Well, good morning to everyone. Good to see you all this morning on this beautiful sunny day. 

We're continuing our study this morning in the book of Joshua, chapter 10. It's Mark who read for us, and this is an exciting chapter with great miracles, tremendous victories, and battles won by the Lord. In the course of this chapter, we see Israel go a long way toward the promise of the Lord giving to them the land. 

The context here is important because in chapter 9, you'll remember from last week, Israel, under Joshua, made a major blunder. The essence of this is found in verse 14 of chapter 9, where it says, "Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but they did not ask counsel of the Lord." This is always the problem when we fall, when we fail, when we sin—we do not seek the counsel of the Lord. We do not go to His Word and seek His will, power, and provision to live it out.

It's amazing to look at the children of Israel in their history, even in their most recent history in the book of Joshua as we've been studying. God has brought them across the Jordan with a tremendous miracle, drying up the rivers of the Jordan. He was delivering them to the land by promise, fulfilling the great promise that He made to their fathers. Then we have the events at Gilgal—the consecration, the clear message that the battle is the Lord's—that they needed to trust Him and look to Him. This is immediately confirmed at Jericho. What an amazing event as the walls came tumbling down!

Then we have the example of disobedience and sin: the failure to trust in the coveting of Achan. What a powerful lesson this was to see what happens when you fail to seek the counsel of the Lord. Israel cast this sin out from them; they put it away from them in repentance, turning back to the Lord. Immediately, the Lord fights with them at Ai, and again they have great victory. 

God is teaching Israel in the most graphic ways that He is in control, that the battle is the Lord's, and that they need to seek His counsel, to look to Him, to trust Him, and obey Him. And yet what do we see in this event with Gibeon? Yes, there was deception and trickery, but it says clearly that they did not seek the counsel of the Lord. Why? It's hard to understand given all that they had been through and what is going on now with them in the promised land. They've been clearly instructed to destroy all the inhabitants of the land, and they are taken captive here by the trickery of men, convinced that they are from a far land. Again, they did not seek the counsel of the Lord.

As I study this, I keep saying, "What were they thinking?" It's like we see in the Gospels with the Apostles spending all that time with Jesus—seeing all those miracles, experiencing so many astounding things—and yet they seem to never really get it until Pentecost. I ask myself, why don't they trust the Lord? And then I have to ask myself, why don't I trust the Lord? 

Why do I go through life so often doing my own thing, thinking my own thoughts, making decisions, pursuing goals without seeking the counsel of the Lord? It's like James says, you say, "I'll go here. I'll do this. I'll make money and do business." What you should say is, "If the Lord wills." Seek His counsel, stay in His Word, stay close to Him, and pray and seek His will, and He will direct your paths. 

Israel did not do this in the case of Gibeon. It was a mistake, a sin to fail to seek the Lord in His counsel, and it got them into a bit of a pickle. But I want you to see in our text this morning, immediately following this unfortunate circumstance, that with God there is grace upon grace, and His purposes will not be thwarted. 

We may stumble and bumble, and there are consequences for our choices. Sometimes we choose to take the hard road, but our unfaithfulness does not negate the faithfulness of God to His children and His purposes in their lives. There is grace upon grace for those who love Him, who are the called according to His purpose. 

Let's read the first several verses here in Joshua 10. 

"Now it came to pass, when Adonai Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it, as he had done to Jericho and its king; so he had done to Ai and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, that they feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. 

Therefore, Adonai Zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying, 'Come up to me and help me, that we may attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.' Therefore, the five kings of the Amorites—the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon—gathered together and went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it.

And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, 'Do not forsake your servants. Come up to us quickly, save us, and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us.' So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said to Joshua, 'Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand. Not a man of them shall stand before you.' 

Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. So the Lord routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth Horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makeda. And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword. 

Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, 'Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and moon, in the valley of Aijalon.' So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that before it or after it that the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal."

I'll have four points for you on your outline: first, a failure to trust; second, God's grace abounds; third, God's grace super abounds; and fourth, God will accomplish His purpose.

