joshua chapter 6 this morning joshua chapter 6 as we're continuing our study in the book of joshua i'm going to back up and read at verse 13 of chapter 5 and we'll consider all of chapter 6 today you're visiting we've been working through this book and we're continuing in this study beginning at verse 13 of chapter 5 this is page 214 in the bibles that are in front of you this is the word of the lord when joshua was by jericho he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in hand and joshua went to him and said to him are you for us or for our adversaries he said no but i am the commander of the army of the lord now i have come joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him what does my lord say to his servant and the commander of the lord's army said to him joshua take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy and joshua did so now jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of israel none went out and none came in and the lord said to joshua see i have given jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor you shall march around the city all the men of war going around the city once thus you shall do for six days seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams horns before the ark on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times and the priest shall blow the trumpets and when they make a long blast with the ram's horn when you hear the sound of the trumpet then all the people shall shout with a great shout and the The wall of the city will fall down flat and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him. So Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priests and said to them, Take up the Ark of the Covenant. Let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord. And he said to the people, Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the Ark of the Lord. And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests, bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people, You shall not shout or make your voice heard. Neither shall any word go out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout. So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once, and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord, and the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually, and the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. and the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp so they did for six days on the seventh day they rose early at the dawn of day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times it was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times and at the seventh time when the priests had blown the trumpets joshua said to the people shout for the lord has given you the city and the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live because she hid the messengers whom we sent but you keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it but all silver and gold and every vessel of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord they shall go into the treasury of the Lord so the people shouted and the trumpets were blown and as soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet the people shouted a great shout and the wall fell down flat so that the people went up into the city every man straight before him and they captured the city then they devoted all the city to destruction both men and women young and old oxen sheep and donkeys with the edge of the sword but to but to the two men who had spied out the land joshua said go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belonged to her as you swore to her so the young men who had been spies went in and brought out rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her and they brought out her relatives and put them outside the camp of israel and they burned the city with fire and everything in it Only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Rahab the prostitute and her father's house and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Joshua laid an oath on them at the time, saying, Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation. At the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates. So the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was in all the land. There will end the reading of God's word. By the way, do you think anyone's going to come after that and rebuild Jericho? Somebody did. That's for a later book we'll preach. We come to one of the most fascinating passages in Joshua so far. What a story, what an account to read this morning together with you. The book of Joshua itself, remember if we're looking at the major theme of the book again to kind of set it in front of us, the major theme of the book is that Joshua captures the struggle of the church to inherit the land, eternal life, heaven, before the close of this present evil age one of the things i think the church is struggling with right now most is a sense that we are the defeated ones this feeling right now that we are the ones who are on the defensive we have so much evil and we have so much sin and we have so much wickedness coming at us in recent times it's just hard to process. And what has that done to the psyche of the church and the people in the church and how they look at things and how they evaluate things? It's an important question to ask. It seems like we have no strength and no ability to stop the flood that is coming at us. That we are a little bit like the Alamo. A little fortified wall, if you've ever been there in Texas. It's just an amazing little piece to see in the middle of a big city. An old little fortified fort. Walled-in structure where they were trying to stop the mighty army of General Santa Ana. And we think, you know, that's kind of what the church is today in the world, isn't it? It's like the people of the Alamo kind of barricaded in into this little fortress and there's just not much we can do. We're just trying to do all we can to be defensive and to hold on, if we can, to the attacks. What if I told you today that's one of the biggest problems in the church right now? That mentality. What has Joshua been saying to us? Don't fear. The Lord is with you. We saw the whole presence of the ark that has been going forward in their presence that split the whole Jordan River and sending it back 20 miles to deliver them. The Lord is with you wheresoever you go. Do not fear. Be bold. Be courageous in this age. In the last chapter, a man showed up with his sword drawn. That's why I read it. And Joshua falls to the earth. And he says, I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Joshua, take off your shoes. You're on holy ground. The Lord had come among them. His sword was drawn going ahead. the whole heavenly army was behind him that they couldn't see so what