Amen. What an appropriate song to sing this morning as we get ready to consider what happens in the book of Joshua at Jericho, but also we've been going through 1 John in Sunday school for a while and of course that song is based on the verse from 1 John that the victory is faith and we can be thankful that God has given us such a wonderful gift. As we come now to our time of the sermon, I won't be long before you today, but I do want to cover well, I pray, this verse that Ben read for us a moment ago, which is found here in Hebrews chapter 11. We've been speaking on a macro level for some time about faith and about those who exemplify faith, those that are held up as examples for us on how to walk by faith, how to live by faith. And we've seen the patriarchs, of course, and their examples. them as examples of faith and we saw Moses, we saw Sarah in there also and we come now to the generation even after Moses because when you think about for a moment the events that happened we saw Moses as it were as an example of faith as he believed the word of God, believed the promise of God, believed the redemption of God and as God told him to do the things that were included in the Passover he obeyed. He obeyed. And one of the things that this author has tried to hammer home to us over and over again is that faith holds hands with obedience, doesn't it? In fact, in our lesson this morning in 1 John, we were talking about the fact that one of the ways that we love or show our love is even following or obeying the instructions or commandments of God. And so again, we see this over and over again. How do we know that Noah had faith? God told him a flood was coming. He built an ark. a pretty good evidence isn't it of what is in his heart. I can't see his faith with my human eyes but I can see his faith demonstrated by his belief in the promise of God and the building of an ark. And likewise we see last week with Moses. How do we know that Moses had faith in the promise of redemption that God gave him? Well, he did what God told him to do. He believed that if he put the blood over the doorposts of the home of all these Israelites who would follow this instruction that they would live, the firstborn son would live. And that's what happened. Death passed them over. And so again, Moses believed the promise of God. At the Red Sea, we talked about this, all the children of Israel quaked at the sight of Pharaoh approaching and said, did you bring us out here into the wilderness to die? And what does Moses say? Stand fast and trust the Lord. His promised deliverance, and He shall deliver us in a spectacular way this day. My friends, there we see the truth of the faith that they had in their actions, in their testimony, in their statements. That's really the way that we show our faith, as James says. You tell me you have faith, but James says, I'll show you my faith by what I do. We are saved by our faith, but that faith that saves should redound to works. We are saved unto good works. And so again, this is an evidence, if you will, of the salvation that we have received by God's grace through faith. Now, thinking about this, it's what we're going to see in a few moments. We're going to have a baptism because a young man with childlike faith comes and says, I believe that Christ Jesus is who He said He is and that He did for me what He said He would do. And I put my faith in Him. And in that regard, by faith, I come forward to demonstrate to a people that God has done something in my heart and in my life. And so my friends, we'll see this today. But over and over again, there is this call to faith that we see in these great examples from the Old Testament. And as we think about them, they are important to us because it's a call to the people in the day that this letter is written to be a people of faith. And the reason that it is included in the Scripture for us, the canon of Scripture, is it's a call similarly to us today. to walk by faith and to live by faith and to live out our faith in such a way that it's a testimony to what is in our heart. And so think about this short text today. We come to the next generation after Moses and we find here an important statement. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. A short text that covers an important moment in the history of the people of God. And today I want us to look at it by looking at two points. First of all, a great contrast. And second of all, an impossible victory. And as we get ready to look at that, let's have a word of prayer. Father, we come now to your word. We need your help, Father. Help us to hear your words. Help us to believe your words, Father. Help me to preach them. so that we can understand the point of this message and the call that is in it, that we are to be a people of faith, trusting in you. Help us, we pray, in Christ's name. Amen. We come now to our first point, which is a great contrast, and I really can't think of a much clearer contrast than in today's text, implied in today's text. When you think about it for a moment, we've jumped quite a little bit of history, haven't we? We've gone from the days of Moses leading the people through the Red Sea as God has parted it by his power, and then suddenly we're at Jericho. And there is a whole lot of the biblical narrative that happens in between those two events, isn't there? We might ask ourselves, well, why is that not included? And then we might remember, oh yeah, this is a section on faith. But we might say, wait a minute, there were examples of faith in that period in the wilderness, was there not? You can think about Joshua and Caleb as they went and scattered out the promised land and came back and they stood faithful, believing what God had said. They said, look, we're not going to lie. There are giants and armies in this land, but God has given it to our hands. Let's take it. They were faithful. But certainly they were not exemplary, if you will, of the generation itself, were they? They were exemplary in that generation, but not of that generation. They were the kind