VICTORIOUS FAITH
Joshua 6
As I am in the process of getting to know each of you, I am aware of the many difficulties some of you have faced and are facing. Some of these crisis situations you have had to deal with are extremely difficult situations. Some of you have faced the difficulty of dealing with a tragic death.
And you are still feeling the pain and anguish from that.
For some of you, the crisis is not necessarily a tragic death.
It may be a debilitating illness,
it may be a lack of finances,
it may be the loss of a job,
it may be the difficult task of making a heart rending decision
There is no doubt...we have faced, we are facing today, and we will face in the future...crisis situations in our lives.
These crises will leave us either stronger or weaker.
Satan would like to use these crises to make us stop trusting God. He wants us to throw in the towel and say, "The Christian life just isn’t worth it! I can’t live it! I’m going to just quit trying!" Satan uses our old sin nature to feed our thoughts.
But God takes these crises (these trials) that we face and wants us to understand that He is still in control. He wants us to trust Him and to rest in Him. And when we do that, we’ll grow stronger in Him. That’s God’s desire for us.
So, you can see, can’t you, that there’s a battle going on. Every time we face a crisis, there’s a battle. Going through that crisis (that trial) will make us either weaker or stronger. We will not be the same as when we went in.
The people of Israel faced some crisis situations. One such crisis situation was soon after they crossed the Jordan River in anticipation of conquering the Promised Land, the Land God had promised to them. Whether or not they could take the city of Jericho would determine the success or failure of their campaign.
If victorious, the whole Promised Land would be opened up to them.
If defeated, the kings of the area would unite to destroy them.
What happened? Well, we know, don’t we that they won, right? I mean "Joshua fit the battle of Jericho....and the walls came a tumblin’ down!" Right?
How did they do it? I mean, these walls were thick! Outer wall was 6 ft thick, followed by a space of 15 ft and then an inner wall 12 ft thick! What was the weapon they used? Was it a battering ram? Was it some sort of bomb? What did they use? Do you want to know what weapon they used?
FAITH!!! It says so in Hebrews 11:30 "By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days." BY FAITH!
And you know what? That’s also our most effective weapon we have in facing the enemy.
Ephesians 6:16 "...take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."
Faith is the ultimate weapon. It is a most devastating weapon.
Now, if faith is the most effective weapon we have, and it was by faith that the people of Israel conquered Jericho, it would do us well to learn something of what this faith is like so that we can use it in the battles and crises we face.
You see, the Promised Land is described as "the rest" in the N.T. What is meant by "the rest" anyway?
"The rest" for us as N.T. believers is the spirit-filled, abundant Christian life...a life of satisfaction & contentment. We are actually exhorted to "enter the rest" (Hebrews 4:11).
In order for us to enter that rest, there are going to be walls, brick walls, we will face...
...walls of sorrow,
...walls of sickness,
...walls of frustrations,
...walls of discouragements,
...walls of set backs of one kind and another.
But God says that we can have peace, we can have victory, and we can have rest...even in these difficult situations.
But it’s going to take faith. It’s going to take victorious faith. What is this faith like?
How will we recognize this kind of faith?
What are the characteristics of this victorious faith?
Let’s find out in Joshua 6.
Please turn with me to Joshua 6 and let us look first of all at the first 2 verses where we see that the first characteristic of victorious faith is that it...
I. RELIES TOTALLY ON THE POWER OF GOD (6:1-2)
Look at verse 2 again: "See..." See what? What you would have seen was a brick wall. What does God ask them to see?
He wants them to see the power of God. He wants His people see with the eyes of faith. He wants His people to have faith in His power.
When you’re faced with a crisis, are you willing to rely totally on the power of God? Not very many of us are. Instead, we start scheming this way or another. We grab a crutch of one kind or another. Now, crutches have their place, don’t get me wrong (helps heal broken ankles, legs, knee, etc.) And someone may say to you, "Oh, you’re just using Christianity as a crutch!" You know what I would say to that? I would say, "You bet I am!" Then I would ask, "What are you leaning on? What’s your crutch? Is it your own self-sufficiency?" You see, the person that asks that is still relying on something. But I wonder, what are you leaning on? Is it your family? Is it your husband? Is it your wife? Is it your children? Is it your job? Those are all good things, but are you aware that any of these things may be taken away at a moment’s notice?
To bring true happiness, our dependence is to be on God alone!
I wonder, what brick wall are you facing this morning? Whatever that brick wall is in your life, and it might seem impossible for you, but you know what?
GOD CAN HANDLE IT! God is in the business of tearing down walls. He’s done it before and He’s doing it today!
You say, "Not me! It might work for those Israelites, it might work for some people, but it won’t work for me!"
If that’s how you really feel, then I truly feel sorry for you.
I feel sorry for you that you limit God.
I feel sorry for you for putting God in a box.
Listen: GOD CAN DO ANYTHING...BUT FAIL
We sang that last week, did we mean it?
No matter what your problem is...God will see you through!
Psalm 55:22 "Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall."
It’s easy for us to get all "shook up" and panic and begin to worry and fret. Hey, listen, God is still in control!
God is still on the throne!
Maybe we need to get to the point where we are so deeply fixed right in the middle of a problem & we get to the point when we say, "I just can’t handle it! I can’t!"
Maybe We need to be brought to that point before we realize that... GOD CAN!!!
Sometimes the very end of the rope is the best place to be because it is then we realize our need for God and that we have a God that can handle our problem.
Faith gives up all else & relies totally on the power of God. And it’s God’s power that is sufficient for all the Jerichos in your life!
Victorious faith is a faith that doesn’t rely on your own strength and power. Rather, it is a faith that: RELIES TOTALLY ON THE POWER OF GOD. This is what the people of Israel were asked to do, and that’s what God is asking us to do.
