Amen. Take your Bibles this morning,
if you will, and turn over to Joshua chapter 6, Joshua chapter
6 and veteran's day. I thought that I would take you
to another battle that happened in the Bible and talk to you
about some things here. You know, Israel had finally
just crossed the Jordan. God had promised them that they
would have the, the, the land of Canaan to be their inheritance
and that they would, that all of that would be theirs.
And of course they didn't, they didn't believe.
They only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, out of the 12 spies
that went in and looked at the land of Canaan and, and only two
of them believed. And so God said, all right,
you're going to spend those 40 years in the wilderness and he
killed those 10 spies and everybody else that was above
the age of 20 and only those who were young kids.
And, and, and I mean, if they were 19 at the time that they
started the wandering in the wilderness, I mean, still by
this time, they're, they're about to hit 60 years old.
So we, you know, it wasn't all just kids that were going into
the land of Canaan. It was families and and there
was a lot of a lot of different dynamics to the whole thing, but
they finally finished up their wanderings in the wilderness.
God parted the Jordan River and they crossed on dry ground the
Jordan River and went into the land of Canaan.
In the 1st place they came to was a city called Jericho.
They prepared themselves spiritually as at least as much
as they knew how. And they had up to this point in
that section of the of the journey anyway, and follow God's
orders to the letter. And now they're ready to begin
their conquest, conquest of the promised land.
And they're, they're ready to claim for themselves the land
that God had been promising them for for many, many years in many
generations. And I can imagine how exciting
it must have been for those people to be the ones that were
actually going to be crossing into the land that God had said
that he was going to give them. You know, you think about it, I
think about this the same thing that happens to with us.
You know, God's been promising for years and years and years
that Jesus Christ is going to come back.
And we're going to be gathered together in the clouds with with
the dead in Christ that rise first.
We're going to meet the Lord in the air.
And the Bible says, so shall we ever be with the Lord?
One of these generations is going to be the one that gets to
go up in the rapture. I hope it's mine.
But you know, there's been many generations that have come along
and, and died and come along and died and come along and died.
And obviously they were not the ones that were alive on the
earth when Jesus Christ came back.
And I think that's kind of the same thing.
I mean, the anticipation, you know, one of these days, one of
these days, we're going to be the generation that gets to go
into the land that God promised. And here they finally were.
And now, just for a moment, try to put yourself into the shoes
of the average. Israelite soldier.
Most of you know the story. We're going to read different
parts of this story this morning.
But for most of these men, Jericho was the first city that
they had ever seen that was surrounded by huge walls.
I mean, they've been in the wilderness.
You know, there was there was cities there and, and they they
came across different places and some of them would have had
walls, but nothing like the city of Jericho.
It was, it must have looked like an absolute impossibility for
them to conquer this place, first place that they come into
in the land of Canaan. And by the way, many songs, even
good songs that, that have the idea that you're crossing the
Jordan River and you're going into the promised land, which is
heaven. And this is the land that God
promised to give us. The, the, the picture that we
have in the Bible is not the, the promised land is not heaven.
The promised land is a victorious Christian life
because there are no obstacles in heaven.
There are no battles to face in heaven.
There are no, there are no difficulties in heaven, but
there are in the Christian life and across the Jordan River.
And you know, they, they get saved and they enter into the
life that God's promised them. And the first thing they come up
against is the city of Jericho. I've been to the city of Jericho
and it wasn't anything like it was back in the days of the
Bible time. It's just a, just a bunch of
ruins now. But back in the day when Jericho
was was in, it's, by the way, Jericho's the oldest city in the
world. And at least that's what their
claim is. And and there's, there's,
there's good reason to believe that.
But the outer wall of Jericho, it was actually surrounded.
Jericho is actually surrounded by two massive walls, one that
was shorter and one that was taller.
The shorter wall was was 6 feet thick and about 20 feet high.
Now just just having that would be enough to to stop most
people. But then there was a guarded
passageway that was about 15 feet wide and then another wall
behind that one that was actually 12 feet thick and 30
feet high. So if you somehow made it
through the 1st wall and somehow made it past all of those guards
that were in that little opening and you got to the second wall.
Now that one was double thick and double high almost.
I mean, it's Can you imagine what Israel must have thought
when they God said, all right, this land is yours, cross the
Jordan River, go into Canaan. This is the this is what I've
been promising you. And the first thing they come to
is this. Imagine how discouraging or
disappointed it would have been for them to get there.
But how does that relate to us? Well, we're living in days of.
Of battle and spiritual struggle.
We we get saved. We crossover into what's
supposed to be a victorious Christian life and by the way,
can be a victorious Christian life.
