← ArchiveUNDEFEATEDYou want me to do what?DateJanuary 31, 2021SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText—Passages in this sermonJoshua 63:461 Samuel 1711:071 Corinthians 1:115:05Romans 1218:49TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00*music*0:30Okay, welcome back. Some of you are just tuning in for the first time. So my name is Josh Burnham, lead pastor here at Bethel and we have one mission and one heartbeat as a church and that is to share the whole gospel from Joshua to Revelation from Genesis and everything in between with the whole person. We believe that there is no sin in your life that Jesus can't fix to the whole world. We believe there's no single person in the world that doesn't need this good news of Jesus. And today is a special day as we've already mentioned. It's our fifth Sunday. So if you're new to the church and think, well, are our children always here every week? No, this is the fifth Sunday. So four times a year we invite everyone. We give all of our workers that serve with the kids ministry a break because they are our heroes and we want to keep them.0:58We believe there's no single person in the world that doesn't need this good news of Jesus. And today is a special day as we've already mentioned. It's our fifth Sunday. So if you're new to the church and think, well, are our children always here every week? No, this is the fifth Sunday. So four times a year we invite everyone. We give all of our workers that serve with the kids ministry a break because they are our heroes and we want to keep them. So we give them a break and we invite our young ones to see what we do. So for those who are new to the church right now and for those of you who are young adults let us make our applause be their welcome. So if you would, let's just welcome our little ones.1:23So, and I want you to know adults, you are the worship service today. You are being watched. And the joy of that is one, you need to behave yourself.1:41You know who you are. And two, I want you to know that you, you are making a difference in lives that you never even knew existed. And so today I believe God is using you to change lives and change souls. So this is our heart, right? If you are a Christ follower that you leave here, as Hebrew says, spur it on to love and good works.2:10And if you are not a Christ follower, if you walk in here and you say, well, I just don't believe in Jesus or I don't believe that he could love me because of the things that I have done. I pray that today is the day that the sin that so easily entangles you will be given to Jesus and that you will find him faithful and quick to forgive him. We pray for you that today would be the day of your salvation. And I want you to know that I'll be the first one to jump up and give you a hug and say, yes, the Lord still saves and he can save you and we will celebrate that.2:41That's our heart as a church. So with that introduction, let's start here. This is name the tune. Okay, so I'm going to give you two lyrics, two lines of lyrics, and I want you to complete the lyric. Does that make sense? This is like the Masked Singer, but I don't have a mask on. Okay, Joshua fit the battle of Jericho.3:10Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down. So this song was popularized by Mahalia Jackson, someone that we love to listen to, New Orleans Roots. Great singer. To this day, I don't know why you know this song. I was trying to reverse engineer it. I said, why? At what point were my parents singing to me Mahalia Jackson?3:38I don't know, but most of you know these lyrics. So today, we are looking at Joshua 6, the battle of Jericho. And if you know anything at all, you know that Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. And when he did, the walls came tumbling down. So we're going to see that today in the Word of God. So we're simply continuing a series in the book of Joshua called Undefeated.4:05And we ask the Lord to speak to us from one of the most recognized passages in the entire Bible. So it's Joshua 6. Joshua is the sixth book of the Old Testament of the Bible. And we are not going to read it yet. I'm going to pray and then we're going to read through the scripture. And I'm going to teach through this. And we're going to ask God to change our lives.4:34So Joshua 6, let's pray before we read the Word. Father, as we read your Word, would we do so with the right heart and with the right voice? Lord, we simply ask that you would open our ears and open our hearts. Father, if we know this story, that it would be new and fresh because you are doing something new and fresh in our lives. Lord, we need your Spirit. Father, may this not be a simple children's story from the nursery.5:04But Lord, may we see your wonder-working power. And may we leave here encouraged, challenged into love and good works. And Father, for those who do not know you, may today be the day where their eyes will open and that they would see that Jesus Christ is