The sermon focuses on Joshua Chapter 10, which details the southern campaign of the Israelites in the Promised Land. Joshua leads Israel to conquer several cities, including Makkah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir, completely destroying them as commanded by God. The speaker emphasizes that these actions are not indiscriminate killings but are the execution of God's justice on nations that have engaged in idolatry and wickedness over centuries. The sermon draws parallels with Romans Chapter 9, exploring God's mercy and justice and why some are chosen to receive mercy while others face judgment. It further discusses Deuteronomy's commands and God's covenant with Israel, highlighting that Israel's victories are attributed to God's intervention and not their own righteousness. Ultimately, the message underscores the importance of recognizing God's perfect justice and the necessity of responding to the gospel with urgency.

Our sermon text today is Joshua 10, starting in verse 28. On that day, Joshua took Maketa and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them, all the people who were in it. He let none remain. He also did to the king of Mecedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

Then Joshua passed from Mecedah and all Israel with him to Libnah, and they fought against Libnah. And the Lord also delivered it and its king into the hand of Israel. He struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword. He let none remain in it, but did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua passed from Libnah and all Israel with him to Lachish.

And they encamped against it and fought against it. And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, who took it on the second day and struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libna. Then Horem, king of Gezer, came up to help Lachish, and Joshua struck him and his people until he left him none remaining. From Lachish, Joshua passed to Eglon and all Israel with him and they encamped against it and fought against it. They took it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword.

All the people who were in it he utterly destroyed that day according to all that he had done to Lachish. So Joshua went up from Eglon and all Israel with him to Hebron, and they fought against it. And they took it and struck it with the edge of the sword, its king, all its cities, and all the people who were in it. He left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon, but utterly destroyed it and all the people who were in it. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to Debir.

And they fought against it. And he took it and its king and all its cities, they struck them with the edge of the sword and utterly destroyed all the people who were in it. He left none remaining as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king as he had done also to Libna and its king. So Joshua conquered all the land, the mountain country and the south and the lowland and the wilderness slopes and all their kings. He left none remaining but utterly destroyed all that breathed as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.

And Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea, as far as Gaza and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. Let's pray. Oh, Father, send your Holy Spirit to us to give us understanding.

Open Jason's mouth to speak your truth and let your word find attentive and eager hearts. Let us not be changed as we walk out of here today. We commit this time to you in the name of Jesus who is Christ, amen. Title of the sermon this morning is We Would Have Been Made Like Gomorrah. Reaching forward into Romans chapter 9 verse 29.

We'll get there again. I know I've taken us to Romans chapter 9 verse 29 many times. But it's key to understanding a lot of Scripture and God's kindness to us through Jesus Christ. So we are going back to Romans chapter 9, at least briefly today. Last week, the two big takeaways from the text.

First, Israel honored their covenant with the Gibeonites. It was a covenant they never should have made. But they did make it. They called on God to witness it. They made a covenant in the name of the Lord.

And So they were bound to keep it and they did keep it. And they should have kept it. Second, God fought for Israel when Israel went to war to defend these Gibeonites that they had entered into that covenant with. God fought for them and the text says that more were killed by the great hail stones that God rained down on their enemies then died from the edge of the sword. And God actually made daylight last longer.

There was a double day so that Israel could continue to pursue and destroy their enemies and the enemies of God. So the result of this was that God gave them a crushing victory over these five nations that rose up to attack the Gibeonites. This week we get the southern campaign. The southern part of what we know as the promised land is conquered by the Israelites. They literally divide and conquer.

God brings them into the promised land at about the midpoint of the promised land. If you think of it in terms of north and south, they come in right in the middle on the north-south axis. And last week when they defeated these five kings who had attacked Gibeon, they essentially cut the promised land in half. And now they're going to go south and capture many of the major cities in the southern part of the promised land. Once again in today's text we are brought face to face with God's command to wipe out the inhabitants of the promised land.

And that's why I've imported a phrase from Romans chapter 9, we would have been made like Gomorrah to try to help us think rightly when we encounter these texts, when the people of God are commanded to wipe out the inhabitants of the Promised Land. What are we to do with that? Well, there is a temptation to think wrongly about that and we should not be thinking in terms of bad people being wiped out by good people. We should be thinking in terms of The justice of God towards rebels being rendered. In our text, in the destruction of the inhabitants of these cities, we are seeing nothing more and nothing less than the justice of God.

