Date: March 22, 2020 ()

Bible Text: Joshua 11 |

Series:

A Study of Joshua from Joshua 11

Historical background of Joshua

  • Meaning of the name: Jehovah is his help; Jehovah is my Savior.
  • Family background: He was the son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim and a leader.
  • Biblical background: Joshua can be translated as "Jesus".

5 Helps for Completing the Task

  • There are God-ordained battles
  • The example of Joshua
    • Sin
    • Self
    • Satan
  • The example of Caleb
  • There is strength for the battles
    • Scriptural references
      • Matthew 3-4
      • Joshua 9
  • Learn to get up after falling
  • Learn to seek God for help in the battles
  • Be determined to fight the battles

 

If you have your Bibles this morning, we are going to be looking at Joshua chapter 11, Joshua chapter 11. And if you were following along this week, you came to this passage earlier in the week. I can not remember if it was Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, but one of those days? We just finished up the book of Joshua this morning, if you were following along. And so in the middle of our reading Joshua chapter 11 this week, this passage came as I was looking weeks ago, this passage, and then tonight we will be looking at one we read yesterday. I just thought it was neat. So I had to study it out. So tonight we are going to preach on the Alter of Ed. The Alter of Ed has got to be a false God. The Alter of Ed is what we arre going to talk about tonight.

In Joshua chapter 11, we are looking at verse 15 and I love this verse. It says as the Lord commanded Moses, his servant. So did Moses command Joshua. And so did Joshua. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses. At the 2002 winter Olympics, there were five finalists for the men's thousand meter speed skating race. During the final lap the American and the Chinese were out in front. They were socially distant, but they were out in front, the Canadian and the Korean skaters were hot on their heels. The Australian skater actually was fifth, trailing behind for last place. They came around the last curve for the final stretch. The winner would receive the Olympic gold medal. Suddenly the Chinese skater, slightly bumped the American and set both of them careening into the wall. And they spun out of control with no time or space to get out of the way the Canadian and Korean skater also ran into them. The Australian skater was enough distance behind that he went right through him and shouted to the top of his lungs. I won the gold and he did. He won the gold because he finished the race. He won the gold for no other reason that he crossed the finish line. The other ones were in heaps all around him. And here are the Australian won. He didn't set any records. He just simply did not quit or get tangled up in the mess around him. Now, that is I know, not a really great illustration because, if you are in the front in the Christian race, should you knock somebody out of the way or in the back? Hopefully not. All I am saying though, is that the guy won. Why did he set a record? No, he just crossed the finish line. He did not get tangled up.

This morning, I want to speak about the idea of finishing the job. Finish the job because all of us have a task that God has for us. And we are going to look first of all at just Joshua, and then by looking at the new Testament Joshua. Between the two, we are going to look at five helps that I think will get us across the finish line. First I want to look at the idea of the historical background of Joshua, just kind of as introduction. And then when we get done with that, we will pray and we will get into the helps this morning. But first of all, let's look at a little historical background. The meaning of the name, Joshua. Joshua means Jehovah is his help or Jehovah is my savior. Alright, it depends, but most, hold believe either one of those two that Jehovah is my help or Jehovah is my savior. Joshua was the son of none (Nun), which is odd because he was actually born. Right. But if, if you looked it up it is spelled Nun. So he was the son of Nun. He was from the tribe of Ephraim. And then he succeeded Moses as the leader. You see a little bit of his family background. You see he was the son of Nun and he was from the tribe of Ephraim. He is also called Oshea and Jehoshua, in Numbers chapter 13:16.

