Well, I invite you to take your Bibles this morning and turn if you would to the book of Joshua. Joshua, chapter 6, where we will spend our time continuing our worship by listening to God's Word. Joshua, chapter 6 is where we'll be this morning. Go ahead and take out that handout from your bulletin, so we'll take notes as well. It was the English poet, Alexander Pope who said, “Bless ed is he that expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” Now, that's not a warning about the sermon ahead, which is the fact of reality. You know, the reality of life is that life never really goes how we'd expect it to go. We develop over time expectations in life, expectations about health, finances, relationships, expectations about kids in college and prestige. We make plans, we build budgets, we save money, but life doesn't always go the way that we would expect it. Again, “Blessed is he that expects nothing for he shall never be disappointed.” Another writer said it like this, “There are two ways to be happy and improve your reality or lower your expectations.” Most of life is going to consist of expectations being made, and those expectations being unmet. And usually when a big tragedy strikes, when a big disappointment comes when life throws you a curveball, you begin asking questions like well, can I really expect anything? Like what can I actually bank on what sort of expectations for my life would be reasonable? Well, this morning, our passage in Joshua Chapter 6 is going to give us clarity on what we can actually expect in this life. Now, as you're looking at Joshua, chapter 6, some of you are looking at it in your Bible, you're seeing the heading that the publisher put in there, and you're seeing the Fall of Jericho. And some of you are going like, wait, what you mean by Joshua's 6, you mean the story with Jericho and the marching and the trumpets and the walls going, uh, tumbling down. This is the chapter that's supposed to give me clarity on life. I thought this was a kid’s story. And maybe it is, we'll see. But we do know, as we said a few weeks ago that all scripture is inspired by God. All Scripture is from God's mouth, and therefore it's all profitable. Now, what I want you to see this morning is this story is incredibly practical, and profitable for your life. In fact, in Joshua's 6, 7, and 8, the author, who we think is Joshua, he's really creating for us this three chapter scene that shows us how we should expect life to operate. And I want us to look at this very familiar story, this beloved story, and see what we can learn about life. So, as we read through it, we're going to read through this whole chapter, and I want you to ask yourself two things, as we're reading through it, I want you to notice, like, what is so repetitive as I read through it, you're going to notice like, man, this is a very repetitive chapter. And as we do that, I want you to ask yourself, why is the author doing this? Why is the there's no word count here. There's a point that he's trying to make. And I want you to see if you can notice it, even as we read through it. So, if you would, if you're able, please stand for the reading of God's Word. And we're going to hear the very Word of God from the book of Joshua, chapter 6. Let's read it together. God's Word says,
Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat,[a] and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” So 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.” And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.” And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days. On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword. But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. “At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.” So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.
This is God's very Word. You may be seated. And as we begin our time studying this chapter, let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we ask for your help this morning, that you would help us to be hold you in all your glory, that we would give you praise and worship, that we would take this story which is so often relegated to a children's story, and that we would understand it clearly that we not only see you better, but we'd understand what you would have us do with this story. God, I pray that your spirit would be at work in this time to give a supernatural focus, and that your word would cause our hearts to love you more and obey you more faithfully. I pray this in your Son's name. Amen.
So, we ask as we dive into this story, what does this story teach us about expectations? And what can I really expect in life? Like I'm not going to battle anytime soon? I don't think there's no walls I'm trying to tear down. So, what are we supposed to do with this? And how do we understand this story here? Well, what I want to do if you look at your handout is I want to ask two questions on as to questions this morning to help us get this story and figure out what to do with the story. And when each of those questions will have some answers. The first question will have three different answers. The second question will have one answer. It's my not so sneaky way of turning a two point sermon into a four point sermon. But anyway, we're going to ask two questions from this. And my prayer is we ask these questions. Well, we understand this passage, that God is going to use this to sanctify us, to make us more holy and more faithful to him.
So, here's our first question we're going to ask. You ready? The question is this: “What should you expect from God?” What should you expect from God? Remember, these stories in the Bible are not just stories, they are theology in narrative form; they're telling us what God is like. This isn't just a history of what God did at one time. It's a picture of who he is at all times. And so, it's legitimate for us as we read this thousands of years later, over three thousand years later, as we read this story to not only see what God was doing, but to know okay, this is the god we're singing to and praying to right now. This means you could expect him to act in this way still today. So that's our first question. And let's give three answers for it.
