I want to consider the first
two verses tonight, Joshua chapter six. Joshua chapter six, verse
one. Now Jericho was straightly shut
up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none
came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
see, I have given into thine hand Jericho. and the king thereof,
and the mighty men of valor." Now in our last study in Joshua
chapter five, we saw Joshua come face to face with a mighty warrior. The captain of the host of the
Lord is how he introduced himself. That's none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in verse 14 of chapter five,
Joshua fell on his face and he worshiped this captain saying,
what sayeth my Lord unto his servant? No doubt, this is a
pre-incarnate manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then here
in chapter six, this is still the same mighty captain of the
host of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking
to Joshua. And in verse two, the Lord makes
Joshua aware of three things that he has given him. I make
emphasis on the word given, past tense, already given, not gonna
give, but I've given them to you. Now, what are these three
things? Well, the Lord says, I've given
unto thy hand, Jericho, the city and all them that are in it.
I've given unto you the King of Jericho, and I've given you
the mighty men of valor in Jericho." From the beginning of our study
in Joshua, we've clearly seen that our Lord and Savior has
declared that not only the battle is His, but the war is His. And
what do we say about that? We say what the Lord Himself
said on Calvary's cross, it's finished. The war is accomplished. The warfare is over. And after
all, it is he, Christ, the captain of our salvation, that will do
the fighting. And aren't you glad? He cannot
fail or be defeated. Take, for example, Israel's deliverance
from Egypt. The Lord had told Moses that
he would harden Pharaoh's heart. We just read that in Romans chapter
nine, and the Lord did so. It was the Lord who turned the
heart of Pharaoh and his servants against Israel. That's right,
it was the Lord behind that. And do you know why? Well, this
is the reason that the Lord himself gives. He said in Exodus 14,
four, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. That's why he did it. That's
what Paul said in Romans chapter nine. We just read it about Pharaoh.
The scriptures saith unto Pharaoh. Well, you can say the Lord, because
he is the scriptures. The scriptures say it to Pharaoh,
for this same purpose, if I raise thee up, that, this is why, this
is the reason, that I might show my power in thee. Pharaoh, the
mightiest man probably in the world at this time, God said,
I'm gonna show my power in you, and that my name's gonna be declared
throughout all the earth. And it was. It had already reached
the ears of those in Jericho, as we saw in our study of Rahab. And the people of the land of
Canaan had been made to know this very thing, and the enemies
of God and his people in the world today are gonna know that
also. Moses told Israel in Deuteronomy
chapter one, verse 30, he said, the Lord, your God, which goeth
before you. Aren't you glad the Lord goes
before you? He really does, friends. The
Lord goeth before you. He shall fight for you according
to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes. And in
the wilderness where thou hast seen how the Lord thy God bare
thee, as a man doth bear his son, and all the way that you
went until you came into this place. When Israel faced the
two evil kings, Sihon and Og, Moses told them in Deuteronomy
chapter three, verse 22, ye shall not fear them, The Lord still
says that today. Whatever obstacle, whatever trouble,
whatever tribulation comes our way, the Lord says, don't fear
them. Don't fear them. For the Lord
your God, He shall fight for you. Now, are we gonna believe
God? God help us. God help us to believe
Him. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. And faith is the gift of God.
May God be pleased to give us faith. We don't fight our own
battles. The Lord does. Deuteronomy 3
verse 24 says, O Lord God, thou hast begin to show thy servant
thy greatness and thy mighty hand for what God is there in
heaven or in earth that can do according to thy works and according
to thy might. You know the answer and so do
I, none. There's no God, there's no God, no God besides him. I am the Lord and there's none
beside me. Another time preparing Israel for the taking of Canaan,
Moses said, the Lord thy God is with thee for the Lord your
God is he that goeth with you to fight for you against your
enemies to save you. Friends, salvation is certain.
Salvation for God's people is certain. We'll never learn that until
the Lord reveals it to us and shows it to us. There's no war
for us to fight. The victory's already been determined.
And if we could just see with the eye of faith, oh Lord, enable
us to see with the eye of faith, that the conflict is over. It's
finished. Jesus Christ is Lord. Lord of
lords and King of kings. Our captain. The captain of the
host of the Lord. He's the capital L Lord of Lords,
little L Lords. And He's the capital K King of
Kings. And He's able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we could think or ask. His promise
is sure because of who He is. It's God who makes us this promise.