But we're going to face some battles, we're going to face
some struggles. And we need to know how to
fight. We need to know that our God is
able to give us the victory. We need to know how to follow
him to that victory. And, and, and just in the same
way that Israel faced those mighty walls of Jericho, you and
I face walls and obstacles that, that, that are in our path and
in our lives as well. And we need to know how to
overcome them as we March toward that victory that God has
promised. Now, God already promised them
that they would have the victory in the land of Canaan.
Every part of that land of Canaan could be theirs.
God told them that it was theirs.
They just had to go in there and take it.
Now, if God made them that promise, then don't you think
that there's a way that He would make it possible for that
promise to be fulfilled? Absolutely He will.
There are things in that land that might look difficult.
There might think there. There are things in that land
that might look to be an impossibility.
There are things in that land that might look like no way we
can take these. In fact, that's what the 10 spy
said. There's giants in that land.
There's huge people over there, there's big cities.
We I don't, I just don't think we can take it right.
But God was giving it to them. And God has promised every one
of us through him a victorious Christian life.
And you come across obstacles sometimes that make it look like
no way that I can win this victory, no way that I can have
the what God has promised me that I can have.
But the battle for Jericho closely resembles our.
Christian Life. Are you going to do what God
said or not? Are you going to, are you going
to follow God toward that victory or not?
And I want to try to be an encouragement to you this
morning. Sometimes what we're told to do
doesn't make sense. If it's God's plan, though, then
He'll work it out for us. Sometimes what we see happening
doesn't make sense. I think we saw that this past
Tuesday. Doesn't make sense.
Doesn't make sense to me why God would allow all of these people
who hate him and hate everything that he has to do with to get
into office. I don't know what our what our
state is going to look like at the end of these next four
years. I don't know.
But I'll tell you this. God's in control.
He didn't forget that we were here.
He didn't lose the ability to put people in place or to take
people out of place. In fact, I just read this in
Psalm 75, verse 7 in my devotions just a couple days
ago. But God is the judge.
He put it down one and set it up another.
They did not take him by surprise.
What happened this past week did not take him by surprise.
He is fully aware of everything that's going on in this state.
Maybe at the very least to just wake up some Christians and help
us realize that we need to stand up and fight for righteousness.
We need to stand up and fight for godliness.
But sometimes it doesn't make sense.
It's confusing because we pray and it seems as if God doesn't
answer sometimes. But there are 5 parallels that I
want to look at this morning between the battle for Jericho
and winning the victory in our Christian life.
The title of my message, if I was going to give you 1, is
simply just the Christian life, the Christian life.
There are things that we're going to face in our Christian
life and things that characterize the Christian life,
if you will, if we're going to have the victory through Christ.
And I hope it'll be a help to you this morning.
Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you so
much for your goodness to us. I thank you for an opportunity
we have together around Your word.
I pray that it would be a help to us this morning.
I pray that it would be, you know what every person is
struggling with. You know what every person is?
Dealing with God, May you help us.
To have a great desire to live for you, may you help us to to
get rid of the apathy in our lives and and go forward for the
cause of Christ God, may you give us a great desire to please
you with everything we. Do in our lives and again we
thank you so much for all that you do for us in Jesus name,
Amen. First thing I want you to see is
this and go ahead and if you will, if you have a bookmark or
a marker that may be a ribbon or something, put it there in
Joshua chapter 6. We're going to be coming back to
that over and over and over. But got a few other verses that
I want you to jump around with me to this morning.
But I want you to see this. The Christian life is a life of
routine. The Christian life is a life of
routine. There were the Bible says this
in Joshua chapter 6, and we'll just begin in verse #1 Now
Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of
Israel. None went out and none came in.
So Can you imagine being Jericho?
Obviously, we, we kind of put ourselves in the position of
being Israel. We crossed the, the Jordan River
and now we see this massive city.
There's over 2 million people that crossed the Jordan River
and they're heading toward your city.
And you know, you got some big walls.
You know, you've got some good protection, but against 2
million people that's a lot. And so Jericho closes all the
gates, gets everybody into the city, and they're waiting to see
what's going to happen. Verse 2 And the Lord said unto
Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand.
Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.
And you shall compass the city, walk around it, all, ye men of
war, and go round about the city once.
Thus shalt thou do 6 days, and seven priests shall bear before
the ark 7 trumpets of ram's horns.
And the 7th day ye shall compass the city 7 times.
And the priests shall blow at the trumpets.
And it goes on. The Bible says that they did
that verse #13 and seven priests bearing 7 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 re reward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests
going on and blowing with the trumpets and the second day they
compass the city once and returning to the camp.
So they did 6 days and it came to.
Pass on the 7th. Day that they rose early about
the dawning of the day and compass the city after the same
manner 7 times. Only on that day they compass
the city 7 times. Now I think this is interesting.