Answer number one to what we should you expect from God, or from this passage from Joshua, chapter 6, number one: “You should expect God to accomplish his purposes.” You should expect in your life, that God is always consistently accomplishing his will. And let's see that from this passage here. Remember, we're jumping into this story that's really been in motion since Genesis chapter 12, way back when God called a man named Abram, who became Abraham and told him, Abraham, you're going to have a people, and those people are going to live in a nation that's going to be the promised land. Well, the book of Joshua is about them receiving that nation. And in Joshua 1, Joshua becomes the human leader of that nation. Joshua 2, they send some spies to Jericho to learn about the nation they're going to invade. In Joshua 3, 4, and 5, they kind of enter the land for the first time. But now is when the invasion starts, now is when the promise begins to get fulfilled of God, giving his people the land. So, that's what we're reading this morning. We're reading the beginning of the conquest. But there's a problem, and it lies right at the very beginning. Joshua 6:1, it says, “Now Jericho was shut up, inside and outside because of the people of Israel.” See this line here? None went out. And none came in. Jericho here is on is on lockdown. And it's not because of the government regulations of a pandemic or anything like that. They're shutting it down, the doors are bolted, everything's barred, everything's closed down, because they're freaked out about the people of Israel. So, what they've done as they've secured their city, no one's coming in, and no one's getting out. We're hunkering down. And as we read that we should almost picture like ominous music playing, we're seeing the scene of the doors slowly shut, of the locks being closed, that you're picturing Helm's Deep, some of you from years past. And what you're seeing here is this thing is locked down. No one's getting into the city. Jericho would have been incredibly difficult to conquer. And you know this, a lot of you because you know that Jericho is famous for its what? Its high walls, it's got these walls that archaeologists have found, it's anywhere between twelve to eighteen feet tall, they would have been multiple sets of walls, one of them six feet wide, another twelve feet wide. And the way if you would have invaded the city, remember is this is the time that's pre aircraft, pre tank, pre missiles, or catapults. And so, Jericho would have been specifically secure because it was up on a hill. So, imagine its hill and then wall and then hill and then wall. And so what you have is the men of Jericho able to defend it from above by either, you know, shooting arrows or throwing objects down.
And so Israel had two options to conquer this city. Both of them would have taken a very long time and cost a lot of men. One is just by pure numbers take over, hey, for every one of their soldiers we kill will lose about twenty to fifty. But we're just going to try to overpower them. Right? We're going to lose a lot of men, but we're going to take the city in the meantime. That's one option they could have had. The other option is they would have just starved the city out, cut off supplies, waited them out, too. They starved and surrendered. Knowing that every time rations made it pass, it was going to slow plans down for another three months.
Both of those plans were lengthy. Both of those plans didn't guarantee success. Neither plan really would have worked for this ill-trained army. Remember, this is really their first battle. So, it's like a long conquest ahead of them. But you see what God says in Joshua 6:2 says that God says to Joshua, see, he says, look, he says, observe, notice this. “I have given Jericho into your hand.” God system. Hey, look, it's already over. I've already done, I've already won the battle. And the people would have been looking like it doesn't really look like we've won yet. Looks like this is going to be hard. I bet some people there would have been suspicious if the battle was really done. And if they weren't suspicious there, they certainly were suspicious when they heard the plan, right. Let's get the band on the field. It's okay. We're told only going to win this battle, you're going to go like, what is he talking about? But what this begins to show us is that no matter the circumstances, God's Word always prevails. His purposes always come to pass, his promises never fail.
And let me just show I'm not just spiritualizing this and reading into the text I want to show you. That's the very theme of the book of Joshua, take your Bible and let's go to the end of the book. Let's go to Joshua 21. The very end of chapter 21. If you're reading the book of Joshua, if you’re reading as one big story, and you want to find sort of the theme, the thesis statement, I think this is it right here at the end of Joshua 21. I think Joshua 22 and 23, or 24 are kind of like the extra scenes, sometimes known at the end of the credits of a movie. I think the movie ends in chapter 21. And this right here is the theme of chapter 21. Look at Joshua 21:43. It says, “Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there.” YHWH gave them rests on every side, just as he had swore to their fathers; notice, this is a summary. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for YHWH had given all their enemies into their hands. And here it is ready first. Not one word of all the good promises that YHWH had made to the house of Israel had failed, all came to pass. And the Hebrew the idea, there is no fallen words, his words don't fall, they stand in the book of Joshua. Kings will fall, plans will fall, walls will fall, God's word stands, it sticks, it all comes to pass, you can take it to the bank and have faith in what he is saying.
