Joshua Chapter 6:15-27

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge of the church in Kernersville, NC.

Our obedience produces results but should not be motivated by results. We need to trust the Lord and persevere even when we don't see things happening the right way. Stay tuned as Pastor David continues in the book of Joshua chapter 6. But first, have you ever experienced a time when you felt spiritually drained?

Well, the Bible holds the cure that will bring joy and vitality back into your life. That's why we want to send you a copy of Pastor David McGee's video message, A Checkup from the Neck Up. In this inspiring teaching, you'll find biblical truths that can restore your spiritual health. A Checkup from the Neck Up is our way to thank you for your gift this month to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life.

So please visit crossthebridge.com to get your copy of A Checkup from the Neck Up. Now here's David McGee with part 3 of his teaching, Walking in Obedience. Chapter 6 verse 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. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. And the seventh time it happened when the priest blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people, Shout for the Lord has given you the city. Verse 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.

Now if you remember a couple weeks ago we talked about this in Joshua. Rahab was a harlot who hid out a couple of the spies and they ended up saving Rahab because she kept those spies by the scarlet thread. And we also went into the genealogies because the interesting thing, this is a Gentile woman who was a harlot. And yet she's listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Just speaks to us about the grace of God, doesn't it? Rahab because of her faith in God escaped the destruction.

It reminds me of a story. There was a, in World War II, the allied army surrounded a German town and they sent word because there was a lot of civilians in the town for the army to surrender. They were vastly outnumbered or at least allow the people of the town to leave. And the army declined. They said, No, we will not surrender.

We will not let anyone else in the town walk out. And then the battle that ensued that followed, there was a lot of lives lost. Lives that could have been saved, could have been rescued.

Why? Because people were unwilling to surrender to what was a superior power. Guys, do you understand that's our only way of escape? To surrender to a superior power. That power is God. And there are battles that are coming in our lives and some of you may be in the midst of battles right now. Tough battles. Maybe you think they're battles you can't win. And truly maybe they are battles that you can't win.

But if you turn to God, if you surrender your life to Him, surrender your heart to Him, God can win the battle. See, that was probably another thing that happened during those six days. There were probably people going, Man, these walls are huge and there's no way. I don't see how this can work. They had to come to the end of themselves.

You know why? Because you don't know it's a miracle if you think you can do it. Why you think you can pull something off? You're not going to be that amazed when God does it. But when you get to a point in your life where you go, Man, there's no way.

This isn't going to work. Then God says, Ah, now I can step in and you'll realize it wasn't you. That it's me. And in my own life, God's allowed me to get to that place over and over again. Over and over again. He's allowed me to get to the place where I go, Okay, I can't.

And far from being a failure, God's been waiting for me to come to that place. He's been waiting for me to say, I can't. Why? Because when I can't, I'm much more likely to call out on Him who can't. Lord, I can't do this.

I need your help. And the Lord intervenes. And when the Lord intervenes, I know who to give the credit to. God delights. And this is a weird thing, but God delights and His people being placed in what looks like a no-win situation.

You understand that? Some of you, that may be hard for you to wrap your minds around, but God does this and He does it a lot. He's done a lot in my life and He's done it a lot in scripture. Look at Moses. Look what happens to Moses. When Moses leaves Egypt, he comes out and what happens? He's right there at the Red Sea with mountains on both sides. And then on the other direction is Pharaoh's army coming up. And I don't know if you remember the Ten Commandments, but Yul Brynner says, God is a bad military planner or something like that.

And down there was a bad Yul Brynner. But anyway, so they're trapped. Now, here's a tough one, guys. Who put them in that position? God did. God placed them in that position where they had to cry out and say, you know what? We don't know what we're doing now.

We need some help. And what did God do? God did the impossible. He opened up the Red Sea so that they could go through the Red Sea.

Why? Because they knew that wasn't them. They knew that that was the Lord that was doing it. And we all have battles and some of them are big and some, you know, we, every one of us has the big battle of what? Of death. That's coming for everyone else because death comes to all men, all women, all children. And we don't decide when and we don't decide where. But we do get to decide who. Who will you align yourself with? The Lord who loves you and wants you to spend eternity in heaven or will you align yourself with the enemy of your soul? Will you align yourself with the army that ultimately wins or the army that ultimately loses?

You know the amazing thing? He leaves that decision up to you. Nobody can force you into that decision. He loves us that much to mercifully allow us to choose to follow Him.

It's an amazing thing. Verse 18, and you by all means abstain from the accursed things lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. But all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. Now this is interesting and this is the only time, and we'll see in the next few chapters, this is the only time where the Lord requires this. It was at Jericho that He said all the treasures, all the spoils of war go to God.

Why is that? It's real simple folks. These were the first fruits of the promised land and God said these first fruits are mine. You dedicate them to me. Also notice that it was Joshua wasn't trying to figure out how to integrate the accursed thing into their truth or how it might weave a thread that they could gain something from.

It was to be shunned. And the Lord had blessed them and had brought them into the promised land and He said, okay, I'm bringing you into the promised land. I'm giving you the victory and this is what I want you to do. I want you to remember me and give me the first fruits of your battle.

