I know I am. We have several
more to look at, and I'm looking forward to each of them. Gideon,
Barak, Simpson. Hebrews 11 verse 30 says, By
faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed
about seven days. Now that story is found in the
book of Joshua, so go over there to Joshua, Joshua chapter 1. The story of Joshua, as every
story in the scripture, was written to bear witness of the one who
bears his name. Joshua is the Hebrew word for
the New Testament name, Jesus. That's no mere coincidence. That's
by design. Joshua is the one the Lord used
to bring the children of Israel into the promised land. Moses
could not. Moses was the law. Joshua is the Savior. The law can't bring us in, but
Christ did. Joshua means Jehovah saves and
God our Savior, and that's what the Lord Jesus Christ is to us,
God our Savior. Joshua is a coming conqueror
in this story. A conqueror. The Lord over all.
Chapter 1, the Lord said in the first verses 5 and 6, There shall
not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy
life. as I was with Moses, so I will
be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. Be strong and of a good courage,
for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the
land which I swear unto their fathers to give them." Christ
said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. The
earth is the Lord's, the Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness thereof,
the world inhabitants thereof, all things are given to him.
is given unto Him. Life is given into His hand to
quicken whom He will. Keys of hell and death are at
His side. The Lord Jesus Christ owns all
souls. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
the first time to save. The first time He came. He said,
I didn't come to destroy the world, but to save. The next time He comes, will
be to destroy the world, like Joshua in this story. And if
you read later on for yourself, Isaiah 63, which is a type both
of Christ coming, Christ crucified, and Christ coming again where
His garments are red. He trod the winepress of the
wrath of God. You know, the story of Joshua
is not a fable. It's not an old Jewish fable,
which most of the people of this world believe that it's a Jewish
fable. Nor is the story of our Lord
Jesus Christ coming the first time and coming the second time. Peter said we haven't followed
some cunningly devised fable when we've made known unto you
the majesty, the power of our Lord's coming. The wrath of God
against Jericho was real. This was a real story. It's not
a fable. It's not a fairy tale. It's a
real story. The wrath of God against Jericho
and all of the other ungodly cities that Joshua went through
and destroyed. It's true. It's true. Nor is it a fable that our Lord
is coming again to destroy this, what He calls, this present evil
world. He did it the first time with
the flood, didn't he? Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3 of that.
The world scoffs and mocks. They don't believe that. They
believe the story of the flood was a fairy tale, and they believe
what we're preaching is a fable also, believed by ignorant, superstitious,
uneducated mountain people. But no, Peter said the same world
is reserved unto fire against that day. And he's coming again. God hasn't changed. This is what
people believe, that somehow the God of the Old Testament
has changed and now all He is is love. Right? That's what people
believe about God. They believe His primary and
only attribute is love. That's not subtle. Holiness. That's his primary attribute.
And it hasn't changed. Holy. Just God. Holy. God will by no means clear the
guilt. That's what the scripture said.
And so the same God of the Old Testament is God now. And the
book of Joshua, if you read it for yourself, it's a terrifying
book. Joshua goes through, it's all
of the conquest of Joshua. He goes through these cities
and annihilates them. Slaughters them. Capturing some,
taking everything in the name of Jehovah. True story. Not slaughtering
innocent people. I want you to see this. Joshua
11. Joshua 11. Nor does our God kill the innocent.
Oh no, Joshua chapter 11. A few people have read this verse,
I imagine. Look at it, Joshua 11, verses
19 and 20. There was not a city that made
peace with the children of Israel. The children of Israel weren't
the enemy. Do you hear me? The people in the world were.
They hated them. Remember, it was that the Amalekites
were brethren, really, somehow, of the children of Israel. They
would not let Moses and the people come through. Remember that? Would not. They said, we're just
coming through. We're not going to take what belongs to you.