The good justice of God, the perfect justice of God, the right justice of God, the unbending justice of God. There is no other kind of justice of God than that. It is perfectly righteous and it is unbending. God is utterly unable to overlook sin and he renders it on the spot to the the inhabitants of these cities. Let's ask God to help us.

God, in some ways we're so glad that there's a perfectly righteous God in heaven. What a horror to think of a God who is totally undisturbed by evil reigning over all that is. So it is good that there is a perfectly righteous God in heaven, except for the implications towards me, I'm such a sinner. I have been. My whole life.

And if you were to render a verdict on my life based on the righteous standard that I have in the Bible. There could only be one verdict. It would have to be a guilty verdict. And I would have to stand condemned. This makes us so thankful for the person of Jesus Christ who is able to offer Himself up as an acceptable sacrifice, having none of His own sins, and the work of Jesus Christ, bleeding and dying on the cross to make it possible for sinners to be declared right before you.

So let us be awakened by the vision of your perfect unbending justice that's set before us in this text. And let us be made happy that there's a way that this doesn't have to be my end. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. As we almost always do, we're subdividing the text.

The first section is verses 28-39, so hopefully you're in. Joshua chapter 10, if you just look at how it's situated, 28-39 is almost all of the verses that only leaves 40-43. I'm not going to re-read them in this case. But in these verses we have a fitting judgment on six cities and seven peoples. So if you're taking notes on the handout, judgment fills in the blank.

Fitting judgment, the good righteous judgment of God on these six cities and seven peoples. Why is it six cities and seven peoples? Well, one extra city comes to help one of the cities that is going to be attacked and they're destroyed as well. Six cities are conquered in these texts. Makkah, Libna, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir.

In addition, Horam king of Gezer marched a day south to help Lachish. So Gezer is a city that is one day north of Lakish and they march from north to south to help the people of Lakish when they are besieged by the Israelites and it is an occasion for their total destruction as well. Three of these six cities that we encounter in this section of the text were of the cities which attacked Gibeon in last week's text and their armies were destroyed and now Israel comes to those three cities here along with three other cities. The language, just in terms of how should we characterize verses 28 through 39, here's how you should characterize them. The language of the total destruction of the inhabitants is everywhere.

Over and over and over and over and over and over again is the language of the total destruction of the inhabitants. It's summed up in the last section where it says that they were utterly destroyed, they utterly destroyed all that breathed. Anyone who breathed died. That means everyone. It is total destruction, utter destruction of the inhabitants.

Verse 28, utterly destroyed them, all the people, let none remain. That is of Makkah, where we left off. Where we left off last week, these five kings that had joined together to attack Gibeon because they had entered into a covenant with the Israelites. They tried to hide themselves in this cave and they were brought out of the cave and they were executed. So the text last week left us at Makkah, and now this is the first city that they encounter and conquer and destroy the inhabitants of.

Verse 30, Struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, let none remain." That's Libna. They did that to the king of Libna as well. So we see this pattern at Jericho and Ai and in most of these cities that The one who had been leading these people, sort of the head rebel of these cities, is killed and hung on a tree until sundown and then buried. Verse 32, Struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword. That's Libna.

Verse 33, Struck him, this is Horam, the king of Geyser, who had come a day south to help the people of Libna. Struck him and his people until he left him none remaining. Verse 35, struck it with the edge of the sword, all the people who were in it he utterly destroyed. That's Eglon. Verse 37, struck it with the edge of the sword, its king all its cities and all the people who were in it, he left none remaining but utterly destroyed it and all the people who were in it.

This is Hebron. Verse 39, Utterly destroyed all the people who were in it, left none remaining. This is Debir. Then in verse 40 we get the summary, left none remaining but utterly destroyed all that breathe as the Lord God of Israel had commanded." So we know this but it is reiterated here that they are actually acting at the commandment of the Lord. They are doing these things completely and only because God commanded them to do it.

That is the key phrase. As the Lord God of Israel had commanded. This is actually obedience. This is actually the justice of God being rendered through his chosen instrument. He commanded them to do it and they did it.

This is not indiscriminate killing which has its roots in human malice. That's what's happening in Ukraine. Indiscriminate killing because of human malice. That is a million miles away from what is happening in our text. In our text, it is the verdict declared and the sentence passed by the creator of all people everywhere.

