Your Own Personal Jericho

Well, happy last day of Unleavened Bread, everyone! What a wonderful opportunity to be here together as God's people and to enjoy this day. Welcome to all of our visitors and guests. We've got a full house. I think we're stacking people in the hallway, even. I can see Bennett and Shelby back there. It's wonderful to have such a full house today and glad everybody could be here.

And welcome. And to those online, glad to have you with us as well and hope that everybody's having a wonderful holiday day. Thank you, Abigail. Where'd she go? There she is. Thank you for the offer, Tori. That was beautiful and for sharing your talents. And for the corral. That was fantastic. And as was mentioned, you'll see how it also fits in with the sermon today as well as we work through today's message. We've just spent the last week, each of us, not eating our normal supplies of bread, crackers, cookies. Who likes cookies? I don't need to raise it. Yeah, their hands would go up. Cookies. My favorites that I had to give up.

Donuts and pizza. Donuts used to be a big staple of my life. Where I worked, we had a code of ethics that if you broke the code of ethics, you had to bring donuts in. And I'm not joking. It was written up because people were not following the code. Now, of course, HR would never have approved of it. But this was just among our group. But so when somebody was late to work, they had to bring donuts. When somebody's work anniversary came around, they had to bring donuts for the whole office.

We even had one of our interview questions when we'd hire somebody. You know how you throw a softball question out just to warm people up and make people comfortable? It was, if you were to bring donuts into the office, where would you buy them from? I kid you not. That is one of the very first questions that we would ask people for interviews. And we didn't weigh it too much, but if they said Kroger or Meyer, that did drop them down quite a bit.

The other thing, pizza. There's always a supply of frozen pizzas in our deep freeze. It's one of our fun things that we enjoy having. You gave up things this week. You gave up your foods that maybe you would normally be part of your diet. And as we have been eating in the unleavened bread, as Paul said of sincerity and truth, we have been bringing in Christ into our lives. That's the point. That's what hopefully we've been doing this week. We've been internalizing the bread of life. Jesus Christ Himself.

Learning from Him. Living a different way of life through the example of Jesus Christ. It's a beautiful example we have of God by His mighty and strong hand, bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Egypt, as we know, symbolized sin. Pharaoh symbolized a type of Satan. And yet God, in His love, as we heard in the sermon at today, brought His people out of that nation to bring them eventually to the Promised Land. To give them everything that He wanted to give them.

All the blessings. All the benefits. The way of life. And for you and I today, we've been called out of a way that goes contrary to God's laws. Our own nature goes contrary to God's laws. Our own nature wants to follow the beat of our drum. And God has said, come with me. Follow me. Let's go a different direction.

And through His calling, through our eyes being opened, and through our willingness to follow, we became baptized. And we let God place His Spirit within us. His own Spirit within us, as we have come out of our own sin, our own type of Egypt. But what do you do now that these days of Unleavened Bread are coming to a close tonight? Do we just check the box on that list that says, kept the days of Unleavened Bread? Check. What's the next item on our list? Our to-do list that we have? Is that what we do?

Prior to Passover, you and I considered our lives, and we examined the aspects that don't match the character of Christ coming out of these days. Do we go back to our prior lives? Do we go back to those things that God opened our eyes to? Each year, it seems like He keeps peeling those layers of the onion back, doesn't He? He just showed us everything that we could overcome, all the areas that we don't measure up. It'd be too much. But it seems like each year, God shows us a little bit more. What's that motivation in my heart? Why do I do the things that I do? What are my thoughts? And so each year, as we observe these days, when they come to a close, do we kind of forget those thoughts? Do we go back to what we were thinking maybe two months ago before God had opened our eyes to it? Is that what we do coming out of these days? Where do we go from here? In the book of Joshua, we have an amazing story that took place during these days of Unleavened Bread many years ago. Israel, in a sense, had a fresh start when they passed through the Jordan River and entered into the Promised Land that God had brought them into. They were renewed. They were, again, set apart this time in a new land that was theirs, God's land that He brought them to, but it was their land. The account we have recorded in Joshua would be good for us to review today on this last day of Unleavened Bread as we exit this festival and continue living our renewed lives. The accounts we have recorded are simply amazing. God's nation of Israel overcame obstacles. That in human terms alone would have been too great, but God's people, we don't deal in just human terms now, do we? Israel overcame cities with the solid defenses, with great walls, through and by the strength of God. For you and me, there are times we find ourselves facing enormous walls that are impossible to break down by our human strength, but again, we are not a people who deal only in human terms, are we? If we put our faith in God to follow His commandments, He will perform great and mighty things in our lives. So, at the time I have with you today, I'd like to explore the beginning of the book of Joshua and to look for the connections that exist to these days of Unleavened Bread that we are completing today.

Let's open our Bibles first, though, in Deuteronomy 9.

Here in Deuteronomy 9, we have a preview of sorts of Israel being told by Moses that they would enter into this Promised Land, and it's briefly described here in Deuteronomy 9.

And we'll start in verse 1, Deuteronomy 9, verse 1.