And so, the lesson for us this morning is clear and what we can expect out of life. We can expect that, no matter the circumstances, no matter what we're going through personally, nationally, or as a church family, God is always accomplishing his purposes, his will is always being done. Do you realize that Christian, that there's no circumstances no interruptions in our life that have gotten in the way of God's plan? So listen to this, Psalm 115:3. Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases.” That picture again, as we just saying is he's on his throne. And he's doing whatever he wants all the time. Psalm 135:6 says, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and an earth in the season and all the deeps, whatever he pleases, he does. Psalm 135:6. In fact, take your Bible, if you would, let's hold our spot here in Joshua, chapter 6. Let's go to Ephesians 1, because I think we have one verse in Ephesians, that helps us with this. The picture we get in Scripture is of God who is a king, whose word always prevails. And he's not a detached king who sort of established his kingdom and then let it do whatever it wants. Nobody, he's ruling and reigning in directing everything. In Ephesians 1:11, it's not even Paul's like, main thought here. But it's such a comforting and clear picture of God's kingship. Ephesians 1:11, it says, “In him, we have obtained an inheritance, haven't been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will. All things, everything, everything in your life, everything in my life. Everything that is happening is being directed by overseen by a God who rules all of it. For said before, by another pastor, there's no Maverick molecule, there's no accidents. God is doing everything at once and everything is going according to his plans. Isn't that so opposite of us? Like our plans very rarely go the way we'd like them to go. Like, even if you were to like go back in time and think about yourself five years ago, and the plans you were making then for the future, you've seen what little control that we have. Plans fall apart, meetings have to be canceled, flights get postponed, right? We have control over very little in our life. In fact, I know we don't like to think about it. I know. When we do our timeline, it's like we go from 2019 right to 2022. But even three years ago, all of us are reminded of how little control we have over anything in our life. But unlike us, we can't guarantee what's going to happen next week or next month or next year, God's purposes are always standing there, always moving forward. Christian, are you acting like that and believing that? Are you believing that whatever interruption is in your life, God's purposes are still continuing?
What are some of his purposes, by the way? Let me just list a few of them for you. In fact, some of these verses will be part of one of your questions this week for fellowship groups. But let's just remind ourselves of like, what are God's purposes? You could just jot these down now, what are the things he's always doing? Well, I'll tell you, a few of them. 1 Peter 1:3-5 tells us that he has an inheritance for us that's imperishable and undefiled and reserved for you. His purpose, according to John 10, is to keep you, that no one would snatch you out of Jesus' hand and no one would snatch you out of the Father's hand. His purpose, according to Jude 24, is to keep you Christian from stumbling. His purpose according to Romans 8:28 is to work all things are good, whose purpose is Romans 8:29 conform you to the image of Christ. His purpose, Luke 18, is to seek and to save the lost. His purpose is to use his people to draw other sinners to himself, to forgive anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord. Psalm 23. His purpose is to consistently shepherd his people. His purpose, Matthew 16, is to build his church, and his purpose is to establish his eternal kingdom forever. Not one of these have been put on pause. Not one of these is going not according to his plan.
So, Christian, can I ask you? Are you living like you expect God to accomplish all that he said he's going to do? Or sometimes, when interruptions come, we find ourselves easily distracted, or overly disturbed? Do your prayers reflect someone who's confident? As you look out on the world? Do you still believe God's doing what he's supposed to do? Hey, I know we're in a time right now of economic turmoil. And we're in a time right now of moral decay and national uncertainty and international uncertainty. And next year is going to be an election year. So, I mean, 2024 will be a hoot. You know, it's all going to be good times going forward. But do we talk like that we trust God is still doing what he says he's going to do? Or do we allow uncertain times to cause us to act like God's purposes are uncertain? Sometimes will say stuff like, man, how's Christianity going to make it? How's our churches going to afford to be established? And you care for one another? How is the gospel going to go out? How am I going to raise my family in this situation? Are people going to still be being saved?
Friend, God is going to keep doing what he's promised he would do, all his good pleasure will be accomplished. In fact, friends, not only can we rest in the fact that God is going to accomplish his purposes, but remember, he regularly does so in a way we don't expect in a time we don't expect. So we remember that He is in control, not us. Let me say that again, God regularly, even in times like this, when the city is locked down, he regularly does things at unexpected times, and unexpected ways to remind us that he's in control, not us. So, when Israel needed to be rescued out of Egypt, he picked the murderer who was afraid of public speaking to lead his people out. And when Israel wanted a king who was head and shoulders above all the other kings, God doesn't pick that kind of king, he picks the artsy shepherd boy to lead his people. And when Israel wants freedom from under the thumb of Rome, he doesn't send a military leader. Now he sends his son born in a barn, born in humble means, who lives as a carpenter to deliver his people not from tyranny of government, but from under the tyranny of sin. And when God wants to establish his church that exists, two thousand years later, he doesn't pick the most influential people, the most grabbable people, the greatest, most powerful, popular people. Now he chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. Why? Because it reminds us that he's in control, not us. And so, what can we expect? We can expect that God is going to continue to accomplish all his good pleasure. That's what you and I can expect.
