Confidence: His Provision

May 26, 2024

Series: Confidence

Book: Joshua

This is a part of a sermon series on the book of Joshua. You can watch more here.

Sermon Manuscript

Last week I got to spend a few days in Guatemala. It’s always encouraging to see God’s hand at work in other cultures and other countries. I met young people studying God’s Word. I met pastors shepherding His people. I met men and women committing themselves to the Lord for His glory. It was awesome!

As the church in Austin we are partner with in Guatemala has a vision to train people in God’s Word, so they created a training where they take people through every book of the bible. Isn’t that amazing?

That’s our vision at North Village Church in Austin. We’re not interested in hosting a worship service. We want to provide a context for men and women to know Jesus, grow in His Word and live for His Kingdom, but we know there are going to be distractions along the way.

We are going to get tired. We are going to get discouraged. It’s going to feel like one step forward and two steps back but along the way we are trusting in the Lord and following Him for His glory.

That’s what we will see in our passage this morning. It’s been 40-years of wandering in the wilderness. Israel has crossed the Jordan River. They are on the edge of entering into the Promised Land but the whole time they are trusting in the Lord and following Him.

This is the constant theme throughout God’s Word. Will you pray for our time this morning? Will you pray for the person next to you to see the whole of our faith in Jesus is trusting in the Lord and following Him. Let’s look at Joshua 6:1-2:

Joshua 6:1-2, “1 Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. 2 The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.”

Up to this point we have seen Joshua 1-5 known as “the preparation into the land.” Israel has crossed the Jordan River. Israel has set aside stones of remembrance for generations to come. Israel has committed themselves to the Lord through circumcision and the Passover celebration.

At the end of Joshua 5 we see this powerful scene where Joshua is in a conversation with a man who seemingly appears out of nowhere to give Joshua instruction. Do you remember these verses?

Joshua 5:14-15, “14 He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” 15 The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”

In verse 13 Joshua asks, “Are you for me or against me?” Verse 14, “Neither.” I am the captain. I am the Creator of all things. I am in Charge of all things. Like Moses of old speaking to the burning bush we see Joshua fall on his face, and then we see Joshua 6, verses 2:

Joshua 6:2, “2 The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.”

Notice the tense of verse 2 is present perfect tense, “have given.” It is past action continuing into the present. It hasn’t happened yet from a human perspective but from God’s perspective it is already done. Look at verses 3-5:

Joshua 6:3-5, “3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. 4 Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.”

Listen, some of us are familiar with this story and some of us aren’t but let’s just sit in the context of this passage a little. Israel is standing before this massive fortress. The generation earlier said these people were “giants in the land.” Verse 2 referenced them as “valiant warriors” and the strategy to start the battle is to get all the “men of war” (verse 3) and…go on a walk.

Imagine any battle scene in any movie; Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, Marvel and the movie builds to the moment where the hero goes for a walk and blows a rams’ horn. What? Look at verse 6:

Joshua 6:6, “6 So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.”

In verse 6 we see this phrase “ark of the covenant.” We’ve seen the “ark of the covenant” in chapter 4 when it was brought to the edge of the Jordan River and here again we see the “ark of the covenant” as the focal point of this battle.

The “ark of the covenant” symbolized the presence of God among His people. It was the holiness of God with His people and in Joshua 6 the “ark of the covenant” is at the heart of the battle.

In addition, this ram’s horn is not like a trumpet or a bugle rallying the people to fight. The rams’ horn is the Shofar. It’s an instrument used for worship, so that the opening verses aren’t describing a battle scene but a worship service. Look at verses 7-8:

Joshua 6:7-8, “7 Then he said to the people, “Go forward, and march around the city, and let the armed men go on before the ark of the Lord.” 8 And it was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.”

Let’s be honest with ourselves this morning. If you didn’t know the story and you were a betting person, you wouldn’t bet on Israel, right? You would go with the fortress. You would go with the valiant warriors but throughout this series God is teaching us that it isn’t about our ability but His ability.

It’s not about our power but His power. It’s called faith. Hebrews 11 teaches us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Then Hebrews 11 walks through the Old Testament, including our passage this morning, to show how men and women lived by faith.

It isn’t a blind faith and cross your fingers. It is faith in His promises. It is faith in His character. It is faith in the testimony of the men and women who walked with Jesus in His life, death and resurrection.

