Transcription
We're in the Book of Joshua, so if you have a Bible, you want to open up to Joshua chapter 6. We are learning how to experience the fullness of the Christian Life, and the Old Testament picture, typology, of the Book of Joshua. You see, you and I serve the greater Joshua. We know him as Jesus, because that's the Greek, uh, spelling of the name Joshua. And so, uh, it's, it's no wonder that so many people were named Joshua, because this great leader here in the Old Testament, that took over from Moses, his job description was to take the children of Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land.
And the picture of the whole typology, an Old Testament typology or types, is that the children of Israel came out of Egypt. It's a picture of the sin of the world, and they were under a tyrant, and really under tyranny, and that was Pharaoh. But it's a picture of Satan holding people in the bondage of their sins. And they came out into the wilderness, but they were only supposed to be there for a short time, though. They came through the Red Sea, that was a picture of the baptism, if you will, and their new faith. According to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, it says that they were all baptized into Moses, like we're baptized into Christ Jesus. And they, because of their unbelief, they wandered around in the wilderness. And now Joshua's brought them across the Jordan River. We saw, um, in chapter 5, and what an incredible backdrop. It's a picture of coming through through the, it's a picture of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and now coming in the fullness of the Spirit of God into the promised land.
Old, in old times, people would write hymns about crossing over Jordan, and their imagery was, it was a picture of death. But that's not true to form, because you see, they have battles to fight when they go into the promised land. And I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to some R&R in heaven. I don't want any more battles to fight. I don't want any more temptations, nor more struggles. And so, it's not a picture of crossing over into heaven. It's a picture of crossing into the full Christian Life. And this is what the Lord said, "Everywhere you put your foot, I'm going to give you." But you got to step out by faith, and I'm going to give it to you. You got to step out in faith, and I'm going to give it to you. God's sovereign plan for the children of Israel, God's sovereign plan for you, is that you step into the promises of God. That's why we call it the promised land. God promised it to him. We have promises that we can experience. And the Lord says, "This is a promise for you. Now step into it by faith and begin to experience it."
Now, here after they come through the Jordan River, they've had an incredible time, really. Uh, they had a Passover celebration where they looked at the lamb and remembered the blood that was shed. Reminds us of the Lord Jesus and His blood that was shed for us. And, and now you would think, man, they're, they're on cloud nine. Like, yeah, we've crossed the Jordan. The Lord's parted the, the Jordan River like He did the Red Sea, and now we're going to come into the promised land. And BAM! What do they run into? The most challenging encounter in all of the promised land, the most fortified city, Jericho.
Are you a type of person that does easy things first and hard things last, or hard things first and easy things last? I'm the type, type of guy. I just, what's hard? That's what I want to do. Just give it to me, because I, I can mop up with the easy stuff once I'm exhausted from the hard thing. But I don't want to get worn out from all the easy things and then get to the hard thing. And the Lord brings the children of Israel to the very doorstep of Jericho. Jericho, we know, as we're going to see here, it tells us in verse one, "Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out and none came in."
Jericho, which is one of the most documented ancient cities. They have dug, archaeologists have dug there for a hundred years. They have discovered an outer wall and an inner wall. These were pretty intimidating walls, about 15 feet thick, and then the inner wall about another 15 feet in, and about 10 feet thick. They would range from 20 to 30 feet high, a double-walled city-state. And this is the thing you have to understand when it talks about, uh, the king of Jericho, or the king of these different cities, we would call them a city-state. A city-state. The remains, or the ruins, I should say, of Jericho is about 8 to 9 acres, which is really not that big. But if you stack your houses upwards, you can really fit a lot of people in about an 8 to 9 acre period of time.
As we're going to see, the children of Israel are going to walk around it. They could walk around it, obviously, out of bowshot distance, in about 30 minutes, because on the last day they're going to do it seven times. So it's a good thing. It's a pretty small, uh, adventure. And yet, this had to be a daunting task as they looked at this fortified city. They have none of the tools of, of siege warfare, battering rams, and scaling ladders. And they could make those things, but, but God has a different plan.
You see, I've entitled this message, "Dealing with Jericho." Because not only has God have a specific, unusual battle plan for the children of Israel for Jericho, but I want you to know from day one, or moment one, in this message, that all of us face Jericho in our life. Something that seems secure, formidable. It's high walls. It's something that you know, as a matter of fact, when the children of Israel 40 years earlier went into the promised land to spy it out, they said, "Hey, there's, there's big cities there. There's big, powerful walls. There's giants there. We're intimidated. We're like grasshoppers in their sight," because the Anakim live there, which are literal giants that are about 10 foot tall. And so, each of us, and you might be facing this. I, I've discovered that when people come into a glorious time of their Christian life, it's not long till they run into Jericho. That is a real challenge. A real challenge that doesn't fall in a moment, or a morning, or a day, but is a real challenge in your life.