Here's our second expectation. What should you expect from God? What can you expect from God? Second: “You should expect God to judge the wicked.” You should expect God to judge the wicked. We're back now in Joshua, chapter 6. And I love this story. I mean, we love singing about the walls tumbling down. I mean, this is a day of sanction destruction in children's ministry right there could be marching and destroying, and it's like, yes, let's do this. You should stack up all the pillows in your house later and just practice this scene. It's great. But this chapter as we read is not a cutesy children's story. There are scenes in here that are troubling. And they cause us to recoil a bit. Joshua 6:20, it says that they're all going to go into the city. Joshua 6:21, says, “Then they devoted all in the city to destruction. Both men and women, young and old oxen and sheep and donkeys with the edge of the sword.” This is total devastation. They wipe this city off the map. There, Joshua, chapter 6, we run into a sort of ethical issue, an issue that comes up in apologetics, an issue that causes even some people who claim to be Christians to say, yeah, I'm more of a New Testament only Christian, because how can the God who sent Jesus command people to do such atrocious things? How could God tell people to do this? How is this any better than the warmongering gods of other religions?
One critic writes this. He writes, “much of the book of Joshua is repulsive, starting with the ethnic cleansing, the savage dispossession and genocide of native peoples, the massacre of women and children, not all simply condoned but ordered by God.” Or another author writes this, “how can we reconcile God's love for humanity with the concept of genocide in the book of Joshua?” These are some heavy accusations. And when they come, we can't just run from them. We can't be like, I don't know. But let's go to Matthew, like we can't do that. We need to understand like what God is doing here, we don't need to feel like we need to get God off the hook. We know his character. So how do we think about this? How do we work through these issues? Is it okay for us to believe in a God who judges in this kind of manner? Let me begin by saying that Scripture is in no way shy about God's coming judgment upon the wicked. Scripture does not flinch. Scripture is not embarrassed about this, and I don't think we should be either. Psalm 5:4, listen to this. Psalm 5:4-6 says you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes, you hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. So, this is not God hates the sin but loves the sinner. This is God very angry with the sinner personally. Listen to another one. This is Psalm 7:11-13. So Psalm 7:11 says, “God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, he” God, “will sharpen his sword. He has bent his bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for himself deadly weapons, he makes his arrows, fiery shafts. God promises to judge, he does not hide from this. Take our Bible if you are let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 9, Deuteronomy 9 because God specifically addresses this issue in Deuteronomy 9, this issue of the Canaanites by the way, some people are going to ask, Is this fair to the Canaanites? Is this some sort of like racism or ethnic priority here? Well, how are we supposed to interpret this? I'm sure there's all sorts of bad interpretations that have become on that. But that's not what is going on here. Listen, what is happening to the Canaanites if we're honest, should happen to everyone. Everyone should be entitled to that kind of judgment. Because sin is not this mistake we make, sin is not this, this weakness we have sin is rebellion against God. And what God makes clear to the Israelites is ,he's tells them here Deuteronomy 9. Hey, you're not the good guys who are beating the bad guys. I'm the good guy who gets to judge the bad guys, and I'm going to use you to judge these people at this time, I want you to see that listen, Deuteronomy 9:1 says, “Hear, O Israel, you were to cross over the Jordan today to go into dispossessed nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven.” He says again, Deuteronomy 9:3, “Know therefore today that he who he who goes over before you as a consuming fire as YHWH your God, he will destroy them and subdue them before you.” Right he's promising judgment and look at what he does in verse 4. “Do not say in your heart after YHWH your God has thrust them out before you.” It is because of my righteousness that YHWH has brought me into possess the Land, whereas it is because of the wickedness of the nations that YHWH is driving them out before you, not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart, are you going to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, YHWH your God is driving them out before you and that he may confirm the word that you always spoke to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. He's making it clear. It's because these people are wicked.
Take your Bible, it's going to one of the verses, it's going to Leviticus 18. Leviticus 18 Just a couple of books to your left. Because again, I think we get this idea like, wow, these poor Canaanites you know, they were working nine to five job and saving up money in their 401 K and signing up their kids for sports. And then these Israelites just came in and ransacked them, how evil could they do? How evil could these people be? That's not the picture we get. The picture we get is of this rebellious, pagan, idolatrous nation. So, in Leviticus chapter 18, what God says here in verse 24, it's in 18. And most of them because he's been giving them these commands, he's been given these commands against sexual sin against idolatry sin. And verse 24, he says, “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things. For by all these the nations, I am driving up before you have become unclean.” Notice what he says there. He's saying, by these things, these things that I'm warning you against Israel don't do these things. Because these things are what all the nations have been doing. They've been doing these wicked practices. You've been saying, what are sort of the what are those sorts of practices? Well, you're worried about sexual abuse, abuse of women, but I think the one that just sends out is verse 21. Right before that, he says, “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Moloch and so profane the name of your God, I am YHWH.” God says you will not do child sacrifice to false gods like Moloch in the land, because that's what these wicked nations have been doing.
