The sermon covers Joshua chapters 7 through 12, highlighting Israel's conquest of the land west of the Jordan. It begins with Israel's defeat at Ai due to Achan's sin, which is later rectified by identifying and punishing Achan. Joshua then successfully captures Ai using a strategic ambush. The Gibeonites deceive Israel into making a covenant with them, teaching the importance of consulting God. Joshua leads Israel to victories against the Amorite kings and other Canaanite cities, with God intervening through miraculous means like halting the sun. The sermon emphasizes lessons on obedience, the corporate nature of sin, the perils of relying on human wisdom without seeking God, and the power of God working on behalf of His people. The overarching theme is God's faithfulness in keeping His promises to Israel, encouraging believers to trust in God's guidance and power.

Joshua chapter 7. But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah took of the accursed things. So the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-Aven, on the east side of Bethel and spoke to them saying go up and spy out the country.

So the men went up and spied out AI and they returned to Joshua and said to him, do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack AI. Do not worry all the people there, for the people of AI are few. So about 3, 000 men went up from there, from the people, but they fled before the men of AI, and the men of AI struck down about 36 men. For they chased them from before the gate as far as Sheberim and struck them down on the descent. Therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening. He and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all? To deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan.

Oh, Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?' So the Lord said to Joshua, Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them, for they have even taken some of the accursed things and have both stolen and deceived they've also put it among their own stuff therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies but turn their backs before their enemies because they have become doomed to destruction.

Neither will I be with you anymore unless you destroy the accursed things from among you. Get up, sanctify the people, and say sanctify yourselves for tomorrow because thus says the Lord God of Israel there is an accursed thing in your midst oh Israel you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you in the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to families and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel." So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarehites. And he brought the family of the Zarehites man by man, and Zabdi was taken.

Then he brought his household man by man and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah was taken. Now Joshua said to Achan, my son I beg you give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession to him and tell me now what you have done do not hide it from me and Achan answered Joshua and said indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and this is what I've done when I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with the silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent with the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zarah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had. And they brought them to the valley of Acre. And Joshua said, why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

Then they raised over him a great heap of stones still there to this day So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Acre to this day Chapter 8. Now the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid, nor be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise. Go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it." And so Joshua rose and all the people of war to go up against Ai and Joshua chose 30, 000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. And He commanded them, saying, Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.

Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city, and it will come about when they come out against us. As at the first, we shall flee before them. For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, they are fleeing before us as at the first. Therefore, we will flee before them. Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.

And it will be when you have taken the city that you shall set the city on fire According to the commandment of the Lord you shall do see I have commanded you Joshua therefore sent them out and they went to lie in Ambush and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai. But Joshua lodged that night among the people. Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel before the people of Ai. And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near And they came before the city and camped on the north side of AI and now a valley lay between them and AI so he took about 5, 000 men and sent them an ambush between Bethel and Ai on the west side of the city. And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

And now it happened when the king of Ai saw it that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them and fled by the way of the wilderness. So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, So they left the city opened and pursued Israel.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place. They ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand and they entered the city and took it and hurried to set the city on fire. And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven.

So they had no power to flee this way or that way. And the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. Then the others came out of the city against them, So they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side, and they struck them down. So they let none of them remain or escape.

But the king of Ai, they took alive and brought him to Joshua. And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of AI in the field, in the wilderness where they had pursued them. And when they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12, 000, all the people of Ai. For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

Only the livestock and the spoil of that city, Israel took his booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which he had commanded Joshua. So Joshua turned, burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. And the king of Ai, he hanged on a tree until evening and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the children of Israel as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool. And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.

And there in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priest, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward, he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that was written in the book of the law. It was not a word of all that Moses had commanded, which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.

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 in all the coasts of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hevite, and the Jebusite heard about it, that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord. But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily and went and pretended to be ambassadors and they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wine skins torn and mended, old patched sandals on their feet and old garments on themselves. And all the bread of their provisions was dry and moldy and they went to Joshua to the camp of Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country now, therefore make a covenant with us. Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, perhaps you dwell among us, so how can we make a covenant with you?' But they said to Joshua, We are your servants. And Joshua said to them, Who are you, and where do you come from?

