Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Podcast. Notice what he says, nay, but as captain of the host of Israel, he asks a direct question, are you for me or against me?

No. Then the Lord tells him to take off one shoe. Notice this. From off thy foot, for the place wherein thou standest is holy, and Joshua did so. Look at chapter 6 verse 1. Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel, none went out, none came in. They had all surrounded the walls.

You know the story, I'm not going to go into it. They had all surrounded the walls. There's no way they could penetrate those walls.

There's no way they could knock down those walls by brute force. Notice if you would, verse 2. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall come past the city, all ye men of war.

Listen to this. And go round about the city once, thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear the ark before the ark, seven trumpets of ram's horns, and the seventh day ye shall come past the city seven times, and the priest shall blow with the trumpets.

And it shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. What a plan. Give me a thumbs up.

Or not. Ben, are you back there? Were we able to do that video or not?

I can't see the thumb. Down. Okay. I had this video I wanted to show you, and I'll just explain it real quick.

I could give you, probably tonight, give you the address on YouTube. But they have scientists trying to explain how the walls of Jericho came down. That they cannot explain.

But they had that somehow, and they had access to that amazing power of sound wave technology, and somehow with the sound of the ram horns, just like as they're doing wave technology now, the sound boom cannot, they said that's how all this was done. And you just sit there and think, you're a scientist? Here's the truth, and I want you to get this. God knocked down those walls. Look at me. The only person that can knock down those walls in your life is God.

Not a counselor, not a psychiatrist, not an author. Only God. Let's pray. Lord, we love you. I ask you to bless your word this morning in Jesus' name.

Amen. Let me give you a little introduction. In the ancient city of Jericho was known as the great walled city.

Let me give you a little bit of statistics here before we get started. History tells us that Jericho was surrounded by two walls. Two very huge walls. The outer wall was six feet thick and 20 feet high. The inner wall was 12 feet thick and 30 feet high. There was a 15 foot guarded walkway between these two walls.

From a military standpoint, with the technology obviously that they had at this point, this was practically impenetrable. That's why it was built that way. And Israel was not gonna be able to experience the promised land until these walls came down. Because in order to defeat Jericho, the walls had to come down or they couldn't get in to defeat them.

Does that make sense? That means for us, this ancient city represents the things in our lives that prevent us from going on with God. Somehow, someway, although there might be things in your life and my life that seem a little bit impenetrable. They seem like it's just gonna be a little bit impossible to get over, get through, get under, get around. They're just in my life, preacher, and I can't do anything about that. Last time I checked, the Bible talks about removing of strongholds. God can knock down those walls, folks, if those walls need to be knocked down to get you where he wants you to be.

Let me say this, before we can get to God's promises and provisions, we have to get through those walls. It might be in your life a besetting sin that just prevents you from getting in your relationship with God where you need to be. As hard as you tried and as hard as you fought, there's just this sin that you just can't get over. It might be a root of bitterness or an unforgiving spirit that stands between you and God's best. It might be an old bad attitude that is holding you back, a critical spirit, you just can't get over it, you don't like your life, you don't like things in your life, and because you're miserable, everybody's gotta be miserable. It could be something from what God has for your life.

It could be something from your past that you continue to struggle with every day, and until you knock down those walls, you'll never get where God wants you. Before you will ever receive all God has for you, you've gotta penetrate these walls. Number one, so you can understand the passage.

Number one, I want you to see this. How did Joshua and how did this whole process happen? Of these walls and God knocking down these walls for Joshua? If these walls had to come down for Joshua to get God's best, God knocked down, how did this whole thing start? Number one, I want you to see this. It involves being confronted. Now this is great.

I had never seen this until I dug into this. Look at verse 13 of chapter five, if you would. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho.

Here they all are. They've shown up at the city of Jericho. They need these walls to fall down.

They've gotta somehow defeat this city. Notice verse 13. As he was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand.

Now you would expect to find some enemies when you're going to an enemy city. But this is very, very different. And this man was standing there, and Joshua said, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? Look at verse 14. And he said, Nay, but his captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. Now, you can say what you want to say.

You don't have to agree with me. I believe this is what we call a Christophany. You say, that's a fancy word, preacher. It simply means this, that I believe that Jesus himself made a bodily appearance before he ever came to the manger in the New Testament.

