Sermon: Faith Around Jericho

You'll take a copy of God's word this morning and we're gonna turn open to the book of Hebrews. If you wanna use a Pew Bible, you just grab it right in front of you and turn right open to page 1008. Uh, this morning we are going to look at Hebrews chapter 11, verses 30 and 31. As we continue our way through that book again, page 1008, in the Pew Bible. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 30 and 31 this morning.

And let's pray before we open God's word together.

Father, we to come before you this morning and we want to hear from you. We pray that you wouldn't just fill our ears. We pray that you would fill our hearts.

We pray that as the word is read that as it is preached and it finds a home within us, you open the eyes of our hearts more clearly, that we might see you more dearly and we pray this in the strong name of Christ. Amen. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 30 and 31. This is the holy inert sufficient word of God.

By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab, the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. But the grass withers and the flower fades. The word of God is forever. Thanks, speed to God. Amen.

We are in this great chapter of people of faith as the writer of Hebrews is walking through them and he's gone through a series of people in the Old Testament scriptures and now he has come to the scene of Jericho and he is bringing to our light, to more prominent people of faith that surround the battle of Jericho. And that is Joshua and Rahab. Just for a little context here, let me give you a little bit of the background of uh, what is happening here.

You'll remember that Moses was sent down to Egypt as a redeemer of God's people and he led them out of the land of Egypt and he led them across the Red Sea. And then once they got across the Red Sea, they were required to wander in the desert for 40 years due to disobedience. And then Moses died. Joshua is the one who was called to fill the shoes of Moses, very big shoes to fill. And he was to lead the people into the land of Canaan,

the promised land. He was to conquer lead the nation in conquering the land of Canaan. And the very first place that they needed to conquer was the city of Jericho. Why? Well, you have to understand a little bit of the landscape there of the land of Canaan to understand why Jericho first had to be conquered. Jericho sat on the very eastern side of what we will call the Judean wilderness in history. And so as you're going into the land of Canaan, you had

to go by Jericho. As you got past Jericho, you would see that there were always roads that were running north and south and roads that were running east and west through a very hilly and treacherous region of the world. And so Joshua having put together a military plan, his plan was to cross the Jordan River and to go by the city of Jericho, conquer it. And that would then allow him to continue to move west through the land of Canaan

and thereby cutting off the north from the south. And then he could turn his attention either to the north or to the south and conquer that and then he could turn his attention to the other and conquer it. But he first had to conquer the city of Jericho to be able to cut the land of Canaan in two. And that old military, uh, truism, you can't leave a tiger in your tail, was part of what he was attempting to do. Conquer Jericho so that he did not leave

a tiger in his tail. Now, Jericho was not a metropolis, but what it was in, what it lacked in size of population, it made up for in its military strength and that it was a city, but it was a city that was a fortified city that had high walls, great walls in a time when walls actually meant something in protecting a city. It wasn't so much a city as it was a fortress that sat in the right place on the right hill. It makes me think of the American Civil War.

And there was such a place in the Western theater of the American Civil War. If you went down the Mississippi River, you had to pass by Vicksburg. And Vicksburg was not so much a huge metropolis, but it was an incredibly important place in the Civil War because of where it sat and what it was. Uh, when Lee and I were once on a road trip, I talked her into a stopping at the battle of Vicksburg so that I could explore it.

Actually what I did is I dropped her off at a, at the hotel so she could take a nap the whole afternoon. And then I spent the whole afternoon going around the Battle of Vicksburg. And you can see it when you are there, you you go up up 'cause you have to go up and you can stand there and you can look down and you can see the wis, the the the the turny windy river Mississippi down below you can see it and you can see how everything coming from the north,

you can see it coming, everything from the south, you can see it coming. And you could see how some well placed artillery up there on the heights of Vicksburg as a boat or a ship is trying to make its way around this twisty river would have to slow down in that part of the river. You could see how they could take shots at it. It was a fortress. And as Vicksburg guarded the Mississippi River. So Jericho guarded the land of Canaan.

