Lessons from Jericho

This week, I logged on to the Travel Gallery website. That's the group that is actually coordinating and planning the itinerary for the spring travel education trip that is going on right now over in Israel. The Huntsville Church is blessed to have Jack and Linda Boswell and Judy Brown. So three are on that trip. So I was logging on yesterday to kind of get updated on where they are. They all were to be at their home areas for the first Holy Day and then the next day be flying to Israel. They all gathered in Tel Aviv. Then they toured up the coast, Caesarea, Mount Carmel, and Haifa, and then went to the Sea of Galilee. They're spending the Sabbath there. And then tomorrow, they go on up north toward Dan and Caesarea, Philippi, and come back to the hotel at Sea of Galilee. And they spend the Holy Day. And then they head down south, and of course, Jerusalem too. And it brought back a lot of memories. It brings a lot of memories back because it doesn't seem possible that it was this summer will be 41 years ago. Denise and I were college students and just getting interested in each other. And we went with a group of Ambassador College students and spent the summer in Israel. And we toured around Jerusalem first when we got there. And then we worked with picks and shovels and wheelbarrows for about four weeks. Middle of the time, we took a break and we toured, I believe we went way up north and spent several days on that tour. Came back, worked a few more weeks, and then we went south, Dead Sea and down to Beersheva. So I remember the day we left Jerusalem and we turned east. Jerusalem is on the top of the central Judean mountain chain. Now, mountains, I think it's maybe, you know, two, three thousand elevation. But the place we were going to, we crossed sea level and we kept going down. And we came to a place where we looked and we saw this these ruins called Tel Es Sultan. And we know it better as Jericho. It was a place, as we walked around it, I would guesstimate around six or seven acres in size, and it was the ruins of ancient Jericho. And of course, it had a number of archaeological digs. There were earlier digs, but the main one was in the 1950s. The crews were coordinated or overseen by the British archaeologist, Dame Kathleen Kenyon. And some of the discoveries were just fascinating, where they find it actually was a double wall with some houses built across the two walls. They found one part of the wall that was largely untouched, which will be significant. They got down to a certain point, going down just a little layer by layer, and they reached a certain point about the time of the late 15th century, around 1410-1400 BC. And here's this layer of ash. And it was just fascinating because we were students of the Bible, and all of us here were students of the Bible. And so you recognize this is significant. So it took me back. Jericho. Yes, lessons from Jericho is our topic today. Jericho is mentioned a number of times in the Torah, in Moses's books. It's mentioned in Numbers and in Deuteronomy. Mainly, it's mentioned as a geographical point, that they would be across from Jericho, which is where we pick it up in the book of Joshua, where they were across at, well, the Hebrew shittim, or it's translated, Acacia Grove.

There was the one place where Moses was taken up on the mountain and able to see the Holy Land, the Promised Land, and he saw Jericho, but he wasn't going to be allowed to go over there. So it's mentioned a few times, and then the prophets, the major prophets, will refer to Jericho. There's a place in Kings where somebody rebuilt the city. And of course, in the New Testament, we have the parable of the Good Samaritan, the man that left Jericho, and he was then, you know what happened there, you had the story of, was it Blind Bartimaeus that took place at Jericho? But the bulk of what we have comes from the early chapters of Joshua. So let's turn to Joshua 1, and that's where we're going to pick it up. In the weeks leading up to Passover, for my own personal study, I'll go and reread the Exodus accounts, and I'll reread the chapters laid in each Gospel account that define or describe the events leading up to the trial, the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ. During Unleavened Bread, I often like to reread stories of God's people during the days of Unleavened Bread, and there are quite a few of them. You have not only the story there of Israel leaving Egypt, but you have this story, as they marched around Jericho during Unleavened Bread. You've got Josiah's day, you've got Hezekiah's day, so there are a number of places where we can read. But I was rereading these early chapters, and we're going to look just a little bit of a survey of the first seven chapters. Obviously, we can't read all of it, but there are just certain highlights to point out. I think it was six years ago, I gave a sermon I titled, The Lessons of Gilgal, and that was in the months right after Mr. Winter had died. And so that Unleavened Bread, I covered lessons taught at Gilgal, as far as how they set up camp there, and you had a memorial to remind them, and they renewed the covenant, you had lessons of repentance. And so that's been a long time, though. But right on the heels of that, they kept moving, and they began to take possession of the land that God was giving to them. And the first order of the day was to walk around Jericho. But in chapter one of Joshua, we have a chapter that retells the story of how God had made it clear to Moses that Joshua is going to be the one to actually lead them on into the promised land. And in this chapter one, God promises Joshua that he's going to lift him up in the eyes of the Israelites in the same way that he had done with Moses all of those years. We notice in verse nine, well, this is not the first time he's told this. Verse nine, be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Then we come to verse 11, and the officers are sent to fan out among the Israelite camp. Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. Now, in chapter four, verse 19, it tells us that they crossed over, or they passed over, on the tenth day of the first month, which 40 years earlier was with that original Passover, when they set aside the Passover lands. But this time, they're going to move over. They're going to set up camp around Gilgal. They're going to be set apart for the work God was going to do through them as far as the beginning of the conquest of the land. So this is a few days earlier. Three days we're going to move.