God who has given everyone who ever lived every breath they have ever breathed had said, here is the sentence on these people, here is the verdict, carry out my sentence. It is the wages of sin which is death being paid. God calling everything to a halt and saying for this city there is no more patience, no more time, no more opportunity, but we are at the end of my patience and my sentence will now be carried out by my chosen instrument. Today's sin? Yes, today's sin.

Yesterday's sin? Yes, yesterday's sin. And last week's sin, and last month's sin, and your father's sin is in view, Your grandparent's sins are in view. God had been forbearing with the people who were going further and further into idolatry and wickedness as time went by. And his patience was rewarded with worse and worse rebellion against him.

And now he's stopping everything to say this is the verdict, this is the sentence. My instrument will carry it out. Let's get some help from Moses in understanding this. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 7. If you leave today with nothing else, I want you to leave with this thought.

This is just the justice of God being rendered. In our text, all that we have in view, nothing more, nothing less, is the justice of God being rendered. The wages of sin being paid. Deuteronomy chapter 7, let me read verses 1-8 and then I'll make some comments. Deuteronomy 7 verses 1 through 8.

Moses says this, When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you. And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, You shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them, nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not Give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. So the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.

But thus you shall deal with them. You shall utterly destroy their altars and break down their sacred pillars and cut down their wooden images and burn their carved images with fire. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure of all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people for you were the least of all peoples.

But because the Lord loves you and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt." So these are greater and mightier nations than Israel. The text reads like Israel is beating up on little villages. That's not true. They are going to war among a people who are greater and mightier than they are. Only God is fighting for them, fighting with them, so it looks easy.

That's verse 1. These are greater and mightier nations than Israel. And the Israelites are commanded to utterly destroy them. So what we see in our text in Joshua chapter 10 is simply obedience to this explicit, clear command of God in Deuteronomy 7. That's verse 2, the command to utterly destroy them.

The Israelites are not to make any covenants with them, nor show mercy to them, nor make marriages with them. That's verses 2 and 3. And the reason is given. If you do that, if you do any of those things, if you make covenants with them, if you show them mercy, if you engage in marriages with them, they'll turn future generations away from the Lord. The endpoint of making covenants with them, or showing mercy to them, or engaging in marriages with them, will be that your future generations will cease to follow the Lord, and they'll fall into the same idolatry that characterizes these people.

That mercy towards them would actually be cruelty towards yourself. You'll think you're being merciful to them if you come to these cities and spare them contrary to what God commanded. But you won't be merciful at all. You'll be hating your own future generations because they'll lure them into idolatry. Finally, this question is answered.

Why Israel? We've read the chapters up until Joshua. Israel is about as stubborn as it gets. Israel, you have a hard time finding points where Israel actually wholeheartedly obeys, or even obeys at all. So why Israel?

We get the answer to that here in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Because God chose to love them. Not because of any loveliness in themselves, but of His own free will. God is the freest being in all the universe. It's only God who can do anything that He wants, whatever He wants.

That does not describe you. That does not describe me. I can't do anything I want. Okay, I want to fly. Good luck with that.

I'm free! I can fly! No? God is free. God can do anything He wants.

I'm not like that. God is the freest being in all the universe and He chose to love them. That's why. And also, he made promises to their forefathers. Two reasons are given.

I chose to love you and I made promises to your forefathers. And he always keeps his promises. Always remember that the context of this is Genesis 15-16. In Genesis 15-16, God comes to Abraham to promise the promised land to his future generations. And he says, it's not going to happen until in the future for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

How many years between that, between God making the promises and him saying, but not yet, the promised land isn't yours yet. It will be given to you after the iniquity of the Amorites is complete, has come to a full measure. How many years? More than 500 years. So this is after exhaustive patience.

This is justice rendered by God, not in a fit of passion where he's finally just fed up and he reacts. It is after centuries of patience, more than five centuries of patience. Not that he owed them that by the way. God owes no one five centuries of patience but it is in his nature to be compassionate and patient and long-suffering. And so that's what we find him to be in Scripture.

Flip a page to Deuteronomy 9. I would like to read Deuteronomy 9 verses 1 through 6. I think it throws additional light on this. Deuteronomy 9 verses 1 through 6. Hero Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today and go into dispossessed 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.

Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God cast them out before you saying, because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess the land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you. And that he may fulfill the Lord which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people." So it is not a righteous people who are being used in judgment on an unrighteous people.

We might look at the relative level of wickedness between one of these peoples and another and say, they're more wicked than them. But just understand through the lens that God is seeing it, it is filthy people all around. Needy people all around. Rebels all around. Paul explains this as far as it can be explained.

And that's a really important disclaimer. Paul explains that as far as it can be explained, so much of The reason for this is in God's good pleasure. And he doesn't intend to give a full account of himself in this. But please turn to Romans chapter 9, where Paul begins to explain why he would have compassion on some and not have compassion on others. This is the question that we have.

And it is a question, why me or why not me? Why them? Why not them? Paul addresses this knowing that we all have that question. Why is it simply God's choice?

That is the question on the table in Romans chapter 9. Why is it simply God's choice and nothing else but God's choice? I'm going to begin in verse 14. By the way, if we were preaching through Romans chapter 9, we'd take a month. So I'm not going to try to get in the trap of turning this into a sermon on Romans chapter 9, which might be frustrating, but it is what it is.

Romans chapter 9, let me start by reading Romans 9, 14-16. Paul says, What shall we say then? This is just about God's choice. Nothing else but God's choice. What shall we say then?

Is there any unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. If you're like me, this is a very frustrating explanation.

What kind of an explanation is that? I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And yet, though it's frustrating, I find that I can't argue with it. Mercy is at the discretion of the one in position to show mercy or not.

Compassion is at the discretion. No one is owed mercy, or else you would have to find another word. That's not what mercy is. If it's something that's owed, you wouldn't use the word mercy. So no one is owed mercy, no one is owed compassion, or you would have to find another thing to label it.

By definition, mercy is at the disposal of the one who is in position to extend it. God says simply, I'll have mercy on whomever I choose to have mercy. I'll have compassion on whoever I choose to have compassion because I don't owe it to any group, to anyone or any group. It is not owed. It is a free offering out of my own will that I choose to extend it.

None of it is owed. None of it is earned. None of it could be earned. It is at God's disposal and discretion, period. The point is, when you read in verse 16, So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

What he's actually teaching is that if God just leaves it to whoever wills or whoever runs, no one will be saved. No one wills. Human nature is so warped against all that is good that if God just leaves everyone to pursue their own natural inclinations we will 100 percent with no exceptions run ourselves into destruction altogether. And so it is completely at the disposal of God's mercy and compassion. If he just backs away and lets us all have what we want, we'll want ourselves into destruction.

If he just backs away and lets us run, we'll run ourselves into destruction. So it's not of him who wills or we would will ourselves into destruction. And not of him who runs or we would run ourselves into destruction, but of God who shows mercy. On some who will themselves into destruction, God says, No, I'm plucking you out of the flames. On some who are running themselves into destruction, He says, No, and He holds them back from destruction.

Not owing it to a single person, but choosing to make some the objects of His kindness. Verse 29 proves this. Look fast forward to verse 29. And as Isaiah said before, unless the Lord of Sabaoth, unless the Lord of hosts, unless the God who sits at the head of an army that could never be defeated by anything in this universe or by everything in this universe, unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed we would have become like Sodom we would have been made like Gomorrah unless God had intervened we would all just get what we deserve, which would be the utter destruction that we see in Joshua chapter 10. The utter destruction of everyone who breathes, That's what we have in Joshua chapter 10.

You breathing? This means you. This means you. If you're breathing and you're in Joshua chapter 10, Either you would have been the object of God's mercy, or God would give you what you deserve, what you willed yourself into, what you ran yourself into. The only alternative is God Himself having mercy on a sinner.

God holding back from a rebel what the rebel has richly earned. This means me. This means there's only one hope for me. That I would look past what I have earned for myself and have compassion on me. So it is no surprise that God wipes people off the face of the earth.

Nothing in Joshua chapter 10 should surprise you. In the killing of every man, woman, and child in these cities, none of that should surprise you. Every one of us is by nature deserving of the anger of God. By nature is such an important qualifier. Every one of us is by nature.

In saying by nature, what that means is it's not just what you do, it's what you're like. So maybe you've had time and opportunity to go express what you're like. Or maybe you've had very little... Babies have had almost no time to... An opportunity to go and express what they like.