He had to take it. It was the right place and the right fortified city in the right place before the battle of Jericho. We find the scene in Joshua chapter five where in my mind I think it must be that that Joshua is playing the part of a good general. And so he is on a reconnaissance mission and it is early in the morning and he is by himself and he's standing outside Jericho and the plane's there. And he is looking at the city

and no doubt is trying to decide how do we breach such massive walls? What is the plan that I'm going to enact here so that we can conquer the city And his eyes are for some reason down, maybe it's 'cause he was deep in thought. Maybe it's 'cause he was jotting down notes. But when he raises his eyes he finds that he wasn't alone.

We have all experienced that at different times. I want to read that account to you. What happens to him in Joshua chapter five? 'cause it provides the background for what we see in our text. Joshua chapter five verses 13 through 15, when Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked in and behold the man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us

or for our adversaries? And he said, no, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did. So you probably had a moment where you've been somewhere you were by yourself.

And all of a sudden you realize, I'm not by myself, but I doubt any of us have had the case that Joshua had. When you raise up your eyes and you see that you're not by yourself, it's somebody with a sword, uh, I would no doubt make the heartbeat a little faster. And you have that flight and fight response In the very moment there would be two questions I would immediately have. And they're the questions that Joshua has.

One, what is your intention with that sword? And second, who are you? And maybe I would've asked like Joshua or maybe I just would've run. But Joshua asks and he asks of this man, are you for us or for our adversaries? We'll get back to that question in a moment because it's helpful to understand the answer to the other question first, who is this? There is not a doubt in my mind that this is what we call Christophany.

That is that this is a manifestation of the son of God before he became flesh Jesus. And I have four reasons for that from the text. First you'll notice the instruction he gives to Joshua. He tells him to remove his sandals from his feet. And you'll remember again that Joshua is following Moses. These are big shoes to fill. And you'll remember that Moses, before he died, he said to Joshua, you must be strong and you must be courageous Joshua.

And that's something that Joshua had to continually be reminded of throughout his life necessarily. So, and it seems to me that what God is doing here and his ever abounding grace is that he is strengthening Joshua. He is giving him strength. He is giving him courage. He's reminding him that even as I was with Moses Joshua, so I am with you.

How I remember when Moses first encountered God, he was out shepherding the sheep and he went up on that mount. And when he went up on the mount, he saw that there was a bush that was on fire and yet it wasn't consumed. You remember that as Moses begins to approach that bush, he hears a call from that bush, Moses Moses, the ground on which you stand as holy take off the sandals from your feet.

And here it's echoing language, what he says to Joshua, take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you're standing as holy. Same God as I was with Moses. So I am with you. Second, the figure distinguishes himself from God though he says, I am the commander of the army of the Lord, the commander of the legions of the army of God. And when he says this, he isn't talking about himself. In the third person, there will be some interview

after the Super Bowl winner today where they will be interviewing that person and that person will refer to themselves in the third person. Dion Sanders says he always did that. That's not what's happening here. He says, I am the commander of the Lord's army. He reinforces that he is distinct from God. And yet notice that he reinforces that Joshua our third point that when Joshua hears this from him, he falls down in worship of this man.

So he is distinct from God and yet he receives worship as God.

Now that's odd. And Paul and Barnabas are worshiped at lytro when the people of lytro think that they are gods and they fall down and they worship them, Paul and Barnabas, they recoil and they tell 'em to stop it. Worship God. When John in Revelation sees the angel and he falls down before the angel in worship, the angel immediately tells him, stop. And then he points him to what he must do. He says, you must worship God.