In the New Testament, and I actually looked it up this morning, in Acts chapter seven and in Hebrews chapter four. It is interesting as I was looking at it and Hebrews chapter four, let's see if you can recognize it. In Hebrews chapter four, it is talking about the rest and remember Hebrews is relating a lot of times back to the Old Testament and to the children of Israel and don't wander in the wilderness. Well Hebrews four, it is talking about coming into God's rest that's in verse one, "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Then it kind of gives the idea and references a little bit of the wandering that, Hey, you know what? You need to come into this rest. Well, what is interesting in verse 6-8 it says, "Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief." So what is that referencing? It is referencing even Joshua and Caleb being sent in with the 12 spies and that they went in and ten were bad and two were good. That is what it is saying. "Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief." So that is referencing the children of Israel coming up to the promised land and they were supposed to go into that rest. But some of them did not because of unbelief, verse seven. "Again, he limited a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Verse eight, listen to what verse eight says. "For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day." That word Jesus, is actually a reference to Joshua.

So in the New Testament, Acts chapter seven, you can look it up when Stephen was preaching a message. He said the name Jesus, and that is Joshua in the New Testament. So it is just an interesting, understanding of the name, Joshua. Joshua, Jehovah is my Savior it means actually in the New Testament, Jesus, it can be translated Jesus. So in a family background, we know that he, was the son of Nun. He was of the tribe of Ephraim. We also know that, he was born in Egypt. He was probably, we do not know exactly, but he was more than likely the same age as Caleb, whom he is generally associated with. Normally, when you hear Joshua, you think of Caleb. So Joshua and Caleb, they shared in all the events of the Exodus, he held a place of command in Exodus chapters 17, against the battle against the Amalekites. Joshua was, put in charge by Moses and he led the children of Israel in fighting the Amalekites. He became Moses minister and servant. He accompanied him in Exodus 32, as he went up partway into the mountain to receive the two tables of stone, the law. And he was one of the 12 who were sent out by Moses to explore the land of Canaan. In Numbers 13 only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report. And under the direction of God, Moses before his death invested Joshua in a public and solemn manner. And we see that, we are in Joshua chapter 11, but if you want to see that it is back in Deuteronomy chapter 31. Deuteronomy chapter 31 says in verse 22, "Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee." And so we see that he hands the children of Israel, and this is directed by God, but Moses did not just come up with this idea. He handed the children of Israel over to Joshua. So we see Joshua the meaning of his name. We see a little bit about his family. We see in the Bible that Joshua was used over and over in the lives of the Israelites before they came into the promised land.

And then afterwards we see that he was a unique man. He was the man of conquest. He was one of the men that led the war to take over the land. And if you study Joshua, what is interesting as we come to Joshua 11, 12, and 13, they are seeing that they have not actually finished up all of the fighting. Some people that like to find faults with the Bible, look at Joshua 11 and 12 and 13. And then later in the book of Joshua, it says that they finished again. And some of it, it is not really hard to see. They basically had taken most of the land, so they then could split up some things, but there is still some small little cities throughout there that while, they were going to those areas. They were still conquering those cities. So those that liked to pick apart the Bible say, see, there is a fallacy. No, it is really not that hard to understand. But we see in the Bible that Joshua coming up at 11 and 12 and 13, he started to split up a lot of things. And as we talked about in our Sunday school class, we were talking a little bit about how the land of Israel is divided up. For centuries those that have studied military strategy have studied Joshua's attack of the promised land. Beause what he did is he came in and he split the attack North and South. And so military generals and military schools have studied how Joshua has taken the land because they say it is an amazing work that he did. He came in and took over a land.

Those of you that were with us on the trip to Israel in the Northern area in Galilee, one day we took a trip to a place called Hazor and that is here in Joshua 11. If you get time to do a little bit of study on the city of Hazor it is an amazing thing. It is an amazing study. When we were there, actually the owner of Samson tours came and he met us there. He is an archeologist. So that was his first serious archeological dig. So he actually dug on the city of Hazor. So he was a little intense because he really loves that place. And Hazor as they were digging, I think it was back in the nineties that he was there digging. What is interesting is that the city of Hazor there as they were coming in, what they found and he pointed out, he had the Bible with him and he opened up to this passage in Joshua chapter 11. Five times, the word burned is used, that Joshua was supposed to burn the city of Hazor. And what is interesting he said, as they were going through and digging, they found evidence of a fire that was unbelievably hot. And, and so it is just interesting to see, you know, as I have talked to people like that archeologist, they always want to say, see, man, now you can trust the Bible. I was like, I already trusted it. I really was not worried about it, but it is neat to see people that have doubted the Bible and have scoffed at the Bible eventually, guess what happens? They find out, oh, yeah the Bible was true. And so that is what you find in the story ofn Joshua chapter 11.

