How to conquer our Jericho

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Joshua chapter 6.

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

Title of the Message: How to Conquer Our Jericho.

Because many of us, once you give your life to Christ, once you rededicate your life to Christ, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you, your Jericho's come.

And so today we're going to be looking at how to conquer our Jericho.

Our Jericho's plural, basically, because there's always more than one, I can promise you.

As I was putting this message together, I was thinking about three stages of a Christian's life.

And basically we see that even through the book of Joshua.

Stage number one, the Christian living in the bondage of worldliness, as Israel was in the bondage of Egypt.

And if you remember, they were in bondage for a long time in Egypt.

And Egypt, every time you see Egypt in the Old Testament, it stands for it's it's a typology of the world and worldliness and all that the world tries to entangle us in.

That's what Egypt stands for.

I love the verse, Romans 8.21.

Paul says, we shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and to the glorious liberty of Jesus Christ.

Is that not good?

That means we have the power to be delivered from that bondage.

Then the second thing, we see the selfish, carnal Christian wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

And Paul says in Romans 8:6 that those that are carnal are fleshly, and those that live in the flesh shall die, but they that live in the spirit shall have life.

Romans 8:6

And then thirdly, there's the productive Christian living in victory and conquering the enemy of his and her soul, which is the picture that we see here in Joshua chapter 6.

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

This is where we find God's people in Joshua chapter 6, conquering and being obedient and possessing God's blessings and being victorious.

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

See, as Christians, we we have those three stages.

Once we get saved, we literally get saved in the world because we're living in the world.

And then we have a choice.

We have a choice to be a conquering Christian or we have a choice to be a carnal Christian.

And it's our choice.

God won't do it for us.

We can wander in the wilderness and just get by, yeah, we're saved, but it's, I mean, you just out of one Jericho into another Jericho, constantly being defeated, not having the spirit-filled joy of all that God is and wants to be in and through you, or we can be that victorious.

Christian.

Hudson Taylor, the great missionary, said this.

He stated there are three different ways to serve the Lord.

One, make the best plans you can and hope they will succeed.

Now think about that.

Most of us do that probably.

Make the best plans we can and then hope that they will succeed.

Secondly, he said, make our own plans and then ask God to bless them.

Been there, hello.

Still there sometimes.

You know, hey, I figured it all out now say, now God bless it.

And God says, wait a minute, have you even talked to me about it?

And then thirdly, ask God for his plan and then do what he tells you.

Amen.

Ask God for his plan and then do what he tells you.

If you're willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

Amen.

That's what Joshua 1.8, the whole key verse, foundational verse in the whole book of Joshua.

The book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that's written therein.

Then shall I make thy way prosperous, and then shall you have good success.

So we see in chapter 6, Joshua's getting God's plan and doing exactly what God tells him to do.

This chapter again demonstrates that God uses, now watch this, the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

Amen?

Because what you're about to see in a few moments is going to be just crazy.

I meant most people don't believe it.

They really don't believe it.

But it's true, every word of it's true, but it's really kind of insane.

1 Corinthians 1 27, God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

God chooses the, hey, hey, the mighty things of the world, the strong, hey, hey, hey, well, excuse me, the weak things of the world to confound them that are mighty and strong.

With Gideon.

Remember Gideon?

He used, I love this, torches and water pictures.

That pours water.

He that's what he used to destroy an army.

With David, he used a sling and a few stones.

But with Joshua, he uses trumpets and a shout.

Unbelievable.

So let's begin.

Let's notice verse 1 as this famous unbelievable story unfolds.

Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel.

None went out and none came in.

So the first thing I want you to look at this morning is this.

And boy, is it not true.

The first thing is, hey, the securing of the city.

The securing of the city.

Jason, I'm not seeing anything pop up.

So I don't know as if I know one time it was doing that, but everything's coming up, right?

No.

Okay.

There we go.

There it is.

The securing of the city.

Now, what we see, well, one time it was doing that and it was showing up back there, but it wasn't up on my monitor, so I just want to make sure it wasn't.

So the securing of the city.

Jericho was locked up tighter than a drum, we see here.

And it was straightly shut up.

In the Hebrew, it uh the literally, literally, the translation here says in the Hebrew, it was closed up, shut up tightly.

In other words, nothing could get in and nothing could get out.

Jericho thought they were secure, but yet only to find out later they were very insecure.

Amen.

Is that not true?

Is that not the way we feel sometimes?

