Sermon Transcript

There is a great shout that is available to the people of the Lord, but only by faith. If you’re wondering, “What just happened in here?” – that was the expression of faith! The shout is such a powerful element of worship.

There are certainly times to be silent. Last week, we left Joshua on his face before the Commander of the Lord’s Army. He was in total awe, in silence before the Lord. We pick up the story, and it’s time for the people of God to shout, by faith. That’s what we’re going to be learning about.

You can have a seat, take your Bible, get it open to that passage of Scripture in Joshua chapter 6 and, let me just tell you that we are in a war. We’re beginning the second section in the book of Joshua, as we go verse-by-verse through this book. This section is going to take us from chapter 6 to chapter 12. We’re entitling this section, Fight From Faith. We’re in a war! It’s not a war that we fight with bombs and guns. It’s a fight that we fight from faith. Here’s the big idea of the message today. It’s simply this:

 

Big idea: Spiritual victories are fought and won by faith.

 

Everything that God has for you comes through faith. Nothing happens, in the Christian life, apart from faith. You will not move one step onward without faith, and you will not win a single victory over temptation or sin or Satan without faith, because spiritual victories are fought and won by faith.

We know that the war that we’re in is not a battle with men. We fight our battle in the spiritual realm. We read these words over in 2 Corinthians 1:3 and 4: “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. . .” We don’t win a spiritual battle with physical weapons. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.” Do you have any strongholds in your life?

A stronghold is a way of thinking or a pattern of behavior that is so rooted in your life it’s hard to move onward from it. And what God says is that there are strongholds that have to fall in our lives if we’re going to take steps forward in faith. We’re going to read about a stronghold, here in Joshua 6, called the city of Joshua.

Let me give you a little “spoiler alert.” We’ve already kind of read through the Scripture; we know what’s going to happen. But there were these walls around Jericho that needed to fall. The New Testament, in Hebrews chapter 11, tells us how those walls fell. It wasn’t by bombs; it wasn’t getting over the wall by a ladder. Notice how those walls fell, Hebrews 11:30, by faith! “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.” That’s the conclusion of the story.

Do you have any walls in your life that need to fall? I wish I could have a conversation with each one of you and ask, “What is stopping your onward spiritual progress?” Is it a relational conflict, is it a sin habit, is it doubt, is it depression that plagues you, is it feelings of insecurity and insignificance that think, “I just can’t move any further than where I am”?

Is it your past? Are you holding on to anger and bitterness from something someone has done to you? Those are strongholds. Those are walls that need to fall today by faith. Are you ready to go on a journey by faith?

You say, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. What is faith?” Let me give you a definition, okay? This is a definition we use around here quite often. It originates with Dr. James MacDonald; I can’t say it any better than he said it. “Faith is believing God’s Word and acting upon it, no matter how I feel, knowing that God promises a good result.” Notice, faith is not “faith in faith.” Faith has an object, and faith is rooted in the spoken word of God.

The spoken words of God were recorded for us in the written Word of God in Scripture. Faith is initiated by God when God speaks, and faith is our response of belief and confidence in knowing what God has said. But notice, it doesn’t just stay in our hearts, it’s not just this warm, fuzzy, sentimental feeling. It acts out! Faith comes out in bold obedience to God’s Word. It acts out—no matter how I feel and no matter what I see; no matter how insurmountable the obstacle in front of me.

Faith says, “I’m moving onward, knowing that, if I act in obedience to God, He’s already promised a good result.” And that is certainly how those walls fell in Jericho. So, we’re fighting from faith. Let’s find out how Joshua fought from faith, and the people of Israel fought from faith, here.

We’re going to see three general truths here in relation to faith. Faith does three things: Faith walks, faith waits and faith wins! Let’s look at it, beginning in Joshua 6:1, “Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.” You talk about border security. None came out and none went in.

 

• Faith walks. (v. 1-7)

 

Here’s the first thing we’re going to understand about that:

 

• Faith sees the future victory through spiritual eyes.

 

I want you to notice what God said to Joshua here in chapter 2: “And the Lord said to Joshua…”  In your Bible, what’s the next word? ‘See. . .” Underline that word. What was it that the physical eyes of Joshua were looking at? The walls of Jericho! Jericho was a double-walled city; it was a wall that was impenetrable. Jericho was one of the most fortified and most famous cities in the ancient world. Everybody knew about Jericho’s walls.

Interestingly, today’s archeologists have found the ruins of Jericho. Do you know what they found? Fallen walls and a burned city. Once again verifying that God’s Word is true. But that’s not what Joshua saw! When he looked at those walls, he saw strong walls. He saw insurmountable obstacles.

