All right, turn with me to Joshua,
Joshua chapter six. Joshua six, I'd like to look
at the first 11 verses. It's been 40 years since Joshua
and Caleb were first sent. into the land of Canaan as spies. Joshua was one of the 12 that
went in, but only Joshua and Caleb came back in agreement
with God's word and said, yeah, we can take it. God said we can
take it, we can take it. And now Joshua has sent a couple
of spies into the land of Canaan to spy out the city of Jericho.
And you know, remember, providentially crossed the path of Rahab the
harlot, one that God was pleased to show mercy, one of the bloodline
of the Lord Jesus Christ, a harlot. And this woman, she believed
God. And she knew by faith that the
Lord was going to give that city in which she lived, Jericho,
God was going to give it to the land of history, to the people
of history. And the scripture was moved,
the Spirit of God moved the writer to the Hebrews to even acknowledge
what Rahab did. You remember what she did? She
hid those spies. She told those guys that were
looking for the spies. She had them hidden in her house. These spies came looking for
her, didn't know where they were, and she said, last I saw them,
they were going out the gate. I mean, if you hurry, you can
catch them. And I said, she lied. God gave them just what they
wanted. Because they would not receive the love of the truth,
God sent them strong delusion. God keep me from having what my old flesh
want. Scripture says, By faith, Hebrews
1131, by faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed
not when she had received the spies with peace. Rahab sought peace and mercy. That by the grace of God. God
had to give her a heart to do that. She believed God. She believed God's messengers.
And she said, when you come into this city, she said, would you
show mercy to me and my family? I said, yeah. But you're going
to have to do something, not for safety, but this is going
to be the sign that you believe God. Stay in your house, and
you hang this scarlet ribbon in the window. That scarlet ribbon was a token
of the mercy of God that had been shown her. It's like that
blood that was applied to the doors of the people of Israel
in Egypt. Well, now Israel's on the Jericho
side of Jordan. Jordan River runs north to south.
And promised land, if you look at a map, Jordan River up and
down, north to south, they're on the west side. Jericho's on
the west side toward the ocean. And now they're on the Jericho
side of Jordan. They've crossed over on dry land,
and after Joshua had come face to face with a man, he thought
it was a man standing there with a sword drawn. Joshua asked him,
he said, are you for us or for them? And the Lord, the one that
he was talking to, he said, I'm the captain of the Lord's host.
What he was saying is, I'm God, I'm God. And he said, you take
your shoes off. You show some respect. Because
where you're standing is holy ground. God was there. I'm telling
you just that thought, Gary, right now. I know the Lord's
here. I know He's here. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of you. I'm
telling you, this is holy ground. Not because of us, because of
Him. He's here. Where His gospel is preached,
this is holy ground. This is precious ground. and
I don't want to take it lightly. Well, the scripture says in verse
1 of chapter 6, Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of
the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. Now, to understand this spiritually,
we got to consider what is actually being pictured by Jericho. Here's a city, strong city, and
God going to give it, going to give it to his people, going
to give it to Joshua, the leader. But it's a fit type. It's a fit
type of something, truly one thing, but it's kind of made
up in two different points as far as my message is concerned.
Number one, it's a picture of this world. But it's a picture of the world
that's found in the people of God. We're born like that. We're worldly people. Straightly
shut up. The margin, my margin says, concerning
that word, straightly shut up, my margin said, did shut up and
was shut up. God's people are born this way.