The God of Scripture tells Joshua it is already done, “I have given Jericho into your hand.” It is a completed action, therefore, trust in Him and follow Him. In Christ, you are forgiven. It’s done. In Christ, you are a new person. The old has passed away. In Christ, you’re value and worth is being made in His image. In Christ, you’re not of this world but citizens of heaven. It’s done!

You need to know the God of Scripture is still looking for men and women of faith who trust in Him and follow Him, not because it makes sense to us, but because the Lord has spoken to us just like He spoke to Joshua.

In my opinion, this is where we get stuck in our faith. The Lord starts to move in our life. We start to follow Him but inevitably we are going to come to a place where things don’t make sense to us.

The circumstances are going to get difficult. The finances are going to get tight. The conversations are going to feel strained, and in those moments, we have to decide, “Are we going to trust in ourselves and follow ourselves or are we going to trust in the Lord and follow the Lord?” Look at verses 9-10:

Joshua 6;9-10, “9 The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while they continued to blow the trumpets. 10 But Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard nor let a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout!”

Sit in that tension for a little. These are real people, real moments standing before a mighty fortress of valiant warriors.

Can you imagine what the Canaanites must be thinking? They had heard of God’s power. They had seen the parting of the Jordan River. They were in fear of what was about to come knocking on their door and when they look over the wall they see Israel marching in silence. I don’t know if that’s terrifying or comical! Look at verse 11:

Joshua 6:11, “11 So he had the ark of the Lord taken around the city, circling it once; then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.”

Keep in mind, this isn’t an all-day marching event. There’s debate on the size of Jericho but it would have taken anywhere from minutes to hours so that means the men of Israel would go out to “battle – a walk” and then come back to camp for a snack where they would wait till the next day and do it again. Look at verses 12-14:

Joshua 6:12-14, “12 Now Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew the trumpets; and the armed men went before them and the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while they continued to blow the trumpets. 14 Thus the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp; they did so for six days.”

Do you see it isn’t supposed to make Israel look impressive? It isn’t supposed to make us walk away and think, “That Joshua guy was amazing!” Israel isn’t supposed to be the hero of the story.

The marching of your army in a straight line over and over is supposed to make you think, “This isn’t a good idea.”

So that you need to know there are going to be times when the Lord calls you to trust Him and follow Him and everything in you is going to think, “This isn’t a good idea.”

It doesn’t matter where we are on our spiritual journey there are going to be moments where we ask ourselves, “Am I going to trust in the Lord or am I going to trust in myself?” Look at verses 15-16:

Joshua 6:15-16, “15 Then on the seventh day they rose early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times. 16 At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.”

I am sure this is a great learning activity for children where we get to get all the kids together and shout but
when you study Old Testament narrative, we aren’t looking for 1-1 application. We’re not Israel. We’re not going into battle against the Canaanite people.

We’re more than likely not going to be called by God to shout down a great wall, therefore, when we study God’s Word we want to look for principles that would be true for all people at all times and all places. Does that make sense? Write that down in your notes.

We wouldn’t want to read about the Canaanite wall and then say, “That’s like the wall we have at the southern border of Texas and God doesn’t want us to have walls, so we need to vote for Biden and shout down that wall.”

No, we look for principles that are consistent with God’s Word and true for all people at all times and all places. Throughout God’s Word we see God leading His people to trust Him and follow Him. That’s consistent throughout God’s Word. That’s going to be true for a Nigerian in 1400’s and that’s going to be true for us today. You with me? Look at verses 17-19:

Joshua 6:17-19, “17 The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the Lord; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. 19 But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”

In verses 17-19 we see Joshua giving Israel direction on what’s about to happen. The walls are about to fall. The battle belongs to the Lord, therefore, when the battle is won we see two points of direction.

First, look out for Rahab and her family. We will talk about Rahab in a minute. The second command is for Israel to avoid taking the silver and the gold because those things belong to the Lord.

It’s like a tithe to the Lord. In the coming battles Israel is free to take possessions in their victories but in this first battle it is for the Lord as an offering to the Lord because again, this battle isn’t about the greatness of Israel but the greatness of God’s glory. Look at verses 20-21:

Joshua 6:20-21, “20 So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. 21 They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.”

In verse 20 we see the wall falls down flat! It isn’t a crack. It isn’t partial. It is there, the people shout and the walls fall. In verse 21 we see Canaanite people are “utterly destroyed.” We touched on this last Sunday so you can watch on YouTube if you missed it.

