A Study of Joshua

Sermon # 5

Five Principles For Spiritual Victory

Joshua 5: 13- 6:21

Many of the present generation may not remember that Sergeant Alvin York was the most famous soldier of World War I. Neither
do they realize that Alvin C. York was a most unlikely man to become a legendary hero. York felt that his Christian faith barred him
from killing anyone, even in war. After being drafted, York went home on a ten-day leave and considered the scriptures a Christian
captain had shared with him. Finally in a crisis of faith, God showed York that he could obey God and defend the helpless in Europe
at the same time. He wrote, “As I prayed there alone… I knew that He was there. He understood I didn’t want to be a fighter or a
killing man… He took pity on me and gave me the assurance I needed… It was His will and that was enough for me.” Sgt. York had to
win the war in his mind before he could win the battles that lay ahead of him in the trenches of France and so it was with Joshua.
[John Perry. Sgt. York; His Life and His Legend. (Broadman and Holman Pub. 1997) pp. 30-31 as quoted by Tim George. “Winning the
War Before the Battle Begins.” Sermon on Joshua 5:13-15. SermonCentral.com ]

1. THE BATTLE IS WON BY REMEMBERING WHO IS IN CHARGE

After receiving the report of the two spies, readying the troops, and crossing the Jordan, Joshua sought to ready himself. He
evidently went out to survey the landscape around Jericho, perhaps to devise a battle plan. It was there that he encountered a man
with a sword in his hand. Verse thirteen, “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….” The phrase “ looked up” conveys an element of surprise.
Wisely Joshua did not draw his sword, supposing I assume that if this individual were looking for a fight he would have already
attacked. Instead he asked the man if he were a friend or a foe. Verse thirteen continues with, “And Joshua went to Him and said to
Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

Now I don’t want you to miss his response, verse fourteen, “ So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have
now come.” His response was not what Joshua expected he said, “Neither.” When God walks onto the scene he does not come to
take sides….He comes to take over. We are not ask if God is on our side, but determine that whether we are on God’s side. The
more appropriate question is, “Are we on the Lord’s side or against Him?” Today it is important as we face many battles – physically,
emotionally and spiritual that we make sure that we are on the Lord’s side in all our confrontations.

We need to remember that Israel once tried to take Canaan in their own power. Forty years earlier Moses had told the Israelites
that the consequence of their unbelief in receiving the reports of the spies, was that they would have to wander in the wilderness
for forty years. The very next morning the Israelite got up and decided to take Canaan without God. According to Numbers 14:40-
45, “And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Here we are, and we will go up to the
place which the LORD has promised, for we have sinned!” (41) And Moses said, “Now why do you transgress the command of the
LORD? For this will not succeed. (42) Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the LORD is not among you. (43) Or
the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the
LORD, the LORD will not be with you.” (44) But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the
covenant of the LORD nor Moses departed from the camp. (45) Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that
mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah”

When the messenger identified himself, “… Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord
say to His servant?” Verse fifteen continues the story, “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.” What we have here is what is referred to as a
“Christopany.” This is Christ appearing a man 1,400 years before he appears in Bethlehem as a baby. In shock and amazement and
awe Joshua flung himself face down before the Lord. Joshua assuming that the messenger has a message from God he asks that he
deliver it.

When can understand that this is Jesus because; First, this messenger allows himself to be worshipped, angels never do, and
Secondly, Joshua was instructed to remove his sandals because he was on holy ground just as Moses had at the burning bush (Ex.
3:5).

We are not told what the message is but we can deduce that was details of how the war of conquest was to be waged. But the
greatest significance of this meeting with the Commander in Chief of the Lord’s Army is that Israel will not be fighting alone.

Now in Chapter six and verse one we are introduced to the scene in Jericho. “Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the
children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.

God begins by giving Joshua a promise in verse two,

“And the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.”

Notice with me that the Lord proclaims Israel’s victory over the city of Jericho was made in the past prefect tense, as if it had already
occurred (v.2). God says, “I have given Jericho into your hands.” It is just a sure as if it had already happened.

It bothers me to realize that we as Christian’s are losing some of the battles along the way, until I remember, I have read the final
chapter and we win. We may lose a few battles along the way, but the Lord has already won the war, and as long as we are on the
Lord’s side, we are winners.

Not only IS THE BATTLE WON BY REMEMBER WHO IS IN COMMAND

2. GOD’S METHODS ARE NOT MAN’S METHODS BUT GOD’S METHOD’S ARE AWAY RIGHT (vv.3-9)

The instructions that Joshua received from the Lord concerning how Jericho was to be defeated in verses three – five must have
seemed rather strange. “You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do
six days. (4) And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around
the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. (5) It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s
horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will
fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”

Marching around the city once each day for seven days, making a lot of noise and waiting for the walls to collapse certainly were not
in any of the military manuals of the day.

The prominence place given to the “ark of the covenant” in the march of the Israelites around the city of Jericho clearly indicated
that this is not the Israelites battle but the Lord’s. It stresses how central the presence of God is and how passive God’s people are.
The Israelites as the people of God here contribute nothing to the overthrow of Jericho.