undefeated. And would they say yes to Jesus in their place? Lord, hear our prayers. Change us, mold us for your good and your glory.5:33Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen. So Joshua 6, verse 1. Now Jericho. Jericho. So we're going to take a group to Israel at the end of this year, 1st of 2022. We will go to Jericho if the Lord allows. It's a little spotty in Jericho, but we're hoping to go to Jericho. The Bible says that Jericho was strongly fortified because of the Israelites.5:59No one left and no one entered. So Jericho represents, not only represents, it is the first city that the people of God happen as they enter the promised lands. Now here's the spiritual truth. This promised land was 500 years in the making.6:25So think about waiting for your Christmas present for 500 years. And as they're waiting for this, the first city that the people encounter is Jericho. And how does the Bible describe Jericho? In the Hebrew, it's literally this. It was shut and it is shut. Your English version, as I'm reading from the CSB, says it was heavily fortified.6:54No one left and no one entered. Why is that important? Because Jericho reminds you of the necessity of faith. You see, there are going to be times in your life where God says, here is the promise. Go get it by faith. And you say, yes, God has spoken to me and he's given me this land. And I'm going to go get the land. And the first thing you encounter when you go into the presence of God is an obstacle.7:24And what's our human response to difficulty? Well, it's the little responses we have in here today. Why? Why is it so difficult? God, why would the city be heavily fortified? You promised us. It's not fair. I'm not even talking about the kids.7:54I'm talking about adults, right? But it's the reminder that there will be spiritual obstacles in all of our lives. Jericho is the reminder that where man sees an obstacle, Yahweh sees opportunities. You know, people go to Jericho and they say, Lord is heavily fortified. He says, yeah. I mean, God knows this.8:22You see, the wilderness and the occupation of the land, we're creating a spiritually healthy, holy, obedient people of God. And so I want you to know this truth today in your life. The presence of God does not equal the lack of obstacles. Sometimes we just think, well, God, if you are with me, then there will be no difficulty in life. But that's not what the Bible says. The presence of God does not necessarily equal the absence of difficulty.8:52As Jesus demonstrates on the cross, and the New Testament would frame it this way. The New Testament would say, church, your afflictions are but light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory that God is building within you right now. God would say, God would say, Jericho is for my eternal glory.9:19Remember in your life, where you see obstacles, God sees opportunities. God sees the building of faith in your life. Jesus sees these as faith building blocks. Remember Jericho. So the Lord said to Joshua, look, I have handed Jericho, its king, and its best soldiers over to you.9:40So from the midst of an obstruction, the Lord speaks. And in Hebrew, it's the perfect tense, which means completed action. So listen to what God does not say. God does not say, I am going to hand Jericho over to you, or I might hand Jericho over to you.10:06Now that you're Hebrew scholars, you know clearly what does God say. He says, I have handed Jericho to you. You see, with one sentence, I believe this sums up the gospel. Because Christians do not work for victory. You do not worship for your salvation.10:33We live from victory. You live from salvation. And when you understand that, it changes the way that you live. They're not really fighting for Jericho. The battle's been won, as we're going to see. And in your life, the spiritual battles you are fighting have already been fought. You are fighting from the victory of Jesus Christ on the cross.10:59It's a reminder in 1 Samuel 17. Do you remember when David goes out to fight Goliath? And he's going out to fight, and Saul says, well, you need some armor, dude. It wasn't exactly like that, but close. And so he gives this young boy, this young adolescent, the king's armor. And David says, this doesn't fit. I'm not wearing it.11:30Do you remember what God says to David? In verse 47, he says, the battle belongs to the Lord. The battle belongs to the Lord. And it's the reminder, fighting from victory. Remember what Jesus Christ says upon the cross. Jesus didn't say, one day it will be finished. Jesus said, from the lips of the Messiah on Golgotha, he said, it is finished.11:55Victory belongs to Jesus. Victory belongs to Jesus. I have handed Jericho over to you. And here's the marching orders in verse 3. God says this, march around the city with all the men of war, encircling the city one time.12:24And do this for six days. Are you following? So for six days in a row, you're going to get all the battle-hardened men and ready men, and you're