Let's take our Bibles again,
and I want you to turn with me to the book of Joshua, chapter
6. Joshua 6. I'd like to look at verses 12
to 27. Well, you know how we've gotten to
this point. The Lord has delivered Israel,
his people, under the leadership of a man named Joshua, have crossed
over the Jordan River. Now they're right outside of
Jericho. And Jericho is a picture, it's
a type. I've told you so many times,
this is not history. This is not history. This is the setting forth of
the glory of God on how God Almighty can be just and justify a sinner. This story that we're about to
look at has a spiritual meaning. Jericho is a type, it's a picture
of two things, two things. First, it's a type of the presence
of sin in this world. And, in that first point still,
the sure judgment of God Almighty over that sin. Jericho is a picture
of sin and the justice of God that's going to be rendered.
Secondly, it's a picture of the indescribable mercy of God in
the midst of a world of rebellion and depravity. Now, the people
of Israel, our faith, shall be given the city of Jericho. That's what the Lord said. Joshua
6, 2, the Lord said unto Joshua, see I have given into thine hand
Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor. Now here's what they're gonna
have to do. We looked at this last time, but just as a reminder,
they're gonna have to walk around this city. Now this is how they're
gonna take it. They're gonna walk around this city six days. And every day, every one of those
six days, they're gonna walk around the city one time. It's
what you do. You come out of the camp, and
the armed guard's gonna go in front, then you're gonna have
seven priests right behind the armed men, and then you're gonna
have the priests that are bearing the Ark of the Covenant, and
then you're gonna have a guard in the back. That's how you're
gonna do it. And you're gonna walk around this city for six
days, and you're gonna walk around one time for six days. And then on the seventh day,
they're gonna walk around seven times. And the priest on that
seventh time, they're gonna blow the ram's horns, and the people
are gonna shout with a great shout, and the walls of Jericho
are gonna come down. That's how they're gonna do it.
Not gonna be any battering rams, there's not gonna be any artillery,
there's not gonna be, that's all they're gonna do. They're
gonna do it exactly like God said to do it. Joshua chapter
six, picking up in verse 12. That's what the Lord told Joshua
in verse 12 said, and Joshua rose early in the morning, and
the priest took up the ark of the Lord, and seven priests,
bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord
went on continually, and blew with the trumpets, and the armed
men went before them. But the reward came after the
ark of the Lord, the priests going on and blowing with the
trumpets, and the second day they compassed the city once
and returned into the camp. So they did six days. Do you know how encouraging it
is to behold the obedience that was rendered unto the Lord by
his people. Now what did the Lord tell them
to do? Walk around the city six days
in a row in this order. That's how I want you lined up.
You line up like I tell you to line up. The armed men will go
first. Then you're gonna have seven
priests that are blowing ram's horns. Then you're gonna have
the priest bearing the ark. Then you're gonna have a guard
in the back. and that's the way I want you to do it. No debate,
no compromise. Do it this way. I mean, what
faithfulness was rendered? They walked around the city,
and they walked around the city one time a day for six days,
and they didn't see one difference in that wall. Went back to the camp, everything
was just the same way. Now let me ask you this, for
us today, have we ever found ourselves in a situation like
that? What did the Lord command us
to do in services? What would he come, go into all
the world, preach the gospel to every creature? Or what if we don't see any results? What if we don't see anything? Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. Preach the gospel. Preach the
gospel. Preach the gospel. Since 1954, 55, what have we done right here?
Preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Preach the
gospel. Preach the gospel. Six days they walked around,
Mitch. Not one stone was recorded that fell out of that wall. Not
one. And the people did exactly But listen to me, though there
appears no obvious result, they walked like the Lord said. Habakkuk 2.3, for the vision
is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak
and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will not tarry. You know what's
gonna happen, whatever God purposes. That's what's gonna happen. Six
days, verse 15, 16 said, came to pass on the seventh day. They
rose early about the dawning of the day and encompassed the
city about the same manner, seven times. Only on that day, they
encompassed the city seven times. It came to pass at the seventh
time, when the priest blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto
the people, shout. for the Lord hath given you the
city. Now, this is the day, this is
the day that the Lord's promised. He's promised victory. And this
wall, according to the word of the Lord, is coming down. And
every step on those seven times that they went around was bringing
them closer and closer to the moment of truth. And when that
seventh time was completed, The priests blew the trumpets, Joshua
said to the people, shout, for the Lord has given you the city,
and they shouted. They shouted by faith. Why you
shout? God said shout. By faith, they cried, they were
crying to heaven. They believed that the walls
were gonna come down. Now let me ask you this, again,
for us, right now. Do we really believe? I'm not
talking about, you know, I've heard this from child. Do we
really believe that we're walking in this world right now? So many times I've thought to
myself, do you know I do basically the same thing every day? I mean,
it's a little different. Okay, Sundays are different.
