Being Known as God's People

Joshua 6:27 ESV

27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

Have you ever come across someone, and you knew just by looking at them that this was not a person who you wanted to mess with?

You know, have you ever seen a really big guy who you could just tell that if he really wanted to, he could tie you up in knots? And because of that, you knew not to say or do certain things to him that you may be able to get away with doing or saying to someone else?

Or even more, have you ever met someone who upon meeting them, you could tell that they deserved the utmost respect?

You know, for most people, respect has to be earned. But for some people, their entire demeanor demands instant respect, and because that is the case, you freely give them that respect.

But here is an even greater question that I have for you. Have you ever met someone, and without anyone telling you, you knew, you could just tell that this person was a devout Christian?

Have you ever met someone who you could just tell was a sincere follower of Jesus and thus had an incredibly intimate relationship with God without anyone even telling you?

Now, just like the person you see who you know you don’t want to mess with and the person you see who you know demands respect, you treat one who you can tell is very close to God in a particular manner.

For these people, it’s almost as though when you come into their presence, you come into the presence of the holy. And you don’t feel that way because the person himself is really holy or anything, rather, you feel this way because of the One Who inhabits this person and leads him. You feel this way, because this person has clearly been saved by God, has been changed by God, and now clearly lives his life for the glory of God.

But the most important question of all is if the previous description can legitimately be said about you, my Christian friends.

When people come into your presence, do they automatically recognize the presence of God. Can people naturally sense the fact that you live solely for the glory of God?

Well, if this cannot be said about you, then it is vitally important that you take the steps necessary for you to live the type of life that will cause it to be said about you.

There are three necessary steps: opportunity, obedience, and experience. And in that order too.

And as we have been working through this series of sermons concerning the narrative of the Battle of Jericho, we now come to a close on the subject here this morning.

And as we have worked through the biblical account of this battle, we see Israel, and particularly Joshua, the leader of Israel at that time, taking the three vital steps that I just spoke of: opportunity, obedience, and experience.

And it was as a result of taking these steps that Israel was known by the surrounding nations as a holy people, set apart by God Himself. And it was known that God was specifically leading Joshua to accomplish the will of God, that God may be glorified.

The first step, the opportunity that was given by God to His people consisted of leading them into the Promised Land and empowering them to conquer it.

The second step, obedience to the command of God concerning the taking of the Promised Land came next.

As I said, God gave them the opportunity to enter the Promised Land, and He even empowered them to conquer it. And the first stop of this conquest was the fortified city of Jericho… God told them to go in and take the city.

Now, we may think that obedience to such a command would be easy. Afterall, God led them there, and now God is empowering them. With those conditions in place, obedience should be a cinch, right?

I mean, on paper it might sound really easy. Maybe even hearing it explained that way may make obedience sound really easy. But Israel’s past experience shows that obedience to this particular command is indeed not always really easy.

In the 13th chapter of the book of Numbers, it is recorded how when Moses and the people of Israel wandered in the desert, that Moses had sent a delegation of spies into the Land of Promise. Their duty was to observe the conditions of the land, to see if it was as lovely as the Lord had described, and to also report back the condition and class of the people who were then living in the land.

Moses sent 12 spies, one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. They carried out their mission as they went in and spied out the land.

When the spies returned to their fellow Israelis in the wilderness, they brought some of the fruit from the Land or Promise back with them and they reported that it was a land flowing with milk and honey just like the Lord told them it was.

That was certainly an encouraging report. But their report concerning the people of the land wasn’t quite as encouraging. 10 of the spies said that the people of the land were huge and fearsome and therefore impossible to defeat. And they also told them that these giant people lived in cities that were impossible to penetrate.

But two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb told the people that yes, the people were big and scary, and that they lived in fortified cities, but that was ok because God was with them, and God has promised victory to them.

Well, the people weren’t convinced by the message of assurance from Joshua and Caleb, they thought that it was more sensible to listen to the other 10 spies who had instilled fear within them, and as a result, all of them, but Joshua and Caleb, died in the wilderness without ever seeing the Land of Promise.

