Our gospel lesson text this morning comes from Joshua chapter 8 is we progress through the book of Joshua and See with the Lord that says to us today in the church through this book I invite you to turn there. It's found on page 156 and the Bibles that are in your seats there if you're using those I'll give you a moment so to turn there and find it so that you can Read along and keep this open as you hear this God's word being preached
Joshua chapter 8 will read verses 1 through 29 This is God's word eternally true Then the Lord said to Joshua do not be afraid do not be discouraged Take the whole army with you and go up and attack I For I have delivered into your hands the king of I his people his city and his land You shall do it to I and its king as you did to Jericho and its king except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves Set an ambush behind the city So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack I he chose 30,000 of his best fighting men and sent them out at night with these orders Listen carefully. You're set an ambush behind the city. Don't go very far from it. All of you be on the alert I and all those with me will advance on the city and when the men come out against us as they did before we will flee from them They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city for they will say They're running away from us as they did before So when we flee from them you're to rise up from ambush and take the city the Lord or God will give it into your hand When you have taken the city set it on fire Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it. You have my orders Then Joshua sent them off and they went to the place of ambush and lay and wait between Bethel and I to the west of I But Joshua spent that night with the people Early the next morning Joshua mustard his men and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to I The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it They set up camp north of I with the valley between them and the city Joshua had taken about 5,000 men and set them an ambush between Bethel and I to the west of the city They had the soldiers take up their positions all those in the camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it That night Joshua went into the valley When the king of I saw this he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place over looking to Arabah But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them and they fled toward the desert All the men of I were called to pursue them and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city Not a man remained in I or Bethel who did not go after Israel They left the city open and went and pursued of Israel Then the Lord said to Joshua Hold out toward I the javelin that is in your hand for into your hand. I will deliver the city So Joshua held out his javelin toward I as soon as he did this the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire The men of I looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising against the sky But they had no chance to escape in any direction for the Israelites who have been fleeing toward the desert had turned back against their pursuers For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from the city They turned around and attacked the men of I The men of the ambush also came out of the city against them so that they were caught in the middle with Israelites on both sides Israel cut them down Leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives But they took the king of I alive and brought him the Joshua When Israel had finished killing all the men of I in the fields and in the desert where they had chased them and Whenever one of them had been put to the sword all these relights turned to I and killed those who were in it 12,000 men and women fell that day all the people of I For Joshua did not draw back the hand that the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in I But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city as the Lord had instructed Joshua So Joshua burned I and made it a permanent heap of ruins a Desolate place to this day He hung the king of I on a tree and left him there until evening At sunset Josh will order them to take his body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate And they raised the large pile of rocks over it which remains to this day Here ends our reading we have a response of thankfulness printed for us at the bottom left of our bulletins the word of the Lord Thanks be to him indeed. Let's pray Our God and Father we thank you for this your word and we thank you that you're an amazing God who speaks to us through all of scripture Old Testament New Testament Naratists telling us what your people have done in the past Epistles telling us instructions and About what we're to do and who you are We pray Lord that you would use now this text speaking of your Covenant people Heading to take the inheritance promised to them through Abraham We pray that you would speak to us by this your word with you by your spirit inspired and Which you attend to now You have told us that your word is living inactive and sharper than any two-edged sword It purses our souls So we pray that you would do that work that Jesus you would preach to us now by this your word and by your spirit that we might see You more clearly that we might understand your gospel character more deeply And that we might act From this that we might reflect you in your character well in our families And in our lives we pray Jesus in your name Amen if you were walking along the street and all of a sudden heard great noise and Ground shaking around you and You noticed that that along with this all the lights and all the houses And all the lights and all the the public buildings and and the stores and so forth and even the street lights had gone out no light Coming up from these man-made artificial sources as you're walking down the street That would be a very strange thing For you and you would you would wonder what's going on? But if I tell you that this was London in 1942 If you're a History person you would know that this is a German Nazi bombing of London And then in London during this time during World War 2 There were lights out times and and the people in London would take out all their lights so that German bombers flying above in their planes couldn't see Well the city