This is where he comes in after Joshua 10, where there were some kings that gathered together, the King of Hazor actually was a leader in the Canaanites. Right. And that is one thing that our guide tried to express to us that the King of Hazor was a leader, all of them look to them and it was a massive city. As far as impressive, we stepped into the temple that they had made. The temple that he made was something else. It was quite impressive that he had. And so he was the leader. So all of them look to this guy. And so it is just interesting that God said, I want that place burned. I want it burned and I want it burn down. And so that is where we come to in Joshua chapter 11. And in verse 15, it says, "As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses." So hopefully that gives us a little bit of an understanding of Joshua. Some people, biblically have said that Joshua is a type of Christ. Why do they say that? Because Joshua followed Moses in the Old Testament and Moses is a representation of the law. And so Moses brings them out of Egypt and then Joshua brings them into that land of rest. It is okay, I think he is a type of Christ, remember a type is not an exact duplicate. And so I think that that is okay. It is not Joshua bringing the people into the possession of the promised land as Jesus brings people into a heavenly Canaan. And in Hebrews chapter four, there are three different rests that are talked about. Joshua succeeded, Moses, and the gospel succeeds the law. So that is why some people, when you read about Joshua, they will reference Joshua in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament. But what is interesting is this phrase in Joshua 11:15, and that is that "he left nothing undone."

And what caught my attention is that idea, Joshua, what did he do? He finished his job. And what I got thinking about was Christ because Christ finished his work. Where do we find that in John chapter 17, this is Christ high priestly prayer, and Jesus was praying. And this is what he says, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." I am sorry, I read the verse after. In verse four it says, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work, which thou gavest me to do." So in John 17, you see Him praying a high priestly prayer. Most believe this is at the last supper. It is that time that he was there and he is praying and he is saying, God, I have finished the work that you gave me to do. And Jesus on the cross in John 19, after he had done all of it, what does he cry out? "It is finished." It is done. If it is that Joshua in the Old Testament is a type, it is somebody looking forward to Christ. That would be interesting to see that the Joshua in the Old Testament, it is said, he finished, he left nothing undone. And then our Savior, the true Joshua, the true deliver, the true Redeemer. What did he do? He finished everything that he was supposed to do. And may it be as we consider our lives this morning and the job that God has asked you to do. The job, the task that God has for you as Christians here, as a church. What God has asked us to do, may it be that we can be instructed to say, God, help us to put something into our life that when we get done, we can say we have left nothing undone that God has commanded us to do.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you would help us this morning, give us wisdom, guidance, lead and guide as always Lord do that, which I cannot do--speak to hearts. And we ask and claim your power in Jesus name. Amen. So what are some helps for completing the task? You will notice in Joshua chapter one, if you are there in Joshua, let's go to chapter one. I am going to read a few verses and I think it will help us in our first point.

Notice in Joshua chapter one, look at verses one through five. "Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel." Notice verse three, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast." Now look at verse five. "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Look at chapter six, verses one and two. "Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into the thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour." Look at Joshua chapter eight verses one and two, "And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the King of Ai ,and his people, and his city, and his land. And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it." Then we go to Joshua eleven, our text passage, look at verse six. "And the Lord said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for tomorrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire." There is that command that he is going to burn it.

