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Joshua 6:1-21
Norm Wells
When we talk about faith, it seems there are always more questions than answers.
Sometimes those questions are hard to be answered, but sometimes, we NEED to ask ourselves questions—in order to remind ourselves on where our priorities are in life.
Why did you come to church today?
What drives us to be obedient to God?
What gives us encouragement to be active in the work of the church?
What leads us to tell others about Christ?
What holds us up—when at times—it seems like the world is crumbling around us?
What keeps us from despair, when we see the sinful condition of the world today, & the effect it has on our family?
i.e.,---What causes us to do the things we do in the area of religion?
I’m sure that most of you have heard some of my comments in class or in lessons I have had, and remember that one thing I strive to bring out is:
ATTITUDE, ATTITUDE, ATTITUDE.
What causes us to do the things we do?
Probably the most common answer to these & other questions would be FAITH.
Faith in God
Faith in Christ
Faith in the H S
Faith in the scriptures & Faith in the church
Heb. 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
i.e.,--the confidence & assured trust in God—
that trust which allows us to continue in this life w/ patience—while moving on toward our goal of eternal life in Heaven.
It is also the proof of things we can not see w/ our eyes.
By having this faith, we are convinced that if we are obedient---
-- God will not only provide a home for us in Heaven----
--He will also take care of us here on earth.
Heb. 11:30 "By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.”
We can read this scripture, & it does sound impressive—but unless we are familiar with the actual event surrounding this verse—we will never get the full thrust of the verse.
Luke 17:32 "Remember Lot’s wife” --that’s all it says!!
Again—you must know the O T example in order to know what we are supposed to remember about Lot’s wife.
Rom. 15:4 "For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
So—before we can have faith in the scriptures—we must KNOW the scriptures—
--and that means that we must read & study the scriptures.
Heb. 11:30 said "By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down”
Now, I hope you are familiar with the account of this, because if you are not, then the rest of the story won’t mean a whole lot.
I am reminded about the story of a Bible School Teacher, who asked the question—"Who tore down the walls?”
And little Jimmy’s eyes got real big, & he sat up straight in his chair, & spoke up—"I didn’t do it!!”
And then one of the deacons spoke up & said—"I can vouch for Jimmy—I know his parents—they would never allow him to do anything like that.”
And then one of the elders—in all his wisdom & humility—spoke up and very quietly said—
"Hey, it’s done—let’s not worry about it, or put blame on anyone—let’s just take the money out of the treasury, & repair the wall.”
It helps when you know something about the situation.
Josh. 5:13-15 Immediately following, we see how the children of Israel completely surrounded the city.
Josh. 6:1-5 read
Now we can understand Heb. 11:30—"By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down.”
Think of the faith necessary for the children of Israel—for some 3 to 4 million people to cross the Red Sea on dry land—when the waters were piled up on both sides.
Think of the logistics involved to provide food & water & care for the children of Israel in the desert for 40 years.
Think of their faith that God would help them defeat their enemies, even when greatly outnumbered—how at one point Gideon started with 32,000 men, and God whittled them down to 300 men to defeat an entire nation. Judg. 6.
Think of the lives of the apostles, & the sacrifices they made because of their faith in Christ.
Luke 13:24 "Strive to enter in at the straight gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”
Luke 14:26, 27 "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
Jesus was saying—"Count the cost; it is not always going to be easy.”
Phil. 3:12-14 "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Hopefully—our goal also in life, is to go to heaven.
Is it easy?—No.
But we must study & remember the examples of those in the Bible—like Paul—
I Cor. 11:1 "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
So--#1. It’s not easy---it takes time & effort, & it is a struggle.
And here’s something to think about—
If it’s fairly easy for you to come only on Sun. a.m.—maybe you need to take another look at your attendance—maybe things are too easy for you.
#2. We must remember the power of God.
Study the plagues in Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, the manna & quail to feed the Israelites.
Eph. 1: 19-21 "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Far above all principality, and power, and mighty, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.”
Eph 3:20,21 "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
--note 20a.—"above all that we ask or think—"i.e.—
--no limits.
Matt. 28:19,20 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”-
--and then He goes on to deliver the great commission.
--That means—It actually can be done—w/ the help of God—w/ the power of God.
#3. The children of Israel had to fight—after crossing the Red Sea, the waters came back together—they couldn’t go back to Egypt. They had to face the enemy in front of them.
We need to remember—once we become a christian,--if we are going to reach our goal—we can’t go back & we can’t just stand still, &
--we can’t compromise what the scriptures tells us to do.