We think that we are secure in ourselves to realize that when a Jericho or a trial or a temptation comes, we realize how insecure we really were.

And that is so true in life.

And so we see this formation here.

What was Jericho like during this time?

Why are they ready to fight a battle or why are they being attacked by the Israelites?

Jericho was a fortified, unbelievable fortress.

And you're going to see that.

In fact, the area of the city was eight to nine acres encompassed.

Pretty big city.

They were eight to nine acres was encompassed with two walls, not one wall, two walls.

They both were between 25 to 30 feet high.

Now watch this.

They were at least, I think the front wall was at least, uh, the outer wall was at least six feet thick.

The inner walls, all right, you got the outer wall.

It's let's say 30 feet tall, six feet wide, and then between the two walls, it was 15 feet.

So you could, you know, they could they could drive chariot, uh, well, chariots or whatever wheels or or should I say uh trailers or not trailers, but board trailers with the wood.

But anyway, they would go across and they would and and they they would have their their garrisons and they would walk guards around.

There'd be hundreds of soldiers in between the two walls, plus soldiers on top of the wall looking down there that uh could uh shoot arrows or they could throw hot oil and all those kind of things that they had prepared if anybody attacked the city.

But not only did you have to go through the first wall that was six feet thick, then you had to go fifty, you went 15 feet, then there was another wall.

Are you ready for this?

And it was 12 feet thick.

Good grief.

There was no way.

There is no way you coming through and getting in.

In fact, if you made it through the first wall, then they had you trapped in, and that was the purpose.

Now they've got you.

And then they had people on both walls, so you're in between two walls and they're just raining down on you with whatever uh instruments or weapons they had to just you didn't have a chance.

So now this is what the Israelites are seeing when they begin circling the city here in Jericho.

What in other words, Jericho was a big obstacle for Israel.

Their faith was definitely getting ready to ready to be put to the test.

Amen?

Now listen, there's I saw this, I said, man, that's so good.

There's there's three types of faith that are exhibited here.

And you see them in your outline.

Here they are.

First of all, we see responding faith.

What is responding faith?

It is faith that rests upon the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's faith that puts their life and they're all in the hands of God.

He says in Romans 5:1, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:1

So that's what it is.

Secondly, it is reckoning faith.

Reckoning faith counts upon God's promises.

In other words, they believe what God said.

Hey, they're going to take action on not what they see, but what God said.

If they were about to take actions on what they saw, hey, they'd turn and run.

There's no way they can go against this fortified city.

No way.

But their faith is in God's word, not in their wisdom.

Can I get an amen?

So they, hey, in fact, Romans 4 says, Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had said he would do.

So that is what we call reckoning faith.

We believe what God says and we act upon it, even though we don't see the evidence.

By the way, that's kind of what faith is, isn't it?

Faith is the substance of things what hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11, 1.

And then number three, and this is a good one.

This is where very few of us get.

Most of us get to the responding faith.

We respond to the gospel, we get saved, but then we still walk by sight instead of by faith.

We walk by sight.

If we can't see it, if we can't touch it, if we can't taste it, if we can't feel it, we don't know if it really is true.

We live by our sights and our taste.

So, but now here's the fun.

Here's the here, if you're really gonna live a dynamic Christian life, you've got to learn to live in this third faith.

Risking faith.

Risking faith.

It dares to do something great for the Lord.

It or let's just put it this way it dares to do what God says.

I mean, you you believe the impossible.

You don't think the average, you believe.

Here's what you believe, Luke 137.

For with God, nothing is impossible with God.

That's what you believe.

Nothing.

The book of Joshua, right here, is about these three degrees of faith.

As God's people rest upon God's word, they take God at his word, sanctify them through thy word.

Thy word is truth.

John 17, 70.

And if there's ever been a time we need truth, folks, good grief.

Are you not abhorred about this whole election stuff?

This is getting, this is getting bad.

They don't know what the word truth means.

None of them.

But listen, when we people rest, in fact, let me tell you what I God laid on my heart to do about this.

Next Monday night.

Tomorrow night we've got trunk or tree.

Next Sunday we got a friend day.

But Monday night, I'd like to meet here around six o'clock.

I'm gonna be here.

Rick and I, we usually go out on visitation.

But you know what we're gonna do?

We're just gonna show up and pray.

We're just gonna pray for our election in our country.

Amen.

So any of you want to come by and just pray with us.

We're gonna be right here.

We're just gonna pray.

I mean, good grief.

Man, I'm scared what's gonna happen for our people afterwards.