Well, first in our context, we see a failure to trust. I just want to emphasize this again because it's such a crucial lesson for us. What is the answer to a life of consistent victory and holiness? What is the answer when we are confused, when we're faced with deception, worldly philosophy, and temptation? The answer is to believe Jesus. 

Think of John 14, where the disciples are confused, filled with sorrow, scared, and do not know what's happening. Jesus is leaving and going back to the Father. They were expecting the ruling and reigning Messiah. They don’t understand. Jesus says to them, “Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in me.” He gives them precious promises—His words to trust in, to believe, to anticipate with hope.

In John 15, He gets more specific as to how the Apostles can be fruitful and have joy in the great troubles and difficulties they would experience in their lives and ministries. "Turn over to John 15 with me, please. Let's look at that great passage." 

Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me."

"I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be My disciples."

Well, Jesus tells them that is the will, the purpose of the Father, and the life of the new covenant believer - for them to bear spiritual fruit that remains and that brings glory to the Father: holiness, a life consistent with our calling, fruit in people, converts—people who believe through the power of the gospel preached. This is why we are here. This is the kind of fruit that remains. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, this only happens through an abiding relationship with Christ, looking to Jesus, knowing His Word, reckoning it to be so, and yielding to His life and power in and through us by faith—one day, one moment at a time, looking unto Jesus and believing Him. 

This is the commandment of the new covenant according to 1 John 3: believe Jesus and love one another. This is the way to fruitfulness, to God's will and purpose being accomplished in our lives—to conform us to the likeness of Christ and to produce fruit through us for His glory. 

Seek His will, seek His Word, seek His counsel, and trust Him. If we trust Him, then we will obey. What we saw with Joshua and Gibeon was a failure to trust—a failure even to seek the counsel of the Lord. That is the first part. This is so important. It seems to me in the evangelical church today, the first part is so badly neglected: knowing the Word of God, the indicatives, the underlying truths, the doctrine. 

How can we ever apply the truth of the Word of God in our lives? How can we obey the imperatives if we don't even know the truth—the indicatives? That's why Paul says in Romans 6, we must first know the word, then we must reckon it, count it to be true, and then apply it in our lives by faith as Jesus works out His life and will through us by faith. 

We see this so clearly in passages like Ephesians 3:14. 

Let's look at that passage again: Ephesians 3:14 to 21. 

Romans 6 is sort of the why we can live a new life in Christ—the truth of our death to sin, death to the law, freedom from the bondage to the fear of death, being a new creation united to Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection. 

I think of Ephesians 3:14 to 21 as the how God intends to work that life out through us. 

Paul says, "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

What we see here is a series of purpose clauses linked together. We've discussed this before, but God's intention is to impart strength to our inner man through His Spirit. He says according to His riches—not out of His riches, but according to His riches. He wants to lavish His grace upon us, imparting strength to our inner man, and that's linked to Jesus settling down and being at home in our lives. 

In that way, we can vote fully functional out through us to produce fruit. When these things are linked together, we see that it's God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or think. So seeking the counsel, studying the Word, renewing our minds verse by verse, book by book—this is seeking the counsel of the Lord and having the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, filling our hearts and minds with His thoughts. We can then choose to trust Him, believe Him, and see the vine produce fruit through the branches. 

It always starts in each moment and each event in our lives with first seeking the counsel of the Lord, and this was Israel's failure in chapter 9. But failure is never the end of the story with God and His children. 

Look at verse 8 in our text again, please in Joshua 10. 

And the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand. Not a man of them shall stand before you." 

Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. The Lord routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth Horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makeda. 

It happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword. 

This is grace, my friends. Here we have this act of disobedience, a failure to seek the counsel of the Lord, and the resulting mess and difficulty of the covenant with Gibeon and all that this meant. And God takes this thing that is not good—all things are not good, right?—and He works it for the good of those who love Him in order to accomplish His will and purpose. 

Do you ever find yourself in this kind of position in your Christian life? Perhaps there's been some circumstance; you know life is good, you're just going along, steady as can be, singing a song, praising the Lord, and you think to yourself, "I got this. Nothing could really move me." Life is good. 