What do your think that the people of Israel were thinking as they marched around the city? I suspect that they were becoming
more and more convinced that they could not conquer Jericho unless God gave it to them. Jericho’s walls were high, in fact it had a
series of two other walls. The gates were massive and they were securely shut. Each circling of the wall must have advanced the
realization that without God there would be no victory.

The old Negro spiritual says, “Joshua fit the battle of Jericho… and the walls came tumblin down” but that is not correct, God fought
the battle of Jericho. Since Israel only marches and shouts there is not doubt who knocked down the walls of Jericho. God
sometimes sets our contributions on the sidelines in order that others can see that as Paul says in (2 Corinthians 4:7) “… that the
excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

Beginning in verse six Joshua conveys the instructions to the people, “ Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to
them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.” (7)
And he said to the people, “Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the LORD.” (8)
So it was, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD
advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. (9) The armed men went before the
priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets.”

GOD’S METHOD’S ARE NOT MAN’S METHODS BUT GOD’S METHOD’S ARE ALWAYS RIGHT AND

3. THE BEST WAY TO HEAR FROM GOD IS TO BE QUIET (v. 10)

“Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed
out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.”

The people are instructed that they are to remain silent until they hear a long blast on the trumpet and then they are to shout. The
trumpets used in this battle were ram’s horns or shofars.

God’s word reveals that we hear God’s voice best when we remain silent. Moses said in Exodus 14:14, “The LORD will fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace.” The Psalmist says this way (46:10-11), “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the
nations, I will be exalted in the earth! (11) The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.” When Joshua passed on the
instructions of the Lord he did not mention that the walls are going to collapse. After six days, of the same single march around the
city (vv. 12-14), the final seventh day finally came. On each of the previous days, they had tramped once around the city and
returned to camp. On the seventh day, however the Israelites did not return to camp after a single trip around the city. Verse
fifteen, “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.”

They continued around the city a second time, then a third time and so on. In fact I envision at that some point that the front line
began to overlap. Now there is not one line of people, there are two, then three until the city was surrounded on every side by
Israelites many hundreds deep. (Remember that we are talking about two million plus people.)

4. VICTORY IS OURS IF WE DO NOT QUIT

(v. 16, 20) “ And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the
LORD has given you the city!…. (20) “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 wall fell down flat. Then the people went up
into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.”

Hebrews 11:30 recounts that “by faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people marched around them for seven days.” What is it
that honors God and please God the most? The thing that honors God and God delights to honor is obedience. The prophet Samuel
declares, (1 Sam. 15:22) …“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.” If you look back you will discover that Joshua did not tell
the people how many times they were going to be required to circle the city or what the result of their marching would be.

Dr. Alan Redpath in his commentary on Joshua suggest that many people don’t see the answers to their prayers simply because they
have stopped one round short in their conquest of their personal Jericho. We may have been doing the right things, but we simply
stop doing them.
5. DON’T BE FOOLED A DAY OF JUDGMENT IS COMING (vv. 17, 20)

“Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it….(21) And they utterly destroyed all that was in
the city…. with the edge of the sword.”

The command given in verse seventeen and carried out in verse twenty one that everyone must die is troublesome until we
remember that Jericho had been given adequate time to repent and turn from their evil life styles. The worship of the Canaanites
included the sacrifice of children to the god Molech, the sexual perversion of prostitutes in the worship of Ashthoreth, and the use
of magic and sorcery.

The people of Jericho have been given the same opportunities as Rahab and her family and they have refused. You may not have
stopped to think about it but they have had four generations just as God had promised (Gen 15:16). Abraham had not been allowed
to immediately enter into the promised land, “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is
not yet complete.” The inhabitants of Canaan had been given exactly four generations as the Israelites wander in the wilderness to
accept the one true God. Now after years of increasing wickedness, the time of judgment has come. So to will judgment come for
the unbelievers of this present age. The Apostle Peter warns (2 Peter 3:3,8-10) “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last
days, walking according to their own lusts, ….(8) But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (9) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is
longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (10) But the day of the Lord will
come …”

Conclusion

We need to remember that

1. The Battle is won by remembering who is in charge.

2. God’s method may not be Man method’s but they are always right.

3. The best way to hear God is to be quiet.

4. The victory is our if we do not give up.

5. Don’t be fooled there is a day of judgment coming.

True Happiness

John 14:1-21

Psychologists say that people need three things to make them happy. First of all they need something to do. Secondly they need
something to love. Finally they need something to look forward to. I think Scripture agrees with this. However, to be truly happy and
satisfied we must make sure that we are doing the right thing, loving the right thing, and looking forward to the right thing. This
passage before us, as well as many others in Scripture that show us what to do, what to love and what to look forward to.

I. Something to Do

-Everyone needs and wants something to do! There are a lot of things that we can do to make us happy, but if there is one thing we
fail to do we will never be satisfied!

-I am happy when I go hunting or fishing

-I am happy when I go see a friend or loved one

-I am happy when I go to church and experience a good service

-I am happy when I have fun with my kids

-None of these things, however, can satisfy my soul!!