Here, O Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today and to go in and dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself. Cities great and fortified up to heaven. The New Living Translation for verse 1 says, Listen, O Israel, today you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach the sky. Now, a little bit of that's imagery, but Moses wasn't too far off either, as we'll see here in a little bit. Continuing in verse 2, People great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, who you know and of whom you have heard it said, Who can stand before the descendants of Anak? Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is he who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you, so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly. He didn't say this was going to be drawn out long battle, like as we see with battles today with our nation, years and years and years. He says, You will destroy them quickly as the Lord has said to you, Do not think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. That's what Moses said, Don't get too big for your pants. Don't get too big for your britches and think that this is something that you've deserved. That God is doing this because he's stuck. He doesn't have an option because you're such a great people. That's not what he that's Moses saying. It's not about you, but it's because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you. And that, and this is the other key point, and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is our loving God who keeps his promises all the way back. None of these people were there when he made these promises that were about to inherit this land. They knew of them, but God didn't change his mind. He says, I will follow through because I said I would do this, and he was about to do it. This passage I love because it reads kind of like a preview for that next great action adventure flick that we'd see on TV. I probably should have read it with my manly voice like they always do in the previews, but it is an amazing preview of what they were about to do. God was going to bring Israel into the Promised Land, and the many accounts in the book of Joshua are like reading an action adventure comic book. They're filled with imagery. They're filled with aspects and details that are exciting to just read through. It's why a lot of times in our Sabbath schools, the kids talk about Joshua and talks about Jericho. Why? Because we can do crafts because of what we have recorded. It's an amazing story. It's a powerful story of God's faith, of his faithfulness to his people, and of his mighty hand. And so the accounts we'll read today are exciting. I hope as we read through them today, you'll keep in mind this holy day we are observing and how fitting that it is for today. As the book of Joshua opens, we can go ahead and start turning there. Joshua, we'll start in chapter 2 today. Joshua chapter 2 and verse, I think, 1.

But as the book of Joshua opens, the Israelites are camped on the eastern side of the Jordan River. They have not crossed into the Promised Land just yet, and this is just north of the Dead Sea.

And as they are preparing and knowing that the time is coming near, Moses has now died, Joshua has been appointed by God, and the Tan has been passed from Moses to Joshua.

I think if we were to be the Israelites that day, there'd be a sense of excitement.

They'd already, 39 years earlier, 38 I think, 38 years earlier, had been near the Promised Land. They had tasted the fruit. They had seen the blessings of the sland, yet because of those 10 spies with their false reports, God said, no, you're going to have to wander a while.

And so I think for those who had been born already, those kids at that time, those teenagers, they had these ideas. They saw it with their own eyes, and so the stories have been shared through the generations or through those 38 years of wandering in the wilderness of what God wanted to do with them, what He would give them. So if I was there, I think there'd be a sense of excitement about to cross over. What's going to happen? Knowing that the sland has people, but knowing that God has brought us here and remembering the accounts. There might have been a sense of apprehension, not knowing how are we going to do this? How's God going to dispose of these people? They've got armies. They've got walled cities. How is God going to do this? Is this going to be hard? Is it going to be challenging? Will I lose loved ones in the process? There may have been some apprehension. And there was this very delicate situation of a transition of leadership between Moses to Joshua. This is something that our founding fathers of this nation understood and had the wisdom to understand of peaceable transitions of government. We've seen that many and many times here in this nation, whether it's your local mayor, whether it's a governor, whether it's the president of the United States, even if there's countering views of how to lead this nation, there has always been a peaceful transition of power. But we know that's not always the case in a lot of countries in this nation, in this world that we live in today. There's not a peaceful transition of power. And so there was this also, this delicate situation of Joshua now taking the leadership of, as God had appointed him, as the successor of Moses. So let's pick up the story here in Joshua 2 in verse 1. It says, Now Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, Go, view the land, especially Jericho.

So they went and they came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there.

This was a somewhat risky move for Joshua to send spies into the promised land again. What happened last time? Bad report came back. Fear enveloped the nation. God's punishment followed.

But it was wise because as Joshua is now taking leadership, he wants to understand what's on the other side of the Jordan. What are we about to walk into, as a good leader does? It's not really much for then from you and I when we evaluate the next decisions in our life. Should we buy this house? Where should I go and get my education? Where do I work? We do our homework. We get our resumes ready. We evaluate what we want to do. What house can we afford? Then after taking all this information together, we should take this to God and say, God, show me the direction you want me to go. I've done my homework. I want you to leave me now. This is a similar example of what Joshua did here as he sent spies into picking up the story in verse 8.

And the men had gone into Jericho. They had met Rahab and they're now staying at her house, Joshua 2 verse 8. Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint-hearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Shihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. That's just imagery for our minds today. 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. Verse 23.

This is after they then escaped from those who were looking for them in Jericho, and Rahab said, go north and stay in the woods, and then they won't be able to find you. They'll leave.

And here we pick up the story. Verse 23. The men returned back to Joshua, descended from the mountains and crossed over. And they came to Joshua, the son of none, and told him all that had beenfallen them. And they said to Joshua, truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint-hearted because of us. Let's turn to Joshua 3 in verse 14.

So it was when the people sent out from their camp to cross over the Jordan with the priests, bearing the ark of the covenant before the people. And as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water.