But if you were new to the area and somehow had been Secluded from all the news of the world this would take you by surprise that England was at war and that you should get out of the street and Find shelter find a place that's secure under the bombing That you could act appropriately From that night and in following nights Each night is long as you were in England and as long as England were at war with Germany Well as we look at this passage were alerted to something especially as we see that this passage is a foreshadowing of Who Jesus is and what he's up to today? We see from the book of Hebrews that the Old Testament is a shadow of the things that Jesus would do and accomplish And we see from Jesus and Luke 24 as he speaks with his disciples after his resurrection He says the whole Old Testament is speaking of me So we come to this passage and say how is this passage speaking of Jesus and we see that it's speaking of Jesus in this way and it's in the title of this gospel lesson this morning Jesus is at war Jesus is at war Now during this time we see we get a glimpse into the fact that Joshua is at war Joshua and his people Who are also God's people there at war and it's a pretty easy connection for us to to make when we see that Jesus is the leader or the king of the church Jesus comes proclaiming the kingdom of God and he he accepts the claim that he is king of God's people and he's crucified for that claim We see that that's an easy transition to make from Joshua to Jesus and You know to add to that Joshua's name the name Joshua if you were to speak that and Hebrew It's the same name that Jesus was called Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua That alerts us to something even before we look at the New Testament for anything else that Jesus is probably at war and in fact he is Today and this explains for us how we're to live how we're to understand life how we're to react To various things and people around a similar to if we were in London during 1942 and all the lights go out and we hear above as airplanes and the ground starts to shake and we see explosions We know what's going on We're at war and this causes us to act in a different way than if we were at peace So Jesus is at war and so if you'd like to follow along In an outline you're welcome to do that in your bulletin this morning. You've got an outline with some blanks You don't have to fill in those blanks if you don't want to but if you'd like to do that you're welcome to do that But first we see from this passage that today Under King Jesus as Christians in 2011 There's a war going on There's a war going on. This is what Jesus is up to So if you're an American farmer in 1777 and you hear a British fight and drum and you're out in the field guess what you do You're run into your house and you get your family secure and you grab your musket and you go out there and do your part in the militia Well, it's similar for us today as Christians because Jesus is at war. We have certain right reactions as well Now what is this war? Thankfully this war is not on the same Physical level as we see here in Joshua chapter 8 God is not telling us to go out and to put to physical death our Neighbors or the people in Smithfield Okay
Okay, no no comments there No, but Jesus wore to find for us by the New Testament is the Great Commission Jesus wore is the Great Commission the call to go and make disciples And if you're filling out blanks there you go Jesus wore is the Great Commission the call to go out and make Disciples and we see this in Matthew 28 and we see it all described for us in Revelation chapter 6 Hey, Revelation chapter 6 is you read revelation if the follow along and keep in mind all that's going on there We saw in Revelation chapter 5. There was a scroll which contained on it the names That will be saved names of everybody who will believe in Jesus the book of life Those who have eternal life And there's great fear in heaven because no one is worthy to open up this scroll to open up this book of life And so if the names can't be read nobody can be saved nobody can be rescued But they're arriving in heaven is the Son of God fresh from the resurrection Having ascended to heaven which we read about in Acts chapter 1 Having ascended to heaven the Lamb of God arrives up into heaven and everybody rejoices and they declare he The Lamb of God is worthy to open up the scroll to rip its seals open Because he's earned it on the cross He's bought these people whose names are on this scroll and so Jesus the Lamb of God takes the scroll in heaven and in Revelation Chapter 6 we have this description of what happens between the time Jesus takes this scroll and between this time when Final judgment comes and so you see with each success of Seal and there are seven seals along this scroll that he opens up These are all naming things that occur in our age between Jesus's ascension to heaven when he receives the scroll in his hand and His return when all things are silent after the final judgment That's the seventh seal which occurs in 8 chapter 1. We saw the six seals there But we see what Jesus is doing during our day First seal one of the things he's doing is he's riding out With a crown on his head with which he has been crowned as he rose up as he ascended to his heavenly throne after his resurrection upon his ascension And he rides with this crown upon his head with a gospel sword And he gathers a people for himself So it makes sense as when we see in Matthew 28 that he's given marching orders to his people before he ascends But he tells them don't don't follow these marching orders until I send for it until I ascend on high and I'll send you my spirit And when my spirit comes you'll be my witnesses. You'll be the ones who carry out my gospel sword To people from every tribe tongue and nation And so we see a glimpse in Revelation chapter 6 of Jesus militant Jesus going forward conquering bent on conquest and Who hasn't conquered me and you because I before December of 1980 was shaking my fist at him In rebellion against him Unwilling to admit my sin against him unwilling to bow my knee before King Jesus Unwilling to bend to the gospel message which called me a sinner and called me in need of his forgiveness But in December of 1980 Jesus came to me through his word the Bible With his