If you would, let's open our
Bibles to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. This evening, the Lord willing,
I'll be preaching at Todd's Road Grace Church in Lexington. I
covet your prayers for travel and preaching. You notice in
the bulletin, we've got an invitation to the wedding of Clara and Isaac,
and we're very much looking forward to that. And also, next Sunday
evening, Moose Parks and his wife Sandy will be here, so I
hope you all can come and hear him. We'll have a time of fellowship
afterward. And I just heard this morning that Danny and Lorelei's
niece, she just had a baby this week and she's in very serious
condition. They left part of the placenta
in and she's got a bad infection and she's in serious condition.
So let's remember her in prayer and also Johnson Sue's grandson. Last I have heard, he was still
in that induced coma and in serious conditions. Let's remember him
in prayer. All right, 2 Corinthians chapter
10. We'll read the first five verses. Now, I, Paul, myself,
beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in
presence and base among you. They thought his physical presence
was not much. He said, I'm a base among you,
but being absent and bold towards you. But I beseech you that I
may not be bold. I want to have to be bold when
I'm present for that confidence wherewith I think to be bold
against some which think of us as if we walked according to
the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after
the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted
itself. against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. So that our only thought
is that the only obedience, the only hope we have is the obedience
of Christ. All right, let's stand together
as Mike leads us in singing our call to worship. O may the power which melts the
rock be felt by all assembled here, or else our worship will
but mock the God whom we profess to hear. Lord, hear Thy people everywhere,
Who meek to worship, sing, and pray, Through Christ's own blood
the sinners fare. And let thy wrath be turned away. O let my hands forget their skill,
My tongue be silent, cold and still, This bounding heart forget
to beat, But not forget thy mercy's seal. Thank you, be seated. Let's turn now to page 53, number
53. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals
his wounds, and drives away his fear. Dear name the rock on which I
build my sealed and hiding place. My never failing treasury filled
with boundless stores of grain. Jesus, my shepherd, brother,
friend, my prophet, priest, and king, my Lord, my life, my way,
my end, accept the praise I bring. Weak is the effort of my heart
and all my warmest thought, but when I see past the war, I'll
praise thee as I ought. Till then I would thy love proclaim
with every fleeting breath, and may the of thy name refresh my soul in
death. Let's turn over now to 210. 210. Saved by the blood of the Crucified
One Now ransomed from sin and a new work begun Sing praise
to the Father and praise to the Son Saved by the blood of the
Crucified One Saved! Saved! My sins are all pardoned. My guilt is all gone. Saved! Saved! I'm saved by the blood of the
crucified one. Saved by the blood of the crucified
one, The angels rejoicing because it is done, A child of the Father
joined there with the Son. Saved by the blood of the crucified
one. Saved! Saved! My sins are all pardoned, my
guilt is all gone. Saved! Saved! I'm saved by the blood of the
crucified one. Saved by the blood of the crucified
one. The Father, He spake, and His
will it was done. Great price of my pardon, His
own precious Son. Saved by the blood of the crucified. Back to 4, verse 4. Saved by
the blood of the crucified one. All hail to the Father, all hail
to the Son. All hail to the Spirit, the great
three-in-one, Saved by the blood of the crucified one. Saved! Saved! My sins are all pardoned. My guilt is all gone. Saved! Saved! I'm saved by the blood of the
crucified one. Our Scripture reading will be taken
from Joshua, the book of Joshua chapter 6. Joshua, the sixth chapter. 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 unto thine hand Jericho and the king thereof
and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall compass the city,
all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt
thou do six days. The 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. And it shall come to pass 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 the city shall fall down flat,
and the people shall send up every man straight before him.
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 horn before the ark of the Lord. And he said
unto the people, pass on and compass 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 priest that blew with the trumpets. And the reward came
after the ark, the priest going on and blowing with the trumpets.
And Joshua had commanded the people saying, you shall not
shout or make any noise with your voice. Neither should any
word proceed out of your mouth until the day 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. And Joshua rose early in the
morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the
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. And it came to pass on the seventh
day that they rose early in the morning, 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. And it came to pass at the seventh
time, when the priest blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto
the people, shout, for the Lord had given you the city, and the
city should be accursed, 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 and any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed
thing, lest you make yourselves accursed when you take of the
accursed thing and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble
it. But all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron
are consecrated unto the Lord, and they shall come into the
treasury of the Lord. 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 down flat. So then
the people went up into the city, every man straight before him.