You know, I got to get dressed up and we come here and we have
a service. But as a general rule, do you
know what my days are mostly like? Monday through Saturday,
Brian, this is what I do. I get up that same time and I
go through my morning preparation. I get ready. I come here and
I sit in that chair right over there in front of that desk right
over there. And I do the same thing every
day, every day, every day. I do basically the same thing
you do too. That's what you do. You do basically the same thing.
If you're still working, you do that. If you're not, you do
something else. You got things you do and stuff
like that. Do we really believe that there's coming a day, these
people right here were told on the seventh day, on the seventh
compassing, that Almighty God was gonna have them shout and
the walls were gonna fall. Do we really believe, truly,
that we're walking in this world that the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel and
the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Do we really believe that? Yes,
we do. Yes, we do. I said, well, you
know, a believer believes it because
the Lord said it. These people believe it. But
now remember these two points that we looked at. Jericho is
a picture of this world and all of the rebellion that's bound
up in this world We're all born into it. We're all born into
it. Like I said the first message Romans 3 23 all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God That city right there God's going
to destroy that city That's a picture of rebellion. That's a picture
of this world. That's a picture of man's nature. It's a picture of all that opposes. But found within that city, we're
going to find one, her family, that God was pleased to show
mercy to. And she was no different than any of them. She was like
Noah. God looked, Genesis 6, 5, He
looked and saw that the wickedness of man, that was all that was
in man's heart, iniquity in everybody. How about Noah? Everybody, every
thought of the imagination of his heart was only evil continually,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What was there different
about Noah than anybody else? Nothing. God was pleased to show
mercy to that one. What was the difference in Rahab? She was a harlot. A harlot. Just like me. A spiritual harlot. A rebel, unfaithful. These people shouted. And the
scripture says in 17 to 19, back in Joshua 6, And the city shall be accursed.
Now listen, this is what God said. Now I want you to realize
something. We're getting ready to read something
that's gonna shake the very foundations of what we think is right, wrong,
different. I'm telling you, this is what God said. And so here
I am. I go back to Hebrews 13. Obey them that have the rule.
Obey what a faithful pastor tells you from the word of God. Again,
you've heard me say this. If I can't back up what I'm saying
right here, And I have no reason, don't believe me. If you don't
see it, if I can't show you in the word of God, you don't have
any merit to believe me. But I can show you this in the
word of God. Woe unto those that don't believe
it. Now listen to what God said. 17 to 19, the city shall be accursed. Now I want you, if you have a
marginal reading, that word accursed, this is the interpretation of
it. Devoted, devoted. Devoted to what? Devoted to destruction. You can look it up in a concordance,
that's what it means. Devoted to destruction. The Lord said,
verse 17, and the city shall be accursed, even it and all
that are therein to the Lord. They are devoted, this city,
God said, and here yet, now this is a picture of this world's
rebellion. This is a picture, remember what I'm saying? This
Jericho was a picture of all that's in opposition to God.
And God is just. He's just. I know they, you know,
this world, they like to paint him as just an old man sitting
up there that can't do anything unless man, you know, you're
the only arm he's got. You're the only foot he's got. No, sir. David said, my God rules,
our God rules, the army of heaven. That's what Nebuchadnezzar said.
