Good morning to everyone. Doug just flew back in from California. He was telling me it was 90 out there and sunny and I said yeah but those poor people have never appreciated a 42-degree sunny day, you know. Spring's coming here so it's gonna be nice today. It's good to see you all this morning and we're gonna be back in the book of Joshua. 

Joshua, now I can see. That's good. Joshua chapter 6. In our study of the book of Joshua this morning, we really come to one of the highlights, one of the best-known events recorded in the book of Joshua, the Battle of Jericho. In the context and flow of the book, we've seen God working, preparing Israel for this moment for the last 40 years and really much longer than that. This is the beginning of the driving out of the inhabitants of the land to give the land to the tribes of Israel as he promised to fulfill his promise. 

In our recent studies, we've seen some amazing events bringing us to this point. God led Israel out of bondage in Egypt. Mighty wondrous events at the Red Sea, the destruction of Pharaoh and his armies, Israel walking across on dry land even after all the plagues and miracles and the Passover in Egypt. God's protected and provided for and prepared Israel in the 40 years in the wilderness. It was a punishment, yes, but it was also a preparation, and he was with them day and night, pillar of fire, pillar of the cloud, and he was teaching them, preparing them, especially men like Joshua, to carry out his plans for the nation. 

But we don't always recognize or understand the work of God in our lives, the grace of God in teaching us to trust him, to believe him, to obey him, or just to draw us closer to him so that he might work through us. Sometimes it's a wilderness time, a time of trial, a dryness in the desert, and we see that most of Israel in their time in the wilderness did not believe. They complained, they moaned and groaned, and disobeyed rather than trusting God and praising him knowing that he only does what is best for us. 

But we see now as we come to the book of Joshua that God was working even in these last 40 years, and now it was time to bring the promise to pass, put plans into action, and show his power. We saw God lay out all of the logistics for this operation with Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. We've studied before the arrangements Moses made with the two and a half tribes that remained on the other side of the Jordan and took their possession there. We've seen the instruction to Joshua to prepare him, the foretelling of all that God would do giving the land to Israel. 

And I wanted to point you to just two passages this morning in our introduction so that we might have a better understanding as we study through the battles of the book of Joshua and the taking of the land. First, turn to Deuteronomy 20 at verse 1 please. 

Deuteronomy 20 at verse 1. "When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them for the Lord your God is with you who brought you up from the land of Egypt. So it shall be when you're on the verge of battle that the priest shall approach and speak to the people and he shall say to them, 'Hear O Israel, today you're on the verge of a battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you.'" 

God is very patient. God is working in his sovereignty also in conjunction with the will and choices of men, those who believe him and those who reject him, raising them up for his purposes to show his power. And he's coordinating all the details, working patiently through his plan to show his power, to bring his will to pass, to glorify himself, and that all may know that he is the Lord. 

God's been working in Israel for hundreds of years bringing them to this point. The enemy was going to be much more impressive than Israel in number and military might, but it does not matter because the Lord, the creator and sustainer of all life, is going to be accomplishing his plan and purpose and promises by his power, and he is for Israel, he is with them fighting the battle. 

Go all the way back to Exodus 23 with me also. Exodus 23 verse 29 and we'll see something revealed about God's plan for giving them the land. Exodus 23:29, "I will not drive them out before you in one year lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and you inherit the land, and I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the river, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand and you shall drive them out before you." 

We don't always understand God's ways, the details of his plan, the long weeks, months, years that we sometimes wait to see God's hand in our lives. I'm sure Israel thought, just drive them all out, just wipe them out in one day, in a month, or a year, give us the land. But God knew that if he did it this way, there'd be a lot of problems. You see, he wanted them to take the land and possess it, to use it, to benefit from orchards and vineyards that they did not plant. It says here that if he drove them all out in one year, the land would become desolate and the beasts of the field too numerous. 

I'm not sure Israel would have thought of all that if they were in charge, just like we don't know what's best for us. We don't know the end from the beginning. We don't always consider all of the details, but God knows and he always does what is best for us. 