But in this passage, the commander of the Lord's army has no such reaction. Instead he reinforces that what Josh was do is doing is appropriate. He says, take off the sandals from your feet for you are on holy ground. That's his response. Distinct from God but receives worship as God. This is the pre-incarnate son of God. Our final evidence is that, that this is a Christoph is later in Joshua six two when this figure is speaking to Joshua

and says that I have given the city of Jericho into your hands. He says, the Lord said this to Joshua the Lord. This is the pre-incarnate son of God. So now back to Joshua's question. When he sees this man standing before him with this drawn sword in his hand, he asked, are you for us or are you for our adversaries? And it is one of my favorite dialogues in all the scripture. It it makes me chuckle every time I read it. Find it funny.

Are you for us or are you for our adversaries? No, no. I'm the commander of the Lord's army and now I've come for us or for them. No, you got the wrong agenda here Joshua. You're not seeing this rightly. This isn't how this works. And Joshua's getting a lesson. You don't co-opt God. You don't employ God to accomplish your purposes. God is saying that's not how this works. It's not whose side am I on and who am I following?

It is who is following me.

Our first point this morning, faith chooses to serve God. Faith chooses to serve God. We don't hear me clearly. We do not co-opt God for our agendas. That's not how this works. This is the difference between holiness and sin. It's the difference between happiness and misery. It's the difference between acting and faith and unbelief. We don't look for the Lord of glory to yield himself to us. We yield ourselves to him.

We're not consumed and caught up with is he conforming to my plans and my desires and the things that I want and what I think is best. No are caught up with conforming to his

faith, chooses to serve God, not to try and coerce God into serving us. That just doesn't work. And what is fascinating is that even Joshua called by the Lord to lead the nation, he has been given this great responsibility, this great authority. You're gonna lead the nation into the land of Canaan and you are going to be my general and leader that conquers all of this land. That even Joshua in such a place of importance needed to be reminded.

You are my servant, I'm not yours.

Faith chooses to serve God. And Joshua's response is one of faith. He replies, what does my Lord say to his servant? That is, I just want to know now how do I serve you your kingdom? And that's the response of faith. And now, now Joshua can actually be of use in the kingdom.

Now he could lead the nation to conquer as a servant and as the writer of Hebrew says, and by faith the walls of Jericho fell. Which leads to our second point this morning, faith looks weak but it conquers like nothing else. It looks weak but it conquers like nothing else. The only weapon they, they wielded in the bringing down of the walls that Jericho was faith.

I want you to imagine the scene. God has commanded the nation to walk around the city for six days and he tells them each day that they're to remain silent as they are walking around the city for six days. And then he will tell them on the seventh day that on the seventh day they are to issue forth a great shout and the walls will come tumbling down. But for six days, for six days, the nation walks around this, this city completely silent.

And you can imagine the geering that must have come from the ramparts. And no doubt each day as another day passed, it must have been laing and more intense sharing

the only veggie tales. I remember that cartoon from the nineties is this one. Uh, 'cause I think they captured. Uh, you have the nation of Israel played by the cucumber in asparagus and tomato. Remember it's veggie tails and you have the french peas on the ramparts and the french peas yell down at them, what are you doing? And I think it is the cucumber that answers back where he says to them, our God told us to walk around these walls.

We aren't crazy or anything.

And the French peas begin mockingly to sing, keep walking but you won't knock down our walls. Keep walking. But she isn't going to fall. It is plain to see that your brains are very small to think that walking will be knocking down our walls.

Faith looks weak.

Part of the reason it looks weak is because it's otherworldly. It's otherworldly. A fist is powerful and you know it is powerful if the person throwing it is powerful. A sword conquers if the swordsman knows how to use it. But faith's power does not come from the person wielding it, nor does it come from itself.

It's otherworldly. The power of faith is found in the object of that faith. And the object of that faith is God who has all power.

No, he has all power.

And so faith exercised in this world is the greatest power that humans can exercise in this world.

Faith, remember when they came to rest Jesus and Peter will draw out his sword and brandish that he is going to protect his Lord and his savior. And Jesus tells him, put it away.