There was nothing stopping them. They didn't even have to curve,
straight before them. And they took the city. And they
utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman,
young and old, and oxen, sheep, and ass with the edge of the
sword. 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 ye swear unto her. And the
young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and
her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she
had. And they brought out all her kindred, and left them without
the camp of Israel. And they burnt the city with
fire, and all that was therein. Only the silver and gold and
vessels of brass and iron they put into the treasury of the
house of the Lord. And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive,
and her father's household, and all that she had. And she dwelleth
in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the messengers,
which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And Joshua adjured them
at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord that
riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho. He will lay the foundation
thereof in His firstborn, and in His youngest son shall He
set up the gates of it. So the Lord was with Joshua,
and His fame was noised throughout all the country." Thank God for
His Word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we bow before You
this morning, O thankful people. How could we not be thankful?
How could our hearts not overflow with thanksgiving for all the
mercy and grace you so freely bestowed upon your people in
our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for giving
us this day where we can meet together with our brothers and
sisters and to worship you, to open your word and to read it,
to have your word preached to us, to be able to sing the songs
of praise and thanksgiving to our God. Father, I pray that
you would this morning give us a heart of worship, that you'd
speak to us through your word and enable us to rejoice in Christ
our Savior. Father, give us faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Cause everything we heard here
this morning to be mixed with faith, that we might leave here
believing in, resting in, rejoicing in Christ our Savior. Let everything
that we do here this morning be done to the praise and the
exaltation of his great name, that name which is above every
name. Father, we thank you for providing
for us this place we can meet together and calling together
this family of believers that you've given us a place of worship
and you've given us an attitude of love one to another and peace. You've given us a heart as a
congregation to seek the Lord, to preach his gospel, to glorify
him and edify him. comfort his sheep. Father, I
thank you. This is something supernatural
that only you could do. And Father, I pray you'd preserve
it, that you'd protect it for many, many years to come, that
this building might stand as a lighthouse of the gospel where
poor sinners can come and hear of redemption and forgiveness
in Christ our Savior. And Father, for those who you
brought into the time of trouble, we pray for them. We pray for
Danny and Lorelei's niece, that you'd be with her, that you'd
strengthen and heal her and enable her to be a mother to this new
baby. We pray for Sue's grandson, Johnson,
that you'd move in a mighty way, Father, that you'd be with that
family. And others who need you especially,
Father, the sick and the brokenhearted, those you brought into time of
darkness and they can't seem to find a way out, Father, be
with them. Provide a way out as soon as
it could be your will. Cause us in all things to look
to and to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, not to rely upon
the arm of the flesh. So weak and futile, cause us
to look to and rest in our Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his
precious name we pray and ask these blessings. like for you to sing the chorus
of this song with me. Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored. He hath loosed the fateful
lightning of his terrible swift sword. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. I have seen Him in the watch
bars of a hundred circling camps. They have built at Him an altar
in the evening blues and dance. I can read his righteous sentence
by the dim and flaring lamps His day is marching on He has
sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat. He is sifting out the hearts
of men before his judgment seat. O be slow, my soul, to answer
him. Be true, blunt my feet. Our God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies,
Christ was born across the sea. with a glory in his bosom that
transfigures you and me. As he died to make men holy,
let us die to make men free, while God is mine. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. I can't think of anything that
we could give better than we could give our life to in dedicating
ourselves to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that make men
free. All right. If you would, first look in your
Bibles at Hebrews chapter 30. I titled the message this morning,
The Walls Came Tumbling Down. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 30 says, By faith the walls of Jericho
fell down. after they were compassed about
seven days. Now how is it that the walls
of Jericho came down? Well, Scripture tells us by faith. By faith. Now what did faith,
faith in God, had to do with those giant walls come tumbling
down? Well, let's look back at the
passage we read a few moments ago, Joshua chapter 6, and see
if we can't find out. This morning, this is what I
want us to see. How the walls of the hearts of
God's elect come tumbling down when they're conquered by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the answer is those walls
come tumbling down by faith. They come tumbling down. They're
set free through the preaching of the gospel. God the Holy Spirit
enables us to hear and to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Jericho
was a very large city. and it was surrounded by huge
walls. It was actually surrounded by
two walls. There was an outer wall and an inner wall. The outer
wall was six feet thick, 30 feet high. The inner wall was 12 feet
thick, 30 feet high. It had 12 feet thick, had to
be thick enough the houses would be in it. That's where Rahab's
house was in this wall, 12 feet thick, 30 feet high. The Jericho was a powerful, rich
and well defended city. The first spies from Israel came,
looked at that, said, you can't see the top of those walls. We
can't take this city. But they could, couldn't they?