And invariably, some trouble, some deception, some trial befalls us, comes upon us, crushes us. And it's always worse when it's your own fault—a bad decision, a succumbing to temptation and sin, or entering into a situation that I should have known better about. I didn't seek the counsel of the Lord, and now I'm absolutely overwhelmed with my current difficulty. It consumes me. 

How do I get out of this? What do I do? And we may begin to doubt. God must be chastening me for my insufficiencies, my failures, my lack of faithfulness and obedience. All kinds of thoughts go through my head, and I can become paralyzed, filled with anxiety, and useless to my purpose. 

For the child of God, this should always drive us back to the Lord—to confession, to sorrow under repentance, a desperate desire to be restored from all unrighteousness, to get back on track, and to receive the grace of God. 

My friends, my brothers and sisters, this is God's great desire for us in these circumstances as well. He wants us to turn to Him. He wants us to repent, to seek His counsel again, so that He might pour out on us His grace and mercy. Many times, He can take those bad things and turn them for an even greater good. 

You know, sometimes life's circumstances just pile on us out of the blue. It's not something you do, and we come into such a state of discouragement. Just simple, trivial, carnal things, but they can really pile on you. 

I had a day like that on Thursday. We had a major mechanical failure on a vehicle that we just bought; you know how that is, and it was a failed frame. The skid plate tore out of the frame, and most of the frame went with it. That's hard on the guts. 

Then I went out for morning chores. We just bought 240 day-old chicks the day before and put them in the brooder. I went out to check on them, and there were only 60 chicks in the room. The building that we've used for a brooder for years is sealed up; there's no way out. Where did 180 chicks go? 

It turned out they were all in the walls behind the pine boards, up in the insulation. We couldn't figure it out. It was a total mystery. We could hear them in the walls, cheeping—some of them five feet high up in the insulation. I had to walk away for a minute, get some help. 

So, I went over to feed the sheep, and there lay the yearling ram dead—a sudden worm bloom with the warm weather, and his brother was not far behind him. We had to get wormer in him quickly to save him. It was all hands on deck. We had to tear the entire brooder house apart, pulling all the boards off of the walls, ripping out the insulation—chicks falling out by the fives and tens as we went. What a mess! 

How is this even possible? How do day-old chicks climb five feet into a wall? I was over with Bobby, worming the ram, checking on the other sheep, and I hear a blood-curdling scream from Ashley over by the brooder. She's screaming, and so I thought maybe Silas had gotten run over or something. 

It turned out, while she was reaching in the wall, pulling out some chicks that were still alive, a weasel popped down and grabbed a chick and pulled it back up into the wall. She was a little bit startled. 

So, we ended up finding a nest of six baby weasels in the wall and, of course, a very busy mother who had herded 180 chicks into the wall, funneled them as far as 24 feet through the walls, and began to store them between the studs in the bottom of the walls in tens and twenties. Seventy-nine were dead, but we saved about a hundred and got rid of the weasels. What a morning! 

I'd planned on working on fences. It was a nice sunny day, no bugs yet. I was all set to get fence work done, enjoy the beautiful morning. Life was good. And then the circumstances of this old cursed world just fell right in on me. 

And I began to fret. I was overwhelmed. I started to doubt. What's going on, Lord? Did I not study enough? You know, am I getting chastened here? I remember a friend of mine, Jeff Lauren, was having a time like this. His son was having severe back trouble. He had equipment failure, and some things happened with his cattle. I was riding across the field with him, and he said, "You know, I think maybe God was mad at me." 

Then he looked at me and said, "But I don't think God works like that." What must a believer in Jesus Christ do at a time like this? Seek the counsel of the Lord. Look unto Jesus, pray, trust Him, believe Him, and know that your joy, your hope is secure, regardless of your circumstances. 

It's not easy, but it's always the answer. And let me tell you something, my friends, His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. 

