Take your Bibles with me tonight and turn to Joshua 6. Joshua 6. We are going to look tonight at one of the greatest and most familiar stories in the Bible. The story of the conquering of Jericho.

Joshua is a book about conquering. It's a military book. It's a war book. The children of Israel had ground to take. They had conquests to see through. God had promised them some things and they had to take it by faith.

The Christian life is a life of conquest. The New Testament, like the Old testament, is filled with military language and metaphors.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:18

[!bible] Matthew 16:18 - KJV 18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Meaning that the church would, like Israel in this story, be charging the gates.

Hebrews 2:10 calls Jesus the captain of our salvation.

Ephesians 6 tells us we are in a battle against Satan and against "Spiritual wickedness in high places" and tells us we have to put on armor and fight.

1 Peter 2:11 tells us that fleshly lusts "war against the soul."

Paul called his brethren in the Lord "his fellow soldiers."

Do I need to go on? We are in a fight. We have attacks to make. We have ground to take. We have a captain to follow. We have armor to wear.

But God's fights are not light human fights. God doesn't fight like the Romans or the U.S. Military. God's conquest, if you learn from Joshua, is like nothing else there is. And God's battles must be fought God's way.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's read Joshua 6 together tonight.

[!bible] Joshua 6:1-27 - KJV

1. Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
2. And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
3. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
4. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
5. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
6. And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.
7. And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD.
8. And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns passed on before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.
9. And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
10. And Joshua had 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 ye shout.
11. So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
12. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
13. And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
14. And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.
15. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
16. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.
17. And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
18. And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
19. But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.
20. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and 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.
21. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
22. But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.
23. And the young men that were spies went in, and brought Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.
24. And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
25. And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26. And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.
27. So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.

Let's pray

What is God doing in this world? What is God after? How and why does He work with His people?

I cannot think of any more important questions than those.

I mean, if God is behind something, it is as good as done.

Even Gamaliel had enough wisdom to know this. He said about the disciples in Acts 5

[!bible] Acts 5:38-39 - KJV 38. ... let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: 39. But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

God is going to do what God is going to do, and it seems to me that the best thing we can do is to figure out what God is doing and get in line with it.

So what is God doing? What does God do? I think this story of Jericho is extremely instructive for us about how God works and what His goals are.

There are four things in this story we see God giving, and I think if you understand those four things you understand a good deal about how God works with us and what God expects of us.

The first thing we see God giving in this story is

1. God gives unbelievers a chance

Look at verse 1 again:

[!bible] Joshua 6:1 - KJV

1. Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.

Jericho was one of the chief cities in the land. It was a fortified city. It had two big sets of parallel walls around it. It was one of the places that made the spies heart melt when they spied out the land. It was the kind of place that was nearly impossible to take.

But when Joshua sent two more spies into Jericho in 2, we learn something interesting. Jericho knew about God. They knew what God had done in Egypt and they were scared.

Look at chapter 2 verse 9

[!bible] Joshua 2:9 - KJV 9. And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

Here in chapter 6 verse 1 we see that the people in Jericho were locked up in the city. That wasn't normal. Normally there would be people around the city living in little towns, planting their gardens and tending their fields. But they saw the Israelites and they knew God was behind them and they were scared, so they locked themselves up.

And I believe God gave them ample opportunity to repent. I mean, for seven days, we are going to see the children of Israel walk around this city - which means for seven days the people of Jericho would see God's people and have an opportunity to defect.

But no parley is made. No white flag is raised. They were defiant till the end. They would rather be destroyed than follow the God of the Israelites.

And church, I think sometimes we Christians underestimate the power of our witness. Sometimes when we are around our unsaved family members, they lock themselves up - because they don't want to be penetrated by the gospel. They don't want any of that Christian juju juice to get on them and then maybe they would get saved too.

God's judgment is a terrible thing. It's a righteous thing. But it's a terrible thing. But when people are judged by God it will not be without warning.

Romans 1 teaches us that the lost worlds holds the truth in unrighteousness and that the invisible things are clearly seen in the world around us. The world knows there is a God and they know He is powerful - they just want nothing to do with Him.

They will resist Him to the end. But God is merciful in giving unbelievers a chance.

If you are an unbeliever or you are resisting God today - learn from the lesson of Jericho and trust God before it is too late. There is only one way to win with God, and that is to lose. You either fall on the rock of Christ and are broken, or the boulder of God's judgment falls on you and grinds you to powder.

So the first thing we see in this story is God giving unbelievers a chance to repent.

The second thing we see in this story is one I want to spend a little more time on, we see that

2. God gives His people the victory

Look at verse 2

[!bible] Joshua 6:2 - KJV 2. And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.

Now, notice three things about the victory that God gives here

First, notice that the victory is already won.

God said to Joshua here "I have given", that's not some translation error. It's past tense. God said "Look, I have already given Jericho to you." The victory is already won. The victory is yours. It's done.

And notice secondly who gave the victory. God said "See, I have given." This work was already accomplished, and God did the accomplishing.

And that is how salvation works. It is God's work. Jonah didn't get a whole lot right, but He understood that "Salvation is of the Lord."

David said in Psalm 3:8

Salvation belongeth unto the Lord

God wanted this first victory in Canaan to teach the jews something - that this whole thing was His work and that He would accomplish it.

And Jericho teaches us something - our victory was already won by Christ. He won us victory on the cross when He died for our sins. He has already secured victory against the world, the flesh and the devil. He has already won us our sanctification and our glorification. We might not realize it yet, but all we have to do is follow His instructions and take what He has already given to us.

Earlier this year, my son won a Ninendo Switch from one of those lunchables. He handed me the box and said, "Dad, scan this." "Sure son" and then it said "You just won a new Nintendo switch." Ok, how do I get it. Just give us your address and we'll mail it to you.

It was already won for him, but he had to follow some instructions to get what he won.

And Jesus has won our victory for us, He paid the price, He did the work, it's already done but notice this third thing:

The victory requires faithful, courageous, careful, disciplined, and patient obedience to be fully realized.

You see in verse 3 God gives Joshua some instructions, and they are a doozy. They make absolutely zero human sense on any level. You know the story. The children of Israel had to take six days and walk around the city of Jericho. No talking. Just follow the priests and the ark around the city in complete silence.

That took faith. Hebrews 11 includes these Israelites in it's hall of faith. They had to obey God dispite the consequences.

They had to be courageous. It was a courageous thing to walk around the city because the Jerichoites could just shoot arrows at them or throw hot water on them - they were in a vulnerable situation.

They had to be very careful. God gave specific instructions. They had to follow them.

They had to be disciplined. Particularly with their tongue. They couldn't speak. Imagine how difficult that was for a week.

James 3:2 tells us if we can bridle the tongue we can bridle the whole body. Keeping our tongue under control is the key to being a disciplined Christian.

They had to be faithful and courageous and careful and disciplined and they had to be patient. They had to keep doing this for six days, for six days when it didn't seem to do any good. They had to stay the course, the ridiculous nonsensical course God set for them for seven whole days.

And of course, all of this was a test of obedience. Really this is all God expects of us - Trust and obey. Right? Trust His promises and Obey His instructions.

The victory is won, but we have to do our part to reicieve it. It's all His work. No one would say that the Israelites conquered Jericho - no God did it. But they had a part.

And if we trust God and follow Him, we can have the victory He has won for us. It's ours for the taking. He's done all the work. But we have to have the faith, courage, discipline and patience to carefully do what He tells us to receive His victory.

And they did realize it in Jericho. After six days of silent walking and one special sabbath day where God commanded them to walk around the city seven times - the priests blew their rams horns, the people gave a shout, and the walls came down flat.

It's interesting that God told them to use rams horns. They had metal trumpets. Metal trumpets were used to call men to war. Rams horns were used in celebration. This blowing wasn't a call to war, it was a celebration of the war God had already won for them.

God gave a victory and the walls came down and Israel's greatest challenge was completely taken care of by God.

I wonder if there isn't some challenge in your life that you can't get victory over, maybe some sin or some habit, maybe some faithlessness you always fall back into

Do you believe God has already given you the victory over that sin? To you trust the promises in places like Romans 6 and Colossians 3? You have victory - you need to trust it and then you need to do what God said and God can make your Jerichos fall down too.

God gives the unbelievers a chance. God gives His people a victory.

Look at the third thing God gives here:

3. God gives Himself glory

That's what this was all about - it was all about the glory of God. God's victory at Jericho didn't glorify Israel - it didn't glorify Joshua - it glorified God.

And that is what God is about today - He wants glory. He wants all of it.

Remember the angels song at Bethlehem? "Glory to God in the Highest." Remember the song of the angels in Revelation 5? "Blessing, honor, glory and power be unto Him, and unto the lamb forever and ever."

God wants the glory. He wants to be glorified. And what God was doing here through Jericho was giving himself glory.

God was glorified in this victory. He was glorified because it was His victory. No one could say Israel defeated Jericho because they were ingenious soldiers, or because they were brave, or because they were tough. No - this was God's work top to bottom start to finish.

Don't you want to see God work in people's lives in such a way that people know - that wasn't some preacher that did that, that wasn't some clever sales pitch, but that was God doing a work? When God does what only God can do He brings glory to Himself.

God gave Himself glory by making himself famous. Verse 27 says:

[!bible] Joshua 6:27 - KJV 27. So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.

That could refer to Joshua's fame, but I think it's more likely it is talking about God's fame. If the people of Jericho knew about God and were terrified of Him before this - how much more would the other Canaanites know and fear God after this?

But there is a third way God gave himself glory here. Israel was to take nothing of Jericho. It was the firstfruits of the land, and the first fruits belong to God.

In other places the Israelites were allowed to take spoil, but here they were to glorify God by giving it all to Him.

That's a precursor to us you know - we are to glorify God with the first fruits of our life. We give to Him first.

• You can give God the first fruits of your time by spending time with Him in the morning.
• You can give God the first fruits of your week by giving Sunday to Him.
• You can give God the first fruits of your money by giving to Him before you spend on yourself.
• You can dedicate the first fruits of your children to the Lord like so many did in scripture.

Are you glorifying God with the firstfruits of your life?

God gives the lost a chance, God gives His people the victory, God gives Himself victory - but there is one more gift in this story I want you to see...

4. God gives believing sinners grace

We didn't look at this story, but back in chapter 2 Joshua spent two spies into Jericho and they were helped by the most unlikely person - they were helped by a harlot, by a prostitute.

She was the one person in all of Jericho who saw what God had done and believed God. And it's a beautiful picture of hte gospel.

Let me very quickly point out six beautiful things about Rahab and I'm done tonight.

First, Rahab was a sinner. She was a harlot. Even Joshua called her "the harlot." There is no point in history when people haven't known what that means and looked down on those people for their sinful lifestyle and she would have been no different.

She was a sinner. And that is the starting place for all of us to get God's grace. Spurgeon used to say "A sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost hath made him so." Remember, Jesus said He didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Rahab was a sinner, but do you know what? Rahab believed the promises. She believed the word of God, she believed in the greatness of God, she believed in what God was doing and she wanted in.

Church, all of us who are saved are nothing more than a bunch of sinners who believed the promises. We believed that God is who He says He is and that Jesus did what He said He'd do for us.

She was a sinner, she believed the promises and because of that she was marked by the scarlet cord.

She hung the scarlet cord from her window. The scarlet cord reminds me of the blood on the doorposts at the passover. Both point us to the blood of Christ.

And because she believed and was marked by the scarlet cord, when God's judgment came, it passed over her.

All the walls of Jericho fell flat - but her house, which was in the wall - apparently stayed up. God spared Rahab. God spared this harlot.

Listen, God is looking for Rahabs. Ours is a God who seems to get special glory when the rough ones come to Him. The Rahabs. The Woman at the wells. The gadarene maniac. Praise the Lord.

Rahab was a sinner, she believed the promise, she was marked by the scarlet cord, she escaped God's judgment and listen - she became a part of God's people.

At the end of this chapter it tells us the men in Rahab's family were circumcised. They were taken into God's people.

And we know that because Rahab ended up marrying a guy Salmon, and becoming part of the line of Christ.

Which means this Rahab was a sinner, she believed the promise, she was marked by the scarlet cord, she escaped God's judgment and listen - she became a part of God's people and she got a part in God's plan.

Isn't that awesome. And that is what God does today. He saves sinners who believe in Him, who are marked by the blood of Christ, He makes them a part of His people and gives them a part in His plan.

Glory. Right? Glory to God. May He get more and more of it.

• He gives the world a chance to repent.
• He gives his people the victory
• He gives himself the glory
• He gives believing sinners His Grace

Let's stand for prayer.