I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In Hebrews 11, verse 30, we read
the writer to the Hebrews summary of what took place in Joshua
6. He says, by faith, don't miss that, by faith, the walls of
Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days. By faith, these walls of Jericho
that protected the city collapsed, fell down flat, and the children
of Israel came in and took over the city. Now, 40 years before
this took place, when the children of Israel were getting ready
to enter the Promised Land, They sent 12 spies and the 12 spies
came back 40 days later and they said that Jericho indeed was,
or the promised land was indeed a land of plenty, but their numbers
1328 says, nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in
the land. And the cities are walled and
very great. And they were afraid to enter
into the promised land. And because of that, they were
sentenced to spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness before they
would be allowed to enter the promised land. Now, the first
city that they would come across would be the city of Jericho.
And remember they said it was walled and very great. Now, I have read from archaeological
statements, an archaeological dig, that the walls were 35 to
40 feet high. And you can imagine how that
would have been overwhelming to them. How are we going to
scale a wall like that with people on top and they can keep us from
entering into the city? Jericho, as I said, was the first
city and this story actually begins in Joshua 5, verse 1. And it came to pass, when all
the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward,
and all the kingdoms of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard
that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan, before the
children of Israel until they were passed over that their heart
melted, neither was their spirit in them anymore because of the
children of Israel." Now, in Jericho, they heard that God
had parted the waters of the River Jordan, and probably two
million people marched through, and they were now encamped. And
Jericho was only about two miles from the place where they entered. In this chapter, we read where
circumcision was reinstituted, the Passover was reinstituted,
it hadn't been observed in the 40 years in the wilderness, neither
had circumcision, and the manna ceased. They were now to eat
of the food of the land. And in verse 13 of chapter five,
now remember this is before the conquest of Jericho, And it came
to pass when Joshua was by Jericho. Now, I think at this time he
was alone. He knew he was commanded to take
the city, and he looked at the walls, and he thought, what can
I do? Now, during this time, the harvest
had already been, so they had plenty of food stockpiled in
Jericho. And Jericho had a spring within
it So Joshua knew that he couldn't stop the water, he couldn't starve
them out. They had plenty of supplies and
he didn't know what to do. He looked at this wall that is
so high, I guess about as high as a four-story building, and
he thought, what am I to do? And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold,
there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his
hand. Now at this time, Joshua did
not yet know who this was, but he must have been a very imposing
figure, this man with his sword drawn in his hand that made Joshua
think, whoever's side he is on, that's the side that's gonna
win. If he's on Jericho's side, Jericho's gonna win. If he's
on our side, we're gonna win. So Joshua comes up to this man,
And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou for us
or for our adversaries? Are you on their side or are
you on our side? Now, like I said, he saw something
in this man that he knew whoever side he was on, that's the side
who would win. Now, let's listen to the reply
of this man with the drawn sword. This is a pre-incarnate appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 14. And he said, nay, neither. Whose
side are you on? Neither, I don't take sides.
But as the captain or the prince of the host of the Lord am I
now come, I don't take sides, I'm the Lord. He doesn't take sides. I love
that. He is the side. He doesn't take
sides. Is he for the conservatives or
the liberals? Is he for the right-wingers or
left-wingers? Is he for the religious? He doesn't
take sides. He's the Lord. I have read where
some people came up to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War
and they said to the president, do you think the Lord is on our
side or the side of our adversaries? And Lincoln replied, I don't
know, but I sure hope we're on his side. That is the issue. I want to be on his side. He
says, I'm neither. I'm the captain of the Lord of
hosts. The Lord doesn't take sides. He's the God of glory. He has no rivals. He has no reason
to take a side. He is the God of glory, the uncreated
Son of God. Now listen to how he responded
to Joshua. He said, nay, but as the captain
of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his
face to the earth and did worship. Now, if I ever see who the Lord
is, I'm going to hit the dirt and I'm going to worship. That
is what Joshua did. Now this thing of worship is
going to have to be settled before anything else is settled. He's
the Lord and he's to be worshiped. Joshua did not know whose side
he was on. but he's to be worshiped because
of who he is. Now you will only worship an
absolute sovereign God. You'll only worship a Christ
where you're in his hand and he can do with you whatever he's
pleased to do. When you see that, there's only
one thing to do. Fall down on your face and worship. And that's what Joshua did at
this time. And look what he said. Joshua fell on his face to the
earth and did worship and said unto him, what sayeth my Lord
unto his servant? Now, when you see who the Lord
is, you're not going to be speaking to him. You're going to want
to hear what he says to you. Now that's got to be my attitude
toward the Word of God. I don't come to the Word of God
to prove what I believe. I come to the Word to find out
what to believe. Now that's how he came. He didn't
come saying, here's what I want you to do. He said, what do you
have to say to me? I hope that's my prayer. Not
all the things. You know what the Lord says to
me is infinitely more important than what I have to say to him.
