Josh 10:42, And Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. 
    	In this morning’s reading we have the account of how the Children of Israel were led by the Lord into victory after victory over an array of fortified cities and armies. The fact was that the Lord was going before the nation with His divine intervention on their behalf as seen in shower of the immense hail stones from heaven and the very stopping of the movement of the sun and the moon for an entire day. None of these victories would have been possible except that the Lord God was fighting for this nation of Israel. He was given the credit and the praise and the honor for the manner in which the Lord God Almighty was going before His people into each battle with the assured outcome of His triumph.
	What we need to have instilled into our hearts and minds is that the same is true of how the Lord goes before His people, you and me, this very day. This was not something that was a one time happenstance reserved for only the conquering and habitation of the Promised Land. 
The promise and fulfillment of His Victory is true in our lives this very day. As we honor and obey the Lord, He will go before us into every one of our daily battles. He will have His divine Hand upon us, keeping us, directing us, and guarding us against all the enemies and adversaries of this age. 
	We do not want to lose sight of the truth that the victory for Joshua and the nation of Israel was because the Lord fought for them just as He fights our every battle. Our eyes and our hearts and our minds need to be completely surrendered unto His Lordship and His Honor and His Triumphant Victory. He has absolutely and utterly vanquished forever all those forces which so futility tried to keep Him buried in that tomb after His crucifixion on the cross. Up from that grave He arose, as the hymn so victoriously proclaims, with a mighty triumph over His foes. He rose the Victor of that dark domain and He rules forever with His saints, you and me, to reign. That victory is ours today as it was foretold through His Victory in His conquest, through those Israelites, over the inhabitants of His Promised Land.
	 We serve the same glorious Lord Who was so manifest in His protection of the Children of Israel even when they were trapped between the Red Sea and the chariots of Egypt. The same truth, as proclaimed by Moses, in Ex 14:14, needs to be cemented into place in our hearts and our minds. Ex 14:14, The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." 
If they, if we would be silent before God, if they, if we would place absolute trust in Him and count on Him, and quit all moaning and groaning and complaining and all those frustrated cries of poor pitiful me, then the Lord would show forth His mighty hand of deliverance for them, and for us. It is what He will always do, if we are quiet before Him, at rest, lost in the calm, the peaceful assurance that God does have all things well in hand. 
    	Then in verse 25 of the 14th Chapter of Exodus, we have recorded that even the army of Egypt knew that they were in trouble. They realized that the Lord God was fighting for the escaped slaves. It was the same Lord God Almighty Who had so devastated Egypt with the 10 plagues, culminating in the death of all their firstborn. Therefore they sought to flee before Him and escape His outstretched arm against them.
	Ex 14:25, And He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians."
    	Then, in Deut 20:3+4, we have the recorded encouragement to the second generation of the Children of Israel as they were about to enter into the Land of God’s Promise. This was the continued proclamation that the people were to take to heart in the Lord over and over again as they were facing forces greater and mightier than themselves. 
Deut 20:3+4, And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.' 
    	This is another detail of our walk with the Lord that needs to be completely established and embedded into our understanding of the ways of God. So often we are faced with those seemingly impossible odds and those elements of this age that harass us with seemingly overwhelming tenacity and viciousness and constant onslaught. 
This day, we are facing pandemic confusion, financial disaster, and social upheaval unparalleled in most of our lifetimes. Yet, the fact of the matter is that we are not to be fainthearted nor afraid nor panicked into flight from our inability to deal with it at all. 
We need to know that the Lord is going with us and that He is the One Who is fighting the battles. Even when we are utterly fatigued and seemingly just holding on by the merest breadth of a spider web, we still stand firm in the truth that God is there with us through it all! We are to brace our spirits with the fact that God can never be defeated! No matter how strong the attacks may seem, they will never overcome the Lord God Almighty! That was assured in the glorious victory of Christ. Therefore, we stand firmly rooted, and we stand strong and courageous, and we stand fully shielded in all the armor of the Lord, knowing that …the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
	Joshua was so assured of this that he felt very secure in asking the Lord to perform His miraculous work to bring the battle to a successful conclusion for the nation of Israel. He was so positive of the Lord being with him that he even asked Jehovah to stop the passage of the sun and the moon in order that the victory would be finalized. We have the result of that entreaty unto the Lord recorded for us in our morning’s reading, Josh 10:13+14.
	Josh 10:13+14, So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel. 
       	Later in the 23rd Chapter of Joshua, Joshua reminded the nation of all that had happened because the Lord was fighting for His people. Joshua was coming to the end of his days. He wanted all Israel to have the same faith and hope and trust and knowledge of the Lord being the One Who was fighting the battles for the conquest of the land. This is what God had promised and was now giving to His Chosen People as He went before them in the every battle.
	In Josh 23, verse 3, we have the call to the people to remember what they have seen by the action of the Lord. They were to remember that the Lord had pounded their enemies with the crushing hail stones from heaven. They were to recount to themselves the fact that the Lord had stopped time from progressing in order to give them the victory over the enemy. 
Josh 23:3, And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the Lord your God is He who has been fighting for you. 