Because almighty God had marked that city for destruction. You
see, before the children of Israel could go into the promised land
and enjoy the land that God had promised them and given them,
Jericho's got to be conquered. Jericho's in the gateway to that
land that God had promised them. Those walls had to come tumbling
down before the land flowing with milk and honey could be
enjoyed by God's people. And I'll tell you something else,
Rahab had to come out of that city. She had to come out of
that city. So those walls had to come tumbling
down. But how's that gonna be possible?
They don't have any battering rams, they don't have modern
weapons of warfare. How are those gigantic walls
gonna come tumbling down? It's by faith. That's what scripture
says, isn't it? And the walls of Jericho, these
are a picture of our hard, stony hearts. The walls of unbelief
and hatred of God. They are tall, thick walls. They've been there a long time.
They're double walls. They're strongholds of sin and
Satan. And before God's elect can enjoy
the salvation that God has promised for them, Christ has purchased
for them, Those walls of sin and hatred and unbelief have
got to come tumbling down. And the only way they'll be taken
down is by God-given faith that He gives through the preaching
of the gospel. See, it's pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Now, I had hoped that there's
someone here this morning that does not know Christ. Now, I
want to ask you a question. If you don't know the Lord, you
know it in your heart, you know it. I want to ask you a question. Does any part of you desire that
God save you? Do you have any desire at all
that God would save you? Well, if your answer to that
question is yes, it's you want God to give you faith in Christ.
You want to believe this gospel. No matter how hard you try, you
cannot make yourself believe it. Do you want God to give you
faith in Christ to save your soul? Did I tell you what to
do? I've told you this before and
I'm going to tell you again. That you make it your business to
be where the gospel is preached. Could this please God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them to believe? And I feel you. I know what it feels like to
try to make yourself believe and you just can't. And one day
when God saves his people, you just think, I believe. I didn't have to make myself
do it. I just suddenly found myself
believing. You know what happened? God gave you faith and you find
yourself believing. Well, God's going to do that
for you. He's going to do that for me. You know how he's going
to do it? Through the preaching of the gospel. Faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. And that's how our walls,
the walls of our heart, the walls of sin and unbelief and hatred,
they come tumbling down through the preaching of the gospel.
And that's what we see in picture in Joshua chapter six. So my
first point is this. Our walls of sin and unbelief
and hatred, they're walls of our own making. Joshua chapter
six, verse one. Now Jericho was straightly shut
up because of the children of Israel. And none went out and
none came in. Now the people of Jericho had
shut themselves in behind these walls. That word straightly means
they shut themselves up. Nobody else did it to them. They
shut themselves up. They never one time raised the
white flag of surrender. They never one time opened those
gates and sent out a delegation begging Israel for mercy. Now
we know they heard about the God of Israel. Rahab told those
spies, oh we heard about you. We heard about your God, what
he did at the Red Sea, what he did to those kings, the Amorites.
We heard about that. And the people feared. And she
said, we're full of fear because of you, because of your God.
But they would not surrender. They're full of fear, but they
would not beg for mercy. That's their fault, isn't it?
Their own fault. But that didn't stop God, did
it? And the same thing is true of our wall. of unbelief and
hatred and sin. They're walls of our own making. And by nature, we'll never raise
the flag, the white flag of surrender. Never. By nature, we will never
come begging Christ for mercy. Never. By nature, we refuse to
come to Christ. Our Lord told those Pharisees,
you will not come unto me that you might have life. You refuse
to do it. So these walls are walls of our own making. It's
our own fault, isn't it? That's why nobody from this pulpit
ever begs you to make a decision for Jesus. Never. We never try
to talk you into a decision and into getting baptized because
this is what we know. You can't do it. And by nature,
you won't do it. Those walls are walls of our
own making, aren't they? But thankfully, that will never stop
God's purpose of redemption for his people. And the reason for
that is God has a people that he's chosen to save and he's
given those people to his son to redeem. That's my second point. God has an elect people who've
been given to Christ and he's going to have them. Verse two,
Joshua chapter six. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
see, I've given into thine hand Jericho and the king thereof
and the mighty men of valor. Now I think you all know well
that Joshua is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, a preeminent
picture. They even share the same name.