Just give them time. Just give them opportunity. And they'll express what they're like. And they'll prove, like everyone else has, so dramatically proven that we're enemies of God. The things that he loves we have no affection for, the things that he hates we have almost endless appetite for.

Just given time and opportunity, we'll all prove that. Because it's not just what we do, that's bad enough. It's what we're like. It's what we're like. So it's no surprise that God wipes people off the face of the earth.

The great surprise is that God chooses to have mercy on some and then makes them the objects of His own great love. Why does He do that? That's what should be puzzling to us when we encounter a chapter that has the utter destruction of everyone who breathes. Our great question should be, why doesn't God do that with everyone? When When we see Jesus on the cross, that's what's happening.

The Good justice of God is being rendered. He is utterly incapable of overlooking my sins. He can't act like I haven't spent my life pretending I'm a king. I will be king! He can't act like that hasn't happened.

He's too good. He's too righteous. He's too perfect as a judge to just act like he was looking the other way when I was pretending to be a king. So what we have in these verses in Joshua chapter 10 is the fitting judgment of God on these cities and peoples. We're so used to God being patient and forbearing and giving opportunity after opportunity after opportunity after opportunity after opportunity that when we come to a chapter like this it's a shock to our system.

Because we thought because he was so patient that there would never come a day when he would do what he said. He says he'll do this. He says that a day is coming when he'll render what's due. If there are people here who are listening this morning and have interpreted His patience in your life with you holding the Gospel at arm's length and thinking there will be another day, another week, another month, another year. I'll do it when I'm ready, you fool.

This chapter is for you. God has brought you to chapter 10 to throw cold water on the conclusion that you've drawn from all of His kindness, all of His patience, all of His adding opportunity to opportunity. And you've thought that means the day is never coming. That's not true. God was patient with these people that are destroyed, utterly destroyed, everyone who breathes, for many, many generations, and they thought it would just go on forever like that.

And One day they found Israel at the gates of their city. And no one survived that day. And it wasn't human malice. It was the righteous judgment of God because of what they were like. 40 through 43, this final section.

Let me read it. Follow along. Joshua chapter 10, 40 through 43. So Joshua conquered all the land, the mountain country, and the south, and the low land, and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining but utterly destroyed all that breathed as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.

Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen even as far as Gibeon. All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. And Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. In this section we have a summary of all that God had done in fighting for Israel. If you're taking notes on the handout, fighting fills in the blank.

A summary of all that God had done in fighting for Israel. The structure of this section, verse 40, we have regions. Mountain country, the south, the lowland, the wilderness slopes. These describe the regions of the southern section of the promised land. When the land is finally divided up, this will essentially be Judah.

Simeon is actually within the territory of Judah. Verse 41, we have the geographical boundaries. Kadesh Barnea and Gaza are the southernmost points. Goshen is the southern region and Gibeon is the northernmost border. So they're landmarks that are being called out to let us know the northernmost and southernmost borders of the area that was conquered in this campaign.

Verse 42 tells us that these kings were conquered and their lands were taken. And we're told how. So this all happened really fast. A campaign like this can take years to go from city and besiege it and starve them out or to compromise their defenses and then to go on to the next city, campaigns like this can take years. This didn't take hardly any time at all.

There are several time markers in here that says they took the city the same day. They took the city on the second day. All this happened with lightning speed. How did they do that with lightning speed? Because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.

That's really a summary of the whole section. It's God making it look easy. This isn't easy. Russia is finding out how easy it is to conquer a country that doesn't want to be conquered. This isn't easy.

God is making it look easy because He is almighty. This whole section is a fulfillment of what God said to Joshua in chapter 1 verse 3. What did God say to Joshua in chapter 1 verse 3? Every place that the sole of your foot will tread, I have given you as I said to Moses." Wherever they're going, God is giving it to them, just like He said He would. Finally, in verse 43, this last verse, Joshua and all Israel return to their camp in Gilgal.

So they're breaking the power of the Canaanites in these regions, but they're not yet taking possession. You have to understand that, or a lot of Joshua and judges doesn't make sense. But you have to know that they're breaking the back of Canaanite power in these regions. But they're not possessing it now. They're all going to go together now north in chapter 11.

There will be a northern campaign. They're not leaving people to settle and possess this southern land. It will then be split into tribal allotments. Every tribe will get a geography and then the tribes will go in and there will be work for the tribes to do to continue to dispossess these people. So the back of the power of the Canaanites is being broken through this campaign and they're all going together, all the tribes together to do this, but they're not yet taking possession.