And sometimes we promise things beyond our ability to do. But
our Lord is able to do anything, and He's able to do everything,
and He's able to do all things. And that's why all the promises
of God are in Him, Christ. They are yea, and in Him, Christ,
amen. Unto the glory of God by us. I was thinking today into the
glory of God by us simply means that the stronger our faith is
in Christ, the more glory we give to God. The more that we
depend on God, the more glory he gives. John Gill wrote, the
more we lay hold on and embrace God's promises, the more it glorifies
the faithfulness, the power and the grace of God. And that is
so true. Matter of fact, verse two here
reveals to us that the outcome of this war was never in question. Never in question. God said,
I have given unto thy hand, again, past tense. I've given it. If
God gives it, it's as good as gotten. He'd already given it. And this is the reason why a
believer is at peace. This is why a believer has rest
in this world. We know how it ends. We know
how it ends. We've read the book. We've read
the beginning, we've read the end. We know how it ends. And I'm talking to me, same as
I am to you, to fret over anything. Well, what about the anything? When we profess to believe that
God is sovereign and in control of all things is nothing but
unbelief. Now, it's just that simple. Lord,
help thou my unbelief. For us to live in fear, to live
in anguish, worry, and doubt, it's nothing short of us not
trusting that God has done what he said he would do. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5, 24, says, faithful is he that calleth you who also
will do it. He'll do it if he's promised
it. Now that doesn't mean that we won't and don't have troubles
and trials, but it does mean that we will be victorious over
each and every one of them because God is working all things after
the counsel of His own will, and God is working all things
together for the good of His people, those that are be called
according to His purpose, those that love the Lord. And because
of that, everything's gonna be Fine and all right, better than
all right. When the Apostle Paul preached
the gospel in Antioch and Iconium, he was stoned and was supposed
to be dead. But the Lord restored him and
the very next day, he departed with Barnabas to preach in Derby.
And do you know what his message was? He exhorted his hearers
to continue in their faith of Christ and he exhorted them that
they and every believer through much tribulation should enter
the kingdom of God. Now don't you know he knew something
about that? He had just been stoned, thrown
in prison multiple times. In one part of the, I think the
book of Acts, He lists all the things that he'd been through,
how many times he'd been shipwrecked and beaten and thrown into prison. He knew something about tribulation.
And his message to God's people is, it's gonna be through much
tribulation that you enter the kingdom of God, but you're gonna
enter because God is behind everyone and he's doing what's best for
you in every situation. Oh, and if I could, Just believe
that like I ought, I'd never be discouraged, I'd always be
happy. Lord, help thou my unbelief. How would we ever know that God
was faithful if we never faced a trial for him to deliver us
from? Faith believes that the Lord's
already given us the victory, the battles are given so that
we might trust in him. And how do we enter the kingdom
of God? Through much tribulation, not just a little, but much tribulation,
much trials, and much troubles. But the trials, the tribulations,
and the troubles do not void the victories. They simply prove
that God, in spite of them, having sent them, has fought all our
battles for us, giving us the outcome that he promised. He
is faithful, that promised. Everything God does is for His
people. Even the trouble He sends is
for our good. When He says He works all things
together for good, for the good of them that are called according
to His purpose, what does that mean? They're called for the
purpose of saving them. God's gonna wean us from this
world. He gonna make us glad to leave it. We will not enter into glory
by way of ease. Trials and troubles come our
way as chastisement, and they're to teach us and they're to put
us back on track. They fix our minds and hearts
on Christ, the captain, the captain of the host of the Lord. God's
gonna win us, God's people gonna be made glad to leave this world. With the battle before us, and
we have many yet to fight, but the Lord assures us that the
victory is already a done deal. What comfort, what encouragement,
what assurance and rest in knowing that wondrous truth. David said,
I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living. Listen, next time a trial and
trouble comes your way, remind yourself that this is for your
good. This is for my good. God sent
this for my good. This is gonna be good for me. Maybe that'll help us. I pray
it does. We've seen His providential goodness. He provides us all the necessities
of life. He delivers us from every enemy.
I look back on my life and I see how that is so true in every
circumstance, every trial, every tribulation, somehow or another.