I have all authority. If I wanted to, I could call down all the hosts of angels. I could call down myriads of angels because he has all authority and all power. He is the commander of the Lord's army.

It's a sword that's silly By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down. Faith looks weak, but it conquers like nothing else. It is by faith that we continue to be courageous in the face of adversaries. It's by faith that we conquer our fears and our temptations. It's by faith that we continue to trust that our grown children will come to salvation in Christ. It is by faith that we keep hoping for the return of Christ. It's by faith that we slay every enemy

that presents himself before us. It looks weak and necessarily so because the world cannot see him. But it's the greatest power you can exercise in this world. Faith, it conquers like nothing else, which leads to our third point. The kingdom of God goes forward by faith, the kingdom of God goes forward by faith, God wants the nation to know even before they they own one strip of land in Canaan, before they have conquered any city

before, there is anywhere that they can set up a tent and say, this is ours. Before they do anything, he wants them to know that they cannot accomplish anything. But by faith, what he is primarily concerned with is his people's faith.

So before they even start, he has them march around this fortified city By faith relying upon him,

he wants them to know that any victory, any advancement, any success his people are going to enjoy in this life is only to going to come by faith. And as it was true then, so it was true yesterday. So it is true today. And so it will be true tomorrow. It doesn't change in second Corinthians 10, Paul says this, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. Whatever lies in our way, whatever lies in the way

of its people is only conquered. It's only achieved as it is accomplished by strength, not by or by faith, not by strength, not by might, not by charisma, not by politics, not by conniving, not by setting up the right things, but by faith. By faith is how the kingdom go forward. Faith, practically, what does this mean practically? It means that if you are concerned with the kingdom of God, which you better be if you're a Christian,

if you are concerned with the kingdom of God, then your principle personal concern must be that you are growing in faith and the people around you are growing in faith because it's by faith that the kingdom goes forward.

It was uh, doing some officer training for some of our new possible officers here at URC elders and deacons the other night, Monday night. And I was telling them that the most important pursuit they can have as future elders and deacons in this church is their pursuit of Christ and faith, growing in faith, trusting more in Christ and faith depending more upon Christ and faith. But as I told them, it's not only true for you

as an elder deacon, it's true for you in every responsibility you have in this world. And every relationship you have in this world is true for you as a father. It's true for you as a husband. It's true for you as a friend. It's true for you as a churchman. It's true for you as a neighbor.

If you want to be a better father or husband or neighbor or friend or churchman or elder or deacon, your great pursuit has to be to grow in faith. That's true of every single one of us in this room. For every single one of our relationships, the most important thing we can do is be pursuing Christ and faith because it is from faith that all the other graces of the Christian life sprout. And it's from the fertile ground of faith

that all the other graces of the Christian life grow. If I want to be more and more a man of love and of hope and of peace and of joy and of kindness and of charity, and in Joshua's case here, strong and courageous, it comes by growing faith.

The kingdom of God goes forward by faith.

And we see that in the account of Rahab. The other person, the writer of Hebrews mentions having great faith. She is a gentile woman, a prostitute that is within the, the walled city of Jericho. And two of the Israelite spies make their way into the city and and she hides them. And she hides them because she confesses this, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all of the inhabitants

of the land will melt before you. She tells them that she has heard about the Lord drying up the red sea and they're walking across from dry land. She tells them that she has heard that he redeemed them from Egypt. She tells them that she has heard that they defeated the kings of the Amorite, seehan and a she knows that God has given them this land. She's heard it and she believes it. She has faith. And the kingdom went forward in her life.

And interestingly enough, in the lives of her family members that were connected to her,

I want you think about this, is she had actually seen nothing.

All the evidence she had of the nation of Israel were two spies, let alone the God of Israel.