And this is what Joshua wanted to know. What saith the Lord
to his servant? Verse 15, And the captain of
the Lord's host said unto Joshua, It was the same thing he said
to Moses. Loose thy shoe from off thy foot,
for the place wherein thou standest is holy. Now, perhaps you remember
in Exodus chapter 3 when Moses saw that bush. that could not
be consumed. It was on fire, and it was not
consumed. Maybe he saw it and thought lightning
struck it and didn't think much about it. But then he looked
at it a couple hours later, and it was still burning. And maybe
24 hours the next day, it wasn't consumed. And he went to see
that great sight of the bush that burned and could not be
consumed. Now, from that bush, the Lord
Jesus Christ spoke to him. And he said, take off thy shoes
off thy feet, the place thou standest is holy ground. Now think of this bush on fire
and not consumed. The fire did not need the energy
from the wood to keep it going. That lets us know of the independence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's God. He has no needs. The fire could not consume that
bush. He's perfect humanity. The wrath
of God did not consume him. He consumed the wrath. That's
why he was raised from the dead. God said, there's no fury in
me. What a beautiful picture we have of the Lord Jesus Christ
in that bush that burned and could not be consumed. And from
the bush, the Lord Jesus said to Moses, take your shoes off
your feet. The place you're standing is
holy ground. He said the same thing to Joshua. It was holy ground because he
was there. Now, verse one of chapter six
says, Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children
of Israel. None went out and none came in. Now, I'm sure the people of Jericho
felt safe in that city, 35, 40 feet high. They'd already had
harvest, they had plenty of food. There was a spring inside the
city. Their enemies couldn't cut off
their water supply. And I would say they felt fairly
safe. They were concerned, no doubt,
when they saw this, the children of Israel, but they shut the
gate and they felt fairly safe. Verse two, and the Lord said
unto Joshua, see, I have given unto thy hand Jericho, and the
king thereof, and the mighty men of valor." Now, what does
the Lord say? And this is the same one with
the drawn sword that Joshua was talking about. He said, what
do you say to me? Well, here's what he said, I
have given you the city. Now notice, he does not say,
I will give you the city. He said, I have given you the
city. It is already yours. It's already accomplished. Now, when Christ will something,
it's past tense before it takes place. Because His will is supreme. He didn't say to Joshua, I will
give you this city. He said, I have given it. Now my dear friends, that's the
way God's salvation works. It's something already done. Remember the Lord's words from
the cross, it is finished. Not it will be finished, it is
finished. Salvation accomplished. This
fits right in with, for whom the Lord did foreknow, know beforehand. Them he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Moreover, whom he
did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them
he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Everybody that Christ represented
before time began is already glorified. Somebody says, you
don't look very glorified to me. Well, no I don't. But I believe I am because the
Bible tells me I am. By faith. Faith is the evidence
of things not seen. I can't see that I'm glorified.
I can't see that I stand sinless before God. But I believe I am
because He has told me. That's the salvation that's in
Christ Jesus. It's already done. Now, don't worry, don't be anxious. If you're a believer, your salvation
has already been accomplished. It is finished. Now, the man with the drawing
sword tells Joshua how this city is going to be defeated. He said,
you shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about
the city, Once, this shalt thou do six days, and seven priests
shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns, and
the seventh day you shall compass the city seven times, and the
priests shall blow with the trumpets, and it shall come to pass that
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 ascend up every man straight ahead. before
him. Now, the man with the drawn sword
tells Joshua, here's what you're going to do. You're going to
march around the city six days. Now, who's going to be doing
the marching? Well, first, seven priests with
ram's horns. And behind them will be the men
bearing the Ark of the Covenant, and then the armies of Israel.
They're going to march around that city one time for six days
with the Ark of the Covenant, and the Ark of the Covenant is
so very important. That box, about two by four,
two feet by four feet, two feet high, it was made out of wood
and gold, gold covering the wood, representing the perfect deity
and the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has
two natures, absolute deity, absolute Godhead, and just as
much God as if he were not man at all, and perfect humanity,
just as much man as if he were not God at all. The God-man. And in this ark, there was three
things. First, Aaron's rod that budded.