Now, think about Joshua. We know quite a bit about him. We find him early on. He obviously, God set it aside later on that he was going to succeed. Moses made, you know, he had a temper. He made certain mistakes, and God said, you can see the land, but you're not going over there. But Joshua was going to be the one to lead them. But we're introduced to him when he was a general of the armies of Israel. In fact, as we get through Joshua, you can see the military genius. He would often send spies to go do some reconnaissance work to find out, you know, the lay of the land and, you know, what are we going to be facing as we get up there?

Joshua was one of only two living eyewitnesses who had seen the plagues on Egypt and had participated in the Exodus. Remember the rest of that adult generation that believed the story or the the, well, the faithless report of 10 spies. They died in the wilderness during the next 40 years. But Joshua had been Moses's personal servant. When Moses went up on the mount to receive the law, Joshua went partway and waited. You know, Moses and Joshua, when they're coming back down, he's got the tablets and they heard the sound of war in the camp. And you know that story? Joshua, no one else had that privilege. Aaron, Miriam, and Caleb did not have that blessing.

The next year, as they got near the Promised Land and the 12 spies were sent, you know that story. 10 brought back the evil report. Joshua and Caleb said, the land's there. God's giving it to us. Let's go and let's take it. And how heartbreaking it must have been for them to see the Israelites not believe them and then to give in to the contagious feeling of hopelessness. Now, Joshua serves as a type of Jesus Christ, a forerunner of Jesus Christ. In fact, the Hebrew word translated Joshua, and the word means God saves or Savior. The Hebrew word is the equivalent for the Greek word that we have that's translated Jesus. And as Joshua led them into the Promised Land, Jesus Christ leads spiritual Israel into the Kingdom of God. The Promised Land, the Land of Canaan, was a type for the Kingdom of God. So, a lot of parallels here, but I just point out that Joshua served as a type of Christ. Now, in chapter 2, we are introduced to Jericho. In verse 1, now Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out two men from Acacia Grove. This is a place just across the east from Jericho, across the Jordan. Two spies secretly, saying, Go, view the land, especially Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. Now, the obvious question is, why would they go lodge there? Well, I think if we think back to the days of the old Wild West in our country, you could go to the old frontier city and you have the saloon. And in the saloon, you can find adult beverages. You can find food. Probably out in the back room, you could find a place to take a bath. A much-needed bath. Get a shave, maybe a haircut. And they also had rooms where you could stay there. Now, they sold other services as well, and we won't talk about those. So if we think of that, though, I suspect that something similar was reality here as they went to where Rahab the harlot lived. So they go to her place, and it probably was an excellent place to gather information. And they could probably go there and kind of slip in under the radar screen and not be noticed and just have their eyes and their ears open because they were there to get information. And while they're there, they found out, you know, these people are scared to death of what's going to happen as the Israelites come over. We also read that her house was up on the city's walls. And so if they needed a quick exit, it would be logical, rather than be over in the center of the city, be out here where you can hopefully get out of there unscathed and run for your life. Well, it didn't turn out they needed to because she was helping them as God was working in her life.