For the Jordan overflowed its banks during the whole time of harvest. So at this point, the nation of Israel, God's people, are gathering together. They're going to cross the Jordan. It's time. It is finally time. And then what happens? You've got a flood. Bad timing, right? That's what we would probably say today. All this planning, all this time, 38 years wandering, and then God brings it to the point where we're at a flood, and he wants us to cross in. Growing up in Cincinnati, there's lots of rivers around. And every spring, those rivers often would flood. Even the Ohio River would flood. And you'd see the warnings. People advising people don't drive across a flooded road, because you don't know how deep it is. It doesn't look deep until you get your car in there, and then the force of water. You see it on the news. Firefighters had to go out and save people from these cars. Trees, logs, logs jam up underneath bridges because they, the trees fall into the water. It's just a force dealing with this water. And here's the people of Israel. Old men all the way down to little children. And we've now got to cross, not just a river that you can wade across, and we'll all get a little bit wet, but it'll be fun. That's not what we're seeing here. We're seeing a very dangerous situation. But in verse 16, it says again, well, let's go back to 15, for the Jordan overflowed all of its banks during the whole time of harvest.

And the waters, which came down from upstream, and this is that miracle, stood still and rose in a heap very far away. So it wasn't just like a parting of the river, and all of a sudden, about 17 to 20 miles upriver, the water stopped and started backing up so that it ran completely dry. It said, it rose at a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zertan. So the waters that went down into the sea of Erbat, the salt sea, failed and were cut off. And the people crossed over opposite of Jericho. God wanted them to go into this land precisely where He was guiding them and was performing miracles so that it would happen. Then the priests who bore the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. Not some murky, muddy, not where we see the wheels and the old-time movies going out west, where they cross the river and they get stuck in the mud. We don't see that here. What we have described here is dry ground, where water just recently had stood, and all Israel crossed over on dry ground until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan. Let's continue reading in chapter 4 and verse 14.

On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all of Israel, and they feared Him as they had feared Moses all the days of his life. Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Command the priests. Well, let me pause here for a second, because that's a key aspect to consider.

That granted, Israel feared God because He was the one performing these miracles, but they had a ton of respect for Joshua, because God was the one who was saying, Go tell the people to go forth. Go tell those who were bearing the ark to go forth. And so Joshua did, as he was instructed by God, God performed the miracles, and so in turn they feared Joshua because the Lord exalted him in the sight of all these people. Verse 15 again, Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Command the priests, who bear the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan. Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come up from the Jordan, and it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the souls of the priests' feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all of its banks as before. We were back in the flood stage, just like that. Now the people came up from the Jordan, and on the tenth day of the first month they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. Verse 21, Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What are these stones? Because God had instructed them to each tribe to take a stone from the river, take them out of the river, and to create a memorial.

Joshua was saying, and he's saying, verse 22, Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you, until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did the Red Sea, which he dried up before us, until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

Israel crossing the Red Sea and later crossing the Jordan are types of baptisms that we have pictured in God's Word, that Israel went through the water in their walk with God. We see this, hold your place here. We're going to come back to Joshua very shortly. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 1.

1 Corinthians 10 and verse 1, because this is another beautiful tie-in, the crossing of the Red Sea, the crossing of the Jordan, types of baptism for UNI, as baptized members of the church today, of the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 1. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 1. The apostle Paul says, Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses, in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock, capital R, rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

It's a beautiful tie-in that we see that God, so many centuries before us, so many years before Israel crossed into the Jordan, that Christ was leading them, Christ was still working with them as the Word. He was the one that was caring for them. He was the one that was loving them.

And he was the one that they were baptized into a type of baptism by crossing these bodies of water.

You and I had been baptized into the body of Christ by the immersion when we, you and I, became baptized. The crossing of the Jordan was a parallel to the Israelites crossing that red sea with Moses. Just a wonderful reminder of how this story ties into the days we're keeping.

Both times, the nation were led by God's hand in a miraculous way. At one point, they had technically Egypt, Pharaoh and his armies on one side of them, and a huge body of water on the other.

Sin behind them and death in front of them it looked like. What are we going to do? And here, crossing into the Promised Land, another body of water in flood stage, what about our kids? What about our grandparents? How are we going to get them all crossed here? And another miracle reminds me of our calling. Coming out of a life that was destined for death. Coming out of a life that was not on the right path. Not making the right choices. Seeking our own will, and yet God, through his love and mercy, called us out of that so that we wouldn't drown in the weight of life. Drown in the weight of sin. It's a beautiful tie-in to these days that we have just observed, and as we finish up today, let's go back to Joshua chapter 5, this time in verse 1.

I asked you to keep your finger there. I should have done it myself.