Do you have any of those? What did God say to Joshua? “Can you see it? Can you see the future? Can you see the victory? Can you get in your mind’s eyes those walls come tumbling down?” That’s what Joshua had to see, if he was going to move forward—and that’s what God wants you to see. He wants you to see a better future than you are living right now.

Can you see a better marriage than you have right now? Can you see better discipline than you have right now? Can you see better grades than you have right now? How many of you parents can see better grades for that group right over there? You see it, right? Can you see it, by faith? “What do I have to do?”

Well, you don’t just have to believe—you have to act on God’s Word and you have to get that into action in your life. Can you see more intimacy with your spouse? Can you see a better relationship with your children? Can you see a prodigal son returning home in repentance? Can you see your neighbor accepting Christ? Can you see a future Granger, Indiana that has the fear of God all over it, and we would dare not take one step out of line? Can you see it? Can you see revival in America? God wants you to see something, by faith. What can you see? Faith sees a future victory through spiritual eyes.

Here’s a second thing. Understand this, that’s the definition of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for…” “Assurance” and “hope”—they don’t seem to go together, because we don’t use “hope” the same way it’s used in this passage. When we think of hope, we think of something that, “Ah, I just really wish that could happen even though I don’t really think it’s going to happen.” “I hope the Cubs win the World Series this year.” That is not an assurance of things hoped for! That’s a lot of faith, but I’m not quite sure there’s some assurance for that.

But faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and notice, “…the conviction of things not seen.” Conviction is absolute confidence in the object of my faith. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Also, faith, you have to understand, renounces self-reliance. I realize that when we talk about faith, there are some very intelligent, overly-educated people in the room. And when we talk about faith, you stumble over that word—because you say, “I’m a person of science, and it’s really hard for me to believe that walls would come tumbling down, and that there’s a God who would speak into time and space and He would want to have anything to do with me.” I get that. But do you understand that everyone has faith? You say, “Not me, I’m a person of science.”

A few moments ago I asked you to sit down. And I doubt that you crawled under the chair to make sure that all four legs were going to hold you up, and inspect those things and measure that and do the engineering on whether or not…you just, by faith, trusted that chair would keep you up off the ground. You plopped right down in it, and you exercised faith in that chair. A little later today, some of you are going to go out to a restaurant, and you’re going to order off a menu, and there’s going to be food served to you, and you’re going to swallow that food—having no idea the person who put that food on your plate. You’re going to eat it. You had faith—you just trusted that it would happen—you had a confidence.

Do you understand that the people who doubt, their issue is not really doubt? The greatest obstacle to faith is not doubt. The greatest obstacle to faith is self-reliance. You don’t have faith in God because you have faith in yourself. You really don’t need God until you understand how inadequate you are. That’s exactly the place that God had to bring Joshua to, to see those walls. He had to understand how inadequate he was!

So, Joshua went out and saw these walls and saw how insurmountable these walls were. And do you know what it did? It brought him to a place of absolute inadequacy. You see, faith only flows from a sense of a deep personal need—a desperation that understands, “I am out of options; I am out of resources.”

 

• Faith renounces self-reliance.

 

You see, you really don’t need faith as long as money can do what faith does. You don’t need faith as long as a doctor can do what faith does. You don’t need faith as long as intelligence, or education, or pedigree, or religion, or government can do. Some of us are fretting and afraid of what the future looks like because we’ve put our faith in a political process. Faith renounces our faith in other things. Faith in God only comes when we are dissatisfied with what faith in other objects can do.

Faith acknowledges inadequacy. Faith forsakes any thought that, “I can get out of this situation on my own!” Faith admits, “I’m out of horizontal options!” Faith renounces positive assessment of my capabilities and my financial strength and my cleverness. Faith embraces this reality: “Failure is inevitable—unless God moves!” You don’t have to exercise faith until you’re facing something you can’t handle. So, do you know what God does, to strengthen your faith? He gives you situations and circumstances that you can’t handle without Him! That’s exactly what He did for Joshua!

“There’s your enemy. It’s not looking too good! You’re the underdog. What are you going to do now?” Joshua could have gotten his engineering department together and tried to create a big ladder, or a battering ram, or a bomb. Joshua didn’t do that. Notice this, faith walks:

 

• Faith obeys God with precision.

 

Now, understand this, faith is always rooted in the objective Word of God, not some subjective sentimental idea of what I want to happen. Faith is rooted in the objective truth revealed by God.