I didn't see it at the time, but now I see that it was for
my good. He gives us all spiritual blessings
in Christ. Keep your eyes on Christ when
you're going through a trouble and trials. David said, unless
I had believed to see, he believed to see God's support under his
affliction. I do too. I'm determined right
now. Whatever that means. I'm going to believe. I'm going
to believe to see that this is for my good. He believed to see
God's pardoning grace under his sense of sin. That word see here
in verse two of chapter six, it means a whole lot more than
just to look or to view. When we think see, well, we have
to look and we have to view something, but that word see means to perceive
and to understand. We see that through the battle,
though the battle lay ahead, the victory of the war was in
the past. We don't just see it, we understand
it, we perceive it. Our Lord does not tell Joshua
to see what He's about to do here, does He? That's not what
He says at all. He tells Joshua to see and understand
what He's already done. I've given. unto you, Jericho. I've given unto you the king
of Jericho. I've given unto you the mighty men of valor." And
you know, that's what it is to preach the gospel. It's to tell
men and women to see what God has already done. And at the
same time, anything God yet does in the future, He's purposed
from the foundation of the world. So no need to worry about that
either. How many times do I worry about what if? Well, get those
two words out of the same sentence together. What if? What if this? What if that? And most of the
time, we worry and fret about things that never come to pass.
Isn't that right? Amen or oh me? The Gospel is not what God is
going to do. The Gospel is not what we do.
The Gospel is what God has done. The gospel message of Christ
is this, I've given unto thy hand. I've given. Not what I
will do, not what I will give, but what I've already given.
The child of God knows how this all turns out. It's God that
gives because all things are his to give. When God says I've given, it's
absolute. I told you the story, and it's
a cute story, but it's true. There was a man that told Tim
James one time, he said, I don't believe in absolutes. And Tim
said, you don't believe in absolutes? He said, no. You really don't
believe in absolutes? He said, absolutely. There are no ifs, ands, or buts,
no uncertainty, no unseen traps, no mitigating circumstances when
it comes to God. He does all things according
to His purpose. And we wouldn't have it any other
way. Not the child of God. It's God that gives, because
they're His to give. People may look at possibilities,
but you can only see what already is. And yet we walk by faith
and not by sight. There's no comfort, no rest,
no assurance found, but in the accomplishment of what is already
done. God has already given it into
our hand. And what a picture this is of
God the Father declaring to God the Son what He'd already given
Him. The things that the Lord had
given unto Joshua's hands were for him to see and for him to
perceive and for him to understand the certainty of God's promise
to Abraham all those hundreds of years before. This is the
same assurance given to our surety that the accomplishment of his
mission, his coming to earth to save his people from his sin
was a certainty. No ifs and ands and buts about
that either. Everyone that he came to save, he saved. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and I'll in no wise cast
them out. That means they're gonna be saved. That's why the Lord Jesus said,
not my will, but thine be done. Oh, if we would just learn to
pray like that. Lord, your will be done. I don't know what's
best for me. I'll mess it up. Your will be done. Teach me to
bow to your will. Now, I cannot stress enough of
how ridiculous it is to think that Christ came into the world
to make God's promise a possibility. It just grades my nerves. I remember one time when my daughter
Leah was a young girl, maybe three or four. She said, Mommy,
you're stepping on my nerves. Well, it's steps on my nerves. to hear people say that God has
made salvation possible. It just does, like fingers on
a chalkboard. Does that step on your nerves?
Well, it does mine. Ridiculous to say such things.