She had only heard, she just heard. She heard and she believed. And what had she heard? She had heard of God. She had heard of his promises. He has given you this land, she said. And she had heard of his doing. He had dried up the Red Sea. He had redeemed them from Egypt. He had defeated sea ha an A for them. She had heard who the Lord was. She had heard his promises and she had heard what he had done. This is how God always chooses to work.

This is how he chooses to bring everyone, to save him faith. We hear who he is, we hear what he has promised and we hear what he has done.

Paul asks in Romans, how then will they call on him and whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And then Paul concludes. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. She simply believed

the kingdom of God went forward by faith again. Faith seems so silly in the eyes of the world, so silly. She, she's behind the walls of Jericho.

These things are tall and thick. She's safe along with all of the other people in French peas hiding there.

But she heard, she believed.

I wonder this morning, as each of you sit here, listen, you've heard who God is.

You've heard what he has promised, that he would send his son into this world to seek and to save the lost. You have heard that Christ died upon the cross, the defeat of all of our enemies and to take away the guilt of our sin. And you have seen it done. You're on this side of it. You've heard the testimony. She only heard, she saw only two spies. You have a whole room full of people here that would say, I know it to be true.

You've heard. And so I ask each of you individually, no matter how old you are this morning,

have you believed,

have you believed in this? God,

does it sound too risky?

William Grinnell, uh, great Puritan writer, he wrote that wonderful book, the Complete Armor of God. And then if he gives a wonderful illustration along these lines, he, he says, imagine that you see a, a man that is on a ship in an ocean and he throws himself from the ship into the ocean. You would think that that man has lost all of his marbles. But if you kept watching him for a while, you all of a sudden notice that now he's standing on the seashore

and then you look back and where the ship had been, you see it sinking and it is going below the the turbulent waves. He said, then you would think that this man had all the wisdom in the world and had chosen the very best thing Skal said. He said this, he said, faith sees the world and all it offers is sinking. That is there's a leak in the whole of the ship of the world. And man can't plug it.

And all that the world is and all that the world is offering, it is sinking. And so as Granal says it is, it is better to swim by faith through the sea of trouble and get safe to heaven

than to go down with the ship.

Which leads to our final point. Faith Grants life writer says that by faith, Rahab did not perish. She didn't perish. Here you have a great general and a great conquer, and you have a great prostitute, a gentile prostitute.

You have this great leader and you have this woman of ill repute. And both of them, both of them are immortalized. Both of them are celebrated in the end, both are counted among the people of God. And most importantly, both of them are eternally dwelling with Jesus

faith. Prince life, she's a prostitute.

She believed life

on that last day. There will be generals and prostitutes. There will be Jews and Gentiles. There will be black and white. There will be Russian speaking and Chinese speaking and Spanish speaking. There will be fat and there will be skinny and there will be old and there will be young and there will be bright and there will be dull. There will be college graduates and there will be those that didn't graduate from high school.

Most disparate collection of people in the universe. The church is the most heterogeneous

entity in the entire universe.

And it's the most homogeneous because every single one that will be there on the last day that has everlasting life and has not perished, is united by one thing. They had faith. Faith in this one true God, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God who sent God, God the Son, into this world to live and to suffer at the hands of his creation, to be subjected to his enemies upon the cross and even allowed them to think that they had defeated him

and to dance for a short period of time as he was in the grave for three days. Why? So that you and I might live forever with no foe, no adversary, no enemy, and dance forever.

Every single one on that last day will have believed in this God. The God that they heard of this God and his promises and has heard what he has done.

Is that true of you this morning?

And if it is true of you this morning,

I pray that you want to grow in that faith and delight in this God and yield yourself more and more to this God.

How could we not Joshua and Rahab call out from the heavens to each of us have faith and have increasing faith? Let's pray.

Father, we are thankful.

You are a God who has chosen to redeem sinners such as us. You are a God who conquers all of our foes.

We pray that every single soul in here this morning would know you by faith. And knowing you by faith would grow in that faith for your glory and praise in Christ's name. Amen.