THESE WALLS SHALL COME DOWN
Josh. 5:15-6:20
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Many golfers are notorious for stretching the truth:
1. At a golf course, four men approached the sixteenth tee. The straight fairway ran along a road and bike path fenced off on the left.
2. The first golfer teed off and hooked the ball in that direction. The ball went over the fence and bounced off the bike path onto the road, where it hit the tire of a moving bus and was knocked back on to the fairway in great position.
3. As they all stood in amazement, one man asked him, "How on earth did you do that?" He puffed out his chest and said nonchalantly, "You have to know the bus schedule."
4. Story of Mario Briones hitting crazy shot. Went 50 yards, hit a round stick squarely then bounced wildly back up the hill to stop within 6 inches of the original position!
B. TEXT
5:15 Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so. 6:1 Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city…six days. 4…But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” 8 So it was….9 The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. 10 Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.” 14….So they did six days. 15 But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. 16 And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city! 17 Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 20 So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.” Josh. 5:15; 6:1-5,8-10,14-17,20.
C. THESIS God says…
1. "I have given you the land. Just go in and possess it."
2. There's a catch: to possess it they had to uproot the squatters living there. But the Promised Land is worth the fight! This has application to us because…
3. The Promises of God give us everything we need for victory. IT’S YOURS! But hell will erect some Jericho walls around it to keep you from having it.
4. Israel is a picture of your walk in Christ: the EXODUS and their Possessing the Land.
a. You too passed through the Red Sea of salvation (1 Cor. 10:4);
b. You've passed through the wilderness of temptation;
c. You've passed by the Mount Sinai of consecration;
d. Next we face the Battles of Sanctification as well as other battles of life.
5. The title of this msg is “These Walls Shall Come Down!”
I. JERICHO: WHY SO IMPORTANT?
A. BIGGEST STUMBLING BLOCK
1. The people of God had failed spiritually to rise to victory here 40 years before.
2. For 40 years Jericho stood as the symbol of defeat to the Israelites. 603,548 fighting men died in the desert as wanderers because of their unbelief here.
3. This city was their Achilles’ heel, their nemesis, their Waterloo. To ever get back to where God wanted them to be, they had to overcome this spiritual challenge. Are you off course? You can get back on it!
B. KEY TO TAKING THE PROMISED LAND
1. One of the oldest cities on earth. It was 2000 years old then! It was a symbol of military might; the Canaanites thought that Jericho was invincible.
a. 2 walls – 32 feet high, 20 foot thick.
b. Strongest, most fortified city in Palestine.
2. LOCATION – it was the KEY/GATEWAY to the whole region. If it was defeated, all the other cities would be a downhill fight. If it was taken, they would split the land in half. The kingdoms to the North and South wouldn't be able to unite.
C. SYMBOLISM?
1. It represented the opposition of the world and the devil to the people of God.
2. The taking of it required them to attempt the impossible, to step into the supernatural.
3. The Israelites had to become “fellow-workers with God” (2 Cor. 6:1) to accomplish it. It took faith, boldness, and obedience.
4. ILLUSTRATION. Pres. John F. Kennedy learned something about commitment from Frank O'Connor, an Irish writer. The Irishman told of his childhood days when he and his friends would wander through the countryside of their homeland. When they would come to an orchard with the wall too high to climb over, they would toss their hats over the wall so they would have no choice but to figure out a way to get over. JFK tossed the hat of America over the wall when he challenged us to land a man on the moon. God also wants us to rise to the challenge that’s set before us!
II. WHAT IS YOUR JERICHO?
This City symbolizes the Strongholds that all of us have in our lives and the battles which spread out around us. What some of these might be?
A. YOUR KIDS
1. Some of you are struggling right now because you're not getting along with one of your children. It seems like every conversation ends in a fight or you’re not speaking to them at all.
2. Some of you go to bed worried because you don't know where your kids are or what they're doing. Some of you are living with guilt and pain.
3. You say, "If I’d been a better parent, my son/daughter wouldn’t have the problems they do; or they’d be walking with God.”
4. Your kids are in trouble a lot at school & elsewhere. It’s a constant headache. Your kids are your Jericho.
B. FINANCIAL PROBLEMS
1. Your Jericho may be finances. It seems like you can never get ahead. The bills keep popping up. It’s a big worry whether you’ll have enough money at the end of the month.
2. Shortage of money also means you can’t do the things you want to do -- things other people are able to do. It’s depressing, frustrating, and sometimes embarrassing.
3. HUMOR: THE BROKEN LAMP
a. A six-year-old son, calling his mother from his friend's house, confessed he had broken a lamp when he threw a football in their living room.
b. "But, Mom," he said, trying to brighten the conversation at least a little bit, "You don't have to worry about buying another one. Charlie's mother said it was irreplaceable."
C. HEALTH PROBLEMS
1. Others see their health problem as the “walls which mount up to the sky.” Some of you have longstanding or insurmountable illness.
2. You’ve prayed, you’ve claimed Scriptures, you’ve fasted – but still the illness is there. It stands between us & freedom; between us & abundance, & prosperity.
3. It defies us and laughs at us and whispers that it has defeated us in the past and will always defeat us in the future. Like the Borg on Star Trek – “Resistance is futile.”
4. We can’t see any way in the natural we can overcome it. It is our Waterloo, our Jericho.
D. SALVATION OF YOUR LOVED ONES
1. Some of you have been saved for many years. You’ve witnessed to your family members many, many times, but they have rejected the Gospel. They’ve asked you to quit talking to them about it.
