Pursuing the war and seeking rest

Text Joshua 10:29-11:23 Time 13 09 20 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church (Zoom)

I want us to look at a large section tonight from Joshua 10:29-11:23. These are summarising chapters. Joshua 10:29-43 summarises the campaign in the south of the country and 11:1-23 the campaign in the north, the central part of the country having been secured first.

The big difference between the two campaigns is that whereas the southern is brief and speedy, the one in the north is not like that.

All the way through our studies in Joshua we have endeavoured to apply what we learn to the spiritual battle that we are all in as Christians. We can easily identify with the Israelites who were led into the Promised Land by Joshua and commanded to conquer the land by destroying the wicked Canaanites then living there. Under Jesus we have been brought into the Promised Land of the Christian life and we have been commanded to put to death remaining sin in our lives.

Now just as the Israelites were very successful and speedy in conquering the south of the country but faced a real struggle in taking the north so there is a pattern often observable in the lives of Christians whereby, usually at the beginning, they make great strides forward in the Christian life but then find themselves in a long hard struggle to make further progress.

If I take myself as an example. I would say that after my conversion when I was nearly 13 that I went on in leaps and bounds in my Christian knowledge and experience for the first 10 years. However, in the years since then it has been much more of an up and down experience and any progress has been tough and hard won. Others would probably say the same. In some cases there may have been a slow start but then there was a period of rapid progress before a slower and more hard won progress kicked in. We all have different experiences. My aim this evening is simply to remind us that we need to make progress fast or slow. Two things then

1. Consider the early rapid progress in the south and seek to progress also in living for Christ

Verses 29-42 merely catalogue the progress made in the south by explaining how in various cities, Israel under their leader Joshua attacked and The LORD also gave that city and its king into Israel's hand. They would then put The city and everyone in it ... to the sword. They would leave no survivors (30, 32, 35, 36, 39).

This they did in Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron and Debir. It does say in verse 33 that Horam king of Gezer had come up to help Lachish, but Joshua defeated him and his army - until no survivors were left.

We then have the conclusion in verses 40-42 So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded. Joshua subdued them from Kadesh Barnea in the east to Gaza in the west and from the whole region of Goshen to Gibeon. All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign, because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.

They were commanded to kill everyone and that is what they did. We are to drive every sin from our lives, whatever it is, also. When we do that and the Lord gives us success in it we make rapid progress and we should be thankful to God that we are knowing such progress.

2. Consider the later slower progress in the north and seek to progress also in living for Christ even though it be tough going

A number of things come out in Chapter 11.

1. Consider the opposition that we are likely to experience if we want to live for God's praise

This may seem an obvious point to some of you but it is a point worth making.

We read at the beginning of Chapter 11 that (1-3) When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the kings of Shimron and Akshaph, and to the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth, (ie Galilee) in the western foothills and in Naphoth Dor on the west; to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below Hermon right up in the region of Mizpah and (4, 5) They came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots - a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the Waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

It is hard to be sure what sort of numbers we are talking about but this is clearly a vast and well equipped army that we are talking about and it is good for us to remind ourselves what we are up against when it comes to the battle we are engaged in.

We are up against Satan and all his minions in their vast array - what Paul calls in Ephesians 6:12 the rulers, ... the powers of this dark world ... the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. In Colossians he calls them thrones ... powers ... rulers ... authorities. In Ephesians 1:21 he writes of all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked. All the forces of evil and darkness oppose us.

And then there is the world in all its ungodliness - the atheists and agnostics and the secularists and the humanists and the pagans and Satanists. There are all the false philosophies and isms such as nihilism and Marxism and Freudianism. And there is all the false religion such as Islam and Hinduism and Buddhism and Judaism and Shintoism and Taoism. And all the heresies including Arianism and Pelagianism and Unitarianism and so on.

Not only that but we ourselves in the flesh are our own worse enemies.

Opposition is inevitable if we are going to live the Christian life.

2. Consider the task of putting sin to death and the danger of being afraid to do it

In verse 6 God speaks to Joshu once again The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them, slain, over to Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots." How easy to be afraid when you face a battle, especially when the numbers opposing you seem so many but when God is leading you, there is no need for fear. We read first of how (7-9) Joshua and his whole army came against their opponents suddenly at the Waters of Merom and attacked them, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Israel. They defeated them and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon, right in the north to Misrephoth Maim, and to the Valley of Mizpah on the east, until no survivors were left. Joshua did to them as the LORD had directed: He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots. This sounds cruel perhaps but was all about putting the war machines out of action.

We read also of how Joshua ... captured Hazor and put its king to the sword ... Everyone in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed, and he burned Hazor itself.

To sum up, Joshua took all these royal cities and their kings and put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. Yet Israel did not burn any of the cities built on their mounds - except Hazor, which Joshua burned. The Israelites carried off for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but all the people they put to the sword until they completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed.

As we have said, our task is not to destroy any cities but to put to death the sins that remain in our lives. Like Joshua and the Israelites we must be fearless in what we do.

3. Consider the need to obey God's command and put sin to death

15 As the LORD commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.

In the New Testament there is a command about putting sin to death also. In Colossians 3:5 Paul says Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. In Romans 8:13 he writes For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. As unpleasant as the task may sometimes seem to us, we must carry it out.

4. Consider what we learn here about completeness of victory

In verse 16 it says So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, in the south to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon in the north. He captured all their kings and put them to death.

It didn't happen overnight but slowly and surely the Israelites took the whole land. This is what we should be aiming at as believers - complete domination of our lives. In this life, we will never be perfect. We will continue to sin but as we progress in the Christian life we should know how to avoid sin and what to do when we fall into it.

5. Consider how full victory may take a long time

In verse 18 the writer adds that Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. There was no overnight success. It took some time. You will sometimes hear about an overnight success but when you examine the detail you find that the overnight success was sometimes years in the making. It is only in fiction that someone picks up a guitar or a tennis racket and suddenly becomes famous. I saw a headline recently about a company called Duck Creek Technologies. It read "Boston’s $5b insurance tech firm is an overnight success story, two decades in the making." The company had been recently floated on the stock exchange and so everyone was talking about it but it wasn't a start up company it had been going for decades.

Sometimes the impression will be given that you can attend a conference or read a book or start doing something and your spiritual life will be transformed overnight. It is true that sometimes people can make a rapid progress over a short period but more often it is like it was for Joshua and his army - you wage war for a long time. Be ready for the long haul. Some victories are hard won.

6. Consider the subject of resistance and hardening

In verses 19 and 30 we read that Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. That may seem surprising. Why didn't anyone else just try surrendering. We are told the reason - For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

God put a resistance in their hearts which meant they had to be destroyed. Nothing else could be done. We too will find that there is a hardness in some of our sins and they will prove very stubborn indeed. Some sins we are glad to give up - others we cherish and coddle because we love them so much. They too must die.

7. Consider rest from sin

In verses 21-24 we read about the Anakites - very tall people, giants, who lived in the land. In verse 21 we are told how At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns. It got to the point where (22) No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive. This is a point where a Christian can come to - where there are no big sins left. He is no longer characterised by sin. He is not perfect but he is generally good. Just as in verse 23 it says So Joshua took the entire land, just as the LORD had directed Moses, so we can come to a point not where all sin is gone but where we are at rest in the Lord. We then read that he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions.We cannot pass on our goodness in the same way but we can have an influence on the next generation which is very positive and this too is something to strive for. The last phrase in the chapter is Then the land had rest from war. That is something we cannot know until life ends. The war will continue for us. But that is what we are aiming for.