going to walk around the 8 to 10 acre Jericho. Verse 4, have seven priests carry seven ram's horn trumpets in front of the ark, but on the seventh day, march around the same city seven times while the priests blow the trumpets.12:48When there is a prolonged blast of the horn, and you hear its sound, have all the troops give a mighty shout. Then, after you shout, the city wall will collapse, and the troops will advance, and each man will go straight in and straight ahead. So did you hear the marching orders? This is military orders. Military speaking, this probably is the worst strategic plan in the history of battle plans.13:18But think about what's going on. The guy says, no torpedoes bring trumpets. Don't bring artillery, bring the ark. No special forces. You just shout. And when you do this, something will happen.13:44Can you imagine the commander, Joshua, thinking through this and saying, but God, when we march around, we lose. When we go out early in the daytime, we lose the benefit of surprise. God, when we march around the city, we allow Jericho to scout out our fighting men. God, when we march around the city, as Rahab said, their morale is at an all-time low.14:09So God, when we march around the city, they're going to mock us and ridicule us, and so it's going to allow their morale of the enemy Canaanites to increase. God, this is a horrible battle plan. It's interesting, scholars say that there is no ancient Near Eastern comparison to this pre-battle ritual. It didn't exist.14:39So I would just say this, if you ever want to lose a war, this is how you go about it. If you want to lose a war without the Lord's help, you follow Joshua 6. But something is going on. This is what the Lord is showing us by faith. God does not play by man's rules. God does not play by man's rules. Listen to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians says, God has chosen what is foolish to the world to shame the wise.15:08And God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. And the reminder in these battle plans is that what seems foolish to us sometimes, God calls faith. What seems foolish, and there are things in my life going on right now, I would say, God, that just doesn't seem right. And God just says, I didn't ask you if it was right.15:37I ask you to trust me. What seems foolish to us sometimes is faith. And it's the reminder here, why would God give these battle plans to his people? God is reminding us, it's not about you, Joshua. It's not about your troops. It's not about your strength. It's not about your artillery. The battle belongs to the Lord. So never forget that God doesn't play by man's rules.16:07He plays by supernatural power and strength. And so Joshua has a choice to make. Verse 6, so, so Joshua, son of Nun, don't say none. He's not the son of a nun and he's not, he is someone, right? Son of Nun, summon the priest and said to them, take the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carrying seven trumpets in front of the ark.16:35Do as the Lord says. So in essence, God does not give Joshua a military plan. He gives him a worship service. Now you say, well, how do you, how do you get that? Well, let me, let me share what's going on. A ceremony is a worship ceremony that will overcome the walls. You see, in battle, God's people would always bring trumpets to blast, but they were made of silver.17:01They weren't made of rams on them. The shofar was what the people of God used to blow when the ark would go into Jerusalem or when they were calling the people to worship. This was the wrong trumpet to bring to battle. This was a worship instrument. And I don't know if you caught it, but they were to march seven days.17:28And on the seventh day, they were to march seven times. Seven is the number of completion in Scripture. It's a reminder to the people of God that on six days, God created, but on the seventh day, God rested because everything was complete. It's the reminder that the ark was to go into battle, which is a horrible idea because the ark represented the presence of God.17:55And there were times in Israel's history that they brought the ark into battle and the Philistines took the ark to the coast. You see, this was a, this was a worship plan through and through. And at the end of this, they were to shout, which is an expression of holy joy. So here's what God is saying. A ceremony will overcome Jericho's walls.18:23Church, I want you to hear this with all of your heart. Dear Christian, your life, your life is sometimes the only ceremony to the world that Jesus saves. The inhabitants of Jericho were not watching a military installment. They were watching a worship service. It's the reminder in Romans 12, brothers, sisters, in view of God's mercy,18:49I urge you to present your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true worship. I memorized it growing up. This is your spiritual act of worship. And I'm reminded that although Jericho did not realize it, every day they were