So we see that God has been working, he's been preparing for a long time in the nation of Israel for giving them the land, and now the taking of the land is to begin. But if they're going to be successful, if they're going to possess their possession, then it's going to have to be done God's way, in trust and obedience to him. And that's what we see in Joshua chapter 6 today. 

Let's read that passage again, Joshua 6, verse 1. Kind of try to put yourself in this scene as we read these words. "Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went in and none went out and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war, you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout. Then the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him.' 

Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to 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 to the people, 'Proceed and march around the city and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord.' 

So it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. Now Joshua had commanded the people saying, 'You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you, Shout! Then you shall shout.' 

So he had the ark of the Lord circle the city going around at once, and they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. Then 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 rear guard came after the ark of the Lord while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days. 

But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times, and the seventh time it happened when the priests blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people, 'Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. But all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord.' 

So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell flat. Then 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, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. 

But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, 'Go into the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has as you swore to her.' And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. 

And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, 'Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho. He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates.' So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country." 

I have four points on your outline this morning. First, God has brought you to this point. Second, God has brought you for a purpose. Third, God will accomplish His purpose. And fourth, God wants you to be faithful today. 

Well first in our text, I want you to see that God has brought you to this point. In the context of Joshua 6 and the nation of Israel, we see a great and pivotal day in the life and destiny of the nation. God has brought them to this point, just as we've been discussing this morning. He's done it by His power, His working out of His plan, His making provision for His people, and doing what is best for them. 

Most recently, He has miraculously brought them across the flooded Jordan River, stopping the waters, causing them to pile up in a heap upstream, and allowing His people to walk across on dry land. He's worked in the hearts of the people of Jericho, causing fear in their hearts to melt within them, leaving them no confidence or courage because of the Israelites. He's consecrated His people, confirming the covenant with them at Gilgal, circumcising all the men who were born in the wilderness who had not been circumcised. 

He's patient. He's working out His plan according to His time schedule and His sovereign will. But today is the day. He's going to give them victory in battle and begin to drive out the wicked nations from before Israel, giving them the land and all of its fruits to enjoy. We've talked a lot, God talks a lot, about remembering. The people just ate the Passover meal at Gilgal as well, marking the 40th year of wandering in the wilderness. 

God wants us to remember the great things that He's done in our lives. He wants us to remember His faithfulness. He wants us to remember His provision so that we might believe His promise. God had brought them to this point, and if you look back on all that He has done in Israel for these hundreds of years, if you look back at how He formed the nation, how He called them out, how He orchestrated the details of their existence, cared for them, did what was best for them, delivered them, and sustained them, He has brought them to this point. 

What does all of that mean to the moment before them? How do you stand before the fortified city of Jericho? They are more numerous, they are mightier, they have a greater military technology, their city is impenetrable, there's no way in, there's no way out, it's a double-walled city, massive walls, homes built into these walls. It's an impossible task. But you must remember that God has brought them here. All the way here. All the way through the course of their history, their individual lives, He's brought them to this point for this very purpose according to His promise. 

We are all at different places in our lives, in our Christian walk. Some of us have been Christians for just a short time, others for years, some 70 or 80 years. Where are you today? What does God have for you today? What does He want you to do today? What plans does He have for your life? We know what He has commanded us to do, we know what He has promised for our lives, we know that He has brought us to this point. 

And if we are wise, we remember, we look back, and thank God, we praise Him for all that He's done in our lives, how He's saved us, how He made us new and gave us a new life with new purpose, full of provision to carry it out. We know the great works He has accomplished by His power as we have walked by faith. 

We may be facing great and powerful enemies in our world. It may seem absolutely hopeless like David felt. All the wicked are succeeding. They're all against the Lord and His people. Or it may be as my mother saw it, the world is going to hell in a handbasket. But God is not surprised. He's not worried. He has brought you to this point. And He has a plan for you to be fruitful, to be effective in bringing men to Christ, to living a life worthy of your calling, of being faithful today, trusting Him, abiding in Him, glorifying Him in all that you do. 

