Gibeon and made war against it. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, mighty God, we do thank you and praise you, Lord God, for granting us another Sabbath day to consider your Word, to consider the historical events in Joshua and how they just bring glory to your name. Seeing your mighty works, Lord God, just Nothing inherently special about Israel, save for the fact, Lord God, that you had chosen them to be your peculiar people and you had chosen to work through them to display your mighty glory, to display your mighty name to all the nations, and to continue displaying your mighty name, Lord God, as it is recorded for us to read and to consider even to this day, in these inspired words.

Lord God, we do ask that you would bless this time. Give Jason words from on high to preach. Give him help today. Give us that are listening Lord God, that know you give us ears to hear. Ears to consider your word Lord God to repent of the sins that you reveal in our own lives, to see more of your glory, to see more of your great name, and those whose ears are deaf Lord God may you open them today if it be your will.

Giving new hearts Lord God as just the result of reading Joshua 11, reading a historical account of your mighty works, Lord God, that ears would be opened and they would come to know you, repent of their sins, and believe in the one true living God, the living God that fights on behalf of his people for his glory. Lord God bless this time and your sons and we pray. Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is The Lord Delivers the North to Israel. Titles taken right from verse 6 and verse 8.

Beginning of verse 6, God tells Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. Beginning of verse 8 we read, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel who defeated them. So the book of Joshua continues to not be about Joshua. The book of Joshua continues to be about the exploits of the God of heaven and earth who raises up men to work through, but it really is his story. All of scripture is God's story, and so it is with Joshua.

We should give Joshua a certain amount of honor as a man who obeyed the Lord and who God used. But it really is God working on behalf of His people that is set before us in the book of Joshua. Praise God for that. Let's quickly review the structure of what has brought us to chapter 11. That's why I wanted read for the sermon text the very beginning of chapter 9 and the very beginning of chapter 10.

Leading into chapter 9, we had Jericho, the battle of Jericho, which really wasn't much of a battle at all. God made the walls fall down. They went straight ahead of them into Jericho and conquered all of those people. And then Ai, which Israel also conquered, and that brought us to chapter 9. Let me just reread chapter 9 verses 1 and 2.

And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, So west of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of the great sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite heard about it, that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord. So that is the opening line for the whole section, which really will go through chapter 12, which we'll start into next week. But it's the conquest of the land. The people have been brought across the Jordan into the land and God gives them Jericho, God gives them Ai, and then we have this announcement in chapter 9 verses 1 and 2 that we're going in this period of time where God has used the reports of what He's done to Jericho and Ai to mobilize kings against Him. And the reason that God is doing that is He's giving them the land.

He's keeping his promises. He actually wants these kings to band together against his people so that he can judge them and destroy them for the rising tide of iniquity that has been rising for centuries. Something like five centuries. The rising tide of sin and now God is bringing judgment. So in chapter 9 verses 1 and 2, the author introduces the major military campaigns, and then talks about the Gibeonites, and how the Gibeonites came and tricked Israel into a treaty, which they then honored because they were duty-bound to honor it because they had invoked God and entered into that treaty.

Entered into that treaty. And then in chapter 10, the country was cut in half by conquering Jericho, conquering Ai, and then making A treaty with the Gibeonites and their three other allied cities really cuts Israel west of the Jordan in half, and then they move south and defeat the kings south of the midpoint, which is where they had entered the land. So that brings us to this point. The country's been cut in half by their victories and then they move south and conquer the south. And now in chapter 11 is the campaign of the North and God is promising to give them the North of the Promised Land.

Let's pray. God, You are the strength of Your people. If we come away from these chapters with nothing else, let it be firmly fixed in our hearts forever that you are a God who acts on behalf of His people, who does not stay silent and inactive, but you love your people and you move on their behalf. You always have and you always will. Press this Wonderful, encouraging truth on our hearts.

Never let us live a day without it crossing our minds. I pray to you in Jesus' name, Amen. So, we'll be subdividing chapter 11, and let's start looking at verses 1 through 5. We'll take it piece by piece. So, Joshua chapter 11, verses 1 through 5.

Please follow along as I read. It came to pass when Jabin king of Hazor heard these things that he sent to Jobab king of Medan to the king of Shimran to the king of Akshaf and to the kings who were from the north in the mountains in the plain south of Chinaroth in the low land and in the heights of Dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east, and in the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the mountains, and the Hivite below Hermon in the land of Mizpah." That's easy for you to say. That's a mouthful. In these five verses, a massive army gathers to oppose Israel. So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, massive army are the two words that fill in the two blanks.