They were to do this once every day for six days.
Walk around the walls of the city.
Now one of the things that Moses.
Had said to God over and over and over in the wilderness when
God said, let me just kill him and start over with you.
And God said no, no, no, no. I mean Moses said, said to God,
don't, don't do that. They're they're not going to
respect. They already are scared of us.
Everybody in the land of Canaan knows everything there is about
us, and they're afraid of you if you kill everybody in the
wilderness and you start with just me.
They're not going to be afraid of us when we cross the Jordan
to go into that land. So you know that Jericho had
heard about Israel and they had heard about Israel's God, and
they were afraid. I think that's one of the
reasons why they retreated back into the city, then send out the
mighty men of war to meet them as they came across.
They were. They were retreated in the city
and imagine what Jericho must have been thinking when they saw
all the nation of Israel walk up and form lines and just make a
big lap around their city. I think they were probably
scared. What are they doing?
Are they, are they, are they getting into battle positions?
What's going on? And then they all go home and
they come back the next day. OK, Now they were first day.
They must have just been scouting, trying to figure out
what they were going to do. Now here they are.
And they walk all the way around the city again.
Now, this is this is 2 million people, right?
I mean, the city of Jericho was not that big.
It was a big city. But it would have been enough
that the back of the line would have probably been meeting the
front of the line, and it would have been a a whole group of
people surrounding the entire city of Jericho.
All right, get ready, men. They're getting ready to attack.
And the line just keeps going. And they all go back to where
they came from and they do it again the third day and a fourth
day and a fifth day and 1/6 day. Could you imagine what Jericho
must have been thinking? This is ridiculous.
What are they doing? Can you imagine what the
Israelites must have been thinking?
This is ridiculous. What are we doing?
Right? And then on the 7th day they get
up early in the morning and they walk around it 7 times.
No nothing, no, no, no armor, no no weapons, no anything.
Just walking around the city, I mean both of the both Israel and
and Jericho must have been like what in the world is going on
here, right? The Israelites were just doing
what they were told. The people that were standing
there in Jericho every single day getting.
Ready to fight and they're just walking in circles.
They had just come into Canaan. Their time was very precious,
right? They had a lot to accomplish.
They had a lot to a great amount of work before them.
And yet to linger so many days around Jericho, just going in
circles, seeming to do nothing, not making any progress.
God could have caused the walls of Jericho to fall the second
they walked into the vicinity of Jericho.
He could have caused the walls to fall the first time they
walked around the city. He could have.
He could have done anything he wanted to.
He could have, he could have killed everybody in in the city
and said go in the front gate. Here's a big walled city for
you. He could have done any of those
things. But he told him to walk around
the city and keep walking around the city.
I think a a better way to say this might be to say that the
Christian life is a life of patience.
It's a life of routine, but it's it's a life of patience.
We're not going to see victories every single day of the
magnitude that we see here in Jericho.
God's promised us the victory in our Christian life.
But just like those victories have to come in God's way, they
also come in God's time. Those who serve God can afford
to wait. The walls may not fall on the
6th day and you might be getting discouraged because you don't
see movement and you don't see answers.
But wait on God. The walls are going to fall on
the 7th day, not in the way that you.
Plan, but in the way that God planned, and not in your time,
but in God's time. The problem with a lot of
Christians is that they're only willing to work and follow God
when they think success is right around the corner.
The person that only fights in the hour of evident victory is
not worthy of the name of Soldier Boy.
I tell you, it's easy to fight when everything's going your
way. It's hard to fight when it's
not. It's hard to fight when
everybody else has turned tail and run and you're the only one
left standing there. That's when it's hard to fight.
But that's when a soldier does what a soldier does.
When you stand and fight when nobody else is with you, or when
you stand and fight when it's just a small group with you,
that's when you do what a soldier does.
Oh, it's easy to fight when everybody's fighting.
It's easy to fight when everything is going your way.
It's easy to to be the one that runs into Jericho after the
walls are already down. All right, that's the easy part.
But what about being the one on the frontline, not knowing
what's going to happen, but just following and doing what God
said to do? Those who are involved in this
church know how the battle of being a small church is.
Wouldn't it be? Easy to join a church that's
already well established, it already has a beautiful
buildings, already has a full staff, already has every
ministry up and running, money to do whatever they want to do.
That would be nice. Of course, you're here in the
trenches. You're here when it's not easy.
And as we wait on God, he will bless.
I don't know what God has for us, but we're in that period
right now. The idea of the Christian life
is just a life of routine. We just put 1 foot in front of
the other. We just keep marching.
We just keep doing what God's already told us to do.
It's a life of patience because I don't know why God's waiting,
especially when it comes to this idea of a building for AI.