All of us have those Jericho. As we'll talk about it in just a moment, but understand this, that for the children of Israel, like the old hymn says, "There's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey." Just do what the Lord tells you to do by faith, and watch what He does. And that's what the children of Israel do here. Now, as they were securely shut up because of the children of Israel, Rahab had told them that they were scared out of their boots, or sandals in this case, because of the children of Israel. They have had 40 years of fear, expecting the children of Israel to come. Because Joshua, as he comes across, and as God's plan is to come across the Jordan River, right in the middle of Israel.
If you look at a map today and you find modern-day Jericho, Jericho is a very nice place to live because it's 800 feet below sea level. It has these wonderful, uh, water springs. They farm about two, uh, 200 acres or so, and, uh, it's just a balmy, wonderful, uh, climate. And, um, they're going to come across your right in, in the middle of the land, and they're going to divide and conquer. That's a kind of a military term. They're going to conquer here in the middle, divide the enemy north and south. Then they're going to go down and conquer those who are in the South, and then they're going to conquer those who are in the North.
Look at the promise that they get to start this battle with, and it's a promise that you and I also get to enjoy fighting from the place of victory. In verse two, it says, "The Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and the mighty men of valor.'" The Lord says, "I've given you Jericho. It's yours, man. And all you're going to have to do is follow my instructions." And so they can start with that confidence. You see, the Lord tells us in 2 Peter that God has given you all things that pertain to life and godliness. There's nothing outside of the boundaries of what God wants to supply in your life to give you the victory over the Jericho in your life, the temptations in your life, the trials in your life, the struggles in your life. What you faced before, what maybe you're facing now, because all of us have them. Sometimes our Jericho are within, sometimes our Jericho are without.
Now, this is the plan, starting at verse three. "You shall march around the city, all you men of war. You shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout, then the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight before him."
This is the battle plan. It's a marching battle plan. Sounds more like a parade than a battle plan. Can you imagine Joshua receiving the instructions from the Lord and going to his generals and saying, "Fellas, let's have a huddle. This is the plan. How are we going to take it?" Joshua, what's it going to be? It's a march. We're going to march one day around, two days around, for seven days. Well, six days we're going to march once, and then on the seventh day we're going to march seven times. And then on the seventh time, the priests who are before the ark, and these are all part of the, the, um, crucial ingredients, if you will, to the battle plan. These priests are going to blow this ram's horn called a shofar. And when you hear a long blast on that seventh time, on the seventh day, I want you to shout. Because here in a moment, He's going to tell them, "You got to be quiet for every day for six days." So on that day, you're going to shout. What would they yell? I don't know. Just they're guys. They don't need a, a word. We don't really need articulation. We're guys. We make noises. So they just, they just yell, okay? And on that moment when they yell, the walls of Jericho are all going to fall flat.
Now, that is the most genius battle plan I've ever heard of in my life. It's an awesome battle plan. It's an easy battle plan, but it's not necessarily a humanly convincing battle plan. It's one you got to receive by faith. Because if somebody gave you that as an instruction, I find this is so similar to sharing the simplicity of God's word with people. People will ask me a question, and I'll say, "Well, the Bible says this, and it says this, and it says this." I'll give them two or three verses and I'll say, "Just go do that." "Let's, it can't be that easy." "Most certainly is that easy." "No, I can't be." "What? Why'd you ask me if you didn't want to hear an answer that you wanted to do?" "Well, it just can't be that easy." I tell people about receiving Christ, and they're like, "That's too easy. If it was that easy, why doesn't everybody do it?" I said, "Exactly. Why are you holding back?"
It's, it, God's plans, His ways. It tells us in Isaiah 55, His ways are not our ways. His a way, His ways are higher than the heavens are above us. Are His ways? They're above our finding out. When God wants to do things His way, just relax, obey His word, and go with the flow. Don't kick and scream and argue and debate and bicker back and forth and become strifeful or contentious. Just receive it and do it and watch how it works. I'll tell people, "Well, the Lord says to, I hate this guy." And I'll say, "Well, the Lord wants you to forgive him and pray God would bless him." "I can't do that. I'll pray that God will kill him, but I'm not going to pray that God will bless him." It's God's plan. You see, you can't pray for blessing on a person's life for a consistent period of time and still remain in a hateful attitude. It changes your heart. So God's plan is very practical. Forgive them by faith, then pray God's blessing on them. "Let's do it right now." "I'm not going to do that." It's really simple. How about this? Why don't you pray this week, you're willing to even talk about it? Okay, I can start there. Baby steps. And you have to take them by the hand to lead them to that spot.
Now, in this plan here, there's some cool things that take place. You'll notice the repetition of the word seven. There are seven priests, there are seven trumpets, and there's seven days in the march. There's also these, um, as this all comes together in the, uh, seven stacked up on each other, the priests, the trumpets, and the days, and then seven times on the march on the last day. Seven, as you know, in the Bible represents a completeness. A completeness in this case of God's plan for the children of Israel and the judgment of God on Jericho. God is, His plan is twofold. One is for the children of Israel and God's blessing on them, and the other is for the judgment upon the people in Jericho.