It's in times like these—moments of struggle and being overwhelmed—that our Abba Father wants to gather us up into His arms and hold us, get us through, and pour out His grace upon us. And that’s just what we see in Israel in Joshua chapter 10—grace upon grace. 

In those first 15 verses, we see grace. Remember, God's will and purpose, according to His Word, is to give them the land. They make this blunder with Gibeon, get themselves into a mess. What does God do? He uses the situation to set up a battle in Gibeon. 

Think about this with me. It says that Gibeon was a mighty city, like one of the royal cities, and its warriors were mighty. This was no AI; this was a great city that had dominated and won many battles. The warriors were great. And isn't it interesting that they knew they could not stand before the God of Israel? 

However, think about the perspective of the five kings of the Amorites. Gibeon must have been considered to be one of their great allies against Israel—a real asset to their hopes of staving off the nation of Israel in battle. And now they hear that Gibeon has made peace with Joshua. This is a problem. They are now joined together with Israel on their side. 

There's only one thing to do: take them out, teach them a lesson, form a union, make them an example, come against Gibeon. Get all of our forces together—all the kingdoms, all the kings of the Amorites—and settle this deal once and for all. And that's what they do. 

In this circumstance, Joshua is probably a little concerned. I mean, they've kind of been going along, taking them one at a time, and maybe he thought that's how it would go. But now all five kings together—maybe he's not so sure about this deal. 

So what does he do? He prays because it says the Lord answers him. He prays, he seeks the will of the Lord, and God says, "Now it is time for my grace. It's time to pour it out upon you and show you that I am in control, and I will accomplish my will through you and my purpose to give you the land and bring glory to myself." 

And that's exactly what He does. He performs some amazing miracles, and He wins the battle. He kills them all and wipes out a major portion of all those who stood in the way of Israel possessing the land in one day—a long day. 

But first He responds to Joshua seeking Him with a promise of assurance. He says, "Do not fear, for I have delivered them into your hand. Not a man of them shall stand before you." 

So how does Joshua respond? He takes off, responds with great anticipation, marches all night long. The Lord gives the promise, and with excited anticipation, he takes off with all of the army for Gibeon. 

The wording suggests they marched hurriedly all night long; it's a little over 16 miles. This is not a very good military strategy: to run your troops all night long to get to the battle to fight the next day, which is going to turn out to be two days. But Joshua was so excited for the Lord's promise, immediate obedience, excited anticipation. It says the Lord routed them before Joshua. 

Grace, my friends! God lined up all the kings of the Amorites in one spot and worked the whole situation for the good of Israel. He even rained down giant hailstones on the enemies. You know, when you listen to sermons and read commentaries on passages like this in the Bible, they're always trying to soften the miracles, give some natural explanation. It's endless, and it's nauseating. 

God performed a great miracle here—massive hailstones. And someone will say, "Well, there have been lots of times in history when large hail caused great damage, even killed people. This is no miracle." Okay, get this: the hailstones only hit the enemies and killed them by the thousands—more than Israel killed by the sword—from these five nations. This is grace upon grace.

But it's not the end of the story. God's grace abounds. We see this in the life of Israel, in Joshua. But God's grace super abounds. He's so willing, so desirous to pour out His grace. 

Verse 12 of our text: "Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, 'Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and moon, in the valley of Aijalon.'" 

"So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher?" 

"So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that before it or after it that the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel." 

Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. 

Here's the scene: God has promised Joshua victory. They marched all night long, get to Gibeon, come upon the five kings and all their armies. The Lord routs the enemy from before them, conquering, killing, winning the battle—amazing! 

And then they run and they chase them. You can look at your map on the back of your outline if you want to give you an idea of the geography here. See Gibeon at the top with the red line? Look how far it is from Gilgal to Gibeon. They ran all night to get there—16 miles. They went up, it says. Joshua went up from Gilgal. Geographically, this is correct because the entire trek is an ascent to Gibeon. Gilgal is well below sea level; Gibeon is 2,000 feet above sea level. 