A 2nd characteristic of victorious faith is that it...
II. SUBMITS WILLINGLY TO THE PURPOSES OF GOD (6:3-5)
Victorious faith obeys God and does what He says even when we don’t understand why.
Now I believe that God uses different means and methods to accomplish His will. He expects us to work, to find a job that will support us, for example. He expects us to get medical help when needed. But, the important thing is not to put our trust in them, but in the Lord!
Sometimes the methods God uses are easy to understand.
Other times the methods God uses are hard to understand, aren’t they? For example, the methods God wanted the people of Israel to use here seem so silly, don’t they?
Put yourself in the place of an Israelite here. Here you find yourself walking around this city of Jericho. "You’ve got to be kidding! How did I ever get talked into this? What in the world am I doing anyway?" It would have been easy to think that, huh?
But victorious faith puts confidence in the source. It submits willingly to God’s purposes, even though the methods God uses are not always understood.
Many times the method God uses is that He asks us to WAIT.
He asks us to KEEP TRUSTING. And that’s hard to do.
We begin to ask questions:
"Why don’t you heal me?"
"Why don’t you heal my loved one?"
"Why don’t you open up a better job for me?"
"Why don’t you help me get along better with my family?"
"Why don’t you save my loved ones?"
"Why, why, why?"
Well, God doesn’t always tell us why, does He?
He asks us, instead, to submit to His will.
He asks us to be confident in that He will accomplish what is best. Isn’t that what faith is all about anyway?
I mean, if you can see it all in black and white, then it’s not faith, is it?
God is asking us to submit our wills to His purposes.
Sometimes God’s purposes for us involve suffering.
I Peter 5:10 "And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
How are we going to get strong? Many times it involves suffering. Why? Is God maliciously using suffering to somehow get back at us? NO!!! God uses these things to make us strong. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but mark this:
GLORY ALWAYS FOLLOWS SUFFERING
Romans 8:18 "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."
ILLUS: It’s kind of like an athlete preparing for the upcoming season. Say, for example, basketball season is starting soon. Typically, the basketball coach asks you to do some running in practice; you do sprints up and down the court, up and down the court. At times, it seems useless. But, once into the season, you begin to see the purpose for all that conditioning. It’s to make you strong for the game and to help you make it through the season.
That’s what God does with us. We might be going through some intense suffering right now. It would help to realize that the suffering God is using in our lives to strengthen us, to make us stronger.
Victorious faith is a faith that submits willingly to the purposes of God. It has the faith of Job who said of God:
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15)
Today’s version of that verse goes like this: "If anything goes wrong in my life, it’s YOUR fault Lord!" And we grumble and complain and stew....
Oh, that we had the faith of Job! He submitted willingly to the purposes of God.
There is a 3rd characteristic of victorious faith. Victorious faith is a faith that...
III. WAITS PATIENTLY ON THE PLAN OF GOD 6:6-16)
Notice what God is asking the people to do here. Except for the trumpets, God is asking the people to walk around the city SILENTLY for 6 days, and 6 times on the 7th day.
Now, that would be VERY hard for some of us to do, wouldn’t it?!
Patiently and silently, the people obeyed God.
Faith keeps on obeying God...keeps on waiting on God.
Ah, impatience. It’s so common to us, isn’t it? It starts in childhood, and some of us haven’t outgrown it. We act like a little child who can’t get his zipper up on his coat, he’s having trouble, and he puts up a fuss wanting his mother to do it, but because she’s busy at the time, he gets impatient and gets the zipper stuck. And then it takes twice as long to get the zipper unstuck. And then we blame mommy because she didn’t help!
Aren’t we like that with God sometimes? We get impatient with Him, so we take things into our own hands, and we get the zipper stuck. Now we’re in a big mess and we blame God for the problem we’re in. When all along all we needed was more patience!
Victorious faith is a faith that waits patiently on God’s plan.
It seeks to act on God’s timetable.
A 4th characteristic of victorious faith as found in Joshua 6 is that it...
IV. SURRENDERS COMPLETELY TO THE PRAISE OF GOD (6:17-27)
How soon we forget what God has done for us. Soon we begin taking credit for what God deserves credit.
He deserves all the praise & all the glory!
"But now, wait a minute! God hasn’t worked my problem out yet. How can I praise Him?"
Why not thank Him for the opportunity to trust Him & see how He’ll work it out? What a privilege! Yes, a privilege!
When you have a crisis experience, you have an opportunity to trust God. Thank Him for that opportunity!
If He has already worked out your problem, then use the results to bring praise to God.
Has He healed you? Then praise Him!
Has your troubled mind been relieved from worry?
Then praise Him!
Has the Lord blessed you financially? Then praise Him!
And give to Him the fruits of what He has done.
We all want the abundant, Spirit-filled life don’t we?
We will experience that life when we really learn to trust God,
...when we commit ourselves to Him,
...when we rest in Him.
Then, as the Spirit of God lives His life through us, we see fruit, which is then given back to God in praise.
He deserves all the credit!
He deserves all the praise!
He deserves all the glory!
No matter what crisis you may be facing right now, you CAN have victory over that crisis!
But... it’s going to take faith.
It’s going to take victorious faith.
It’s going to take the kind of faith that:
I. RELIES ON GOD’S POWER ALONE
II. SUBMITS WILLINGLY TO THE PURPOSES OF GOD
III. KEEPS ON BELIEVING IN THE PLAN OF GOD
IV. SURRENDERS ALL TO THE PRAISE OF GOD
This kind of faith will bring us all kinds of victories in the days and years ahead,
No matter what the crisis will be.
