Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

It's God's Victory

Bryan Schneider · March 12, 2022

Joshua 10:1-15

sharonrpc.org/sermons/it-s-god-s-victory

Summary

Five Amorite kings attack Gibeon because its treaty with Israel threatens their power, and Gibeon appeals to Joshua for covenant protection.
Israel honors its sworn promise and marches through the night after the Lord commands Joshua not to fear and promises that the enemy is already delivered into his hand.
Joshua and Israel truly march and fight, yet the repeated emphasis is that the Lord routs, strikes, pursues, and defeats the enemy.
The divinely sent hailstones make the source of victory unmistakable: more enemies fall through God's direct action than through Israel's swords.
The extended day reported in Joshua 10 displays the Creator's authority over the created order and supports confidence in Scripture's miraculous claims.
Joshua's prayer does not overcome a reluctant sovereign; God ordains both the victory and the prayer through which his purpose is accomplished.
Christian obedience and sanctification likewise involve real effort empowered by the Holy Spirit, so all credit, motive, and glory belong to God.
The church fights spiritual rather than carnal warfare through God's Word, prayer, worship, fasting, thanksgiving, Christ's name, and faithful testimony while awaiting final victory.

Why is Israel bound to defend Gibeon despite the deception that produced the covenant?
How does God's promise in Joshua 10:8 produce urgent action rather than passivity?
Which details in verses 9-11 show both Israel's real exertion and the Lord's decisive victory?
What do the hailstones communicate about God's supremacy over both Israel and Canaan's supposed powers?
How should a Christian approach the text's report that the sun and moon stopped?
How can God sovereignly ordain an outcome while also genuinely hearing and using human prayer?
What does this passage teach about the relation between the Spirit's power and the believer's effort in holiness?
Which God-given weapons should shape the church's present spiritual warfare?

Covenant faithfulness: Keeping a sworn promise even when it becomes costly, reflecting the faithfulness of the covenant-keeping God.
Divine sovereignty: God's supreme rule over history, battle, nature, prayer, salvation, and every creaturely action.
Human responsibility: The real obligation to trust, obey, pray, labor, and fight faithfully within God's sovereign purpose.
Providence: God's wise direction and government of creatures, actions, and events toward his appointed ends.
Miracle: An extraordinary work of God displaying his sovereign power beyond ordinary creaturely processes.
Secondary cause: A creaturely means, such as Joshua's prayer or Israel's action, through which God accomplishes what he sovereignly wills.
Sanctification: The Spirit-enabled work by which believers are made holy and actively put off sin and practice righteousness.
Church militant: Christ's church in the present age actively resisting sin, temptation, and spiritual evil while awaiting final triumph.