The people were big, but God was much bigger, the cities were strong, but God could easily destroy them; yet the people didn’t trust in God. And so even though the odds were clearly in their favor, because of their lack of trust in God’s power, they did not obey.

And so, now, in the narrative of the Battle of Jericho, God told a new generation of Israelites to go into the Land of Promise, and to trust in His power, His ability, and His will to overcome the people of the land.

And unlike those who came before them, they did obey… and the result was conquest and victory for Joshua and the people of Israel.

And so, Joshua and the people of Israel completed the first two steps required for being recognized as people who were set apart by God.

God had given them the opportunity in the form of empowering them to enter and conquer the city of Jericho. The people of Israel had obeyed God concerning this and went in. And because of successfully completing the second step, the third step naturally followed.

That third step is experience.

That experience is recorded in our reading, where it says:

* Joshua 6:27 ESV

27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

God have given Joshua and Israel the opportunity, Joshua and Israel took advantage of this opportunity and obeyed, and as a result, everybody knew that Joshua and the people of Israel were the people of God.

Because of their obedience to the command of God, and because of God fighting for Joshua and Israel, it was made plain that these were a people clearly chosen by God, and because it was made plain that they were chosen by God, people took notice.

Now, as Christians, it should be our goal in life to bring God the very most glory, and I believe that it is very safe to say that God receives abundant glory when a watching world of lost people observes the fact that we have clearly been saved by God.

And how does this come to be? How do we arrive at the point where a watching world of lost people observe us and recognize that we have been saved by God and as a result, God receives much glory?

It’s the same simple three step process that Joshua and Israel followed when they conquered the city of Jericho.

The first step is opportunity. Now, receiving opportunity is not our responsibility. No, it is God’s responsibility. God Himself gives us opportunity to show the world that we belong to Him.

Now, some of you may be thinking, “What opportunity?! I just live a regular life with regular occurrences happening all the time! I don’t see any opportunity!”

But beloved, those regular occurrences in your regular life are indeed opportunities given to you by God Himself. Opportunity doesn’t need to be big and grand according to human standards in order for it to be legitimate opportunity.

That means that your interactions at work, your interactions with your family and friends, your everyday decisions that you have to make are all opportunities given to you by God to bring Him the utmost glory.

So, the first step is God’s responsibility, but the second step is our responsibility. For as God gives us opportunity, it is our responsibility to obey Him amid these opportunities.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in Jeremiah 6:16 where it says:

*Jeremiah 6:16a KJV

16a Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

As you receive opportunity from God, as it says here, as you stand in the ways, seek not the ways of the world, of the carnal nature, but rather, ask for the old paths, the good way, and walk therein.

Look we know in any given circumstance what God requires of us. We know right from wrong; we know what will bring God the most glory. The problem is that we often don’t desire to ask for the old paths or to walk in the good way. But as the Lord tells Jeremiah here, it is only in the old paths, in the good way that we will truly find rest for our souls.

Obediently following and adhering to God’s commands may not always seem initially attractive, but it is only in obedience to Him that we may truly live a life of blessings.

So, the first two steps are opportunity and obedience. The last step is experience.

And that experience consists of being recognized as a child of God and God being glorified to the utmost through our obedience to Him.

Look again at what our reading says:

* Joshua 6:27 ESV

27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

The so in our reading is very important. It means, as a result of. And in the narrative of our reading, what is the so a result of? It’s a result of being obedient to God in taking the city of Jericho as He had commanded Joshua.

And as a result of this obedience, it was known to all that Joshua and all Israel were the chosen people of God Almighty!

Beloved, if you desire to be known as a child of God Almighty, and as Christians, I hope that not only is that your desire, but that that is your greatest desire, then it requires obedience to the commands of God every day in every area of your lives.

And as the Lord told Jeremiah, the result of this will be rest for your souls.

Beloved, let us be obedient to the commands of God and be known by a watching world as His people!

Amen?