So, Acacia Grove, two spies, they go to the house of Rahab. Notice verse 3, the king of Jericho sent looking for these men. Now, it's hard to really imagine in a Canaanite society that these two Israelites just stand out like sore thumbs. Probably dressed differently. Anyhow, their presence was known. Verse 6, right at the end, she had taken them up on the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax. So, she first hid them on the roof. It was her practice. The flax had to dry for a period of time until the fibers could be removed. So, the pursuers took off and they're looking far and wide. Anyhow, she came to them in verse 8 up on the roof. This is where, verse 9, she tells them that the terror of you has fallen on us. All the inhabitants of the land are faint-hearted because of you. I mean, this is good information to have. The people are scared to death, and so fear is going to be a big factor.

And then, verse 10, they've heard of the drying up of the Red Sea, what you did to kings on the other side of the Jordan. But notice in verse 11, we recognize there is something taking place in this woman's mind. As soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now, we'll come back to that. Verse 15, she lets them down by a rope. She had instructed them. Verse 16, go to the mountains and hide three days. The pursuers will return. They will have given up, and then you can have a safer exit from the country. Verse 18, she negotiates for her own safety and the safety of her family members. The scarlet cord is to be tied there, bound so it can be seen from the window. The scarlet, by the way, is the color of Judah. As it turns out, she was to marry Salman, who was of the tribe of Judah. In fact, we don't know, but I've always wondered, was Salman one of these two spies who was there in her home? Maybe the sparks began flying. But God was working with her, is the important thing. So she was going to have to have works of her faith and tie that line where it could be seen. If it's not there, you'd lose your life. We're guiltless, the men told. So the latter verses, they are able to go to the mountains and then cross back over the river and report to Joshua. Now let's keep her place there, and let's go to Ruth 4.

Ruth 4, because we need to see how this woman is going to fit into the story.

Ruth 4, right at the end, verses 21 and 22.

Now you might also make a note of Matthew 1, verses 5 and 6, although I'm not going to go there, but it adds a little more information in that listing of the genealogy of Christ.

Verse 21, salmon begot Boaz.

Now, I'm kind of breaking into this genealogy.

Matthew's account adds salmon begot Boaz by Rahab.

God took Rahab the harlot, and he washed clean the sins of her life, and he inserted her not only into the stock of Israel and the line of Judah, but more importantly, into the very genealogy, the lineage of Jesus Christ. Boaz, see Boaz in the book of Ruth is the main male character. He's the one who recognizes Ruth is out there gleaning. You know, as the law allowed them to go and follow along after the gleaners and to get the corners, she was out there working. He gave her certain favor, and then he played the role of the kinsman Redeemer to raise up an inheritance to that family line so it's not exterminated in the country. So Boaz begot Obed, but in Matthew it adds, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth. Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. So the book of Ruth ends with that, but it just wants us to know, and we can piece it together, and Rahab the former but forgiven harlot was the great-grandmother, no excuse me, great-great-grandmother of Jesus Christ. If you follow it through, because it went from from Salmon and Rahab had Boaz, so Boaz is the son, Boaz and Ruth had Obed, that's the grandson, Obed begot Jesse, the great-grandson, and Jesse begot David, the great-great-grandson of Rahab the harlot. So that's how she fits in, and then Matthew's account would add a little bit more. Now let's notice Hebrews 11, because Hebrews 11 has two women listed, and one is Sarah, and one is Ruth. I get Ruth in my mind now. One is Rahab. Hebrews 11 verse 31, verse 31, it has said the walls of Jericho fell down by faith. Verse 31, by faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe. And so from that we can only conclude she came to believe. She became a woman, a person of faith, and she acted in accordance when she received the spies in peace. All right, one more piece to the puzzle we can add from James 2, just a few pages forward.