Joshua 5 verse 1. So this miracle happens across the Jordan. Verse 1. So it was when all the kings of the Amorites, who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their hearts melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because the children of Israel. Verse 10. Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and this is where, after crossing the Jordan, and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. Same time of the year we keep our Passover, the 14th. And they ate of the produce of the land, and on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on that very same day. Let me read that again. I think I got it all off balance. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover. They ate unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna. But they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. This bountiful harvest had already been prepared by God for them. The timing was perfect. Even with the flood, perfect timing, God called each of us in our perfect timing. And then He provided us spiritual food, this nourishment that we each needed so desperately in our lives. And He does this here for the Israelites. All of these things happened for the nation of Israel in such a short amount of time and perspective. God led His people all the way through the wilderness. That took some time. But once they reached the edge of the Jordan of Promised Land, He provided them through miracles of crossing. And now Israel has finally entered into this promise that God made with Abraham. And all this God provided that they may experience a type of baptism again and now are keeping the Passover. And for the first time, the nation of Israel is eating the produce and blessing of the land. Just an amazing account of all the ways that God provided for His people. And from that point on, the story gets really easy. Israelites had no more trials, no more challenges. It was easy breezy. The people just ran away.

That's not what we have recorded, is it? It wasn't just easy sailing, no more enemies.

What about you and me? When we became baptized, it just suddenly became simple to follow God's word.

Did the sin in our life just evaporate? Did we have challenges that came up? Some people say after baptism, that's when some of their greatest trials of life hits them. I've heard multiple people say that, almost as if it's a test. And we know God doesn't tempt us in that way, but is it Satan firing as many fiery darts as he can at us? We each were let out of our sinful lifestyles. We were baptized into Christ. We've been able to eat that spiritual food and blessings that God has provided. And as much as we wish our lives were easy breezy, as much as we wish it was no more challenges, it's just not the case for us. And as we'll read, it wasn't the case for Israel either. Their first challenge upon entering the Promised Land stands before them, and it's a big one.

Archaeologists have excavated and examined the old city of Jericho, and they have found many interesting aspects to this ancient city. Jericho would have been a strong city that was thriving. The location where it had been was just six miles from the Jordan River and 17 miles away from Jerusalem. It sat at a crossroads for several cities and would have been busy and active in trade. It would have always had people coming and going. They would have been bringing their goods to barter. They would have been trading outside the cities, inside the cities. Not only that, but it had a large gushing spring that flowed up from within the city. So they didn't have to go to the Jordan to get their water. They didn't have to go to a nearby stream. They had water from within, just like you and I do in our homes. What a blessing! They had that. They had a spring from up in the city, and the fertile plain that surrounded the city earned it the distinction, the city of palm trees. Once again, the harvest had come in. They had all this grain. The Israelites were able to eat it. The area was known as the city of palm trees. And the city was not only just a wonderful place to live, but it was a city ready for battle. It was a city designed to withstand assault. It was a city with double walls. You'd think one wall would be good enough if you built it, right? Well, let's just make sure. We'll build a second wall. The first wall that was on the outside was a two-part wall system. It had an embankment, kind of like our raised beds at home, something like that. It had an embankment or a retaining wall that was 15 feet high with boulders stacked up against this retaining wall. So that was the first level. The second level above that that was built right on top of it was a brick wall six feet wide and about 20 to 26 more feet taller. So we're talking 35 feet, roughly, between the embankment and then this brick wall that goes up to the sky. That's the first wall, as if that's not easy enough. Second brick wall was so they had this gap in between the two walls where the city had overgrown, built people, built homes in between these two levels. That's why Rahab the harlot lived on the outside wall where she could put the scarlet cord, if you remember, into the window where it could be seen as the nation approached. So there was homes in between these two double walls. The second wall, the one nearer towards the center of the city, was taller than the first. It was 46 feet high and if somebody happened to get over the first wall with this embankment of stone and then the brick, if somehow they got through that, they now have this gap between the second wall, which would be easy pickings. Imagine, like, it's bad enough you've got to funnel through a small opening in one wall that you finally broke down, but then you got the second wall that you still... they would have been trapped in between these two walls then. So the second wall provide a second layer of protection.

To the Israelites, entering the Promised Land, Jericho presented a major obstacle. I think that's an understatement. Up to this point, Joshua had received the report from the spies, but had yet heard from God how God would deliver the city into their hands. It's one thing to be told by God, go and do this. It's another thing to say, how? Again, parallel to our lives. We are called out to walk a new way. How do we do that? God has given us instructions. It's in His Word.

He opens our mind to understand it, but still, what a challenge we have at times following that.

Let's continue to see how God would provide this instruction. Joshua 5 and 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 his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandals off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. I'd like to read through this section again, but pause and add some of my color commentary along the way, because this section, if we don't pause and read through it again, we would not do it justice. Imagine putting yourself in Joshua's shoes. You've been instructed that you will take leadership of God's people, going to lead them into across the Jordan. You're going to start conquering these cities one by one. God would be with you if you follow his instructions. Here's Jericho. What are we doing now? Put yourself in Joshua's shoes as we reconsider and reread through this section. What would it have been like if you had that responsibility yourself?

Imagine the encouragement that we would need to lead God's people into his promised land and to start conquering these cities. Some of our young men here are saying, I'm ready. Give it to me. I'll take this challenge. But put yourself in Joshua's shoes here. Let's read it again. Verse 13. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted his eyes and he looked. I put myself in his shoes. I'm speculating here. But Joshua was probably pretty lonely in the way that a lot of times they say people in roles of leadership in a company. It's a lonely spot to be. Because you got to make all the tough decisions. Everybody's going to critique every decision you make. You got to go home and go to bed with your conscience and with all the weight of everything.