seeing a worship service. Every day the people of God were walking with trumpets and with the ark and with military behind.19:19There will be people in your life where you are the only worship service that they ever see. You are the only worship service that some people see. And may we live in a way that others would see our public worship. Even if they look at you and say, well, you guys are strange. We've never seen a battle plan like this.19:48What are you doing? You've lost your mind. But may they see a difference in us. And may they see our heavenly father. And so in all of this, Joshua has a choice to make. Do you follow this plan, which there is no ancient Near Eastern precedent, or do you follow God? Do you follow the world and their wisdom, or do you follow God?20:18And so this is what Joshua does. Again, in verse 6, I read it. So Joshua summoned the priests and he said to them, take the ark, have seven priests carry seven trumpets in front of the ark, move forward, march around the city, and have armed men go ahead of the ark and behind the ark. And you're going to blow the shofar.20:47And when God says, shouts, you shouts. And in verse 20, so, did you catch that word, so? The obedience in verse 6 started with the so. What are you going to do? So the troops shouted, and the trumpets sounded. And when they heard the blast of the trumpets, the rest of the troops gave a great shout.21:18Let's stop there. I know this is children's worship day, so we get to have some fun. I'm not going to shout. I will shout. Take my microphone off. Okay. Let's just pause and let's shout. Because scripture allows it. So I'm going to give us a one, two, three. I don't have a trumpet. And we're going to shout. Ready? One, two, three. Ah! There you go. So the people of God shouted.21:47And when they did, can you imagine? There's only one little comma in my Bible. But how long do you think that pause was? Can you imagine Joshua turning and saying, Here we go. And the walls, as God, listen, as God had promised His people, the walls collapsed. Why? Why did this happen?22:16Because Joshua took the Lord at His word. Joshua took the Lord, Yahweh, at His word, and he obeyed. And I'm reminded in this. What if I told you that the victories in your life were dependent upon your obedience to God? Now you're saying, well, don't you go there, Pastor. This is a really neat story until you said that.22:45What if I told you that the spiritual victories in our life were dependent upon our obedience to the word of the Lord? Jerry Bridges says it this way. He said it might be good to stop using the terms victory and defeat to describe our progress in holiness. Instead, we should use the terms obedience and disobedience. Church victorious living is a daily exercise in obedience.23:13It's a daily exercise in obedience. And when the wall collapsed, we see something happen. The people of God completely destroyed everything in every city with the sword.23:28Every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox and sheep and donkey. And some of you are thinking, well, I don't remember this in nursery. I just, I stopped at the walls. But something is going on here.23:57You see, in verse 6, verse 17, what we have not yet read, it says, You see, this is a sacred activity, meaning that nothing in the city would be redeemed or returned for profane use.24:06God is saying, this is an eternal judgment on the city. It is mine. Do not touch it. Now, I know what you're thinking.24:37You're probably going to, you're probably thinking and you're not raising your hand physically, but in your mind you're saying, well, I thought God was a God of mercy. Where is mercy here? Well, one, we know that Canaanites have already forsaken God. They have denied His covenant and they have denied those that were making covenant with God. So they, God has already given the Canaanites a chance and they have denied Yahweh as the one true God. But there is one person who survives.25:08We're going to get to that in a moment. But just as there is judgment on Jericho, in the same way you and I will face judgment one day. Revelation says it like this, verse 11 of chapter 20. John, this is at the end of the Bible. John says, Can you imagine that?25:33Can you imagine a judgment day that's so fierce that the earth and the heaven said, we are out. And it's so bad that the earth and heaven did not even find a place to rest. No one would give them lodging because they would, the world said, we don't want this either.25:59And John says, I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. I want you to know very clearly, there will be a day in your life where you will be judged just like Jericho.26:25Judgment is coming to all because sin has come to every single person here. And only a righteous, only a holy righteous person could stand before a holy God. Listen to how 1 Thessalonians describes this moment. Listen to some of the words we've heard in Jericho. For the Lord himself would descend from