Joshua is the Old Testament name for the New Testament name, Jesus.
And the Lord told Joshua, see, you see a city? I've given it
all to you. You're going to have it because
I've given it to you. Now God has an elect people,
but those people, we just described their nature. By nature, they
stubbornly hide behind their walls of unbelief, and sin, and
hatred of God. And it looks like this is a hopeless
situation. Those walls are tall, they're
thick, they're well defended. But don't you ever fear. Don't
you ever fear. Those people are going to be
conquered. And they're going to be conquered
because the Father has given those people into the hands of
His Son, in the covenant of grace, and He's going to have them.
Christ is going to have them. Now, those people don't know
it yet, but they're willingly, they will willingly one day submit
to King Jesus because they've been given to Christ. Christ
died for them. He purchased them and he will
have them for his own. They just don't know it yet.
So somebody's got to tell them. And this is my third point. The
means that God uses to give faith and the means that God uses to
conquer unbelief and tear these walls down is the preaching of
the gospel. Verse three. And ye 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 ye shall compass the city seven times. And the priests
shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass that
when they make a long blast with the ram's horns, And when you
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 send up every man straight before him.
And the Lord told Joshua, here's what we're going to do. Here's
how you're going to conquer the city. You're not going to make catapults.
You're not going to make battering rams and these kinds of things.
This is what you're going to do, Joshua. You're going to have a parade
around this city. You're going to circle the city one time a
day for six days. And while the people are circling
the city, the priests are going to blow on these ram's horns.
And the seventh day, you're going to walk around the city seven
times while the priests blow upon these ram's horns. And after
seven times you circle in that city, they're going to blow the
ram's horn, one loud long blast, and the people are going to shout.
They're going to shout for victory. And those walls are going to
fall down flat. You believe that? Do you believe
that would happen? The only way you can believe
that is by faith. And all of that is given to us as a picture
of preaching the gospel. And that's what I want to spend
the rest of my time on, this picture of preaching the gospel. It's so full of it. Now, first,
these ram's horns that they're to blow on is a picture of preaching
the gospel. You know, ram's horns don't look
like much. They're not a shiny, fancy trumpet
with those valves and things you push with your fingers. They're
just a ram that died or whatever, however they got the horn. Hollowed
it out somehow. And it's just an old ram's horn.
Hollowed out and they blow on it on one end. I mean, it's just
an old horn. I mean, and it is tough as nails. A ram's horn is so hard. It's
probably got all kinds of scars on it from battles that it's
been in. Where those rams just ram into each other, battering
one another. I mean, that thing just don't look like much. It's
all battered and scraped up. And we think, now here, you know,
we're coming into the promised land. We're going to take the
first city in the promised land. Surely we want something that
looks better than an old ram's horn. Let's get us a shiny trumpet. Let's get us some people who
are skilled at playing it, no? That's not the way God would
have it, is it? Because God's not going to use things that
are impressive to the flesh to tear down our walls of unbelief
and sin and hatred. In the preaching of the gospel,
God always uses plain, sinful men to preach the gospel. God
uses sinful men. He reveals Christ to them. He
gives them the message, but they're sinful men. They're men of the
flesh. Their flesh shows the scars of
a lot of battles that they fought and lost. But God uses those
men to preach the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ so that
the glory will be the God we preach. not the man preaching
it. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. That's why he uses just old ram's
horns. Here's another thing about ram's
horns. Ram's horns just play one note. They don't have valves
you can make different sounds with. They just play one note.
The priest would blow on that horn and the only thing that
would come out of it is one long, unchanging note. It's all the
ram's horns capable of producing. And don't you think that note
got irritating to the people of Jericho? They just kept hearing
this one note. It was so irritating, they think,
don't those fellas know any other notes? Don't they have any other
song to play? Isn't that what the flesh thinks
about God's preacher? Doesn't he have any other notes? Doesn't
he have any other subject other than Christ alone? This is getting
irritating to me. Well, that one note may have
been irritating to the people of Jericho, but there was somebody
in that city that loved that note. To Rahab the harlot, that
note was the sound of jubilee. Rahab heard that one note being
blasted out by those priests as a sound of freedom. Freedom's
coming. I'm going to be set free from
this place. And that's the world. The world
hates the gospel of Christ. But to the believer, that one
note, that constant preaching of Christ alone is the sound
of jubilee. When God's people hear the preaching
of Christ, they hear that one note as a sound of coming freedom. Freedom's coming. Freedom's coming.