Stand with Joshua and look at the walls of Jericho and look at verse one of our text. It says, now Jericho was securely shut up because of children of Israel. None went out, none came in. This is what Joshua saw. Now look at the people in your family, your coworkers, your neighbors. Think about witnessing to them. Think about loving them. Think about telling them about Jesus. Look at the lost suffering people of our world. What has God called us to do? To tell them about Jesus, to love them. 

And what do we see? They're shut up. Nothing goes in. They have ears that do not hear. Blasphemy and cursing comes out. It's hopeless. Now look at verse two of our text. Joshua stands and looks at Jericho walled up, secure. No one goes in, no one goes out. No way, Lord. But here's what the Lord sees. Look at verse two. "And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given you Jericho into your hand. It's king and mighty men of valor." 

See, look at the city, that mighty city, shut up and impregnable. See, I have given you Jericho into your hand. God says to us, look up for the fields are white for harvest. Look at the hurting people of the world, the lost and aimless suffering men of this world. I have given them into your hands. Go and preach the gospel to every creature. 

And God is working and bringing men to himself through faith in Jesus Christ. And he's building his church through faithful witnesses and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Remember, God has brought us to this point and God has brought us for a purpose. 

And next we see in our text that God will accomplish his purpose. We see this plan of God. It makes no human sense. You're gonna march around the city once, you know, think about that first day, we all get there, we get camp, we're gonna do this thing. Everybody gets up, they do everything they're told, the ark and the priests and the blowing the horn. They walk all around the city and they're like, okay, make a fire and some coffee again, I guess. We'll sit here and six days, seven days, seven times around, blow the trumpet. Joshua says, shout. 

Think about that moment. What faith it takes, right? Why did they do all that? It had no rhyme or reason according to the world. Why did they do that? Because they believed God. God will accomplish his purpose and he uses faithful believers who trust him, abide in him, and do what he says. And the walls fell flat and God spared Rahab and her whole household like he promised. How'd he do that? I don't know. He sent the spies; he preserved them; he brought them out. She lives in Israel to this day as he writes this. She's in the lineage of Christ. He keeps his promises. 

It's not hard for God. Joshua and Israel showed their faith in God and his power alone those seven days and did exactly as he prescribed and the walls came tumbling down. God did exactly what he said he would do, but he did it in conjunction with faithful men who believed and obeyed him and his way, his methodology. 

God has brought you and me to this place this day, this time in our lives. And we know that his purpose is to have us be his witnesses, to be preachers of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that men might be saved out of this world through faith in Jesus alone. We want men to be saved. We want God to be glorified. 

God has poured out his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that's given to us. We have a deep God-given desire to please him, to love him, to love others. Now, how has God told us that we are to accomplish this mission that he's given us? He intends to prepare us just as he prepared Israel for this day in Joshua 6. How does God prepare us for the work that we have to do in our world? 

Turn over to Ephesians 4, verse 11. Ephesians 4:11, "He himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastor teachers. Why? Why did Jesus give these gifts to the church? For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry." Now, this is so instructive, so clear, so simple. What's the local church to be about? The equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God, to a perfect or mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. 

Well, how are we not gonna be carried about with every wind of doctrine? We have to know doctrine, we have to know the truth. "By the trickery of men, the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." 

He has given us the body, the church, the local fellowship of believers, why? For encouragement, for fellowship, for instruction and teaching, and preparing, building up so that we then as individuals can go out into the world to do the work of ministry. We could spend a lot of time here in Timothy and Titus, looking at the fact that the role of the pastor teacher is to preach the word, to instruct in righteousness, to rebuke, to encourage, to say what God says, verse by verse, book by book, through the word, for the purpose of the edification of the body. 

So you won't be tricked anymore. So you won't be tossed around and confused and aimless. This is the purpose of the local church. And what is God's method for bringing a man from death unto life? It's the foolishness of the message preached. It's the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. 