So here's Joshua and I'm speculating, but he probably said, I need to see the city with my own eyes.

I don't know how God is going to deliver the city in my hands, but I at least I got to put my eyeballs on it. Maybe he was sitting back around a campfire of some other leaders or from other people from the nation and he just couldn't get this idea out of his mind. How are we going to do this? How am I going to lead these people? So maybe he got up and said, I got to see the city with my own eyes. And so he ventured maybe off by himself because we don't see anyone else described here with him. Maybe he's standing at the line of trees just before the area opens up to where the city of Jericho is at. Maybe he could see the city because remember they were fearful. They'd already closed it all up. Shut the front door, close all the windows, put alligators in the moat. And maybe he can see the city off in the distance in this plain area and he's maybe standing in the tree line just staring at it wondering how are we going to do this. It says he lifted his eyes and looked. Was he looking down and thought? Was he kicking a stone or a twig around moving it with his feet while he's just considering? Was he praying? I hope he was praying. I probably would have been praying a lot. He's looking down and it says, and he looked up and behold a man stood opposite him with the sword drawn in his hand as if this isn't hard enough. Now here's this man with the sword. Where'd he come from? And Joshua went up to him and said, are you for us or for our adversaries? This is the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ standing before him. And it says, and he was a man, not the weakling that maybe we have seen in pictures and in artwork of this feeble Jesus Christ.

This would have been a man strong. He's carrying a sword. This isn't a plastic sword that he was dragging along behind him because he's so weak. He would have been able to use that and would have shown the strength and the might to be able to do that. And so here's a man standing before Joshua with his sword drawn back in my Mike Phelps mind. I would have said, hang on a second, I got to go get my friends. I got to go get my warriors. We'll come back and see if you're still here, because I'm not talking to you alone. That would have been me in my mind. But it took courage for Joshua to face this mighty man. And it took wisdom to ask him if he was for him, for the nation of Israel, or against him. What are you doing here? What's going on? Verse 14. So he said, no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped. We know that he recognized immediately that this was the Lord.

Because not only did he offer worship to him, which we know we don't worship angels, we only worship God. And he says, what does my Lord say to his servant? Joshua knew his position in leadership. He knew who he was ordained by to lead. And he knew that he was a soldier of the Lord. He knelt and worshipped in humility of whose presence he was in. Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandals off your foot for the place where you stand is holy. And so, and Joshua did so. Just an amazing interaction that we have here. One that I can't wait to talk to Joshua about someday. What was that like? Maybe I'm way off in my description of it, but I just know if I was in his shoes, those would be the thoughts going through my head. Let's pick it up in Joshua 6, verse 1. Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out, none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand its kings and the mighty men of valor. It doesn't look like he's given them to him. He just, they're in a safe, double-walled city. But then he says how you are to how he's delivered them. Verse 3, you shall march around the city, all of your men of war. You shall go all around the city once. This you shall do for six days. And the seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horn before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall go the trumpets. Shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram's horns, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shout with a great shout, and then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him. That's quite a plan.

We don't see any of Joshua's feedback through here. We don't see his wondering, is this the best plan that we've got? We're going to just march around. And how about we just do it in one day? Maybe two. Okay, two days. We'll make an impact in two days. But seven days, we don't see Joshua bartering with the Lord. We don't see him trying to understand why we're doing this or anything. All we have recorded here is the instructions. And did Joshua maybe consider how this would look? Because his nation, the nation, God's people, they didn't have, they weren't a war-faring nation. They didn't have all these chariots or horses. They didn't have any of those things that we have recorded. They didn't really have swords, any type of weaponry. And here's a double-walled city securely shot up. And we're just going to walk around it. And you're going to deliver it into our hands? We don't see Joshua questioning the Lord at all. What we see in verse six, as he goes right at it, then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests spare seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said to the people, proceed and march around the city and let him who was armed advance before the ark of the Lord. So they did have some armed soldiers, but not like a nation going to war. Verse 10, now Joshua had commanded the people saying, you shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you, shout, then you shall shout. So he had the ark of the Lord circle the city going around at once, and they came into the camp and launched in the camp. Verse 14, and the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days, but it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only, they marched around the city seven times.

Imagine if you were in Jericho. Imagine if you were watching this. Your hearts had melted at one point.

Are they still melted now? To see this army, this small group, some priests, some armed soldiers, the ark of the covenant walking around, and then they just go back home.

That wasn't too bad. If that's the worst we've got to face this year, I'll take that.

Oh, and they're back on day two. Oh boy, here comes a battle. They've got to be hanging out in the woods ready to march around the city back home. And then day seven, they show back up, and by that time, could they be ridiculed? Could they be making fun of them? Did their hearts maybe change a little bit? Were they not melted anymore? Maybe they were fired up. See, they keep walking around our city, and they can see that there's no way in. Their god isn't going to be able to deliver them through our double walls. And then they march around this day seven times. This is what they're going to do. Well, here comes second lap. See, now they're trying to... I don't know what was going through the minds of those in Jericho, but we do know that God's people were following the command that God had given to Joshua, and Joshua had shared and passed along, and on the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times. Verse 16, and the seventh time it happened when the priest blew the trumpet that Joshua said to the people, shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

Verse 18, and you by all means, and so he did, the walls as the song goes, came tumbling down.