-Some people are happy while they are high

-Some people are happy while they are skiing, or snowmobiling

-Some people are happy while they are partying

-Some people are happy while they are camping

-Some people are happy while they are gambling

-None of these things, however, can satisfy their soul!

-Jesus Christ gives us what we need to do to find true satisfaction which will lead not only to happiness but joy unspeakable and full
of glory!

A. Believe Also in Me (v. 1)

-apart from a trust and faith in Christ no one will ever find true joy or satisfaction! We must have confidence in Him as our Lord and
Savior.

-the woman at the well in John 4 had done a lot. She had been married 5 times and was living in adultery--but she wasn’t satisfied--
but when she trusted in Christ He gave her living water where her soul would never thirst again

-the prodigal son in Luke 15 had done a lot. He spent his time and money living rioteously. He had partied, he had the women, he
had plenty of money. But when the money ran out he found himself lying in a pigpen unhappy and dissatisfied. But praise God he
came home to the Father’s house and that is a picture of us leaving behind the things that cannot satisfy and placing our faith in
Christ!

-Peter had plenty to do. He was a fisherman. But he left all and followed Christ, and in Christ he found true satisfaction!

-Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Him

-Without Him there is a God sized hole in a person’s soul that only He can fill!

B. Work for Me (v. 12)

-Jesus let’s us know that after we believe in Him there is still something to do--WORK

-You and I have the privilege to be servants and ambassadors of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

-Telling others about Jesus involves work

-Training and discipling Christians takes work

-Raising and nurturing our children takes work

-Working for the Lord is not a burden, but it is a blessing!

-We have the opportunity to make an eternal and spiritual difference in mankind!

C. Ask From Me (vv. 13-14)

-We also have the wonderful privilege to ask from Christ

-When we ask things in His name and in His will He will fulfill those requests!

-Asking in Christ’s name means that we would ask what He would ask, and what would bring glory to Him.

-You can’t properly ask in His name without knowing His nature.

-He will provide for us everything that we need that pertains to life and godliness!

-He will give us the tools necessary to accomplish His purposes!

D. Obey Me (v. 15)

-Christ has given us many commands to obey

-He has told us to live holy lives

-He has told us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but do it even more so as we see the day approaching.

-He has told us to preach the Gospel to every creature

-He has told us to provoke one another to love and good works

-He has told us to build one another up

-He has told us to glorify Him

Application: To be happy we must have something to do. We will do what we think will make us happy. The reason some do more
physical things than spiritual is because they think the physical will bring more happiness. However the physical things we do are
only temporary and will fade away; our happiness will fade right along with it. We need to do the spiritual: pray, witness attend
church, etc.

II. Someone to Love (vv. 15-24)

-Not only does everyone need something to do, but everyone needs something to love!

-Some are in love with money to try to find happiness, but the love of money is the root of all evil and many have pierced
themselves through with many sorrows going after it.

-Some are in love with pornography or immoral sex to try to find happiness. But they are corrupting their minds and destroying their
bodies.

-Some are in love with things to try to find happiness. But they find that things will never satisfy.

-Jesus said that the 2 greatest commandments involved love!

-We are to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul and with all of our mind! We are to love our neighbor as our self!

-An individual that is not in love with God and not in love with his neighbor is an individual who does know about true happiness!

A. Our Love for God Produces Obedience! (vv. 15, 21, 23-24)

-don’t sing Oh, how I love Jesus and live in disobedience to Him!

-we show Christ how much we love Him, by how much we obey Him.

-Jesus stresses over and over again in these verses that those that truly love Him, are those that live their lives according to His will.
They love Him so much that they realize that He has their best interest at heart and are willing to SURRENDER to His will!

-If we love God we will also love those He has made, those created in His image!

B. God’s Love for us Produces Comfort & Communion (vv. 16-20)

-He let His disciples know that He would send them and us the Comforter. The Holy Spirit lives in our hearts to: comfort us, convict
us, and to encourage us.

-What wonderful words Jesus shares with His disciples and words of great comfort for us as well. We are in Him and He is in us!

-Jesus also tells us that His Father will love us, He will love us and He will manifest Himself to us! Christ loves us and shows Himself
to us in His Word and through His Spirit.
Application: What wonderful news that we can have something to love; someone to love that loves us more than anything or
anyone else could! Money doesn’t love us, things do not love us, immorality doesn’t love us! God does!

III. Something to Look Forward To

-not only does everyone need something to do, someone to love, but everyone also needs something to look forward to!

-Some POW’s hopes were never dashed because they looked forward to being free

-People that work look forward to getting a paycheck

-People that race look forward to finishing and hopefully winning

-Praise God we have something greater to look forward to!

A. The Father’s House (v. 2)

-are many mansions

-is a place prepared specifically for us

-a place prepared by the hand of God Himself

-a place of no sickness, no pain, no sin, no tears!

B. The Son’s Return (v. 3)

-He has gone away to prepare a place

-He, Himself will come again to receive us

-Where He is, one day we can be!

Application: Do you want to be truly Happy?

Find something to do--Trust in Jesus as your Savior and get busy for Him

Find someone to love--Love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself

Find something to look forward to--Look forward to Christ’s return, and spending eternity with Him!