Devoted Things
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We will begin reading near the end of the famous story of Jericho
Where God’s people marched around the walls for seven days.
The children of God have just crossed over the Jordan River on dry land
They camped at a place called Gilgal just outside the massive walls of Jericho
And they took the first recorded Passover meal inside the boundaries of the Promised land.
Then, the battle of Jericho begins
And they march once per day for six days
And we pick up on the 7th day in verse 15.
15 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.
16 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.
17 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.
18 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.
19 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.”
20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. 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.
21 Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.
My title today is simply: Devoted Things.
In our text we find that there are two types of things devoted
First, we find things that are devoted to destruction in verse 17 and 18.
Secondly, we find things devoted to the treasury of the Lord.
Holy things. Things that God wants to set apart for himself.
Amen. So today, I want to preach for a minute on Devoted things.
Jericho was no small town.
It was a fortified city with giant walls.
The walls were so large, they could have seen them from the other side of the Jordan River
Camping in Gilgal, they could surely see those walls Towering off in the distance.
Some historians claim that the walls consisted of 3 parts.
Stone base: The stone base was about 15 feet (5 meters) high.
Mudbrick wall: The mudbrick wall on top of the stone base was about 25 feet (8 meters) tall.
Watchtowers: The walls were backed by a watchtower that was about 28 feet tall.
This would have put the tops of the watchtowers 68 feet in the air.
It would have been like looking up at a 7 story building
And Jericho was built on a large elevated mound.
Experts claim this mound was at least 70 feet higher than the surrounding area.
So, This would have made the walls even higher to someone viewing them from the Jordan river valley below.
All-in-all it was like looking at a 14 story building.
Or for scale, imagine about 4 school busses end to end standing vertically.
That’s a big wall. But Thankfully, we serve a Big God
And because we serve a Big God
There is nothing in this world too big for Him.
There is no trial
No situation
No problem
No sickness
No disease
No addiction
No issue too big for my God
Jericho may have had walls that towered over God’s people
But these walls didn’t stand a chance against my God
Because God is bigger than any issues you are facing today
I don’t care how long you’ve been in battle
God can snap His fingers and turn those walls into dust.
To face the Big walls of Jericho
God’s people needed to trust in a Big God
They didn’t trust in their swords
They didn’t build ladders to scale the walls
They didn’t build catapults to demolish the walls
They didn’t build a battering ram to knock down the gates of the city
They just trust in God
For 6 days they marched around the problem
For 6 days they stayed silent while the trumpets blew
and on the 7th day marched seven times
And on the seventh time Joshua said to the people…
16 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.
Someone hear today as been marching around your problem for days
You’ve been silent
You’ve been trying to trust the Lord
But the walls look so high
I’m hear to tell somebody,
The 7th day has arrived
On the 7th day, they shouted
And on the 7th day the walls came down.
Someone needs to get a little shout in them tonight
Someone needs to start praising for the victory
Them walls might look big to you
They may have been towering over you for years
But today is the day they will fall
Trust in a Big God to take down Big walls.
Amen.
Devoted to Destruction
Devoted to Destruction
Now, once the walls came down
The enemy was surrounded
and Joshua tells the people
In verse 17…
17 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.
So, now that the walls are down
We’ve got to do somethings
God brought the walls down
But now it is our turn to act
We’ve got a couple things to do
First of all, we’ve got to devote some things to destruction.
Joshua said, everything in that city is devoted to destruction except for Rahab and her family.
God didn’t bring the walls down so that you could go mingle with the people there
He didn’t take down these walls so you could have better access to the things of Jericho
God didn’t intend to remove a barrier for you to just walk into Jericho and start living like Jericho.
He said, I’ve devoted everything inside that city to destruction
You can’t have it
You’ve got to destroy it.
He goes onto say…
18 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.
Listen to this warning from the Lord.
He said I’ve devoted everything except Rahab to destruction.
I set those things aside to be destroyed
And then in verse 18 here,
he says, keep yourselves from those things devoted to destruction.
I’ve come to tell someone tonight
keep yourselves from those things devoted to destruction.
It is so easy once you find victory
To ease up a little and let yourself be rewarded with some things that God has devoted to destruction.
When I began to study this term “Devoted to destruction”
It comes from one Hebrew word that means to be banned by God.
It is used 29 times in the OT
Moses used this word a few times himself on the other side of the Jordan.
25 The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.
26 And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.
These are strong words from Moses
A very important warning that must be heeded.
Don’t bring things devoted to destruction into you home he said
If you do, then you also will be devoted to destruction, Moses says.
And that is what Joshua said too.
18 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.
Keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction
Why?
Because if you don’t, then Joshua says
The camp of Israel will become a thing for destruction too.
My my my.
Folks, God just got done tearing down walls that have been towering over yoyu
Why in the world would you take advantage of those walls being down
Only to go in and take something home that has been devoted to destruction?