So, not only did they run all night over 16 miles, they ran uphill the whole time. Now look how far they chased them, it says, to Beth Horon. They went up. They'd already marched all night long from Gilgal to Gibeon, and you can see how far that is on the map. 

Then they chased them to Beth Horon, to the Aijalon Valley, all the way down to Maketa and Azekah. And on the way, here come the giant hailstones from heaven, only taking out the Amorites. 

My friends, this is victory. This is grace, God's power on display. They can wipe out all of these enemies—all of these occupiers—in one day. There's only one problem: the day wasn't long enough. And Joshua's looking, and he says, "Here we have this opportunity, and here's this great chance." 

But the sun's going to go down; the fighting's going to stop. They could end this battle, they could wipe out the Amorites, they could go a very long way toward driving out the inhabitants of the land and possessing it all in one day—grace upon grace. 

So Joshua prays to God and says, "Make the sun stand still, so that the day is like two days. Give us some more time, and we will finish this by Your hand." And God stops the sun. His grace super abounds! 

For His will and purpose, and for our good, He'll even stop the sun. Isn't this an amazing thing? I mean, it is an amazing thing, but man, people just attack this if you read. And I've never understood why people have a problem with something like this. If you believe Genesis 1—that God spoke everything into existence, ex nihilo, out of nothing—is it a problem for Him to stop the sun? 

Or some Christians have a problem with Genesis 1, but they don't have any problem with 1 Peter 3, where He's going to recreate; or 2 Peter 3, He's going to recreate the heavens and the earth. Well, if He can recreate the heavens and the earth, why couldn't He create them in the first place? I've got no problem with any of this. 

He's God! He can do whatever He wants, and it's grace upon grace for Joshua and Israel. He extends it a whole nother day, leaves the sun standing in the sky, and the moon in the valley. Can you believe this? I hope so, because so many try to explain it away. 

But this is our God, who will do whatever it takes to accomplish His will in our lives. Sometimes we bumble and stumble; sometimes we fail to trust Him, to seek His counsel. But when we turn back to Him in faith and seek His grace and power, He is ever ready as our loving Abba Father to pour it out lavishly on us for our good and for His purpose. 

God will accomplish His will and purpose through us. Israel is going to receive the land. They're going to drive out the inhabitants from before them. This is the promise of God, and God has many promises for us in Christ as well. 

As we close, I just want you to turn with me to Romans 8 to look at one of these great promises: Romans 8:28. 

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called. Whom He called, these He also justified. And look at this: whom He justified, these He also glorified.” 

What is God's will and purpose for you as a believer in Jesus Christ in the New Covenant time? He has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Christlikeness, holiness, trusting, believing, obeying, and witnessing. 

Notice what it says in verse 30: "Those whom He justified, He also glorified." Are you justified, my friend? Have you placed your faith in Jesus alone and His death in your place for your sins, to save you from the wrath of God to come? If you believe Jesus, if you trust in His one-time death on the cross, His burial and resurrection, you are justified by faith, saved from the wrath of God for your sins. 

And my friend, in God's mind, you are glorified. Past tense here—it's a done deal. We will be glorified together with Him when Jesus comes in the clouds to catch us up to be with Him forever. If it were not so, He would have told us. He's gone to prepare a place for us, and He will come again to receive us to Himself, that where He is, we may be also for all eternity. 

My friends, He died for us, 2 Corinthians 5 says, that those who died with Him might now live for Him. Isn't that the great desire of your heart? God put that there. He poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Now live for Him. 

Live for Him, my brother, my sister in Christ, by His grace and power and life in us. Abide in Him. Look to Him. Seek His counsel and believe Him and trust Him, and see what God will do as His grace is poured out into our lives. 

You ever wonder about that? I wonder about that. If I was just abiding, trusting, what could He do through my life? Exceedingly, abundantly more than I could ever ask or think. Grace upon grace. That's what we see in our text in Joshua chapter 10. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, Your truth. We're so thankful for Your promises, the example we see here in Israel and the book of Joshua, the taking of the land, the promise You made, and that You carry out through Your people. Even when they fall and fail, You pick them back up in Your grace.