The first battle that Israel
was called upon to fight after entering the Promised Land was
with the walled city of Jericho. This was the most powerful stronghold
in the land of Canaan, and it was into Jericho that the two
spies were sent. Perhaps you remember that story.
As a matter of fact, that's what we're going to consider next
week, Lord willing. Rahab hiding them and so on.
But here is how the city was to be defeated. For six days
in a row, the armies of Israel would march around the city once
each day. In front of the armies would
be the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant And in front
of the Ark of the Covenant, there were seven priests with seven
trumpets made of ram's horns, and they would blow those trumpets
once a day for six days. Now, can you imagine how eerie
that sight must have been? I try to put myself in the place
of the inhabitants of Jericho. I imagine they looked up on the
wall and watched as Israel marched around their walled city and
would blow those trumpets. Then on the seventh day, they
were made to march around the city seven times. And after the seventh time, they
would blow the trumpets very long. And then all of Israel
was to shout with a great shout. Now, this was the shout of, I
guess, a couple of million people, but they were to shout with a
great shout and the walls collapsed. And this is called an act of
faith. By faith the walls of Jericho
came down when they shouted this shout. And they went into Jericho
and they killed everything breathing. They killed the animals, They
killed men and women. They killed boys and girls. They killed old people. They
killed everybody living. No one was spared with the exception
of Rahab and her family. And Joshua pronounced a perpetual
curse upon that city. And the writer to the Hebrews
tells us that this was done as an act of faith, and it's my
prayer that God will take this message and teach us something
about what faith really is. Wouldn't that be a blessing if
he did that? If we were given some understanding as to what
faith really is. Now, remember these miraculous
stories in the Old Testament. Yes, they happened. But it's
not just to show us how God can do supernatural things. It's
to teach us the gospel. And we learned something of the
gospel in this story, and the story begins with the Lord himself. Look in Joshua, Chapter five,
would you turn to Joshua, Chapter five? This is before Jericho. Was. Destroyed. Verse 13. 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. And Joshua went unto him, and
he said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? Whose side are you on? Now, Joshua
knew that this man was more than a man, but he wanted to know. Whose side are you on? Well, that's a common question.
Whose side are you on? And I love the answer, verse
14, and he said, neither. Neither. The Lord's not on anybody's
side. He's the Lord. He doesn't take
sides. He's the Lord. I'm not on either
side. Nay! But as the captain of the
host of the Lord, am I now come? He's saying, I'm the prince.
I'm the Lord of hosts. The Lord doesn't take sides.
I like what Abraham Lincoln said when someone said to him, do
you think God is on our side or the side of the South? He
said, here's all I can say, I hope. that we're on his side. Moses said, who's on the Lord's
side? Now, Joshua, let's go on reading.
And he said, nay, this is what's called a theophany, a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is who he
is. And Joshua did what everybody does, whoever sees Christ. He
fell on his face to the earth. and did worship, and said unto
him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?" Now, if you or
I ever see who the Lord is, we're going to want to hear what He
has to say. It's not what we got to say to him. We think,
oh, if I could just say something to him. If you and I ever see
who he is, we're going to forget about what we have to say. We
want to hear what he has to say to us. Now, that is his attitude. Not, let me tell you what I need
you to do for me. Not, here's all the things that
need to be done. No, what do you say? I want to hear what
he has to say, don't you? I want to hear what God says.
He says, what sayest thou to thy servant? Verse 15. And the
captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from
off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua
did so, the same thing that Moses heard at the burning bush. Verse
one of chapter six. Now Jericho was straightly shut
up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none
went in. Jericho was shut up. They would
not surrender. They were not looking for conditions
of peace. They were shut up in obstinance, man's obstinance
toward the Lord. They were shut up. Verse two, And the Lord said
unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho and the
king thereof and the mighty men of valor. Notice the language. He doesn't say, I will give Jericho
to you. He says, I have given Jericho
to you. Now, as far as what Joshua could
see, Jericho still had the walls standing. It still had whatever
it was they had to protect them. And they hadn't destroyed the
city yet. He didn't know that they would be able to. All he
could see was the walled city. Yet God says to him, see, I have. given you this. You've already
got it. You see, the will of God is so
supreme that what He wills is already
done before it takes place. Now I want to repeat that. The
will of God is so supreme that when He wills something, it's
done. It's past tense. It's historical
before it even takes place. That is how supreme, that is
how glorious the will of God is. If he wills something, it's
done. Not it will happen. It's happened. You may not have seen it yet,
but it's happened. Let me show you the New Testament
commentary on this. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. Hold your finger there in Joshua and turn to Romans
chapter eight. Verse 28, And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. Now catch that word purpose.