So they said to him, From a very far country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God, for we have heard of his fame and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Shaihan, king of Heshbon, and Ahg, king of Bashan, who was at Ashtroth. Therefore, our elders and our inhabitants of our country spoke to us saying, take provisions with you for the journey and go and meet them and say to them, we are your servants now therefore make a covenant with us. The spread of ours we took hot for our provision from our houses on the day we departed to come to you. But now look, it is dry and moldy. And these wineskins which we filled were new, and see they are torn, and these are garments, and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey.

Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but they did not ask counsel of the Lord. So Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the rulers of the congregations swore to them. And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Kephiarai, Beiroth, Kerjath, Jerim, But the children of Israel did not attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel.

And all the congregation complained against the rulers. Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them. This we will do to them. We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.

And the ruler said to them, let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them. Then Joshua called for them and he spoke to them saying, Why have you deceived us? Saying, We are very far from you when you dwell near us. Now therefore you are cursed and none of you shall be freed from being slaves, woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.' So they answered Joshua and said, because your servants were clearly told that the Lord your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were very much afraid for our lives because of you and we have done this thing and now here we are in your hands do with us as it seems good and right to do to us so he did to them and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel so that they did not kill them. And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord in the place which he would choose even to this day.

Chapter 10. 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 Hoam, king of Hebron, Pyrrham, king of Jarmoth, Jophia, king of Lachish, and Deborah, king of Eglon, 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 Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up.

They and all their armies encamped before Gibeon and made war against it. And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp of Gilgal, saying, do not forsake your servants. Come up to us quickly. Save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.

And the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand. Not a man of them shall stand before you. Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. So the Lord routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Bethhoran, and struck them down as far as Ezekiah and Makkada. And it happened as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horan that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Esakha and they died.

There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword. Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel and he said in the sight of Israel, Son stand still over Gibeon and moon in the valley of Aijalon. So the sun stood still and the moon stopped till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

And there has been no day like that before it or after it that the Lord heeded the voice of a man for the Lord fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. But these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in a cave at Makkah. And it was told Joshua saying the five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkada. So Joshua said, roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them.

And do not stay there yourselves, but pursue your enemies and attack their rear guard. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand. Then it happened, while Joshua and the children of Israel made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they had finished, that those who escaped entered fortified cities. And all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua and Makkah in peace. No one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.

Then Joshua said, open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five kings to me from the cave. And they did so and brought out those five kings to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmoth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. So it was when they brought out those kings to Joshua that Joshua called for all the men of Israel and said to the captains of the men of war who went with him, Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings. And they drew near, and put their feet on their necks. Then Joshua said to them, Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.' And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them and hanged them on five trees, and they were hanging on the trees until evening.

And so it was at the time of the going down of the sun that Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees, cast them into the cave where they had been hidden, and laid large stones against the cave's mouth, which remained until this very day. On that day, Joshua took Makkahda 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 Makkah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

And then Joshua passed from Makkah 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 Libnah. 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 Aglon, 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, as 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 Geza, 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. And it came to pass when Jabin king of Hazor heard these things that he sent to Jobob king of Madan, to the king of Shimran, to the king of Ashaf, to the kings who were from the north in the mountains, in the plain south of Cheneroth in the lowlands, and in the heights of Dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east, and in the west the Amorite, the Hittite, the Peresite, the Jebusite in the mountains, and the Hivite below Hermon in the land of Mizvah. So they went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore and multitude, with very many horses and chariots. And when all these kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel. 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.

He 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 Merom, and they attacked them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to greater Sedan, to the brook Mizrava, and to the valley of Mizvah 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 this time and took Hazor and struck its king with a sword, for Hizor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms. And they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing. Then he burned Hizor with fire.

So all the cities of those kings and all their kings Joshua took and struck them 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 the livestock the children of Israel took as booty for themselves. But they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none breathing.

As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so has Moses commanded Joshua. And so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses. Thus Joshua took all this land, the mountain country, all the south, all the land of Goshen, the lowlands, and the Jordan plains, the mountains of Israel and its lowlands, from Mount Heluk to the ascent to Seir, even as far as Baal-Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He 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 Givian, 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. And 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. They remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod. 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. These are the kings of the land whom the children of Israel defeated, and whose land they possessed on the other side of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon to Mount Hermon and all the eastern Jordan plain.