A massive army gathers to oppose Israel. If you just set The beginning of chapter 10 and the beginning of chapter 11 side-by-side you have almost the identical words the dominant king hears a report of what the people of Israel had been doing and then their conquest of Land And then this dominant king in the region gathers others. That's exactly what happened in chapter 10. In chapter 10 it was Adonai-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, now it is Jabin, king of Hazor. In each case, the dominant king from the region calls for an alliance, help against Israel from the other kings in the region.

In Judges chapter 4 verse 2, we encounter a Jabin king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor. In Judges chapter 4, you see that he has 900 chariots of iron. It reads a lot like this. It cannot be the same Jabin. The Jabin in our chapter dies.

Judges chapter 4 has to be at least a generation later. A Jabin King of Hazor is probably either a family name, so that you have these two Jaevans from Hazor that are just related, a line of kings, or maybe it's even a title like Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Pharaoh's not his first name, it's just a title for the king of Egypt. That's my guess is that Jabin, king of Hazor, is a title like Pharaoh, king of Egypt. You can take your pick there.

Hazor was a city in the very north of the Promised Land. It will be right at the top of Israel once it becomes Israel. It's about 10 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. So it actually would have been not too far away from where Jesus grew up in Nazareth. So if you have a map of Israel in your mind, if you're familiar enough with Israeli geography, it would be near or maybe even part of Galilee, about ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee.

And It was the dominant city in this region. It was the dominant city on its section of the Via Maris. What is the Via Maris? The Via Maris at that time, this is the Late Bronze Age, something like 1400 BC, the Via Maris is the main highway from Egypt in the south to Mesopotamia and Syria in the north. So we got highways, they had highways, ways to get from place to place, and there was a highway that would take you from Egypt either to Mesopotamia or to Syria north and this city Hazor was the dominant city on this section of that highway the Via Maris thanks to Dale Davis the commentator for that tidbit I didn't find him in any of the other commentaries, but I think that's a helpful way to think of it.

It makes sense that Jabin, king of Hazor, was the king that would pull the other kings in the region together because this was the dominant city on the highway through that territory. The kings come from the north and the south and the east and the west of this northern portion of the promised land. That's really a description that we get in verses 1-5. They're coming from every direction to gather their armies together, to consolidate their armies to fight against Israel. And it really culminates in verse 4.

Look again at verse 4. So they went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude with very many horses and chariots. So here you have an innumerably large military force Beyond counting. Don't even bother. There's not enough fingers and toes to count the army that has gathered against them.

And many chariots. So it's an innumerably large military force armed to the teeth. That's what with many chariots means. The best military equipment of the day, the most advanced military equipment of the day, would have been chariots and they had many in addition to their uncountable military force. Uncountable military force.

Now moving on to chapter, excuse me, verses 6 through 15. So this first section is really just there to help you understand the extent of this universal opposition to the people of Israel. These kings of all the city-states in the region are being brought together by the dominant king in the region, and you can't even count their army, and they are armed to the teeth with the best military equipment that is available in the day. So that is the whole point of verses 1-5. Now follow along as I read 6-15.

But the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, For tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire." So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Meram, and they attacked them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to greater Sidon, to the book Mizrefath, and to the valley of Mizpah eastward. They attacked them until they left none of them remaining. So Joshua did to them as the Lord had told him.

He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire. Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor and struck its king with the sword. For Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms. They struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing.

Then they burned Hazor with fire. So all the cities of those kings and all their kings, Joshua took and struck with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them except Hazor only, which Joshua burned. And all the spoil of these cities and all the livestock the children of Israel took as booty for themselves.

They struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, And they left nothing breathing. As the Lord had commanded Moses, his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses. In these verses, God delivers this massive army to Israel in a single day. If you're taking notes on the handout, there are two blanks and single day.

Fill in the two blanks. God delivers this massive army, an army that you can't count, an army armed to the teeth, he delivers it to Israel in one day, a single day. Very much like before in a couple of other places that we've already seen in Joshua, God speaks courage and comfort to Joshua. Do you see that? Starting in verse 6.