Notice here in Joshua 6:3, there was something God wanted them to do to demonstrate their faith: “’You shall march. . .’” Look down at verse 7: “And he said to the people, ‘Go forward. March around the city…’”

Now, you might say, “If these people had so much faith, they probably just kind of found some grassy little area that was kind of a hillside, and they kind of just probably camped out there and had a little picnic, and they just probably waited for God to knock those walls down.” That wasn’t God’s battle plan, nor was it God’s battle plan for those guys to come up with all kinds of natural weapons and go attack the wall. God didn’t want them sitting passively on a hill waiting for God to work. God told them, “I want you to get up, I want you to get moving, and I want you to start marching!”

“Really, God!?” “Yeah, just take one foot and put it front of the other, and you’re going to march. You’re going to march for seven days; you’re going to go around the city. Just keep taking left-hand turns.” It’s just like a NASCAR race, keep making left-hand turns. Lap 1, lap 2. Now, I went to public school, but I realize—I counted it all up: six days, one time each; one day had seven—that’s…carry the one…thirteen times. So, they were to do thirteen laps around the city.

Now, what kind of battle plan was that? What if you were in the army? Would you have taken the next step? Sometimes all you have to do to obey God is just keep taking the next step. Take another step, take another step, take another step. Get up every morning, do your job, carry on with your responsibilities, love your spouse, provide for your kids, go to work, read your Bible, praise God, come to church, serve faithfully, give generously. All of those are just next steps that we take in obedience to what God has for us.

Faith moves and marches when God tells you to march, where God tells you to march, and how God tells you to march. So, what is the next step that God wants you to take? Does it seem a little redundant to you? You say, “Why am I doing this?” I’m sure that the Israelites probably thought the same thing.

How many of you understand that the walls fell down—not because they shouted and not because they marched? Their shouting and their marching contributed nothing to the power of God that toppled the walls. So why did they do it? Why didn’t they just sit back and wait for God to do it? Because faith is always active; it’s not passive. It moves forward, participating with God, obeying with precision what God has said.

Question: Did God need their shouting and marching for the walls to fall? Yes or no? No. Question. Would the walls have fallen without their shouting and marching? No. Because God requires faith, and God—right now—is waiting for you to exercise faith. You say, “I’m a person of faith!” My question to you is, “Where does that show up in your life? Does that show up in your speech? Does that show up in your conduct? Does that show up in your relationship in your marriage? Does it show up in the way your attitudes come out of your life? Faith obeys, and it always flows out of our lives in the most practical component part of our life.

Faith walks! Here’s the second thing:

 

• Faith waits. (vv. 8-19)

 

Have you ever noticed that God’s timing is rarely your timing? God is always on time. He’s never late, but He is seldom early. Have you noticed that? So, faith requires us to wait for God’s provision. They had to wait for a week, obeying God, waiting for those walls to fall! Look here at Joshua 6:15: “On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times…” redundant, redundant, step-after-step. “It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.” Faith marches onward through seasons of doubt.

Maybe you started out pretty well, and you had a strong faith that this was going to happen, but after the first three days you started to doubt a little bit. Maybe after the first three years, maybe after the first thirty years of believing God, what you’re believing God for still hasn’t happened!

 

• Faith marches onward—through seasons of doubt.

 

What were they doing? Circling. Circling. Do you ever feel like you’re just circling? “I just see this same scenery every day!” As they walked around that wall, I think God was trying to convince them of their inadequacy. Put yourself in the army: You’re marching around the wall, and it’s like, “This wall is getting really familiar!” I imagine they were probably inspecting the wall on Day 2 and Day 3 to see, “Is our marching contributing anything to the falling of this wall? I’m still not seeing any cracks in the wall.” It wasn’t a gradual deterioration in the wall, over that week. That wall was just as impossible on Day 7 as it was on Day 1. So they were circling.

Not only that, but while they were marching, if you were a citizen of Jericho, what would you have been doing? “What are these crazy Israelites doing outside our wall?” If it was me, I would be on top of the wall, gazing over—and I have just enough sarcasm in me to be, like, hurling insults at these people. Is anybody with me? Would I be the only one up there? “What are you doing? Why are you carrying that box? What’s the deal with the trumpets? You people—you’re really sad musicians, and you have a sad object of faith! We’re trusting in our walls! What are you guys…you’ve got no weapons!” After a while, do you ever feel like the world does that to you?