One king was Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon and ruled half of Gilead from Arior, which is on the bank of the river Arnon. From the middle of that river, even as far as the river Jabak, which is the border of the Ammonites, and the eastern Jordan plain from the Sea of Kinneroth as far as the Sea of the Rabah, the salt sea, the road to Beth-Jeshamoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah. The other king was Og, king of Bashan, in his territory, who was of the remnant of the giants, who dwelt in Asteroth and at Edry, and reigned over Mount Hermon, over Salchah, over Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Macathites and over half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Hashbon. These Moses the servant of the Lord and the children of Israel had conquered. And Moses the servant of the Lord had given it as possession to the Rubinites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel conquered on this side of the Jordan, on the west, from Bel-Gad in the valley of Lebanon as far as Mount Halak, and the ascent to Seir which Joshua gave to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions. In the mountain country, in the lowlands, in the Jordan plain, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the south, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The King of Jericho, one. The King of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one. The King of Jerusalem, one.

The king of Hebron won. The king of Jarmoth won, the king of Lekish won. The king of Aglon won, the king of Gezer won. The king of Dabir won, the king of Gedder won. The king of Hormoth won, the king of Arad won the King of Libna won the King of a do-lam won the King of Makkah won the King of Bethel won.

The King of Te Puah won. The King of Hefer won. The King of Affek won. The King of Lasharon won. The King of Madan won.

The King of Hazor won. The King of Shimran-Muran won, the king of Akshvath won, the king of Tanakh won, the king of Megiddo won, the king of Kadesh won, the king of Joknium in Carmel won, The king of Dor in the heights of Dor won. The king of the people of Gilgal won. The king of Terza won. All the kings, 31.

Our God, thank you for your word. Thank you for showing us your promises kept, your giving of this land faithfully to a people that didn't deserve it. It's like we don't deserve any of your grace and mercy. You be given eternal life through Christ. Thank you for your word.

Bless now, praise the preaching, the teaching of your word. Bless Jason, Bless the hearers. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I'm so sorry I came prepared to keep it short. I thought that was going to take longer.

I hope you don't mind. You'll be okay? So these chapters, chapters 7 through 12, cover the conquest west of the Jordan. The conquest of east of the Jordan is actually recorded in numbers when they made war against a Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan and then Joshua picks up with with the crossing of the Jordan and the conquest west of the Jordan. So really getting into the meat of the conquest.

Now I've been enjoying the book of Joshua. I hope you are and I'm really glad that we came here. It's a faith-building book. Many books are filled with warnings. This one has some warnings, but really the people generally speaking are trusting in the Lord and obeying the Lord.

It's refreshing from that standpoint. You just get to see God do amazing things on behalf of his people. So I hope that we come and go from the book of Joshua, finding ourselves more confident than we've ever been in the God who leads his people. It took us 10 sermons to get to this point. It's expected to take us another 10 sermons to get through this section.

So chapters 7 through 12 should take us about 10 sermons. Anyway, that's how it's broken up in the preaching schedule. Sometimes I beg for subdivisions when I get to something and say, oh, that's too much. And I plead with James to give me an extra week and usually he's gracious to me. So hopefully We'll get through this section in ten sermons.

Let's ask the Lord to bless the remainder of our time God I do thank you for your word and I do thank you for the Sundays that we have where we read extended portions of your word. That is unusual but so helpful and so right that we would devote large portions, sometimes of our service, to just hearing your word without extended comment. Those are the most trustworthy words we ever hear when we gather. They are a treasure and we do give you thanks for them. I pray God that these next ten sermons, or however many it ends up being, that you would really press the truths that you wanted your people to have by the giving of these six chapters that you would give us out of the treasures.

And that it would stay with us. It would be there for our recall in the time when we need it. Pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. I do want to take a quick look back. I want to just set before you a summary of the things that we had from the intro sermon just to center us on the overall picture of the book of Joshua.

Who wrote it? No one knows for sure. There are a few places where you have I or we, and we know that because it's first person that Joshua wrote those sections, but there are other long sections without anything in the first person, so you really don't know who wrote great stretches of Joshua. Because Joshua is so much like Moses, I won't be surprised to get to heaven and find out that Joshua wrote the whole thing. I wouldn't bet against that, but we can't know for sure.

When was it written? It was written around 1400 BC. So fourteen centuries before Jesus the Savior came into the world. It records the period of about two decades. So there's about twenty years that we get the history of God's dealings with Israel recorded in the book of Joshua.

If that's right, if it really was, the happenings right around 1400 BC, historians call that the late Bronze Age, and they've excavated in in the land of Canaan. And it was, Canaan was on the trade routes between Africa and Asia. So it was in the middle of world commerce and It was a time of great prosperity in the land of Canaan when these things were happening. We actually see some of this in the book of Joshua. The structure of Joshua, we're thinking of it in terms of four sections.