And so, when we read about the evil of these nations, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to defend them. Like all of us want justice, all of us see evil. And then here's the God who is righteous, he goes, I’ll judge evil, and some of us go, wait, maybe you can't do that to those people. See, the problem is that inward desire for justice that God has given us, we really like it until we realize it's a reality. But God is the one who will really bring judgment. Let's go to the book of Joshua, back to the book of Joshua here. You see in Joshua, we realize is because some of us go like, wow, man couldn't God have been more patient with these people. Don't you realize that way back in Genesis 15. Good job back in Genesis 15. God's telling Abraham why they're going to be for four hundred years enslaved in Egypt. And he tells them, by the way, you're going to be there in slavery. Genesis 15:16, he says, “then in the fourth generation, they will return here to Canaan, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” God who says hey there, I could have judged the Canaanites back then, but I waited four hundred years for them to repent. And they didn't. And so, God judges them. See, in Joshua, chapter 2, remember what Rahab had said? Joshua, chapter 2:10, she says, “for we have heard how YHWH dried up the water of the Red Sea. When you came out of Egypt, what you did to the two kings of the Emirates were beyond the Jordan, we knew about God. But the rest of the people of Jericho did not repent, refused to obey. Some of you might be thinking, well, man, maybe this is just a Gentile thing. Maybe this is just God having preference for those. Not so true, Lord willing, if we go through Joshua, chapter 7, you'll read then about a man named Aiken, who is an Israelite, who sins just like a Canaanite and who gets judged, just like a Canaanite. God here is not showing partiality. He will judge all those who refuse to turn to him.
Maybe you have one other argument against this, maybe you have one other problem with this idea. Let's turn to one other spot. Let's go to the very end. Go to Revelation chapter 9. It should be quick. We just flipped to the very end of your Bible there. Because some of us what we think is like well, maybe if God had, you know, these people that hadn't heard about Jesus yet, maybe if like God had been patient enough, and it said, like, well, let's just wait for Jesus to come and give these people one last like Jesus chance to obey, then maybe they would repent. That's just not true friend .Revelation chapter 9. We read in chapter 8 and chapter 9 about these judgments that are coming about in the world seems like the abyss is open and the demons are set free. There's a mountain at one point, throw it into the sea and all the sea turns into blood. There are these massive, obvious signs of destruction that are coming. And people would obviously like, well, if I see that I would repent, right? Look at Revelation 9:29. Verse 20, says the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshipping demons, and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor do they repent of their murders, or their sorceries, or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
You see, unbelief is a decision of the heart that's already been made, and unbelief, is it because these people didn't have all the facts, they've already decided they're not going to submit to this God. And so, if you gave the people of Jericho or if you give the people now who don't love the Lord, just more and more time, what most of them will do is you strengthen their stubbornness against God. So God has been very patient. Yet Jericho becomes a warning that one day that patience runs out, and all who refuse to devote their allegiance to God will be judged. And so friend, are we acting like God will actually do what he said? Are we appropriately expecting judgment? Christian, when we look at the world around us, and when we see the evil powers at work, and we see a Godless world becoming more Godless? Do we sometimes act and talk like we don't know God wins in the end? Do we sometimes act and talk like we have forgotten that God will have his final day of judgment, or his son and his people will be vindicated? Or Christian, when we deal with our unsaved friends, and coworkers, and relatives, too, we forget that this judgment is real, that the effects of their decisions are going to last forever facing the punishment for their sin. Friend, if you're here, and you've not submitted to the Lord, have you tricked yourself into thinking that judgment will not come just yet, or maybe not at all?