does all this tell us today as we sort of think about these things and we put things together the kingdom of god is advancing the kingdom of god is the one advancing against the forces of evil against the wickedness while he is the one saving to the ends of the earth he is the one accomplishing the mission and he is executing his righteous judgment on the nations that is a concept we're not talking about. Remember, we've had this terrible problem in the church of America where everything's been so nice, we don't talk about judgment anymore. And the message that we're seeing in Joshua is that the church must go forward trusting him. The church must go forward in faith. The people of the Lord must go forward in confidence that the land is theirs. This is all a type of of heaven and glory that he's given to us and and when we say heaven remember it includes a new heavens and earth this very earth is ours renewed and burned in fire and recreated but we need to hear the words of hebrews in this regard which we're getting there shortly in our study by faith the walls of jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days by faith they fell down that's quite a statement isn't it by faith the walls came down this morning we're looking at jericho's defense we're looking at israel's offense i'm a basketball player so i had to kind of do this jericho's defense um israel's offense and the lord's victory how's that for an outline i think you'll you'll see it as we go through there's an important play on words as we begin today when we look at jericho's defense look at verse 1 now jericho was securely shut up because of the children of israel none went out and none came in that's a direct playoff chapter 2 when the spies came in, remember what they did was they shut the gate. And as soon as the warriors went out to try to find the spies, they shut the gate. This was a big theme here that the author is working with. The gate had remained shut the entire time since Israel's presence at the jordan had come the inhabitants are terrified and chapter six begins with jericho walled in their gate securely shut why does that matter is that just a little detail that has no real significance it was um known when the spies came in part of the mission of going into jericho was to see were there any who had faith in god were there any who had faith and there was there was rahab and remember what she did she tied that little scarlet cord to her window that had been sitting there the whole time and when the judgment happened remember what it all it all signified that's just what had given Israel their deliverance when the blood was painted on the doorpost and the angel of death the angel of destruction passed over the same thing is being repeated he's passed over Rahab and her children bringing her into the covenant it and that's a beautiful thing that was said remember what rahab said rahab said something remarkable she's remember she's a mother of israel she's in the line of jesus in matthew 1 she said for we know god is the god in heaven above and on the earth beneath faith faith was found in jericho would you save me and my household had the entire city responded like rahab the whole thing would have been spared had the entire city responded like rahab the whole thing would have been preserved and saved but the emphasis on the shut gate is important because it's capturing their response to the very message of israel that had been proclaimed all over canaan that the red sea had been split in two that israel had been delivered and that he is the god of heaven above and on the earth beneath he's the god overall rea believed it we've heard remember what she said we've all heard all the inheritance inhabitants of jericho and all the nations of canaan all the mighty leaders had heard their hearts melted in fear so what we're seeing is is that those nations to the degree of what was given to them heard the gospel they knew the gospel they had sufficient knowledge and that's well beyond Romans 1 knowledge you know what Romans 1 says that the people are accountable in this world just by what is made so that they should worship the creator so that they have no excuse all of them heard the reports went out the gospel went out you should believe in the God of Israel you should turn to him you should know that he's the Lord Rahab did and her family others would come in in Canaan too and don't ever think that it was just silent there were figures that are shown to us at this time like Job especially back in Genesis they date him somewhat in the time of Genesis there were people who knew there were people who worship there were people up early worshiping the Lord who were righteous the point is see the imagery when they shut the gate a giant barrier had sealed them off as a way of stating their final response to the God of Israel and providing a barrier that impeded Israel from receiving the land. Every square inch of that land was theirs. It had to be dealt with. It was time. And I think what you have captured here is what we talk about frequently in the New Covenant, that the day of mercy was over. The door was shut, finally, and permanently to the gospel by the nations. Remember, the Lord said to Abraham this. He said, They shall come back in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. I've said this before, but nations and cultures, they run in cycles of iniquity, and they take their fill in that cycle, and that's why no nation has ever existed. This is why Rome fell. All nations have run their cycle, and they face the judgment of God. And that leads to the emphasis on the final judgment. But cultures run a cycle that God then brings down a judgment upon it when that cycle of iniquity is complete and the door is shut. The nations had been completely overrun in the worst forms of wickedness. You name it, they did it. And injustice to the degree that it happened in those nations. I mean, if God could say to Cain, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. How much blood was crying out from the ground in Canaan to God? There's a reason Jesus said, Woe to you, Chorazin and Bethsaida. If the works that had been done in you had been done in Sodom. they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. It's such an important point. Every time God executed his righteous judgment in history, it was always accompanied with a long sort of explanation of his patience and forbearance in calling the peoples to repentance. All the way back to Noah's day, he was a herald of righteousness. Enoch preached the gospel for many years. Noah preached for many years until the ark door was shut. And I think we have to realize that America's no different. How many infants slaughtered in the womb? How much injustice in our land? How much lawlessness is celebrated? How much wickedness? And