The first, crossing into the land, chapters 1 through 6, we're finished with that. Jericho, maybe shouldn't be classified there, but it's right when they get to the other side, because God really fights the first battle, we included it in crossing into the land. The second section is conquering the land, chapter 7 through 12. So we're entering into the second section of Joshua's, if you divide it this way. The third is dividing the land.

After they conquer the land, they're going to divide it up among the ten and a half tribes. Of course, two and a half tribes already have their allotment on the east side of the Jordan. So there will be, what is that? That's nine chapters of dividing the land. My guess is we'll go through those really fast.

I don't think we're gonna spend a lot of time on border towns and that's what's a lot there. So it'll be interesting to see how we go through that. We're not there yet, so I do not know. So I've got ten weeks to figure that out. And then the fourth being, Settling into the Land, chapters 22 through 24.

And That includes Joshua's farewell address, which is one of the high marks of the book of Joshua. Those are the four sections. Crossing into the land, conquering the land, dividing the land, settling into the land. The primary theme of the book is the faithfulness of God in keeping his promises. The promises started being made to Father Abraham in Genesis chapter 15.

They continued to be made through the centuries. It's about 500 years from Abraham to the keeping of the promises in the Book of Joshua. We've already seen a couple, but we're going to see more monuments. Monuments set up to the faithfulness of God. The primary character of the book of Joshua is not Joshua, it's God.

Joshua is not a morality play where we learn to be more like Joshua. Joshua's good, be more like Joshua. No, that's not the message of the book. Joshua served a great God, served Joshua's great God is the message of the book. So please don't think of Joshua as a morality play where we learn to be more like this guy.

There are many things that are praiseworthy about Joshua. And like Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. We can follow Joshua as he followed his God. But the real key is to fix our eyes on Joshua's wonder working God. And if we learn that, if we learn to have the confidence in this wonder working God that Joshua had, our time in Joshua will be well spent.

The primary person in the book of Joshua is Joshua. He was mentioned 27 times in the Pentateuch before we get to the book of Joshua. So Joshua is really a well-known Bible character before you ever get to the book that bears his name. He's a general that leads the people into battle against the Amalekites in Exodus chapter 17. He's one of twelve spies that are sent into the land to bring back intelligence about the land, and one of two spies who brings back a good report.

God will keep his promises, we can take this land. The other ten spies said no, the cities are walled up to heaven and there are giants in the land. We're like grasshoppers in their eyes and discourage the people. So Joshua was one of the twelve good spies. He was Moses' closest assistant for twelve years.

He was picked by God to be Moses' successor in Numbers 27. There was not a referendum on Joshua. God said this is my man to lead my people in Numbers 27. He was not popularly elected. The book reveals the holiness of God and his hatred of sin.

If you don't have your mind straight on the book of Joshua, revealing, emphasizing God's holiness That he is light and in him is darkness at all. That he hates sin. The next six chapters of Conquest are going to be so disturbing to you because you'll say, that's not fair! No, God having mercy on you is what's not fair. So if you don't get your mind fixed, that this is a book that reveals God and all His holiness and all of His hatred of sin, you'll come away from this so disturbed that God is like that.

Hopefully God will teach us better. God actually waited for 500 years as idolatry and violence and wickedness, the tide of it, came forward and forward and forward. And finally, their iniquity was full, and God brought them into a time of judgment after 500 years. So you have to keep that in mind. Finally, and maybe most importantly, there are parallels with the book of Acts.

We're in the Acts 29 era. You say, well there's only 28 chapters in the book of Acts. Exactly, But God's not done working in His people. The history of the New Testament Church continues. We're in the 29th chapter that is still being written by God as He works through His people in the world.

People given the Great Commission need the book of Joshua. Why is that? Because I'm not equal to the Great Commission and neither are you. But God is equal to the Great Commission. So we need the book of Joshua to see that he can send his people into enemy territory and his people can emerge victorious and his purposes all fulfilled and his promises all kept.

The people who have received the Great Commission, that's me, that's you if you're a believer, need the book of Joshua. We need our faith fortified by seeing God be faithful to keep all of his promises. What has happened chapter by chapter? Here's a thumbnail sketch. Chapter one, God made Joshua the leader.