God says, don't be afraid. He speaks courage to them. He says, I'll deliver them dead before Israel. He speaks comfort to them. He tells them exactly when this is going to happen.

So He gets a reaffirmation of the promise, but he gets details that should give him confidence. Like, this time tomorrow, this innumerable army armed to the teeth will be dead. I'll deliver them slain before Israel. Very much like before in a couple of other places that we've already encountered in Joshua, this declaration from God doesn't keep Joshua from acting. It gives him the boldness and confidence to act immediately and decisively.

I think this is an important point. We keep encountering this point in the book of Joshua, so that alone would probably tell us that it's an important point. God speaking courage and comfort to Joshua doesn't keep him from acting. It gives him the boldness and courage to act immediately and to act decisively on the part that God has given him to play. In other words, Joshua is a Calvinist not a hyper Calvinist.

I do know Calvin came after Joshua. I do know that much. Well what do I mean? Joshua is a Calvinist, not a hyper Calvinist. A Calvinist would say, God rules from heaven.

He controls everything. Nothing happens except that God decided it would happen. And so that should give me confidence and courage to do what God has told me to do immediately and decisively. A Calvinist says that. The hyper Calvinist goes beyond what Calvin ever taught or Calvin ever did if you study his life to say, because God is King in heaven it doesn't matter what I do, I can just sit still because God is going to do what He is going to do anyway.

No, no, no. Joshua didn't draw that conclusion, and Calvin didn't draw that conclusion, and we shouldn't draw that conclusion. Is God King in heaven? You better believe it. Is everything happening, happening because God determined that would have happened?

You better believe it. Does that mean you don't have a role to play and it's not important whether you obey or not obey. No, it doesn't mean that at all. It didn't mean that to Joshua. It didn't mean that to Calvin.

It cannot mean that to you. It meant to Joshua, I should go do it right now because God is king in heaven. That's how we should think of it. That's how Joshua thought of it. That's how Calvin thought of it.

That's how we should think of it. Again, Joshua leads Israel in obeying God and they leave none remaining. It's said in verse 8, it's said in verse 11, it's said in verse 12, it's said in verse 14 that they utterly destroy them, that they leave none breathing, that they put everyone to the sword. That's what God had commanded. That's what Joshua leads Israel in obeying.

One king rallied the opposition against the Lord's people. It was Jabin, king of Hazor. And One king is specifically called out and is put to the sword. One city is specifically called out as being burned. In fact, it was the only city that was burned.

The one who leads the opposition to God, that's the king that's called out, is being put to the sword. There's one city that leads the opposition against the Lord's people, that's the city that's burned to the ground. But Israel is allowed to keep the spoils of war. They go here city by city and they get the wealth of these cities. They get the livestock of these cities.

God is enriching them as He is giving them the land. He is not giving them a barren land. He is giving them an abundant land. It is a land that is flowing with milk and honey. They are being enriched city by city by the wealth and the livestock, the provisions of these cities.

Now, here's an interesting detail. In the second half of verse 6, the Lord said this to Joshua, You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire. We know what it means to burn a chariot. That doesn't need an explanation. But what does it mean to hamstring a horse.

It means to sever a ligament in the rear legs of the horse, and it makes that horse permanently unusable for pulling. It's to cut the ligament in the rear legs of a horse. Once you've done that, that horse will never pull a chariot again. That horse will never be used in war again. You make the horses unusable for war and you burn the chariots to the ground.

Why would Israel do that? Think about it. Why would Israel do that? There's only one good answer. The only good answer is to obey God.

The only good reason for Israel to do this was because God said do this. God said hamstring the horses. God said burn the chariots. There's no other good reason. No other answer makes sense.

It does not make military sense. Like we've seen throughout Joshua, again they're committing military malpractice. You keep the good weaponry. So why instead of saying, keep the chariots, keep the horses, does God say burn the chariots, hamstring the horses? Why?

Let me give you three verses the Bible explains the Bible as always the best commentary on Joshua chapter 24 is other places in scripture let me give you three verses which explains with great clarity why God would say, burn the chariots, where brilliant military leaders would say, no, no, no, keep the chariots. Psalm, The first is this, Psalm 20 verse 7. Listen to Psalm 20 verse 7. Some trust in chariots, some in horses. But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

If you have chariots and horses, you might be tempted to trust in chariots and horses. If all you have is God, you trust God. God, you trust God. Second, Psalm 33 verse 17. Psalm 33, 17.

