In World War II many of you know the Great Britain endured a great battle with the Germans over their skies. The new Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke these words:
"You ask what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war by sea, land, and air with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in a word: Victory--victory at all costs, victory in spite of all the terror, victory however long and hard the road may be, for without victory, there is no survival.
All of us are in a war. The question is how diligent will we fight it.
In our passage this morning, Joshua was going to war and he was against an impossible army. He chose to depend on God.
This morning we are going to talk about war and dependence. What are you going to do to trust God more with you battles this morning? Let’s find out what will happen when we do.
Passage:
2 But the LORD said to Joshua, "I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its mighty warriors. 3 Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days. 4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5 When you hear the priests give one long blast on the horns, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the walls of the city will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the city."
Prayer:
The Israelite people are at the gates of Jericho.
Jericho
V1
1 Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go in or out.
Jericho was a city near the Jordan River in what is now know as the West Bank in Israel.
The city of Jericho was prepared for a siege. In fact archeologists have found large jars of grain. Stored to withstand a long siege.
The wall around the city was almost 40 feet high and around six feet thick. Humanly impossible fortress to defeat.
Jericho in Hebrew means “City of the Moon God”. The name alone suggests an abomination to God.
We all have battles in our lives. What battle does this fortress remind you of?
Is it impatience, money, marriage, relationships, or is it something else?
We see the obstacles. Sin is at the root of the battle. It is an abomination to God and it must be conquered. And the sin is guarded by walls “40 feet high and six feet thick”.
In order to fight the battle we must begin to fight on God’s terms. We must look to His commands. What were God’s commands to the Israelites?
Lord’s Command
V2-5
2 But the LORD said to Joshua, "I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its mighty warriors. 3 Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days. 4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5 When you hear the priests give one long blast on the horns, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the walls of the city will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the city."
Explanation:
In this passage we see God giving explicit commands about how to win victory. These are not military commands but commands that are focused on bringing honor to God.
1. Step by step
a. March around the city once a day for six days.
b. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, carrying a ram’s horn.
c. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times.
d. When the priests give one long blast on the horns, everybody will give a mighty shout.
e. Then the walls of the city will collapse.
f. The people can charge straight into the city.
God is very specific in how He wants them to conquest Jericho. He says in verse 4,
4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns.
God says Seven Priests. Seven Trumpets. Seven Days. Seven Times.
Seven is the number of perfection. God could have used millions of people to do this work. That definitely would’ve scared and intimidated the people of Jericho, but God chose seven. It was not about the intimidation, but about giving Glory to God. It was such an easy task to accomplish.
The Bible gives us commands. We have heard them over and over, why is it so hard to follow them? We want to make it tough. We don’t believe it unless there is something difficult to do or spiritualization to achieve, but God just wants us to be obedient.
Where the Israelites obedient? Yes, they were.
They did exactly what the Lord had commanded them to do.
Through faith and obedience, they where able to have victory over Jericho.
How did they win their war?
First of all we see that Joshua followed God’s commands to the letter.
6 So Joshua called together the priests and said, "Take up the Ark of the Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a ram’s horn." 7 Then he gave orders to the people: "March around the city, and the armed men will lead the way in front of the Ark of the LORD."
10 "Do not shout; do not even talk," Joshua commanded. "Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!"
And the Israelites obeyed Joshua.
11 So the Ark of the LORD was carried around the city once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night in the camp.
14 On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days. 15 On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the city as they had done before. But this time they went around the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!
No matter how easy the task may seem they obeyed the Lord. And the Lord defeated the enemy with trumpet blasts.
But there was another step in destroying the enemy, and that was by getting rid of the sinfulness.
Jericho was a wicked city. They were wicked enough to be known by the name “City of the Moon God”.
So Joshua commanded the Israelites to destroy all of the sinful things.
17 The city and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies. 18 Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on all Israel.
But then there was another step. Not only where the Israelites to destroy the sinfulness, but they were to preserve that which was honoring to God.
19 Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the LORD and must be brought into his treasury."
In the same way, we must fight our battles the way Joshua fought them.
Take, for example, the battle for a healthy marriage.
1. Throughout scripture God instructs us how to have healthy marriages. Scriptures like “Husbands love your wives like Christ loved the church” and “Wives submit to your husbands” teach us how to relate to one another in fulfilling God’s commands. We need to follow God’s commands.
2. Then, we need to destroy all of the sinful things that are hurting our marriages. Is there alcohol in the house? Is their pornography? Is there a relationship that takes away from your spouse? We need to destroy the sinful things.
3. We also need to preserve that which honors God. Do you attend church regularly together? Men, sometimes we leave the religion up to the wife. But, if we really love our wives, don’t we want to be apart of the deepest most personal part of our wife’s life?
What about praying together? What about simply enjoying each other’s company? That’s one reason the marriage was created, to help each other and fulfill the social needs of the other.
We must preserve that which is honoring to God.
Then, what about the battle over our money.
The Bible teaches us to manage our money wisely. We must obey God’s commands and take step to do that.
As we are trying to get a handle on our finances we need to destroy all of the sinful things. The Bible teaches in Deuteronomy 28:40, Proverbs 22:7 and Psalm 37:21 that we should avoid debt and stop being controlled by others. That means your credit cards if they cause you to get in more debt. Stop impulse buying and coveting what the neighbors have.
As with Joshua and with marriage, we need to preserve that which honors God. That means to obey the Lord in Tithing and giving. And develop a budget to live within our means.
When we obey God and depend on Him to fight for us we can have victory in our lives.
Joshua had victory because he did obey. And when he did, God fulfilled His Promise
20 When the people heard the sound of the horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the city from every side and captured it. 21 They completely destroyed everything in it – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, donkeys – everything.
God kept his promise to Israel. When God saw the faith of the Israelites and then saw them act on their faith He destroyed Jericho.
We also see that the spies kept their promise as well.
22 Then Joshua said to the two spies, "Keep your promise. Go to the prostitute’s house and bring her out, along with all her family." 23 The young men went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel. 24 Then the Israelites burned the city and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept for the treasury of the LORD’s house. 25 So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day.
Several weeks ago we read the story of Rahab. Her, we see that they have learned a lesson from God. God taught them and He teaches us to keep our promises.
God will fulfill the promises in your life as well.
Hebrews 11:30
30It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho seven days, and the walls came crashing down.
Faith is believing in a God who keeps His promises.
Trusting and depending on Him to fight you battles is what Christianity is all about.
I think sometimes the war is not so much against other things, but against ourselves trying to trust in something so impossible for humans, but s easy for God.
We try to win the war ourselves when we think that we don’t need God. That we don’t need to obey the Bible, much less read it.
That attitude is sin. And all of us are sinners.
We cannot save ourselves.
There is an obstacle between you and God and that is your sin.
Sin will destroy each of us, it is impossible for us to overcome it. But Christ, has already beaten it, if we only trust in Him.
