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Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
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Conquering Jericho by Faith 0:09 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning as we look at 3 more powerful packed chapters of the book of Joshua. We're gonna look at chapter 6 through 8, verse 30 of chapter0:21 8. Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. Alright. As I promised last week, I'm gonna have something special just for those of you who are on this journey through the0:33 Bible. I'm gonna tell you about it when we get to chapter 8 in Joshua's altar. But first, we have to take Jericho. Now Jericho was a formidable and a very strategic city. It was affluent,0:46 and it was located right in the middle of the promised land. So taking Jericho would divide the north from the south. What would that do? It would make it more difficult for the various cities and the various cities and0:58 the peoples to come together against Israel. Now this is a strategy that many military leaders have used, throughout the ages. By the way, Jericho1:10 is located in what is today called the West Bank, which is the heart of the Bible land. And this is in the middle of the area that the international community and many American administrations1:23 have been pushing Israel to give away as a part of a 2 state solution. Now think about that for just a moment. If Jericho being in the middle of the land was strategic1:34 then, would it not be strategic now? Answer is yes. Alright. Let's go to, chapter 6 verse 2. And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your1:46 hand, its king and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war. You shall go all around the city once. This you shall do for 6 days.1:58 And 7 verse 4, and 7 priests shall bear 7 trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. But the seventh day, you shall march around the city times, and the priest shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to2:10 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 go2:21 up every man straight before him. Now we've heard Bible stories like this so many times that we tend not to think about what we're reading. As I pointed out last2:33 time, Joshua was believed to have been a military leader in the Egyptian army. He was trained. He had studied military tactics. So the first campaign that he leads as the2:45 new leader of Israel is to march around the walls of a city and blow trumpets. See, Joshua was being put to the test. This required2:57 faith and humility. In fact, it required a lot of faith. He was not being instructed by God to use his military skills and attack with troops, but rather with3:09 trumpets, and on the surface, this made no sense. Joshua would look foolish in the eyes of the Israelites if this did not work out, and the startup nation would look like a bunch of3:21 clowns in the eyes of the Canaanites. But why was that? Well, look at the last verse of chapter 6 verse 27. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame3:32 spread throughout the country. The destruction of Jericho and the unconventional way that it happened only magnified the fear of those who heard about it. And as Joshua3:45 humbled himself before the lord in obedience, God actually lifted him up because God was lifted up. And that's what we're instructed to do, humble ourselves before the lord that he might lift us up.3:56 Now before we go to chapter 7, let's look at the important instructions that were given about the actual attack on Jericho. Verse 18 of chapter 6, and you, by all means, abstain from the accursed4:08 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 of the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated4:20 to the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. Okay. You're probably familiar with the story of Achan that we're about to look at in chapter 7 verse 1. But the children of IsraelAchan's Sin and Defeat at Ai 4:32 committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, For Achan took of the accursed things, so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Now in verse 11, we see that the sin4:44 of 1, 1 person, was accounted to all. Look at verse 11. Israel has sinned. Didn't say Achan is sinned. It says Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant,4:56 which I commanded them, for they have even taken some of the accursed things and have been stolen and deceived, and they have also put it among their own stuff.5:08 So with this trespass, this victimless crime, if you will, this private violation of God's word, hidden, they mounted an attack5:20 on AI with a small force. So nobody knows what's happening. This was a private thing. It was hidden. Nobody knew about it, so they go to attack the next city, AI. That's not5:32 artificial intelligence. That's AI a with a small force. Verse 4. So about 3000 men went up from there from the people, but they fled before the men of AI. And the men of AI struck down about5:44 36 men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shibarim and struck them down on the descent. Therefore, the hearts of the people melted and became like water. You see, the5:56 sin of 1 affects many. Verse 7, and Joshua said, alas, lord god, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites,6:08 to destroy us? Oh, that we have been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. You see, the effects of sin are demoralizing. You see, when we lose our strength and our standing and and we6:20 we begin to see the the enemy prevailing because of our sin, it's demoralizing. Verse 8, 0, lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back6:32 before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of land will hear it and surround us and cut off cut off our name from the earth, meaning eliminate us, then what will you do for6:43 your great name? See, the effects of sin bring reproach upon the name of the lord, and that's what Joshua is saying here. Verse 13, here's what the lord says. Get up.6:56 Sanctify yourselves. Sanctify. Set yourselves apart and say sanctify yourselves tomorrow because thus says the lord god of Israel, there is an accursed thing in7:08 your midst, oh, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. You see, spiritual compromise robs us7:20 of our moral courage and our ability to stand. God tells Joshua to deal with the sin by removing the sinner. Look at verse 24. Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan,7:32 the son of Zera, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his ox tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, why7:44 have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. Now there is debate over this passage as to7:56 whether or not his family was stoned with him or they were just taken to the place of stoning to see the consequences of sin. Now if they had been stoned with him, it was because they probably8:07 knew of Achan's sin, and they were accomplices. They didn't say anything. Now some would say that punishment is that that punishment was harsh. Yes. It was. It was to punish them and to8:19 warn others to obey God. Look at what Joshua said. Why have you troubled us? 36 innocent men died. That's 36 fathers and husbands8:32 who were dead because 1 man's actions that would claim that some would claim was a victimless crime. He didn't harm anybody. I mean, the people the owners of the accursed things that he took from Jericho8:43 were dead, so they were not offended. They weren't the offended ones. I mean, who could be hurt by hiding a little gold in the in the floor of your tent? What harm could it possibly bring?8:55 Disobedience to God has consequences, not just for the individuals, for the families, for the communities, and and for nations. Here's here's the reality. There is no9:07 such thing as a victimless crime. Alright. Chapter 8 recounts the successful battle for AI after this ordeal with Achan, and it shows that whileVictory Through Repentance at Ai 9:19 God's purposes and principles do not change, tactics and provisions can. In this battle, they were permitted to keep the spoil, and Joshua was given a different tactic to take the city. Verse 8,9:31 verse 1 of chapter 8. Now the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid nor be dismayed. Alright? Now after what had just happened, they were they were shook by this. Take all the people of war with you and arise and go up9:43 to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil9:55 and its cattle, you shall take his booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it. So if Achan would have just waited on the Lord, the next city they took, they were able to take the10:07 booty. Verse 3. So Joshua arose and all the people of war to go up against Ai, and Joshua chose 30000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. Now they were not overconfident this10:19 time. They they they sent, at least 10 times as many men. They used their previous defeat as a trap to defeat. They set this trap and defeated10:30 AI. Small reminder how God can use all things all things, even failures, to advance his purposes when we repent and we yield to him.Covenant Altar on Mount Ebal 10:42 Now last week in Deuteronomy chapter 27 when we were reading that, Moses gave instructions to the people to establish an altar when they crossed into the promised land10:54 and collectively, restate the law of God and the blessings and the curses associated11:07 Lord God of Israel at in Mount Ebal. As Moses, the servant of Lord, had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones over which no man has11:19 wielded an iron tool, and they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. And there in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses,11:31 which he had written. Then all Israel with their elders and officers and judges stood on either side of the ark before the priest, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well11:43 as he who was born among them, half of them were on were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal as Moses, a servant of the Lord, had commanded before that they should11:55 bless the people of Israel. And afterward, he read all the words of the law, the blessings, and the cursings according to all that is written in the book of law.12:06 Now I was on Mount Ebal, basically 1 year ago, and I read the passage from Deuteronomy as we stood there at the place right there beside Joshua's12:18 altar where this new nation of Israel declared their covenant with God in a land that had been promised so long ago to Abraham. And as I mentioned as I mentioned in the12:30 beginning of today's session, this is this land is a part of Israel's history. It's a part of their identity as who they are as a people. In fact, most of what we read read about in the Bible, about 80 percent,12:43 occur in this area of Judea and Samaria, which is part is is which is the area that the international community wants to take away from them to create this so called 2 state12:54 solution. So while I was there in Israel, I recorded a multipart series on these key biblical sites located in Judea and Samaria, and we've not released this series.13:06 It's not been released yet. But I wanna share with you an episode that I recorded at Joshua's altar, right there at Joshua's altar. You can see it in this video. You13:18 can see the stones that are still there and hear about the history of Joshua's altar. Just text the word altar, a l t a r, altar to 6 7 7 413:30 2. That's altar to 6 7 7 4 2. 2. I'll send you a link, and you can click on the link, and you can see it's about 29 minutes long. You can watch this first episode. Again,13:42 not been released to anyone yet. You'll be some of the first people outside of our staff and our core people to see this. And, and, also, something else no 1 else has heard. You'll be the first to13:54 hear it. I'm planning in March of next year a stand on the word Israel tour. So stay tuned for more details on that. Father, we thank you for our time14:06 together today, and and, Lord, I just thank you once again for your word. And and, Lord, for the the the principles and the truths that we're learning, especially as we move into the book14:18 of Joshua, a fantastic book. May the Holy Spirit open our eyes and our understanding to to to see and to comprehend, lord, the truths of your14:29 word and how they apply to our lives in this world in which we're living today. So we pray and ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning, and until next time, keep standing14:41 on the word.14:44 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:56 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Conquering Jericho by Faith4:28 Achan's Sin and Defeat at Ai9:10 Victory Through Repentance at Ai10:42 Covenant Altar on Mount Ebal
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