A horse is a vain hope for safety. Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength." Now we have horses! Strength upon strength upon strength! Look at all the horses! God says hamstring them.

Make them worthless for waging war and burn the chariots to the ground. Why? Because the horse is a vain hope for safety. You'll be tempted to hope in that horse to say, look at all the strength, now we've got all the strength. Third, Isaiah 31 verse 1.

Listen to Isaiah 31 verse 1. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses who trust in chariots because there are many and in Horsemen because they are very strong, but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel Nor seek the Lord You know when when it's finally you who has the innumerable army Just too many to count and you're armed to the teeth the temptation is that you stop looking to the Holy One of Israel and you don't seek the Lord anymore because of all the horses and chariots. God says hamstring those horses. Burn those chariots. What we need is to be walking with the Lord in his ways, not to win the arms race.

That might be the most important sentence I'm going to say in this hour, so I'm going to say it again. What we need is to be walking with the Lord in His ways, to know Him and walk in His ways. Not to win the arms race. Somebody who's trying to win the arm race would never hamstring the horses. Somebody who is trying to win the arm race would never burn the chariots.

God says hamstring those horses, burn those chariots, walk with me. I'll give you victories. You don't need the horses for the victories, you don't need the chariots for the victories. You just need me. Look at verse 15.

Look at verse 15. As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses. That's what we need. Careful obedience.

Not more horses. Not chariots. We need careful obedience. We need to know God and to walk in His ways. This week, by quote-unquote coincidence or whatever, my Bible reading plan had me in 1 Samuel reading about King Saul.

You know, Saul just couldn't quite make himself go the whole way in obedience. God told him to go wage war against the Amalekites and to kill them all, to kill all the livestock. He killed them all except the king. He kept the king alive. He killed the worthless livestock, but he kept the good alive.

And then he said, oh, we were going to offer it to the Lord. In reality, his partial obedience was just disobedience. He was called on to do exactly what Joshua led the people in and Joshua did it down to dotting the eye and crossing the teeth. Saul couldn't quite bring himself to go all that far in obedience. And it was just disobedience.

And God took the kingdom from him and gave it to David because of that. The last section, verses 16 through 23. Follow along. Follow along. Thus Joshua took all the land, the mountain country, all the south, all the land of Goshen, the low land, and the Jordan plain.

The mountains of Israel and its lowlands from Mount Halak and the ascent to Seir even as far as Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. They captured all their kings and struck them down and killed them. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All the others they took in battle.

For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them as the Lord had commanded Moses." At that time, Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. None of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel. There remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod. By the way, Goliath will come from Gath generations from now.

And he's one of the Anakim. Verse 23, So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had said to Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war. That last verse then is really a hinge verse, looking backward to the conquest of the land and the forward to the division of the land and giving the inheritances to the tribes. In verses 16 through 23, we see the promises kept in the promised land.

So if you're taking notes on the handout, promises kept are the two words that fill in the blanks. The promise is kept in the promised land. It's just a summary of God having kept his promise to give this land that he promised Abraham so many hundreds of years ago to give to his descendants. And he did it. And this is a summary of it.

In this section we have a geographical summary of the conquest of the promised land. We're given a geographical, like pin on the map, landmarks of north, south, east, and west, the limitations of the promised land. In the next two weeks we'll get a geopolitical summary, in other words the kings. In this section we have the geographical boundaries and next week we'll have the geopolitical, or a listing of the kings that they conquered. Verse 18 is an important note.

Look again at verse 18. Again at verse 18. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. It literally means many days. He made war a long time or many days.

We need to be told this. Why? Because we've been reading summaries. We haven't been reading detailed descriptions with timelines that would let us know that he made war a long time with these kings. Because they're summaries, it reads like it was all very fast, but that's not what it was.

The commentators differ, but the range of how they calculate it is five to seven years. So the beginning of chapter nine and the southern campaign and now chapter 10 and chapter 11 represents about five to seven years of warfare. The commentators methods of getting to five and seven years are indirect meaning they're taking different time markers in different places in Scripture and therefore making the calculations from these indirect things they're making assumptions and that's why they don't perfectly agree. I agree with Matthew Henry that says it's somewhere between five and seven years. But it lets you know, Joshua made war for a long time for many days with all these kings.