He's got a purpose. He's got a will. Now let's go
on reading. For whom he did foreknow. Not what he foreknew, whom he
did foreknow. He knew them beforehand. He knew
them before they were ever born. He knew them before the foundation
of the world. He didn't foreknow everybody.
This word foreknow is for love. It's not just knowing about stuff
that's going to happen. Oh, God foreknows everything
that's going to take place. No. whom he foreloved. Remember when our
Lord said to that group, depart from me, I never knew you. I
never knew you. But there's a group that it says
whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Past tense. And whom he called,
then he also justified. Past tense. And whom he justified,
then he also glorified. Past tense. It's not talking
about something that will take place. It's something that already
is. How can that be? I don't know. But it is. It is. That's how supreme his will is. These statements are not prophetic.
They're not talking about something that will happen. They're historic. They're talking about something
that has already happened. Now, here's the fact of the matter.
He says to Joshua, I've already given you this city. In Joshua's
experience, he didn't see it yet. But when God speaks, it's
always past tense because his will is so supreme that it's
already done before it happens. I have given you this city."
Now back to Joshua, chapter 6. Now God tells them how this is
going to take place. He says, You shall compass the
city, all you 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 before him."
Now, this is how this is going to take place. First, he speaks
of the Ark of the Covenant, that they're going to be marching
around the city. The Ark of the Covenant. Now,
that is the visible token of the Lord Jesus Christ. Gold and
wood. The two natures of Christ, the
deity and the humanity of Christ within that arc. You remember
what was in it? The rod that budded. Aaron's
rod that budded. Christ, our life. Life comes
from him. The golden pot of manna. Christ,
our sustenance. Christ, our food. We live off
him. And then there was the law of God, Christ our righteousness. Over the ark was the mercy seat,
the lid of propitiation, Christ our propitiation. He's the reason
God can be pleased with me. God said, I'll meet with you
at the mercy seat, the lid of propitiation, the blood offering.
That's where God will meet with the sinner, through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you have the ark of the
covenant. And you have these seven priests. There's the gospel
right there. And you have these seven priests
blowing seven ram's horns. Now, what that represents is
the preaching of the gospel. You have the gospel and you have
the preaching of the gospel. This is how God brings his people
in. This is how the victory is won
through the preaching of the gospel, these seven rams horns. Now, picture this in your mind.
You've got the you've got the armies, you've got the Ark of
the Covenant, you've got the seven priests ahead with the seven
rams horns and they go around the city six times. And nothing
happens. Not a thing. Now why is that? You know, God could have made
it collapse the first day, couldn't he? He sure could have. But what
is six? Six is the number of man. Adam
was created on the sixth day. Remember that number six, six,
six in the book of Revelation, I'm sure you're familiar with
it. The number six, six, six, the number of the beast and people
always try to avoid that number. They think, you know, that's
let's don't even use that number. What that number represents is
that's the number of man, six, six, six, failure upon failure
upon failure. This is the number of man. It
can't win. Now, when man is marching around
the city, what happens? Nothing. And how many times have
I felt that in the preaching of the gospel? I preach the gospel,
what happens? Seemingly nothing. Seemingly nothing. That's the
number of man. But then, on the seventh time, what's seven the number of? Seven's
the number of God. The number of perfection. The
number of completion. The Ark And the priest march
seven times around the trumpets with their trumpets, the preaching
of the gospel. And this is what brings the walls
down. Let me show you the New Testament commentary on this.
Hold your finger there and turn to second Corinthians, chapter
10. The walls come down to the preaching
of the gospel, look in verse three. For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds, walls against God, casting down imaginations
and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God and brings into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. And this is what the preaching
of the gospel does. It brings every thought into captivity
to the obedience of Christ. And that doesn't mean every thought
obeys Christ, because you know, you're looking at how wicked
thoughts you have. You know, all your thoughts are
not obedient to Christ. But notice what it says. It doesn't
say every thought becomes obedient to Christ. It says every thought
is brought into captivity to the obedience of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And what that means is I vow
to His obedience as my only righteousness before God at all times. And
this is the touchstone. This is what we test everything
by. His obedience. Every thought is to be brought
in captivity to the obedience, the righteousness, the merits
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what happens in the
preaching of the gospel. That trumpet is sounded. The obedience, the
righteousness, the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. That trumpet
is sounded. And that's what brings down the walls. But like I said,
six days, nothing happened. But on the seventh day, they
encircled the city seven times, seven being the number of perfection,
the number of completion, and the priest blew louder and longer,
and the people were called upon to shout. Shout with a great
shout, the scripture says. Now, there are two different
Hebrew words, shout with a great shout. One has to do with the
shout of the conquest of victory. And the other has to do with
the shout that took place on the day of Jubilee, when that
silver trumpet sounded and liberty and freedom was proclaimed. Shout,
a great shout. Now, before the walls came down,
they shouted the shout of victory, before the walls came down. And
in shouting that shout, the walls crumbled. Now, what does that
mean? How is that an act of faith? Now, here's what I thought. This
thing of shouting. Poor Aubrey can't identify with
this, but I was thinking about ball games. Aubrey's not a sports
fan. If you're a sports fan, you can identify with this. Have
you ever shouted when your team scores a touchdown? Have you
ever shouted when there's a game-winning basket? I don't know how many
times in my life. I mean, you let a war whoop.