of people that the rest of Israel should have sought to be like, but they weren't like them. In fact, that's been a main point of exposition in this letter, isn't it? As he has said to them, do you remember what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness? They left Egypt. They saw all the miracles and power of God. They saw all of it. They witnessed it firsthand. And yet they did not believe God. Over and over again, God told them things and they didn't believe it. They over and over again said, did you bring us out here to kill us? Were there not enough graves back in Egypt? It wasn't just at the Red Sea that they said that. In fact, you would think that would have been a simple lesson to have learned at that moment, wouldn't it? Well, we thought we were goners. We thought Pharaoh had us. Moses said, hold on a minute, watch what God will do. And then God did the most miraculous thing. It's so miraculous, we still talk about it all the time, don't we? When you think about, what is an example of God's power? Well, I think in the New Testament, the ultimate example is resurrection, right? That is the ultimate example. Paul says, in a way, the gospel, which is the message of how God raises dead sinners to life in Christ, he says that's the power of the gospel to all who believe. But what's interesting for a moment here is, one of the things that we often point to is God parting the Red Sea. We forget that as part of today's story, he also parts the Jordan and lets them across on dry ground. We'll come to that in a moment. But what an amazing moment it is and for them to learn nothing as a generation, to learn nothing from it. There's bread, we're tired of this manna. Is there nothing else to eat? Why did he bring us out here? There's nothing good out here. We'd be better off to be slaves back in Egypt. Now just to understand the context here again, The author of Hebrews says that's what his generation is doing now in his day. God led you to the truth of Christ and you're wanting to draw back to Moses. You can't go back because the way these covenants and revelation work is it takes you by the hand and leads you to Christ. That's what the law does and therefore there is no place to go back to. So he uses this wilderness example. The generation of the wilderness say, they all died in the wilderness falling short of the promise. They were almost there. They could see it. They experienced the community, if you will. They were all a part of what God was doing, but they fell short of it. And if you've been in this church and you've been a part of the people of God, the author of Hebrews is saying, and then you leave and go back to Moses as if Moses is sufficient. You haven't understood the gospel. You were never part of this. you too will die short of the promise." My friends, it's a serious warning. So then we shouldn't be surprised, right, that the author of Hebrews skips over that entire generation as he's thinking about faith. Because what largely defines him is a lack of faith. Even we might find an example or two of faithful men of God in that generation. That generation died in the wilderness and God allowed the next generation with You know, Caleb and Joshua, a few exceptions allowed to come in as well. But again, it's not an example of a generation of faith. So God jumps to the next generation, into the story of Joshua. And so 40 years later, we come to this example. Now, as you think about that, we see here a great contrast between one generation and the next. A generation that did not believe the promises of God. And then another generation that struggled sometimes, but largely, and as you would say, as an example overall, were believers in the promise of God. And God blessed them. They had their moments of failings, as we all do. But my friends, they come to this moment. And you can imagine that it would be easy to see the same obstacles the generation before them saw. They're going to come and go to the very edge of the land of promise and they're going to see a river that is swollen in the season in which it is running rapidly down. And you think, how are we going to cross this river? And then they hear, oh, we've had some spies sent over. And I think it's telling, isn't it, that Joshua only sends two spies this time. Moses sent the 12. I think it's kind of symbolic that if only two spies were faithful, then Joshua will just send two spies. We're gonna talk more about that story next week, the story of Rahab. But, and I wanna say this ahead of time, it does seem a little unusual maybe to talk about a woman of her background on Mother's Day, but no, she's included in the family line of Jesus. She's accounted as a mother of Jesus, if you will, if you think through the genealogy presented to us. So that's what we'll be doing next week for Mother's Day. But I want you to think for a moment, as they come to this, they're hearing a report from the two spies that went in of a great city. Jericho, a city that has got walls. I say walls because there were two walls, historians tell us. They were great walls, impenetrable walls. And you have to think as you're the Israelite army, you think we have no chance. We don't have the skill to take this city. We don't have the means to take this city. We don't have the experience to take this city. There's no way we're going to take this city. But they never seem to say that. As a people, they seem to say, all that God has promised us, He will do. That's the faith we're going to see next week in Rahab. I've heard what your God has done, and I've heard that He's already given you this city, and if He's given it to you, it's already yours. So we come to the moment in which they face these things. What a great contrast it is with the previous generation. But it does seem an impossible victory. They come to the edge of the river. And I'm going to ask you to turn to Joshua chapter 3, because we come to that very text. They come to the edge of the River Jordan and you can imagine for a moment how this is going to be a great obstacle. How will they even get across this river? And listen to what it says, Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from the Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan. He and all the children of Israel and lodged there before they crossed over. So it was after three days that the officers went through the camp, and they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.' And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.' Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people. So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And the Lord said to Joshua, This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel. that they may know that as it was with Moses, so I will be with you. You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan. So Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come here and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is among you. And he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. And it shall come to pass, as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap. And so it was, when the people set 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 into the edge of the water, for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest, that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zeratan. When you think about that for a moment, you see a mighty example of God's power. Forty years earlier, we saw it at the Red Sea. Maybe we forgot. But here's another generation getting to see God's power in stopping the flow of water and allowing His people to go across on dry ground. So amazing is this as a moment in the land of promise, as they are entering in the land of promise, that in the very next chapter, what are they commanded to do? Each tribe to take a stone out of the dry riverbed and to erect, if you will, a monument on the other side. Why would you do that? Well, because it says in the text, one day your children are going to ask what these stones mean. It's a peculiar heaping of stones, dad or grandpa. That's a peculiar heaping of stones. Why are they like that? Why does no one mess with them? Why does no one knock them over or whatever the case might be? And now you've got an opportunity to testify, don't you? You see, when we came into this land, God stopped the flow of water of the Jordan River so that we could walk across on dry land. And He commanded us to take these stones and to erect them here as a monument to His power, that we might teach our children and grandchildren, and that we might never forget the power of God to keep His promise. Now, my friends, there's an amazing obstacle already overcome. And then they enter into the land, they camp at Gilgal, the children of Israel are circumcised. It's not normally the way you think about preparing for battle, is it? But they haven't been circumcised in the wilderness, so they must obey the command of God. And my friends, it's better for you to be a little hampered and have God with you than to think you're gonna win this battle by your brilliance or your military skill, which they don't have anyway. They need God, they recognize that. And in fact, we see that because as their Gogol, Joshua, takes a little stroll to look at, if you will, Jericho a little bit better. And in doing that, he has this amazing encounter. If you have your Bibles, turn to chapter 5 at verse 13. And the Word of God says this, And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes, and looked, and beheld, 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? And so he said, No, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face upon the earth, and worshipped, 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 feet. for this place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so. Now this is an amazing encounter and one in which he is given the instruction on what to do at Jericho, how to achieve victory, how to win the victory. But oftentimes we might say, who is this mysterious character? The captain or the prince of the Lord's army, however you want to translate that. And what's interesting about it is there are some clues here that tell us who it is. First of all, Joshua bows down to worship him. Now Joshua using the word Lord might not necessarily mean someone divine, but the fact that he falls down to know to worship this figure, and if this figure is just merely an angelic figure, the angel would immediately say, get up, do not worship me. So there's worship going on here. But if that wasn't enough, what he says at the end, take your sandals off your foot for the place you are standing is holy. We would have to remember one generation before and Moses at the burning bush. where he's told the exact same thing. As he approaches that bush, the voice calls out to him from in the bush and says, The Bible leaves us no doubt that that is a picture of the presence of God in that burning bush. And so there is some sense in which we are to realize this is an appearance of God, a theophany, or maybe more appropriately, as theologians say, a Christophany, an appearance of Christ pre-incarnate. But regardless, He's going to give him the answer for what he is to do. In the very next chapter, He says, You shall march around the city, all you men of war. You shall go all around the city once, And this you shall do for six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And 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. And then the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight before him." Now, I'm going to tell you to accept that as the battle plan takes faith. Imagine if when maybe some of you were serving in the military, your general came to you and said, here's what we're going to do. We're just going to march around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, we're going to march around seven times. We're going to blow our trumpets. And then I want all of you all to shout really loud and the fortress has to fall. You'd say, I don't think that's a good plan, right? But they know this comes from God. They know this has been revealed. Joshua