Joshua Part 10 - Faithfulness in the Mess of Life

Gavin Wright continues the series on Joshua. This sermon is from Sunday 23rd Nov 2025.

The Bible passage is Joshua 9v1 - 10v43.

Transcript

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If you've got your Bibles, we're going to be in Joshua chapters 9 and 10 this morning. If you have not been with us so far in our series in Joshua, as we enter today's story, and we'll pray and read in a minute, God's people have left the wilderness behind, and they have now crossed the Jordan and entered the promised lands. And God has promised to deliver it into their hands. It is currently occupied, occupied by the enemies of God and his people. Not just enemies in that they were in the way, but enemies in that, you know, if you look back at Genesis 15, enemies in that their sin had reached its full measure, it was a corrupt and a violent and a godless place. God has told his people to go and take the lands which he has given them. And he has shown that he is the one who will fight the battles for them in order that this can be possible, that it must all be in his strength. Last week we saw them then recommitting themselves to God and his worship, and now we're ready to resume the military campaign. Except we're going to discover this morning that things don't always go as smoothly as they ought to. So I'm going to pray, and then we're going to pick up with a couple of bits of chapter 9. Let me pray. Now, Father God, as we read your word this morning, I ask that you would give us your spirit's help to understand what you are saying to us, and that you would give us your spirit's help to be changed by it. Please help me to be faithful in what I say. And Lord, please do good to your people. Amen. So we're not going to read all of it. We're going to read bits of it and skip across it, and some of the gaps will sort of have to fill in in various ways as we go. We're going to pick up in verse 3 of chapter 9. So, if you cast your eyes down there, let me read verse 3. But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, those are two cities that have been defeated so far, they on their part acted with cunning, and went and made ready provisions, and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys and wineskins, worn out and torn and mended, with worn out patched sandals on their feet and worn out clothes, and all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a distant country. So now make a covenant with us. And then we're going to skip the next section. They're explaining, they're trying to make their case to God's people. And then verse 14. So the men, that is the men of Israel, took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. And the leaders of the congregation swore to them. First big point this morning. God's people ought to have made war with these people, with the Gibeonites. Back in Deuteronomy 7, the command was given to devote the different peoples of the land, the enemies of God, to destruction, including those in Canaan, which is where these Gibeonites are from. God's people should have gone to war with them. However, the Gibeonites did not much want to go to war with Israel. They have heard, we read in verse 3, of what God's people have firstly done to Jericho and then to Ai, and decided that they didn't much fancy facing this seemingly unstoppable force that was headed in their direction. So they looked for a way out of it. And they came up with a cunning plan. Those of a certain generation, a plan more cunning than a fox who's been appointed professor of cunning at Oxford University. Now, they come up with this cunning plan. But it's probably just worth thinking about their motives just briefly before we get into the plan. Thinking about the motives for what they're about to do. Because I don't think, because this might be a question, that they are like Rahab back in chapter 2. Rahab saw what was coming in her direction. She knew of God's work and God's people. And she knew what God had done. And she knew that her only hope was to throw herself on his mercy, which she duly did, and his mercy she duly found. Rahab acknowledged the Lord as being Lord of heaven and earth, not just the Lord of the Israelites. She acknowledged his kingship and submitted herself to his mercy. We don't get that with the Gibeonites. They want to live, but they want to use sinful means to achieve that. They don't want to be destroyed, but the language they use lacks any desire to be on God's side, as it were. They just don't want to be on the opposite side. And so they come up with a cunning plan. They essentially are going to put on some fancy dress. Children, I don't know if you like dressing up and what sorts of things you like dressing up as. We dressed up as cowboys and cowgirls as we sought to reenact a little portion of the old West. And this is the sort of thing that the Gibeonites are doing. They're going to pretend that they're from far away. They're going to make sure, they're going to dig through their dressing up boxes and try and look as ragged and unkempt as possible. They're going to bring old food, this stale, crumbly breads. And they're going to use all these things to try and trick God's people into making a covenant with them. To make promises attained through deception that will spare their lives. And so that's what they do. And in the bit the passage that we read, the leaders of God's people hear their offer. And what are they going to do? Should they trust these people? Should they accept this offer of making a covenant? Should they make these promises? What would you do in that situation? They had their suspicions. If you read the full passage, it's obvious that