Way back in Abraham's time, the Lord told Abraham that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. Picture of a, like a full cup or a full pitcher. And over 400 years went by, and the iniquity of these people, if you want to check it out, Leviticus chapter 18 describes what they did. It was pretty perverse. They not only were into every kind of perversity and made their children, uh, be sacrificed in the fire, all these crazy things. So that the Lord says, "Okay, judgment time is coming, and the children of Israel are going to be His instrument." So He's going to destroy them here in Jericho. All the men, all the women, all the children, all the animals, everything. Judgment comes. Judgment is going to fall on those who are in Jericho, in all the land of Canaan. This is God's judgment from a perfect judge, even though He uses an instrument that is imperfect, and that is the, the children of Israel.
But as we look in the Book of Revelation, and we see the waves of judgment, there are seven seals, there are seven trumpets, and there are seven bowls. And here, as we see these seven priests, these seven trumpets, and these seven days, and then the seven-time march on that last day, it is a complete plan to bless the children of Israel and give them Jericho, and a complete plan to bring utter destruction and judgment upon the people. You see, all people are either under the blessing of God by grace through Jesus Christ, or they are under the wrath of God and the judgment of God, and they're headed towards judgment. There's nobody in between. People want to find a spiritually, you know, kind of Switzerland, a neutral place. There's no neutral place. I've had people tell me, "I know you're a preacher. I'm not, I'm not into God. I'm not against God. I just want to be left alone. I'm neutral." And I said, "No, to be undecided, you've decided against God." There's, there's no in between. If you're here tonight and you're undecided, you're, you're not really committed, then you're under the wrath of God, and judgment is coming to a theater near you. Okay? Or, or you're right with God and God's grace and blessing, He's just going to reveal His goodness to you throughout eternity.
And so we have this sevenfold picture. By the way, as we look at this, uh, understand that the ark that is declared in verse four, that the ark is the central piece to this puzzle. The ark represents the promise of God. The Ten Commandments are in there, or the covenant of God, and also represents the presence of God. As we see, it's mentioned some 10 times in these verses here in chapter 6, because right in the middle of the people that are going into battle, who's in their midst? God's in their midst. God's in their midst. Is God in the midst of your marriage, in your workplace, in your school, wherever you are, wherever you are? You see, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And so, as the temple of the Holy Spirit, when we all get together, that's the cool thing about church, is that I individually, you individually, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. But Ephesians chapter 2 tells us when we get together corporately, we all are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So all of these components come together in a greater expression of what God's Spirit wants to do in our hearts, in our lives.
Well, in verse six, it says, "Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, 'Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord.' And he said to the people, 'Proceed and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord.'" So it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets.
Now, in verse 10, "Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, 'You shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you, "Shout!" Then you shall shout.'" Why the admonition to be quiet? You see, they're, they're told a couple of things. First of all, they're told to march. They're giving the instructions about how to line up. The men of war are out in front. The men with the, the priests with the trumpets are next, seven trumpets, seven priests, and then you have the priests carrying the ark, and then you have the rear guard. This is the thing that you see is that when you want to have victory over a Jericho in your life, you want to be in the middle of God's people and God's presence. Those two things will change your life for victory.
Some of us here have been struggling with the Jericho in our life for a very long time, and you're just discovering how important it is to be among God's people, to be spiritually strengthened, to have victory in areas of your life, but also just to enjoy the presence of the Lord. And as we see the ark and the covenant, the promises of the Lord, so the people of the Lord, the presence of the Lord, the promises of the Lord, is what gives me a strength on the inside to have victory.
What are some Jericho we might face in our own life? As we're going to see a great victory here, but the admonition first to be silent. One of the hardest things to do is to get people to be quiet and listen to God. Just listen for a moment. People are uncomfortable with silence. Really uncomfortable. Silence. You leave here and you get in your car and you turn on the radio, or you put in your iPod earphones. You go to work and you got music going on. You'll walk in some people's home and they'll have a, they'll have a TV in the living room, they got one in the kitchen, they got one in the bathroom, just so they don't miss anything on Fox News going on. They, they got, we have noise. We're surrounded by noise. One of the things that we have a hard time with is silence and solitude and listening for the voice of God. See, here He tells these people, and especially in a crowd of two to three million people, all the time, it's probably hard to get some space by yourself. Lord says, "Now, there's going to be one noise going on, and that's going to be the shofar."
Now, this is very fascinating because the Levites were supposed to carry the ark, but the priests are carrying the ark. When they did military maneuvers, the silver trumpets, according to, uh, Leviticus chapter, uh, 10 or 11, were to be used, not the shofar. The shofar was for the Year of Jubilee, like liberty, your all your debts are paid. And the ark was not supposed to go to war. So everything's kind of different from what we see before. But Joshua met, uh, the Captain of the Lord's host. We see it as an Old Testament, uh, appearance of the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus gave him battle plan. As a matter of fact, they march seven times. We assume that that seventh day is on the seventh day, on the Sabbath, and they work longer and harder and break the Sabbath, if you will, to, uh, do this job. The thing is, is that the Lord Jesus gives Joshua the battle plan, and he implements it, even though it's radically, radically different.