They're shut up to their sin. They can't get out of it. was
shut up because of their animosity. That's God's people. It was shut
up. So it's a picture of this world,
but it's a picture of God's elect. Now I'm telling you, you say,
Jericho, I can tell you, I can see a picture of God's elect
in this thing. Every vessel of God's mercy before,
before that vessel of mercy is made to behold in regenerating
grace, the one that we just talked about, the one that's everlastingly
loved him. That's a vessel of God's mercy. Straightly shut up, chosen children
of promise that are barred, angry against God, vessels of wrath,
children of wrath, even as others. Here's Jericho. Do you think
of Jericho as a picture of God's people, God's remnant before
conversion? You know what Jericho thought? We're safe. We got some big walls. Our walls are big and they're
thick and they're hard and you can't get in. That's Jericho. Buddy, I'm going to tell you
something. Jericho thought that their walls would protect them. I've got some safety. But when
Almighty God purposes to lay siege to a soul, a soul of His
choosing, a soul that He's going to call to Himself, Even when
there's no evidence of desire for peace or a truce with God,
even when there's no heart to surrender or bow in humble subjection
to the sovereignty of the Lord, I'm telling you, when it pleases
God, your walls are coming down. Your walls are gonna tumble,
and you bet that. We're all born in trespasses
and sins, walking according to the course of this world, the
prince of the power of the air. We all think just like the one
who came to Eve in the garden and lied to her. We think just
like he suggested. He suggested to her, you can
doubt God. You can doubt what God says. God's lying to you.
Well, I can tell you this, that's how we're all born. All, but
I'll tell you this too, God's ways, turn to 2 Corinthians 10.
2 Corinthians 10. Yeah, these walls are, they'll
fool you. Walls of Jericho are gonna kinda
fool the people of Jericho. 2 Corinthians 10. Verses four and five. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty. Through God to the pulling down
of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing
into captivity, every thought to the obedience of Christ. Let me ask you this. Do you think there's going to
be one of God's elect that he's not going to be able to get?
Ain't going to happen. The scripture says back in Joshua
6 verse 2, And the Lord said unto Joshua, Joshua is a picture
of Christ, and listen to what he said, See, I have given into
thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of
Val. Doesn't that just make you just
want to just shout? I've given Jericho into your
hands. I gave you Jericho. These vessels of mercy, the remnant, the elect of God,
how did they get to be the Lord's? God the Father gave them to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Here the Lord tells Joshua, you
see, the Lord said to Joshua, see, you perceive the city has
been given into your hand. Who gave it to him? One who's
all powerful. I have given into your hand that
everlasting promise from him who is sure and good and right. at which God is appointed according
to his counsel. It's going to stand. But I want
you to consider something. Though the city was given into
the hand of Joshua, we're going to find out here in these verses
for the next few minutes that there was something that the
people were going to do, not for the gaining of victory, But
because of the victory that was promised, there was something
that they were going to have to do to evidence the victory
that God had already given. I've given Jericho into your
hands. But God's strength is going to
be exalted. His power is going to be exalted. God has chosen that. In verses
three to five of Joshua 6, you shall compass the city, all ye
men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou
do six days. And seven priests shall bear
before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns, and the seventh
day you shall compass the city seven times, and the priests
shall blow with the trumpets. It shall come to pass that when
they make a loud blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear
the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout where
the great shaft and the wall of the city shall fall down flat,
and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him."
Now, here's what's going to happen. The city is given into the hand
of Joshua. Done deal. Done deal. It's yours. But to show that the strength
of the taking of this city is of the Lord, and not Joshua,
the man, not by man's power. God told Joshua, this is how
the battle is going to be won. And everything that God tells
him is in opposition to every tried and proven fleshly military
tactic. God told Joshua, you tell the
people, this is what you're going to do. I want you for the first
six days, I want you to walk around the city one time. And there's gonna be seven priests
on those first six days, bearing and blowing trumpets of ram's
horns. I'm gonna say something about
those ram's horns in just a minute before the arc. Six days is what
you're gonna do. You go out there and you just
walk around the city one time. Now on the seventh day, I want
you to compass the city seven times. And on that seventh trip,
the priests are gonna blow the trumpets with a long blast, these
ram's horns. Everybody's gonna have a ram's
horn. And I want you to blow those trumpets after the seventh
trip on the seventh day. and you blow those rams horn
and you make it with a long blast. And on that day, the people are
gonna shout with a great shout and the walls are gonna come
down. So for the first six days, that's
what they did. They walked around the city one
time and they went back to the camp. Now let me ask you something. Just put yourself in the place
of those in Jericho. I don't know how many people
were in that group in the Israelites. Thousands, thousands. And what
they're doing is they're walking around the city. And there's
the Ark of the Covenant. And there's some priests. And
these priests have got some ram's horns. And they're blowing these
ram's horns and they walk around for six days, one time, and they
go back. Now that tactic would probably
seem to be as ridiculous as it gets. They're walking around
a city and the people would not shout. You're gonna see in just
a minute, the people couldn't shout until the last day. But
now the trumpets are being blown, those ram's horns are being blown,
but that just wasn't the way that you would naturally think
that a stone wall, a fortress, I mean, it had to be big walls.