But generally speaking we need to remember that the Canaanite people aren’t innocent. God has issued warnings of judgment; the Canaanite people weren’t interested and we should see verse 21 as warning to take God seriously then and today. Look at verses 22-23:

Joshua 6:22-23, “22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.” 23 So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel.”

Do you remember Rahab? We touched on this in Joshua 2. Rahab is the Canaanite woman who puts her hope in the glory of God. She turns away from her experiences, her culture and she puts her trust in the Lord and follows Him.

It doesn’t matter where you come from. It doesn’t matter where you are born. It doesn’t matter of your male or female. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a position of wealth or poverty. It just matters if we are going to put our trust in the Lord and follow Him.

In the life of Rahab there was only One rescuer. In the life of Rahab there was only One way to avoid God’s judgment and Rahab put her trust in the scarlet thread.

In the same way, the scarlet thread points us to our hope in Jesus. There is only One rescuer. There is only One way to avoid God’s judgment, therefore, allow Joshua 6 to point us to our hope in Jesus.

If you have never trust in Jesus you need to do that this morning. Look at the glory of God made known in creation. Look at the glory of God calling you to Himself. He doesn’t call us to cross our fingers and hope it all works out. He calls us, just like He called Rahab to trust in Him and follow Him. Look at verses 24-25:

Joshua 6:24-25, “24 They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. 25 However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”

The fire was meant to be a deterrent to the other cities in the land. They would have seen the smoke of Jericho and it would have caused their inward parts to tremble because if Jericho could fall then they would be under threat as well. Look at verses 26-27:

Joshua 6:26-27, “26 Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates.” 27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.”

Can we trust in the Lord and follow Him? Or better, “Will you trust in the Lord and follow Him?” It’s not going to make sense from a human perspective. It didn’t make sense to Noah when the Lord called Noah to build an ark.

It didn’t make sense to Abraham when the Lord called Abraham to birth a nation. It didn’t make sense to Moses to go to Pharaoh. That’s a constant theme throughout Scripture. It isn’t going to make sense to this world.

And most of all, it didn’t make sense for Jesus to die on a cross. It didn’t make sense to ascend into the heavens and entrust His gospel to regular men and women that were outwardly unimpressive. And yet over and over it isn’t about what makes sense to us but about trusting in Him and following Him.

It’s why the Apostle Paul wrote, “He has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He has chosen the weak things of the world to shame that which is strong.” (1 Cor. 1:27) So that we need to ask ourselves, “Are we going to trust in ourselves or are we going to trust in the Lord?”

When the Lord calls us to open His Word every day and meet with Him. That doesn’t make any sense. We are so tired. We are so busy. Getting up earlier to spend time in God’s Word doesn’t make any sense but over and over we see God’s Word calling us to trust Him and follow Him when it doesn’t make sense.

When the Lord calls us to reconcile with that person in our non-denominational church in north Austin. He doesn’t want us to be in conflict with people in the body of Christ but there is everything in us that doesn’t want to reconcile with that person.

It doesn’t make sense to invite your friends to worship on Sunday morning. It doesn’t make sense to deny those sexual desires.

It doesn’t make sense show up this morning. You could have stayed in bed this morning. You could have gone to brunch! But instead you gathered with the body of Christ to reflect upon the One who died on a cross and rose from the dead. Why? It’s because the Lord calls us to put Him first. Trust in Him. Follow Him.

That’s why we meet with people to go through Scripture. That doesn’t make any sense. We don’t charge money. We don’t hold it over their head. We do so willingly because we want others to know God’s Word.

That’s why we serve our children on Sunday mornings. That doesn’t make any sense. Men and women do that every week because they want to serve our children and teach them about Jesus.

That’s why we meet one another for meals and open our lives to one another. That doesn’t make any sense but we do those things because the Lord calls us to love others and live for Him.

Listen to me church in Austin, when we trust the Lord and follow Him there are going to be some days when it feels like we are taking a walk in the middle of nowhere.

There are going to be people who look at us following the Lord and we’re going to look crazy but you need to know the reward is in the walk. We all want the amazing stories of God doing amazing things but the reward starts in the walk. Does that make sense?

In days 1-6 nothing happens. In days 1-6 you feel like this is a waste of time. In days 1-6 there is going to be a voice in our head that says, “This doesn’t matter.” Amen?

Did you hear that? You’re not alone. Following the Lord doesn’t come with the applause of men. It comes with uncomfortable daily decisions of putting Him first because we are trusting the battle has been won.

North Village Church

This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin. established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.

Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.

North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry.

 

You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information.

 

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