You know, when I lived in Los Angeles for eight years, I picked up a book while I was there, just to kind of learn the history of the city. And I picked up this book, it was called the Mirage Factory. It's a book about how LA is different than every other city in that it was manufactured. Most cities have like a big bay, or a big river or port or some sort of natural resource. LA doesn't have any of that, like the LA River is the most generous name ever given to a body of water ever. And it was a city that was built and how they had to get all their water from the Owens Valley, which is a couple of hundred miles north, up near Bishop. If you've ever driven up that way before, the people of that valley were really upset that their water was getting stolen. In fact, there are stories of the people the valley bombing the aqueduct that went all the way through dynamite, which is kind of awesome. But because of that, they begin to build these reservoirs. And one of them, in particular, was built in August of 1924. William Mulholland might be a name you've heard of, and he realized he's kind of the one overseeing all these water projects, he began secretly building this dam that became known as the St. Francis dam. It's often Francisquito Canyon Road, it's about five miles north of Santa Clarita, if you've been up there before the five and the fourteen kind of split off just a couple hours away. So, the construction begins on this dam and it's completed in May of 1926. The dam was built to hold 12.6 billion with a B, gallons of water. Shortly after its construction, though, there began to be problems. Issues. It was built hastily and quickly because of the dynamite issue. But in January of 1922, sizeable cracks begin to appear on the dam wall. Mulholland is asked about it he says, well, you've seen sidewalks before concrete when it dries, it cracks. This is just normal. Some people shoot it off, others got concerned. More seepages begin to appear. More cracks begin to happen. One man joked about it, didn't seem concerned. He says to his fellow coworker, well, goodbye, Ed. I'll see you in the morning if the dam doesn't break. Another man by the name of Carl Matthews was warned by his brother they live at the power houses down the way, and he said you need to move and get out of here. Carl tells his brother we’ll move in the morning. He doesn't get the chance. Early morning, March 13 1928. Just after midnight, the dam breaks 12.4 billion gallons of water. And I've been up there before, it's in this canyon. The walls are about 40 feet high. So, all of a sudden, you have this water flooding through a sevety foot wall. It's taking everything with it. So, the power house that's at the bottom is completely removed, and the only thing that's left is one turbine and the foundation. The water begins to collect trees and telephone poles and cars and buildings, which now all become battering rams are everything in the way the water moves, it moves out to right now where some of you might be familiar. We're like we're highway 126 is it's if you're going to Magic Mountain to Ventura. It's like sort of backway there it goes through like Santa Paula and Fillmore. By the time it hits that, the wall of water is about 20 feet high and two miles wide. There's obvious incredible death as that moves all the way to the ocean. One wife woke her husband and they both went to get to the kids. Her and her son made it to high ground, her husband and two daughters didn’t. One man pulled his car over to warn his neighbor. And when he got back, the flood had already taken his whole car, along with his wife and seven children. Of 150 workers at one farm camp 84 died. In total, about 430 people died in the disaster, many of which were workers at the power plants along with their family. I remember when I read this story, I wanted to go look at it. And I wanted to go drive up there and you could still see kind of where it's built today. And I remember looking up at these walls and picturing the water coming through. And the word that came to my mind was helpless. Like in that moment, if you had waited, and the dam broke, you had no chance of survival. You had no chance of this not coming upon you. Friend, if you're here and you're not a Christian, John 3:36 says the wrath of God abides on you right now. Like that sense of guilt that you felt that you're trying to work off, and maybe you're trying to go to church to get rid of that. That guilt comes from God's anger with your sin right now. And God, because of his patience, and his mercy, has allowed you to live, you're going to be allowed a friend who invites you to church and cause you to say yes, but there does come a day when the dam will break, who in the wall of God's mercy will be pulled up, and when his wrath and final judgment will come and you will not be able to do anything on that day, there will not be another chance. Every single refusal will have resulted in your final and full judgment.
Friend, judgment is coming. This is who God is. And yet God has also shown incredible mercy, He has given a promise that this doesn't have to be your eternal fate. This doesn't have to be how you live. He has sent his Son Jesus, not to be our guru or our teacher, but Jesus came to live the way you were supposed to live. And then take that wrath upon the cross, not just the wrath of nails and mocking and beating, but to take the wrath of God for sin for three hours, so that you wouldn't have to face that wrath. And if you were to even this morning, even today, if you were to say, Lord, help me, Lord, forgive me, I need mercy.
You could receive mercy even today. How do I know this? Because of our third thing from this passage we can expect from God. Answer number three: you should expect God to show mercy to sinners. You should expect it from this passage. We're again back in Joshua chapter 6, and we read about this destruction, we read about the city being put to flame. And yet we also read this story of this woman named Rahab. A story where the author certainly remembers her name, but wants to remind you that she was a prostitute. See in Joshua Chapter 2, Rahab helps the spies. Okay, well, we will come back and if you don't rat us out, we will deliver you and everyone who's in your house. And we believe it at the time but some chapters have gone by and so here's this question. Is this promise real? Like can God really forgive a prostitute’s idolatry? Or was this some sort of trick? And the answer this text points out is Jericho gets destroyed, all who oppose God will be destroyed. But that's not the way it has to be. Doesn't have to end that way for you. Because it doesn't end that way for a prostitute named Rahab. Verse 22, Joshua says, go into the prostitutes house, and bring out from there, the woman and all who belong to her as you swore to her. Look at the juxtaposition of verses 24 and 25. They burned the city with fire and everything in it. Verse 25, but Rahab, the prostitute and her father's household and all who belong to her, Joshua saved, alive.
