2020-01-05 Joshua 6
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1 Now Jericho was strongly fortified because of the Israelites—no one leaving or entering.
2 The Lord said to Joshua, “Look, I have handed Jericho, its king, and its best soldiers over to you.
3 March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days.
4 Have seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark. But on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the trumpets.
5 When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the troops give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the troops will advance, each man straight ahead.”
I. Jericho is not a military strategy.
I. Jericho is not a military strategy.
6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets in front of the ark of the Lord.”
7 He said to the troops, “Move forward, march around the city, and have the armed men go ahead of the ark of the Lord.”
jsh 6
A. Jericho points more to a way of life than a battle plan.
A. Jericho points more to a way of life than a battle plan.
6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets in front of the ark of the Lord.”
7 He said to the troops, “Move forward, march around the city, and have the armed men go ahead of the ark of the Lord.”
6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets in front of the ark of the Lord.”
7 He said to the troops, “Move forward, march around the city, and have the armed men go ahead of the ark of the Lord.”
8 After Joshua had spoken to the troops, seven priests carrying seven trumpets before the Lord moved forward and blew the trumpets; the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them.
9 While the trumpets were blowing, the armed men went in front of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard went behind the ark.
10 But Joshua had commanded the troops: “Do not shout or let your voice be heard. Don’t let one word come out of your mouth until the time I say, ‘Shout!’ Then you are to shout.”
11 So the ark of the Lord was carried around the city, circling it once. They returned to the camp and spent the night there.
jsh 6:6
15 Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times.
16 After the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the troops, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.
jsh 6:15
Illus: When I was in high school I went to a youth retreat where the primary speaker decided he was going to use the Jericho plan to conquer the forces of darkness which held out lives down.
We marched around the camp ground 7 times that day. upon the 7th time we stopped and screamed. That act he believed would channel God’s power to run the spirits of darkness away from the camp.
As I walked around the entire camp ground for that 7th time, I really began thinking what the purpose of it was.
I do not believe scared the demons away. Also, I do not think that we claim victory over our city if we simply march around it screaming.
God used Jericho as a test of obedience. He wanted to see if the people of Israel would actually do what he asked.
Over and over in the Old Testament we see weird battle strategies. These were not a blue print for military victory, but instead the important reminder that our hope and success is not in our power or might, but in our dependence on God.
As Christ followers, our call is not to success,but to obedience. We are not called to domination but instead to dependence on God. It is only when we embrace the weakness of complete dependence and obedience that we will see the true might God work through us.
21 The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it you’re going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
24 The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance.
7 Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.
John 14:21-23
Jsh 1:
B. The way scripture treats the Ark teaches us how to follow God.
B. The way scripture treats the Ark teaches us how to follow God.
6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets in front of the ark of the Lord.”
7 He said to the troops, “Move forward, march around the city, and have the armed men go ahead of the ark of the Lord.”
Illus: The ark was not a lucky charm. It was the visible, physical representation of the presence of God among the people.
When the priests were ordered to carry the Ark, it was intended to show how the presence of God moved with the people.
God wanted the people to see that it was his presence that brought their success.
Also, He wanted to teach them how he, as God should be treated. In Holiness.
Follow me here. Just because we do not have the Ark where the presence of God resides does not mean we take God’s holiness lightly.
In fact, God’s presence resides in believers today. That means that the care shown to the Ark of God, should be shown to your life. When you see the fear of which it was treated, understand how jealous God is for his name and glory in your life.
2 sam 6:
6 When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled.
7 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the ark of God.
8 David was angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place Outburst Against Uzzah, as it is today.
9 David feared the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?”
II. You can’t take credit for what God does.
II. You can’t take credit for what God does.
16 After the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the troops, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.
17 But the city and everything in it are set apart to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will live, because she hid the messengers we sent.
Jsh
15 Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times.
16 After the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the troops, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.
A. God worked in a way Israel couldn’t take credit for.
A. The call of Israel was to obedience, not success.
A. The call of Israel was to obedience, not success.
15 Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times.
16 After the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the troops, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.
Illus: Faith places success in God’s hands. With your life, the walk of faith is following what God says in scripture and trusting him with results.
Think of gardening. When you place the seeds in the ground, you don’t go to the plant the dirt the next day to see if it has grown into a fully grown plant. You can’t force a plant to grow.
BTW, you can’t force faith. Faith is continuing to cultivate a life of following Jesus by yielding the the spirit of God, obeying the Word of God, and seeing God transform you.
God had the people of Israel walk around the walls of Jericho, to show that it was not their shuffling or volume that tore the walls down, but instead their dependence on God.
God is ready to tear some walls down in your life… but his call is not to get the pick axe yourself. It is to come to him and allow him to transform you.
Jsh 1:6-
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance.
7 Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.
8 This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.
9 Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
B. God worked in a way Israel couldn’t take credit for.
B. God worked in a way Israel couldn’t take credit for.
15 Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times.
16 After the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the troops, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.
Illus: We are living in a we want credit time.
When we do good, we take a selfie so that everyone can pat us on the back and thank us for what we have done.
Truthfully in our day and time it seems like good works don’t count unless they are posted on social media.
Yet, when the Bible teaches on good works, it describes a very different way of living. You are not to get your trumpet out to share with the world what you have done. You are not supposed to let everyone know the good you do.
Scripture teaches that those likes which fulfill you for a moment and leave you empty ten minutes later, are the vain reward you get when you take the credit for the good work.
Our goal should be that we would be forgotten and our God known.
At Jericho, God did not want the people walking away talking about their victory. He wanted them talking about God’s victory. That is why he worked in a way they could not take credit for.
We need to stop seeking our glory, likes and fame, instead seeking God’s glory. May we be found quietly and faithfully following God trusting that he will work through us for his great name.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.
10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 cor 12:
III. Is God unjust?
III. Is God unjust?
20 So the troops shouted, and the trumpets sounded. When they heard the blast of the trumpet, the troops gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The troops advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city.
21 They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword—every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey.
jsh 6
A. In Jericho we see a vivid picture of what we deserve.
A. In Jericho we see a vivid picture of what we deserve.
Illus: I need to take a moment and address a question which comes up regularly in the book of Joshua. Was God fair in condemning every man, woman, both young and old?
The answer is yes. God was not fair in sparing Israel. We have an unrealistic sense of fair in scripture. We think fair is only when good happens.
Fair in scripture is when God gives people what they deserve. The fall of Jericho is a vivid picture of the fairness of God. God gave the people what they deserved.
What we deserve.
Stay with me here. It is only when we embrace the fate of Jericho ourselves that we can see how incredible God truly is.
When God should have given us fair, He gave us Jesus.
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 How much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.