The title of the lesson this
morning is, One Arc, Seven Trumpets, and One Shout. One Arc, Seven
Trumpets, and One Shout. Hebrews 11 verse 30 says, By
faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were accomplished
about seven days. Now, let's turn to Joshua 6 and
see what happened. Joshua 6. First, we see typified
a sinner hardening his own heart. Joshua 6, verse 1. Now Jericho
was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None
went out and none came in. Jericho was a fortified city
on the edge of the land of Canaan. And 40 years earlier, when Joshua
sent the spies in to spy out the land, this was one of the
cities that they came back and said, the people is greater and
taller than we, and the cities are great and walled up to heaven. So now, as the camp of Israel
approaches, Being so persuaded of their safety behind these
big, tall walls that they've built and fortified by their
own hands, they shut themselves in. They shut themselves up behind
these walls. The citizens agreed never to
surrender to anybody, not to go out. And though they were
mighty men of valor, the scripture says, they agreed none of them
would go out to fight. And they wouldn't allow any of
the Israelites to come in to them with a word of peace. And
so we have here a picture of a sinner hardening his heart
to his own destruction. So it is with many sinners who
resolve to strengthen themselves against God. Mighty men, but
men who resolve to shut themselves in and shut others out. Then
secondly, we see the Lord's word of promise. Joshua 6 verse 2,
And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine
hand Jericho, and the king, and the mighty men of valor. The
Lord's promise to his people is a word of victory already
accomplished. victory already accomplished.
Notice the Lord doesn't say, I will give Jericho into thy
hand, but I have given into thine hand Jericho. It's already done. And not only the city, but the
king thereof and the mighty men of valor. Our text in Hebrews
11.30 says, By faith the walls of Jericho fell down. And then
in Joshua 6.2 it says, The Lord said, I have given. So once again
we see that faith's confidence and faith's assurance, the faith
of the believer, his confidence and his assurance lies in the
object of our faith and the power and faithfulness of our God.
The Lord declares this to us every time we hear the gospel
preached. The Lord said, Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. That's the message
of the gospel. Salvation is accomplished, that
her iniquities pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. She's received eternal righteousness
and holiness, a double reward in place of all her sins. Christ
has conquered the enemy on our behalf. Colossians 2.13 says,
In you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you
all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them, openly triumphing over
them in it. Do you believe the Lord's word
of promise? Do you believe the Lord's word
of promise? The victory is already won by Christ Jesus the Lord.
And the city shall be given to those who trust the Lord by faith.
That's truly, it's that summed up, that simple. The victory
is won by the Lord Jesus Christ and the city shall be given to
those who trust Him. Well, thirdly here we see that
the Lord who declares the victory is already won also gives clear
instruction on what faith must do, what we as believers must
do by faith. Verse 3, And ye shall compass
the city, all of ye men of war, and go round about the city once,
and thus shalt thou do six days. seven priests shall bear before
the ark seven trumpets of rams horns and The seventh day he
shall compass the city seven times and the priests shall blow
with the trumpets The captain of the Lord of hosts gives direction
how this city should be besieged No trenches are to be dug No
battering rams are to be used No military assaults of any kind,
but the Ark of God must be carried. And it must be carried by the
priests around the city once a day for six days, and seven
times on the seventh day. And the seven ram's horns must
be blown by the seven priests. And the men of war were to remain
silent. Just remain silent. And the Lord
declares to us what shall surely come to pass if we but trust
Him. He tells us what's going to happen.
He knows the end from the beginning. He tells us what's going to happen.
That's what the Gospel declares. Look here in verse 5. And it
shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the
ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, All
the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city
shall fall down flat And the people shall ascend up every
man straight before him When the ark has been carried by the
priest and when the city's been circled seven times on that seventh
day and the priest shall sound the trumpet with one long loud
blast then the people are to all give a great shout and the
walls of this city are going to just fall down flat on the
ground. And the people in the city are
going to be so afraid that they won't even be able to make any
resistance. Would you believe God if He told
you that? It's happened now. This really happened. You walk
around a city one time a day for six days in a row, seven
times on the seventh day, carrying an ark of the covenant, and the
priests blowing a trumpet every day. And on the last day, all
seven blow with a long blast in these mighty walls. Think of the Great Wall of China.
Think of how much work we had to do with Russia in the 80s
to get them to tear down the wall, you know. And he said,
this is all you're going to do. You're not going to use any force
whatsoever. In His Word, we hear week after
week what the Lord has done, what He is doing, and what He
promises He shall do. And we are to be as Joshua and
his brethren and wait and see the salvation of the Lord. And
then fourthly, we see that faith obeys the Lord who declares the
victories already won. Faith obeys. Now let's see that.