Christ and I come to make our salvation simply available. It's
nothing short of blasphemy to claim that Christ's death simply
made salvation possible and available. His grand work of redemption
has been given unto His hand and it was absolutely unequivocally
successful. He cannot fail. Christ's victory is not something
that He gained. His victory was something that
He displayed. purpose from the foundation of
the world and victoriously carried out in time, the salvation of
the righteous is of the Lord. I mentioned in the beginning
three things that the Lord had given into Joshua's hands. He'd
given him Jericho, he'd given him the king of Jericho, and
he had given him the mighty men of valor. Well, let's just talk
briefly as to what they represent. The first thing that the Lord
gave Joshua, he'd already given it to him. Well, they hadn't
walked around the city yet. The walls of Jericho hadn't fallen
yet, Steve, but God had already given it to him. God calls things that are not
as though they are. The first thing was Jericho. Jericho is representative of
this world that's at enmity with God. If you don't think this
world's at enmity with God, you just watch the news for about
five minutes. And then I also at the same time
don't recommend that you watch it. The enemies of God have been
given into the hands of Christ. Acts chapter two couldn't make
Christ's victory more certain or clear. Hold your place here
in Joshua, stick your marker there if you would, and turn
with me to Acts chapter two. I know most of you know where
I'm going, but I want you to see this. Acts 2, verse 23. I'm not going to keep you long,
but I do want you to see this in your Bible. Acts 2, verse
23. Here in Acts 2, verse 23, we see that Christ, it says Him,
that's speaking of Christ, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, God says, you've taken,
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Now I know that Paul
was preaching to a particular group that day, mainly the Jews,
but that's for us too. If we'd have been there, we'd
have done the same thing. The crucifixion and death of the
Lord Jesus at the hands of wicked men was not a defeat. Did you
hear me? It was not a defeat. It was a
complete victory. And the rest of the chapter declares
just that to us. Verse 24. You took him, and with
wicked hands you crucified him. But verse 24, whom God hath raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should be holding of it. Holding of what? Death. You can't keep a perfect man
in the grave. God's holy justice won't allow
it. Verse 27, because thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption again. His justice will not allow it. Holy justice. Verse 28, Thou
hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to
him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He's seen this
before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell. Neither his flesh did see corruption.
That's talking about Christ. This Jesus hath God raised up. That's victory. No defeat there. This Jesus had God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see
and hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, But he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand until I make thy foes enemies, till I make
your enemies thy footstool. Now look closely at verse 36.
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, See,
perceive, and understand that God hath made that same Jesus
whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ, both God and
Savior. That sounds like complete victory
to me. And I didn't do a thing, not one thing. Turn over a couple
pages to Acts chapter four. Look at verse 27. Acts 4, 27. For of a truth against
the holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were
gathered together. Pilate and Herod hated one another,
but they became friends when it came to the death and crucifixion
of Christ. And it wasn't just the Gentiles,
it was the Jews too. It wasn't just the Jews, it was
the Gentiles and they were all gathered together to do what?
Verse 28, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. Victories already accomplished. In Luke chapter 19, Christ gave
the parable of a certain nobleman who had citizens, servants, that
hated him, and they, you remember what they said? We will not have
this man rule over us. There's people still today saying
that. Not gonna, this Jesus you preach, this God you preach,
I'm not gonna have him to rule over me. Well, he's gonna rule
over you anyway. whether you have him to or not.
And you know the Lord finished that parable in Luke 19. Y'all read it. He finished that
parable by this nobleman saying of these enemies that hated him
without a cause. And by the way, Christ is that
nobleman. That's who he's speaking of.
He said, but those mine enemies, which would not that I should
reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me. Christ has always had the power
to do what he wills with his own. That's what he said. Is
it not right? Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with my own? And this is evidenced by what
the Lord said in John chapter 17, verses one and two. These
words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes into heaven and said,
Father, the hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may
glorify thee, as thou has given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. Then the second thing that God
gave to Joshua was the king of Jericho. You know, the king is
representative of anyone and anything that reigns over those
who Christ came in the world to save. Sin, Satan, self, have all been
given into the hand of Christ our Joshua. Paul tells us in
Ephesians 2 that believers were once dead in trespasses and sin,
but Christ has quickened us, Christ has made us alive. Isn't
it amazing wherever you look in the scriptures, it says salvation
of the Lord. Christ is quick. Even though
we were dead in trespasses and sin, Christ has quickened us
and made us alive. In times past, we walk according
to the world's course, according to the prince of the power of
the air, Satan, the spirit that now works in the children of
disobedience. By the way, that's the spirit
of self. The world is all about me, myself, and I. The theme
song of this world is I did it my way, and I'm gonna do it my
way. Our conversation, that word means
our way of life, and times past was in the lust of our flesh
and of the mind. That's all self. We were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others, concerned only about
ourselves. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves. Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, that's the fruit of self. But God, but God, who's rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us even, even, even
when we were dead in trespasses and sins, full of self, has made
us alive with Christ by grace, are you saved? God by His grace
has raised us up together. God by His grace has made us
to sit. He's made us to rest. Where? Together in heavenly places.