James 2 is where James is making his case that we demonstrate our faith by the works of our life, and he uses one example here. Actually, a couple of examples, but we'll look at the example he uses in verse 25. James 2 verse 25, likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them the pursuers out another way? And so here we have several pieces of the puzzle we can add together, but as we look at Rahab back in Joshua 2, we recognize what a remarkable role she is going to play in the history of Israel, of Judah specifically, and also of the very lineage of Jesus Christ. And it doesn't matter that she was a harlot or that she was a prostitute. And you and I can't cast stones anyhow, because like Paul wrote to a Corinth, and he lists all these sins, and he says, and such were some of you, but you were washed, and such were we, but we were washed and pronounced clean by the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Let's go back to Joshua now.

Chapter 3. Chapter 3 goes with the story of crossing the Jordan River. Many times it says before they crossed over in the New King James, I actually like the way that the Old King James has it where they passed over. I think there's a connection with the whole thinking of passover, unleavened bread, baptism. You know, there's going to be a type of baptism that we see played out. They are saved by being spared through the water. Just like 40 years earlier, when Israel came through the Red Sea, Paul wrote back and referred to that in 1 Corinthians 10, that they were baptized unto Moses when they came through the Red Sea. Well, here Israel is going to be symbolically baptized and set aside for the greater work that God has for them to do. In chapter 3, verse 3, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, now this chapter is going to mention the ark 10 times, the ark is also a type of Jesus Christ.

They are going to be told, watch the ark when it moves, you follow. When it stops, you stop. When it goes, it goes. The ark is going to be carried by the priests to the river, and when their feet touch the river, the waters are going to back up. And then you go through, the priests actually went down to the bottom of the riverbed and just stood there while Israel crossed over. Then they came out, and as soon as their feet left the riverbed, the waters flowed once again. So the ark of the covenant is very important here. Again, it is a type of Christ. But notice at the end of verse 15 where it adds parenthetically, for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest.

We're looking at the early spring grain season, the grain harvest. And in ancient Israel, remember from the wave sheaf there was 50 days, 50 days of bringing in, and then you have a harvest festival at Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks. It was not just the normal kind of quiet meandering Jordan River that I walked through 41 years ago, and my kneecaps didn't get wet. It's a different river during this time of year, and what a remarkable miracle it was going to be for God to bring them through. Baptism, of course, is foreshadowed here. They placed themselves into a situation of certain death, but they were kept safe, and they were brought back up. The early verses of Romans 6 tells of the analogy that we were buried in baptism. We symbolically attended our own funeral. We died. We went under the waters of the grave, but we didn't stay there. We were brought back up, but it was we're to walk in newness of life. So they, too, are going to cross through waters in the symbolic sense and set up over in Gilgal, and they've got a whole new life, a whole new beginning of actually reaping the promises that God had held out to Abraham 400 years earlier. The sins of the wilderness years would be washed away, and they'll be restored to God. Chapter 4 tells of two sets of memorial stones, of 12 memorial stones. One was to be set up at the bottom of the riverbed there, where the priests stood with the ark. The other was the there were stones to be brought up to Gilgal, and it was set up the 12 stones as memorial because God wanted them to always remember what had transpired and what he had done for them. So verse 5, Joshua said to them, cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder. Sounds like a pretty good sized stone. According to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask, what do these stones mean? Then you tell them a story of God cutting off the water of Jordan, and it will be a memorial to the children of Israel forever. In verse 20, these 12 stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. Verse 19 says they came up out of the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month in Camden, Gilgal. The east border of Jericho. All right, chapter 5.

Chapter 5. We have Moses, excuse me, Joshua tells the leaders. God tells Joshua he has leaders make knives of flint. We're going to bring back the sign of the covenant, and we're going to have the mail circumcised because it wasn't done. It was not done during their wandering years. And so you have the right of circumcision brought back.

And verse 7, Joshua circumcised their sons, whom he God had raised up in their place.

Verse 9, the Lord said to Joshua, this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you, therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. You probably have a marginal note that just says Gilgal means rolling.