A staff that had no roots, but yet life came out of it. Christ,
our life before God. He said, I am the life. And then
there was a pot of manna that came down. I don't know how that
manna kept from decaying, but that stayed in the ark. And that
lets us know that Christ is our necessary sustenance. We eat
and drink off Him. He is our necessary food. That's
what faith is. We live by Him. And then there
was the law, Christ our righteousness. Now, this was done six days,
one time around. And then on the seventh day,
they circled the city seven times. And they blew the trumpets that
were made out of ram's horns. What a shrill sound that must
have been. And the people shouted. Now, I try to think of the people
in Jericho watching this. I'm sure for six days they felt
very unnerved by all this, very nervous. What is going on when
they saw this army marching around the city without a word and leaving? And then on the seventh day,
they march around seven times. The Trumpets are blown and the
people give a shout and the walls come tumbling down flat. We read in verse 15. of this
sixth chapter of Joshua. And it came to pass on the seventh
day that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed
the city after that manner seven times. Only on that day they
compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass that the
seventh time when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua
said unto the people, Shout! for the Lord hath given you the
city." Now here we have this again. He doesn't say the Lord
will give you the city. He said the Lord hath given you
the city. Now, before they shouted, they
didn't see that. They didn't see the walls come
tumbling down. and collapsing, but they believed
they would because God said they would. Now, the preaching of
the gospel is represented by the blowing of the trumpet and
the shout. I love that scripture in 2 Corinthians
10. where Paul talks about the pulling
down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ. Now, did you hear that? Every
thought is to be subject to the obedience of Christ. You see, the obedience of Christ
is the believer's righteousness before God. His perfect obedience. And anything that Clouds that
issue, in my thinking, in your thinking, it's to be torn down.
We're to look only to the obedience of Christ as our only righteousness
before God. They shouted the shout of victory
before the walls came down, before they were flattened. A belief
in this victory before it took place. Now, question. This was
a lot of people shouting. Did this create such vibration,
some kind of sonic boom that caused the wall to collapse?
No. It wasn't the shouting that caused
the wall to collapse. This was a supernatural miracle
of God that caused the wall to collapse. Here's the second question. Would the wall have collapsed
had they not shouted? The answer to that is no. It
would not have collapsed had they not shouted. God said, shout,
the Lord has given you the city. What if they said, well, we don't
need to shout? They wouldn't have been given the city. You
see, this shout represents faith. The shout did not cause the walls
to come down. God did. But the walls would
not come down without this shout. Faith. Remember, it was by faith
that the walls came down. That's what the writer of the
Hebrew says, by faith, the walls came down. Now, listen to this
real carefully. I want to say this carefully.
I want to say it right. Strictly speaking, faith doesn't
save. Christ does. Faith believes that. Let me repeat that and I want
to illustrate it. Strictly speaking, faith does not save, Christ does. Faith believes that. Now there's no salvation apart
from faith. He that believeth and is baptized
should be saved. There's no salvation apart from
faith. He that believeth not shall be damned. That's the words
of the Lord. But strictly speaking, it's not my faith that saves
me, it's Christ that saves me. Now, it wasn't my faith that
stood before God, before the foundation of the world as my
surety. Christ did. It was not my faith
that became incarnate and lived and walked in this world for
33 years and kept God's law perfectly. Christ did. Faith didn't keep
the law for me. Jesus Christ kept the law and
worked out a perfect righteousness. Faith did not die for my sins. Christ did. Faith was not buried
in the grave. Christ was. Faith did not rise
from the dead. Christ did. Faith is not in heaven
right now representing me as my intercessor before God. Christ
is. Faith is not coming back for
me. Christ is. I'm not going to be
conformed to the image of my faith. I'm going to be conformed
to the image of Christ. Faith believes that. Faith believes the gospel. Now if I don't believe the gospel,
I don't have any reason to even suspect that God has anything
for me but wrath because of my sin. Faith. Trusting Jesus Christ alone. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. Faith. Now that's the same faith
where the Lord said, go thy way, thy faith has saved thee. Faith
looks to Christ only. Faith is the gift of God's grace. Now the walls came tumbling down
by faith. Now there was someone in this
city that was saved. Do you remember how Rahab, Rahab had agreed to take the
spies in and hid it in her house and there was an agreement that
you'll be saved because of this? And we read in these, Joshua chapter 6, but Joshua
said unto the two men that spied out the country, go into the
harlot's house and bring out hence the woman and all that
she hath as you swear to 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 she had, and they were all rekindled
and left them without the camp of Israel. And then they burnt
the city with fire and all that was therein, only the silver
and the gold and the 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 dwells in Israel even unto this day. Do you know Rahab the harlot
would become the great-grandmother of David? King David, the man
after God's own heart. And she was saved for this one
reason, that scarlet line representing the blood of Christ that hung
out her window. Now, when the men came to destroy
the land, they saw that scarlet rope hanging out the window,
representing this is where The blood is. This is where the Lord
has promised mercy. And when they came to that part
of the city, they brought her and all her loved ones out alive. You see, the Lord did have a
people in that city, and he saved them. Now Jericho was utterly
destroyed, but there were some people in it that were saved.
The people in the house that had the scarlet rope tied around
the window, just like people in the Passover time in the house
with the blood over the door, they were spared. By faith, by faith, the walls
of Jericho came down. May the Lord give you and I this
faith. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church or write,
we'll send you a copy and you can also find the message on
our website. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer. Amen. To receive a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.neidert
at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.