See, God will judge any who oppose him and either Jew or Gentile. And God will have mercy for any sinner who repents, Jew, or Gentile. Friend, do we believe that this morning? Do you live your life expecting for God to show mercy to sinners? Do some of us have people that in our mind have gone too far that they're now beyond the reach of God's mercy? And that's not true. That's not who God is. Maybe you're here this morning, and you're thinking, yeah, but these people don't know how sinful I am. This guy doesn't know how sinful I am, these people around me don't know what I've done. Maybe that's true. But God does. And God offered his Son as a sacrifice for even your sin. Jesus says, Matthew chapter 11, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest.” He says in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out.” For there's mercy for you even today. And if you're someone who knows they need mercy, you don't need to do anything magical or mystical. You don't need to do some sort of ceremony at the end. All you need to do is turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in your hearts, pray to the Lord and say, Lord, I am I have sinned against you. And I need you to forgive me. And you're going to follow him not as some payment plan, but as the one who's rescued you. I know thereare so many people here who probably would have been praying for you, who would love to talk to you about that today, I'd be happy to talk to you right after the service right here about how you can see receive forgiveness in Christ. Remember, Jesus didn't say I came to set the example. He came down. He said, I came to seek and to save the lost. Are you lost? Then you're qualified, Jesus can save even you. So, what should we expect from God? Not only then, but now we should expect God to accomplish his purposes, we should expect God to judge the wicked. And we should expect God to show mercy to sinners.
We're not done yet. We've got one more point. One more question we need to ask. We've asked the question, What can we expect from God? Here's our second question this morning: “What does God expect from you?” Question number two, what does God expect from you? This is where we get into, like, what's the practicality for us in this passage? What are we supposed to do with this. And this is typically where so much of the teaching on Joshua's 6 goes sideways, and get so weird, because these walls begin to turn into these things like some of you got walls in your life. You've got strong willed kids, but you just need to keep circling them with the trumpet of truth, and their walls will come down. And these walls turn into things. These walls begin with all sorts of self-help, like, you got the walls of anxiety, or the walls of poverty, or the walls of algebra or the walls of gluten, and you've got stuff in your life. And this becomes about us getting together and let's tear down these walls in our hearts. And I don't want to go too crazy. I think these walls might actually just be walls. I don't know just might make me think they were actual literal walls that came tumbling down. And my favorite misinterpretation of this some of you probably heard this before, is you know, the preacher who gives like uses this as dating advice. You know, some of you guys you're interested in a young lady, but her walls are up. But don't worry, you just keep circling her, and the walls will come up, her heart will come wide open for you. Yeah, homies Don't be stalker. So we will find you. We will get rid of you. That's not what we're supposed to do with this.
So, what is this chapter trying to teach us? What are we supposed to learn from this? And I think what we're supposed to learn from this is, well, what was the author trying to point out? So remember way back earlier in the sermon when we read this long chapter, and some of you were like, Oh, my goodness, this is a long chapter and some of you are going, man, I remember the children's story taking ninety seconds to tell, and why is this so long and repetitive and like he gives details on the first day. And then he repeats, like, let's take a look at this here. Like, God talks a ton there. In Joshua 6:2-5, he gives all these instructions. Joshua6:8-11, just to see. It seemed to be a repetition, like, yeah, they did everything. Here's the front guard. Here's the rear guard. Here's what Joshua said, Here's what Joshua wore. And then Joshua 6:12-14, it's the exact same thing as Joshua 6:8-11. As if we missed it the first time and we're like, what is going on? Let me tell you what the author's trying to highlight and what as you point out, here's what he's pointing out. You're ready? He's pointing out that they obeyed everything. They obeyed every single detail. Every single day. They obeyed every last command that God gave them. In fact, obedience becomes the theme of these three chapters. So, Joshua, chapter 6, they obey, they conquer. Joshua, chapter 7, they disobey they lose. Joshua, chapter 8, they obey, they conquer. And in fact, that at the end of Joshua, chapter 8, there's this this scene. It's something that we're told to do back in Deuteronomy 27, where half the people gets up on Mount Gerizim. And the other half get up on mount evil in this valley. And over here, they rehearse all these blessings out loud. Over here, they sell these cursings. And that says, if these three chapters in that mountain scene and say, hey, look, you got two decisions in front of you, you could obey and be blessed, or you could disobey and be cursed.