We just want to pass through. And they said, no. And God said,
wipe them out. And He did. Now, verse 19, save
the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. It didn't slaughter
them, verse 20, it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that
they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy
them utterly, that they might have no favor, that he might
destroy them as the Lord commanded. You see that? Israel didn't destroy innocent
people. We're in Joshua chapter 6 now. Joshua 6. Oh no. is just. God is righteous in
all his way. That's what Abraham said that
when God was going to destroy Sodom, Abraham said, shall not
the judge of the earth do right? Yes, he will. If he finds ten
righteous people, he won't destroy the city. Five. He won't do it. He won't destroy. God will not destroy the righteous
with the wicked. So what did He do? He brought
Lot out. He brought Rahab out. God is rich in mercy. I'll tell
you that. This book is not only of the
holiness of God and the wrath of God against sin, how God will
punish sin, will by no means clear the guilty. But I'll tell
you what. He's rich in mercy to all them
that call on Him. He's slow to wrath and ready
to pardon. Yes, He is. Any that come, any
that call, whosoever will, God will have mercy. That's a fact.
But He said, you would not. That's what He said. Man gets
to blame. for his own judgment, God gets
the glory for his salvation. There's no conflict there. Those
of you who know the truth know that so. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. God's not the enemy of man. Man's the enemy of God. That's
what Romans 8 says, and all through the Scripture. Ephesians 2, you
who are enemies of your own wicked work. Colossians 2. The fact
of the matter is, here's what the Lord is going to have to
do for every one of us. He's going to have to break down
this enmity, like these walls of Jericho. That's what these
represent. Jericho. Jericho was a beautiful
city called City of the Palms, by the river. And it was a beautiful
place in the beginning, but now it's a corrupt, vile place, and
it's an ungodly place. And the Lord, through Joshua,
is going to destroy it. That's man, isn't it? Man creating
the image of God, beautiful, upright, holy. Oh, he corrupted
God's way. That's what the Lord said. He
looked down, and man had corrupted his way. Adam and Eve shook their
fist in God's face. God should have destroyed them,
but God's merciful. Joshua is coming to destroy Jericho. And they heard about Joshua.
They all heard about it, what Rahab said. We've heard of you.
They all should have. Every one to a man should have
been crying out for mercy to Joshua, shouldn't they? But they
didn't. Have they not all heard, Scripture says, yea, verily the
sound is gone throughout all the earth. Many are called to
what? God commandeth all men everywhere to do what? Repent. Many are called, but few are chosen. In this city, and in the next
hour, we're going to look at that vessel of mercy named Rahab,
who received the men Joshua sent, who asked mercy, who tied a scarlet
line in her window. And Joshua saved her with a great
salvation. So when the Lord comes, the next
time it will be to destroy and take His people out, just like
Rahab. It's significant that when the
Lord Jesus Christ came the first time to Jericho, He came to Jericho. Do you remember
what happened? He passed through. He didn't
save one person in that town. Joshua later on said, Cursed
is the one that rebuilds Jericho. What God is destroying, don't
you build it again. He saved one man on the way in
to Jericho, blind Bartimaeus. He saved one man on the way out,
Zacchaeus. But Jericho has to die. They wouldn't receive him. Jericho
represents the old man. City of Adam, the world, the
old man, the town of Mansoul. Those of you familiar with John
Bunyan's other book, which is actually my favorite of those
two classics, Pilgrim Progress, Holy War. The town of Mansoul
he wrote about, which surely he must have gotten from this
story. And this old man, town of Mansoul,
this old man is unbelieving, hard-hearted, unrepentant, which
Jesus Christ must conquer. He must conquer it. He must destroy
the old man, really, mortify him, bring him down like those
walls. and bring out that new. The Lord
Jesus Christ must conquer us or else destroy us. Right? Must break us or else destroy
us. Chapter 6 is the story. Verse
1. Jericho was shut up, straightly shut up because of the children
of Israel. None went out and none came in.