Rahab's house was built on it. I mean, I don't know how thick
they were, but it was big enough to put a house on. And so they
walk around for six days, and those walls did not move. Not one pebble is it recorded. One pebble fell out. To these people in Jericho, that
is the silliest thing that you could possibly do. But let me
ask you this, is that not a fit picture of the preaching of the
gospel? Now, surely, that would appear
foolish to the people of Jericho. But the scriptures bears out
that that's the attitude of this world concerning the preaching
of the gospel. First Corinthians 121, for after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. 1 Corinthians, I'll
read this for you. 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians
1, 26 to 29. 1 Corinthians 1, 26. God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise and God has chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things that are mighty and
the base things of the world and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
Now let me tell you what God said. The way that he's going to bring
down the walls of opposition, the walls of supposed safety,
for the vessels of his mercy, he's going to do it through the
preaching of the gospel. Don't you think that, no, I don't
think anything else. I think this is how he's going
to do it. Preaching the gospel seems to the natural mind to
be absurd. That's absurd. You're telling
me, no, first of all, you're telling me that people are born
spiritually dead. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And if they're spiritually
dead, you're telling me that you preach to them Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ezekiel. Can these bones live? Lord, you know, prophesy to them
and say unto them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. You
say, that's ridiculous. It's the truth. And this is how
God's going to save His people. Preaching the gospel. Preaching
the gospel of God's grace. Telling spiritually dead sinners
that when it pleases God is going to give them a new heart and
He's going to give them new ears, He's going to give them an understanding,
and He's going to give them a willingness to come to Him. And those that
were formerly dead in trespasses and sins, God's going to make
them alive. And they're going to hear. You
say, that doesn't make sense. That's okay. That's what God
says. Romans 1, 15, 16, Paul says,
for as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to
you that are at Rome also, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Preaching
Christ is God's way of pulling down the strongholds of man's
rebellion. all to the honor, the glory,
and the praise of God Almighty Himself. No flesh is gonna glory. Listen, let me tell you something.
I'm on the last part, I'm on this page, that's all I got left.
I can't tell you, before the Lord was pleased to reveal Christ
to me, how many people I gloried in, having led them to Christ. spiritual gun. I can't tell you
how many people, man, going out on a Tuesday night, I'm going
to go visitation, knocking on doors, making people mad, Kevin. Lead them down the Roman road,
putting them under guilt after you read scripture, saying, you
don't, you don't think God's a liar, do you? Well, no. Nobody
ever told me that they thought God was a liar. They all, you
know, and to get rid of me, I'm telling you, Me trying to finagle
you and convince you. Here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to stand in this pulpit and I'm going to preach the gospel.
And I'm going to believe God. And you know who God's going
to save? Everyone that is everlastingly loved in Christ. He's going to
save them, Mitch. He's going to save them. Back in Joshua
6, verse 6. And Joshua the son of Nun called
the priests and said unto 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. See, God had instructed Joshua
in those first five verses. He said, this is what I'm gonna
tell you to do. This is what you're gonna do. And Joshua in
verse six, this is what he told the people. He told them exactly
what God said concerning the conquest of Jericho. And there was, I'm sure, there's
no doubt in my mind, somebody would say, well, let me ask you
this. Has that ever, have we ever done
that before? Has that ever been tried before?