But the Lord says, "You know, the only thing I want you to listen to is the sound of the trumpet of the shofar." That usually announces the Year of Jubilee and the festivals, as to realize that through a relationship with Me, I bring freedom. I bring liberty. I bring victory. I cancel debts. I take care of people that are burdened. And I want you to be quiet, and I want you to listen to the sound of freedom. I want you to listen to the sound and believe by faith that I'm going to do this work. And I want you to just be still and know that I am God. Now, don't raise your hand, but that's really hard for some of us, isn't it? To be still and know that I am God. People just want to be busy. And the Lord says, "You know what? You're just going to go for a little walk for six days straight." You know, there's some people in there chafing against that. "Come on, let's just get them. Let's just go. Let's, you know, we can take them." Just shut up. You shut up. Be quiet. Listen to the trumpet. You know, and it, it, it's not some, you know, kind of jazzy saxophone plan. It's a different sound, this shofar. But He tells them to be quiet.
You know what happens sometimes when, um, we're facing Jericho is we want to run around and talk to everybody. And the Lord says, "You know, why don't, why don't you just seek Me? Why don't you just wait on Me? I'll give you wisdom. I'll give you instruction. I'll help you with the Jericho of your life." Sometimes we come into the Christian life, and man, it's, it's all bells and whistles and excitement and wow, I can't believe that. And I, I meet so many people that they're in that stage of euphoria. They've just received the Lord. They can't believe the Lord loves them and died on the cross for their sins and rose from the dead, and they're so excited about life. And you're excited for them because it's the joy of the Lord's salvation. And you're so excited for them. But I know deep down inside, I almost always want to say, "Just chill out, because some tough stuff's coming." Now, I don't want to be the wet blanket, though, so I never say anything. But two weeks later, they come in, they go, "Nobody said it was going to be this hard. What are you guys in here singing Jesus songs and told me it was awesome, and I asked Jesus into my life two weeks ago, and now my world is coming apart at the seams. It's come off the rails." You're like, "Welcome to our world. We're glad you're a part of the family. Come join us."
Now, the Jericho are those real strongholds in your life personally, or maybe maybe inside of you. Some people, I should say, some, all of us have weaknesses. Superman has his Kryptonite. And you have your Kryptonite. For some people, their Kryptonite is eating too much food. It rules their life. Their God is their tummy. For some people, it's fear and anxiety. It rules their life. They, they don't have any victory over it. For some people, that, you know, it's just insecurities that drive them crazy. They just never seem to have any assurance and confidence in their walk with God. For some people, it's relationships. Man, they go from one failed relationship to the next failed relationship to the next failed relationship. For other people, it's control issues. I'm sure you don't know anybody with control issues. But those who like to control things and control people, people, and it's hard for them to have victory over that. The person with the explosive temper that at the drop of a hat, they lose their cool, and it's a stronghold in their life. And they've maybe been saved five or six years, and and they still have this thing where they just can be so explosive with their temper and their words, and they're like a bomb, man, when they go off, and and they just emotionally destroy and devastate everybody around them. There are some people, their weaknesses, sexual things, that's their temptation.
You see, you have a Jericho in your life. I don't know what it is. I got my own Jericho to deal with. What is it? It's none of your business. You deal with your stuff. I'll deal with my stuff, okay? But just to let you know, I'm just like you. I have the Jericho in my life that for some, uh, 29 years that I've dealt with strongholds in my life that I've had to seek the Lord, the Lord's presence, among the Lord's people, enjoying the Lord's promises, and believing His promises are true, that He's given me all things that pertain to life and godliness, and there's nothing that I can't focus in on by prayer and ask God for His help that He will not help me. He will.
But I want you to notice this about Jericho's in your life. How many times do they go around this Jericho? 13 times. 13 times. You ever had one of those issues in your life? You always end up back there, praying about it. You go around, you're going through life, everything's great, and boom, praying about that stupid thing again. You know, go through life, everything is great, you boom, you're back there. What is this thing in my life? It's just, it's always there. It's always in my face. It's my weakness. It's, and, and, and you look at other people and you're like, "That's not their weakness." No, they got something else going on. And some people look at your weakness, they go, "Ew, cooties. You got that weakness?" They think there is a little more sanitary, but it's just different. It's just different.
Sometimes it's not an internal Jericho, if you will, or a stronghold that we're praying through. Just to remind you before I move on from that thought, that 2 Corinthians chapter 10:3 tells us that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are mighty in God for pulling down of strongholds." So, as I pray, the weapons God gives me of prayer, and the word of God, and the love of God, and the people of God, the promises of God, these are things in my life that allow me to conquer the Jericho of my life.