So what is one idea about finishing the task or finishing the battle? The first thing that kind of came to me as I was thinking about Joshua, and then thinking about Christ. There are God ordained battles. There are God ordained battles. Do you know, Joshua had to figh,t and so will you and I. All fighting is not wrong. There are battles that you and I are going to have to face, and God has ordained it. And we are going to have to face these battles. We are going to have to face them. Here you see in Joshua chapter one, guess what he said, Hey, guess what? Everywhere you walk, you can take it. It is yours, but guess what you are going to have to do. You are going to have to fight and take it. There are God ordained battles. We need to conquer the enemies of the land throughout the book of Joshua. These were physical enemies, but in the Christian life, it is spiritual enemies that we have to fight.

In the Bible, in the New Testament, there is sin. There is a battle of sin. There is a battle of self and there is a battle of Satan. And all three of these are battles that are God ordained, and you need to have the spirit of Joshua. And you need to say God, and you may falter a little bit. Joshua did, Joshua as he was coming into this land. I believe there was a little bit of hesitancy. I believe there was a little bit of fear. And I think as we face our daily battle, the daily battle spiritually against sin, and self, and Satan. Guess what is going to happen sometimes, it seems like the devil has an upper hand. It seems like for yourself, it just seems a little tough today and it seems like sin is having a heyday, but guess what you do? Take heart, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Be of good courage. Why? Because God ordained certain battles, God ordained and says, you got to pick up your sword and you have got to fight. Sin needs to be fought. We need to be on the attack against sin. Why? Because it wants ground in your life. It wants to take a little more in your heart and we need to be ever vigilant saying God, in this land, I need to have the spirit of Joshua and I need to finish the task. And what is that task? I need to fight sin until I end up in His presence. Until He takes me home I am fighting sin. Until he takes me home I am fighting self. Until he takes me home, say, you are my enemy, we are not on the same side. We are not partners. I will not partner with sin. I will not partner with my sinful self and I will not partner with Satan.

And that is what we need to be clear on--Christ. And we see that with Joshua. Joshua in the Old Testament, what was he willing to do? He was willing to pick up the sword and fight. And I see that. And if you go down to the end of chapter 11, look at verse 23. "So Joshua took (what) the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel..." And this is my challenge to all of us as Christians here this morning, take the whole land for God. Take all of it. Leave nothing for sin. Leave nothing for self. Leave, nothing for Satan. He does not deserve it. That is what we should be doing. We should be understanding that God has ordained some battles for us. Spiritually, there is a warfare. How do I know that? Because Ephesians six says that we are in a battle and it tells us in Ephesians chapter six, let me just read it quickly. All right. Most of us know it, but if I try to quote it I will quote it wrong. In Ephesians 6:10 says, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (Why?) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand...."

There are God ordained battles and you are in a warfare. So do all that you can in this life to fight that battle, do all that you can. Christ, when he came to this earth was faced with enormous opposition, but this was a God-ordained battle. Do you know how I know that? Because in Genesis chapter three, right after the fall of Adam and Eve, it says I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. And this is talk from God to who? The serpent. And from the fall of Adam, when Satan came in and ruined us, he was able to convince Adam and Eve to go against God in the garden. And God looked at Satan and he said, you know what? From now on you and us it is war dude, it is on. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Right then he was saying, but someday, someday you are going down. And from that point until Christ cried out, it is finished. Satan looked like he was having a time. There was opposition against our Savior on this Earth. Even when he came to this, it was a God ordained battle, because guess what? Satan, you are my enemy it is marked out. And Christ came to this earth He was faced with enormous opposition predicted at the beginning of the human race in Genesis three 15. The battle that Christ was going to rage was for our lost souls. The fate of man was on the line in Christ's battle. And Christ was able to come and he did that, which his Father told him to do. And that is come and die on the cross for our sins. I praise the Lord for an Old Testament example of Joshua that was willing to go in and fight some God ordained battles physically. But I praise the Lord for a New Testament Joshua that came and spiritually, he was willing to set aside his glory in heaven. And he was willing to come down here and fight a God ordained battle for my soul. And he won. He finished the job. And so for you and I, we need to understand our Savior presents to us a New Testament Joshua, an example of God ordained battles that we will have to face. There are some battles that you will have to face.