Where's your God, David? He's in the heavens, and he's
done whatever he wants to do. This city shall be accursed. It's devoted to destruction,
even it and all that are therein to the Lord. Only Rahab, the
harlot, shall live. She and all that are with her
in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
And ye, in any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest
you make yourselves a curse when you take of the accursed thing,
and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. But all the silver
and gold and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto
the Lord. They shall come into the treasury
of the Lord. Now let me tell you what he just
said. The Lord told Joshua, who told the people, Jericho is a
city that is devoted to destruction. It's accursed. Beloved, the God that rules and reigns
is a God who is sovereign. Hold your place right here and
turn with me to Romans 9. He is sovereign. What does that
mean? He's the boss. That's what it means. It means
he is God. That's what it means. It grieves
me when I think of how disrespectful those that stand in pulpits and
make God out to be something that he's not. God wants to say, if you'll let
him, Let me tell you from the scriptures
who God is. Romans 9, 21 to 24. Hath the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor
and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted or made up to destruction, that
He might make known the riches of His glory? upon the vessels
of mercy, which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath
called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." Let
me tell you what he just said. Does God Almighty, the potter,
does he have the right? And we're all out of the same
lump. We're all out of the same lump.
Does he have the right to make one vessel under honor and another
vessel under dishonor? Does he have the right to do
it? Well, I can refer back to the first message. All souls
are mine. They're mine. You say, well, that just don't
seem fair. Well, respectfully, it doesn't
really matter what we believe. Who art thou? Out of this same
verse, in our pastor's script, who art thou, old man, that replies
against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why have you made me thus? Then he goes
right in, does the potter have the right? The Lord told Joshua,
this city is accursed, and it's accursed to the praise of the
glory of his justice. He said, except for Rahab. her
family, and to the praise of the glory of His mercy and grace. He said, you go in and this city's
gonna be destroyed. God rules. We're bound, I just read that,
2 Thessalonians 2.13, we're bound to give thanks to God for you
Beloved, God has chosen you unto salvation. We're bound to give
thanks to God. If God is pleased to show mercy
to one, or if he leaves one to themselves, now let me be perfectly
clear here. I've heard people say God has
ordained men to hell. When the scripture, and I'm getting
ready to read that to you right now, ordained to condemnation,
here's what God does. If God leaves one to himself, if he leaves one to himself,
that's all he's gotta do is leave you alone. And I promise you,
they'll do as it was said in Job, deliver them from going
down to the pit. I found a ransom, deliver them.
Here's the sad thing about it. By nature, let me tell you what
we want to do. We want to rebel against God.
And we want to run to hell. That's just our nature. And we
have to be delivered. The scripture says in Jude 1,
4, certain men who were before of God ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Hold your place there. Turn back
to Romans 9. I should have made you stay there. Romans chapter
9. Again, listen to what God has to say. Romans 9, 17. You remember when the nation
of Israel was there in Egypt and God sent Moses to say, let
my people go. Let my people go. And Pharaoh
hardened his heart. Scripture also says, you can
go back and read it, that God hardened his heart too, meaning
this, he left him alone, leave him alone, just leave him alone.
Just leave a man alone. Look at Romans 9, 17 to 20. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose I have raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he left, mercy on whom he will, he hardeneth. What wilt thou
say then unto me? Why doth he yet find fault? Nay,
but, O man, who art thou that replies against God? Say of the
thing formed, say to him that formed it, why hast thou made
me thus? God left Pharaoh to himself to
do just exactly what he wants to do. Let me give you a perfect
example. Unless God does something for
me, unless God does something for me, give me a new heart to
want to come and to want to sit on the gospel here. Do you know
what I'm going to do, Neil? I ain't coming. I ain't got time
for this. That's my attitude. That's my
that's my natural attitude. I just don't have time for this.
I mean, I don't mind going on Easter and Christmas. You know,
I don't mind going, you know, I don't want to be, you know,
heathen. But I don't have time for this religious stuff. Now
I'm telling you that that's my natural inclination. If you're
honest, you'll say it is yours too. That's what you want to
do. That's what we all want to do. What's God have to do for
me to go to hell? Just leave me alone. Just leave
me alone. Greg, that's all he got to do,
just leave me alone. I'll go to hell, don't worry. If he leaves
me to myself, this city, this city, Jericho, It was a city
that was doing just exactly what he wanted to do. Whenever those
two spies came in there and they heard about Rahab, they went
after him. They went after him. Why? They
don't want somebody coming in there. Almighty God is going
to have to save me against my natural will. I can tell you
that right now. The city, except for Rahab, was to be destroyed
And also the people were not to take anything, the silver,
the gold, the brass, the iron. Why? Because it was consecrated. It was holiness, that's what
it means. It was consecrated unto the Lord. God Almighty owns
the cattle on a thousand hills. Well, I tell you what, He owns
everything. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. You think He needed that gold
and silver and iron? You think He needed that for
Himself? You think He needed that to make Himself more glorious? No. He knew the people didn't
need it. They didn't need it. He's going
to destroy that city and everything about it is accursed. None of
it's going to remain. Verse 20, 21, so the people shouted
when the priest blew with the trumpets and it came to pass
when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people
shouted with a great shout that the wall fell flat. so that the
people went up into the city, every man straight before him,
and they took the city, and they utterly destroyed all that was
in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox, sheep, ass,
with the edge of the sword. Jericho was miraculously overcome
by God's power. He used means, but I'm telling
you, God brought those walls down. He told the people, this
is what you're going to do. I'm going to bring these walls
down and you're going to believe me. And this is how you're going
to do it. You're going to walk around and this is what you're
going to do. Jericho trusted in her walls. That's what Jericho, that's the
nature of man. I trust in something I can build.