they're doing a little bit of probing and questioning and they have to justify themselves, these Gibeonites, but in the end, God's people took them at their words. They looked at the clothes, the crumbly breads, the burst wineskins, and agreed to make a covenant with them. They promised that they would let them live. It might seem in the circumstances like they'd weighed it up, and this was probably the best decision they could make. It was a reasonable conclusion. But the text, I hope you caught it, makes actually a very pointed comment in verse 14. I don't know if you caught that. God's people did not ask counsel from the Lord. They did not ask counsel from the Lord. Children, this might help you with your learning sheets. God's people did not ask for God's help. Every success they've had so far in the Promised Land has been because God has been working. And the failure has come when they've put him to one side. But as we so often don't, they haven't learnt their lesson yet. They plow on without trying to find out what God thinks, and it leaves them in a real pickle. So look at the next few verses with me. I'm going to read from verse 16. At the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. And the people of Israel set out and reached the cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Cheferh, Beroth, and Kiriath, Jirin. But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. So three days later, the truth comes out, these aren't exotic strangers from far away after all. These are the Gibeonites. Sneaky, cunning Gibeonites. God has told us to go to war with them, but now we've promised to let them live. And they end up in this pickle, this grey area, where it's not maybe at first glance entirely clear what they should do. And the people are split. We sort of see that in verse 18. They hold off attacking because of the promise they've made, but there's also murmuring and grumbling about the mistake the leaders have made and the mess they've made for themselves. And friends, I do think there is something we ought to learn here about how we make our decisions. Have we become complacent? Do we just assume that everything is going to be fine? Do we bother to seek God's counsel? Do we seek wisdom or do we assume it? God doesn't speak to us in the sort of direct way that he spoke to Joshua, but he does give us means by which we can seek his help. It's three quick things to think about. Number one, when we have decisions to make, do we pray? Do we lay things before the Lord, ask for his guiding and his intervening? Do we pray for his will to be done? Do we ask for wisdom? Or have we learnt to speak in public as people who lean on the Lord's? But when it actually really comes to it, we ignore our Father, who loves to hear our prayers and loves to answer them in the way that's best for us. Have you given up on praying? Secondly, when we have decisions to make, do we seek the counsel of God's words? And okay, in God's word, God doesn't say you should build this type of extension on this end of the church. And he doesn't say you should retrain as a plumber. And he doesn't say you should end your relationship with that boy, with that girl. But he will, in his word, teach your heart to be both prudent and generous, to be both hardworking and trusting that in him you lack nothing, to shape your life in ways that honour him and help you stick with Jesus. And those things will help you make wise, God-honouring decisions. So do you listen to his word? Do you seek his counsel? Just briefly, thirdly, when we have decisions to make, do we seek the help and counsel of older, wiser brothers and sisters in Christ who know God's word and have been through it all before you? With the Lord's help, the church, friends, is a gift to us from God through which he'll often help us and counsel us. God's people did not seek his counsel, and there were consequences. It made life messy. And I'm grateful actually for this corner of God's words, because it does show us life when it is messy, when it isn't always easy and clear. Life when things aren't obviously black and white to us. Life when we live in the after effects of our sin, perhaps. Life when we've been foolish and we want then to try and be godly, but sort of the ripples of our sin follow us. We are all sinners. I certainly am. And I know today that many of us will want to do the right thing by God, but find it tricky because of the mess that we've made in the past. And a big principle when trying to be godly in those sorts of situations is well, seek the counsel of God. That is clear. But another big principle, which I think probably is our other big point today, is this keep your promises. Keep your promises. I'm going to read from verse 19. Just uh three verses there. But all the leaders said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. This we will do to them. Let them live. Lest wrath be upon us because of the oath that we swore to them. And the leaders said to them, Let them live. So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them. Keep your promises. This is what God's people decide to do. They've made a covenant, they've made an oath, and now they're going to keep their words. They've created for themselves a responsibility that they shouldn't have taken on, but now they are going to come good, and they're going to fulfil their responsibilities. We get a bit of a clue in verse 19 as to why. They have sworn, we read, by the Lord. In other words, it is not just their reputation that is on the line, but actually, this is an issue of the honour of God. And to their credit, in the mess that they've made, in the grey area of life, it is the honour of God which must remain of first