Our brothers and sisters, the message is the method. But what do we have in so much of the evangelical church today? Is the local church a training, equipping, encouraging center for believers? Are we feeding the sheep, as Spurgeon said, or are we entertaining the goats? And what about the method? Is it the message preached? Are we trusting God to bring His will of saving men to pass by His method of the gospel preached? Or are we out doing market research to see what unchurched Harry and Mary, the lost men who are sitting in town, would like in a church and then design that church for them, entertain them to draw them in, and then give them some bubblegum message about a Jesus who will fix all their problems and make their life full, and then declare them all to be saved by reason of their fellowship in our church? 

What you win them with, you win them too. Our brothers and sisters, this is a big deal, to trust God, to do it His way. If Israel doesn't do it His way, it doesn't work. We're gonna see that in the next chapter of Joshua. Because it is His power that accomplishes His will and promises, the battle is the Lord's. 

The reason the walls came down at Jericho was because God had brought them to this point, because God had a purpose, and because they believed and trusted God and did it His way. And in this, God's power and glory was displayed. No different today, only it's a much greater work when God saves a soul and turns a man from darkness into light. Jesus said, if you hear my words and you believe me, you pass from death unto life. We're conveyed into the kingdom of the Son of His love. 

We're made sons and co-heirs with Christ. This is a worthy work. And God has given us the method to do it. Why? So that He gets all the glory. 

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 1 with me, please. 1 Corinthians 1 at verse 18. I'm gonna read a lengthy passage here, but it's important to understand. And Joshua 6 is just such a vivid illustration of this and how God works. 

1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 

For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling brethren that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. 

Why? That no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that as it is written, he who glories let him glory in the Lord." 

And look at chapter two, verse one. "And I brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power." 

Verse five, "that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." This is what's going on in Joshua. This is what God is showing. It's not Joshua's power and his military might; it's God's power on display. It's glorifying God. That no flesh should glory in his presence, that our faith should be in the wisdom and power of God. 

It's when we believe God, when we march around that city for seven days, when we preach the gospel to the lost neighbor or loved one, and we trust him, we believe him, and we obey him and his way, his method, it is then that God shows his power and it is then that God gets all the glory. 

You think when those walls came down that the men of Jericho thought to themselves, well, that Joshua, he's a military genius. He's a mighty man of war. He fights like no one we've ever seen. No, they knew that the God of Israel was the only true God and that he brought those walls down by his power alone. And when we bring the message of Christ crucified, when we tell them to turn to Jesus in faith and place their trust in him alone and what he accomplished on the cross, and a man believes and he's saved and he's transformed into a new creation, men don't say, oh, look at what Mark or Ralph did, right? There's no glory for us. All the glory belongs to God. 

It was not some religious work or rite or ritual. It was not the wisdom of man. It was the power of God that changed that sinner and made him a saint. And this is why, my brothers and sisters, the will of God for your life today and every day is this, be faithful, just be faithful today. 

And by that, I mean, trust him, abide in him, look to him, and obey the commands that he has given us in this new covenant time to believe Jesus, to love one another, to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's what he wants. He wants us to be faithful today, to trust and obey and see God work by his mighty power so that he gets the glory. 

This is the lesson we see in Joshua 6 in the battle of Jericho. And it is directly applicable to the battles that we fight today. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Jericho was a stronghold, wasn't it, in a physical sense? There's lots of strongholds around us in the minds of men, arguments, we cast down arguments. There's a lot of high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of Christ. 

My friends, the battle is to know the promises of God. The battle is to know His Word and to believe Him and trust Him, and then to yield to His life, His power, His purpose, and His plan for our lives one day at a time. This is what it means to abide in Him, and when we abide in Him, His words abide in us. He's going to produce much fruit for His glory. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You for this tremendous example of Your power and might, Your glory, in delivering Jericho to Joshua and Israel. Thank You for working patiently in our lives with us, in so long-suffering and patient, to conform us to Christ, to make us like Jesus, to bear fruit through us by Your life and power. Thank You for those promises. Thank You that You've given us the word of reconciliation, that You've made us ambassadors for Jesus Christ. 

Help us to believe You. Paul says, we believe, therefore we speak. Help us to speak and tell the truth, bring the good news, the gospel, the power of salvation to those around us. Help us to do all things for Your glory, in Jesus' name, amen.