Next week they head north. Applications, I'll give you three. Number one, this text stands as a warning to all. God is a perfectly righteous judge. God can't be anything else.

He's a perfect judge, meaning Human judges are imperfect judges because they can't know everything. They're not perfectly just. God knows everything. He has all the incriminating evidence. He has it all.

Even into thoughts and motivations, He has it all. And He's perfectly righteous. Joshua chapter 10 stands with the flood in Genesis 6. It stands with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Genesis chapter 16 and with many many other judgments in scriptures which tells us yes God is patient, yes God is compassionate, yes God is kind, yes God is long-suffering But to take all of that and draw the conclusion that the day is never coming is a fool's errand. A day is coming.

The flood teaches us that. Sodom and Gomorrah teaches us that. Joshua chapter 10 teaches us that. Listen to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Just listen.

2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 6 through 6-10. Paul writes, It is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He comes in that day to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed. He says that it's a righteous thing with God to render His justice. He speaks of the day that the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.

He really is the Lord of Sabaoth. He really is the Lord of hosts. He really is coming back with all of his mighty angels at the head of the armies of heaven and in that day He will in flaming fire take vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction. The gospel is good news, the best news ever that Jesus came to pay the debt of sinners, to render a righteous verdict on the unrighteous for the sake of a substitute.

But you cannot take it or leave it. It must be obeyed. We must all be moved by the Gospel of believers to worship. We should believers come to Joshua 10 and say, God I worship You. I worship You.

You know what I deserve. I know what I deserve. Thank You for Jesus. The shedding of blood in the place of sinners. Unbelievers, you must be moved by this.

You must obey the gospel. To say, I'll wait for another day means you think you have another day, week, month, year. Number two. Chapter 2. This text, Joshua Chapter 10, our text, should have us evaluating how comfortable we are in enemy territory.

God's command was, No Mercy! I have myself thinking about the text, thinking, I'm pretty comfortable among the Canaanites. Pretty comfortable drinking in what they're serving up. God said, utter destruction. If you leave any behind, that mercy will be cruelty to your children as they draw them away into their idolatries.

Ask yourself this question, how cozy am I with the enemies of Jesus? All the enemies of Jesus are getting bolder every day. Finding myself pretty cozy with the enemies of my Savior. And it bothers me. I hope it bothers you.

Believers, we're foreign ambassadors. Foreign ambassadors. We're not sent here to get comfortable and cozy on enemy territory. We are sent here to be salt and light. Their mission is completely different than the mission of the New Testament church.

But there's things for us to learn here. Don't you dare show mercy to the enemies of Jesus. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. Their battle is a flesh and blood battle. Ours is spiritual.

So apply. By the way, all the warnings of Deuteronomy came to pass. What are the warnings of Deuteronomy? If you do like these people, I'll treat you like these people. Did they do like those people?

Yes. Did God treat them like those people? Yes. He took the land from them, the Israelites, just like he took the land from the Canaanites. They engaged in the same idolatries.

He treated them in the same way. Number three. Back to number two. Back to number two. God wanted them to be afraid of making peace with these people who would draw them away.

They weren't really afraid. They thought it would be okay. It wasn't okay. Number three. I probably say this every week, and we'll say it every week to the end of Joshua.

This text is God keeping His promises. He promised their forefathers that He would give them this land. And He's giving them this land in spectacular fashion. They're greater and mightier peoples than the Israelites. But when we read it, it reads like they're just overrunning Youngsville.

They're not overrunning Youngsville. They're overrunning New York and Los Angeles and Boston. They're overrunning mighty places and God's making it look easy because God is almighty. He's always kept His promises. He always will.

God, thank You for our text. It is a disturbing text to think of men, women, children, old, young, everyone who breathes everyone who breathes being utterly destroyed. And it's so disturbing because our thoughts have so far to go in being aligned with truth. I pray that you would use these times, these texts to align us with truth. We would believe you.

And we would trust you. We would forsake every other hope to throw ourselves on the mercy of Jesus Christ purchased by His blood. Thank you that you have not left us to get the end that we would will ourselves into if you just left us alone. That we would run ourselves into if you just left us alone. Thank you for not having left us alone.

Praise you in Jesus' name, Amen.