But sometimes it's not so much an internal struggle. Sometimes it's an external struggle. It's a person that they struggle with. This financially, their finances are the, I mean, you know, it's kind of out here somewhere. Or they struggle, they're married to somebody, and, and this person they're married to maybe is not a believer, and they go through life, and all they want to do is love God and serve God and follow God, but their husband, or in some cases, the wife, doesn't want to. And they're like, "Lord, when, when, when will You finally give us victory in this area that somebody might believe, come to church with me, be saved, and have transformation?" You know, it's a, it's a crazy thing, isn't it, life? That the Jericho in our life are just, there's so. And that's what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10:13, "There is no temptation, uh, that has overtaken you except that which is common to man. And with the temptation, God will provide a way of escape, because God will not tempt you beyond what you are able to bear or to handle."
Did you know that you will never be tempted beyond what you're able to bear or to handle? Because God, it's like the exit. You see this, there's an exit sign. You have to have these lit exit signs all over the place. And sometimes you're heading towards this area, and it's a temptation, and you're being pulled, uh, in that direction, and the Holy Spirit's like, "Check that exit sign out. Run for your life. Get away from this thing." And you don't. You cave. Once again, at the very doorstep of Jericho, your own Jericho, you crash and burn.
Well, take heart. The children of Israel are going to go around it 13 times. You're going to go around and face it, and around and face it, and around and face it. I was listening to a guy that had a terrible, volatile temper. And he was, uh, witnessing to all these guys. He was a carpenter. He was witnessing to all these guys for several months. And on the job one day, he smashed his thumb. And he grabbed his hammer and he threw it as hard as he could out into this open field and said some words that he should not have. And then he realizes he's hanging on to his bloody thumb. He's sitting there hanging on to it, and all those guys are looking at him, and they're all kind of snickering, "Yeah, Joe Christian here. Check him out. Mr. Rage." And he realized he had just really hurt his witness. He walked out there all the way, knowing those guys are watching him, all the way out to the field, he's walking out there to get his hammer because he threw it way out there.
A couple of years later, he had been praying, "Oh God, give me victory over this temper of mine. Give me victory over the, the rage that I feel inside." And he was working on a project actually at church, and he smashed his thumb. And he said he just split it wide open. Grabbed a hold of it. I mean, anybody that's built it, you know how bad that hurts. He grabs a hold of his thumb, and he realizes he didn't lose his cool. And he began to praise the Lord. He was walking around with a bloody thumb, praising the Lord. He's praising the Lord because the Lord gave him victory in an area that he had never had victory in his entire life. That's what it means to conquer a Jericho in our life.
Well, verse 11 says, "So he had the ark of the Lord circle the city, going around at once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blowing with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them, but the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days."
So they get through six days. Verse 15, "But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only, they marched around the city seven times. And the seventh time, it happened when the priests blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people, 'Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.'" Now it's time for the victory shout! Woo! And they shout. And at that moment, they have been patient. They've waited. They've been around this Jericho now 13 times in seven days.
And it says in verse 17, "Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that, uh, we sent." Notice a little subtle difference in verse 17. What have we called these messengers? The words messenger here, and it's going to come back again. What do we called them before? They were two spies. But here, as it's written for us, it says the two messengers. Yeah, they're spies, but what are they? They're messengers. The, the Lord sends His people out two by two to share a message. And they were there to share with Rahab. She already had faith in her heart, and they just confirmed that faith. But the rest of the city was going to be doomed. Everybody was going to be destroyed, except the one person. And then she was able to influence by asking, "Hey, what about my, my mom, my dad, my brothers, any of my family?" They said, "If they come into your apartment, if, if they're here."
Remember, the walls are going to fall flat. That means that because Rahab lived on the wall, that the entire, the entire city of Jericho's walls are going to fall flat, so that all the soldiers who are in a circle can come straight in, except one little space on the wall, Rahab's house. It'll be the only spot standing up because of her faith. Faith allows us to escape the judgment of God, the wrath of God. And then when we get saved and we have faith, what do we do? We tell. We tell our moms, we tell our dads, we tell our brothers, we tell our sisters, we tell our neighbors, we tell our co-workers, we tell our aunts, we tell our uncles. And pretty soon, one person that gets saved at our church, pretty soon they're filling up a whole row. Sometimes there's a section at church we'll say, "Oh, that's the, this family section," because they just, the whole clan's here because they love the Lord. And the influence of the grace of God in their lives.
Verse 18, "And you, by all means, abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. But all the silver and gold vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord." Now, this city is the first fruits of, uh, the conquest of the land of Canaan. Therefore, in this city, unlike all the other cities, they're going to be able to take spoils of war. But the Lord says, "Hey, this first one, it's all mine. It's all mine. I want you to bring all the silver, all the gold, all those things, bring it to the house of the Lord." And if you touch any of the cursed things and you steal them, then you're going to cause trouble to Israel. And we're going to look at chapter 7 next week as we see Achan, whose name means trouble, that's appropriate, uh, he steals three things and he brings judgment. So that 36 Israelites die because he touches the accursed things. Even though they have a straight-up command, "Don't do this. Don't do this." You're going to go in there, you're going to see something really cool. You're going to see some hip shoes, you're going to see a nice robe, you're going to see some gold, you're going to see some silver, but it's the Lord's. So leave it alone. It's going to be a temptation. So He tells everybody upfront, "Just leave it alone." You know, some people love shiny things. That's their weakness. They love shiny things. And that's what happens to Achan.