certainly knows this from his encounter here near Gilgal and near Jericho. And so this is told to the people of Israel, the soldiers. This is what we are to do. We're going to march around the city. And, you know, many of the commentators on this passage will say, you can imagine being in Jericho, you feel pretty safe anyway in your city, although they had begun to quake, the Bible tells us. We'll see a little more of that next week at the revelation that God was giving victories over and over. And if you stand on the tell or the mount that Jericho sat on, you can see the Jordan River. from there, it may very well be that they saw the river part. That would maybe shake your confidence a little bit in your city walls if you saw God do that. But again, the point is this, they had a magnificent city, a great city, great walls, walls that would be impenetrable. But imagine as they see the people come out and circle the city and then leave. Maybe they wonder, do the people have courage to stand against us? Do they think they can win this battle? On that seventh day, something happens a little differently, right? They have seven trips around the city, and on that seventh trip, the seven priests blow the trumpets, and they know when that long blast comes at the end, the people are to raise their voices and shout, and shout. My friends, we know first of all, it's not the trumpets, it's not the voices that knock those walls down, it's the power of God. But that power is acting in faith. It's acting in faith. Because the people, as they shout, believe God is going to bring those walls down. His power is not constrained. We're not arguing that, but we're saying the text of Hebrews tells us this, that when they did these things the walls came down. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith. By faith. It's amazing as you look at the overall passage we've been looking at for a couple of weeks. Let me turn back to Hebrews for a moment. Because we've been seeing Moses over and over again. By faith he forsook Egypt. By faith he kept the Passover. But notice what happens in verse 29. By faith they passed through. Now that would be worth a sermon on its own just trying to figure out exactly how we can say the children of Israel at the Red Sea had faith in that moment. Maybe once they saw the waters parted, they had faith that God would keep them parted as they went across. But notice that they continues forward into this verse because it's by the faith, if you will, of the people as they circle the city. Believing the promise of God that if we do what God has told us to do, He will bring these walls down. Walls that we can't bring down. A victory that we cannot win. God alone can do this. And by faith through His grace, He will do it. My friends, that was the point, if you will, for the original recipients of this letter. We always want to keep in mind what this letter is addressing. They're dealing with difficult times. They're dealing with a culture that is not accepting the church. It's getting more and more difficult. They're finding more and more persecution, and they're thinking about, you know, the synagogue's a little safer place to be right now. If we just go back to Moses, we'll be a little safer. And again, it's a reminder that what the world looks like from your side isn't what's happening always. That God is at work in ways that you can't comprehend. And God has the power to deliver. He has the power to do all sorts of things in His time and His will. But He asks His people to walk by faith. To walk by faith. Now it's not hard to see how that would apply to us today. We live in a world in which we see a lot of things happening, right? A world that we can be very pessimistic about. We look at a world where we see maybe the church, it seems to be, as an institution, declining in the West. We hear of great things happening amongst the nations in terms of mission work, but much of the mission work is questionable, if we're just honest about it. A lot of prosperity gospel stuff going to the ends of the earth. It's easy to say, ah, what's happening here? But the answer's the same. God calls us to walk by faith, to trust in Him, to obey Him, and to do the things He's called us to do, to continue to do the things that we can do, trusting that He ultimately holds the power in His hands to do the things that He's going to do. It's kind of the reminder that we have in 1 Corinthians. as thinking about the gospel work and some of the people in the Corinthian church being overly exalted, perhaps. He says, look, remember this, at the end of the day, one sows in other waters, but it's God that gives the growth. You know, we need to remember this thing is in God's hands. He calls us to be his faithful servants and stewards, whatever it may be, however we want to think about those terms, but he calls us to do it recognizing that we're ultimately working according to his power and according to the gospel that he's called us to proclaim to the ends of the earth. And so my friends, we need to always be optimistic about the work we're called to. And this isn't to get into an eschatological sermon today, but it is to remember, if you will, that we are part of a mission that is pointing toward an eschatological conclusion. And that God does have a mission that will go out to every tongue, tribe, and nation. And that there will be people from every tongue, tribe, and nation that will be a part of His kingdom. And that ought to motivate us to be working according to this, not only in missions that go to the ends of the earth, but even in our own neighborhoods. We need to be sharing the gospel with our friends, with our neighbors, with our coworkers. And yes, we need to be thinking of ways we can support the gospel mission, even to the ends of the earth. But my friends, we should do it with an optimistic outlook that God is at work, God is at work, and he calls us to join into that work while there's yet time. So with that, I want to encourage you to think about that and to remember in whom it is we trust.