And a believer never gets tired of it. God's people, if you know
Christ, if you know Him, you can't get tired of hearing about
Him. You just can't get tired of hearing about Christ and Him
crucified because He's my righteousness before God. He's my sanctification. He's my redemption. Forgiveness
and peace with God are in Him. Eternal life is all in and by
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We just need to preach one note
that we know Christ. That one note is a sound of jubilee
to God's people. All right, number two, the priests
blowing on those ram's horns, going before the ark. That's
a picture of gospel preaching. In this parade, as the people
were going around Jericho, the first thing the people saw were
those priests blowing the horns. Right behind them came the Ark
of the Covenant. That's a picture of gospel preaching. That's how
we first hear the gospel. See, first we hear it. First
we hear that note. Maybe it's an irritating note
to us. Maybe it's a good sounding note to us. But first we hear
the note. And then we see Christ. Then
we believe Him. First you hear the gospel. And
then you see the ark. Then you believe Christ is pictured
in this ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant, remember,
was made out of incorruptible wood. It was a box. They just
made a wooden box made of incorruptible wood, and they covered it with
gold. That's a picture of Christ, the
two natures of Christ. He's the God-man. He's God and
man in one body. And inside that box, they kept
the law of God. The law couldn't be left in Moses'
hands, could it? Now, he'll throw down breaking
in anger. But the law was kept by the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Ten Commandments and those tablets unbroken in that Ark of the Covenant
showed us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only obedience
to the law His people have. He kept the law for us. And that
ark contained the pot of manna. In that ark is this manna, which
is a picture of Christ, the bread of life for His people. Christ
is our life. He's the giver of it. He's the
sustainer of it. He is our life. That's what the
manna picture. And then that ark contained Aaron's
rod that budded. And that was a picture that Aaron
was God's appointed high priest for his nation. Well, that being
put in that arc showed us that the Lord Jesus Christ is God's
appointed priest. And that tells us you and I can
only come to God through this priest, this one man, the priest. The only mediator between God
and man is the man, Christ Jesus. He's God's appointed priest.
And the only way we can come to God and be accepted is through
him. Now that's what that picture, but the only way we'll ever see
that, the only way we'll ever believe that, the only way we
could ever possibly believe that all I need in salvation is the
Lord Jesus Christ. The only way I can ever believe
that Christ is all is if somebody there blows the ram's horn and
tells me, preaches the gospel and tells me Christ is all. See, first I've got to hear,
don't I? And then God enables me to see Christ. We can't believe
on Him who we've not heard. So somebody's got to tell us.
And the gospel's preached. And then we see Christ. Because
that's how God's pleased to reveal Himself. All right, third, the
gospel is to be faithfully preached. Faithfully. Now you think about,
you know, we think about how the people of Jericho felt while
this was going on. Think about how the children
of Israel felt. They go around that city, circling the city,
blowing those ram's horns, and they come back to camp that night. There they are. They run the
campfires, you know. They've done this for six days.
They've done this. Those walls didn't show one sign
of bowling. Not one stone fell out of them. There wasn't one
crack in those walls. But they kept marching, and they
kept blowing the ram's horns. And do you reckon, as they're
sitting around that campfire at night, that somebody said,
boys, this is not working. I mean, do you see any sign of
these walls giving way? Tell you what, I don't know what
Joshua's doing, but I tell you what we better do. We better get us
some ladders and some ropes, because we're going to have to
climb them walls and get in. That's the only way we're getting in that city. You know
what that's a picture of? That's a picture of us preaching
the gospel. And then thinking now, boys,
I don't see any results going on here. I don't even see any
cracks. I don't even see anything starting. We better change our methods
so we can start getting us some results. We're going to have
to do something. I mean, what we're doing is not
working. So we're going to have to do something than just plain old
preaching. Because plain preaching, plain unvarnished preaching of
the Lord Jesus Christ is not getting anybody's attention,
so we better change our methods. Stop right there. The walls are
coming down by faith. And this is why I know about
faith. Faith perseveres. Faith keeps preaching the gospel
no matter what. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4. By faith, we'll not stop preaching
the gospel. We'll not stop sounding this
one note. And by faith, we won't compromise the truth. 2 Timothy
chapter 4 verse 1. I charge thee therefore
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who should judge the quick
and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word,
preach the word, preach the word, be instant in season and out
of season and every season. Preach the word, reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their
own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall
be turned unto fables. That's what they're going to
do, but Timothy you watch. in all things, endure afflictions,
and do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of your ministry. Timothy, keep preaching. Even
when you're not getting results, even when people turn to fables,
Timothy, make full proof of your ministry. How are you going to
do that? By faith. By faithfully preaching
the gospel. Just keep preaching the word
and leave the results to God. Because faith also knows this,
God's word will not return unto Him void. This Word is the only
note we need. Just preach the Word. If you
look back in our text, Joshua chapter 6, Joshua tells us something
here. Don't add your two cents to it.