And Joshua gave instructions, and you by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed. They were instructed, don't take the grain, don't take the clothing, don't take any of the utensils in the houses, just those things that are of gold and those metal, those precious things, they will be brought into the treasury of God. So he says, by all means, abstain from the accursed things when God drew each one of us out from our spiritual Egypt.

And he gave us his instructions and his word, how to live our lives, where to go, how to follow him.

Part of that instruction was stay away from these accursed things, these things of the world, things of society, the ways of thought, that, oh, this is okay, this is what everybody does.

Everybody cheats on their taxes, right?

God called us out to be different. He called us out to be lights. He called us out to follow him. And so he's giving instructions here. Abstain from the accursed things lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. But all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and irons are consecrated to the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout that the walls fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city. Make note of that. They went up into the city. Every man straight before him and they took the city and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword.

The Hebrew word for utterly here is harem, which can mean to completely destroy or to dedicate for destruction, to completely destroy or dedicate for destruction. Doomed by the Lord for destruction could be mean dedicated to God was the city of Jericho. What else is interesting is all this happened on the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when they marched around the city, which is also the same day you and I are observing today. There's great symbolism in what happened in Jericho and for you and I today. It's a fitting symbol of the ultimate victory over sin, that the walls came tumbling down, the walls of bondage that you and I have had in our lives, that limiting ability for us to live a free life in God because of the impact of sin.

And here's another tie-in between Jericho and us today. We are called to utterly destroy sin from our lives with God's help, that we are to dedicate our lives to Him, that sin is to be dedicated to be destroyed, and we must work hard at being the new creation that we have been called and we have accepted to become. Continuing in Joshua 6 verse 24, they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. Again, Israel was told to avoid any of the spoils of the city, except for that would be put into the treasury. They could have definitely used the newer clothing, the newer sandals, all the grain from the harvest that was in jars within the city. They could have used that, but they were instructed to utterly destroy. God didn't want His people reminded of the sinful way and the false worship of the Canaanites. He wanted them to remain pure. God desires that we also remain clean and without sin. He's again brought us through this feast of ungoverned bread, where we have thought about sin and the impact of sin on our lives. Let us not forget, as we continue out of these days, what God has brought us into at this point. He wants us to remain pure. He wants us to remain whole.

Verse 27, so the Lord was with Joshua and his fame spread throughout all the country.

What a great way to end that section of the story. Some have said that these are just made-up stories that we just went through today, that they don't really happen. Is that all it is? Is it just a great story from the Bible? Or is there archaeological proof that this did exist and the proof of God's inspired words? In 1990, archaeologist Bryant Wood wrote in the biblical archaeology review about his findings in Jericho. He mentioned that part of the outer city, outer and inner wall, had collapsed outwardly, which is not normal, which allowed the Israelites to enter the city. His conclusions are based on studies of the devastation of the city, and his conclusions are fascinating. He wrote, Bryant Wood wrote, was the destruction at the hands of the Israelites, the correlation between the archaeological evidence and the biblical narrative, is substantial.

He left several points in favor of the biblical account. One, the city was well fortified. So these are people like you and me who've gone back, excavated the city, the ruins, and this is their conclusions. This is what he has been able to find. There's been others who have gone and found similar conclusions. The city was well fortified. They were able to determine that in modern time because we already have described what the height was of these walls. They've been able to see these walls and to see the destruction and realize, yeah, it matches.

Second, the attack occurred just after the spring harvest. They concluded that because remains have been found inside of the city of tons and tons of these jars full of grain. By later in the year, the grain would have been eaten and would have dropped down in these jars, but it was just abundance of grain and jars within the city. And they say the city would have been able to remain under siege for possibly years because they had that well within, that source of water, that spring. So they would add water and they would have had all this food and jars from the harvest they had just brought in. Shut the gates up, keep it tight. We can stay here for a while. We can outlast those on the outside of the wall, maybe even for a couple years.

They could have done that. Thirdly, the inhabitants had no time or opportunity to flee with their food. We see from the biblical narrative and the account that it happened suddenly. The walls came down. Israel went up quickly. And so the inhabitants of the city of Jericho had no place to flee. They had no place to run. And they didn't have time to take their food or their supplies, which if you and I were to leave our houses quickly, we'd probably try to grab a few things. They weren't able to grab anything. And because they found these great stores of grain and all their utensils, the pots, all the things that they would have taken with them were still found now by archaeologists today. The siege, the fourth item, the siege was short. Maybe it lasted two weeks max, but because we know the seven days of Unleavened Bread, they marched around for those seven days, it was securely shut up maybe a few days before. But it wasn't a long time that this happened.