heaven with a shout.26:55Heard that before? With the archangel's voice and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. As I was reading this, it stopped me in my tracks. And I just thought, God, if your trumpet blew today, would I be ready? God, if today was a day where this shout happened and the walls of my life fell down,27:22would I be ready to see you face to face? Are you ready? Are you ready to stand before a holy God? Because I know my life. I know that my life is not what God wanted me to be. I know that I am a sinner. But there is hope. There is hope. When the walls collapsed, one person was standing.27:53Look at verse 22. Joshua said to the men who had scouted the land. I'm going to change this verse for you parents. You're welcome. Go to Rahab's house and bring the woman out of there and all who are with her, just as you swore to her. Verse 23. So the young men who had scouted and went in brought out Rahab and her father, her mother, her brothers, and all who belong to her.28:22They brought out her whole family and they settled them outside the camp of Israel. Verse 25 says that Rahab still lives in Israel to this day. Why was Rahab saved? Because she willingly gave up her life and risked her life for someone else. And I'm reminded this life for life is the same thing that Jesus Christ did for you.28:52Jesus knew that one day your walls would collapse and that the trumpet would blow and that there would be a shout and that you would face judgment day. And Jesus knows that there is no way that I could face the judgment of God on my own. And so Jesus said, Father, I will take Josh's place. I will trade my life for his.29:21And he did that for you. He did that for you. He did that for you. You see, this is the gospel. The gospel is simply Jesus in our place. And if you have given your life to Christ, when you hear that, I believe that there should be something that wells up within us. And we say, God, I don't deserve this. And the spiritual response says, no one deserves it.29:49But the promises of eternal life are received by faith in the Son of God, in Jesus Christ. And if you've never received that, we invite you to pray a prayer of authentic faith. And the words are not magical or spiritual. God hears the prayer of an authentic heart. It's not the words, it's the heart. A prayer that sounds something like this.30:18God, I know that I'm a sinner. And I need you to save me. And God, I cannot do it on my own. You see, repentance is turning from yourself and turning to Jesus. And saying, God, I am tired of being sick and tired. I turn to you. And do you know what the heavenly response to that prayer is? I thought you'd never ask. I thought you'd never ask.30:48Because I sent Jesus to take your place. This is what Christ has done for you. And if you've never given your life to Christ, I want you to know that judgment day is coming. It is as real as anything that you can ever expect in your life. And we cannot face it on our own. God, that's why Jesus died and declares you guilty but paid in full.31:10And as we look at this story, I can't help but think that Joshua was asking, God, you want me to do what? You want me to march where? You want me to leave the swords behind? But oftentimes I've found when we pray prayers of faith and say, God, what do you want me to do?31:40Our response is usually, God, you want me to do what? So I'm going to ask you, if you are in Christ, if you are in covenant through Jesus Christ, would you pray a bold prayer that sounds something like this? Lord, what can I say, Lord, what can I do for you and your kingdom today? But do not pray that prayer if you are not ready to see what God will do.32:07Because I believe for some of you, you're going to leave here thinking, God, you want me to do what? God, you want me to give what? God, you want me to go where? God, you want me to, you know that neighbor's ornery? God, I'm not going over there. It doesn't make sense, God. And he's going to say, I didn't ask you to make sense. I asked you to have faith and take me at my word. Would you spend time and respond to the grace that God has offered you?32:36And may we leave here saying, all of us, God, you want me to do what? I don't understand it, but I'm in. And if you've never given your life to Christ, would you come and do that today? Would you talk to a pastor or would you give your life to Christ right where you sit or right where you sit in your living room? And would you let us know so we can celebrate the fact that God is still in the saving business? But it's time for us to do business with the Lord.33:08The same God who tears down walls in Jericho is the same Yahweh that is tearing down walls today. And may we leave here saying, God, you want us to do what? It doesn't make sense, but we will have faith because we believe you are who you say you are. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father.← Previous in UNDEFEATEDFrom Shame to FameNext in UNDEFEATED →Is it worth it?