But I'm not, hey, I'm not scared about the future.

Because I know who holds the future in his hands.

Amen.

And the government is upon his shoulders, not hey, not the candidates.

Praise God.

But we're just gonna pray.

Just show up here at six o'clock or between anywhere from five, we'll be here around five on, five for a while.

Just come, come by for you as you're coming home and just pray.

Let's pray for our country and pray for our people and pray for for for what's gonna take place that gotta protect everybody involved.

Amen.

It's getting it's getting pretty bad.

But guess what?

The Bible said it'd get worse before it got better.

That's what it says, 2 Timothy 3, 13.

Wax worse and worse.

But anyway, we see here, God's people resting upon God's word.

We see them counting on God's promises and daring to do great things for God.

That's what we see.

God's people have dedicated themselves to serve God, and now look what happens.

The first thing they've re-hey, they've had revival, they've rededicated themselves, they've gone through circumcision, they've made a covenant now with God, they've crossed over the Jordan, and they've been there in Gilead for about two and a half, at least two weeks to two and a half weeks, and now it is time for them to possess their promise and their land, promised land.

And what happens?

Bam! There's Jericho.

See, when you rededicate your life or you get saved and you dedicate your life to Christ, listen to me, don't you miss this.

You're gonna be for hey, you're gonna be faced with a fortified Jericho.

When you rededicate your life, you've been wavered from the Lord and you come back to God, you think, Whew, man, yes, I'm sorry, Lord, I'm fixed to live for you.

Hey, when you get up and after you you get through that emotional time and you you're sincere, you are you really made that commitment, you're in the word, and you say, now I'm getting up and I'm going to work, and here we go, man.

I'm gonna stand for God, and you get to your job and bam! There's Jericho.

There's the Canaanites.

And you say, now wait a minute, Lord, wait a minute.

Do you see how thick those walls are?

Do you see they're making fun of me?

Do you know they want to kill me?

Yes, we do.

But the moment you and I make that decision, are you ready?

Here's the Jerichos we face.

We face the Jericho of popularity with the world.

In other words, the world's not gonna let go.

And the world's gonna, if you don't stay with them, they're gonna, hey, they're gonna discriminate against you.

You're no longer gonna be cool.

You're no longer gonna be in.

But let me remind you, Jesus, and through the teachings and preachings of his word, in 1 John 2 says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it's not of the Father, but it's of the devil.

And those that love the world shall be destroyed, but those who fulfill the will of God shall live forever.

1 John 2, 15 through 17.

James says it's an hey, it's hostility against God.

James 4, 4.

Then you're faced with the Jericho of sinful habits that need to be conquered.

You know how you, when you get saved, you know you ought not to be doing those things.

You turn away from them for a while, but during that time, and you're just doing your best, and all of a sudden the that old flesh and old Satan's tempting you constantly to go back to that sin.

I have that problem.

Am I the only one?

He tempts me all the time.

Every day.

That's why Paul says I have to die daily.

But then, hey, there's the Jericho of materialism and greed.

As money becomes the basis of our decisions instead of the will of God.

We make decisions.

How many of us have have made decisions on money-based situations instead of God's will situations?

A lot of people get a promotion that say, oh, I can't wait.

I'm going to the I'm getting a big raise.

I can't wait.

My question is, before you make that move, why don't you go to wherever you move and check out and make sure there's a dynamic church that preaches the word of God?

That you are Christian schools or are places that you can raise your children in the atmosphere of godliness instead of ungodliness.

Those are decisions.

But folks, it's not, hey, everything in the world today, right now, the reason we have a corrupt governmental system is all it's all about power and money.

It's all about the money.

I got news for you.

It's not about all about the money.

The love of money is the root of all evil.

It didn't say money was evil, it said the love of it.

Hey, and if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

Psalm 62, 10.

That's the Jerichos we face.

Then there's the Jericho of paganism and persecution.

Paganism means people that don't even believe there's a God.

Listen, we never thought you'd live in a country founded on God's word, founded on the church of God, that 82 to 85% of people don't even go to church.

We're talking about in the Bible belt.

That's a Jericho.

The Jericho of apathy and indifference.

I don't care.

And I am I've got a I've asked the Lord to give me grace.

I am so sick of this one saying.

That's what it is.

It is what it is.

I am so tired of that.

No, it is not what it is.

What it is, it is.

It is what it is.

I'll give it.

I know I told you I'm so every time I can't even, I don't even want to think about it.