Jericho was shut up to Israel. They were the enemies of Israel. They heard of Israel, they heard
of Joshua, they heard of their God. This was an idolatrous town. They hated Joshua and they hated
Israel and they shut their doors to Israel. They wanted no part of them. No part. And wasn't that us? Huh? Listen to this. Remember,
you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, which are called
uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in
the flesh made by hand. At that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenant of promise, having no hope without God in
the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, by
Christ Jesus, by His power, by His blood, you who were sometimes
afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Rahab was right
in the middle of the Jericho. She was an enemy until God broke
down this enmity. But He's our peace. He's the
only one that decides who gets peace. Joshua said Rahab gets
peace. And He made both one and broken
down the middle wall of partition, abolished in His flesh the enmity. The Lord Jesus Christ must conquer us. He doesn't ask
us if we can be His Lord. He takes us. Paul said, I was
apprehended. That's what Paul said on the
road to Damascus, you know. He didn't see the light. The
light shone round about him. The light brought him down into
the dust. The light. Jesus Christ is the
light. The light laid hold of him like
old Jacob, didn't it? There wrestled a man with Jacob. Jacob was running. He wasn't
seeking God, but God, rich in mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ,
God manifest in the flesh, grabbed ahold of Jacob like He does all
His people. Verse 2, it says, the Lord said
to Joshua, I have given into thine hand Jericho and the king
thereof and the mighty men of valor. I have given everything
into your hands, Joshua. Take it. Do you know that all that the
Father giveth Christ shall come to him? How? He comes to them. He draws
them. No man can come except the Father
which hath sent Christ draweth him. The Lord Jesus Christ is
Lord over all. He has given authority over all
flesh. The God of this world who held
us captive, oh, stronger than he is going to bind him, spoil
his goods, and take what belongs to Him. And that ought to make the people
of this world tremble. See, this is the Christ we preach.
This is the Christ of Scripture. This is the God we declare every
time, without apology, without reservation. God who is God. Christ who is Christ. All power
given unto Him. We declare that all the time.
Why? Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
This ought to make all people tremble when they hear it, but
they won't hear it. They turn away their ears from
the truth unto fables about a Jesus who wants to and can, who tries
and fails, who He can't be Lord unless you let Him be Lord. That's
a fable. That's a lie. That's a figment of man's imagination.
That's not the Jesus Christ description. Not the Joshua scripture, and
it's not the Christ description. And if man ever really hear who
Christ is, just like you did, It will cause you to tremble
and call upon him for mercy. Joshua's going to take what's
his. He's going to take it. He's no impotent man. He's no
failure. The story is, Brother Mack, he
goes through every town and takes everything. Nobody can stand
up to him. Never been a man like Joshua
until Christ came. He took what was his. But it
shut up to him. The town shut up. How's he going
to take it? How's he going to take it? Turn
to 2 Samuel 5 with me. Oh, I love this story. 2 Samuel
5. I love this verse, these verses. 2 Samuel 5. In Bunyan's book,
The Holy War, if you haven't read it, I hardly recommend it. But for those of you who have,
you know the story how that he rode to that town of Mansoul,
an allegorical man who was taken captive by Satan, whom he called
Diabolus, the devil. And the way that Satan got into
that town was not by force, but by talking his way in. There
were two gates into that town, the ear gate and the eye gate,
principal gates. And Satan, in his wiles, in his
craftiness, as he did in the garden, as he still does, talked
his way in and showed them beautiful things. He was beautiful to look
at. Talked his way in. They freely opened up the gates
to him, and he came on in, and then that's when he took them
captive. Made them shut the gate. quieted, darkened the conscience,
put it into dark play, told the mayor to be quiet and so on and
so forth. Beautiful story of this. And when the king's son, when
the Lord who owned that town heard of this, he purposed to
come and take it back. And when he came, The Prince
of Peace, El Shaddai. When He came, He came to the
ear gate and the eye gate, and they wouldn't open it. They wouldn't open it. Had any
ears to hear, they wouldn't hear. Didn't see any beauty in it,
they wouldn't open it. So what did He do? He took it down and
it came in. Look at it. 2 Samuel 5. Look
at this. Oh, this is wonderful. It says
in verse 6, the king and his men went to Jerusalem. This is
David, under the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. It was
these people, Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem at that
time. David wasn't there yet. He came, and they spake unto
David and said, Except he take away the blind and the lame,
thou shalt not come in here. He can't come in here. Thinking,
David cannot come in here. What it was, was they had some
idols, like these gargoyles you see all over these buildings
everywhere, you know, that make them ward off evil spirit. That's
the blind, the haught, and the lame, and so forth. They're gods
who have eyes, can't see, and so on. He can't do anything lest
we let him. That's what they're saying, okay?