So in verse 20, "So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they, uh, utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox, sheep, donkey, with the edge of the sword." Judgment had come.
Now, just a little note here, because there are people that really love to challenge, "How could a, I can't believe a God of love would do such a thing?" He is a God of love, but He also is a holy God. And when He chooses to judge sin, He does it in righteousness. And that's the way He chooses to do it. Now, Rahab and her whole household are going to be saved. They've had 400 years. The Lord said, "Until that, from the time that the Lord spoke to Abraham for the cup, or the iniquity to get to its full." They've had 400 years to repent. Then when Israel came out of Egypt and they cross the Red Sea, they heard about the report for 40 years. They've had 40 years to repent. And now Israel's camped right outside the city. And if you want to get right, you better get right with their God, because He opens up Red Seas, He parts the Jordan River, He feeds them with manna, which means, what is it? All over the ground. He gives them water out of the rock. He brings quail by the, you know, flocks to for them to eat the quail. This God of Israel is the God of the universe. And Rahab knew it. And Rahab believed. Therefore, they also had the opportunity to escape judgment. They also had the escape opportunity, escape judgment.
I don't know how many people that I've shared Jesus with in 29 years of walking with the Lord. A lot of my friends that just laughed in my face. A lot of my friends that blew me off. A lot of my friends that mocked me. A lot of my friends that said, "Hey, they're going to, they're going to party it up while I go do the, the Jesus thing." And not one of them is going to have an excuse as they stand before the judgment of God. Not one, because they had the opportunity. Your brother that you shared with, your aunt that you shared with, your co-worker that you shared with, your fellow student you shared with, they are now without excuse. Because you shared. The people of Jericho are without excuse, because the footsteps of the God of Israel have been slow, powerful, and loud for 40 years on their way from Egypt to the doorstep of Jericho. So the judgment came.
Verse 22, "But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, 'Go into the harlot's house and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.'" And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, Rahab, that's her uncle. No, it's not Rahab. Her father. Notice, brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, all that she had. That means all of her relatives. How many people do you think Rahab could pack into her little, uh, brothel apartment? I, I think she's got them packed in. They're like sardines. We got the cousins and the nieces and the nephews, and we're getting them all in here. When you want to have, I mean, that's the, I think, I think that's the perfect timing to have a family reunion. The Israelites are outside the door. Let's have a family reunion. I know we usually don't get along, but we've got to make it happen this time. You've got to be inside this house to be saved.
And I think the value of one believer, the salt and light of one person, is overwhelming. As I look back at all the people that have been saved and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through our, in our family, I'm blown away. I'm blown away at those who know the Lord Jesus Christ, who 29 years ago did not. People that have, have come to a saving knowledge, not just because of, uh, one individual, but many of us as we begin to get saved, one at a time. And Scotty and I got saved, and then my sister got saved, and then my brother got saved. All four of us siblings, all of us came to a knowledge of the Lord. And then our grandparents had been praying for us, and then our aunts and uncles begin to come to the Lord. I mean, some of the roughest people that you said, "There's no way that person's ever going to get saved." They're in the kingdom, just to prove you wrong. This house full of people.
And you notice they use the word over and over, "the harlot, the harlot, Rahab, the." How would you like that to be your handle? Oh yeah, that's Rahab. No last name. Rahab. Yeah, the harlot. You mean God saves harlots? He saves harlots. He saves strippers. He saves drug dealers. He saves engineers from the site. He can save religious people. He can save non-religious people. He can save a, God's the God gospel is powerful to save. In this Old Testament sense, we see a woman that gets saved, and not only that, God gives her the privilege then to marry into the royal line. Who would want to marry the harlot? I mean, there's no way to test for sexually transmitted diseases, none of those things, right? She marries into the tribe of Judah. Get this, and then she becomes the grandmother of, of King David, and she becomes the great, great, great, great grandmother of Jesus, the Savior of the world. You get out the family album. There's Grandma Rahab right there. There she is in her sexy looking outfit, you know. No doubt modesty had taken over. But what I'm saying is that people that, that God's are trophies of God's grace. They're trophies. Trophies of the grace of God. You're a trophy of the grace of God.
Well, in verse 24, "But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire; only the silver and the gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, he says it again, and all that he, she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day." Well, she must be really, she's there to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. The writer, there are those who challenge the authenticity of many books of the Bible. Their challenge here is that Joshua is a fictional book that was written at a later date. That's not so. It was written contemporarily. Uh, Rahab was still alive. It says that's what it means when the author authored the book, he said, "Rahab still lives among Israel to this day." She's still here. And so, um, we see that that incredible heritage of the grace of God.