Has that ever been proven that that's ever happened? What difference
does that make? What difference does it make?
Joshua believed God. He was not gonna deviate from
what the Lord told him. And by the grace of God, we don't
either. Since the mid-50s. I told you,
God raised up this little assembly. And I know, I know what people
say about it. I get it. You know why Almighty God has
been pleased to leave this little St. Katie Baptist Church? I've
told you before, Katie, Katie community. Nowhere, it's nowhere. But God has raised up a candlestick
of hope. in this place and kept it. And
by the grace of God, if the Lord allows me to preach one more
time in this pulpit, by the grace of God, I'm gonna preach the
same thing. I'm gonna preach the same message. I'll take a
different passage. It'll be the same message. We
don't add, 2 Thessalonians 2, while I'm making this comment,
2 Thessalonians 2, we don't add our ways to his revelation. We
don't do anything other than We proclaim the gospel, the gospel
that proclaims the goodness and mercy of God in the person of
Lord Jesus Christ according to God's will, God's purpose, God's
calling, God's choosing, not yours, not mine. Second Thessalonians
2, 13, 14, we're bound to give thanks all the way to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God told Joshua, this is what
I want you to do. Joshua told the people, this is what we're
going to do. The ark, it was a box. It was a box made of what
should have woods, what is made of, overlaid with gold. And it
set forth the very presence of the Lord. God made flesh. And those ram's horns, A picture
of the humility and the submissiveness of Christ. It was just a ram's
horn. Surely they could have gotten
made some beautiful golden, you know, inlaid, you know, just
precious stone. Surely they know you take a ram's
horn. A picture of the humbleness,
the humility, the submissiveness of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And those ram's horns, that's what's gonna be blown. And when
they blew, all those priests, they all had ram's horns, and
they made one sound. One sound. That's all they did.
What did they do? They blow that horn with a loud
blast. We got one message. We put everything that we have,
know, into what God said he's gonna bless. This is what he's
gonna bless. And I believe him, and I know there's some people
here that do too. We're gonna preach Christ. The sound of that
horn, I guarantee you, when they heard
that horn, all those people in that city, everybody in that
city, everybody in that city, except one woman and her family,
thought this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life.
You think you're gonna do something by out there blowing a horn?
foolishness. But to that one woman, God has promised and he's taken
this city down and he's going to spare me. That that horn was
a sound of life. That was hope to that woman. And when God's people hear the
gospel preached, I know what the world thinks. I know the
scripture tells me what they think. But to God's people, this
one sound of truth, they said, that's my hope. That's the declaration
of my Lord. He's promised to show mercy to
me. He's given me faith to believe
Him, and I believe Him. Let me just read these last few
verses and I'll quit. Verse seven. And he said unto
them, the people, pass on, this is what Joshua was telling the
people, encompass the city and let him that is armed pass on
before the Lord of the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass
when Joshua had spoken unto the people that the seven priests
bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns passed on before
the Lord and blew with the trumpets. And the ark of the covenant of
the Lord followed them and the armed men went before the priest
that blew with the trumpets and the reward came after the ark,
the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets, and Joshua
had commanded the people saying, you shall not shout nor make
any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of
your mouth until the day that I bid you shout, then shall you
shout. So the ark of the Lord compassed
the city going about at once, and they came into the camp and
lodged in the camp. What they did was exactly what
God told them to do. This is what you do. This is
what you do. I'm telling you, God's got a
people, and he's gonna save them. He's gonna save them. And for
that, I'm thankful. And as God gives me strength,
and as your pastor, by the grace of God, this is what we're gonna
do here at Katy Baptist Church. We're gonna preach the gospel,
and preach the gospel, and preach the gospel. And we're gonna trust
God until the Lord takes us home. I pray the Lord bless this to
our hearts.