Joshua 6:16

0:00 Well, good evening, church. It's always an honor and a delight for me to bring the word to you. Let's go to the Lord one more time in prayer. Father, we pray that you would open our eyes so that we will see wonderful things in Joshua 6, verse 16. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. So, who fought the battle of Jericho? Who fought the battle of Jericho? According to a popular song that we all know, it's Joshua.

0:35 Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the war came. Help me here. Very good. Well, did Joshua really fight the battle of Jericho? Turn your Bible to page 182. We will look at Joshua chapter 6, verse 16. I think our text this evening will shed some light on this question.

1:07 Joshua chapter 6, verse 16 is on page 182 in one of those Pews Bibles. And at the seventh time, when the priest had blowed the trumpet, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. I think the main idea of this text is this. Our battle must be fought in God's ways and for his glory.

1:43 Our battle must be fought in God's ways and for his glory. I want to look at this text in three parts. First of all, our battle, secondly, God's ways, and thirdly, God's glory. Our battle, God's way, and God's glory. Let's look at the first point, our battle. Who are the Israelites fighting in this verse? If you look at the end of verse 16, we know that they are fighting against a city.

2:18 And from the context of chapter 6, we all know this is the city of Jericho. Now, Jericho is the first city in the promised land that they will engage in warfare. So this is the first battle. So it is important that they win. They really need this W. It would be terrible to start their season with 0-1 record. They really need to win this. And from elsewhere, we know that Jericho is a fortified city. So this battle would call for meticulous, careful, strategic planning.

2:54 And what is God's plan? Let's move on to the second point, God's ways. There are three details that I want to draw your attention to in verse 16. First of all, look with me at who participated in this battle. Verse 16, I see Joshua, I see the priests, and I see the common people. Joshua, the priests, and the common people. That's not who you really want to be. You wouldn't draft those people for war. But not only that, look at the second detail.

3:28 What are their weapons? Look at verse 16. Trumpets. You don't tear down a wall but with the trumpets. So that's not really what you want to carry with you on a battle either. But then look at the third point. What are they doing? Now, we know that from day 1 to day 6, they march around the city once every day. And then on day 7, they march around the city seven times.

3:59 And if you look at the first part of verse 16, at the seventh time, so that's when Joshua is going to command the priest to blow the trumpet, and then the people will shout. So what are they doing? They're marching around. They blow the trumpet, and they shout. That's not how you fight. You see? So what can we learn about God? But does it work? It does. Let your eyes skim down to verse 20.

4:31 Verse 20 of chapter 6. 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 guess what happened? And the wall fell down flat. So it works. So what can we learn about God's ways in this verse? God's ways are often strange, mysterious, but they are true. It works.

5:02 And so what can we do? We should trust God's way. We should trust how God does things. So whatever battles, spiritual battles we are in, trust God's ways. do it God's ways. But why don't we do it often? I think deep down it's because we think our ways are better. We may not fake it like it, but we should act like it. We should think like it. We should feel like it. We should walk around like it. We still think that our ways are better than God sometimes. There's a song by French Sinatra called, I Did It My Way. And the Bible said, no, no, no, don't do it your way, do it God's way, do it God's way, so God's ways are mysterious, but it works, he knows what he is doing, and that's what the Israelites do, they obey God, they march around the city, they blow the trumpet, they shout, and the wall falls down,

6:08 So that's the second point. We have seen God's battle, our battle, God's way. And now let's look at the third point, God's glory. Have you ever wondered why God does things the way he does? I think this answer, we can see the answer again from this verse. He does this so that it would be so clear. The glory must go to him and not to us. Look at verse 16 again. look at the command in the middle of it, Joshua said to the people shout, and then he said for, so he is explaining, shout for the Lord has given you the city the you there is plural so it's not just one of you, but it's all of you, so if I may paraphrase it for us, Joshua is saying shout for the Lord has given you all the victory that's what he's saying, but wait who gave them the victory it's the lord it's the lord the lord and because of that he must get all

7:15 the glory the war didn't fall down merely by their marching or blowing or shouting it's god who causes the war to fall this is not a divine this is not a natural demolition this is not a human demolition. This is divine demolition. It's the Lord who brings the war down. And because of that, all glory must go to Him. So, I hate to break the bad news to you, but Joshua didn't fight the battle of Jericho. Sorry, parents. Sorry, children. Joshua did not fight the battle of Jericho, the Lord fought the battle of Jericho. And because of that, He must get all the glory.

8:06 So brothers and sisters, let's give God all the glory that He deserves. Now, if we are to take an inventory look at our heart, we often find it's hard to do that, don't we? Oftentimes, we misplay the glory. Other times we often take the glory for ourselves. You know who our personal interests are? Us. We think we deserve, we think we are entitled what is not ours and because of that we tend to seize that. And it's pride. Pride has led us to do that. We are all glory thieves.

8:50 We are all glory seeps, and because of our pride, we tend to steal the glory from God. Stacey King was an NBA player. He was drafted on the first round on the same team that Michael Jordan played. And in one of his games, early games, Michael Jordan scored 69 points. But Stacey King came in a little bit late. He only scored one point. And at the end of the game, of course, everyone who tried to interview Michael Jordan and Stacey King sneaked in one of the interviews and said, I will always remember this night when Michael Jordan and I combined to score 70 points.

9:33 Glory thief. That's our tendency. So brothers and sisters, give God the glory he deserves. So what have we learned from Joshua 6, verse 16? That our battle must be fought according to God's ways and always for His honor and glory. But as Christians, reading about this victory over Jericho should remind us of a greater victory, not in Jericho, but in Jerusalem.

10:06 Not over a city, but over our sin and iniquity. It's not led by merely Joshua, but by a greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came and died for our sin. He was buried, but he was raised again, and he has ascended into heaven, and will return soon to judge the living and the dead. But because he died for us, he said, if you repent of your sins and come to me, I will forgive you.

10:37 I will give you the victory over sin and death. And if you are not a Christian, we pray that you would repent of your sin and trust in the Lord Jesus. So our battle must be fought according to God's ways and always, always, always for his honor and glory. Please pray with me. Father, we praise you for the victory that you have accomplished for us at Calvary.

11:11 We praise you for the victory that we have in the Lord Jesus in his death and resurrection. And we pray that those who do not know you, that you would give them the gift of faith. And for us who protect in that victory, we pray that you would help us never to take it for granted. And we ask all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.