He can't come in here. What's the next verse say? Verse
7, Nevertheless, David took him. He can't come in here. How many in here years ago accepted
some Jesus, you know, let Him into your heart? Every one of
you who made a profession under false religion, Armenian religion,
did just that, didn't you? There's another Jesus, wasn't
there? Wasn't there? And then you came and heard this gospel
of this sovereign, all-powerful Lord, and you said, I don't believe
that stuff. I've made my proclamation. Oh,
man. It takes you. Casts down your
idols. Knocks down all your dagons. Breaks down that wall. I won't
believe that sovereign grace stuff. And you're exposed. It takes what's his. We better
hope God breaks. These false preachers say God
won't violate any man's will. He better,
or we're lost. Man's will is obstinate. Man's
will is depraved. He will not come unto him that
he might have life. He better break down our will. He better kill our free will
and make us willing in the day of His power. Yes, sir. And he does. Bless God, he does.
Well, how is Joshua going to take this city? How is he going
to break down these walls? Strange way. Look at it, verse
4 and 5. He said in chapter 6 of Joshua,
Joshua 6, verses 4 and 5, he said, 7 priests shall bear before
the ark. That ark of the covenant represents
the gospel. It represents Christ. Seven priests
shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns, and
the seventh day shall encompass the city seven times, and the
priests shall blow with the trumpets And it shall come to pass, not
might, not we hope it will, no, it shall, when they make a long
blast with the ram's horn. And when you hear the sound of
the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and
the wall of that city shall fall down flat." No ifs, ands, or maybes, or buts
about it. Blow that trumpet, that ram's
horn, seven times in seven days. before the ark and the walls
are coming down. Oh, my. Walk around that city
blowing the trumpet. The Lord Jesus Christ uses means,
one means, to conquer His people, to break down this enmity, to
bring His people into captivity to Himself. to conquer his people. What does that mean? What I'm
doing right now. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. Somebody might have thought,
blow trumpets and walls come down? Are you crazy? That's foolishness. Those are
impregnable walls. They're not coming down. Do you
know how thick those walls are? Do you know how hard those walls
are? They're not coming down. But we've got to batter it, or
we've got to bribe them, or we've got to do something. Trick them. We've got to go over the wall.
We've got to do something. Those walls aren't coming down
just blowing trumpets. You watch. Blow the trumpet. You watch. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Faith cometh by what? Hearing. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation. And that gospel is of Christ.
Christ is the gospel. We preach Christ. And when we
preach Christ, that's the power of God and the salvation. Mark
it down. Whoever are His people. By the
preaching of the gospel, the walls are coming down. They're
going to be conquered. They're going to be conquered.
Strange means, isn't it? You see, God gets all the glory
that way. These people didn't get any glory. The children of
Israel didn't get any glory. They didn't do anything. All
they did was the priests, the chosen men. People were just
following. And they were blowing the trumpets. And miraculously, amazingly,
the walls fell flat. What kind of trumpets were they?
Ram's horns. Ram. What's that? A male sheep. A male sheep. Not a ewe. There's no power in a ewe. There's no power in you. Christ is the power of God. Ram. It's a male sheep. The blood
of a lamb. He's not a powerless victim. He's a ram. The blood of a lamb. Christ is called the Lion Lamb.
Before he's mentioned in Revelation as the Lamb. And he's mentioned
all the way through. The Lamb. The Lamb. The Lamb.
The Lamb. Before he's mentioned as the Lamb, he's called the
Lion of the tribe of Judah. In chapter 5. You must know,
we must know, you must know Him as the Lion first. Ramson, we
preach a sovereign Christ, a powerful Christ. He who has all power
in heaven and earth. Declare Him as He is. A Lamb As it had been slain. As it had been slain. Christ
and Him that was crucified. He's now seated on the throne.
We don't preach one who's still hanging on a cross. Oh, no, no.