And so it's an unpleasant picture, but as the freshly chipped knives of flint come around that part that is being circumscribed, circumcised, I should say, and the foreskin taken off, and you'll notice there he cast it into the hill of the foreskins, which is as good a name as any. But as it goes around, there's that piece, little piece of flesh that is rolled off the body. Therefore, Gilgal means rolling. That's why it took place there.

Verse 10, then they kept the Passover. The children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. Verse 11, they ate the produce of the land on the day after the Passover. Unleavened bread and parts of grain the very same day. The manna ceased. The bread of the years of affliction ceased because now they had crossed over. They apparently had the wave sheath, which the only way that can work is the first day of unleavened bread is the first day of the week, and that's when you have the wave sheath.

Then you can eat of the produce, but not until after the wave sheath. So they keep the Passover. They ate of the produce of the land. And then at the end of chapter 5, we see tight meeting anti-tight. Joshua meets the God of the Old Testament. Verse 13, and it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked. And behold, a man stood opposite him with the sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him. Remember, this is a military man. This is no coward. There's nothing ever written about Joshua to make you think there was one ounce of coward in him.

He was a courageous man. He marches right over toward this man he sees with a drawn sword, and says, Are you for us, or are you for adversaries? Well, he's going to get an answer. So he said no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have come. I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped. Now, if this had only been an angel, we've got places where the angel says, Get up on your feet. I'm a fellow servant like you. But this being allowed him to worship. And Joshua said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant?

Verse 15, Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take your sandal off your foot for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. I think we've heard that type of statement somewhere before. Once upon a time, Moses was minding his own business, hurting flocks. And he sees a sight that he has to turn aside and see. A bush ablaze but not being consumed. And as he got near, the voice told him, Take your shoes off your feet.

The ground where you stand is holy. And it's only holy by the presence of God. That's why this day is the holy Sabbath. Because God said so. God's present. Christ is Lord of the Sabbath. So we have type meeting anti-type. And we have the God of the Old Testament, who was obviously there, probably then laid out the plan for what's going to happen. And he was there to lead the angelic hosts because the walls are going to be pushed down. And the Israelites aren't the ones pushing. There was a force there, kind of like when Elisha and his servant were in Dothan.

And the Syrian army surrounded them and the servant panicked. And Elisha prayed that God would open his eyes and the whole mountain was full of chariots and fire. So we've got a similar setting taking place here. Chapter 6 is the story of the marching around Jericho. The inhabitants are scared to death. We see in the early verses, once again, it was securely shut up.

Archaeologists, it's interesting to me that they found clay pots filled with charred grain, charred because it had gone through a fire. They had pots and pots and pots. They had all kinds of foodstuffs, apparently, set aside. And within the city, you had a number of springs. So they had food, they had water. Normally, if you'd have a lesser situation, an army coming, a few people on the city wall could stand the siege for a long time. But they're not going to last a day with this one.

Well, it's going to last seven days, and then it's going to come down. We have Israel being instructed to march around Jericho seven days, march one time. Verse 13, they march around at once. Verse 14, they do it the second day, and they did the same for six days. But notice in verse 18, okay, I'm getting ahead of myself.

On day seven, they're to go and encircle the city seven times. Verse 18, they are told that when you go in, there will be gold and silver and bronze and iron, and that is for the treasury of God. Israelites, it's not yours. Keep your hands off of them.