It is what no, it is not.

It's what you make it through greed, hey, through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anyone say, well, I just don't care.

It is what it is.

And sit on your backside and do nothing and just wander in the wilderness.

That's what the Israelites did for 40 years.

It is what it is.

We just wandered in the wilderness.

No, it's not what it is, what it is.

They could have gotten up and believed God and crossed over the Jordan and taken their land.

God had given it to them.

It is what you, through the power of the Holy Spirit of the living God, fill with.

The Spirit of God make it.

And it's pretty easy to make it.

You just do what God says.

Amen.

It is what it is.

No.

And then there's the, hey, by the way, let me give you a verse.

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

That's what it is.

Amen?

And then there's the Jericho of carnal Christians that might mislead and discourage us.

Oh, they they just heap on the coals.

Oh, well, I know, I know.

We all got it tough.

Let's just let's just wander in the wilderness and eat manna.

That's all we can have.

That's all we can afford.

That's all we got.

No, it's not all you got.

Hey, you've been born again.

You're a child of the king.

You got unlimited resources.

God be the glory.

Victory in the Christian life involves conquering our Jerichos.

Conquering these Jericho's.

But now watch.

In order to conquer them, you got to confront them.

You can't run from them.

You can't take them on your way.

You got to deal with them with God's ways.

So how do I live victoriously and consistently?

In fact, that's going to be what I'm going to preach about next Sunday on Friend Day.

How to be a winner in the game of life.

Well, but look at what he says secondly.

The secret of victory.

God said, I have given thee Jericho.

Verse 2.

This was the secret of victory.

God had already given them victory.

He did the conquering.

Our victory is in Christ, too.

Do you realize?

Listen, he's already won the war for us.

He's already conquered it for us.

All we have to do is live in it.

Can I get an amen, church?

Oh, don't you love what he says in Philippians 1 6?

He says, Being confident of this very thing that he which begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Can I get an amen?

John 15, 5, he says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

He that abideth in me, and I in him bringeth forth much fruit.

For without me ye can do nothing.

We've got a choice.

We can do nothing, be carnal, or we can do all things in Christ and have victory.

It's our choice.

Why?

The victory's been won.

Hey, the promised land was 11 miles.

All they had to do was go across the Jordan and take it.

He'd already promised it to them.

When you get saved, you are promised an abundant life.

Amen.

Let's quit living subnormally.

Let's start living victoriously.

Man, that's that's good.

The secret of victory.

Nay, Romans 8 37, nay, in all things, say it with me.

Nay, in all things we've been made what?

More than conquerors.

In all things, through him that loves us.

Consistency is found in Christ.

The victory, the power, the ability, and desire comes from the Lord itself.

If God be for us, say it with me.

Say it again.

If God before me, look at the third thing.

The summons of Joshua.

Verses 3 through 7.

Don't laugh when I read this.

And Joshua made him a show.

Verse 3 in chapter 6.

And ye shall walk around the city.

All ye men of war.

Now, notice, that's important.

Deuteronomy tells us there were at least 600,000 men ready to go to battle.

I'm not sure all 600,000 circled the building on the first six days.

I'm not sure about that.

Because if they did, I don't know how long they'd have been circling it 24 hours.

But we know a bunch.

I'd say 100,000 probably.

But there's 600,000 men of war, not counting the rest of the people.

Totally, there's two and a half to three million people, but 600,000 were men of war.

They're trained soldiers.

Now watch this.

And go round about the city once for six days.

Verse 4.

Oh, this is this is where it really gets good.

And seven priests, don't leave out the preachers, gotta be there, shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns, the shofar horns.

Anyone know what a shofar horn is?

A few of us.

Looks kind of like a ram, a ram antler.

And they blow it.

And it goes, oh, it sounds like a deep uh almost like a fog horn, yeah, or a horn on a boat.

Really does.

But it's beautiful when they do it together.

So anyway, we see they, watch this, they've got the trumpets, the ram's horns, and the seventh day you shall compare uh circle the city seven times, and the priest 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.

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 horns before the ark of the Lord.

And he said unto the people, Pass on and circle the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord.

In other words, the ark's gonna be behind the soldiers.

Kind of in the middle, really.

Now, do you understand what the battle plan is?

They're gonna go out there for six days, they're gonna circle eight or nine acres.

Wall city.

Now wait.

Hey, here's the other thing.

Here's the other thing.

This well, let's go ahead.

All right.

I'm getting at it.