Fifth, the walls were leveled possibly by an earthquake. The walls were not found to be broken down like somebody would push from the outside in, like a battering ram. We've seen that in some of these movies where they knocked the wall inward. Archaeologists have determined the walls felt outward, which doesn't make sense. It doesn't add up for a nation going up against another one for that to happen. The walls felt outward, thus creating a ramp. Remember how we just read that the soldiers went up into the city? Remember that embankment backfilled with dirt with those rocks? Not only did the wall fall down, but then it created a ramp with the rubble that the nation could then go up into the city as we have recorded. And they found that, that the walls falling outward created a ramp. They found that the city was not plundered. Again, that these grain stores were found, that the Israelites then they found all these grains still there. It's burnt now because we know it burned with fire, but all the grain is still there. All the pots are still there. The other utensils that they used are still there. So Israel did as they were instructed, and they didn't plunder. They didn't take these things other than the gold and the metal and the things that they were supposed to. An invading army would have taken all the food that they could for their own use, but this was not the case here. In the seventh that he identified, the city burned. Another British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon said this about the destruction of Jericho, the destruction was complete. Walls and floors were blackened and reddened by fire, and every room was filled with fallen bricks, timbers, and household utensils. In most rooms, the falling debris was heavily burnt, but the collapse of the wall of the eastern rooms seemed to have taken place before they were affected by the fire. So the walls had collapsed, just as we have described before they were burned.

So again, why is this story important for us today? As I mentioned at the beginning, there are times that we find ourselves facing enormous walls that are impossible for us to break down with our own human strength. Challenges may appear out of nowhere that we must now face. Things that we would never want to battle, but now we got a battle. What is or what will be your Jericho this next year?

What is or what will be your Jericho this next year? You're going to have a Jericho. You may be in your Jericho right now, or facing your Jericho. But the way life goes, we're all going to face one if we're not facing it already. What will be your seemingly invincible obstacle that is in front of you? We know with any obstacle in life, it takes strength to overcome. Where did Joshua gain his strength? We've just read an amazing account of all that Joshua did with the strength of the Lord, but where did his strength, where did his faith come from? I purposely skipped over Joshua chapter one. Let's go there now. Joshua 1 verse 1 and read through where Joshua was able to get his strength to do what he just did. Joshua 1 and verse 1 says, After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore, arise. Go over this, Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses.

No man shall be able, and this is verse five, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. What we hear in the sermon at today? I am with you. I am with you. God is saying to Joshua, he says, I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe and do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Isn't that what we've been told as we went into that watery grave? As God called us to come to that point of baptism, where we decided I'm tired of kicking my feet against the rocks. I'm tired of stubbing my toes, trying to do it my way, trying to live my life.

I need help. And yet God has said, be strong and very courageous to Joshua. And he said, don't turn to the left, turn to the right, turn to the left. He says, don't do those things. He says, the book of the law shall not depart from you. All similar things we have been told spiritually by God. Verse 9, which is one of my favorite verses in God's word. Have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Whatever your Jericho is going to be that you're in right now, or that's going to come across your path this next year, we can be strong and of good courage facing that because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. That's what God told Joshua.

He recorded this for us, that we can be encouraged by this.

The requirements for Joshua and for the nation of Israel was to not see power within themselves or to make influential relationships with the nations around them or to seek success.

How much gold can you get? How much grain? How much can you plunder? None of these things. These are what matter for a lot of people today. How much can you acquire? What can you get yourself to?

But God was saying to them, don't worry about these things. I'll take care of your needs. Joshua was instructed differently. He was told, be strong and courageous.

Obey God's law and constantly read and study God's instructions.

Pretty basic, isn't it? Basic for all of us sitting here. We've heard this time and time again as as God's church. Aren't these things the ones that are really the keys to success and then getting ahead in life? Isn't this what you and I have learned, again, by living this way of life? So that was the first aspect of where did Joshua get his strength to be able to do this, to tackle those obstacles. So how do you and I deal with our Jericho's? We must have faith in what we know to be true. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 11 and consider the faith of Moses. Hebrew 11, Hebrews 11 verse 23.

How do we deal with our Jericho? It takes faith. It took faith for Joshua, took faith for the Israelites, took faith for all the wonderful examples that we have throughout God's Word. Hebrews 11 and verse 23.

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's command. By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked to the reward. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who was invisible. By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith.

That's how we battle our Jericho moments. We must follow what we know to do, to have faith. This is that doing part. Faith is more that inward, that belief. Faith does come through in our actions, and that's the doing part, as we heard again in the sermonette and in the special music. Follow me.

It's not just say, believe, and everything will work out. All your trials will go away. Your Jericho's will fall down. We have to follow God. This is that doing part. As the Israelites followed the Lord's instructions, given through Joshua, we have been given strength to tear down those strongholds in our lives. Those strongholds of sin that seem invincible. Those walls that are bigger than we think we can handle. I can't do this. You're right. You can't do it. God can do it.

God can help us to tear down these strongholds of sin in our lives, but that is that doing part. To overcome obstacles that have been built into our lives for maybe years. Because a stronghold, the city of Jericho, didn't pop up overnight. It took time to build these walls. It took time to add the fortification. It took time to build a stronghold. And sadly, sin in our lives sometimes becomes a stronghold. That is got its roots deep. It's difficult to remove. And it's not always easy to do.