He told him to be strong and courageous and that he would be with him just as he was with Moses. We are already seeing God be with Joshua just as he was, in very literal ways, just as he was with Moses. Chapter 2, we met two spies that were sent to Jericho and Rahab who saved their bacon. Later they would save her bacon and the bacon of her family. Chapter 3, The people crossed over the Jordan on dry ground 18 miles upstream.

James educated us on that one. 18 miles upstream, the water was blocked off and rose up in a heap. So for an 18 mile stretch, the people of the land got to see. The Jordan, in flood time, the time of harvest when the Jordan was already beyond its banks, now the water has been cut off and the people of God cross over on dry ground. Chapter 4, 12 representatives, one from each tribe, each took a memorial stone, the kind of stone you would have to put on your shoulder to carry, and they took it to Gilgal, their first camping place on the west side of the Jordan, and they made a monument to God's goodness and greatness at God's command so it would never be forgotten that the people walked across the riverbed on dry ground.

Chapter 5, we had circumcision of all the males who had been born in the wilderness. So for 40 years little boys have been born but not circumcised. Now they are circumcised now that God has brought the people west of the Jordan and they celebrate the Passover together and then Joshua meets the commander of the army of the Lord and he uses the same exact words that God used that Jehovah uses in Exodus chapter 3 at the burning bush take off your sandals you're on holy ground then our most recent chapter chapter six God fought the battle of Jericho Joshua just led the people around God fought the battle God made the great walls of Jericho fall down, and they had this victory with really no military action. A quick look forward. I'll give you four themes that we're going to encounter as we work through these six chapters.

One, the importance of obedience versus military competence. Most of us aren't in the military, so when we start to apply this, it will be the importance of obedience versus competence. In our next chapter, in chapter seven, the Israelites are going to suffer their only defeat in the book of Joshua. It wasn't because of military incompetence, it was because of disobedience. It was because Achan had taken of the accursed things.

They would have been better to be militarily incompetent, but to have obeyed God, he would have given them the victory and they would have looked competent. Theme number one, the importance of obedience versus competence. This is not to say that we shouldn't be competent. This is to say that we should be obedient. And that competence is always come second to faithfulness to God walking with the Lord in obedience.

Theme number two. The corporate nature of individual sin. How God wants His people to view it and deal with it. The corporate nature of individual sin. One man sins and The nation is judged for it one man sins and his family comes into the punishment For it in the next chapter Was just my sin nobody knows it only affects me lies lies lies Not true There's only me Nobody knows Nobody else was hurt.

Don't you bet on it. Number three. Theme number three. The perils of acting out of the best of our own thoughts. Chapter nine is coming.

The Gibeonites come, wearing worn out clothes, eating moldy food, old patched wine skins. We come from far away. They look, are their best thoughts, sounds legit, looks legit. Let's make a treaty. They find out later they should have consulted the Lord.

They never consulted the Lord. The text actually explicitly says that. How often during the course of an average day we just act of our own thoughts where actually we should have a tender heart, we should be minute by minute seeking help from the Lord, seeking insight from the Lord that we can't have just with our eyes. This is about walking by faith and not by sight. Chapter 9 is classic walking by sight.

You've got a story, everything I can see with my own two eyes matches the story, okay, let's act. This is not the way believers are to live, because we have a God who has insight beyond what our eyes can see. And he wants us to have it. He wants us to seek it. Finally, theme number four.

The power of God working on behalf of people who walk in His ways. In chapter 10, the Son is going to stand still for a day to give them additional time to wipe out their enemies. So their ability to do it constrained by daylight, no problem. God is acting for his people. He'll just let the sun stand still for a day.

He'll give them another daytime period to do God's will, to accomplish God's purposes. In chapter 11 and 12, we read, James how many was it? 31 kings? We read of 31 kings. 31 kings.

In the conquering of the north, which is the last chapters of this section, when the kings gather together, it's like more than the sand of the sea. Did you notice that? I mean, Israel's not superior to these nations that they're conquering. They're militarily inferior, only they win because God is with them. So you can bring together an army like the sand of the sea against God's people.

No matter, God always tips the scale in the favor of His people. So Let's pray that God would help us entering this next season of Joshua. God, please help us to learn our lessons well. Don't let us come and go from Joshua having just learned some facts. Let our faith be so solidified, so strengthened.

We are of little faith, but we want it to grow, God. Thank you that little faith saves when it's real, but that you desire to help us grow. Please let us be tender hearted people towards you and towards growing. Help us surrender ourselves more and more to you as we work through your word. Desiring to walk closely with you and to obey you.

Pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.