It's so it's so foolish, but so true.

The summons that all right, look at first of all, the men involved, verse 3 and 4, the seven priests, the trumpets, okay?

And I've already told you about them.

That's the men.

Then the method, verse 4 through 7.

We've told you the message, the method.

They're gonna circle it seven times.

I'm trying to fill in the outline.

I see, I get to preach and forget about the outline.

But now, let me tell you something about the Hebrew word that's really powerful.

Uh the word seven there in your Bible, it is is uh it's the word Shava.

It's the Hebrew word Shava.

And it comes from a Hebrew word that means, are you ready?

To be full, it means to be satisfied, it means to be mature.

So here's what he's saying.

Seven, now remember, we're gonna circle it seven times on the last day.

Seven is God's number of completion.

God was about to complete his judgment, watch this, on Jericho.

He was about to complete his judgment on Jericho.

He was also developing maturity in the people's faith and obedience.

Psalms 107, verse 9 says, He satisfies a longing soul, he fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Psalms 107:9

Only God can satisfy.

Can I get an amen?

Only God can satisfy.

And then he says, Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

James 1, 4.

So we see this maturity to be full or satisfies means.

Now don't, woo! When God gave me this, I said, Lord, please thank you for that truth.

God, let that be a reality in my own life.

For you to be full, to be satisfied, to be complete, you have got to face your Jerichos and be victorious.

You can't run from them.

Can't, hey, can't avoid them.

You gotta take them on.

David, the nation of Israel was trying to avoid having a battle with Goliath.

But young David, what?

He didn't run from Goliath, he ran toward Goliath and won the victory.

He took on his Goliath.

Now, with that said, now watch.

Watch number four, the submission of God's people.

Look at what goes on next.

Verse 8 and 9.

And it came to pass when they had done circumcising, excuse me, I'm in the wrong chapter again.

All right, here we go, verse 8.

And it came to pass when Joshua had spoken unto the people that the seven priests bearing the trumpets and 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 and blew, blew with the trumpets, and they uh came after the ark, and the priests went on and blowing with the trumpets, and Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye 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, then shall ye shout.

Wow.

So there were two things here in submission.

First of all, there was no griping and complaining.

Now, I don't know about you.

If you told me I'm a soldier, we're gonna circle the city one time a day.

Say nothing.

You can't talk, you can't talk marching there, you can't talk coming back.

In other words, you can't talk.

I would have I would have said, let me stay home.

I wouldn't have made it.

I would not have made it.

Some of you wouldn't either.

I know y'all talk.

There's a few in here that out taught me.

I won't talk, I won't say any names.

But hey, you gotta be quiet.

And we're just gonna circle.

And here you are.

I'm a soldier.

I can't say anything because normally, let me tell you, armies were used to making a lot of noise, hitting their shields, oh, oh, ooh, as they're going.

Making, I meant, they're scaring you just by the sound of them coming.

But now they can't say anything.

I mean, I couldn't even turn to my neighbor there or my my soldier next to me and said, Look at those walls.

Look at all those soldiers around those walls.

Look at that oil they're gonna throw on us.

Look at the spears and the and the arrows.

Look, look at all the stuff they got to that there.

You know they were ready.

Can't say anything.

Jesus said in John 6, 43, do all things without mummering and disputing.

Can I get an amen?

You know what tears the church up more than anything?

Mummering and disputing.

That's it.

But now watch.

Then notice number five, the silence.

I put it, you know what I said?

The principle of silence is taught all throughout scripture.

I wrote this to me.

Learning to be silent at the right time, learning to speak at the right time is the secret of a victorious Christian life.

And I knew I wouldn't get one amen.

Let me repeat that.

Learning when to speak at the right time, and learning how to be quiet at the right time is the secret to the victorious Christian life.

Now can we all say, oh me, oh me.

Have you ever said something to say?

Too late.

By the way, there's another step to that too.

How you say what you say at the right time is also as important.

But I'm speaking the truth.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sister Fluffyhead, I know.

We spend so much time, and I'm talking to me now, talking that sometimes we don't hear what God says when he speaks.

The Bible says in Psalm 46, 10, be still and know that I'm God.

I will be exalted among the heathen.

Now what's that?

I will be exalted in the earth.

Did you notice what he just said?

I'd never seen this in this context.

He says, I will be exalted, hey, before the heathen.

That means you can be still and be quiet and be a godly person and speak louder, sometimes being quiet than when you speak.

Proverbs 15:1 says, A soft answer turns away wrath.