I'm sure it took a long time to build those walls. I told
you there were some houses sitting on top of those walls. Rahab's
house was sitting on top of the wall. They got to be thick. They
got to be wide. I don't know how wide they were,
but they're big enough to put a house on. And it took them
a long time to build that. And they mixed that mortar by
their own hands. And they lifted those stones
and they got rigging up. I don't know what they did for
scaffolding, but they got them up there. And they built it. And
they were proud of them. Let me tell you how I think.
I've been going to church a long time. I read my Bible. You know, I made my profession
of faith. I've done this and I've done that. I built my walls
and I trusted in them. That's me by nature. They trusted
in those walls and God took them down. And let me tell you what's
going to happen in the day of judgment. He gonna take down
everything that any man, any woman ever trusted in. Well,
I was baptized, okay. I came down to the altar, okay.
I exercised my free will, okay. I'm telling you, to have any
confidence in your flesh is to perish. You're gonna perish. Those walls came tumbling down. This is what God told them to
do. This is the weapons of Israel's defense. They had some priests that were
blowing some round horns, priests that were carrying the ark, and
those were weapons of God's provision. Second Corinthians 10.4, the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds. Again, remember Jericho is a
picture of man by nature, rebellion by nature, that trust in himself. We're strong. We're strong. We've
got a big city here and you can't take it. the weapons of our warfare, Ephesians
6, 12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against wickedness in high places. Brethren, the
God of heaven and earth shall for his glory and for the good
of his people, he's going to bring down everything that opposes
him. And in the midst of wrath, I'm looking at a woman in that
city and he was pleased to show mercy. You know what I'm thinking? Make me a rehab. Lord, have mercy
on me. If you're gonna take down this
world, Lord, and I know you are, and you're gonna bring to nothing
everything that opposes you, everything that stands against
you and exalts itself against you. I've done this, I've done
that. I'm telling you, he's gonna cast
it out. The complete destruction of this
devoted city was accomplished by the word of the Lord, everything
that breathed in that city. And again, if the Lord had not
told him to destroy everything, now listen to that, I'm telling
you, man, woman, young, old, sheep, ass, ox, everything, everything
associated with my flesh and your flesh, everything that's
in there, everything, that's the picture that was being shown,
everything is gonna be destroyed. None of that, none of that's
going to enter into glory. I can tell you that right now.
Two things are going to happen. Either it's going to be in glory
or it's going to be in hell. And God said, you go in there
and you, you destroy everything. And they had no merit to do anything
else but exactly what the Lord said. Well, I don't know that,
you know, this, I don't know about, I don't know, you know.