Don't try to add human efforts. Don't try to add human psychology
to it. Don't do something to make it
look better to men or make it easier for the flesh to swallow.
Just preach the Word and be quiet. and leave sinners alone with
God. This is between the sinner and God. Verse 10, Joshua chapter
6, And Joshua 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 to shout, and
then you shall shout. Until then, you just keep silent. Don't try to do something to
make the preaching of the word effective. Don't try to add something
to make the blowing of the ram's horns effective. Just blow the
ram's horns and hold your peace. And leave sinners alone with
God. Just keep sounding that one note from the ram's horns.
And play it loud and clear. Play it so nobody can mistake
what you're saying. Don't sound an uncertain sound. Don't preach where people think,
well, I wonder what he means by that. He could mean this or
he could mean this. So I don't really know what he
believes. I don't know. I don't know why
I should be mad at him or happy with him. I don't know what he's
saying. Sounded good, but I don't know what he's saying. Don't
preach like that. Don't preach the gospel in such a way that
an unbeliever can find peace in it. Don't do that. That's
not fair to them, is it? To preach in such a way we give
an unbeliever peace? That they have peace outside
of Christ? That's not fair to them. It's not honoring to God
either. And don't preach the gospel so
that God's people are left with doubts and fears. That makes
me so angry. I mean, it just makes me angry.
Don't preach so God's poor children are left with doubts and fears. Don't use the law to beat them
up. Don't give them rules and regulations they got to keep. Just preach Christ so they leave
with confidence in Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
14. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 6. Preach so somebody knows what
you're saying. Now brethren, if I come unto you speaking with
tongues, what shall I profit you? except I shall speak to
you either by revelation or by knowledge or by prophesying or
by doctrine. How am I going to profit you
in any way if I'm saying something you can't understand? I mean,
you might be impressed if I'm speaking in tongues. You might
be impressed if I'm using all this religious, you know, big
words. You don't know what they mean, but it sure sounds impressive.
But you're not going to be blessed by it. You think that's a miracle,
but you won't be blessed by it unless you're pointed to Christ.
The only way we can be blessed and pointed to Christ is if God's
preacher preaches a sound note, a note that we can clear note,
a note we can understand. So we're pointed to Christ. Sound
a certain note of Christ and Christ alone so that sinners
know if I'm going to have salvation, I got to go to Him. If I'm going
to have forgiveness of my sin, if I'm going to have life, I
got to go to Him. I got to trust Him. Sound a certain
note. So God's people find their joy,
and their salvation, and their confidence, and their comfort
in Christ. Look down at verse 8. For if
the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself
to the battle? If you sound an uncertain sound,
how are people going to know? It's in Christ alone. Not me
plus him, but him alone. Make the gospel unmistakable. It's all Christ. Now look back
at Joshua chapter 6. And while you're doing that,
while you're sounding this certain note, don't use anything from
false religion to try to help you. Verse 17, Joshua chapter
6. And the city should be accursed,
even it and all that are therein to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot
should live, and all that are with her in the house, because
she hid the messengers which we sent. And ye, in any wise,
keep yourselves from the accursed things. lest you make yourselves
accursed. When you take of the accursed
thing and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. See,
don't use the methods of this world. Don't use the methods
of false religion to try to get people to do something. It'll
be a curse to you. It'll be a curse. Don't take
their money. Don't try to help you in any
way. You just trust the Lord to provide.
God don't need it. Just trust Him to provide. All
we're to take is what's consecrated to the Lord, verse 19. And 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. Rahab the harlot is a precious
stone to our Lord. She's consecrated to him. Take
her, take her. The only means God will ever
use to save his people is the preaching of the word. He'll
never use a lie. He'll never use man's methods.