gospel sword the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and he opened my ears to hear and He opened my eyes to see the kingdom of God He was bent on conquest and he conquered me and I bowed my knee to him and said Whatever you say King Jesus I Became a citizen of heaven a citizen in King Jesus kingdom And in this day we see the rest of what's going on in those the six seals there There's there's war and there's rumors of war and there's famine here and famine there and there's all kinds of stuff going on in Disease and plague and all kinds of things Happening until he comes back, but we see what's going on Jesus isn't war And he's at war With a sword which Paul calls the sword of the spirit Which is the word of God So Jesus is at war in the Great Commission His wars to go and make disciples and the weapon of this war in this war to make disciples That's your B in your outline. It's the sword of the spirit which is the gospel Define force in these passages here and it's a sort of peace for those who receive it For those who believe in Jesus now have peace with God, but it's a sort of division too Jesus said I came not to bring peace But a sword I've come to set Father and son and son against father and mother against child What was he talking about there? Well people in the first century knew what Jesus was talking about when someone believed the gospel They had members of their own household turn them into the Roman government turn them over to the Jewish authorities For persecution this happened in the first century and so the sort of peace the sword that gives us peace with God Can bring us division Between other between other men And so sometimes we can be friends with somebody and we say oh, I'm a Christian and they have some grudge against Christianity And no longer do they want to be our friend It's also in a milder sense a sort of division and it marks who is the who are believers and who are not It marks all mankind this sort of the gospel into two categories Those who believe the gospel and received peace from God and those who have not believed the gospel and are still at war with him Still rebelling against the true and rightful king their creator So the weapon of this war to make disciples is the sort of the spirit which is the gospel and it's a it's a war See in your outline. It's a war in which God is punishing punishing sin We see this in Joshua of course with Jericho and with I We see what God is doing in Canaan in Genesis 15, don't we? This was not a a nice group of people in Canaan This is a group of people who was wildly wicked and evil who were not doing nice things to their neighbors But were violent against one another And God is just and he tells Abraham in Genesis 15 16 I'm not Abraham going to give you this promised land that you're living in right now I'm not going to give it to you and you and your descendants right now because they're sin the sin of the Amorite That's another name for Canaanites and we're Amorites Canaanites the sin of the Amorites is not yet reached its full measure But in 400 years after you've gone down the Egypt it will have And I will use your descendants To execute my justice against their wickedness at the same time that you get your inheritance So God is Doling up punishment in the book of Joshua And God is in the process of doling up punishment as We proclaimed the gospel house so house so again It's not good on the Smith field and kill these people. It's not good of Goldsboro and declare curse upon them But it's this number one under C We as God's soldiers in this war are the age agents of God's being just and fair So we as believers we as covenant people we as those who are the people of this new Joshua Jesus are the soldiers in this Picture here. We're the ones who've been given the marching orders not the marching orders about saying an ambush But the marching orders about going and making disciples and We go out with the gospel sword and we are ages of God being just and Fair And that's good news to us. We want the universe to be just We want people who are being treated unfairly to have justice done for them And when unfairness comes against us it's okay for us to want justice When somebody steals from our house and makes our lives miserable It's okay for us to desire that our house be restored to us that our stuff be restored to us and that however The government decides to punish that person that they make sure that he never does that again to another person or another family And God is just and fair and he will execute his justice He will be fair 100% Completely fair when all things are said and done But this justice is not done all at once It's not done all right now It's done with that sick seal and revelation when Jesus returns But it's in the process of being done right now. God is sorting out. He's working out his justice and his fairness And it brings us to point two here There are two outcomes as we go out with marching orders from Jesus to go and make disciples to proclaim that Jesus is God and that he forgives since As we go out with this message there are two outcomes When we present people with this gospel sword when we put the sword in their face so to speak not against them But for them there are two outcomes one outcome. We see In the gospel of John when Jesus talks about it He says, you know, I came into this world to say people but Verse 18 John 3 18 if one hasn't believed he's been condemned already That brings us into this is two-fold reception or rejection of the gospel And we see this in this passage as well and in Joshua as well one of the outcomes to a for you is destruction One of the outcomes is destruction Verses 28 and 29 we see this all encapsulated in what happens to the king of I Destruction one upon whom is curse he hangs from a tree Day and that had been spoken of in the first five books of the Bible one who hangs from a tree is cursed Then we see that in Jesus he hangs literally from from wood which comes from a tree and he becomes a curse for us But for those who don't believe destruction comes Jesus talked about this very graphically in Matthew 25 verse 41 and 46 Destruction comes that is through continued rebellion against the God of heaven a person receives on himself In hell the just punishment and curse for his sins This is not God being mean. This is God being just