Proverbs 15:1

But grievers, grievous words stir up anger.

Now I love this one.

Do I have this one, Jason, 1 Thessalonians 4 11?

This is powerful.

This is a verse we all need to write down on a big cardboard and keep in front of us at all times.

And that ye study to be quiet and to do your own business.

Hello.

And to work with your own hands as we commanded you.

In other words, he's saying, don't go around trying to put your nose in everybody's business.

Hello.

Oh, Pastor Danny, have you heard?

Zip it.

Be quiet.

Knowing when to be quiet, knowing when to speak, and how to you speak when you speak is the key to having a dynamic Christian life.

James says the tongue's right out of the pits of hell.

It is important that we have a quiet time with the Lord.

A quiet time with the Lord will lead to a shouting time later on with the Lord.

Amen.

Well, I get through studying every morning.

I get in my car and I'm just shouting.

I can't help it.

Number six.

Look what happens next.

Surrounding the city daily.

11 through 15.

Each day God's people marched to Jericho and returned.

Up and back.

Now, all the research I did on this says it took, really, depending on how many people really were there with them.

I don't, we have no clue.

Nobody tells us.

No research is.

But what they all say it probably took a whole day to go and come.

And actually they were only about two miles, Gilgal, two to five miles from Jericho.

But it said probably took all day to go and come.

So that's a lot of people.

So anyway, here they are.

Two-hour trip.

Now can you imagine the discipline, the consistency, and the endurance that they had to have to do that every day, six days in a row, and then on the seventh day go around seven times without saying a word.

That's important that you understand that.

It's important that you understand that they were being totally obedient to what God told them to do.

Even, hey, if it meant and seemed ridiculous.

Now, I know what I would have done if that had been the plan, I'd say, I ain't in this one.

This doesn't make a hill of beans to me.

It doesn't make any sense to me.

I mean, man, let's take them on.

Let's turn, let's charge.

No, you're gonna be quiet, Danny.

Nope, Captain, I can't do that.

Well, you stay in the barracks.

Okay.

Guess what?

I just miss the most exciting thing that's ever gonna take place, and probably one of the most talked-about miracles in all history.

I missed it because I wouldn't listen.

I'm talking too much.

Yeah, but but no, it's no butts! Listen.

Yes, sir.

So, here they are.

The Bible says we're to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15, 57.

For six days they marched.

There was no results, no fruits of their labor.

Hey, all they did was march.

Can you imagine the humiliation that was going on?

Can you imagine?

Here you are.

All right, here you are.

They're up there throwing stuff at you, probably calling you all kind of names, maybe even trying to shoot at you.

We don't know.

And maybe you got your shields up, or maybe hopefully, I'm pretty sure they were far enough to know they couldn't get hit.

But they're just going around.

Not saying a word.

They go around, then they go back.

Next day.

Next day.

Have you got the picture yet?

And then can you imagine on the Sabbath day?

I'm here, I'm the captain of some of these men, and I said, Oh my soul, it's it's it's humiliating to go around six times.

I mean, uh one once a day, six days in a row.

I feel like they think I'm quiet cowards, I'm weird, they don't know, and now I'm gonna go around seven times.

Here we go.

I'm getting drunk just circling the fortress.

Not saying a word.

But then Joshua says, Blow the horns.

Oh it comes.

And there was a bunch of horns, at least seven, and they were like, oh boy.

You get somebody knows how to blow one of those.

I can't blow it.

I've tried.

You can't, you you gotta know how to blow those things.

You gotta have some kind of air in your lungs to blow one of those shoffer.

Uh shofar horns.

They're unbelievable, they're unbelievable.

I mean, just and and then he says, Shout! I know what I believe they shouted.

Jehovah.

The Lord that provides.

And then guess what?

The walls come tumbling down from the foundation.

All the research, everything I've studied right here.

But, but, but, but under the special instructions, let me get say, I'm going to have man, this is so exciting.

Look, look.

First of all, the special instructions there, I saw some things.

Verse 17, the saving of Rahab is commanded.

Rahab and her household were to be spared.

Can you imagine?

Six days.

She's watching the army circle.

Can you imagine what she's thinking?

I just I wrote three things I'd be thinking.

When are they gonna attack?

Man, I'm here.

I got my my red string hanging out the window, everybody sees, I'm in.

And second thing, will I get caught?

Third thing, I'd be thinking, will the soldiers keep their word and really save me?

How are they gonna save me?

Think about that.