importance, and it does. And so they swore by the Lord, and they're going to keep those promises. And just to be clear, keeping those promises, fulfilling their responsibilities isn't actually going to be easy. It isn't going to make life easy for them. We'll see a little example of this as we read. Let's dip to chapter 10. And I'm going to read from verse 1. As soon as Adonai Zedek, King of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its kings as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and its men were warriors. So Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, king of Hebron, to Piram, king of Jarmouth, to Japah, king of Lashish, and to Deber, king of Eglon, saying, Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel. And the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmouth, the king of Lashish, and the king of Eglon gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it. And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us. So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. Keeping their promises to God's people was going to prove to be inconvenient. The Gibeonites were not just a bit of an annoyance, they were a burden. And now, because of the covenant that they had made, Joshua was going to have to send his men to defend them against the collected armies of five kingdoms. But this is what they're going to do. Because they're going to keep their promises. Even though it's inconvenient. Even though, humanly speaking, from this side of the battle, it could cost them. How you feel about that? It brings to mind to me, in the first instance, Psalm 15. I don't know if you remember Psalm 15. One of the really good things about singing psalms a little bit more regularly at Emmanuel is that it's one way that God gets his word into our heads and our hearts a bit more deeply. And I've been reflecting on that line in Psalm 15 as I've been humming it. By the way, Psalm 15 is the, oh Lord, who may abide in your tent, if that's now going around your heads. As I've been humming it, what kind of person abides in God's tent? What kind of person dwells on God's holy hill? Well, amongst other things, we sing in that psalm, don't we? He who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Psalm 15. That is, he who makes a promise and doesn't change his mind, even if it hurts, even if it costs him. Does that describe you? The way that you keep your words, the way that you fulfil your responsibilities. It certainly describes God. In the context of Joshua, doesn't it make sense that this is what God's people should be like? Because this is what God is like. Back in chapter 1, do you remember? He promised Joshua that he would give them the land everywhere his feet touched. He promised that no man could stand against them. He promised that he would be with him wherever he went. And God came good on his promises. And if you remember that verse at the end of Joshua 21, verse 45, the youth group have got a great tune that has been helping us remember that. We must sing it for you sometime. But this is the verse. Do you remember it? Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass. God is a God who keeps his promises. Joshua knew that. And when his people keep their promises, well, they are being like him. And they honor him and they reflect him to the watching worlds. They show the world what he is like. Jesus was the perfect promise keeper, wasn't he? In the Gospel, Jesus, well actually, in the first place, Jesus is a perfect promise keeper to his Father. If you know John's Gospel, John 6, 38, Jesus says, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. If you're describing this theologically, we're talking about the covenant of redemption. That is, before time began, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit covenant together, they agree together to save a people over whom Jesus will be king. But this requires of Jesus that he bears the sins of this people. Because they cannot be gods if they are dirty with sin. God's presence requires righteousness and so requires that Jesus must clean up this people. And the way he does that in keeping his promise is sort of like the scapegoat of Old Testament times. He takes the sin of God's people on himself and he takes it away from them. As far as the East is from the West, he removes our sin from us. And our sin is placed on Jesus, in his body on the cross, and Jesus is extinguished from life on earth. And that is what we deserve. That's the heart of the gospel. Jesus took our sin upon himself. He took the wrath of God that we deserve. He paid the price, he served the sentence that we were given. And you know when we were talking about he who swears to his own hurt. Isn't Jesus the most perfect and wonderful example of that? And so Jesus keeps his promise with the Father, and it's going to hurt him. And that's why he prays, Father, take this cup away from me in the Garden of Gethsemane. That that's the cup of God's wrath. But he also prays, Father, not my will, but yours be done. Yes, I promised to do this. I know what your will is, I will keep my oath, I will fulfil my vow. So Jesus keeps his promise to his father. And brilliantly, in keeping his promises to his father, he is able to keep his promises to us. Jesus never goes back on a promise. And when we die, Christian people, we die in faith, don't we, knowing that Jesus is going to come good on his word. He won't disavow us, he won't stop interceding for us. His promise is one of certainty, a guarantee of the redemption to come. In the gospel, Jesus keeps his promise to you to receive you into heaven one day. In John chapter six, again, this is the will of him who sent me, Jesus said, that I shall