Secondly, you will see in the passages here, remember in Joshua chapter one, what did we sing? We sang the song this morning and Joshua 1:6, "Be strong and of a good courage..." It starts in verse five. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of my life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee..." That is God talking to Joshua, "Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage..." What is he telling him? What is God instructing Joshua? The second thing that will help in finishing the job. First of all, there are some God ordained battles. Secondly, there is strength for the battle. In Joshua 1:5-9, God says I will be with thee and Joshua 11:6, "And the Lord said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for tomorrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel..."

What is God telling us? God is telling us that you have some God ordained battles and Christ had to face them by himself. And I know that because even on the cross, he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And this is, this is the beauty of our Savior, our New Testament, Joshua. He said, I had to face those, but you will not have to face them alone. I will be there and I will give you strength. That is our Savior. The Savior said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am there. And that is why in the book of Hebrews, it says in the book of Hebrews, let me read it quickly. In Hebrews chapter two it says, "For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted." In chapter four, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." You know what he was saying there to you and I, I went and I fought, I stood there alone and I conquered. But you do not have to do it alone. Now the tasks, the battles that you have, you do not have to fight them on your own. God is there to come alongside you. You know Christ, even Christ here on this earth was encouraged. Where do I see it? In Matthew three, Jesus was starting his earthly ministry. Remember he went out into the wilderness, I believe into the Judean wilderness there. And John, the Baptist was out there and he was preaching, preaching repentance and turning to God. And when Jesus came up, he looked at Jesus and Jesus was coming out to be baptized. And when Jesus, the Bible says this in Matthew 3, "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Christ even while he was here on this earth, had God's voice calling down saying, that is my son--keep fighting.

And the next text in Matthew 4 , He was driven into the wilderness. And remember Satan came at the end of those 40 days of his fasting and praying. And Satan came and wanted to pull Jesus down. And there was a battle there raging and in Matthew 4:10, "Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him." Even our Savior, even our Savior here on this Earth, God saw sometimes I believe the fight and the battle, and he said, I will give my Son strength. And for you and I he will give you and I strength. He will give us strength for the battle. So then this is actually just the Old Testament, Joshua, this lesson is found in Joshua nine. In Joshua 9:1-4 it says, "And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof; That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord. And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai." Look at verse four, "They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors..."

So what does that word mean? That word means trickery. It was interesting when I was looking it up, it is found also in Proverbs chapter one, you will recognize it. Solomon is writing to his son and he is saying, Hey, you need to gain wisdom. You need to get it. And it says, in verse four, if you get this, it will give subtlety to the simple, that word subtlety. That is the same word as that wilily, means trickery. What it is saying is they came and they were going to try to deceive. They were going to try to use trickery. They were going to try to use gile. Alright, what were they doing? They were tricking. And you know, what is going to happen when you decide that you are going to fight the battles that God ordained for you. And you say, I am going to try to get the strength from God that He has promised me to have. You know what sometimes you are going to do? Fail, because you are not Christ. Jesus, we sing it, Jesus Never Fails. But guess what happens, Steve Damron does. And so do you, you can put your name there. Don't look all pious. Your name should fit there too. We can not say whatever your name is. Greg, or Dave or Harry or whatever it is, you are going to fail too. So how am I supposed to do this? Joshua teaches us this.