“What are you doing? Going to church, praying prayers, reading a Bible? What’s this worship thing that you do?” Do you ever feel like you get ridiculed and mocked for your faith? You should expect it. That’s exactly what people will do. We march onward through the rejection and the ridicule. Even when some of those degrading comments lodge in our brain and create a little doubt, we march onward and we wait for God to move. Not only that,

 

• Faith expresses quiet confidence until God moves.

 

Notice the instruction that God gave them here in Joshua 6:10: “But Joshua commanded the people, ‘You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth…’” So, imagine this: These citizens of Jericho were hurling insults from the wall. How many of you could think of some really snappy comebacks at the sarcastic citizens of Jericho? You got an encyclopedia of those, ready to fire? God said, “You’re not allowed to speak a word…for six days!”

Now, let me see who’s here in the congregation—let’s divide you up into introvert and extrovert. How many of you, you are the extroverts—you are the shouters? You would have no problem hurling comments back. Where are you? You’re having trouble even being quiet in this service, because you’re thinking of snappy come-backs to what I’m saying right now! Just restrain yourself. You’re in church, okay? We have shouters in here. You can’t wait until the day when it’s time to shout! This service was tailor-made for you; it’s all about shouting. You’re, “Man, this is the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen in my life! This is great!”

How many of you are a little uncomfortable right now? It’s like, “This is a loud crowd! I’m more introverted.” To be honest with you, I’m in this bucket over here. I’m with you—I’ll be the leader of the introverts. My definition of an introvert is someone who likes to think more than they like to talk. I don’t know what that says about this group over here, but I like to think rather than talk. I’m not a big shouter, I’m just kind of even…How many of you are with me? Where are the introverts?

Now, listen—please understand—there is a time to shout! All of us introverts? We need to express our worship and declare our faith, maybe a little bit more loudly than what we do. But if you’re in this bucket over here—you are the shouters—you would have hated the first six days of this assignment. “You’re not allowed to speak a word. You can’t complain, you can’t criticize, you can’t turn to the people who are not marching fast enough and tell them to get with it and speed up. You can’t scream at the people in front of you and tell them to slow down. ‘You’re going too fast!’ You just have to be quiet and express your complaint to God only! Zip it!”

You can’t create any drama, you can’t file any complaints with the leadership, you can’t call customer service and give them a piece of your mind. You just have to express quiet confidence in the ability of God to do what only God can do. Quiet confidence.

And then notice this:

 

• Faith worships while it waits.

 

Even though they weren’t allowed to speak a word, this was not a quiet event. Because, what was going on the whole time this was happening? There were trumpets blaring. There were these seven priests who had seven rams’ horns.

You’re like, “What’s the whole thing?” Did you notice how redundant it is, the number seven in this whole story? What is the significance of the number seven? In the Bible, the number seven is very significant; it’s a signal to us of the idea of completion or perfection.

What God was saying, here—He didn’t need seven priests because six wouldn’t do. He was trying to send a message to God’s people, “This victory is going to be absolutely complete and total.” It points back to the seven days of Creation. When God created the world, He did it in seven days. He took six days to work, He took one day to rest: the number of completion is seven. So He was trying to point them back to, “This is something only God can do. Just like only God can create the world—this is a battle only God can win.”

So, these seven rams’ horns. What do you think that sounded like? I kind of ran out of time in preparation—I maybe should have found somebody that has a ram’s horn. Did anyone happen to bring a ram’s horn with you to church? Did anybody bring a shofar? Pastor Nathan! Good! Come on up here! I’m glad you brought your ram’s horn with you!

Let’s find out what a ram’s horn would sound like. Now, you have to remember, they were like professional priests who had a lot of practice blowing rams’ horns. And there were seven of these things. We only have one. And all we have is Pastor Nathan. Can you demonstrate what this might have sounded like? What do you think? Let’s vote. Do you want to give him another run at that? Okay, let’s see if he can do better. Alright, so we have a remedial trumpet player up here.

I’m thinking the ram’s horn was a lot bigger, and there were seven of them, so the sound was a little bit louder. If I had thought about it, maybe we could have got like a decibel meter and kind of measured that. Did anybody happen to bring a decibel meter? Oh, good—we have that one up here!

So, everybody—first of all, we need to know what complete silence looks like, so nobody’s allowed to say a word, right? Complete silence. Let’s measure the baseline here. [It’s completely silent, then the shofar softly sounds.] Okay, so what we really need is a trumpet. If I’d thought about it…did anybody happen to  bring a trumpet to church? Oh, good, we have a trumpet in the back!