Verse 6, And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said
unto them, Now Joshua is going to repeat this. 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 unto the
people, Pass on, encompass the city, and let him that is armed
pass on before 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 priests that blew with the trumpets. And the reward, that
rear ward, came after the ark, the priests going on and blowing
with the trumpets. Wherever the ark went, that's
where the people were to go. And the armed men went before
the priest to clear the way. To clear the way. Though they
were men of war, though they were armed, they were glad to
do what they were bid to do. Removing any obstacle that would
hinder the ark being carried forth. They prepared for any
opposition by the enemy that might stop the trumpets from
sounding. And behind them, behind the ark
was that rear ward and the weapon that was carried by the men of
war. Here's now what we find out. Verse 10, 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 I bid you shout, then shall you
shout." Now, the men of war and all the people were armed, really,
spiritually speaking, with only two weapons. They only had two
weapons. They had faith and they had a
voice. They had faith and they had a
voice. And they were to make no noise so that they could hear
the gospel trumpet blow until the day that their Joshua bid
them shout. And that is where true faith
is found in discretion. Y'all know what the word discretion
means? If somebody says you use discretion, it means Be quiet. Be silent. Be tight-lipped about
something. Knowing when to be silent. Speaking
only when the Lord Jesus has bid us shout. Remember what the
Lord told Moses and what Moses told the people? He said, God
shall fight and you shall hold your peace. Now believers, I
see here in this believers are both the armed men who led the
way, armed with faith and a voice, who allowed no interference in
the preaching of the gospel. They allowed no interference
in the preaching of the gospel. And the great congregation were
those who came, made up the rear ward, who followed Christ the
art, who is their strength and their hope. And the armed men
in the congregation are all believers. We have one voice and we have
faith. That's our weapon. And we make
sure that nothing interferes with Christ our ark, with the
gospel of Christ our ark being sounded, with the trumpet being
blown. And the priests here signify
the Lord's messengers who carry the message of Christ the ark.
Christ, the Ark of the Covenant, in whom all God's promises are. And they blow the seven trumpets,
the gospel of perfection. That number seven is the number
of perfection. The gospel of perfection. That's only one gospel. That's
the gospel of God's Son. That's the gospel of perfection.
And together, both the priests and the men of war and all the
congregation, compassed this walled up city and everyone did
it in order by faith. Just like Joshua told them. The Lord spoke to Joshua. And Joshua went and spoke to
the people. You see a picture of Christ and
Joshua? The mediator between God and
men? And by order, they compassed this city. Now look at verse
14. And the second day, they compassed the city once and returned
into the camp. So they did six days. And it
came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the
dawning of the day and compassed the city after the same manner
seven times. Only on that day, they compassed
the city seven times. Only that day. Now God could
have caused the walls of Jericho to fall at any time. At any time. But faith must be taught patience. And faith must be taught to persevere. And wait on the salvation of
the Lord. And can't you just hear the folks
in Jericho? The first day that they heard
these horns blowing and this slow march around their city,
they might have been a little leery. and wondering what's going
on. The second day they heard it,
they might have perked up and tried to find out what was going
on again. Maybe even the third day. But by now, they're sitting
there thinking, what in the world are these fools, these foolish
Israelites doing? Just marching around this city,
blowing a trumpet. What in the world are they doing?
Verse 16. We're in Joshua 6, verse 16. And it came to pass at the seventh
time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto
the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city. So the
people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it came
to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and
the people shouted with a great shout. Skip down to verse 20,
I'm sorry. So the people shouted when the
priest blew 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 down flat. So that the people
went up into the city, every man straight before him, and
they took the city, and then utterly destroyed all that was
in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep
and ass with the edge of the sword. And they won the victory,
just like God said they would. And what can we learn from all
this? I want to give you five things real quick. First of all,
the Lord's ways are not our ways. The Lord's ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55, verse 8 says, My thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith
the Lord. Who would have thought a city
so fortified with men so mighty could be taken with an ark, seven
trumpets, and one shout. Wasn't that the same amazement
that you thought when God Almighty broke down the walls of your
heart, revealing Christ your Lord by simply preaching the
gospel and sounding long and shouting mightily into your soul?