Verse 26, "Now, if you destroy a Jericho by faith, and especially as we're picturing it, and I want to lay it in an application style way, that the Jericho of our life, if you get victory over an area of your Jer, in your life, that's a Jericho to you, like some stronghold or something that's just been that, that, um, thorn in your side, and God just gives you victory, wouldn't it really upset you if it began to get built back up again, and you give yourself back to it?" Look what Joshua does in verse 26. "Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, 'Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho. He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates.'" Joshua says, whoever tries to build Jericho again, when he tries to set up the gates, his firstborn is going to die. And when he finishes it, his youngest is going to die. That's the curse that He put on anybody that would try to rebuild the ruins of the victory that God brought there.
Can I share with you that when God gives us victory, there are times that we'll try to rebuild that Jericho, that area of weakness? We get tremendous victory. Let's say it's unforgiveness. We have a breakthrough. We forgive this person. Or, you know, some people, that's their big deal. They go through life hating people. They're bitter. They, they don't know how to forgive. And so, let's say, bam, they had an anointed moment. God gave them victory. They said, "I forgive you. I bless you in Jesus' name."
But then they think about a month later, you know, I think God let them off a little easy. I'm going to start, give me some brick and morning. I want to start building this Jericho of unforgiveness and hatred and animosity. And that person, the next time they see them, they're like, "Hey, we're all straight. We're all forgiven." No, I've decided to hate you again.
It would be stupid to rebuild something that God gave victory over, wouldn't it? Why would you want to rebuild it? It's interesting that whoever tries to rebuild this, you know who's going to suffer? Their kids. You know who suffers when you allow Jerichos back into your life? Your kids. They see the bitterness in your life. They see the bondage of sin in your life. At one time, you were walking with God, but now you're, you're defeated again by the Jericho in your life. And your sons and daughters are the ones that suffer.
That's what happens. In this guy's name, his name's Hiel. As a matter of fact, we have it prophesied by Joshua, fulfilled in First Kings 16:34. 1 Kings 16:34 says this: "In his days, Hiel, this is the days of Ahab, king of Israel, in his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn." That means he died. "And with his youngest son, Zeb, that's a good one for you pregnant. You want to lay that one out there for maybe a boy's name right there, Zeb. He set up its gates according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun."
How long was this prophecy from the time he gave it? About 500 years. Think about that. 500 years later, the curse came, just as he said. And it says in verse 27, "So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country." The Bible says to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift us up. The Lord lifts up Joshua. If you try to exalt yourself, you'll be humbled. If you humble yourself, God will exalt you in any area of life.
One of the most challenging things in our sinful nature is our selfishness. It wants to push ourselves forward. We want to be seen. We want to be known. We want to look at me, look at my face, take a picture of me. We, we live such a, a self-centered life. We, we go through life really just thinking about me. And we think everybody else is thinking about me too. And what you don't realize is how little people are thinking about us at all.
But when God gives a prominence and a fame to Joshua, Joshua didn't seek it. I don't think Joshua cared, cares anything about it. All he wants to do is to trust and obey in what Jesus does in his life. And I want you to know, if you humble yourself and you trust and obey what the Lord is going to do in your life, He also will lift you up. And the family will look at you and say, "Man, you know the Lord." And when they want advice, they're going to come seek you out. And when they need help, they're going to seek you out. And they're going to call you up. And God's going to give you a prominence in your family. He's going to give you a prominence at the workplace.
People come to you up at work and they'll whisper in your ear, "Hey man, my mom's sick. Could you pray for her?" I have guys on the construction site that openly, openly mocked me in the break room because I was the only Christian. Made fun of me, tried to humiliate me. But then one-on-one, they would come up and say, "Hey man, could you pray for my mom?" Or, "Could you?" And they would ask me for prayer. And I would always think to myself, "This is so ironic. They know there's a God and they want somebody to pray. They don't feel like they're right with God, so they can pray. But when they're with their buddies in the break room, they're all going to get together and make fun of you."
But they know who knows God. Your family knows that you know God, whether they'll admit it or not. Even though they might be a little awkward with you, and they might even think, you know, they're the Jesus freak in the family, and you get the designation. Did you, did it happen to you? When I got saved, all of a sudden, "Okay, thanks, thanks. Rick will pray because he's the only Christian. Let's do it. Just do your thing." It's a great time to preach. "Oh Lord, thank you for this food. For Jesus dying on the cross. Help the Cowboys win." You know, just.
But isn't it something when God lifts somebody up, when God does it? But we don't ever have to look for it. God just wants us to love and serve Him. And by faith, He's given you everything to conquer the Jericho in your life. You know, as we close tonight, maybe you're on about that eighth or ninth trip around Jericho. You got 13 to go. I had a guy stand at the door of the church. We were over on Broadway at the time. And when we were on Broadway, we used to get a lot of, uh, homeless guys with sleep, uh, under the trees behind our, our place over there. So we had a lot of, uh, uh, uh, homeless guys, drunks. And, uh, we'd have them come into the church office sometimes. And sometimes, I mean, it was, if it wasn't so sad, it would be hilarious because they would be so just snookered and the way they would talk. And, you know, you, one time I had this drunk guy, and this guy was drunk, and he was telling him, "Pastor, tell him he needs to get saved like you and me." He, he's going through this whole thing. And the guy gets on his knees and he's like, "Yes, Jesus, save me." And I'm like, in the lobby, I'm like, and we have a Christian school. I'm just like, waiting for the parents to come in. And here I've got these two drunks, one preaching at the other.