 	As well, in verse 10 of Chapter 23, Joshua made it very clear that because the Lord was going before His people, they were able to rout their enemies with ease. Josh 23:10, One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you. 
Pay special attention to the reason for this assured victory. It was only because the Lord was going before them into the every battle. As long as they held true to the Lord and did not forsake Him or think that they were the ones who were doing this great work, He would fight their battles. They were to hold true to the Lord and count on Him and trust Him and cling to Him and know that He was the One Who was giving them the victory over all the forces they were encountering.
	Please turn now to what the Psalmist has to say to us, as in Ps 44:1-8. Listen to what we are told in terms of how the people had to be constantly reminded that God had saved them and fought for them and given them the victory. This is something that we must ever do in our hearts. 
We will often go through a terrible situation and see the Hand of the Lord mighty to save us. Then, in only a seemingly short period of time, we will find ourselves again in desperate need. We forget Who is Our Savior and Lord. We find ourselves struggling with those things that are so far beyond our means and our efforts, and we need to remind ourselves of Who is Our established Victory!     
Ps 44:1-8, O God, we have heard with our ears, Our fathers have told us, The work that Thou didst in their days, In the days of old. Thou with Thine own hand didst drive out the nations; Then Thou didst plant them; Thou didst afflict the peoples, Then Thou didst spread them abroad. For by their own sword they did not possess the land; And their own arm did not save them; But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy presence, For Thou didst favor them. Thou art my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. Through Thee we will push back our adversaries; Through Thy name we will trample down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me. But Thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And Thou hast put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Thy name forever. Selah. 
    	We need to have established beyond any doubt or hesitation the truth that the Lord God is Our Warrior Savior. He covers us for all of eternity in His robe of righteousness and justice and safety and peace. We can count on Him no matter what turmoil is taking place in our lives. He is with us as we are told by the Psalmist in Psalms 46.
	Ps 46:1, God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. And then in Ps 46:7, The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. 
Selah. Consider this! Dwell upon it! Ponder the reality of Who God is and all that He has done! Mull it over and over and over in our hearts and mind! Selah!
God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble…The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.
	Then, in Ps 80, verse 3, we are told that no matter what is going on in our lives, no matter what hardships we face, no matter what the trial and the circumstance and the tribulation, the Lord is with us and He will save us. Ps 80, verse 3, O God, restore us, And cause Thy face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. 
    	The Psalmist then states one of the greatest assurances that we can ever know in Ps 118:6-9. It is an anthem that should ring true in our minds and our hearts every time that we begin to find ourselves frustrating and anxious and being crushed by the weight and the fears of this world.
	Ps 118:6-9, The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; Therefore I shall look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in princes. 
    	Our trust needs to be in Him and not in anything of this world. Even our government, upon which so many people put their trust, will fail us. It is an institution of man, and that will never be able to save us. Only in the Lord do we have our eternal salvation. 
As well, only in the Lord do we have the One Who meets our every need. In Him, we can fully place our every trust and hope and cry for help. He will hear and He will respond and He will never fail us or forsake us! Ever!
	The Prophet Isaiah picks up the course of this encouragement in Isa 8:9+10. Here he basically taunts the inhabitants of the realms of this age to make all the plans and the intrigues and the strategies that they can. Nothing devised by any created being will stand against the plans and the purposes of God! Nothing!
Isa 8:9+10, "Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered; And give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered; Gird yourselves, yet be shattered. "Devise a plan but it will be thwarted; State a proposal, but it will not stand, For God is with us." 
    	And then, if you would please turn to Isa 43:4-13, the Lord speaks to us through Isaiah with the further encouragement to count on The Lord God Almighty, no matter what is taking place around us. He tells us exactly how much we mean to Him and why He will take care of us and protect us and counsel us and fight for us to the end of the eternal ages upon ages! Nothing can stand against the Lord God Almighty!
	Isa 43:4-13, "Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. "Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. "I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made." Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, And the deaf, even though they have ears. All the nations have gathered together In order that the peoples may be assembled. Who among them can declare this And proclaim to us the former things? Let them present their witnesses that they may be justified, Or let them hear and say, "It is true." "You are My witnesses," declares the Lord, "And My servant whom I have chosen, In order that you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. "I, even I, am the Lord; And there is no savior besides Me. "It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses," declares the Lord, "And I am God. "Even from eternity I am He; And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?" 
    	We close this glorious and awesome and wondrous consideration of the Victorious Hand of God upon us, holding us, keeping us, and going before us into the every fray and battle with the reality of Rom 8:31-39. Please turn to it so we can read and be encouraged together in its maintaining support and reinforcement to always and forever trust in the Lord! The Apostle Paul proclaims the solid basis for our vibrant and confident stand in the eternally secure victory of Jesus Christ. All that we could possibly fear as arrayed against us in this world, He has overcome through His manifest triumph over death!  
	Rom 8:31-39, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!
	This is the assurance that we have right now, today, in Jesus Christ! He is our Victory! Nothing that this age conjures up can ever shake us away from what is now the glory of all eternity in Him! So be it!
And Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. Amen.

	
			
	This morning’s benediction is Ps 71:18. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Thy strength to this generation, Thy power to all who are to come. Amen.