How? In Christ and in Christ alone. The child of God will have no
king, but King Christ. The third thing that the Lord
had given into the hands of Joshua was the mighty men of Balor.
What a picture of religion they are. The religion of works for
justification. Oh, if I just do this and do
that, God will justify me. You'll never do it and you'll
never be justified. The religion of works for righteousness. Oh, if I could just get this
out of my life and get this in my life, I'd be righteous. No,
you'll never be righteous that way. It's self-righteousness.
It's filthy works. Filthy rags of works is all it
is. It's nothing but self-justification
and it's nothing but self-righteousness. And these, that this is speaking
of here, takes advantage over men by keeping them in check
with the law. The threat of judgment and the
unuseful unlawful use of the law. In Matthew chapter 23 verse
2, Christ speaking of the scribes and the Pharisees said this,
listen, the scribes and the Pharisees bid you to observe the law. And
we ought to observe and do what the law says. But the Lord said,
but do not so after their works, for they say and do not do. For
they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, and they lay them
on men's shoulders. But they themselves will not
move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to
be seen of men. Yet men ask, can the evil will
and cruel imaginations of men's hearts be controlled? Mine was. Jeremiah said, oh Lord, I know
that the way of man is not in himself. It's not in man that
walketh to direct his steps. I certainly didn't straighten
up and fly right. David said, thou hast enlarged
my steps under me, that my feet did not flip. The steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. I didn't pick myself up by my
bootstraps. The Lord saved me by His mercy
and grace and He showed me Christ and He enabled me to believe
and trust in Him to do for me what I could not do for myself.
Now back in Joshua chapter 6, and I'll finish. I find the words
in verse 1 very interesting in the sense that it says, Now Jericho
was straightly shut up. that I'm not a Bible scholar
or a Hebrew scholar by any means, but I do have a concordance.
And those words, straightly, and those words, shut up, are
the same Hebrew word, the same word in the Hebrew language.
The only difference is the tense of the verb we've used. Both
those words mean to be enclosed fully without any route of escape. straightly shut up. No room for
escape. Now the tenses of the two verbs
declare that the people of Jericho were continually shut up and
that they were passively shut up. Though they willingly shut
the gates of the city, and they willingly barred up their personal
doors as if they were patiently waiting to be consumed. It's
kind of like being invited to dinner by a cannibal, only to
find out that you're the dinner. God had already prepared these
people to be consumed. When Joshua and Caleb returned
with the other ten spies, you remember what they said? They
said, Rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of
the land, for they are bred for us. We're going to eat them alive. We're going to consume them.
Their defenses departed from them. They're sitting behind
the gates of Jericho just seem to be waiting for the walls to
fall down to be defeated by God's people. And the Lord is with us. He said,
fear them not. Numbers 14, nine. The walls of
Jericho were erected for their protection. You remember what
the spies said? Oh, they've got great walls.
There ain't no great walls too hard for God to knock down. Reality, those walls were but
a prison from which they could not escape. Isn't that something?
Now that's what it's like when the Lord fights your battles.
None went out, none came in. Why? The reason is obvious and
clear. Verse one tells it. They were straightly shut up
because of the children of Israel. God's out to do them good. God's
gonna give them the land. He's already, no, I said that
wrong. God's already given them the
land. And the people of Jericho, without a doubt, feared their
impending doom. It's what Rahab said, we've heard.
We've heard. We've heard what the Lord has
done for you. Not what He's gonna do. We've
heard what He's done. And that word because there.
You see it in verse one? Now Jericho was straightly shut
up because of the children of Israel. That means much more than just
what we think it to mean. The word means being turned and
prepared. The city of Jericho was shut
up because they were being prepared for the children of God. They
were shut up on behalf of the children of God. And friends,
the more I study the word of God, the more I see the salvation
of God's elect is a sure, sure thing and no way dependent on
the one saved. Our enemies have been shut up
They've been turned and prepared and given into the hands of Christ.
And we have nothing to do. Not to be saved. Out of love
for Christ, we'll do a great deal. We'll go to great lengths
to share this wondrous news to others. But we have nothing to
do and we have nothing to fear. But to trust Christ's finished
work and rest. May God be pleased to make it
so. His glory are good and for Christ's sake.