Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Leave No Survivors | Historical Books | Joshua 10:29-43

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10 minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. There's an ancient interpretation of Joshua's conquest that most modern Bible scholars might look askance at. It's the idea that the conquest should be interpreted allegorically. In the same way that the Israelites conquer territory in Canaan, us Christians are called to conquer sin in our own lives. Now, I want to be clear. I doubt. that the original author of Joshua had such an allegory in mind when he wrote it. But I can't help but be struck by all the ways. It totally rings true in our battle against sin. Just consider a few areas of overlap. The land of Canaan in the story of Joshua, well, that land is gods, but it's

Starting point is 00:00:52 occupied by all of these idolatrous squatters. In the exact same way, when we put our faith in Jesus, we are purchased by his blood. We are his, the entirety of our lives, our Our beings, our bodies transfer from the realm and the rule of the devil into the realm and the rule of Jesus. And yet, we all know that Jesus isn't ruling over the realm of our life perfectly. We know that it's not free of foreign invaders. The truth is that your heart and my heart are occupied by all sorts of alien desires. We are occupied by materialism and greed, by selfishness and pride, by anger and impatience, by lust and sexual. immorality. And so God commands us to rid our hearts of these foreign invaders as we prepare for the

Starting point is 00:01:41 promised land of the resurrection. And just like the Israelites, that preparation for a future promised land, well, it's not done in one moment. It's a long, slow, painful, arduous process of sanctification. And the similarities between Joshua's conquest and our own lives, they don't end there. One of the points God wants to make to the Israelites early on is that it's not because of their own righteousness that they've received the gift of this promised land. The Israelites didn't somehow earn God's favor by being better than other nations. Just before they entered the land, Moses said this to them in Deuteronomy 9.5. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you're going to take possession of their land. But on account of the wickedness of these

Starting point is 00:02:30 nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So he's trying to be clear. They're receiving the gift of the promised land for two reasons. First, because of the evil inhabiting that promised land. And God wants to expunge that evil. But secondly, because God made promises to their ancestors. And God is faithful to his promises. In the same way, it's tempting for Christians to think that they somehow earned or deserved their salvation, like you or I were better than other people, and that's why God chose us. That's why God rescued us. But the truth is that none of us deserve salvation. In fact, God rescues us precisely because there is so much evil in our own hearts, and he wants to do something

Starting point is 00:03:16 about the evil in the world. But he also rescues us, again, not because of what we've done or our own integrity, but because he made a promise, a promise to all of creation all the way back in Genesis 3. And that promise was to not only deal with the problem of sin, but also to forgive and to renew his creation. You don't deserve the gift to salvation any more than the Israelites deserved the gift of the land. And that's why we receive that gift with Thanksgiving, because we know that we did not deserve it. Here's another comparison between the conquest in our lives. Early on, and the stories of the conquest, God makes it clear to the Israelites that they don't fight by their own power. Instead, they're supposed to fight by God's strength. In fact, they defeat one city just by

Starting point is 00:04:03 marching around it. They don't even fight it. And they lose one battle because a guy named Aiken disobeyed God and God abandoned them. The point is clear. Apart from God's help, you're helpless. With his help, you can topple walls. The same is true in our own battle against sin. We don't battle sin by means of our own strength, our own willpower. Instead, we prayerfully draw on the power of the Holy Spirit. Without his help, we are helpless. With his help, nothing is impossible. Paul wrote this in his letter to a church in Rome. This is Romans 813. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Now I think it's It's really easy to miss his point.

Starting point is 00:04:54 Yes, he's obviously calling us to resist the flesh, the sinful enemies that are holding out in our heart. But he doesn't stop there. He tells us how to fight. And he doesn't say, if by your own will you put to death the misdeeds of the body. Instead, he says, if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body. This is the critical error I find myself making all the time. And I bet I'm not alone. I feel so much guilt and shame about my sin that I come before God and I say, I'm sorry, please forgive me.

Starting point is 00:05:27 I won't mess up again. I'm going to do this better next time. I promise. And then I fail again and find myself casting myself into a well of despair. Do you see my error? It's right to come before God and confess. It's right to receive forgiveness. That's not the problem. The error is trying to do it on my own. the error is saying i'll do better next time i won't mess up the error is not saying would you in your spirit give me the strength i need to resist on your own you are helpless but by the spirit's power you are supernaturally invested with strength what if god allows us to battle sin in our lives precisely because he's trying to train us to rely on him what if the purpose of battling sin in our life is to train us, to rely on him for more than battling sin. What if he's training us to say,

Starting point is 00:06:24 yeah, you've got to trust in me to battle your sin, but you have to trust in me for all things. So we're going to start here. There's one last area of similarity I want to explore between the conquest and our own battle with sin. And it comes from today's passage, Joshua 10, 29 to 43. In this passage, the author describes the remainder of Joshua's conquests in the South. And a theme runs throughout this passage that could make anyone's blood run cold. Again and again, it says Joshua left no living thing. Again and again, it repeats. He left no one and nothing alive. At the end, the author summarizes in verse 40, so Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills, and the mountain slopes, together with all their

Starting point is 00:07:15 kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel had commanded. What can this tell us about our battle with sin? Well, the answer is no less chilling. Leave no survivors. The reason why Joshua left no survivors in the land is because God knew that if the Canaanites remained, they might lead the people into idolatry. Indeed, the Israelites don't finish the job, and that's exactly what ends up happening. They end up. They up falling into idolatry because they don't go all the way. But the point runs far deeper in our personal lives. When it comes to battling sin, not people, we're all tempted to leave behind remnants. A back door to keep open. We fight our lust up to a certain point, but then we stop short of killing

Starting point is 00:08:03 it. You fight your gossip up to a certain point, but you keep gossiping in a small circle. You fight your impatience up to a certain point, but then you allow yourself to be impatient in one small area of life. You fight your materialism up to a certain point, but still indulge it in one key way. You get the idea. The problem is that sin is like yeast. If you put a little bit of yeast into a lump of dough,

Starting point is 00:08:29 it will infect it, the entire lump. Give it enough time and there will be no dough left, just yeast. So it is in our battle with sin. We must seek to follow Joshua's example. Leave no survivors. Leave no back doors. Don't settle for half measures because going 90% of the way is no more effective in the long term than just going 30% of the way. Jesus loves you. He wants you to experience freedom from sin in your life by his spirit's power.

Starting point is 00:09:02 But we must not resist the spirit when he seeks to go all the way. Leave no survivors. Kill sin, leaf to root.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Leave No Survivors | Historical Books | Joshua 10:29-43

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