Well, one particular thing stands out to me because it really struck me deep in my heart. I was standing at the door, and this guy was drunk, but he was a clear-thinking drunk. And, uh, we began to talk, and he began to quote scripture. And, uh, I was really mesmerized because I would start a verse, he'd just finish it. And, uh, I'm not, when I quote scripture, I kind of do it, what I call, by context. Is I, in my mind, I see a passage of scripture and I can quote it, but a lot of times I don't know chapter and verse. I have to look it up. And this guy was chapter and verse. He was blowing me away. And I'm the preacher. He was quoting these Bible verses. He was drunk. And I said, "Man, what do I got to tell you? You quote scripture better than I do, and I'm sober."
And he said, "You know, I've wanted to walk with Jesus, but I've had this thing in my life, the bottle." He said, "I can't conquer it. He said, I've tried. It always gets the best of me. I've finally given up. I'm just going to be a drunk." I meet people like that. They're a drug addict, and I'm going to be that, or I'm going to be a drunk, or whatever. And he had just given up. And he told me he said, "You know, uh, you know what the national average of getting sober, I mean, going through rehab is? National average before you get clean and sober is five times you go through rehab, five times national average." And I said, "How many times you been through?" He said, "13. Been through rehab 13 times trying to get sober." And all of us know somebody like that. And they know who the Lord is. This guy quoted verses better than me, and he, he just gave up.
And sometimes when things are hard, you just want to give up. You just, you know what, forget it. Just, I've tried this. I've tried, I've tried to get sober. I've tried to get clean. This other guy knew he, he couldn't get sober and went through struggles and struggles and struggles and went through rehab. And then he finally got job fired because they caught him drinking on the job. And, and he just went home and shot himself. He couldn't conquer it. That's the wrong answer. That's the wrong decision.
There was a guy in my, we were next to Ray there at the storefront. And he came in and he said, "Hey, you know." And there's another guy just like the first that could quote scripture. He was quoting scripture and this and that. And he was in an adulterous affair with a, a married woman. And she was a very wealthy woman. And, uh, basically she was kind of, he said, her, his sugar mama. She just paid money. She, she paid his bills basically so that she, he would be her sexual partner apart from her husband. And I began to quote verses. Or I started to quote verses about sexual immorality. "And those who live in sexual immorality are not going to enter the kingdom of heaven." And he finished the verses. And he said, "I really want to get clean." I said, "Get out of this." I said, "I don't think you do." I said, "You want to." He said, "Yeah." I said, "Let's call her up. What's her phone number right now? I'm going to help you out. We're just going to call her. We're just going to break it off. It's all done." "What? Hang up the phone. Hang up the phone." I said, "I thought you wanted to be done with this." "No, I don't. I don't want to be done with that. I know I'm not right with God, but women have always been my thing."
I don't know how many people that I meet that some area of bondage conquers them to such a degree that because they've had to face it 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 100 times, they just give up on it. Don't give up on it.
As we pray tonight, I just want to pray. You know, once again, nobody knows what's going on in your heart and life but you. But I want to give you an opportunity. Let's just pray that the Lord will help us with the Jericho of our lives. Okay, let's pray.
Father, we just ask that Your Spirit would just help us, Lord. We just confess that we're dust, you know, our frame. And Lord, we pray that there might be someone here tonight, Lord, they are teetering right on the very brink, so frustrated, so discouraged, so exhausted from battling this thing and crying out to You. Lord, they just need victory. Lord, they need victory. It might be something as simple as fear and anxiety, or something as mean and hateful as bitterness and unforgiveness. Whatever it is, Lord, You know. Lord, I thank You that everything is open and be, it's just laid naked before You, before whom we must give an account. You see everything in our hearts and our lives. And Lord, we just want to take an opportunity right now to say, Lord, here we are in Your presence. Here we are with Your people. Here we are with Your promises. And here we are in the power of the Holy Spirit. And Lord, we need Your help. And I just pray that You would strengthen and bless and help Your servants right now. So we're just in an attitude of prayer. And by faith, if you need some help and strengthening and victory and release in some area of your life, once again, the person to your right or left, they don't even have to know what's going on. I just want you to stand up. We want to pray for you by faith, just as an act of faith, crying out, "Lord, I need, I need You. I need You, Lord. I need You. I need Your help." God bless you guys all over the room. Anybody else before we pray? Oh God, let's just raise your hands to the Lord. Those who are here, just crying out, just raise your hands to the Lord.
Pray with me. Lord Jesus, help me. I have faced this over and over and over again, and I need Your help. I need Your victory, Lord, to conquer my Jericho. I pray that You would set me free. I pray that You give me the power of the Holy Spirit tonight to accomplish what You want to accomplish in me, that is a life that pleases You. Give me supernatural strength. Give me supernatural grace. I trust You, and I just receive Your strength tonight. In Jesus' name, amen.