I mean, you're so happy. You're so joyous. You shout out
because you're so happy your team won. What would you think about somebody
who let out that war whoop before it happened? You'd say, what's that all about?
It's called faith. That's what faith is. You shout
out the victory before it happened because God said it happened.
And you shout out before you see it. They shout out this victory. They shout this great shout of
liberty. And the walls come tumbling down.
Now, do I see? Can I look at myself and tell
that I'm perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ? You know, it says that whom he
did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of Jesus Christ, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Now, can I see that I'm perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ? No, I look at myself and all
I see is wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. All I see in
and of myself is sin. That's being honest. I can't
look at myself and say, boy, I'm getting there. Conform to
his image. No, all I see in myself is sin. I haven't seen anything else.
Yet, I believe that I am perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ. I believe I have perfect righteousness
before God. I don't see it, but if I could
see it, where would faith be? I can't see I've got this victory.
It's not something I can see, but I believe I've got it because
He said I do. That is faith. They shouted victory
before they'd seen the victory, and the walls came down. Now,
that's what faith is. It's believing what God says,
shouting the victory before it takes place. Now, faith has to
do with the future. Faith is a present hope, and
it comes from something that takes place in the past, and
it has to do with the future. Now, I believe that I'm, I believe
God is, and I believe that I'm going to stand before God in
judgment. And the searchlight of His holiness
is going to look me over. And you know what it's going
to find? Nothing but perfection. That's
hard to get hold of, isn't it? Because when I see myself, I
don't see that. But the Bible says that every
believer is the very righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. My sin
became his. His righteousness becomes mine.
And I believe. I let out this shout that's believing
the gospel before I see it. But God said it, and I believe.
I believe. I believe what God said in His
word. Now, I can't explain it all. And I can't prove to you
that I'm perfectly righteous. And you can't prove to me that
you're perfectly righteous. But Believing the gospel, we know
in God's sight we've got the victory, and we shout the shout.
And when they shouted the shout, the walls came down. Now, let me ask you a question.
Did the shout cause the walls to come down? I mean, even if
it was a million people shouting, did that shout cause the walls
to come down? No. It wasn't the strength of
that shout, the vibration of the noise waves or whatever you
would call it that caused it. No, it was the power of God that
caused those walls to come down. Would they have come down if
the people refused to shout? No. No. Now here we have a beautiful
portrait of faith. Now, listen real carefully. Strictly
speaking, it is not my faith that saves me. It's Jesus Christ
who saves me. Not my faith. My faith didn't
keep the law for me. He did. My faith didn't die on the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ died on
Calvary's tree. My faith wasn't raised from the
dead. He was raised from the dead. My faith is not seated
at the right hand of the Father making intercession for me. He
is. My faith is not my righteousness
before God. He is. Faith believes that. It really
is that simple. Faith believes that. Faith believes that Christ did
it all. Now, what if I said, I refuse
to believe any of that? Well, it's proof that God has
never done anything for me. Now, faith does not save, but
there's no salvation apart from faith. In Mark 16, verse 16,
the Lord said, Whoso believeth and is baptized shall be saved,
and he that believeth not shall be damned. Now, that's what the
Lord said. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Now, my faith doesn't save me.
Christ does. And I believe that. And there's
no salvation apart from believing the gospel. Without faith, it
is impossible to please God. Now, let's go on reading in this
narrative. Verse six. And Joshua, the son of Dunn,
Joshua, chapter six, verse six, and Joshua, the son of Dunn,
called the priests and said unto them, take up the ark of the
covenant. Let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams horns
before the ark of the Lord. He just tells them to do what
the Lord told him to tell them to do. 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 priests that
blew with the trumpets, and the rearward came after the ark,
the priests going up and blowing with the trumpets. And Joshua
had commanded the people, saying, You shall not shout, nor make
any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of
your mouth until the day that I bid you shout. Then you shall
shout. You know, the only way we can
really shout for joy in our hearts is when the Lord bids us to.