That Jesus in bodily form made himself present before he ever came in birth. I believe this is Jesus himself. You say, preacher, why is that? Because he said he is captain of the host of the Lord. That is Jesus.

I could give you passage after passage that he is captain of the host. And that is to be confronted with the person of God. It means this, before this process was ever going to happen, Joshua had to be confronted with Jesus himself. And I'm here to tell you, no wall will ever come down in your life until you have had a meeting with Jesus. For you to try to knock down walls without knowing Jesus as your savior is a futile effort. Dear friend, do you know Jesus? Have you been confronted with Jesus? You and I have to be confronted with the person of God. That means this, you have to have a personal, real, active relationship with Jesus Christ.

Number two, well before I go on, I've just got to put this in. It really isn't a point, but I want you to notice in verse 14, when he had a personal confrontation with Jesus, notice what the Bible said he did. He worshiped and he bowed. Wow.

That's how you know when it's real or it's not. A lot can be said about that. Number two, I want you to notice not only did he have a confrontation with the person of God, but number two, he had a confrontation with the position of God. You say, what do you mean the position of God? Notice what Jesus says here about himself, that he was captain of the Lord's host. You say, preacher, what in the world does that mean? Look at me, before these walls could come down, Joshua had to come to grips with the fact, he had to be confronted with the fact that Jesus was the captain, not Joshua.

Lord, nobody's excited about this but me. Did you hear me? You've got to understand in your life, when Jesus came, Joshua said, are you for us or are you for them? He said, no.

It means this, you just stop talking. I'm the captain of the Lord's host. That means this, Joshua wasn't in charge like he thought he was. He wasn't the captain, he wasn't the king, he wasn't the president, he wasn't even the general.

Jesus was captain. You've got to keep control in your life, no wall's ever gonna come down. But when you come to grips with the fact that he's the captain of the host of the Lord and you let him have control and you let him give the orders, the walls will come down. What I find interesting here, Joshua didn't tell the people what to do for the wall to come down.

God told the people what to do for the wall to come down. That means this, in other words, he is the one in control of all the situations. He is the one that is always victorious. He is the captain of the Lord's host. That means this, he has never lost a battle and he will never lose a battle. It means this, he's the one in control. He's the one that is sovereign. He's the one that's actually fighting the battle. He's the captain.

If you and I can just come to grips with this this morning, he's the captain, not us. I'm gonna be honest with you, get a little bit personal with you. This past year has been very hard. It's been hard for me, not for a lot of other reasons that people probably assume.

It's been hard for me pastoring. And you know what, sometimes it is just hard to come to grips with the fact I'm not the captain here. I beat myself up, it's constant, you want to make everybody happy, and it's just impossible. It is just impossible. You can't even make people happy that want to be happy.

It's just impossible. I couldn't get a good comment out of some people if I had to. And you beat yourself up and you're like, Lord, and you know what, as I studied this, I needed it as much as anybody and I needed the encouragement of our revival this week. We had a fantastic revival.

In case you missed it, we had a fantastic revival this week. But you know what, I've got to constantly be reminded that I am not the captain here. I am not to blame for everything. God is the captain at this church. And I've got to let him be in charge. And you know what, in your life you're not the captain. You know the phrase, who died and left you boss? Who died and left you captain? Nobody. He's still alive.

He's the captain. Nothing will come down in your life until you are confronted with the fact he's in charge. You and I must come to the place where we recognize that if there will ever be any victories in our life, it will come about through his power and nothing else. Not of ourselves, the Bible says over and over again. I want you to notice number three that he had to come in confrontation not just with the person of God and the position of God, but number three, the power of God. I want you to notice this, the Lord's first answer to Joshua's challenge. When Joshua asks this, are you for us or are you for them?

No. Then we find in verse 15 that God told him to loose one shoe off his foot. Shoe is singular, foot is singular. He didn't say shoes off your feet, he said shoe off your foot.

Why in the world? Well it's funny when Moses met the Lord at the burning bush, God told him to remove both shoes because that was holy ground. So the whole principle that he's removing his feet here because it's holy ground which God tells him here that it is, that wasn't the only significance because God told Moses to remove both shoes when he was on holy ground.