What would you what would you be thinking?

Then I thought about it, woo! What would you be checking or examining?

And then I thought about it, man, what a biblical principle here.

Can you imagine Rahab was checking that the scarlet thread to make sure it was in the window?

I guarantee you she was making sure that thing was, hey, shiny and showing.

Well, let me remember you.

Paul said, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves.

Know ye not your own selves.

How that Jesus Christ is in you.

Except ye be reprobate.

In other words, he said, examine yourself.

Are you really sure you are saved?

Because let me tell you, this is one of the prettiest pictures I've ever seen of, hey, the rapture of the church.

Let me tell you why.

Because let's sign in a moment, in the twinkling of the lie, at the last moment when Jesus is coming back, he says in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16 through 18, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with what?

A shout.

And the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and they which are live and remain, shall be caught up in the clouds to be with the Lord forever.

Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.

Depending on what happens here pretty soon in this election, I believe Jesus may be getting us.

I believe his trumpeters are, hey, hey, they're wetting their lips.

Amen.

He's coming.

The trumpet's gonna sound.

The shout of the Lord's coming.

And we're out of here.

Just like those walls fail, hey, boom, we'll be gone.

We'll be gone.

Just like that.

What a picture.

What a picture.

Rahab is that picture of a believer prepared for the return of the Lord and the judgment to come.

That's what it is.

So we see, we see the saving of Rahab.

Notice the second thing we see in verse 17 and 18.

The shunning of the spoils.

Here's what we see.

The city was cursed.

He said, everything was, hey, accursed in Jericho, taking nothing to themselves.

In fact, the verse teaches that we are to be a watchful warrior after victory as well as before victory.

He says, now that you won, look at all the temptation that's there for you to take.

No, you can't take any of it.

Especially, hey, especially the money, the gold, the silver.

It's to go to the Lord's house.

It's to go to the to the priest and to the temple that they eventually will build.

That's what where it's to go.

Tremendous insight there.

He says, right here.

He talks about in Leviticus 23, 10, the first fruits.

The first fruits that we're to bring to God's house.

And that our barns will be filled in Proverbs 3, 9 and 10.

Malachi chapter 3, you got to hear this, verses 8 through 11.

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

I think I have those up there.

He says, Will a man rob God?

Yet ye have robbed me.

But ye say, Wherein have I robbed you, God?

In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Verse 10, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

And if I will rebuke, hey, hey, in other words, he said, I'm going to bless you so much because you've been obedient to me that you can't contain it.

And then very few people read verse 11 and listen to what verse 11 says.

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.

Remember, you bring in the first fruits, hey, to the Lord.

If you give him the first fruits of your, hey, your intake, don't you think he's going to take care of the rest?

Absolutely.

He's, he's, hey, he's obligated to.

That's the key, folks.

Please listen to me.

Neither shall your vine cast a fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of Host.

In other words, he says, Hey, your crops are going to be okay.

I'm going to take care of you.

I'm going to feed you.

You bring me the first fruits.

You tithe to me, and everything that you give to me, the first fruits to me, is for what?

Honor me.

Not that he needs it, but you honor him.

And then, but to the when you bring it to the priest, to the church and all, it's for, hey, to help carry on the work of God.

That's what it's for.

Savings and see savings for the sanctuary.

That's it.

Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that gives thee power to get all wealth.

And chapter 7 reveals what happens when you steal from God in Joshua 7.

Then number nine, the splatter and the slaughter of the people when the walls came down.

Mm-mm-mm.

The walls fell flat and the people went up into the city to attack.

Now the word flat here is translated from a Hebrew word which means underneath it.

In other words, the walls collapsed from the very foundation.

Now watch this.

They fell outward, not inward.

And the reason they fell outward was so that they would provide ramps for the army to come in.

See, the army didn't build any of those big old pole things that the Romans used.

They didn't build those ramps to come up against the walls and then try to climb up and over.

They didn't build any of that.

Why?

Because God's already said, hey, I'm going to give you the city.

You just listen to me.

You just listen to me.

Listen to what Hebrews 11:30 says.

Hebrews 11:30

By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were, hey, circled about seven days.

The walls fell down.

There they come.

And then when they shouted the water, now, hey, they're down.

Wow.

Wow.

A lot of people don't believe that.

For years the stories have been ridiculed, considered untrue.

Some of you sitting here today or listening online may say, I don't know if I believe that.

That's okay.

But there's an archaeologist named Bryant Wood.

Now listen to this.