And the present day application is probably obvious. We are to give God our first fruits. We are to honor God with the increase that He grants in our lives. And guys, we are so blessed, especially when you compare our lives to those of people around the world. I mean we have running water. We have electricity. We have roofs over our head.

We have food to eat. We have a place to lay down our head and we need to honor and thank God by dedicating those first fruits to God. And guys, notice it's called first fruits, not last fruits because we're supposed to give God what's right, not what's left. I've talked to people and they go, well, you know, I would tithe but at the end of the month there's just nothing left over.

You're missing the concept. See, the tithe is the first tenth as you dedicate that portion to the Lord. Malachi chapter 3 verse 8 says, should people cheat God, yet you have cheated me. But you ask, what do you mean?

When did we ever cheat you? You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me and you are under a curse for your whole nation has been cheating me. Now verse 10, bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do, says the Lord Almighty, I will open up the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in.

Try it and let me prove it to you. Now this is going to become more important next week when we look at the battle of A.I. but there's a concept here that this portion belongs to God and when we keep it for ourselves it is called cheating here in the New Living Translation. In the New King James and the King James it's called robbing God. God says you have robbed me. You have taken what was His and spent it. And so it's an important concept for any mature Christian to grasp this, to set aside and to make a commitment to what you're given to the Lord.

And it shows that you're grateful for what God has done in your life. Now verse 20, so the people shouted when the priest 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. Now let me ask you a question. What knocked the walls down of Jericho?

What do you think? God knocked down the walls of Jericho. Their shouting didn't knock down the walls of Jericho. This was not some kind of weird audio vibratory thing that was just a resonant frequency that knocked the walls down.

That's not it at all. They were obedient and God honored their obedience. See in the next life lesson, our obedience taps into God's power and gives us the victory.

Our obedience taps into God's power and gives us the victory. It wasn't the yelling that brought the wall down. This was not the act of men or the act of a group of men. It was an act of God. And again, He brought it about that they knew that it was an act of God. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 30 says, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. And by faith the harlot Rahab did not perish for those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace.

Verse 21, and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword. You understand God, God will not allow your heart to be divided anymore. Once you come to a saving knowledge of Him, He has an agenda to take any rival thing in your life, any idol, and remove it. Why? Because your loyalty, your love for Him is divided.

It's divided. And He loves you too much to leave you that way. He wants your love and your loyalty. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's Word in just a moment. But first, your enemy the devil doesn't want you to experience the life-giving truths of God's Word. He wants to rob you of the full life God wants for you.

But you can overcome his attacks because there is supernatural power in the Word of God. That's why we want to send you Pastor David McGee's video message called A Checkup from the Neck Up. This powerful resource will show you how to revitalize your spiritual health and grow in your faith daily by meditating on God's powerful Word. A Checkup from the Neck Up is our way to thank you for your gift this month to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life.

So please, visit crossthebridge.com now to get your copy of A Checkup from the Neck Up. Now, back to today's message. Verse 22, but Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the country, go into the harlot's house and from there bring out the woman and all that she has as you swore to her. And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers and all that she had. So they brought out her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel.

Now that's not cold. There was just a period of time where they stayed out the camp, outside the camp. Later on, they were obviously brought inside the camp. Verse 24, but they burned the city and all that was in there with fire, only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. You understand out of all the archeological discoveries that have taken place over the last 2,000 years, not one of them has disproven the Bible.

Not one of them. Don't you find that kind of astounding? As a matter of fact, it's interesting, about 15 years ago, this guy started saying that there was no King David, that this was something that the Bible had made up, that there was no historical evidence that there was ever a King David. And I had to laugh to myself because about three years after that, they found a stone in Israel, big old marker that talked about what?

King David. It's like, there's a rock right there. No, dig to the left.

There, that's it. So then now that guy, he's no longer on the Seminary Circle or something. But anyway, the evidence for this chapter is staggering. There's been two people, one of the guy, Dr. J.B. Garstang is the primary one, who went in and dug out ancient Jericho. And what he found was, it was staggering. Well, there's five things he found. Number one, the city was thoroughly burned by fire. He could still see the soot marks and all those different things in there. Second thing was there was stored grain that was left there. It was left there and burned. It wasn't, and usually in battles you take the grain before you burn the city so that you can eat from it. Not in this case, it was burned with the city. Number three, the precious metals were gone.

He didn't find any idols, any precious metals in the city. Guess what? He said take the gold and the silver. The fourth thing was there was one gate tower that was still standing, part of which still stands today. What's the significance of that? Rahab's house didn't fall. It was that one tower, I believe, that didn't fall, that still is still to this day, it's still 16 feet tall from the rest of the ground. It's kind of interesting. And he also found that there have been houses built on the walls of the city.

Again, just like we see with Rahab. Incredible stuff, isn't it? You know the odds of those five things being confirmed with the archeological dig in there?

Man, they got to be astronomical, but guess what? Once again, the Bible's true. Verse 25, and Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had.