Don't know why God's waiting. It seems to me like he would
answer this request four years ago or three years ago or two
years ago or last year. But he hasn't.
Maybe he's just, we're just, we're just walking around the
walls. Doesn't make sense.
Maybe that's what we need to do to this place.
Just start going in circles and see what happens.
Yeah. Let everybody on Broad Street
say, what in the world are they doing?
Hey, we're just, we're just walking laps around the building
because God's going to do something.
Maybe if the walls fall down, he'll let us build a new.
One I don't know. But you see what I'm saying that
that the Christian life is just a life of routine.
All you know to do and all you should be doing is just exactly
what God's told you to do. You don't have to go make
something happen. You don't have to just charge,
you know, charge the walls of the city because why are we
doing this? This is dumb.
No, God told them to just March around the city and keep
marching around the city. That makes sense to you, but it
makes sense to him and he's looking at it from the view on
the top. All we can see is what's right
in front of us. Our Lord is a is a great example
of one who waited on God in God's timing.
In fact, one commentator said it like this, how the Savior waited
during those 30 long years ere he began his work.
Not less patiently did Christ wait after His work commenced.
He knew how to pass through the midst of wrathful men who sought
to cast Him from the brow of the hill at Nazareth on the very day
when He began His ministry. And yet.
Not to be discouraged he can endure to say, The Son of Man
hath not where to lay his head, and not only to say that, but a
feel the bitterness of such rejection as none.
But he could feel it. And yet to continue His silent
and holy service, he could bear to know that neither did his
brethren believe on him and still work.
He couldn't. He could see one apostle waiting
in weakness to deny him, and another in malice already on the
way to betray him, and then glancing back over his
apparently fruitless ministry. Say to the 11.
He that believe is on me. The works that I do shall He do
also. The greater works than these
shall He do because I go into my Father.
He could enter into the agony of Gethsemane, expire amid the
hootings of a nation who crowned their rejection of Him on
Golgotha. Pass into the darkness of the
tomb and emerging fence, say even to the disciples who had
all forsaken him and fled. Tarry ye in the city of
Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high.
Though despised and rejected of men, He commanded them to wait
for the promise of the Father in the very place where men would
have said failure was most apparent.
And when that promise of the Father came, they were to arise
and preach the gospel among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
The. Patience, said the Lord.
He came. He came to die.
He came to to. Not to, not to the righteous,
but to call sinners to repentance.
And he had to wait 30 years before God gave him the
permission to start that ministry.
Oh, I'm sure that at 18, I mean, think about it, at 12, he was
ready. He was he was in the Temple
discussing with the with the the chief of the rabbis, the
smartest of all at 12. Years old he was ready to go.
I'm sure at 18 he was ready. God is now the time, 2022, 2528.
God, what are you waiting on? I'm ready.
I'm ready to fulfill this ministry that you brought me to
do. And God said, no, no, just just
hang on, just keep doing. We don't know anything about
what Jesus did from the time that he was 12 until he was 30
years old. It was just a life of routine.
He just did what God told him to do day after day after day after
day. And then finally the day came
when God said, all right, now is the time you go to that little
marriage in Cana, do that miracle, turn that water into
wine. That's going to start
everything. But even then, 3 1/2 years, he
had to wait before he could fulfill the work that he was
called to do. The Christian life is just a
life of routine. It's a life of just doing what
God has called us to do day in and day out.
Psalm 37 and verse 7 says rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him. Lamentations.
I would get you to turn over there, but it'd probably take
you too long to get there. Lamentations chapter.
Three and verse number. Six It is good that a man should
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for
the salvation of the Lord. Someone discovered this written
on the walls of a prison camp in Nazi Germany.
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.
I believe in love even when I don't feel it, and I believe in
God even when he is silent. Sometimes God is silent.
Sometimes we don't understand what God is doing.
But the Christian life is just a life of routine.
Just keep marching. Just keep putting 1 foot in
front of the other. It's a life of routine.
But I want you to see this as well.
The life, Christian life is a life of discipline.
Back in Joshua chapter 6 and verse #10.
And Joshua 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 shout, then shall you
shout. All the people were commanded to
be silent, not to speak a word, not to make any noise.
I think that would be very. Unsettling for the the people in
Jericho. Nobody's talking, nobody's
saying a word. No sound whatsoever except the
feet touching the ground of 2 million.
People, you know how? Hard that must have been, not to
say anything, especially for the ladies.
Now that took discipline. I didn't want to say it, but I
made myself do it. Christian life is a life of
discipline. They were not to make a sound
that that would have taken some serious discipline.
Could you imagine that? Not saying anything at all?
No, no sound, no words. I don't know how you go that
long without saying anything, right?