Who excavated the site and published his findings in March 1990.

That's pretty recent.

In the Biblical Archaeological Review, that's where it's found.

He found the city was strongly fortified.

The battle was after the harvest because the uh granaries were still full even to this day.

Pottery jars were full of charred grain to this day.

There was no way to flee from the city.

The siege was short.

The walls were leveled and fell outward.

The city was not plundered, and the city was burned, and the wood and grain was charred.

All these findings are true.

Wow.

Why did they kill everyone?

Why?

Why was the people to be killed?

Except Rahab and her family.

Some would think this was cruel or unfair to the Canaanites.

No, no, no.

You know why?

Let me tell you why.

God knew sin was contagious.

To compromise with evil is dangerous.

Hey, and invite spiritual disaster.

When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and when sin is finished, it brings forth death.

James 1.19.

Now watch this.

You gotta see this.

Psalms 106, verse 34 through 38.

Psalms 106:34–38

Here's the answer.

Beautiful answer.

They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them, but were mingled among the heathen and learned their works, and they served their idols, which were snare unto them.

Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.

That's why he had them killed.

The people of Jericho were exceedingly wicked.

They sacrificed adults and children to their gods.

Temple prostitution.

They had prostitutes for gods.

That's the way he went to God.

It was part of their idolatry.

Sexual perversion, including sex with animals, was practiced.

This is why the animals were destroyed in Exodus 22, 19.

They were involved in sorcery and killing of the body and mutilations of the body, the cutting and all that's going on today.

That was what, hey, nothing new.

That's what they were doing.

You had to understand that to understand why he had them slaughtered.

God doesn't play with that kind of stuff.

God was avoiding contamination of his people with the lifestyle of the Canaanites.

That's it.

That's what it was.

Then the last thing.

Well, two things.

The spies are sent.

Look at verse 23 through 25.

The two spies are sent to save Rahab.

They knew Rahab and their location, and Rahab knew them.

They were the ones that made the promise and now are keeping their promise.

Rahab was secure.

And guys, guess what?

God's made a promise that once you get saved, that hey, you are secure, nothing can separate you from the love of God.

Nothing.

Romans 8, 35 through 39, nothing.

And you are secure, and one day he's coming back to take you home.

What a picture.

He's made a promise, just as they made a promise to Raham, they came back and got her.

But there's another point we got to say.

He sent the spies.

You and I are to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled.

We're to bring people to Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16, 15.

That is what we see.

And then the last thing, look what happened.

This unbelievable miracle.

The sign of the future, verse 26 and 27.

The sign of the future.

Look at what he says.

And Joshua jured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord that rises up and buildeth the city of Jericho.

By the way, they tried to rebuild Jericho three times.

It never happened.

It was destroyed every time.

God says it'll never be rebuilt.

So shall lay the foundation there in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall hest up the gates of it.

And then here's verse 27 is the key.

So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was noised throughout all the country.

God's gonna be with us.

And his name, Jesus' name, not Joshua, but Joshua stands for Jesus.

Hey, Jesus.

Hey.

But his name will be known throughout Westover.

His name will be known throughout Chelsea.

His name will be known throughout, hey, Starrett, Harpersville, Children'sburg, and all the other surrounding cities and towns.

Amen.

Now that's what we want.

And folks, this is what we have.

Listen, every one of us has a Jericho.

Every one of us has a Jericho.

You're facing a Jericho right now, some of you.

You've lost a job, you lost your family, you had a death in the family.

I mean, I'm dealing with with two major Jerichos with families right now, right now.

Jerichos.

So what are you gonna do?

You don't run from it.

You don't hide from it.

You know what you do?

You take it head on.

You confront it.

Let me ask you this morning.

Every head bow, every eye closed.

You're facing a Jericho this morning.

Your Jericho could be a family situation.

It could be a job situation.

It could be any kind of situation.

It could be a relationship situation.

It could be all kinds of things.

But right now it is troubling you.

You are troubled.

That's what Jericho's do.

They trouble you.

They frighten you.

They frighten you.

If you hear this morning, say, Pastor Danny, I love you, folks.

You know I love you.

I love you more than you'll ever know.

And that's why we preach the truth.

But you're facing a Jericho right now.

You are, oh, hey, all over this building, watching online.

You're facing a Jericho in your life right now.

Would you slide your hand up all over this building?

Yes, yes.

All over this building.

You've got a Jericho.

Look at her.

I know, I know, I know.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's stand to our feet.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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