When you read it, if you didn't have verse 18, you'd say, oh this was one summer's work. That's not true. It was multiple years' work. But God did give them the victory, and God kept every promise. Verses 19 and 20 are critical.

Look again at verses 19 and 20. It was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon, all the others they took in battle. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts. All the other kings had God hardening their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them as the Lord had commanded Moses. Why did none of the other kings seek peace like the Gibeonites did?

Because God hardened them against seeking peace and caused them to gather together to oppose Israel so that he could destroy them. So that Israel didn't have to go town by town, siege, conquer, move. He brought all the armies out together and they thought it would be for their salvation, but God used it for their destruction. He hardened them into that. This is what commentators sometimes call judicial hardening.

The judicial hardening of God. What does that mean? That means it is a judgment of God upon the stubbornly wicked to harden them in order to render their condemnation and judgment and penalty. Like Pharaoh in Exodus. In Pharaoh and Exodus, God took this stubbornly wicked man and instead of him reacting in a way a same person would react to the ten plagues of Egypt, he hardened his heart because God was using it to magnify himself, God was magnified through it, but also to bring judgment on this stubbornly wicked man.

It was judicial hardening. Consider Isaiah 55 verses 6 and 7. These are really important verses. Isaiah 55 verses 6 and 7. Seek the Lord when while He may be found.

Call upon Him when while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." We think, the gospel was offered to me today, it'll be offered to me tomorrow. The Gospel's offered to you tomorrow, it'll be offered to me next week. It's offered to you next week, it'll be offered to me next month.

You fool. There's no guarantee of that. Do you know sin hardens? Do you know sin hardens? If you refuse it today, do you think you'll be more tender towards it tomorrow?

If you refuse it tomorrow, do you think you'll be more tender towards it next week? If you refuse it next week, do you think you'll be tender towards it more next month? No! Lest God breaks through your hardness in His mercy. You can't walk through this life, live this life presuming that God won't judicially harden you when you've been stubbornly wicked.

Why wouldn't He? What would make you different than Jabin, king of Hazor? Than Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem? Why wouldn't he judicially harden you? Wouldn't you deserve it?

It's a dangerous thing to live in presumption that the mercy extended to you today will be extended to you again tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. He'll have mercy on you.

He's extending mercy to you today. Grab a hold of that mercy and refuse to ever let it go. The day of mercy comes. Did you know at some point the day of mercy goes to? At some point.

You don't know the point. We just assume I just take it or leave it whenever I want to. That's not how life works. Anyone who's old can tell you that's not how life works. What's offered today might not be at hand tomorrow.

Finally, verses 21 and 22. Look again at 21 and 22. At that time, Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from the mountains of Judah, and from the mountains of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. None of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel.

They remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod. These end up being Philistine cities where there are giants and we encounter them as the Old Testament proceeds. Ah, the Anakim! The giants! Ah, the anacheme.

The giants. Only Two little verses for the big people. Turn to Numbers 13. Turn to Numbers 13. In some ways, the study of the anechem is wonderful, and in some ways it's so sad.

You'll see what I mean as we develop this. Turn to Numbers chapter 13. Numbers chapter 13 is where the disaster happened and the people refused to go into the promised land. 12 spies are sent into the land of milk and honey. They come back with reports.

Joshua and Caleb were two of those spies. We'll pick it up in Numbers chapter 13 verses 26 through 33. Numbers 13, 26 through 33. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron, these are the spides, they come back. And all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Peran at Kadesh.

They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told them and said, We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the cities are strong, the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

The Amelikites dwell in the land of the south, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are able to overcome it. But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they gave the children a bad report of the land which they had spied out saying the land through which we have gone as spies is the land that devours its inhabitants and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak came from the giants, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight.

And so we were in their sight. Little did they know that the big people would get two verses in Joshua chapter 11. Little did they know that The giants weren't giant to God. Little did they know that if God was with them, that the descendants of Anak would be nothing. Just get a small mention, Joshua chapter 11.

But they should have known because of what God did for them in Egypt. Because God parted the Red Sea for them. Because God had already given them victory over the Amalekites. They should have known. Listen to what Moses said in Deuteronomy chapter 9.

Just listen. It's Deuteronomy 9 verses 1 through 3. This is shortly before Moses died and the people went into the promised land without him, but this is his instructions to the people. Deuteronomy 9, 1 through 3. Here, O Israel, You are to cross over the Jordan today and go in and dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you heard it said, who can stand before the descendants of Anak?

Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is he who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you." There was even a saying, who can stand before the descendants of Anak? They're huge, they're mighty, who can stand before them? Don't listen to the sayings.

The world has sayings for who can't be beat, for who can't be defeated. Either don't listen to the sayings or give the right answer to the questions. Who can stand before the descendants of Anak? The Lord's people can. Listen to what Matthew Henry says.

You knew Matthew Henry was going to say something great about the descendants of Anak. You are correct. Matthew Henry says, Even that opposition which seemed invincible was got over. Never let the sons of Anak be a terror to the Israel of God, for even their day will come to fall." Giants are dwarfs to omnipotence. There it is.

There's the punchline. See, they're only giants to us. They're not giants to God. God doesn't look on them and see giants. Giants are dwarfs to omnipotence.

You just need to know God and walk with God. Applications, I'll give you five. What should we do with Joshua chapter 11? That's what we're trying to apply it. What do we do with this?

We have truth, now what do we do with the truth? Number one, don't be driven by air quotes the odds. Don't be driven by the odds. How many they got over there? We can't count them.

Too many to count. No thanks. Wrong conclusion. As being driven by the odds when they had great clarity about what God was calling them to. They weren't driven by the odds.

Joshua wasn't driven by the odds. He knew he was facing a military force that couldn't be numbered, and they were armed to the teeth, and he attacked them. He came upon them suddenly. I missed something in my sermon. I must have missed a little part of my notes.

Did you notice in that section that he came upon them suddenly? And It wasn't the drawing up of two armies. It was Joshua rushing into battle against this innumerable army that was armed to the teeth. He couldn't wait to get at them because The confidence and comfort that God spoke to him made him act immediately and decisively to get at them. It wasn't driven by the odds.

It didn't bother him that you couldn't count how many people were in that military force or that they were armed to the teeth. Number two. Don't focus on winning the arms race. Hey, there's always an arms race. They got horses.

We need horses! They got chariots! We need chariots! It's not the arms race. It's God.

He always wins the arms race. He's the ultimate weapon. We don't just fly into things hoping that He'll come and bless what we're doing. No, no, no. We walk with Him.

We walk in His direction at His pace. Then we don't have to ask Him for His blessing because we're walking beside Him in His ways. That's how it's designed by God to work. Don't focus on winning the arms race. God is the arms race.

He always trumps horses. He always trumps chariots. Number three, never underestimate the hardening quality of sin. Before Israel crossed the Jordan, these kings were the kings of their palaces. They were the kings of their cities and They probably thought there would be no end of it.

Tomorrow would be like today. Next week would be like last week. Wasn't true. The day of mercy came and went. They didn't seek the Lord while He may be found.

Jesus Christ died for sinners. He shed His blood. It will make you as white as snow. If you've never had all your sins washed away by His blood, the offer is made to you again. Do you think you'll even be here next week to hear it?

You might be. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Never underestimate the hardening quality of sin. You know, you might have the Gospel offered to you again a year from now, a decade from now, and you might be so hard to it that it doesn't even register anymore. Register anymore.

Number four. Don't let the height of your enemies determine your disposition towards the promises of God. Next week we're going to talk about Og, king of Bashan. I'll give you the reference next week. But at the time of the writing, you could still go see his bed.

It was made out of iron and it was this huge thing because he was a giant. Goliath was ten foot tall. What does that have to do with God's promises? So your enemies need an iron bed. What does that have to do with God's promises?

So your enemies need an iron bed. What does that have to do with God's promises? They're dwarfs to omnipotence. Don't let the height of your enemies determine your disposition towards the promises of God. The promises of God are the only thing that matters.

Number five. Walk with the Lord in His ways. Partial obedience is disobedience. It's the difference between Saul and Joshua. Know the Lord and Walk with the Lord in His ways.

Partial obedience is disobedience. It's the difference between Saul and Joshua. Know the Lord and walk with the Lord in His ways. And then it won't matter how many enemies or who the enemies are. You'll be with God in this life and the next.

God, Thank you for Joshua chapter 11. There are a number of really, really important truths for us in this chapter. I'm so grateful that you brought us here. Don't let us come and go and quickly forget these things, but just Impress them on us. I pray in Jesus name