But they did it. They did.
It was a life of discipline, and the Christian life takes
discipline to live in a way that's pleasing to God.
Turn over to Psalm 18. See, it takes discipline to
pray. It's not easy, but it takes
discipline to pray. He commanded us to do.
It takes discipline to read your Bible.
Takes discipline to say no to temptation.
The devil is always going to to to put temptations in front of
you to to drink and to smoke and to look in what?
Look at things and watch things that you shouldn't say things
that you shouldn't go places maybe that you shouldn't.
There's always going to be temptations in front of you to
do those things. But it takes discipline to say
no to those temptations. Judges 2125.
The Bible says every man did that which was right in his own.
Eyes. That is, that's no discipline
whatsoever. That's the easy way out.
Psalm 18 and verse 25 says this. I was also upright before him.
I kept sorry, verse 23. I was also upright before him,
and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
Turn over to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6 takes
discipline to live the Christian.
Life. Oh, and people.
Say often, I don't know what's wrong.
I'm I'm just trying so hard to be a good Christian and I can't,
I don't know why I can't be a good Christian.
But you have 0 discipline in your life.
No, no time for prayer, no time for reading your Bible, no time
for doing the things that are that are the spiritual
disciplines. But I have no problem getting on
my phone and playing for hours. No problem getting on my phone
or what and watching things for hours.
No problem sitting on the couch for three hours at a time just
watching TV. I have no problem doing that.
But I just can't find time to pray.
I can't find time to read my Bible.
I'm just so busy. There's so many things going on
in my life. Let me challenge you to
something, if that's. You and you say, I don't know.
I don't have time to pray, I don't have time to read my
Bible. I don't have time to go out
knocking on doors. I don't have time to share the
gospel. I'm just too busy.
Here's what I want you to do for one week.
Write down everything that you did for an one hour at a time.
From 8:00 to 9:00, this is what I did.
From 9:00 to 10:00, this is what I did.
From 10:00 to 11:00 this is what I did and I can.
Promise you that you're going to find that you have way more time
than you think you have. We waste a lot of time.
We waste a lot of time on things that don't even matter.
And then we say, I don't have time to pray.
I don't have time to read my Bible.
You do have time. It's just a matter of what
you're spending that time on. It's just a matter of what your
priorities are. Oh no, I the Bible is the most
important thing in my life, that God's word is the most important
thing that we have. But you'll prioritize watching
your videos over you will reading the Bible.
You'll prioritize spending time on the phone with somebody that
you want to talk to over spending time in prayer, talking
to the one that really matters. Oh, we have time.
We just don't spend. It the right way.
Romans chapter 6 and verse #12 The Bible says this.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you
should obey it in the lust thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. If you're saved, if you're a
Christian, if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you
don't belong to yourself, you belong to Him.
And if you belong to Him, then don't.
Why would you yield yourself over to the lust of the flesh?
Why would you fulfill the lust of the flesh?
He says yield yourselves unto God as somebody that's alive
from the dead. That's you.
Could you imagine if you were given a second lease on life?
You hear from time to time about people who die on the operating
table and they're dead for 5/10/15 minutes and the doctors
are able to bring them back. You have a second chance at
life. Could you imagine what you would
do with a second chance? We have that second chance.
You were dead in your sins and you were made alive by Jesus
Christ. Why don't you live like
somebody, as the Bible says here, that's alive?
From the dead. Yield your your, yield your
members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Here's turn over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10, just
maybe a few pages over. 2nd Corinthians chapter 10.
Think about the magnitude of this verse when we're talking
about the Christian life being a life of discipline.
Second Corinthians chapter 10 and verse #5 casting down
imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God. Get this.
And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. Every thought to the obedience
of Christ. Could you imagine how it would
change our life if we even brought 90% of our thoughts?
Into the obedience of Christ, let alone every thought, bring
it into captivity, casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that it is exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.
What high things do you have in your life that you are exalting
above the knowledge of God? Oh, nothing, nothing.
God's first place not Not if you're saying I don't have time
to pray, I don't have time to read my.
Bible, but I'm doing all of these other things instead.
You have set those things up, imaginations, high things,
whatever you want to call it. You have set those things up in
front of God and in front of your relationship with God.
And it takes discipline to turn off the TV and go into your room
and read your Bible. Takes discipline to put your
phone down and go in there and get on your knees and have some
time with God. The Christian life is a life of
discipline. Could you imagine if some of
these Israelites, as they were marching around the wall,
started having a conversation and started laughing and joking
about all kinds of things? I don't know what would have
happened. But I know.
This. They didn't do it.
They didn't talk. There was not a sound as they
marched on the walls of Jericho. Christian life is a life of
discipline. But I want you to see this
number 3 Christian life is a life of obedience.