The third thing we should do is learn to get up after failure, learn to get up. This is not a lesson from Christ because Christ Jesus never fails. But in the Old Testament, Joshua, you know what you find, he was given a task and he flopped it here in Joshua nine. He flopped it but by the end, guess what he did. He said, you rascals, you guys tricked me. You beguiled me. So you know what he did, "And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, (in verse 22) saying, Wherefore have you beguiled us saying, We are very far from you; when you dwell among us? Now, therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God." And then at the end, he says in verse 26. "And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not. And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day..." He said, you know what? You are going to go get me my lunch. Here is your apron, boy. Put it on because you are serving me the rest of your lives. And then he got back at it.

Then you see in chapter 10 in verse one, a bunch of kings got together and he says, ain't happening again? Suit up boys, get your swords on. I am going after them. And that is one of the greatest battles in the book of Joshua and almost in the Bible. That is where Joshua went out and it was getting late. And he said, you know what? I do not even have enough light to beat all these people. And he looked at the sun and said, "Stand still." And guess what happened? It did. Now that is a commander. All right, that is a guy that could get somebodys attention. He, he was so commanding that even the sun listened to him. And that was not his own son. What I am talking about is the sun that is in the sky. That is quite a guy there, but just before, what did you see? He got tricked and so will you. All of us will, all of us will get tricked in this flesh. You know what, sometimes sin is going to get the best of you. Self is going to get the best of you and sometimes Satan is gonna get you. He is going to trick you. And he is going to come in and say you know what, I am coming from a far country. That is probably not going to be the trick here. You know what he is going to say, Hey, you know what? That just seems a little extreme, what the Bible is saying. Oh, that just seems like the little much. And it seems so logical. It is Satan and no wonder the Bible says he can even transform himself into an angel of light.

You know, what is going to happen. He is going to trick you sometime. And sin is going to trick you and sometime you are just going to be a little bit weak. Why? Because Christ said this to even his own disciples who had followed him for over three years. All He wanted to do is just go because He knew the time of all times, the battle battles, the war of all wars, the salvation of their soul was at stake. Pray with me for an hour. And he comes back and guess what? Just like some of your teenagers, zzzzz. Oh, couldn't you just read for an hour. Now with us, we are just like, couldn't you just read for one minute, zzzzz. But, guess what? Jesus knew that and what did he say? The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. And what did he do? He still went, Christ did and died for their sorry souls. But guess what? Guess what those disciples saw. They got up and they learned to get up after failure. And you know that those three there basically all of them gave their life for Christ later on every one of them. No you say, how is that possible? Because you learn to get up after failure, learn to get up, learn that sometimes it is going, to take some effort to get back up because you flopped. You might stop. You made a mistake, but so what, so do all of us. But do not be just another casualty. Instead get back up, get to the hospital if you have to, get patched up, get to somebody that can stitch you back up, and get the healing you need. Then strap your sword back on and go slice and dice again. Why? Because that is what Joshua shows us in the Old Testament.

Joshua, in the Old Testament was a man like you and I, and guess what he did. He fell down because he got tricked. And so will you and I, but the difference between a lot of Christians and Joshua is he did not stay there and have a pity party. He tricked me, you big, bad boys, you tricked me. No, he got up and he said, you sorry guys. Now, gess what? Oh, I just happen to have an apron and you are going to wear it, dude. Yeah. Take off the sword and take off your big soldier gear. And guess what? I got a cute little pink apron to put on you. Now go get my lunch and get me my water. And when it came out, no, no, no, no, no. That is the way the Gibeonites do it. My water is this way boy, get back and get it. Man, he made them his little slaves. And guess what? Some of you, you get knocked down and the Gibeonites are still tricking you. The Gibeonites are still telling you what to do. No, no, no, no, no, they might have got you one time, but learn to get up and put them under tribute. That is what we need to do. Learn from your failures. Learn to get up after failure.