lose none of all he gave me, but will raise them up on the last day. Jesus will keep his promises. He'll come through for the people his father has given him. For his father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life. And I will raise them up on the last day, says Jesus. We keep our promises because Jesus keeps his promises. And we reflect Jesus. And we honor our commitments, because to honor our commitments is to declare the gospel in our actions. The gospel is the message that Jesus has kept his promise to save a people for himself, to save those people and receive them into heaven. And because we belong to a promise-keeping God, we keep our promises. Now Jesus, Jesus never sinned. And when he keeps his promises in the muck and the mess, it is our muck and mess, not his, and praise him for being so graciously faithful. We live, don't we, though, in the mess of our own failings. But this big principle we honour him in the mess by keeping our words. When we perhaps uh have married someone we shouldn't have done, we keep our promises. When we have children from a relationship that we perhaps shouldn't have been in, we fulfil our promises. When we have a job we took for the wrong reasons, we are faithful and dependable in doing our job. This could be a never-ending list of mistakes we've made in the past that we now live in the light of or the shade of. But in the mess of life, let's reflect the goodness of our Saviour by keeping our word. Let's just look very briefly. I want to dip into chapter ten, just for a couple of minutes, and see this last thing that God keeps his promises to promise keepers for our encouragement. God keeps his promises to promise keepers. Pick up in verse eight. The Lord said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you. So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth Horon, and struck them as far as Azaka and Macada. And as they fled before Israel while they were going down the ascent of Beth Horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azaka, and they died. There were none who died sorry, there were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. Josh Joshua then prays, asks uh for God to give them more time with the sort of climactical conditions. And we read verse fourteen. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel. And then just skip down to the very last two verses of chapter ten, verse forty-two. And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time. Because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. And then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. So in between those verses, those armies are defeated, five kings are beheaded, and then Joshua goes on to take the rest of southern Canaan, and that is where that chapter ends. They succeed because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. So Israel, they go to war on behalf of the Gibeonites, and if there's any question over whether they did the right thing in keeping that covenant, I think that that is answered in the promises of God and the manner of the victory. God speaks to Joshua, verse 8, and then they're not being ticked off for their failures, but actually instead God repeats old promises to them, old promises that still stands. Do not fear, do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you, says the Lord. And then there is this victory. It is a total and a comprehensive victory. The result is completely indisputable. It ends, as in the bit that we skipped, with these five kings having their heads cut off. And it goes on to the end of chapter ten with Joshua and all of Israel rampaging across southern Canaan and capturing every land and every king. God blesses them with great success. But don't miss who it is that is doing the work. Verse 11, that first battle is won because God threw down large stones from heaven on his enemies. We're told more people were killed by the hailstones than by the sword. Verse 13, in response to Joshua's prayer, and you see now he is asking God for his help, the sun and the moon stand still. So they retain the perfect conditions to finish this battle. The day is extended. Verse 14 does tell us not to expect something like that to happen every day. But there, God is miraculously fighting for his people. And then verse 42, as we read, The Lord God of Israel, uh the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. God kept his promises. And friends, God keeping his promises makes it much easier for us to do so. Even though it may be inconvenient, even though it may hurt. Because we know how the story ends. We know that he will never let us go. We know that he will never leave us. We know that his work of redemption cannot be undone. We know that he will bring us home to glory one day. And this is what our God is like. And trusting that, friends, if we trust that, I pray that we would be becoming more and more like him, keeping our own promises even in the mess. And I'm going to pray for us. Father God, thank you for your great faithfulness. Thank you that you are a promise-keeping God who never goes against his word, who never lets his people down, who always does what you know is best for us and what we need. Thank you for how we see you preserved your people, Israel. I ask that you'd help us to trust that you'll keep your promises in Jesus to us today. Father, knowing that we belong to a God who keeps his promises, I pray that you would help us to reflect your faithfulness, your trustworthiness, your dependability to the world. Help us to keep our promises, though it may cost, though it may hurt. Please help us to do that, placing ourselves happily and contentedly in your hands, even in the grey of life. Amen.