He's seated on the throne. Majesty on high. Ram's horns. Horn is His power. Horn is His
power. Before the ark. They did this
before the ark. Oh, my. We preach Christ. We preach the gospel. That's
all we do here. Is that all you do? Those people started going
around, and they were blowing that horn. One note. One note. First day. Second day. Somebody
might say, is that all we're going to do? Yes. Why? That's all God said to do. And the last day, they did it
seven times. We keep declaring, by faith the walls came down. Let's say it. By faith the walls
came down. Faith comes by hearing. We believe,
we know and are sure that the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation. We know. How do we know? Because
that's what He used on us. You only know something really
when you experience it. That's what He used on me. I
heard the gospel for years, but I didn't hear it. One day, in
the fullness of time, you know, that trumpet sound
may have been grating on the ears of some. Ah, same old, same
old. You reckon? I know it was to
the people of Jericho. Oh, that's awful. You can't stand
that. I'll tell you one sinner living
on the wall, that was music to her ears. Oh, blow it again! First day. Second day. They're
blowing it. Her salvation is coming. Fourth
day. Rahab. Her sixth day. Seventh
day. Blow it loud! Smack it down! And she did too. Came out. Saved. So great a salvation. That trumpet, she said, wouldn't
you play that music one more time? Let's play it all the way
to Israel. I love the sound of that trumpet. Everyone who's
heard the joyful sound, that's what they love. That's what they've
got to hear from then on. Play it again. Play it again
and again. Oh, boy. The Lord told them,
verse 10, said, Make any noise with your voice, verse 10. He
commanded the people, say, you shall not shout nor make any
noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of
your mouth. Your voice is not to be heard.
You're not the one that men need to hear from. If my voice is
the only voice people hear, they'll not be saved. If I'm standing
up saying what I think, what John Bunyan thinks, what Calvin
thinks, if I'm not... There's one thing that's the
power of God. The Word of God. The Gospel of God. It's God's
Word. It's His power. And only if He speaks it in the
power of the Spirit of God will anybody be conquered. And so
we don't do anything but this one thing. There are so many
voices today, so much talk, so much going on, so much noise
and commotion, and I'm telling you, I don't hear the note. I
don't hear the clear note sounding, do you? I don't hear the message
in all the mess. I don't hear the trumpet sound,
the clear sound, except the trumpet gives a certain sound. Paul said, I don't hear that,
do you, today in today's preaching? Oh, by God's grace, may we continue
to sound it forth from here. One note. Well, our Lord, look
at this. Let's read in closing. Verses
12. Joshua rose early in the morning.
Our Lord's getting up. You see the clouds? It's the
dust of His feet. He's stirring. Yes, He is. He's
coming. I see that great door of the ark shutting, don't you?
After seven days, I see it closing. There are not many coming in,
is there? Don't you? Do you hear that rumble of thunder
when it thunders? He is coming. Seven priests bearing
the seven trumpets of the round horn before the ark of the Lord
went on continually and blew with the trumpet. Seven is the
number of perfection. You know that. Completeness.
God finished His work and on the seventh day He rested. Seven.
We preach a perfect message, a complete Christ. And when it's
finished, all the people of God are going to be drawn. Verse
14, the second day they did it, verse 15, and on the seventh
day, at the same manner, seven times, only on that day they
compassed the city seven times, David said, Let the righteous
compass me, it will be a mercy. And it came to pass, verse 16,
When the priest blew the trumpet, Joshua said unto the people,
Shout! It's over. And folks, it's all over but
the shouting. That's right. I want you to, in closing, this
goes so well. You've got to see this. 2 Chronicles
10. 2 Chronicles chapter 10. This goes so well. And you know,
Joshua came in that city, the walls fell down, and not before
somebody came down those walls on a red line. And then the walls fell flat.
And he destroyed all the idols. He warned the people. He said,
don't you dare take the accursed thing. That place is full of
idols. Don't take them. Destroy them. 2 Corinthians 10, and everything
was destroyed. 2 Corinthians 10. You have to
read this. If you didn't hear a thing I
said, read this. 2 Corinthians 10. You have it? Now, though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. We don't use tricks and gimmicks
and means and bribery and so forth, but mighty through God,
the power of God to the pulling down of strongholds. Read on. Verse 5, casting down imaginations. Every high thing that exalted
itself against the knowledge of God and bring it into captivity,
every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ. That's what
God must do to every hard-hearted, obstinate sinner. And boy, even
those old walls may be thick from years of rebellion and unbelief. There's only one thing, Patrick,
that God Almighty uses. To bring down these imaginations,
these false gods and this pride of man is one thing. That's the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.