When he causes us to and causes us to see his gospel, we do it.
We don't try to manufacture it. We wait until he bids us to. So the ark of the Lord compassed
the city, going about it once, and they came into the camp and
lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose up 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 rearward 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, six days, nothing happened. And it came
to pass on the seventh day, when they rose early upon 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 priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto
the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city. And
the city shall be cursed, 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 were
sent. And ye, if in 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 a curse and a trouble.
Let me stop here for a moment. What is this accursed thing?
You read in Joshua chapter 7, remember when they went against
the city of Ai? And it was a very small city.
And they said, we don't need to sit. Just send 3,000 men and
we'll destroy them easy. I mean, there's just nothing
to them. And this small city destroyed. And they come to the
Lord and said, what is wrong? What happened? Well, they kept
this cursed thing he was speaking of. Now, what is this cursed
thing? Well, it was a Babylonish garment. What does Babylon represent? man's religion, the garment,
the covering of man's religion, salvation by works, the commerce
of man's religion, the wedge of gold and so on. And they had
to get rid of that. But here God is warning them,
don't take this cursive thing, don't touch this. What that's
a reference to really is human religion, Babylon, trying to
build a tower to God. That's where the word comes from.
Okay. Verse 18, And you, if in any wise, keep yourselves from
that cursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye
take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel curse
and trouble it. But 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. So the people shouted, when the
priests 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,
and they took the city 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. Now, I don't know how
many times people look at a passage of scripture like that and say,
that shows that the Bible couldn't be inspired. Why would the Lord
ever command somebody to do something that horrible? to kill everybody.
All the animals, men, women, children, young people, old people,
everybody was to be killed. And there's no doubt at times
where that would be terribly wrong to do that. But here is what
I find such comfort in. Whatever God says to do is right.
Shall not the judge of the earth do right? If he said to kill
them all, it was the right thing. It was the just thing to do.
Whatever he says is right. And I just rest in that. I rest
in that. I mean, I don't understand a
lot of things. There's so much we don't understand. But he understands. He understands. He's in control
of everything. And everything he does is wholly
right, just and good, whether I understand it or not. And I
can rest in Shall not the judge of the earth do right? Yes, he
will. And if he says to do it, it's
the thing to do. But as far as that goes, there's
some typical significance to this, too, than killing everybody.
Every one of our enemies. Every one of our sins have been
destroyed. They've already been put to death,
you know, the sins that I haven't even committed yet. Well, it's a depressing thought,
isn't it? The sins that I haven't committed yet, that if I live,
I will. And I'm not excusing that in any way. But do you know
they've already been paid for? There's pardon for sins of past. It matters not how black they're
cast. And oh, my soul, with wonder
of you, for sins to come, here's pardon too. Isn't that wonderful? All my enemies have been dealt
with. And this also tells us not to
spare any sin. There's no such thing as a little
sin. He said, kill them all. 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. 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 the gold,
and the vessels of brass, and of 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 to this day." Because she hid the messages
which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Now we're going to consider
that next week, but let me tell you something really glorious
about Rahab the harlot. Do you know the Lord came through
her? She was the great grandmother of David. The Lord takes this
woman, this prostitute. That's what she was. She was
a prostitute. She was a morally bankrupt woman. And he saved
her. And the Lord actually came through
this lie. The Lord himself. things are
just so glorious. He came through her. By faith,
the walls of Jericho fell down. Let me apply this. Beloved, you can't save yourself. You can't make yourself righteous
before God. There isn't anything you can
do to save yourself. You know that, don't you? You
can't save yourself. But Christ, I'm not going to
say He can. I'm going to say He did. I'm not talking about what He
can do. I'm talking about what He did do. When He said, It is finished,
the salvation of all of God's elect was accomplished. Now somebody says, well, I just
don't believe that. Well, it wasn't accomplished for you,
obviously. If you go on that way, if you die in unbelief saying,
I didn't believe that, he didn't do a thing for you. But here's
what faith is called on to do. I'm called upon to believe that
I've got the victory already. And I shall. Got it! Before it even takes place. That's
what faith is. By faith, the walls of Jericho
came down. And may God give you and I this
faith that is the gift of His grace. Let's pray together.