He'll only ever use the unvarnished preaching of his word. Then let's
faithfully preach it. The gospels be faithfully, continually
preached. All right, here's the fourth
thing. The walls will come tumbling down and God's people will be
saved. They will. And I can tell you
when. At God's appointed time. Seven
trumpets were blown for six days. And on the seventh day, those
seven trumpets were blown seven times. Well, seven in Scripture
is the number of perfection. The day of perfection is God's
appointed time. At that time, His people will
hear with the ear of faith. And their walls of sin and unbelief
and hatred are going to come tumbling down. And somebody might
wonder, well, how many times do I have to hear the gospel
before I believe? I don't know. I don't know. But
I do know this. If you're going to hear, it's
going to be at God's appointed time. We won't always hear the first
time. Matter of fact, we seldom will. But we will hear at God's appointed
time. And that gives us confidence,
doesn't it? We bring our children to hear
the gospel. We invite the lost, our friends,
our family to hear the gospel. And we do it with this confidence.
Not thinking, well, I'm wasting my time. You're not wasting your
time. Do it with this confidence. The Lord will save his people. He will. And he's going to reveal
himself to them through the preaching of the gospel. Then brethren,
let's faithfully preach Christ and wait on him to provide the
results because he will in his time. All right, here's the fifth
thing about preaching the gospel. Every member of Israel had a
part in this preaching of the gospel. Verse nine says this. The armed men went before the
priest that blew with the trumpets and the re-reward came after
the ark, the priest blowing on or going on and blowing with
the trumpets. The re-reward there is the gathering
host. That's what the word means. The
re-reward is all the people of Israel, the gathering host gathered
behind that ark of the covenant. And they all marched. And their
presence mattered. It didn't matter they weren't
blowing the trumpet. It didn't matter they weren't carrying
the ark. It didn't matter they weren't shouting. Their presence
mattered. Everybody, religious people at
any rate, seems like they all want to be seen as loving. I
love everybody. I don't care who you are. I don't care what
you do. I love everybody. And I'm weary of that. I'm just telling
you I'm weary of that. People saying I love you when
they don't show it by their actions. Now if you want to be loving,
You know, hopefully God's people do. You don't want to be loving.
If you want to be loving, you want to show your love for God
and show your love for His people, tell you what you do. Show up. Show up. Isn't that true just
in our family life? You want to be a good family
member? Show up. Show up. Isaac, I'll give you
some free marital advice. When you get married Go to work
and you do whatever you got to do. Tell you what to do. Show
Claire you love her. Show up. Come on. Show up. Show up. The daily grind of raising children
and raising a family is just that, a daily grind, isn't it?
You want to show them you love them? Show up. Be there for it. Be there for the special times
too. Don't miss them. Show up. You see, everybody sees
that for your family, right? Well, the same thing is true
in the family of God. If you want to show your love
for God, your respect for Him, your love for God's people, I'll
tell you what you do. You show up. You show up to the
worship surface. You show up when something needs
to be done. That shows your love for God. That shows your love
for your brethren by encouraging them that you're faithful to
be here. I tell you this, your presence
here matters a whole lot to me. I need you. It encourages me. Don't ever think that you don't
matter. No child of God, no member of
God's church can ever think, well, it doesn't matter what
I do. It doesn't matter if I'm there. Yes, it does. What if
the people of Israel felt that way? And they said, it don't
matter if I'm there. I'm not blowing the horns. I'm
not carrying the ark. It don't matter if I'm there. I'll just
stay here in my tent. Well, I'll tell you what would
have happened. The walls of Jericho would still be standing up, wouldn't
they? Every member of God's church
has something to do in God's service. And I tell you, do it
faithfully. And I don't know what it is God's
given you to do. But I tell you, an awful good
place to start, show up. You can't do anything if you
don't show up. So show up. All right, here's the sixth thing. The preaching of the gospel.
We preach knowing that the salvation of a sinner is a supernatural
work of God. Here they're marching around
Jericho, and right at the appointed time, just when God said they
would, those walls fell flat. Verse 20. 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 down flat. So that
the people went up into the city, every man straight before him,
There were no obstacles. He didn't have to work his way
around any obstacle. They just went straight before him into the
city. And they took the city. Now those walls falling down
were a supernatural event. Something God did. There's no
other explanation for that. The walls fell down flat by faith. By faith. Those walls of the
city couldn't have fallen down any other way, could they? Because
God commanded people to march around the city, blowing the
horns, carrying the Ark of the Covenant and following along
behind the Ark. It couldn't have fallen any other way because
that was God's commandment. And the people marched around that
city, blowing those ram's horns, carrying the Ark of the Covenant
because they believed God. See, faith acts. Well, the salvation
of a sinner is the same way. It's a supernatural event. Something
only God could do. And He does it through faith. Somebody preach the gospel because
they believed God. They might not have thought they
were seeing any results at first, but they kept preaching the gospel
because they believed God. At the appointed time, God, the
Holy Spirit, gave life to one of God's elect. See, faith always
sees the victory. Always. And it comes through
the preaching of the gospel. All right, here's the seventh
thing. The gospel declares salvation and judgment. The walls came
tumbling down and everyone without exception who would not surrender
was killed. Verse 21. And they 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. This is
very sobering. This matter of believing Christ
is a matter of life and death. We're not playing games here.
