Joshua Chapter 11 Verses 1 – 5

• The kings of the south were utterly defeated by Joshua and the force of Israel, and (as we saw last time) the force of God Himself as God fought for Israel…casting large hailstones onto the enemies of the Israelites which killed the majority of the enemy forces. Now the kings of the north are stirred up by Jabin king of Hazor who was the lead-king if you will in northern Canaan…
• This army is exceptional. Not like we’ve seen before. Not like Joshua and the children of Israel have faced before. They are huge in number. Josephus, the Jewish secular historian, tells us that Jabin amassed a marching army of 300,000 soldiers not including 10,000 horsemen and 20,000 chariots. A chariot in those days was like a tank. Iron tipped and manufactured to rip through the formed lines of the enemy.
• And something we will notice, for this battle…in this battle… Joshua fights, the people fight…without physical intercession from God. No hailstones this time. And this is true of us as we walk by faith in the Promised Land of our own lives. The early battles fought and won many times by palpable, tangible, visible intercessory miracles…and our strength in faith grows. Our capacity grows, our maturity grows…and yet we find as we face sometimes our most trying times as Christians that the victories of battles past were to prepare us to act vigorously ourselves…to not lose heart, to indeed find what it means to walk by faith…to make the resolute step from fearful faith to a firm force of fact in terms of eternal integrity and identity…
• A place that Job was familiar with…as everything fell in on him and even his wife advised him to curse God and die (Job 2:9) he cries out in Job 13:15, “Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him,” (Job 13:15). Because even though I can’t see it, and even though everything and everybody advises me differently, Job says in Chapter 19 Verse 25, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.” And so as the battle seemingly increases, as the opposing force seemingly strengthens, no hailstones, no miraculous intercession in the physical by God…the Children of Israel are to forge forward upon the promise of God alone…And this is precisely what happens with us as well as we grow up in the Lord…
• But this is it…this is the end of the campaign…once these forces are destroyed…the land of Canaan…the Promised Land...will be fully readied for Joshua and the people of God to settle and rest in peace in the land flowing with milk and honey…where the grapes are the size of basketballs! So as we read this, knowing that, it’s almost like we call out to them…,”Don’t lose heart! Keep going! Victory is right around the corner…Just on the other side of this last battle…” How many times have I called that out into the lives of others…and man even in my own life…
• One last thing and then we will move one…anyone notice that these northern kingdoms are the same as we saw back in Chapter 9? At least some of them are…One in particular is concerning…the Hivites. Who was part of the Hivite peoples? Gibeon…So Gibeon has joined the ranks of Joshua…they have folded into the children of Israel haven’t they…?   And now who is Joshua coming against? The Hivites! This is a hard truth…but one that occurs almost constantly…when resolution has reported for duty…
• When you do make that resolute step from fearful faith to a firm force of fact in terms of eternal integrity and identity…sometimes it means that your own people…old friends, mom, dad, sister, brother…turn against you…but Jesus said it would happen…Mark 10, Luke 18, Matthew 19…still, there’s just simply no going back. (Slave Church) And what fellowship does light have with darkness? It’s quite natural…to be expected…that as you charge forward hard after the Lord and increase in knowledge, wisdom, understanding and love for the things of God…that some will simply begin to despise you, and even tragically turn on you completely…but God delivers to us 100 fold anything or anyone that is lost…Jesus said, “Who is My mother and who are my brothers…here they are…for whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother…”
• And so here they go…this time to fight the battle on faith…standing firm on the promise of God…and in preparation, God once again reminds them of His promise…

Joshua Chapter 11 Verse 6

• You know what’s cool? What was Joshua probably worried about? The number of soldiers, the horsemen and the chariots and so what does God address? The men, the horses and the chariots. Tonight, what are you worried about? What ails ya? I can guarantee you that God speaks to it in His Word…

Joshua Chapter 11 Verses 7 – 15

• A couple things to note here. One, he’s on the offense isn’t he!? Simply upon the promises of God Joshua sets out…doesn’t wait until the trouble is upon him but rather comes upon trouble itself, defeating the enemy how? Suddenly! How…or…guess I should say…where? “By the waters!” And I know that is a locational statement but it’s also a causal statement…how do we do it? How do we defeat trouble, attack evil, go on the offense against temptation and sin and weakness in our own lives? By the water…the water of the Word!
• The war is not won in the battle…it is won in the preparation! When hard trials come, when tough temptation comes…you will stand or you will fall…you will have victory or you will know defeat depending upon how prepared you are…how strong you are…how much you know the promises of God (the Word of God) and how much you believe them…Joshua is on the offense because not only does he know, but he also believes!
• Second, what’s this mention of Moses over and over? I think Joshua learned his lesson with the Gibeonites don’t you? And now he has course corrected, repented, reset…and determined to do exactly what he should…

Joshua Chapter 11 Verses 19 – 20

• This isn’t some sort of unrighteous judgment…that God decided to harden their hearts…that’s not what the text says…the text simply says that it was “of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel.” You see grace has one of two effects on a heart. It will either soften your heart or grace can harden your heart…when one sees another greatly blessed of God…maybe even in spite of all their ridiculousness and stupidity…(hey which we all have) and yet God blesses them…and you go…pshhhhhhhhhhhh. Hard heart. See what grace did? Why? Pride…

Joshua Chapter 11 Verses 21 – 22

• Who are these Anakim? Well they are the decedents of Anak which were mentioned back in Numbers 13 verse 28 as the people that the spies feared. They reported back to Moses, “We can’t go in there…we can’t get there…to the Promised Land…the enemies are too big, too strong…” But now the last people for Joshua to destroy…the Anakim. 40 years ago…the same foe…finally falls. Pressed out of the Promised Land to the coastal cities which are occupied by a peoples that will later be known as the Philistines…of course out of which will come…Goliath. And what strikes me is that they are NO match! 40 years! The number of completion!
• God had brought their faith from wilderness walking…complaining, murmuring, rebellious and even fearful…to here…now…victory. He’ll do the same with yours…how? By the waters…and by your belief…

Joshua Chapter 11 Verse 23

• Notice Joshua conquers the land and then Joshua gives it to the people as an inheritance…precisely what Jesus has done for us in terms of all things that pertain to life and godliness! Here and now and eternity ahead! And our hearts rested from war…