I think an analogy that I've seen time and time again is have you ever gone and seen a post sticking out of like a fence post sticking out of the ground? And me being the well once strapping young man that I was thinking I can just go over there and I'll just pull this out. And all of a sudden it doesn't budge at all. And that shocked me because I'm like I know what it's like when you dig a hole and you put a post in. A couple hours later you can pull that out. It hasn't settled in yet. It hasn't had the ground around it get hard. It hasn't had the ground like get tight against it. So you can just if you've just dug a hole and you put a post in there and you flatten it down, come back a couple days later, yeah you can pull that post out. But years down the road, 10 years, 20 years down the road, that post isn't coming out. Not by your own strength. Sometimes sin is like that post in our life. It's been there for a while. 10, 20 years maybe. And we want to pull it out but we can't on our own power. It's where we have to go back to God. We have to ask Him for His help and fervently ask for that help. Not just pen passing like I'm tired of stubbing my toe again, help me to do this. That's what these holy days are so beautiful. So wonderful to have in our lives to take these pauses. Ask God to open our hearts, open our minds, show me another layer. It's going to hurt. I really don't want to see it. But show me another layer, please, because I'm not happy where I'm at right now. And when we ask that prayer fervently, you ask that prayer sincerely, God will answer that. Pray for mercy, too. Pray that He'll be merciful showing you these things.

And He'll answer these prayers and He will give us that strength to pull out that post that's been stuck in our lives for maybe way too long. Joshua continued to have battles and difficulties throughout the conquest of the Promised Land. It wasn't just Jericho and Dunn. You and I don't have just one Jericho in our lives, but He remained to He allowed Himself to trust God and to be faithful to God. So again, what is or what will be your Jericho this next year?

I hope each of us will allow this feast that we have just observed to be the beginning of our stand against sin, that stronghold in your life. Hopefully we've all been battling sin for many years.

Hopefully we've been tasked and we have been tasked and hopefully we have been accepting that challenge to remove sin more than just for one week of our year. But maybe this week you took a new stand against a certain sin in your life. Maybe a sin that was dug in for 10 or 20 years.

Maybe you took that new stand because God revealed to you in these days there's another aspect I want you to consider and you said, okay, this is one that's going to be tough. This is going to be my Jericho. This is going to be that stronghold that I can't do, but I'm going to need your help. And if you've already taken a stand this week, do everything you can to keep your focus on that stronghold and to invite God into your struggle against it. Consider your fight against your stronghold because truthfully, what other choice do we have? In the world and society around us, the choice is not the one that we want to follow. We see those who are not following Christ, and we see that they're destined to struggle and suffer through an empty life.

You and I must recognize the society around us and the direction it is going. And again, from the special music and the sermonette today, follow me. Follow God is what we are asked and instructed to do. Let's turn for our closing scripture to Luke 17. Luke 17 verse 26. This describes the society around us, those who are not following God, those who don't want God in their life, don't want anything to do with God. We have been called out to be different. We have chosen to be different. That's why you're sitting here on a Friday afternoon, not at school, not at work. You've accepted and you've chosen to be here. We have described, though, the way that society is all around us all the time. Luke 17 verse 26. And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until that day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Everything going on right now around us seems fun, seems nice. People have good cars and nice jobs and they've given well-put-together houses. Their lives look great on Facebook. Verse 28. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all, even so it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. We do have a choice. What are we going to choose coming out of these days of Unleavened Bread?

What choices are we going to allow back into our lives? We'll probably run out pretty quick and get the pizzas back in the deep freeze. I've been missing some of the bread sandwiches. I don't have donuts as often as I used to with my last job because my current boss, they don't have these type of rules and requirements that if I sleep in one day, I have to bring donuts in. What are we going to allow back into our life starting tonight? What choices are we going to make? Are we going to fall back into maybe society around us? It's not so bad. They're all living life. They're having kids. They're getting married. Everything's great. Or are we going to continue to tear down our strongholds?

Are we going to continue to face our Jericho's when they come up and all of a sudden seem too big for us to handle? Too big for the walls for us to scale. God has told us this is the way to walk. It's getting too big. Or are we going to go back to God and open our hearts and say, I need help? Show me the path that you want me to walk. I can never read this account of Jericho without being a little bit excited about all that God did for his people. It was just an amazing account that we have recorded for us in God's word of him working with his people in a miraculous way.

You and I serve the same God that the Israelites were invited to follow. God wants to help each of us conquer our Jericho and to tear down the strongholds of sin in our lives. Each year when we take the Passover and keep the Days of Unleavened Bread, we remember that it took this life of the Son of God to cleanse us of our sins. It took his precious blood to wash us and to make us pure.

And as we are cleansed, we can stand before God, righteous and whole. We are no longer a slave to the world and the sin that it offers, but we stand as a servant of the Most High. As the Israelites were led out of Egypt by God's mighty hand, we have been led out of a sinful past through Jesus Christ. We were led through the Red Sea or the Jordan River in a sense, and we were baptized into Christ. We have tasted the fruit of God's beautiful way of life as the Israelites enjoyed the blessings of the Promised Land. And with the help of Jesus Christ, let us fight against these strongholds in our lives and preserve all that we have been given. Through the support of our High Priest, let us resist sin in every shape and every form in every fashion. And through the power of our Savior, let us conquer anything that stands between us and God so that we may be founding, standing at the end, and to hear, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, prepared for you from the foundations of the world.