God said, you destroy all of it. Beloved, Romans 11, 22, behold,
therefore, the goodness and the severity of God. We just read
this, Romans 9, 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he'll have mercy, on whom he will. Scripture says he hardened
him. Verse 22, 25. But Joshua said unto the two
men, here, God told him, he said, you're going to kill everything,
kill everything. Verse 22. But Joshua said unto
the two men that had spied out the country, go into the harlot's
house and bring out thence the woman and all that she hath,
as she sweared unto her. And the young men that were spies
went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother,
her brethren, and all that she had. And they brought out all
her kindred and left them without the camp of Israel. They burnt the city with fire
and all that was therein, only the silver, the gold, the vessels
of brass and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of
the Lord. And Joshua saved Rahab, the heart of the live, and her
father's household and all that she had. And she dwelt in Israel
even to this day because she had hid the messengers when Joshua
sent to spy out Jericho. I can only imagine. Israel goes in there, those men
that were marching before the ark and they
were armed. And God told them, he said, I'm
gonna knock the walls down. You go in and you kill everything. And don't you know when those
two spies, you know Rahab saw what was going on. And when those
two spies came in there and they walked in and Rahab looked at
them, I mean, and they said, you can come with us, everything's
okay. God have mercy on me. She sees what's going on. She
sees the destruction that's happening. And when she heard those spies
get her and say, you come with us. You know what she did? She
went with them. Boy, how mercy became mercy then,
Mike. That was mercy. In the midst
of destruction, here's the truth of God's faithfulness. The very
spies that she was the means used of God to preserve and show
mercy. Those were the ones that went
in and got her and saved her out of that destruction. The
scripture says in Hebrews 1131, by faith, the harlot Rahab perished
not with them that believe not when she had received the spies
with peace. She believed God. She told them
when they first came, she said, we heard and I know. Rahab, like Noah, found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Well, in closing, I'm gonna show
you something. You talk about a miracle of God's
grace. I want you to turn over to Matthew chapter one, and I'm
gonna wrap this up. Matthew chapter one. This woman, let me tell you what
her profession was. She was a harlot. She's a picture. She's a picture of every one
of us by nature. That's what we are. We're unfaithful,
unfaithful. But she was one that God was
pleased to show mercy. Now, I'll just read the first
five, six verses, first six verses of Matthew one, the book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, son of Abraham,
Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat Judas and
his brethren. And Judas begat Pharis, and Zerah,
and Thamar, or Tamar. And Pharis begat Eshram, and
Eshram begat Aram, and Aram begat Amenadab, and Amenadab begat
Nassalem, Nassalem begat Salmon, Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab, Rachab,
that's, it's Rahab. And Boaz begat Obed of Ruth,
and Obed beget Jesse, and Jesse beget David the king. David the
king beget Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah. Now
let me tell you what that just said. I'll just, I'll make it
easier. Rahab was saved out of the destruction
of Jericho by the grace of God. But God Almighty had eternally
purposed this harlot, this harlot. The one that would probably have
been the first one to admit, do you deserve salvation? No,
I'll be honest with you, I don't. God was pleased to show mercy
to that woman. And what happened was, Rahab,
after she was delivered out of Jericho, she married a man named
Salman. And I just read this, but I'll
just make it simpler. Rahab married a man named Salman,
and they had a son. Rahab and Solomon had a son.
His name was Boaz, Boaz. And Boaz, Rahab's son, married
a woman named Ruth, Ruth. And they had a son named Obed,
and Obed's son was named Jesse. And Jesse was David, King David's
daddy. That's Jesse, Jesse. David, the
youngest of Jesse's sons, he was one God chose. And David
grew up, married a woman named Bathsheba, a woman that he had
taken from another man and had her husband Uriah killed. God was pleased to show mercy.
I've told you before, you know what mercy means? We deserve
judgment. Mercy. Mercy means we're guilty. Mercy. And right on down the
line, until it finally came to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ,
this woman, Rahab, was in the bloodline of the Lord Jesus. Bathsheba, bloodline of the Lord
Jesus. I mean, salvation is by the grace
of God. by the grace of God. Romans 11,
33, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God. How unsearchable are his judgments in his ways past
finding out. Well, the last two verses, I
got to read them, verse 26, 27, and we'll close. Joshua 6, 26,
27, Joshua assured them at that time,
saying, cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and build
the city of Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof
in his firstborn and in his youngest, shall he be set up, shall he
set up the gates of it. So the Lord was with Joshua and
his fame was noise throughout all the country in the days of
Ahab. Ahab, that wicked king, there
was a man, Hiel. And this, they did raise up that
city again. And God has said anybody that
does this is cursed. But you know what the picture
is? Jericho was a picture of man's rebellion against God. Jericho is a picture of man's
rebellion against God. And God brought it down. And
he said, now you try to lay your foundation of your building or
your supposed safety and security, you try to lay it on the foundation
of Jericho and you're going to perish. That's what he's saying.
Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Not in yourself,
not in your will, trust in the Lord. I pray God have mercy upon
us and bless this word, his word, to our hearts in his glory.