Verse #12 Back in Joshua chapter 6.
Verse #12 and Joshua rose. Early in the morning and the
priest took up the ark of the Lord, and the seven priests
bearing 7 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 re reward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests
going on and blowing with the trumpets.
And the second day they compass the city once and returned into
the camp. So they did 6 days, and it came
to pass on the 7th day. But they rose early about the
dawning of the day and compass the city after the same manner 7
times. Only on that day they compass
the city 7 times. And it came to pass at the 7th
time. When the priest blew with the
trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout for the Lord hath
given you the city. Now could you imagine how the
Israelites must have felt following these commands?
I've mentioned it already, but by all standards, by all
military standards. This was absurd.
The scoffing of the people inside Jericho by the time they
got to the 4th, 5th, 6th day. This is the great army of
Israel. This is how they intend to take
our city, marching in circles around it.
What do they think is going to happen that randomly we're just
going to all die or something? I mean, could you imagine what I
mean? The Israelites were marching
around in silence, but I can imagine that those inside.
Jericho were not silent. I mean, maybe by the 5th, 6th,
7th day they started shouting jeers at them.
What are you doing? You think that's going to do
something? You know, kind of like the smack
talk of. War I guess.
What do you think's going to happen?
The walls are just going to fall down or something.
You're going to walk right in. Now, how absurd that marching
would have been to most of those Israelites.
I think that if, if, if the dividing of the Jordan River
that they had just walked across on dry ground had not been so
fresh on their mind, I think there probably would have been
another rebellion. But it was fresh.
They had just walked across the dry ground.
They had just seen God do this miracle, and now this is what
God's telling them to do. I think it was fresh enough on
their mind that they were willing to follow.
But the process of besieging the city in this way was exactly
adapted to accomplish the purpose that God had for the
nation of Israel. And I'll say this, God often
tries His servants by commanding things that apparently have
little to do with what He's trying to accomplish.
I say that apparently because God always has a purpose for
what He tells us to do. God was not waiting all of this
time to collect His energy to be able to knock the walls of
Jericho down. He was not waiting to gather up
His power for the destruction of the Canaanites.
He could have spoken and destroyed the city with one
word. The Lord had a more exalted war.
His battle was not with Jericho. His battle was with the hearts
of the Israelites. He was trying to see if they
were going to give in to him. He was trying to see if they
were going to surrender to him. And we go back to this idea of
patience. Sometimes God commands us to
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, and it
doesn't make sense humanly speaking.
We think we have to get out there and make it happen instead
of waiting on God. Turn over to first Samuel
chapter 15. You think about what would have
happened if one of the. Israelites finally had enough
and said this marching is ridiculous, Decided to charge
the gates of Jericho. This is no battle strategy.
We're just walking around. I'm going toward the gates.
Who's coming with me? I guarantee you that that
soldier would have been dead and it probably would have kept the
entire nation of Israel from being able to take that city of
Jericho. First Samuel chapter 15 and
verse 22. And Samuel said, hath the Lord
is great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in
obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than
sacrificing to hearken than the Fed of Rams.
See, when the Lord is fighting for us, it's best to let all men
see that the battle is not ours, but His.
It's not my battle. I can't accomplish it in my
strength. It's best for us to obey His
commandments. John chapter 14 and verse 15
says if you love me, keep my commandments.
Turn over to 1st John chapter 5. First John chapter 5, verse #1.
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,
and everyone that loveth him, that begat loveth him also, that
is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the
children of God when we love God and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments,
and his commandments are not grievous.
See, the Christian life is a life of routine.
It's a life of discipline. It's a life of obedience.
But I want you to see this number four.
Turn over to Hebrews Chapter 11. Christian life is a life of
faith. Christian life is a life of
faith. It took a lot of faith in the
part of the Israelites. It took a lot of faith in the
part of Joshua and Caleb. Could you imagine?
Joshua was a man of war. Joshua understood how to battle.
And he goes and sits down and says, God, all right, we're
getting ready to cross the Jordan River.
And I know for a fact that Jericho is the First Nation
we're going to come to. What do you want us to do?
How do you want us to take this city?
And God says March around it. One time a day for six days and
then the 7th day marched around at 7 times.
Could you imagine what Joshua must have thought?
Seriously, that's what you want us to do?
Joshua was a man of war and then the fact that he had to go to
the nation of Israel and tell him this exact same strategy
with a straight face. Most of these guys were men of.
War they were. Battle hardened they were.
They were tested. They were trained, Joshua had
probably taught them some military strategy, and now the
very first opportunity they have to really battle, he goes and he
says, all right, man, here's how we're going to do it.