Then look at Joshua chapter 11. What I like through this passage, in verse six, we have read it a couple of times. The Lord said unto Joshua, and you see this back and forth a couple of times. You see it in Joshua 10, you see it in Joshua 11, you also see it in chapter 12. And you know what there is? There is a back and forth between Joshua and the Lord. So guess what is pretty clear. If you are going to finish the job, you are not going to do it by yourself. You are going to learn to seek God in your battles. Learn to seek Him. And that is, he is not just there for strength. He is there as my commander in chief, He is my God. He is the one. And there are some times that it is going to seem overwhelming what God is going to ask you to do. There will be sometimes when it just seems like way over the top, but God can give you wisdom in the battle.

Notice what, verse 11:6 says, "And the Lord said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel..." Look at verse seven, "So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them unto great Zidon, ..." and verse nine. "And Joshua did unto them as the Lord bade him; he houghed their horses, and (look here it is) burnt their chariots with fire." Look at verse 10. And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, (That is the town that I was talking to you about, the city.) and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms." He was looked up to. That is why I think God wanted Joshua to make an example out of Hazor and the King of Hazor. He was saying the greatest in the world, the greatest of Satan's foes, you know what God can do to him? He can use you to burn them down. That is what he can do. But it is only if you seek God in your battles.

It is not your ideas. It is not your fancy ideas. It is not your great strategies that do it all. And sometimes that is what happens, man gets in the way, I believe, of God's greatest victories, because we get to take credit. That is what I love about Joshua. Joshua learned his lessons and what you find with Joshua, is that Joshua is not normally taking credit for the battles. It is always pointing it to God. Why? Because Joshua knew where his strength was. He also knew where the source of the might came from. And so that is why, Hey, maybe with Gibeon, I made a little mistake, but not anymore. Because as for me and my house, we are serving God. And I am looking to him for all that I need and all that he will give me.

And that is what I ask you to do. Learn, to seek God in your battles. Do we see that with the New Testament Joshua? Yeah. The war of wars, the battle of battles was coming up. What was it? The battle for our soul? What did Christ do? It was coming upon him. And so he went to a place called the Garden of Gethsamene. I think it was a place that actually he went to often. I think it was a place that the disciples knew. He went to that place and he went a little farther It says in the scriptures, and he got upon his knees and it says that he sweat as it were great drops of blood. And so what, what was happening there? He was going to God. He was learning to seek God for his battle. And ultimately, what did he do? Not my will, but thine be done.

And if you are going to finish the task, there are going to be some times that the task is overwhelming. The battle seems to be raging and you have made mistakes and yes, you have got the healing. You have got the recuperation, you are back up and you are trying to fight, but it seems overwhelming. Then learn to seek God's face. And what you will find is that God can do the battle for you.

In Joshua chapter 24, I love Joshua's statement. Joshua is at the end of his life. He gathers all the tribes together in verse one. Verse 2, "And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time,..." And he, and he starts giving them a story. In verse four, he goes back to Jacob and Esau. And then in verse five, he sends Moses and he gives them a story here. And he comes all the way down to verse 14. "Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord." Verse 15, we know it. "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." You know what? He is at the end of his life. It is just about done. And he is saying, guys, come on serve God. But really it does not matter because I am finishing my life serving God,

That is what he is saying. This is not the beginning of his life. This is the end of his life. And he had a track record now, and he is saying it is worthy to serve God. It is worth it to serve him. And this is what I can tell you. After now, four decades of being saved, it is worthy to serve the Lord. It is worth it to serve the Lord and it is worth giving your time and energy to serve the Lord. And so this is what you should do. Finish serving him. Finish serving him, be determined. I am thankful for the example of Joshua. He gives us hope to stay at the fight in the physical and spiritual battles that we face in life.

But I am also thankful for my spiritual Joshua that took to the task of fighting for my soul and what he did on the cross. Even though he came up to it and he sought God's face, and he said this battle, the war of wars is hard. What he did, is he said, not my will, but thine. And on the cross, he could cry out. It is finished.