--And we can’t try to find an easier way, or a way that will ENHANCE our service to God, or
--a way that will not bring criticism to anyone, or
--a way that is politically correct, so that we will not offend anyone, or appear that we are not totally inclusive of the feelings of those around us.
I Tim. 6:12 "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
#4. Just because there are those who oppose us, & disagree w/ us, & try to cast a shadow of doubt on us—sometimes—even those w/in the church---that in itself does not necessarily mean we are wrong.
Noah was opposed by all except his immediate family.
Nehemiah was opposed & ridiculed when he was overseeing the building of the walls around Jerusalem.
NOW—here’s the kicker—christianity is not a democracy!!
How about that for a surprise??
In christianity, the majority does not rule—the scriptures rule.
The majority will not be saved in the judgment.
#5 We must remember God’s hatred for sin.
In Num 16, some of the men rebelled against Moses and said—"Why did ye bring us up out of a land of plenty to the wilderness to die?”
Num. 16:31-33, then tells us that after this rebellion, and Moses’ declaration of God’s judgment against them,-- the earth open up and swallowed them up—including their houses and all their possessions.
In Num 20, once again, the people murmured against Moses when they had no water.
This had happened once before, & the Lord instructed Moses to strike the rock & bring forth water.
How soon they forgot.
This time, God instructed Moses to speak to the rock & it would bring forth water.
But Moses & Aaron were upset w/ the people—and Moses struck the rock w/ a rod, & said—"Must WE bring forth water out of this rock?”
As a result, Moses & Aaron were not allowed to enter the promised land—even tho they had devoted their life in the service of God.
So, what was the problem?—Moses & Aaron were justifiably upset at the attitude of the Israelites—demanding their rights.
But the real problem at hand was --ARE YOU READY FOR THIS NOW?—
The real problem at hand was the ATTITUDE of Moses & Aaron.
Instead of setting the example for the rest of the nation of Israel—as they should have, as leaders—they instead—jumped the gun, and w/out thinking, said—"must WE bring forth water?”
So, now—not only have they disobeyed God’s command to SPEAK to the rock—which in itself, would have caused the people to have more faith in God—
--they also take credit for bringing forth the water—showing their displeasure with the people as they did it.
We must remember God’s hatred for sin, and the results of it.
#6 We must remember the influence of sin among the children of Israel.
In Josh. 7, when Jericho was captured, the spoils were to go into the treasury, but Achan took some of it for himself,& hid it.
As a result, they lost the battle at Ai.
Achan’s sin was uncovered & he was stoned to death.
What application can we make to that today?
We must remember that as christians, we are always under the microscope—by other christians, as well as those out in the world. That may be good or it may be bad---but that’s reality.
And that means that we should always be concerned about what kind of an image we are portraying before others.
And that includes the full scope of our lives—at home, out in public, and here at the assy.
We should not just concern ourselves with how our actions affect our self, but also how our actions affect others around us.
And the problem arises not just from those actions themselves, but more importantly—ARE YOU READY FOR THIS??—our attitudes.
--What my rights are—or what feels right for me—or how I conduct myself in the worship services.
For example, how we dress in the worship services should also be governed by whether or not it distracts others from the worship service.
Achan was not concerned for the welfare of the nation of Israel, and as a result thought only of himself.
But his actions affected not only him and his family, but the nation as a whole.
In I Cor 5, we see where sin had spread thru the church at Corinth.
Vs. 6 tells us—"Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”
#7 To be able to understand the O T example w/ Jericho, we also need to look at the sinfulness of covetousness.
Josh. 7:20,21 "And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.”
Notice the progression of sin here w/ Achan—
1st, he SAW.
2nd, he COVETED
3rd, he TOOK them
4th, they are HID.
With every step he just dug himself deeper and deeper.
Col. 3:5 "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection (or sinful passions), evil concupiscence (or evil desires), and covetousness, which is idolatry.
The same covetousness that led Achan astray—is also here to trip us up today w/ money, jobs, family, & on & on.
Because where does the problem come from?—ARE YOU READY FOR THIS—attitude!!
In Mark 10; 17-27, Jesus came in contact with the rich young man, who wanted to follow Jesus.
And that part sounds good—why would we not be happy because someone has the desire to follow Jesus?
I mean—after all, he reeled off all the commandments that he was good at, so why not just leave it at that? WHY?--
Because Jesus knew that this young man had an attitude problem.
What was his problem?—He had an attitude problem concerning his riches.