They have been reminded of Rahab and her family, where you see the scarlet cord. She is to be kept safe. And so, verse 20, the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great voice that the wall fell down flat. The people went up into the city, every man straight before him. They took the city, they destroyed man and woman, young and old, oxen sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword. Joshua reminds the two spies, hurry, get to the harlot's house, bring Rahab and her family out. So that took place. Verse 24, they burned the city and all that was in it was fired. The vessels of silver, gold, bronze, and iron, they put in the treasury of God. Verse 26, Jericho has been destroyed for its sins, and Joshua pronounces a curse on anyone who would rise up and build the city. But we have one more chapter, because in chapter 7, we find things are going awry. Somebody sinned. It turns out one man sinned, and he in his house and everything that he has are going to be destroyed because of it. To remind us, to teach us, sin always destroys. It always taints everything it touches. And this one man, as it says here, chapter 7, verse 1, the children of Israel committed a trespass concerning the accursed things for Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdai, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took the accursed things, so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Well, the next order of the day, as far as the conquest of the Holy Land, was the city of A.I. Once again, Joshua sent spies up to A.I. They come back, and with Jericho, God had laid out a careful plan. Here's exactly what you're to do, and this is how it's going to happen. Apparently, you didn't do this with A.I., and maybe there's a bit of cockiness here, and Joshua gave into the input he was given. We don't all need to go up. Just send a few. And so, in verse 4, about 3,000 went up from the people, but they fled before the men of A.I. The men of A.I. struck down 36 men. They chased them from the gate as far as Shebirim, and struck them down on the descent. Therefore, the hearts of the people melted and became like water. Something has gone dramatically wrong. And so, as they come back, Joshua tears his clothes. The elders of Israel put dust on their heads. Joshua falls on the ground crying out to God. And in verse 10, God says, Get up off your face. Here's the problem. Verse 11, Israel has sinned. They have transmitted, they have transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them. They have taken some of the accursed things. So then, what follows is, as the next morning, all of Israel is gathered there. And, of course, early on, Judah is separated. The offense has come from the tribe of Judah. You have it then, it's brought to the family clan of Zera. Remember the mysterious breach back in Genesis, Pharaohs and Zera. So it's of the line of Zera. It's traced down to this Zabdee. And then, all the way to his son, Achan. Achan. Now, Achan is asked what he has done. And at least he just admits it. I sinned. Here's what I took. Here's why he hid them. It's Babylonian garment. Verse 21, 200 shekels of silver and it's wedge of gold. And so, messengers were sent. And sure enough, that's what they found.

So, verse 24, notice how God deals with it. Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, son of Zera, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had and brought them to the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So, all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones, and they raised over him a great heap of stones. There to this day. So, the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore, the name of the place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day. The Valley of Trouble. This is where somebody acted in the way that troubled Israel. Men went against AI and lost their lives. And then this man and his whole family were destroyed.

The next chapter goes on to how AI was taken. But that's as far as we need to go. We have enough to where that we can glean six lessons that apply to us to this very day. As we look back at this story of what has taken place in and around Jericho, number one, no sin is too great. No sin is too great. You know, as humans, we're a curious bunch. There are times when we think that we have done too much wrong. We have sinned too long. Our sin has been too great. God will not forgive. And yet we have so many scriptures that remind us. Though you're... Well, let's go to Isaiah 1. Though your sins be a scarlet. Isaiah 1.

And we will read verse 18. Isaiah 1 verse 18. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Verse 19. If you're willing and obedient, you shall leave the good of the land. Because there is personal responsibility and accountability. We have to repent. And if we go to God for forgiveness, and if we ask the strength to change our life, there's no sin too great for God to forgive, to remove. Let's back up a little to Psalm 103. Psalm 103.

We'll read verses 11 and 12.

Verse 11. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

East from west, it's a long way. From the earth to the heavens, it's a long way.

But as long as we do what we're instructed to do, God will remove those, and there'll never be an issue again. God took a woman who's called a harlot, a woman of harlotry, and he washed her clean, and he inserted her into the very line of Jesus Christ. 1 John 1 verse 9. 1 John 1 verse 9. Now, in the Passover ceremony, we read the other night, verse 7, about the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us from all sin. And then it says, you know, if we say we have no sin, we're lying. But notice verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Regardless of what the sin may be, look at examples that we have. Like, well, I mentioned Saul a while ago, who became Paul.

Saul was getting letters of authorization, going out finding Christians, bringing them in. They laid down the clothing of Stephen at his feet.

And then he's walking toward Damascus one day, and his past was gone. We have harlots. We have sinners of all types.