2. Although you’ve prayed for them a 1,000 times, they seem to feel no desire, no conviction, no interest.
3. Some of you have gotten to the place where you believe they’ll never be saved. You’ve quit praying for them for your prayers seem to have no effect.
4. You hear other’s splendid testimonies of their families being saved and you wonder if God doesn’t love you as much as them. Your families’ salvation is your Jericho.
E. OTHER PROBLEMS
1. Other Jerichos could be your marriage relationship, childlessness, past hurts, rejection, depression, disability, fear of old age, etc.
2. What is important is to identify what your Jericho is.
III. GOD’S METHOD OF CONQUEST
A. NORMAL METHODS OF CONQUEST
1. Build dirt ramp.
2. Siege Towers roll up to the walls.
3. Battering rams.
4. Ladders, grappling hooks, ropes.
B. GOD’S METHOD….FAITH
1. Heb. 11:30. Heb. 3:19 tells us that the reason the Israelites couldn't enter the promised land the first time was because of their lack of faith. So faith and obedience is the key to our victory.
2. There’s a Connection between Faith & Deliverance
a. Mt. 9:29, "According to your faith, be it unto you."
b. Mt. 17:19 "Why couldn't we drive it out?" "Because you have so little faith!"
c. Jam. 5:15 "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick."
d. There's an inverse relationship between faith and deliverance. When faith is low, more bondage takes hold. But as faith rises, increasing deliverance results.
C. GOD’S SCHOOL OF FAITH
God put the nation on a Faith-Building Program. The "Impossible" had to become Possible.
1. As they marched around the city, they observed what had intimidated them before: (Deut. 1:28; Num. 13:31-33);
a. "Walls up to the sky;"
b. "The people are large and powerful;"
c. The thought, "We cannot overcome it;"
d. "We’re but grasshoppers…"
e. "The Land eats up its inhabitants."
2. But now, after 40 years in God's School of Faith, they'd seen God's hand at work:
a. God provided manna, quail & water in the desert;
b. He defeated the Moabites and Ammonites;
c. He dried up the Jordan River.
d. THEY BECAME LIKE DAVID, WHO SAID, “THE GOD WHO HELPED ME DEFEAT THE LION AND THE BEAR WILL HELP ME DEFEAT THIS PHILISTINE CHAMPION ALSO!”’
3. When people told David, “You can’t defeat that Giant, he’s too big” David said, “I can’t HELP but defeat that Giant, he’s TOO BIG TO MISS!”
4. NOW, AS THEY MARCHED AROUND THE CITY:
a. The thing they had feared for so long,
avoided;
dreaded to face,
Began to look different!
b.1x, 2x, 5x, 6x… Became accustomed to size.
1). The walls weren't as tall as they thought;
2). The people weren't as big as they remembered;
3). The Israelites weren’t grasshoppers after all.
c. THE LAST DAY CAME…
-- Faith filled their hearts!
-- The walls would come down!
-- The land would become their land!
-- This was their Day of Victory over their strongholds!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. If you've ever watched the high jumpers in the Olympics, you will realize that there are two kinds. The regular high jumpers jump about 7 feet. They run and throw their backs over the bar.
2. But there is another kind of high jumper. They are called pole-vaulters. They jump about 18 feet high. They run down the runway, stick the pole in a hole, put all of their weight on the pole -- which bends and then rebounds lifting them to a level that couldn't have reached on their own.
3. Some of us have mountains. We've tried to jump them in the flesh. All the positive thinking in the world, the new year’s resolutions, and human efforts have failed to get us there.
4. What we must have is the pole vault: something you can lean on, something that takes you higher than you could ever go yourself.
5. What is that pole? It's the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit through Christ!
6. Sin and this fallen world are the law of gravity to hold us down. But the Holy Spirit introduces the law of lift. By His power we can rise above the hindrances that have held us back.
7. Let's let the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Mighty Spirit of God empower us this morning to defeat our Jerichos!
B. FACE YOUR STRONGHOLD
1. What is your Jericho? Is it health problems? Finances? Your Marriage? Your Kids? Unsaved loved ones? Fears? Childlessness? Past hurts?
2. GOD’S PERSPECTIVE?
a. Vs. 6:2, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand!"
b. Your stronghold is no problem for God.
c. God told Joshua that the enemy was already defeated! We have the assurance that the war has already been won.
d. Stand, Come forward, let’s pray! Claim your Victory!
C. SALVATION CALL
1. Only one family of the inhabitants of Jericho survived – Rahab’s. She feared God and saw that judgment was coming. Before it arrived, she surrendered and made peace with God.
2. A few days later, the city was surrounded by a strong army. They shouted, the walls fell down. All were killed & the city was burned (6:22-25).
3. Similarly, soon the Lord is coming. Even now the storm is gathering. The angels of God will be dispensed to exact judgment.
4. HOW IT WILL BE ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT?
Just like it was that day in Jericho. The Israelites rushed into the city and began killing the Jericho-ites/ ungodly.
a. Men fell on their knees – "Please, Sir, I'm a good man. I’ve never have stolen or cheated; I’ve been a good father!" They answered, "We’re sorry, but you're not part of God's people!"
b. A mother would plead; "I've got three kids, please don't kill me!" They answered, "But you're not part of God's people! We have orders that must be obeyed!"
c. On the Day of Wrath many will try to plead their case but to no avail. Jesus said,
d. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Mt. 7:21-23.
5. You must get on God's side! This is serious!
6. PRAYER FOR SALVATION.