Could you imagine the looks on their faces when he's telling
them that this is our battle strategy?
But the Christian life is a life of faith.
This is what God had told them to do.
Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse #30 says by faith the walls of
Jericho fell down after they were compassed about 7 days.
Interesting. The hall of faith, we call it
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Enoch, all of these, Noah, Moses, all
of these in the hall of faith, and he mentions this by faith.
The walls of Jericho fell down. Whose faith?
To some extent it was the faith of the people.
It was the faith of Joshua and Caleb in a day when they marched
around day by day in full assurance that God was going to
do what he said He was going to do.
Turn over to Mark Chapter 11, 2nd Corinthians chapter 10, and
verse #4 says, For the weapons of our warfare are not mighty,
are not carnal, sorry, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds. Mark Chapter 11 and verse #23.
For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this
mountain, be thou removed, and be cast into the sea, and shall
not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things
which he said shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever
he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What
things so ever you desire when you pray, believe that you
receive them, and ye shall have them.
To the citizens of Jericho the actions of the Israelites must
have appeared incomprehensible, must have must have seen
ludicrous to them. But God's people were being
trained day by day to do exactly what God had told them to.
Do and they were doing exactly what God told them to do when
the walls came down. Let God do the work.
You just do what God told you to do.
You just trust God and then follow Him by faith, and you let
him do the. Work.
We don't have to make it happen in our own strength.
We don't have to make it happen in our own genius.
Just do what God said. Just trust that he'll do what He
said he's going to do. Any strongholds are the enemy
that seem like they would never come down with fall if only the
church would go about them in faith.
So many times we get into a spot where it doesn't look like
things are humanly possible. And so we start, we start
finagling things. We start making things into a
position where we can, we can accomplish this on our own.
Well, it doesn't seem like God's going to come through this time,
so I'm going to have to do what I can do to make it work.
And how often we get into that position where we say, wow, that
was a really smart idea on my part.
If I hadn't done that, we wouldn't have been able to
accomplish that, right? If if we hadn't decided to make
that move, then then God obviously wasn't coming through
for us. So we decided to do it and look
how it turned out. And sometimes it does turn out
all right and we start poking our chest out and saying, look
at us, look what we've accomplished.
One pastor said it this way. When God spoke all things into
being, the everlasting silence remained unbroken.
No stir was seen, no commotion felt.
The starting into life of 10,000 * 10,000 millions of angels from
the deep abyss of eternity created no noise.
The creation of millions upon millions of worlds by the Fiat
of His matchless power was done in noiselessness and peace.
You know, a lot of people think that commotion and disturbance
is what shows that work is being done.
But silence is sufficient for God.
Just wait. Just wait.
Sometimes, as we see here around Jericho, God asked his children
to believe. Just believe there's nothing but
Himself on which their faith can rest.
When his children do rest in faith, they're content to walk.
In to walk on in the same silence that the Israelites did
when we when we have that quiet faith, when we have that quiet
trust in him, just stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord. I don't need all the the motion
commotion to make it look like we're busy doing all of these
things. Just wait on the Lord.
I wanted to tell you this lastly, and we'll be done back
in Joshua chapter 6, we see that the life, the Christian life is
a life of routine. It's a life of discipline.
It's a life of obedience. It's a life of faith.
I want you to see this lastly can be a life of victory.
Joshua chapter 6 and verse #20 So the people shouted when the
priest blew with the trumpets. And it came to pass, when the
people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted
with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat.
So that the people went up into the city, every man straight
before him, and they took the city when the Bible says that
the walls fell down flat. Now there is evidence in the
city of Jericho as they've done excavations to.
Prove that those walls just fell straight in on themselves.
Enough in easy enough that the Israelites could walk straight
into the city. It wasn't like it left some
gigantic mound that they had to try to climb over.
The walls just fell down flat and they walked right into the
city and took it. Could you imagine what the what
the what those in Jericho must have thought when they heard
that rumbling start to happen and the walls start to shake and
here they are standing on the top of it with their all their
machines, all their man made armor and their man made weapons
and all of those other things and they just topple straight
over? Could you imagine what that must
have been like for them? Could you imagine what it must
have been like for Israel? We did it God's way, and look
what God did. They just ran right into the
city. The wall fell down flat,
probably killed a lot of people, the guards, the Sentinels that
were on the top of that wall, others crowded around it.
Israelites just marched right on in and took it because God said
they could turn over to Psalm 60.
See, God will do the same thing to His enemies, into the enemies
of a Christian. Not not physical enemies
necessarily, but spiritual. The God of heaven easily can,
and certainly will break down all the opposing power of his
and His Church's enemy. Psalm 60 and verse #9 Who will
bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom?