I wanted to understand the Hebrew word more
I wanted to find out how heavy the meaning is
The KJV translates it as accursed things
Things God has cursed
Some translations simply use the word Banned
but let me tell you, that word is not strong enough.
Banned just means I can’t have something
But the meaning to this Hebrew word means more than that
It means that, not only is it banned
but if I take this banned thing
God is going to curse me just like he curse this banned thing
The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew OT
Uses a Greek word that we find a few times in the NT.
This is the Bible the Apostles and even Jesus would have been most familiar with during the 1st century.
They read the Greek OT
and they turned around and wrote the Greek NT
So, the Greek words they read in the OT
Would certainly have an affect on the words they wrote in the NT
One example of this word used in the NT is found in
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Paul was so serious about this that he repeated it in verse 9
9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
The word “Accursed” there is the same Greek word that Jewish Scholars
Used to translate the Hebrew word found in our text that refers to “Things devoted to destruction”
That is the Greek word Anathema
You may be familiar with that term
If something is Anathema to God
It is more than just “banned”
It carries with it a curse
and Joshua says…
18 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.
If you don’t keep yourselves from those cursed things
Those things devoted to destruction
Those things that are Anathema to God
Then my friend, I’m sorry to tell you
But that curse that is on those things
Is now going to be on you.
And just like that you can go from
Seeing the walls falling in your greatest victory
To being labels by God as Anathema
And then being set aside as things devoted to destruction.
36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
What good does it do for God to tear down walls for you
If you use that freedom to partake in things devoted for destruction?
How can we feel the grace of God
Feel the cleasing power of His Blood
Feel the refreashing power of the Holy Spirit in us
Feel the weighlessness of his yoke upon us
and then covet things devote for destruction?
Why would you covet those things?
Why would you want them?
You just saw walls fall down
You’ve been promised a land flowing with milk and honey
And God has so much more in store for your future
but you keep going after things devoted for destruction.
The little Town of Ai.
The little Town of Ai.
I’m going skip down to chapter 7 for one second
and then we will come back to our original text in chapter 6.
But I want to show you a real life example of how this plays out
When you take something into your house
that was devoted to destruction by God.
1 But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.
For the sake of time, rather than read all of chapter 7
Let me just tell you the story about the little town of Ai.
This wasn’t a large city.
Joshua looked at the town of Ai
After seeing what God did to the might fortified city of Jericho
and Thought to himself
We don’t need to send all of our troops to Ai
It is just a little village
Let’s just send 3,000 men
And the Bible says that those 3,000 men went up to face off against Ai.
And right away 36 men pf Isreal were killed
and the defences of Ai sent the remaining 2,964 soldiers running back to Gilgal
When they got back to the camp of Isreal
And they reported to Joshua the defeat
Joshua began to question the Lord.
Things didn’t add up.
How on earth did they defeat Jericho
A mighty fortified city with towering walls
only to face off against the little village of Ai
and get whooped.
Why would God allow this to happen?
Joshua tore his clothes, put ashes on his head,
and even went so far as to question the reputation of God.
8 O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies!
9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”
Joshua said, Lord your reputation is on the line
your great name is at stake
People are going to say that God wasn’t big enough for the little village of Ai.
How do you think this will look to the enemy?
Lord, You promised us many kings in battle
You promised us many victories
You said this was our land
You promised Lord
Are you now going back on your word?
Do you not care about your name Lord?
But God answered Joshua that day
And he said, Listen this has nothing to do with my power and my name
You’ve seen my power when i took down the walls of Jericho.
The issues is not my power
The issue has to do with those devoted things I told you about.
10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face?
11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.
12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.
13 Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”
That last line bears repeating…
You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.
You may have seen great victorious in your past.
But even the little town of Ai will crush you if you have things devoted for destruction in your home.
The devil doesn’t need to defeat you with Big things
He doesn’t need to have a Jericho kind of battle every day with you.
He can beat you with a little village of Ai
as long as he can get you to get your eyes on a few things devoted for destruction.
mmm
As the story goes on in chapter 7
Joshua lined everyone up
and God revealed the man that took home the devoted things
and God told them to kill that man.
And the word of God stood true
If you take the things devoted to destruction
Then you become a thing devoted to destruction yourself
The very things you were supposed to destroy
are going to destroy you if you let them live.
When Joshua found the traitor
It says he sent people to search his tent for the devoted things
Every now and then, I think we outta search our house for devoted things.
Things God has devoted to destruction
And clean them out
A spiritual spring cleaning
You can’t stand against your enemies
Even small enemies, if you’ve got things devoted to destruction in your home.
Devoted to God
Devoted to God
Now, I began this sermon talking about two types of things that are devoted
There are the things devoted to destruction
Those things which are anathema to God
Things we cannot have in our homes
Things he has set us free from
and we must do the work of going in and destroying those things
God brought the walls down
but the people had to destroy things devoted to destruction.
The second thing devoted, is not a bad thing.
In fact it is a holy thing.
After God identifies the things devoted to destruction in chatper 6 verse 17-18
God then identifies a second type of thing to be devoted
Not to destruction
But to God’s treasury.
18 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.
19 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.”
Two things are going to be found in Jericho
Two things that God identfies
Things devoted to Destruction
You can’t have those things.
You must destroy THOSE things
And Then there are things Holy to God
Now the word “holy” in verse 19 is a Hebrew word that means:
A Sacred Thing.
It comes from the same root word as the “Devoted” things.
Sacred Things and Devoted Things are both things set aside by God
And the only difference is what these THINGS are set aside FOR.
The Devoted things are set aside for destruction
The Sacred things are set aside for the Treasury of the Lord.
I hope you’re still following me
Because I’m just now about to preach
When those walls come down
Which represent the major victory that God brings you through
You are going to find two things
Devoted things
And Sacred things
It is the same story as Eden
They had the Tree of Life
and the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil
One tree was Holy
And One came with a curse
Both trees were set aside by God
One tree gave you life
The other Tree death
The story hasn’t changed today
Only the names and place have been updated
But God still brings down walls for you today
And victory is a sure thing with God
No matter how big the giant is
No matter how high the wall is
When God fights for you
Nothing is impossible
But when you get your eyes and hands on things devoted for destruction
Friend, you are heading down a treacherous path.
A path were even small things will defeat you
Things you thought you had beaten will start to bring you down again
Let me tell you the solution:
Don’t pickup the devoted things.
The things cursed by God
The things he commands us to destroy
Instead pickup the sacred things
The holy things
And put those into God’s Treasury.
Keep filling up God’s storehouse with holy things.
I’m almost done.
Give me a few more minutes.
We are holy
We are holy
I started studying that word Holy a little more
Unlike the Devoted things which the OT only mentions 29 times
The OT talks about Holy or Sacred things 468 times
When I looked at this word in the Septuagint
And then I search the NT for that Greek word
I found 46 results in the NT where a the writer used
The exact same Greek word, in the exact same sense
Where it means “Sacred Thing”
As I read over that list I found many verses that I expected
But one leaped out at me.
21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you.
Just a simple Greeting from Paul.
But what jumped out at me is the word here for “Saint”
Is the exact same word in Josh 6.19 When God said I have some holy things that I’ve set apart
You could very well translate Phil 4.21 this way.
Greet every Sacred Thing in Christ Jesus.
You know why?
Because you are a Sacred thing to God
He’s set you apart from this world
This world is Devoted to Destruction
But not you
No, you are Sacred to God
Here’s another verse in the NT that uses that same word
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
that’s exactly why Peter said this
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
Friend, let me tell you something
You are not intended to be a thing God devotes to Destruction
You are, and have always been a:
A Saint
A Sacred
A Holy thing that God wants to bring into his Treasury of Holy things.
When the things devoted to destruction are finally burned up in this world
You shouldn’t be found among the ashes
You are meant to be found in the Treasury of the Lord.
Let me pull that verse back up…
Look at this…
19 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.”
The Holy things have value
Silver, Gold, Bronze, and Iron.
Let me just talk to the one that is hearing voices tell you that you aren’t worthy.
Holy Things have value
Silver is pretty valueable.
Gold is even more valuable
Even the bronze and iron on this list are not just raw materials
and they are vessels of bronze and iron
and therefore have value because they have been shaped into something useful for God.
And, let me also remind you that you are more valuable that these things.
And I can prove it with the Word.
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
He didn’t buy you with corruptible things like Silver or Gold.
He bought you with his own Blood!
Let’s all stand…
My friend, you are worth more than Silver and Gold to God.
You are a Sacred thing to God
You are a Holy thing to Him.
When he shed his blood on Calvary
He redeemed you
and set you aside
to be placed in the Treasury of the Lord
When He put His Spirit in you
You became part of a holy nation
and You’ve were called out of darkness
and Into his Marvelous light.
But, the warning from Joshua 6 is still valid today.
If you grab hold of things devoted to destruction
Things God has delivered you from.
Things you’ve already gotten victory over
then the Word says, you go from being a Holy Sacred thing
To becoming a thing devoted to destruction.
Isreal was a holy sacred thing
The children of God
A holy Nation
But the minute they grabbed hold of those devoted things
It changed them into devoted things too.
When they get rid of the devoted things
The things God said to destory
They went onto victory after victory after victory
It didn’t matter how large or how small the enemy was
They conquered them all.
God can bring down the walls of Jericho
But it is up to you to destroy the things inside that He commanded you to destroy
You can destroy them, or hide them in your tent
No one has to know they are in your tent
But God knows
And even little Ai is going to defeat you until you get those things out of the camp.