And so, when Jesus told him that he needed to go sell all he owned and give to the poor—Jesus was not telling him that a rich man could not go to heaven—He was telling him that a man with an attitude problem concerning his riches could not go to heaven.
Jesus was saying-"You have your priorities messed up.”
#8 By looking at the example of Jericho & what was achieved by the children of Israel, we can also see the importance of great faith.
A "great faith” is not just nice to have, or something that we should have—but it is ESSENTIAL.
Great faith was 100% essential for the Israelites.
Without that great faith which led them to walk around the city 13 times in 7 days—
--never uttering a word until that last trip around the city when they all shouted; they would have never been successful.
#9 We can also see the importance of obedience.
The promise was fulfilled—but only after complete obedience.
James 2;17, 24 "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone---
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”
My wife told me something several years ago that I will never forget—"Do what you have to & nothing more—see if you can slip thru heaven’s door.”
And it is sad that many people—even sometimes members of the church—seem to have this attitude of doing only what they have to do—just enough to go to heaven—at least that is what they seem to believe.
Obedience is not a piecemeal thing—it’s all or nothing.
I Sam. 15:21-24 read
But, back up just a little and look at vs 3. "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
They were given specific instructions, and were expected to follow those instructions to the tee—no exceptions.
But Saul disobeyed as we see in vs 20, 21.
Some 500 years later, in the book of Esther, ch 3, we see the results of Saul’s not completely destroying the Amalakite nation as instructed—
-another example of how we see the unfolding plan of God from Gen.1;1 right up to Acts ch 2.
If is was not for the faith of Esther, the Jews would have been destroyed by the descendants of the people that Saul was told to destroy & didn’t, as we saw back in I Samuel 15.
In II Kings 5, there is the story of Naaman, who was a leper. Naaman had went to Elisha’s house & sent a message to Elisha.
Elisha didn’t even go out to see him.
Instead, he sent a messenger to Naaman—telling him to go wash in the Jordan 7 times.
Naaman was upset because he had expected Elisha to come out & heal him on the spot.
Later, when he had an attitude adjustment, he did go & wash himself in the Jordan 7 times, and was healed.
In Num 21, the children of Israel were speaking against God & God sent serpents among the people & everyone who was bitten—died.
After they repented and had an attitude adjustment, God had Moses make a brass serpent on a pole & anyone who looked on it after being bitten, would live.
Why didn’t God just remove the serpents after they repented?
Because this way, it was necessary for them to show their faith in God—put it into action.
#10 Salvation is conditional
Mk 16:16 "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
Salvation is a gift—but it is still conditional—it requires obedience.
It requires belief and baptism, without which there is no salvation.
In Josh. 5:2, God told Joshua that he had given Jericho to the Israelites, but that in order to take Jericho, it was necessary to walk around Jericho 13 times in 7 days.
Just as even Christ saw the necessity of obedience to His Father in Heaven, we also see the necessity of being obedient to Christ in order to receive salvation.
Heb. 5:8,9 "Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”
Rom 6:17,18 "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”
So, how do we develop an active-working faith in God?
By following the scriptures—by following the examples of those who had an active-working faith.
We see thru those O T examples that :
It is not easy
We see the power of God
We see that we have to fight as a christian
We see that just because we are in the minority, or out voted; that doesn’t in itself make us wrong.
We see God’s hatred of sin
We see how sin influences others around us
We see the sin of covetousness
We see the importance of great faith
We see the importance of obedience
10. We see that salvation—although a gift of God, by His grace—is conditional---conditional upon fulfillment of God’s instructions—all of them.
This a.m., if you have studied the scriptures or have had someone explain to you the necessity of following those steps necessary for you to receive that free gift of
salvation,--then now is the time for you to take advantage of those examples of great faith.
You need to realize that in order to make your heart right with God; your only choice is to step out—come forward & be baptized for the remission of your sins.
If you are a Christian but have failed to take advantage of these great examples of faith—
--and need to have a more active working faith—
--then today is the day to realize & accept that you can accomplish anything w/ the help of God.
Today is the day to allow these Biblical examples to give you encouragement to study—
to be more active in the church;
to have more in your life than just Sun. a.m. attendance;
to be a living example of faith to those around you—your family, your children, your grandchildren, your parents, your grandparents, your co-workers, your fellow students, your neighbors.
Let them see a great example of faith in your life.
Nothing more worthwhile could be said of you at your death, than—He was a man of great faith; She was a woman of great faith.
How will people speak of you, after you die?—
--and more importantly—How will the Lord speak of you after you die?
Hebrews 12: 1,2 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking to Jesus the author and finisher or our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Won’t you come?
