‘the Last Battle’

SERMON OUTLINE:

• the opponents of God’s people (ch 11 vs 1-5)

• the display of God’s sovereignty (ch 11 vs 6-7)

• the example of God’s servant (ch 11 vs 12&15)

• the faithfulness of God (ch 12 vs 1-24)

• the secret to victorious living (ch 12 vs 1-24)

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• When I saw the title for today’s talk,

• My mind instantly thought of the C.S. Lewis book, ‘The Last Battle.’

• Which was the seventh and final novel in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ series.

• My favorite quote must be this one…

“All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

• TRANSITION:

• I can’t promise that, “every chapter is better than the one before” in the book of Joshua,

• But it is The Word of God and it will speak into our lives if we let it!

• Remember it is not going through the Bible that changes us,

• It is allowing the Bible to go through us that brings change!

The book of Joshua divides into three main sections.

• The entering of the land (chapters 1-5)

• The conquering of the land (chapters 6-12)

• The distribution of the land (chapters 13-24)

• So today we are completing section two,

• The conquering of the land (chapters 6-12)

• Hence the title given, ‘The Last Battle.’

Joshua was a gifted military campaigner.

• He has completed a rigorous military campaign to divide the land in two,

• He conquered the middle and southern half,

• And then he turned his attention northern half.

• According to verse 10,

• Jabin king of Hazor is the ringleader of a coalition bent on stopping Israel.

“At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword. (Hazor had been the head of all these kingdoms.)”

Note:

• With 47 verses in these two chapters I am not going to go through them verse by verse.

• Otherwise, it will be a long sermon.

Joke:

• Some preachers just don’t know when to stop,

• There once was a preacher who was asked to give a short 10 min talk.

• After 20 min had expired the preacher just kept on talking.

• After 35 min. folks were shuffling their feet and coughing.

• Once again, the preacher just ignored it and kept right on talking.

• After 40 minutes someone stood up and waved their watch,

• When the preacher again ignored it,

• The man threw his watch at the preacher.

• Unfortunately, it missed the preacher and hit someone on the front row, bang on the head,

• The man stood up and shouted, “Hit me again I can still hear him!”

• TRANSITION:

• With 47 verses in these two chapters I am not going to go through them verse by verse.

• I intend to pull out a few key thoughts from each chapter.

• Three headings from chapter 11 and two from chapter 2.

(1). The opponents of God’s people (11:1-5).

“When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the kings of Shimron and Akshaph, 2 and to the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth, in the western foothills and in Naphoth Dor on the west; 3 to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below Hermon in the region of Mizpah. 4 They came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots—a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. 5 All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the Waters of Merom to fight against Israel.”

Quotes:

• We have a saying, “There is a motive in this madness.”

• Or as Sanford I. Weill put it, “Details create the big picture.”

• That is what we have in these verses,

• Lots and lots of detail to bring home to us two key thoughts.

• FIRST: The enemy’s numerical strength (vs 4a)

• “They came out with all their troops, a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.”

• Joshua and his army are vastly outnumbered.

• SECOND: The enemy’s weaponry (vs 4b).

• “They came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots.”

• Joshua and his army cannot match the weaponry of their opponents.