Will not thou, O God, which has cast us off, and thou, O God,
which this not go out with our armies?
Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of.
Man through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that
shall tread down our enemies. Nobody, no one can stand before
God. Strongholds of sin, pride,
lying, disobedience, vices, wickedness, whatever it is, they
can all be broken down and they can all be defeated when we turn
to God for help. I heard about a pastor in London
whose work had had gotten to the point where by all standards had
had reached a level of great prosperity, and he was reaching
people for Christ. People were getting saved.
And he made this statement in a in a message he said with the
first church over which I was called to preside, I spent four
years in what seemed an almost fruitless ministry.
I think I preached this fervently then as I preached
now, when I prayed for God's blessing with all my heart.
I looked for success and week by week announced times at which I
would meet inquirers, but none came.
I prayed till prayer became in agony within me.
Still there were no converts. On one Sunday evening I made a
special effort to win souls to Christ.
All through the preceding week I pleaded as though I were pouring
out my very soul for a blessing on that service.
I prepared, as far as I knew how, simply with a view to
conversion. On the evening before the
service in question, I went into a field at the back of the
Chapel. And again with tears, I begot.
I besought God to save some. I gave out that I would meet in
choirs at the close of the service.
Not one came, either then or afterwards, as the fruit of that
appeal. Eight years ago I preached the
same sermon and what was then my new sphere of Labor, and 97
persons joined the church who trace their conversion to that
one discourse. He concluded by saying this.
I think that in my 4 years of fruitless labor, the Lord was
enabling me to bear present success and getting me in a fit
mind to endure the large measure of prosperity which with which
I've been cheered for these past nine years.
You know, sometimes in our Christian life we might feel
like we're not making any progress.
Sometimes in our Christian life, we might feel like we're just
walking around the walls of Jericho, pointless, not going
anywhere, just going in circles, just marching around an enemy
that's probably laughing at us and wondering what in the world
are they doing. I may feel like we're struggling
and fighting through difficulties, and it says if God
doesn't even remember who we are.
But hold on, because the Christian life is a life of
routine. It's a life of patience.
Patience in waiting for Him. It's a life of discipline,
following through and making the tough decision to just do what's
right. It's a life of obedience and
faith, trusting God enough to obey Him and that will
ultimately lead to victory. We may not see it today.
We may not see it tomorrow. We may not even see it a year
from now. But we'll see it if we stay
faithful Christian life. It's a funny thing sometimes.
Sometimes we see wonderful victories, and sometimes we just
seem like nothing's moving at all.
But we have to trust God. It's a life of faith, and we
just do what He told us to do. It's a life of obedience.
And when? We do what?
He's told us to do. It takes discipline to do those
things. It's a life of discipline, but
it's a life of routine. Just keep doing what He said He
wants us to do. Don't have to make something
happen. You don't have to get out there
and do what you want to do because God's not moving.
Just let God work. That doesn't mean we sit back
and do nothing. We work and we pray and we get
busy doing those things that God's wanting us to do.
But when nothing's happening, I don't have to go make something
happen. I just do what He told me to do.
Just keep putting 1 foot in front of the other and
eventually those walls are going to fall down.
God's going to do it though. You know what happened with
Israel and with Jericho? This is stupid.
What in the world are we doing walking in circles around this
city? But guess what?
When the walls fell down, they didn't take credit for it
because it was dumb by human standards.
It was dumb from a human perspective.
You don't knock the walls down of a city by walking around it.
You don't conquer by walking in silence around the city.
But Israel and Jericho both understood wasn't us, it was
God. And guess what happened?
For all the rest. Of the nations that they came up
against, this is the God that knocked the walls of Jericho
down. They didn't say, Oh no, this is
the nation of Israel that knocked the walls of Jericho
down. This the God that knocked down
the walls of Jericho. Because when God does it in his
time, it's very obvious that it was him.
That's what he's waiting for us to do.
Are you going to let him do it? Are you just going to keep doing
what you're supposed to do? Don't get out in front of his
timing. Just follow him.
Just let him lead. Just do what He wants to do and
He can give us the victory. And that victory is a lot
sweeter because you know, it had nothing to do with you.
It had everything to do with him.
Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you so
much for your goodness to us. So thank you for the fact that
you will fight for us. But God, I pray that you'd help
us to be Christians that do it your way.
I pray that you'd help us to live lives of obedience.
I pray that you help us to live lives of faith.
I pray that you help us to live lives of discipline and patience
as we wait on you. God, where we need to make
decisions in that area this morning, may you help us.
Thank you again for all you do for us in Jesus name, Amen.
If you'd stand up your. Seats with your heads bowed and
your eyes closed. We're going to have a time of
invitation. God spoke to your heart this
morning as the piano plays you come.