Why is this? Well I obviously didn't know, but these two events speak to us simply about the matter of surrender. Apparently Joshua, trying his best with good motives, had a little bit of trouble giving up control. And all of this was done so that God would see from Joshua that he was surrendering.

You say preacher, why in the world? When God said no, when Joshua asked hey, are you for me or are you for them? When God said no, what he was saying is this, Joshua, I didn't come to take sides, I came to take over. Joshua said are you for their side or are you for our side?

And God said no. I'm not a side taker. I just take over. I'm captain. Listen, our side's not gonna win just because he picks our side.

We're gonna win if we're on his side. Does that make sense? Some of you are like, I don't know, that makes sense, trust me, okay?

I've had a lot longer to process this than you have, just trust me. Now notice this, when God told him to take one shoe off, why did he do that? Well there was an ancient custom that I wasn't aware of, but I am now. And it meant this, when there was a covenant or a promise or a binding agreement between two individuals in which one person had the power to keep it and the other person didn't.

The individual that was weaker would take off one shoe and he would hand it to the other person. And it was his way of saying to that other person, I can't keep this agreement, but you can. And I don't have time this morning, but if you want to write this down, you need to write this down, Ruth chapter four, verses six through eight, you need to look it up.

Because we're told here this exact same process. When God said Joshua, you lose that shoe off your foot, it means this, you give surrender to me because we're getting ready to make a covenant. We're getting ready to give you some promises that you cannot deliver on your own. You can't win this battle, you can't knock over these walls. But I'm God, I'm captain of the host, I am Jesus, I can do this.

And so Joshua took off that one shoe and he handed it over there to Jesus because Joshua couldn't fulfill that covenant, but Jesus could. You cannot knock down walls in your life, you just can't. I can't, I've tried, you've tried.

You and I just need to submit, take off our shoe and give it to God and say, alright God, you do it. I want you to notice number two, that these walls coming down when the wall needs to fall, it not only involves confrontation, but number two, it involves being confident. Confronted with the Lord and then we've got to be confident in ourselves and Oprah tells me that you've got to believe that you can and we've got it inside of us and we're winners and we're champions.

No, no, no, no, no. Not confident in you. Confident in God. Look at chapter six, look at verse one. Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out, none came in. They surrounded the walls. The people in Jericho couldn't get out, couldn't get in.

They had the walls closed. Obviously, look at verse two. And the Lord said unto Joshua, see, I, I have given into thine hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor. What do you mean it involves being confident preacher number one?

Being confident in God's promises. God looked at Joshua and he says, I've given them into your hand. Now I'm going to read you a verse, Joshua chapter two, just a few chapters before verse nine.

This is what, listen to this. And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land and that your terror has fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. That verse is the promise that God has given.

He would give them the land. Way before this, God had promised he would give them the promised land. In Joshua chapter two, verse nine, we're reminded again, I know that God will deliver the land into your hands. That means this promise had been given over and over again. That God would deliver. And then in chapter six, God says, I have given thee the land.

Guess what? The walls had not fallen down yet when God said that. But when God makes a promise, it's as if it's already happened. Do you see it at all? What do you mean God's you given in my hand? The walls are still up.

The people are still alive. But because God had promised it, he has already given it to them. It's as good as done. You and I have got to believe in the promises of God. So many things I want to say.

I don't have time this morning. Second, I want you to see this, not just confident in God's promises, but number two in God's plan. And this was a weird one. And by the way, sometimes God's plans are weird.

I don't mean that disrespectful. They're weird to us. They're not weird because he's holy. But there's some things God's plan doesn't make sense to us.

It just doesn't make sense at all. Notice if you look at verse three of chapter six. This is what God said to do. And ye shall come past the city, all ye men of war, go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. So they're going to march around the city once for six days. Every day.

Great. So we're going to wear out the grass. Is that really important in walls coming down?

You got to kill the grass? Notice verse four. Ye shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns. And the seventh day ye shall come past the city seven times. And the priest shall blow the trumpets.

Woo, good plan. Not one time do any of these individuals touch the wall. Do you notice that? They're walking around it.

They're making noise. But not one time did God tell them to lay one finger on those walls. Those walls that needed to come down. Now, what was his plan?

Listen to me. Seven priests bearing seven trumpets were to walk before the ark. The priest would blow the trumpets and then the people were to walk behind the ark of the covenant. The whole parade was to walk around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day they were to walk around the city seven times. Then on the seventh time they were to shout and when this happened the wall would fall down flat.