This is a matter of life and death. So since it's a matter
of life and death, let's not play at preaching. And let's
not play at hearing it. Let's not play with this thing
and try to gain a following for ourselves at the expense of the
souls of men and women, boys and girls. Let's just preach
the gospel honestly. Don't hold something back you
think would be offensive to the flesh. Preach the gospel honestly. Just preach, thus saith the Lord. That's what's best for everybody
to hear, what God says. It's best for people to know
Christ. So let's preach Him. I don't
really care what anybody thinks of me. I'm not like, for y'all
to like me, but I don't really care what somebody thinks about
me in my preaching. This is what I care about. Do
you know Christ? Do you know Christ? It's the worst thing I could
think of that you wouldn't know Christ because I didn't dare
preach it. The worst thing I think of. The gospel declared judgment
and everybody who does not surrender and bow to Christ is going to
be destroyed. But thankfully, the gospel also
declares salvation. Everybody, without exception,
who believed God was saved alive. Verse 22, but Joshua had 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 you swear unto her. Rahab was saved alive, just exactly
like God promised. Rahab believed God. She had God-given
faith. Do you know how I know she believed
God? She took that scarlet line the spies gave her and hung it
in the window. identifying with the people of
Israel. Everybody who believed God was
saved alive out of that city. And everybody who was under the
blood was saved alive out of that city. And they were the
same person. Everybody who believes God is under the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that scarlet line
represents. They're all saved alive because the blood of Christ
is washed in white as snow. And God the Holy Spirit will
give everybody under the blood Everyone for whom Christ shed
his precious blood, he's going to give every last one of them
faith in Christ and they'll be saved alive. And then here's
the last thing about preaching the gospel. Joshua got all the
glory. Verse 27, so the Lord was with
Joshua and his fame was noise throughout all the country. The
gospel gives the Lord Jesus Christ all the glory, faith, gives Christ
all the glory. That's why if your spirit bears
witness with my spirit, you're blessed by the message just because
faith gives Christ all the glory. And if the gospel you hear gives
you any credit for any part of salvation, my friend, it's not
the gospel. It's just not. And you get away
from it or you're going to be damned for believing a lie. But
if the gospel you hear It gives Christ all the credit. It gives
Him all the glory for doing all the work of salvation by Himself
without any help from you, without any input from you. Then that's
the gospel because it gives Him all the glory. And you believe
it. And you pray. If you can't believe
it, if you don't believe it, you pray and ask God to give
you the gift of faith that you might believe it. And when He
does, this is what you're going to find. The walls of your sin
and your unbelief and your hatred of God all came tumbling down
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those walls came tumbling down
when by faith you saw the mighty conqueror. And you just believed
and you could not believe any more than those walls could stay
standing up. You could not believe by faith,
God-given faith. All right, let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You
for this passage that so clearly proclaims salvation in Christ
and Christ alone through faith in Him, not by our works, but
by faith. Father, how we thank You for
giving this precious gift of faith in Your Son to Your people,
causing us to see Him, believe Him, that He is all I need. Father, give us this faith. Give
us this faith right now, at this moment. Let each soul here this
morning leave believing in, trusting in, and resting in Christ our
Savior. Tear down our walls of strongholds
of sin and unbelief and hatred and cause us to see and believe
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in his precious name we
pray and give thanks. Let's stand and sing 496. We'll just sing the first two
verses. 496. I heard an old, old story How
a Savior came from glory How He gave His life on Calvary To
save a wretch like me I heard about His groaning Of His precious
blood's atoning Then I repented of my sins and won the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever. He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and
all my love is new. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. Second as the benediction, I
heard about His healing. Of His cleansing power revealing
How He made the lame to walk again And caused the blind to
see And then I cried to Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought
to me the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever. He sought me and He bought me
with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him. and all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood.