THROUGH THE BIBLE - Joshua 6..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Joshua chapter 6, my dear brethren, as I said to you, I want to speak about the power of God given faith. The power of God giving genuine faith.

And I want to do so, as I said, from Joshua chapter 6, because the New Testament in Hebrews 11 verse 30 speaks that it was by faith, that it was through faith that the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. What we're going to be seeing here is precisely that. It is the taking of Jericho. And the way that Jericho is going to be taken by the people of Israel is miraculous, brethren. The Lord is going to command the army of Israel with a commander that was Joshua to go and not attack the walls of Jericho as one would expect, but rather what He's going to ask them is that they will encircle the walls of Jericho for seven days with the priest, with the men of war, with the Ark of the Covenant that is representing the presence of the Lord in the midst of the people.

And that they will encircle the walls of the city of Jericho for seven days. Six days they were to blow their trumpets with the priest. And on the seventh day, upon the command of Joshua, after they had blown the trumpets, they are to shout. And only at the shouting of all of these men, the strong and very fortified walls of Jericho will collapse and come down in a miraculous and a very powerful way. And here, of course, we're going to see the fulfillment of the promise of salvation that they have given to Rahab, that her life was going to be spared.

That's what we're going to be reading now here in these 27 verses. So let us get the details of that and ask the Lord that He will help us to read by faith, get the details of that narrative in Joshua 6, and then we will speak about the power of God-given faith. In Joshua 6, let us read together, brethren, paying attention to each one of the words, by faith in our Lord. This is Joshua 6. Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel.

None went out and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus you shall do for six days. Seven priests shall bear even the trumpets of Ram's horns before the ark.

On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him. So Joshua the son of Nun called the priest and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said to the people, Go forward, march around the city, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord. And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of Ram's horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them.

The armed men were walking before the priest who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people, You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word of you out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout. So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests, bearing the seven trumpets of Ram's horns before the ark of the Lord, walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.

On the seventh day they rose early. At the dawn of day they marched 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. And at the seventh time, when the priest had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city, 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.

But you keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest you have devoted them, Less 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. 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. 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. When 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. But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, Go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belonged to her, as you swore to her. So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. and they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel.

And they burned the city with fire and everything in it, only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and of iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Rahab, the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua, saved a life. And she has lived in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out. Jericho. Now we have here the prophecy of Joshua.

Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, Curse before the Lord, be the man who raises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land. And that is the reading and God's Word, that prophecy that we have there in verse 26. We're just thinking that that is fulfilled during the time of Ahab.

You can read that in 1 Kings 15 or 16. Now, my dear brethren, as I said to you, I wanted to speak about the power of genuine faith or the power of God given faith. And if you remember last week, what I wanted to do is to speak about the faithfulness of God in fulfilling the promise to the people of Israel. The faith of the saint is contingent upon the faithfulness of the Lord. If the Lord is not faithful in doing what he says, then there is no faith.

Because faith is God given and is contingent upon the condescension of God in coming, visiting us and empowering us to believe. God was faithful and fulfilled His promise in giving this land to the people of Israel. And something that I said to you last week, my dear brethren, is that that promise was not given to Joshua, was not given to Moses, but rather that promise was given all the way back to Abraham and to his offspring. Those who were circumcised, those who were liberated from Egypt, those who were in the offspring of Abraham are the ones who receive the fulfillment of that promise. And as I said to you last week, my dear brethren, the fulfillment of that promise was through the judgment of the Egyptians and also unto or for the judgment of the Amorites.

The Amorites who had received and the Canaanites who had received from God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the land that is now the land that the Israelites are going to possess, are the ones who have been accumulating unrighteousness and unrighteousness for many, many years. They were not only idolaters, but they also were sexually immoral and they committed child abuse. You can read that in Leviticus chapter 18 and Deuteronomy. The people of the Amorites and the Canaanites had been treasuring up wrath for the day of wrath and the fulfillment of the promise. for the people of Israel was not only through the judgment of the Egyptians, but also unto the judgment of the Amorites and the Canaanites.

So when we read from this point onward, chapter six and onwards, of the utter destruction that the people of Israel will cause upon the Amorites and upon the Canaanites, we are to see that as the execution of the righteous justice of God because of the accumulated unrighteousness and sin of the people of Canaan and the Amorites who have failed. all the inequity and their time had arrived and Israel was only an instrument in the hands of God who was going to bring the consummation of that judgment. Now, when you think about that, faith is absolutely necessary. Because for you to carry on that which is contrary to the flesh, for you to do that which seems to be so offensive, even to moralistic principles of men, you need to be in alignment and in agreement with the Word of the Lord. And hence, faith is absolutely necessary.

Faith is going to be necessary not only to understand the voice of the Lord as they take over the land of Canaan, but faith is also going to be the instrument through which the miraculous hand of God is going to work in the land of Canaan, bringing about not only this miracle, brethren, we're going to see many other miracles through the book of Joshua and seeing the majestic power of God. So it was necessary for the people of the Old Covenant to have faith in what the Lord was going to say, and it is in Joshua. And it is in Rahab that we see the example of the attributes and the fruit of genuine God-given faith. Joshua is the one who hears the voice of the Lord and is commanded to go and destroy Jericho. And it's Rahab the one who heard of all the works that Israel had done by the hand of the Lord and the miraculous liberation of the people of Israel.

And she was the one that manifested faith. And it's in their faith, and of course, the faith of some of the Israelites, not all of them were backsliding, as they will backslide later on. But in the faith of Joshua and the faith of Rahab that I want us to see three important characteristics of genuine God-given faith. It was a reality for Joshua, it was a reality for Rahab, and it's supposed to be a reality for those who genuinely profess to be in the person of Jesus Christ. If you have been visited by the Spirit, if you have been visited by the God of heaven, He has come down, open your eyes.

And he has given you granted you God given faith, because it is impossible for a man in and of himself or a woman in and of themselves to submit to the law of God, to submit to the principles of God, to the point that faith is a gift that it comes from above. If a person has received the gift of faith, then there are at least three characteristics of three principles that are going to be manifested in that faith that we see here in Joshua, chapter six. Genuine God-given faith believes. Genuine God-given faith, brethren, obeys. Genuine God-given faith rests.

These are the three things that genuine God given did in Joshua and in Rahab. And these are the three things that genuine God given faith is supposed to do in those who profess to be united to God in the person of Jesus Christ. Genuine God given faith believes, genuine God given faith obeys, and genuine God given faith rests. And the question is, what does genuine God given faith believes? And the answer to that is given to us in the New Testament, very simply.

That is the Word of the Lord. Because faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. The Word of God is that which initiates. That is what begets genuine belief and genuine faith. Genuine faith believes and believes the Word of the Lord.

And in the case of Joshua, he heard the voice of the Lord. In verse 2, he says, I have given you Jericho into your hands. That was the word of the Lord that was spoken unto Joshua. And it was required that Joshua will not only receive the sounds of those words, but belief. And the belief, the genuine belief, is not only in agreement with the words that God says, but brethren, also with the methods of God.

because God has his own ways to do particular things. And the genuineness of our faith is not only in agreement with the words and the truths of the concept, but also in the methods of how God wants to bring about his plan of redemption. And in the case of Joshua, he was required of him that he will not only believe that Jericho was given unto him, but also that the way that Jericho was going to be given to him was by doing something that was not very conventional. that he was going to take his army and that they were going to march around the city seven days and that they were not going to attack the walls and that they were not going to impose any force or any power to those walls. And that he was expected not only to believe the Word of God, but also to believe the methods and the processes of God, which to the flesh, my dear brethren, are offensive.

which to the flesh are unreasonable, to which the flesh and the carnal mind are out of this world. Yet for Joshua and for every single believer is suspected that when God speaks, we will apprehend the words of the Lord and we will believe even the methods that He has called us to. So when we open our eyes as Christians and we see this world that is falling down and the blackness of the darkness and the thickness of the unrighteousness that we see, the Lord has called us. not to be politically correct, not to just promote a government, or not to promote certain enterprises, or not just to promote certain moralistic principles, but to preach the gospel. And the preaching of the gospel, which is foolishness to those who are perishing, But His power of God unto those who are being saved in the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel is how we see the faith of the genuine believer in accepting the ways of salvation for the people of this world that was required, not only of Joshua, but brethren, is also required of each one of the believers.

The Lord has said that when sinners come together, just like us with all the problems that we have and the difficulties that we have, and even people at the door preventing us from doing these things with freedom, that when we come together by faith, that we are strengthened, that we are empowered, that when we break the bread and the wine, that when we participate in the preaching of the Word and the reading of the Word and the fellowship of the saints, that there is building up of our souls, Brethren, you better believe it, because that's what the Scripture says. Those are the methods of the Lord. And faith requires that we will believe not only what He says, but also how He's going to do it. And in submission to what He says and how He does it, we demonstrate the sufficiency of His Word in every single aspect of our life. But that faith, my dear brother, does not only believe, but also obeys.

And we can see it here in the example of Joshua and Israel, how after the walls of Jericho have come down, they are requested to do something that according to the moralistic principles of humanity, and even when we read it for the first time, perhaps may be even offensive to us. And that is that they are to go and take and destroy absolutely everything. male and female, old and young, all animals, all of them are to be utterly destroyed. Only the vessels of silver and gold and bronze are to be kept for the sanctuary of the Lord. If you hear those words without the context of the Scripture, and if you hear those words without the presence of genuine faith in your heart, that is offensive to the flesh, because it sounds more like an unrighteous invasion in which they are taking the possessions of these poor people who were in their city.

But yet, if you understand that providentially for hundreds of years, these Amorites, these Canaanites had been treasuring up wrath for this particular day, that they were child abusers, that they burned their children, that they were committing sexual immorality, that they had all type of guts and all type of sexual immorality happening in their land. You will understand that the God who gives life and the one who takes it is in a rightful place to execute judgment, not only to them, but also to us. The question is not, why does God bring judgment to the land? The question is, why He spares some? And the only reason why that question can be answered is because of the person of Jesus Christ.

And brethren, faith does not only believe the Word of God and His methods, but also obeys. Even when the methods of the Lord seem to be so contrary to reason and so contrary to the way that we generally do things. And you know what the connection between belief and obedience is? Simple it is. Alignment with the heart of God.

Because God is not asking you to obey, going against you and like, I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this. When the heart of the person has been genuinely taken by genuine, powerful, abiding spiritual faith, both the heart and the mind of that person are aligned to the mind and the heart of God. And obedience becomes the natural outcome of the life of that person. Not anymore contrary to what they naturally will do. But now what is natural for them is to do what God says that it should be done.

They are not like the natural man of James chapter 1 that observes his face in the mirror and then he walks away and he forgets who he was. That is the natural man that forgets the word and that is not a doer of the word, only a hearer, but rather is like the spiritual man who diligently observes into the law of liberty, according to James chapter 1. Diligently observes into the law of liberty. His heart is conformed to the law of liberty and is diligent not only to be a hearer of the Word, but also to be a doer of the Word. Why?

James says, because he has received with meekness the implanted Word which is able to save your soul. The implanted Word. Because belief is seen in obedience, external obedience, even going against the systems that will be offensive to the flesh. We can see that in Joshua. But brethren, we can also see that faith does not only believe and obeys, but also, brethren, it rests.

Faith rests. Faith produces peace. And we can see that in the example of Rahab. Imagine, in Jericho, the only one who knew what was going to happen was Rahab and her family. She was the only one that knew that destruction was coming upon the city, that judgment was coming upon the city.

She was the only one that knew. But she did not know the methods of the Lord. It was only Joshua and the army, the ones that knew that they had to go there for seven days and march around. And then she would have been very surprised when the first day they come and say, the day of my redemption has arrived. These people are going to spare my life and just need to take this scarlet cord through my window and they will spare my life.

Day 1 comes and they just march around the city blowing the trumpets and they depart. Day 2 arrives and they do the same and they depart. And this woman is awaiting for the day of her redemption, physical redemption. Awaiting and awaiting. Day 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 passes.

And the only thing that could keep that woman and her householder waiting for the plan of the Lord was the promise that had been given to her by the spies that was rooted in the promise of the Lord to redeem that person who had already been genuinely saved. Because, brethren, faith rests awaiting for the workings of the Lord. that on day seven, that even though she was living there in the walls, and when those walls started just to collapse, not by any natural thing, but rather because of the army of the Lord came to destroy those walls and bring them down, she had the confidence that in the midst of the shaking of the world that she was not going to perish, that her family was not going to perish, but rather was going to be rescued and to be united to the people of God, brethren. Because genuine God-given faith does not only believe, but also obeys and also rests. And the only reason why we can do all of those things is because He has been faithful.

He has been faithful in fulfilling the promise, not only for the people of Israel. And He has been faithful in sending His Son to die upon the cross. So that now when we look back to the cross and we see that He died upon the cross for us, we can hear His voice and trust in what He's going to do. We can apprehend from our hearts and our minds His methods, even if they are contrary to our flesh. We can bring and ask that the Lord will unite our hearts and our minds to Him, that we will act according to His ways.

And we can obey the things that He calls us to do and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, awaiting for the day of our redemption. Awaiting for the day in which the walls of Jericho will fall, brethren. Awaiting for the day in which the Amorites and the Canaanites will be judged. I'm waiting for the day in which the people of God are going to be rescued and taken to abide with Him. I'm waiting in the midst of all of these matters because of the faith that has been given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. Let us pray.