God is just and he doesn't hang his justice up on a shelf and let people abuse us and go unpunished He doesn't allow himself who's given us all life and breath He doesn't allow himself to be mocked to be ignored and to go untouched He's God he hasn't put up with it So there's destruction for those who remain in continued rebellion against the God who gives him life and breath in their next heartbeat But this does not encapsulate all who meet the sort of the spirit the gospel the other outcome is this be salvation Salvation One doesn't have to be destroyed by the sword of the spirit the gospel One doesn't have to be condemned that they're continued rejection of God and of Jesus But rather they can be saved through bowing the need of Jesus and faith a person's sins are forgiven So a person when they hear this gospel this sword of the spirit they can bow the need to Jesus And that's the call of the gospel bow the need of Jesus. He'll be your king He'll protect you. He'll provide for you He will pull you out of Satan's kingdom that's killing you, but you can't see it right now And I'll rescue you from the damage that's being done to you and He'll rescue you from hell So that's the other outcome that a person's sins are forgiven that just punishment and curse Against their sins through faith and Jesus doesn't come upon them But it goes upon Jesus who hangs upon a tree For them So here's a person's choice When he hears the gospel the sword of the spirit I can be destroyed by this message by this sword I can continue to rebel against God. I can continue to rebel against Jesus and meet my destruction and hell I can take what justly would come against me for my sins upon myself and be destroyed or I
Can have that destruction that I deserve for my sins Be placed upon Jesus For Jesus has become a curse For all those who come to him in faith This was the case with wait Rayhab wasn't it? She knows that God is a mighty God and that he's on a war path and she says we're all shaking in our boots And she throws herself at the mercy of God and God says wonderful Come in and be one of the people whom I protect Even through the mighty battle of Jericho that destroys everybody else You'll be rescued And so that's what we see with the sword of the spirit with Jesus war There are people at the same time by the sword of the spirit heading to destruction by the rejection of the sword and Heading to forgiveness and eternal life and eternal bliss by their reseption of it by claiming the mercy of God for themselves So we do this gospel war this war of Jesus to be agents of God's justice against sin. God is just either way He's punishing all sin justly and rightly Either upon people themselves or upon Jesus on a cross But he's punishing all sin and we find out where the punishment is going to go as people react to the gospel the sword of the spirit So what's the instruction here on what we're to do with this war going on that is how are we's individuals of Christ church to go and make disciples And that's your number two and your number three here First of all we see from this passage the message is that everybody Everybody is to go We're all drafted. We all go together and We see this in verse one three and 15 We saw this in chapter one verses 12 3 18 Remember that in chapter one there two and a half tribes in the 12 tribes of Israel who have already received their inheritance and they're on the east side of the Jordan But Moses specifically instructed those two and a half tribes all your fighting man They still have to cross the Jordan and fight for the rest of the promised land with the nine and a half other tribes Is that right math with the nine and a half of their tribes and so they do they cross the Jordan and they fight Unified with their brothers so that all their brothers get their inheritance even though they already have theirs So they leave their families and their kids behind in their inheritances the Jordan but the fighting men go ahead and they fight together Unified every man So that everybody gets the inheritance that God has mapped out for them And so when they approach Jericho all the fighting men go all together from all 12 tribes and they fight But when they approach I they don't look to the Lord and they see well, let's just take a few of us and They're defeated Now they're not really defeated just because they have inadequate numbers. They have inadequate numbers in chapter seven The Lord clearly defines the reason they're defeated is because he was angry with his own people and he caused them to be defeated But it was his will it was his desire that the church unified that every fighting man is a part of this battle And so we see that all of Israel goes and we see this emphasis on all Israel all Israel and all these people and the 30,000 here and the 5,000 here and it looks like there are two ambushes probably set up as well as the main force coming from the front But this is a message for us that we're all drafted. We don't just send representatives to do the great commission We don't just send a special select few to go out and talk about Jesus and his forgiveness But all of us are soldiers in his army All of us are soldiers in his army that is a Every every Christian is to talk to non-Christians about Jesus and his gospel every Christian is to talk about Jesus and his gospel All Israel the Israel of God the church is to speak of him and what is the gospel next line there for you the gospel simply this message It's easy to tell Jesus is God and the forgiver of sins That's the gospel if you say that to your that the woman in the cubicle next to you Monday not Monday morning It's for joy for Tuesday morning You will have communicated the gospel to her You know what I went to church this Sunday and I heard this message and something I believe Jesus is God in the forgiver of sins You've just enabled that person to hear how he can receive or she can receive the peace of God It's all she needs to believe Jesus is God and he can forgive my sins So every Christian is to talk to non-Christians about Jesus and his gospel and be this is where you come in specifically Your that's your blank your your gospel sharing is important because you have contact with specific non-Christians that the rest of the soldiers In Jesus army that the rest of the people of God the rest of the people in the church