Isn't that what you thought, an amazement? That's all He used. That's all He used. The Lord does things, ways. There's
folks trying to save people by every manner possible, but the
manner, the means that God has said use. They try to use every
means, but the means that God has said use. Christ the ark,
gospel, the trumpet, the gospel of the perfection that's in Christ
Jesus. and shout, a shout. I think that might have something
to do with the Spirit of God in a man's heart. Awakening. Awake, O sleeper, like they said
in Jonah. Secondly, faith trusts the Lord,
our High Priest, who saves not by might nor by power, but by
my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. As believers, as men of
war, that's what we are. We have these two weapons, faith
and a voice. That's all we have. But we're
to remain silent so we can hear the gospel trumpet. We remain
silent so we can hear the gospel trumpet. Until Joshua, our Joshua,
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, says, today is the day the walls
come down. In 2 Corinthians 10.4 it says,
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, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when
your obedience is fulfilled. Well, thirdly, First off, the
Lord's ways are not our ways. Secondly, we trust the Lord,
our high priest. We trust our Joshua. We sit quietly
until he says, today's the day of salvation. Because the weapons
of our warfare aren't carnal. It's faith and a voice. Then
thirdly, faith looks to the ark of God, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in whom all the word of God is sure and certain. Yea and amen.
This city here was a great walled-up city, Jericho, that blocked their
way into Canaan. Your city may be a poor loved
one whose hard heart is straightly shut up. Or the city may be some
mighty impregnable fortress of trial that blocks your entrance
into the promised land of rest. Whatever the city may be that
lies before you, look to the ark. Follow the ark. And when the day of rest comes,
when that seventh day comes, and the day of rest comes, you'll
find that He was your rest, and He was your conqueror the whole
time you made the trip. That ark represents God Almighty.
That ark represents the Lord Jesus Christ. And they didn't
go a step without looking to that ark. And the whole time
they made that trip waiting for that wall to fall down, it was
that ark that was present with them that was keeping them, that
was encouraging them, that was their strength, that was their
power, and that was the one who brought the wall down. And that's
what we discover. When the wall comes down, that's
what we discover. Then fourthly, the ark and the
shout gained the victory. But the trumpet had to be blown
every day until that perfect day. It had to be blown every
day until that perfect day. I can imagine the sound of the
seven trumpets were probably irritating to those inside Jericho,
especially after six days of hearing it. It probably got irritating. And then on that seventh day,
when they marched around it seven times all day long, they were
probably beside themselves with the sound of it. But now can
you imagine those who were, that whole troop of people who were
walking, the priest leading the way with those trumpets, and
the ark going before, and the armed men out in front, and the
whole rear ward of the congregation coming along. That trumpet sounding
made them put one step in front of the other one, one step in
front of the other one, and keep marching. keep marching. That
trumpet kept reminding them, God said it's going to be by
one long blast of this trumpet that these walls are going to
fall down. And every time they heard that trumpet, they kept
being reminded, it's this trumpet that's going to bring these walls
down. We have to come and hear the gospel of God's grace in
Christ Jesus, because that's the way God has purposed to strengthen
the inner man through the Spirit, so that we can take one step
after another, one step after another, being constantly reminded
that He's going to bring the walls down. He's going to give
the city into our hand. That's what Ephesians 6.14 says. Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with the truth, having on the breastplate of
righteousness, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace, Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and
take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. This gospel trumpet's got to
be blown. We've got to hear it. Then here's
the fifth thing. Faith perseveres. Faith perseveres. I said I had five things. I got
six things. I just realized. Here's the fifth
thing. Faith perseveres. Galatians 9, 6 and 9 says, Let
us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. Lamentations 3.25 says, The Lord
is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh
Him. It is good that a man should
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. That's
what they were doing the whole time. They were marching around.
They were obeying Him. They were walking. They were
doing what He told them to do. But they were waiting. They were
waiting. Here's the sixth thing. Faith
gets the victory. Faith gets the victory. That's
what John said, 1 John 5, verse 4. Whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. And we saw right in the beginning
why that's the case. Because from the very beginning,
God said, I have given the city into your hand. And faith gets
the victory by simply trusting that God shall give the city
into our hands, just like He said He already has. At the end of time, when our
Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout and the sound of
a trumpet, Satan's kingdom shall be completely ruined, and not
till then, and when all opposing rule, principality, and power
shall be effectually and eternally put down. With one ark, seven
trumpets, and a shout. And a shout. Look with me. I
want to close with this passage of Scripture. Revelation chapter
19. Revelation chapter 19. Verses 1 through 6. And after
these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven
saying, Hallelujah! salvation, and glory, and honor,
and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his
judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand." And again they
said, Hallelujah. And her smoke rose up forever
and ever. And the four and twenty elders
and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, as
the voice of mighty thunderings. saying hallelujah for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Well, I hope that's a blessing
to you.