And God tells us, no matter what it is, go to God for forgiveness and for the strength to get back in there and to walk the unleavened life and do what is right. And he tells us, no sin is ever too great. Looking back at the events at Gilgal, number two, no wall is too high. No wall is too high. Now, archaeologists have made their estimates based on what they found. As far as how high the wall was, it doesn't take that much of a wall. If you have 20-foot wall, I mean, that's a formidable obstacle for an army to get up and over. If you go to other places like Cyrus and the Medo-Persian army coming up against Babylon, it was... you get estimates of the wall around Babylon anywhere from 90 feet to 200 feet high. 90 feet! That's quite a wall. Well, it turned out, the wall didn't matter. The wall didn't matter because God had said Babylon's going to come down. Jericho had a double wall around it. It was seen in that day as being impregnable. But, you know, with God, all things are possible. Once, during the ministry of Christ, he was asked by one person who then can be saved. And, of course, humanly it's impossible. But with God, Jesus said, with God, all things are possible. And he also in his ministry said, ask and you shall receive. Knock and it'll be open to you. So we have an accountability there, a responsibility to do something. To go try that doorknob, to ask God, to see if it'll open.

We have the half-brother of Christ, James, who wrote, you have not because you asked not. And then he went on and said, a lot of times you ask that you can consume it of your own lusts. But he stresses we want to have, we have to go to God and ask. And so here, as far as whatever obstacle we face in life, we go to God. We ask God for the strength to endure, the strength to walk the difficult life that a Christian often has to walk, the strength to resist temptation. But to walk by faith, realizing no wall is ever too high for God. Number three, number three, faith is best demonstrated by works.

Faith is best demonstrated by works. Now, we can talk about it all day long, but it is when we actually live it that it separates the men and women from the boys and the girls spiritually. We have lots of examples. The Israelites, oh, 40 years earlier, they had to gather everything they had as the Egyptians thrust them out. They had to start walking, start marching, walking by faith, following where Moses led them going. They had no idea where, but they were moving. The men and women, all the Israelites here in the days of Joshua, had to walk by faith. And likewise, watching those waters held back and taking steps down into that riverbed, knowing that if the waters came, they probably would lose their lives. They had to walk by faith as they submitted to circumcision, that they would have the sign of the covenant again. They had to walk by faith as they began marching around Jericho. Rahab had to take steps. As we read from James, she showed her works by the way she helped the spies, sent the pursuers the wrong way. We probably are familiar with the famous poem of Edgar Guest, titled, Sermons We See. And he starts out by saying, I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. And in the course of the lyrics, he talks about how someone's tongue may run too fast, but there's no mistaking what the person is by the way they live their life. Sermons we see. I love that old poem. Let our lives be not only talking, but more importantly, walking sermons of a people following Jesus Christ headed to the kingdom of God.

Our faith is best demonstrated by our works. Number four, sin always destroys. That's a lesson we find here at Jericho. Jericho was a center of a lot of sinful practices and a lot of sinful worship. It was on a crossroads of various highways back in that ancient time. It was a center of worship for a moon goddess, and they were destroyed completely for their sins that had gone on a long, long time. And their sins must have been so phenomenal that God had Moses or, excuse me, Joshua, place a curse on anyone who had ever deigned to rebuild this city. Well, you can go into, I think it's in King's. You've got the story of some guy named Hael, and sure enough, he rebuilt the city. But that's a different story. Sin always destroys. The Israelites, as the walls are pushed down, the Israelites charge forth, and they were too instructed to kill every living thing. But there was a man whose name was Achan, and in the course of the conquest of the city saw some things that he had to have. I mean, how do you just take this garment and then that much silver and gold and hide it under your you're probably down in fighting trim. Somehow he got it, and he stored it away, and his actions led to destruction not only of himself, but of his own family. And his action led to God's protection being withdrawn, and 36 men we read were killed as they went up to Ai, and were struck down, and maybe more later as they got down toward the plain. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 5.

Sin always taints Christians as well.