this, after almost 250 years of being a nation where there has never seen such gospel light. Bibles, churches. Look at our literature. Look what we have. And look at the cycle. What I'm trying to say is, how do you feel about all that? Does it wear on you the wickedness? Do you think his judgment's not righteous? You want to let this go on forever? You know how much worse it could even get? Joshua has been viciously attacked, this book, for harem warfare and wiping out the Canaanites. God is making it very clear, and he always has made it very clear. He has published a gospel a long time. Not to him, but to us. There's an end date. There is judgment day. And then he will give you the land. Then he'll give you glory. A land completely cleansed. This is what Revelation 21 and 22 is discussing. No more sin. You don't have to lock your doors at night. and just like Jericho, notice he says this, listen, I don't want you pulling anything out of there. It's all devoted to destruction. It's under the ban. It's a big word. Don't take it for yourself. We're going to look at this more with Achan. I have a better inheritance for you. Everything that stands in opposition to Christ right now is under the ban. You're not taking it with you. So Jericho closes the gates. God puts Israel on the offensive. I'm all ready to my second point. Jericho's given to you. Go get it. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to march around the city six times for six days. And when the ark comes out, it's positioned so that everyone sees the ark, Then the priest shall have seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. Everyone is to be quiet. No words I want out of your mouth. You march. And then on the seventh day, you march around the city seven times. And when you hear the sounds of the trumpets, I will tell you to shout with all your voice. They weren't told when this was going to happen. Imagine, I mean, at this point, you're marching this, and you're in day one. You're marching around the city. You're marching around second time, third time, fourth time, sixth time. There's a fifth time. Imagine the scoffs by the people of Jericho from the walls. What are you fools doing? You think our walls are coming down with you marching around with trumpets? What are you doing? This is quite a moment. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, now notice, notice what happens here. They reach the seventh day. The people did just as they were told. All of a sudden, as they get around the seventh time, Joshua says, right now, shout. Shout with all your voices. Blow the trumpets and shout. And they all began to shout, and trumpets were blown with all their might. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell flat down so that the people went up into the city. Every man straight before him captured the city, and they spared none except one family. This was the battle that never happened. Understand that? This was the battle that never happened. In other words, no weapons were used. Nobody had a sword except one. The whole wall came down flat. And I think we're learning something very important about this life right here. I think this is such a crucial text for helping the church today. I can't emphasize that enough. Whatever God is calling us to use and to be in this world is foolish. It's foolishness in every way to what we think is the answer. What is this all about, beloved? Is this just a nice story that, you know, I used to sing as a kid. You know, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. What is this really about? What is this telling us? That's what I want to get to just for a minute before we close. What is the heart of this story for you? There's been a statement by Jesus that has been confusing over the years for many. He spoke it to Peter. You are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church. and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. What does that mean? That little last phrase. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. I think Jesus took it from right here. That's my conjecture. I didn't read that anywhere and you can disagree, but I think he's thinking of this. I believe it's a direct connection. what he has in mind were ancient cities like jericho and we at least know this because it's a common interpretation surrounded were these cities by huge walls and built into one of the major walls was a gate where people went in and went out of the city these wall-like gates were the first places of attack a city was determined by its strength and its power by the strength of the wall that's what it was known i mean you've seen these old castles and fortified walls around castles and you see the the power of the wall how much is coming at us right now how much opposition to god's kingdom do you see it for what it is that's my question you all feel and what is on your mind is the future's scary this is this is what we we talk about how in the world are we and our children going to survive in this this hostile environment i mean it's just it's just out of control how are we going to survive and what are we talking about is our greatest hope right now. Hopefully, and it doesn't really matter when, hopefully just the next election cycle will change something. Hopefully we can finally get somebody in who will defend us. Hopefully we can get protection. That has consumed us. Question. Who is thinking about the advancing of God's kingdom? And what it looks like? Who is thinking about the warrior who's out in front with his sword drawn? Who is thinking about the kingdom of God? How in the world, in the midst of this, can God's kingdom win? The world's too strong for us. All this is too strong for us. We can't fight this battle. Who can? Look at the devil, look at the battle, look at the enemies. What kind of posture does the church have in the world right now? It feels like we're the ones on the defensive. Do you see the encouragement? There is a mighty warrior who's gone out before us, who is with us, the one who this book has called us to fear, godly fear, reverence, follow. The whole heavenly army bows to him. What has he said? The gates of hell will not prevail against my kingdom. What he was saying was, all these strongholds have been set up in this world by Satan against the kingdom of God. They're all coming down in a moment. They're all coming down. Who do you think is on the offensive here? The kingdom of God is the one advancing. We are the aggressors. Not with the weapons of the theonomists, let me say. Not with the weapons of those who are using the wrong mentality to fight this battle. We are the ones winning this. It's just a matter of time. The divine warrior has an army around him. And all the strongholds and all the gates of hell that are set up in this land and in the world that try to stop the success of the kingdom of God are just that. They're little walls. They're little walls that Satan's erected. We don't fear, they do. That's why there's walls. We're not in the position of defeat. They are. That's why they're fighting with all these ideologies. They're walls. To try to stop the kingdom. This is what Hebrews is saying. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down. I think this is meant to be the greatest encouragement to the church today. Christ has all authority. There's no way we can tear down the walls. But he will. And he can. And he does. You know, when he said that, the gates of hell will not prevail right after that, you know what he was talking about? He was talking about his own death and resurrection that would tear down the wall of hell that has a grip on people. What would it accomplish? Tearing down the strongholds of Satan. There's a great foreshadowing of that here, you know. Go in to the city, to the prostitute's house and bring her out and her family. just as you swore. Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. There's the advancement. The gates of hell did not prevail. And she's lived with Israel to this day. He keeps emphasizing this. This is remarkable. For how much God has been assaulted for his righteous judgment and destruction of Canaan. What he actually did in reverse at the cross was send his son for a time not to condemn the world but to save the world and to throw down the strong man, to throw down the walls. It's a great victory that's being announced to the ends of the earth. We don't see it with physical eyes but we see it with spiritual eyes. He's the one on the offensive. He's the one who is our divine warrior They're tearing these things down and they're trying all the more when the heavy pressure is on them to erect walls. That's what's going on in the culture right now. You have to see that. He wants you to know we are called to follow him by faith. For our kingdom is not of this world or we would fight. We would actually take up swords. But what did he tell us? For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power, now listen, to destroy strongholds. It may seem foolish what we're doing. We sing. I was in Linden last week doing that service for Natalie. And 35 years old. It's lung cancer. never smoked what are we doing we're singing out at the cemetery what a weird bunch huh to the world we are but we're singing because there's hope we're singing because there's victory and there's a captain of our salvation who's led us and he's even defeated death sure it's with the foolishness of the message preached that god has chosen to save that's what we're marching with we're marching and the world laughs at us the world thinks we're fools they think we're stupid but christ through this is pulling down the strongholds and people out of the gates of hell that have been set up that's what he's doing and he is throwing down satan's kingdom and ultimately will and yeshua's fame did you notice that at the very end has spread throughout all the land the name of jesus is known it's remarkable how known that name is in the history of the world isn't it we need to be committed to trust the lord in the days we live by faith to believe his word to be committed to his purposes of gospel ministry too much of this at times has just been the church always takes back seat to everything else we need to show the light of the gospel in us that through these weak things that we don't value and are naturally hard hearts tend to push away through these things god is winning a victory the church needs this encouragement in our day to hold fast, to faith and trust and do what she is called to do. Our biggest problem right now is not trying to figure out how to stop all the wickedness of Canaan. Listen to me. It's not our biggest problem to try to stop all the wickedness of Canaan ourselves. It's all we're talking about our biggest challenge is to be a people confident in the faith committed to his church you're all being pulled away from it we're all seeing it in in churches pastors are all talking about it to be committed to the everlasting gospel that is the power of God to save. We have way too many people cowering before the ideologies of this age. But know this, that the time is short. All outside of Christ who have shut their hearts to Him are the very reason we're here. They're devoted to destruction. Do you understand that? Did you catch that they circled six times and then the judgment happened on the seventh day? You know where that comes from. Creation. God rested the seventh day. A day is coming when that's going to happen. We're circling the earth with the gospel. Many, many years we have done this work. While it's still called today, we labor. Because a day comes when no man may work. And then eternity comes. What a day it's going to be. It's a day of trumpets. It's a day of shouts. For the Lord Himself, now listen, will descend from heaven with a shout. With the voice of the archangel and with what? The trumpet of God. And God will knock down once and forever every stronghold of Satan, every wall, every gate. And those will be thrown into the lake of fire for he's the one that has the keys of death and Hades. And after this battle, we enter our rest. the dead in Christ will rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord therefore comfort one another with these words we need to be and I close people of faith not fear be confident beloved in who is with you and who is gone before you and that the world and its rebellion against God and his anointed are the ones in fear. That's why they're doing what they're doing. All these walls tell you that. They want to try to stop the kingdom of God and they cannot. And that's what all this opposition is. We're not in the Alamo. They're in the Alamo. And Jesus is a lot better leader than Santa Ana. May we as a church have confidence that inspires us to the same faith that knocked down the walls of Jericho so that through faith we may too achieve the same victory in the warrior king who has made the promise, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for a glorious perspective on the advancement of the kingdom of God. Bless it to our understandings and give us strong faith to believe your word, and to see what we are a part of and that the battle belongs to the Lord. What a day it's going to be when the Lord Jesus descends with a shout and with the trumpet. And once and for all, this is put to an end. And then we enjoy a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness shall dwell forever, a cleansed land with no more sin or death. Help us today to live in the joy of this truth and to be, as we're called in this book, bold and courageous in our faith. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.