So she dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho to this day, in the day that this book was written. Verse 26, then Joshua charged them at that time saying, cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho. He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn and with his youngest he shall set up its gate. Now, modern day Jericho is not in this place of ancient Jericho, but somebody did try to do this and we're told in 1 Kings 16 verse 34. It says, it was during his reign that Heel, a man from Bethel, rebuilt Jericho. And when he laid the foundations, his oldest son, Abram, died. And when he finally completed it by setting up the gates, his youngest son, Segeb, died. This all happened according to the message from the Lord concerning Jericho, spoken by Joshua the son of Nun.

That's exactly what this says. This is written hundreds of years before. It says, cursed be the man, he shall lay its foundation with the firstborn and with his youngest he shall set up its gate. That's exactly what happened here in 1 Kings, which was written much later. Verse 27, so the Lord was with Joshua and his fame spread throughout all the country.

There's something that is extremely intriguing with this chapter and its placement in scripture and also some of the parallels that we see. Now, it's interesting because in Sunday school, I don't know if you grew up in Sunday school, they taught us this little thing, I'm not going to sing it, but Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down and all the kids, yeah.

There's a serious theological problem with that song. Joshua didn't fight the battle of Jericho. Joshua didn't fight at all.

He marched around the city and they yelled. That's not exactly fighting, yet God gave him the city. Now, some of you, I'm convinced that is a word from God out of his word for you tonight. You think it's up to you to fight the battle. The battle's not yours. The battle belongs to the Lord and the Lord is the one who will fight on your behalf and win the battle. But if you try to fight in your own strength, guess what?

You probably will fail. If you're in a place where you think winning the battle is up to you, you're in a dangerous place. If you're in a place where you think you can't win the battle, you're in a good place. I know that sounds strange, but if you're in a place where you realize you can't win the battle, guess what? It's very likely you'll call out to the Lord and ask Him to help you win the battle or for Him to win the battle for you. And it doesn't matter if it's Joshua with these walls or maybe it's Gideon with the pitchers and the torches or maybe it's David with his sling, but you know what?

God likes to come through in impossible situations and He wants to come through in your impossible situation. I can assure you of that and I really feel from my heart that that's the word of the Lord to some of you. Now, there's some parallels here that I think are very interesting.

Why is that? Because there's only four verses, four verses in the whole Bible that have a shout and a trumpet in the same place. Two of them are in the chapter we studied tonight. One is in Psalm 47, which is a psalm of triumph.

I encourage you to read it later. But the other one is in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 16. It says, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. See, some of you have sat and listened tonight and you've probably thought, God may have knocked down your walls, Pastor David, but I don't think He's going to knock down my walls.

Loved one, be encouraged. God will knock down your walls. As sure as we are here tonight, as sure as Jesus is returning, you follow God, trust God, love God, and you're Jericho, no matter what it is, I guarantee you will fall.

The shout and the trumpet. And even if to the time Jesus comes back that wall is still there, guess what? When Jesus comes back, that wall is gone. You know why?

Well, several reasons. But the life lesson here is, as a follower of Jesus, our ultimate victory is assured. As a follower of Jesus, our ultimate victory is assured. Never forget that the day is coming when that wall will come tumbling down. It'll come tumbling down. Don't be deceived. Don't think that it will never come down. It will come down.

Trust God. Two more verses and we'll close. Revelation 11, 15 says, then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. And then one of my favorite verses in all of scripture, Revelation 21, 4 says, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. See, the walls are coming down, guys.

It's just really a question of when. The Jewish people, the children of Israel marched around the city. They did as God had instructed and those walls came down.

But don't miss something. The Gentiles, the non-Jewish people that survived at this place did so by surrender. They didn't win by fighting. They won by surrendering.

That's the way we win. We win by surrendering to the King who loves us so much and who has such an awesome plan for our life and who is returning one day. I personally think we're getting closer and closer to that day, but whether that's next week or whether that's 10 years from now, one thing I know, this I know that every single day that we live on this earth brings us one day closer to that event when our Yeshua with a shout and with a trumpet will bring the walls down.

Where will you be on that day? Have you really surrendered or have you surrendered partly? Have you surrendered part of your life but tried to hold on to some of it? The only way to be victorious in this battle is to surrender completely. Now I know that it's hard for us to wrap our minds around and it certainly doesn't perhaps make sense, but that is the way that we win. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Now God wants you to pray this prayer so much that He died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask Him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you, all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven, you've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him and He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous.

So congratulations friend, you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Modern life just keeps getting busier and busier by the day. As a result, a lot of Christians are missing out on the life-giving nourishment of daily time in God's Word. That's why Pastor David McGee wants to help revitalize your spiritual health by sending you his video message titled, A Checkup from the Neck Up. This resource shows you how to meditate daily on God's Word so that His truth can transform your life. A Checkup from the Neck Up is our way to thank you for your gift this month to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So please visit crossthebridge.com now to get your copy of A Checkup from the Neck Up.

You know each day comes with its share of stresses. So what better way to wake up than with an encouraging word from the Lord? Visit crossthebridge.com and sign up now for David McGee's email devotionals. Each devotion includes scripture and a message from the heart of David McGee. It's easy and it's free. Sign up today at crossthebridge.com. And be sure to join us next time on Cross the Bridge as we continue in the book of Joshua. We'll see you then.