Now, we will sin. That we know. It's what we do with it. As long as we continue to go to God for forgiveness and for strength to walk the unleavened life, God can honor that and work with that.

But if we give into it, it begins to overcome us. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 6, your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little 11-11 is a whole lump? That's exactly what happened to Israel back in the days when a man named Achan took of some of the things that had been dedicated to the treasury of God, and lives were lost. It destroyed him.

Therefore, purge out the old 11, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast. And we're probably approaching 25 years after the year with the betrayal, the crucifixion, the death and resurrection of Christ. And Paul is still teaching the church.

We're unleavened. Let's keep the feast. Let's remember Christ as our Passover. Not with old 11, nor with the 11 of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Sin always destroys, and he challenges us with God's help to live the unleavened life of sincerity and truth. The days of unleavened bread teach us that what did Pogo's comic strips say? We have seen the enemy and he is us. We are the problem. It's that guy or that gal you see when you get up and you look in the mirror. We're the enemy. We are the problem. And we have sin that creeps in so easily, but we can always go to God. There's no sin too big. God will forgive as long as we keep going. Unleavened bread will end in a couple of days. It doesn't mean our struggle is over. We raise the bar and bump it up a notch for seven days. Hopefully, we keep it at that higher level and continue on through the year. Number five. Overcoming is by one step at a time. Overcoming is by one step at a time. It seldom is just this miraculous divine overthrow or intervention. It generally takes a lot of hard effort one step at a time.

Dave Ramsey, with his financial, he's got the, I forget the name of his book, but he has a radio program. I don't hear him so much now. I used to listen to him up in northeast Tennessee, drive around. I used to listen to him a lot. A lot of good common sense. He preaches his gospel of get yourself out of debt, and it's a good message. But he'll use that phrase, take baby steps. First of all, stop digging a hole, a bigger hole for yourself, but just take baby steps. He has suggestions on you. You get different debts, different credit cards, and take that smallest one and get rid of that one. There's a success that it breeds. Then start on the next one, but take baby steps in coming out of debt. In coming out of sin, I think that's good advice. Baby steps. Maybe we'd like to take larger, longer strides, but as long as we're taking steps, even small ones, in the right direction, God can honor that, and God can continue working in our life and lift us up. Israel had to pick up one foot and put it in front of the other, and then continue to march down into that riverbed and back up the other side. They had to start taking steps to walk around the city of Jericho for those days. But Unleavened Bread is seven days in length, and seven is God's number of completion. Some have suggested, and I think they don't seem to think about it, some have suggested that the seven days of Unleavened Bread picture the 7,000 years God's going to be working with human beings. In each millennium, you've got certain ones God has worked with, but when we get to the seventh one, which would be the kingdom of God, you're going to have the vast numbers coming. So as long as we are taking steps out of our past and out of our sins, and taking them headed toward the kingdom of God, God can honor that. All right, number six and the last one. Always follow Jesus Christ. Joshua was a wonderful type of Christ. Israel followed him in the conquest of the promised land, and we today follow the one he foreshadowed. We follow Christ toward the kingdom. Let God lead the way when we face difficult situations. We often don't know where to step in life, but that's where in Psalm 119 it says, your word is a lamp unto my feet. It will show us where we should step in life. Rely on God. Rely on his word. One day out near Jericho there at Gilgal, type meant antitype. The God of the Old Testament was there to lead the angelic host in the battle on behalf of the children of Israel. They pushed down the walls and gave them the victory. Let's close in 2 Chronicles 32. Let's read verses 7 and 8. Verse 7, Be strong and courageous. You know, that kind of sounds like something we read in Joshua 1. Very similar. Do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Syria, nor before all the multitude that is with him. For there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. Hezekiah was one of the more righteous kings. It was during his time there was this threatening letter. Remember the story in 2 Kings 19. He went and laid it out before God and prayed, and an angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers that night. So we always go to God. Like they watched the Ark, we should keep our eyes on Christ. And where He moves, we follow. When He stops, we pause. When He moves, we take take stride to follow in taking steps toward the kingdom of God.