And in Israel, I will never forget it sitting there at the Garden Tomb. We had reserved a little room and there we partook of communion there in the Garden Tomb. And there, I use that passage in John 19 and talked about how Christ maybe it could have been right outside here, cried out. It is finished. It may not be there, but I know it was there close by and all around those people in Israel and all around those people could cry out, it is finished. And one of the meanings of it is finished in the Greek is that of a banking term. And as a banker, he would come. And when you came and you paid that loan that you had taken out, he would write on top of it. In the Greek "tetelestai," it meant it is finished. And what it meant for my soul that day when he cried out, that I had a debt, I was broke. I was in bondage. I owed Satan my life. He owned me, but Jesus Christ came and with his blood, he paid my debt. And on my heart that day in the blood of Jesus, it was stamped tetelestai. When I accepted Jesus Christ, on my soul it was stamped It is finished you no longer, you no longer own Steve Damron, you no longer have any, right? Because it is paid in full.

I am so thankful for a New Testament Joshua that paid my debt and He finished the job that He was asked to do. And this morning, it may be that you are sitting here and Christ paid your debt, but you have never accepted it. Then I beg of you come to that Savior, that went to war for your soul. But you have to do the coming. You have to come to Him and say my sin, Oh, you never can say, as the song says my sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross. All right. Why, why can't you say that? Because you have never come to Christ, the New Testament Joshua, the Joshua that there, the Jesus, on the cross that what did He do? He finished the job that was asked of him.

And so this morning, that is my offer to somebody here that has never accepted the finished work of Jesus Christ. That is what we mean by that. The finished work of Jesus Christ is that it is done. There is nothing you can do. All religion today says it is Jesus plus no, it is Jesus only. That is it. Nothing else, nothing else you can do. You can not pay for it. Why? Because it has been paid in full praise, the Lord for a Savior that did that.

But then I thank the Lord for a Joshua in the Old Testament. That gives me an example. Now, as I go into my promised land, into the land of abundant living, that is what I believe the promised land represents. Here on this earth it represents a land an abundanct land flowing with milk and honey. But guess what I have to do, there are some God-ordained battles. There is a battle of sin. There is a battle of self. There is a battle against Satan. And some of us sitting here, you have been rolling over and you have given up on the battle. Maybe you got tricked. Maybe you got beguiled. Guess what? Get the help you need suit up again. Don't let failure keep you down.

Seek God's strength, seek God's direction in your battle and learn to finish the fight. Be determined to finish the battle. End properly. So many times there are folks that get saved. And then there is a misunderstanding. Some people think it is, you know there are verses in the New Testament. That goes something like this, work out your salvation. That is not talking about work-salvation. What it is saying is you got saved and that is the start of your earthly sanctification. That is what it is. And you know what you need to do. Now, you are going to start working it. That means that in your heart, sometimes sin is going to get in there. Self is going to get in there. Satan is going to sneak into your heart. And what you have to do is work to keep them out. What you have to do is live by faith and faith is evidenced by works.

How do I know that? Because Jesus, Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments. That sounds like a little bit of works there. And that is what is a misunderstanding today? We are not saying that it takes anything for you to be saved. But what we are saying is once you are saved, you keep growing in the Lord by working out your salvation, by exercising your faith. By growing that faith, it has nothing to do with getting to heaven, but it has everything to do with possessing the land that God has given you. And so let's finish the job. Let's get at the task and let's not let sin and self and Satan have any place in our land. Let's be like Joshua. And at the end of chapter 11, it says, so Joshua took the whole land. Let's be Christians here this morning that the whole land can be claimed for God.

That he is not allowed one little outhouse. I know Satan deserves it. He deserves a smelly little outhouse, but you know what? You ain't getting it. He does not even deserve that. He does not deserve one little spring in my land. He does not deserve to stop in and get some water. He doesn't deserve to sit down and eat of my grub. I want all the grapes of Eschol. I want all the land flowing with milk and honey. Get off my cows, you are not getting any of it. And what we need is God, God, to help us to finish the job in our land.