Sure. Let me tell you what I find very interesting. Do you know what God required of Israel to bring the walls of Jericho down? Nothing. When you get right down to it all they had to do was keep walking.

Ding, ding. You know all you have to do to knock down the walls in your life? Just keep walking for God.

You don't have to put one finger on those walls. Now let's get ready to get good. Alright, there's a lesson for us in what he told them to do. Number one, he said there were to be seven priests. Seven is the biblical number of completion.

On the seventh day, obviously we know, I'm not going to go through all the Bible numerology, but seven obviously is a picture of completion. Priests are a picture of an advocate or one that stood between God and man. Before Jesus came priests would go into the holy of holies.

They were the advocate between us and God. So here we have seven is the number of completion. Priests is a picture of an advocate or a completer. That means this, we had complete atonement. That's what the seven priests were about.

Seven the number of completion. Priests are the number of completion. Priests is a sign for an advocate. And the father, the Bible says in Hebrews, is our advocate, the father. That means this, it's a sign that God is our complete advocate.

We don't need anybody else besides God. Number two, they were to take seven rams, horns, trumpet. The ram was a picture of atonement. Remember often times, think of Abraham and Isaac as Isaac found the ram and the thicket, as the atonement, the sacrificial lamb, obviously the ram, obviously for Isaac. Remember that. The ram was a picture of atonement.

And on Mount Moriah, obviously when that ram showed up, so we know seven rams, horns, seven is the number of complete. God is not just our complete advocate, he is our complete atonement. That means this, he's not just able, but he is able to deliver. Lord help me, they're not getting it. What a sign.

Can I tell you something about knocking down walls in your life? God is our complete advocate. He's the complete atonement. He's all we need. He's already done it. He's already delivered us.

There's nothing in your life that can't come down because he's already knocked it down. Number three, they were to take the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark represents the Lord Jesus Christ in all his fullness. The Ark always has and always will. In the Ark was the golden pot of manna and that speaks of his full provision. Aaron 's budding rod was also in the Ark of the Covenant. This speaks of Christ's power in his life.

The tables of the law, obviously we know the Ten Commandments, they were in the Ark of the Covenant. This reminds us that he is the fulfillment of the law for you and me. That means this, that sign of taking the Ark of the Covenant means that Christ was there in his fullness. He had full provision. He had full power. He had full life. He had full fulfillment of the law. That means this, everything that God asked him to do just pointed out.

Just pointed to Jesus. They weren't accomplishing anything and all the things he asked them to do, to knock the walls down. All they were doing was giving him the glory. He was gonna knock the walls down.

Are you getting this, please? Number four, they were simply to take these things and walk with them around the city. God promised them that the walls would fall down as a result of their obedience. Listen, in other words, all they had to do was have confidence in God's person, have confidence in God's plan, and have confidence in God's power, and then just walk. Dear friend, all you and I can do in our life is have confidence in God's person, confidence in God's plan, confidence in God's power. Get up the next morning and do what God's called us to do. God has to knock the walls down.

You and I can't. All we can do is trust him to do it. I want you to notice, thirdly, they have it obviously in God's confidence and God's power. Look at verse five.

I'm almost done. Look at verse five. God's power shall ascend up every man straight before him. God's power.

That means this. They didn't touch the wall with one finger. They didn't push it. They didn't even spit on it. They didn't even have to look at the wall. All they had to do was trust God, walk around it, and God's power, not some kind of modern sound technology. God's power knocked down those walls.

Let me ask you a question. Are you tired of trying to live in the Christian life and failing? Then stop doing both. Stop trying to live the Christian life and stop failing.

Just start trusting. The more you and I try, the more we fail, and we're not supposed to do either. God's supposed to do it. We're just supposed to take his person, his plan, and his power, and walk.

Here's why. You know why God asked them to do that? They could do that. They couldn't knock down walls, but they could walk. So God said, you do what you can do, and I'll do what only I can do.

There's a whole bunch of people at Jericho who looked at those guys marching around the wall and thought, isn't that ridiculous what they're doing? But guess who won? God did. When God pulls a wall down in your life, you better kill it, or it's gonna come back to haunt you. We'll be right back. .