don't have You know people that the rest of us don't have you're in a workplace that the rest of us are not in you're living in a house Or in an apartment where the rest of us are not in that location? You have contact with relatives that we don't have contact with and so you have individual people in your lives that the rest of us can't get to See your contribution is important You're speaking up of Jesus in the gospel is important. We need you and God is spreading this gospel Jesus is riding his white horse with his gospel sword through you And he tells you go and make disciples See your gospel sharing is important. So we're all to go together All of us is a great gospel army, but how are we to feel about this and God addresses this in point number three that we're to go without fear We're to go without fear Okay, now this is scary when we think about talking to somebody else about Jesus one thing that helps us and be less scared It's just to keep the message simple Jesus is God and he's the forgiver of sins Well, I can say that without he had taken a breath So even if I faint after I say it I can get through it I don't have to worry about fainting in the middle of my gospel presentation I can just say that I can just get that out there and trust that the gospel is the power of God for those who are being saved God brings the power, okay But this is why we can go without fear and we see this in verse one God says to Joshua the Lord says to Joshua do not be afraid do not be discouraged Why is this the case For I just take the whole army with you and go up in the tech I why for I have delivered into your hands the king of I And we see this sure why did Joshua not have to fear for he Delivered I to them or verse eight He gave it into their hand It's him during the work. So a couple of things here your aviancy in this point We can go without fear because God by his spirit is with us God is with you now. It's the big threat in chapter chapter 7 God said I will not go with you anymore unless you remove This devoted thing from among you. You know that thing that aching took if you were here last week And so God gives assurance to Joshua you've taken care of this devoted thing that was among you. You got rid of it So don't fear anymore. I'm with you. I'll go with you. I'll fight this battle and be Here so God is with you by his spirit as you proclaim the gospel And then be because God can even turn your sins of yesterday into a means of great commission victory So look here in this passage in chapter or in verse six One of the one of the ways one of means that God works out this victory This victory in war is through the sin of his people in their past What was their sin? Akin had taken something from Jericho that the lords forbid him from taking and So as a result God's people in chapter 7 went out against eye and they were defeated. They fled in front of that word flea They fled. They fled before the people of I and so it happens in this chapter as they go a second time They fake like their fleeing God uses their sin from their past. He didn't condone it But he uses it. He uses their sin for his victory and so when they start to flee the people of I the king and the other people say Hey, they're fleeing just like they did yesterday Let's go after him and so they're all the more the suckers and they leave their they leave their city empty And the ambush happens and the battles are a wonder of success But see God is even in his grace Using their past failures using their past sin using their past past past faithlessness To win victory in his war In his war to get for them and others and inheritance So the what here's what that means for you Doesn't matter what your past is Doesn't matter that you blew your cool last week at work. You can still proclaim the gospel this week at work
No unworthy proclaimers of the gospel So long as they be Jesus people Jesus people go out and they win the victory Why because they've been righteous? No, they've been unrighteous They've disobeyed the covenant chapter seven, but God can even use that Used it in Paul's life didn't he people say wait a minute you're the guy that was persecuting the church now You're you're proclaiming Jesus is being true and alive and risen and God used that use Paul's former sin So that people came to faith and he can use the sin that you've done in the past and the change that's come about You and the humility it takes to proclaim Jesus to your co-workers and neighbors To bring about his victory in the great commission and lastly we can go without fear Because Jesus is fighting the battle as you speak of him Jesus is fighting the battle as we speak of him So we see that example here in this passage in verse one in verse 18 God the God does the deliverance Jesus is out in Romans or Revelation 6-2 Fighting he's the one with the sword. He's the one by his spirit He's the one with the power that he comes to and God is working to bring faith in the person to whom you speak You don't have to bring the power It's not your sword Okay, you just get the sword out there and allow God to do his work So don't fear that you're too weak because it's not your strength that's required It's the strength and the power of the gospel that's required God is the one who will deliver this person into his comforting forgiving hands Not you So don't fear Go forward with his sword and his power and he can deliver Let's pray Our God and Father, we thank you That you have Brought your gospel sword to us and opened our eyes to see that it is better To be a subject a citizen in your kingdom To experience the land flowing with milk and honey so to speak To be in your church today to be in heaven when we die to be in the new heavens and the new earth when you come again It is far better to bow the needy you King Jesus Upon the sword of the spirit coming to us Thank you for giving us that recognition Thank you for opening our eyes to see that And we pray Lord that you would open the eyes of people who are around us As we bring to them the simple message that you Jesus Are God and the forgiver of sins As we bring this message to non-believers around us We pray Lord for them that they would bow their need to you Receiving your forgiveness as they do becoming a member of your kingdom And one who can experience the promised land We pray Jesus in your name Amen