So, what is it that God wants from us? You ready? It's just one word. What does God want from you? “Faithfulness.” What does God want from you? Faithfulness. God wants you to obey every command that he's given you. He wants you to consistently, happily, to the fullest extent, obey. That is the measure of success. God is grading us on faithfulness, that really is the emphasis of this book. Like the emphasis of this book is, hey, God's words don't fail. So don't fail to obey God's word. He's faithful in all that he's promised. So, you be faithful to all that he's commanded. You see, so much of Christianity Today, in our culture has somehow become Instagrammable and bloggable, and fiery emojiable and remember, this high emotional moment we had was killer. And then we jumped to this high emotional moment here, and we're just kind of living for mountaintop peaks. I actually don't think that that's what this is about. I think this is just about them doing normal, everyday, obedience. And that's what we should be known for too. Look, it's good to have, you know, great moments. It's good to have great memories and great times of worship. Well, God wants more than your life in your life is faithfulness, not flashiness. He just wants you to be faithful. He doesn't want you just like, Oh, I've been living rough here. But I had this big moment and this moment in this moment. He cares about the in between stuff. Have you obeyed all that he's called you to obey? Because God blesses obedience, friends. God blesses obedience, and he calls you to be faithful. If you're the only one, if you're the only believer at your work, or at your school or in your family. God's calling you to faithfulness. As you work from home when no one else is around, he wants you to be faithful.
See, many of us today are worried about leaving a legacy or being a world-changer or seeking some passionate moment. And, look, I want to do great things to the Lord in my life. But God wants you to comment, he does love your neighbor consistently. God wants you to be faithful that when you text that person, you're going to pray for them, you actually do it. He wants you to be faithful to take the time to share the gospel with your neighbors, to love your spouse and your kids more than yourself when you get home. Just regular everyday faithfulness and by the way, God does blessed faithfulness. The Scriptures tell us all about it. It's not in this way. It's not in tangible ways. Like if we are faithful, we don't necessarily get cities or jewels or wealth or mansions or anything like that. But he blesses it. I mean, he says so in Matthew 6, he says, “store up treasures in heaven.” There must be something there where our obedience is about seeking eternal reward. Like take your Bible. Let's, let's go to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 11. I want to give you a couple of verses that have been bouncing in my head lately, as I've been thinking about this theme of faithfulness. Hebrews chapter 11. We'll look at two passages. Hebrews 11:6, he was loving. It says, and without faith it is impossible to please him. Notice this for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who seek him. Whoever would please God, you believe that he exists. And Lord, I know, you know, I'm seeking you, and I'm trusting that you're going to reward it.
Let me give you another one. Go to Hebrews 6:10, for God is not unjust. Amen. God is not unfair, but in what way? God is not unjust, so as to overlook your work, and the love that you have shown for his name, and serving the saints as you still do. It's interesting. Like so much of regular faithfulness is so unflashy. Like you just faithfully show up, and you serve people. And you regularly are praying for people who've long since forgotten, they asked you to pray for those things. And you stay home all day, and mom you just faithfully love and disciple those kids. And men, while no one notices that work you just with integrity faithfully, year after year, serve the Lord. And you just faithfully keep praying for that child or that relative that's not a Christian and you just keep faithfully not worrying that your boss is not a Christian. And though you get harassed at work, you just keep being godly, you just week in and week out, you just keep choosing to obey the Lord, even in the small, unimportant things. You know, I love about Hebrews 6. It's like we have this picture of a God who never forgets and we think that's right. He doesn't forget any of the sins we've done. You're right, he doesn't. And he doesn't forget any act of faithfulness you've done for him. So Christian, stay faithful, keep serving, keep doing things in his name. Keep loving others for his glory, keep sharing the gospel. Why? Because God is faithful. He has been so gracious to us. And you can expect that no act of faithfulness done for his glory will go unnoticed. Paul says in First Thessalonians 5:23, listen to this. He says “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He who calls you is faithful, He will surely do it. He's been faithful to us. Friends, let's be faithful to him. Let me pray.
Father, thank you so much for your word that you've given us in the Book of Joshua. Thank you for this picture of what it is that you value. God you want your people to be obedient to you. And so God I do pray that we would be a people who are faithful, that we would not neglect any of your commands in any part of our life. That we would remember that in a world that wants flash and sizzle and highlights. God, you care about us honoring you in the smallest details. Lord, we are thankful that you are working all things according to your purpose. God we are as we think about your judgment, God there is a soberness to that. We praise You for it. And yet there's weight in Lord even this morning. I want to pray for anyone in here who doesn't know you that they would escape the judgment that is coming, that they would turn to Christ to receive the free offer of mercy that you have given in giving us your Son. Lord, we praise you that you are a God that we can depend on, that we can expect things from you because you've revealed yourself in your word. So Father, we pray that this week you keep us faithful keep our eyes fixed on you help us to walk in a way that pleases you. We pray this in your Son's name. Amen.