So, what would it sound like? First of all, let’s compare that—complete silence [silence, then soft shofar, then loud trumpet blast]. That’s better! And then there was the shout [silence, then soft shofar, then trumpet blast, then the congregation shouts]. Now we’re doing it!

This time, I want to only hear from the crowd that is fifty years old or above. Here we go: ram’s horn, trumpet, [people shout!] I see 103. Do you think the crowd below that can match that? Let’s try again: ram’s horn, trumpet, shout! That’s what I thought! Okay, you guys can go have a seat. So, now do you feel like you’ve experienced the Bible, and not just heard about it? Faith worships while it waits!

Do you know what the ram’s horn was? The ram’s horn was an instrument to call the people to battle and to call the people to worship. Those priests were carrying the Ark of the Covenant, and notice where it was. Did you see it? Let’s look here in Joshua 6:13: “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…”

So, do you see the sequence? There were these three different sections of the parade: right in the middle of the parade were the priests, the worship leaders and the pastors, who were there with the presence of God—the Ark of the Covenant—right in the center, blowing these rams’ horns, calling the people to worship. There was a group that went on before them known as the “armed men,” which is the place we want the people with the weapons—in the front, right? And they’re blazing the trail.

The men are always supposed to be blazing the trail, as the leaders take steps so that we know where to go. If you’re a man, you’re to be blazing the trail in your family, blazing the trail in worship, blazing the trail of leadership in this church.  Then we also have a rear guard—people who shrewdly watch for sneak attacks from behind. But, right in the middle, is the place of worship—where the Ark of the Covenant went before, representing, as we learned last week, the presence of God. And only if you worship, will you be able to endure the wait. Are you worshipping in the season that God is requiring you to wait?

Here’s the third thing faith does:

 

• Faith wins. (v. 20-27)

 

Would you like another run at that? Faith wins! Do you believe that? Look here in Joshua 6:20, “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.”

Do you know:

 

• Faith declares outwardly what it believes inwardly.

 

It’s a great lesson for us, here, this morning! I know that some of you are new to this whole thing of faith. Some of you are new to church and new to the gospel. Can I just simply say to you, “It is not enough for you to come, hear truth, and in your little hear-of-hearts say [in a tiny voice], “I believe it.” That’s not going to get you very far in onward progress for God, and that’s not going to make any of the walls fall but your faith. Faith declares outwardly what it believes inwardly.

Some of you have come to this church; you have heard the gospel, as we declare every week, that Jesus, on that cross, became your substitute for sin, and that believing in Him not only pardons your sin, but it imputes righteousness to all who believe, and secures a home in Heaven. And you’ve said [in a tiny voice], “I believe it.” You’ve bowed your head and you’ve closed your eyes and you’ve looked around to see nobody was watching you, and somehow in your heart of hearts you’ve said [in a tiny voice], “Lord, I believe.”

That’s a good baby step; could we invite you into the shouting army of God—who is going onward in our worship? Would you lock arms with the rest of us who have boldly proclaimed that Jesus is Lord, and we want the world to know it? We are running the Jesus flag to the top of the flagpole, and we’re getting the gospel right and we’re getting the gospel out—and we need you to come with us.

Listen, if you don’t have enough guts to boldly, outwardly proclaim Jesus as Lord, I think you’re going to be shocked when you stand before God in Heaven, and Jesus doesn’t boldly proclaim you’re one of His. You say, “Would He do that?” That’s exactly what He told you He would do. He said, “If you will not declare me before men, I will not declare you before my Father in Heaven.”

“Well, I’m just kind of an introvert, and I don’t really like people, and they might make fun of my hair.” Have you seen the hair around here? “Well, I’m just not sure God could save someone like me.” Have you seen some of the people around here who He’s saved? “What if I sin tomorrow?” Have you seen some of the sin that we’ve committed around here? We’re all in need. “I’m just not sure I can live up to my part of the bargain.” Your part of the bargain is faith—that’s it.

God wants you to go onward, not believing in your ability to walk it out, but believing in His ability to work it in. And so, come, at the end of the service. Do you know the way we end the service around here? I say it every week: There are pastors and elders up here and we’re waiting for anybody who would want to come and outwardly declare what they believe inwardly, that “Jesus is Lord, and He’s the only One Who can save me—He’s my only hope of Heaven.” Will anybody believe it? It starts in the heart, but it is declared outwardly through the mouth.

Then, obviously, the most visible way that you declare that you are one of His is through baptism. That is the visible picture that you, with Christ, have died and are buried, and have been raised again. You have been resurrected to walk in the newness of life. Faith declares itself outwardly.

And:

 

• Faith shouts in the face of unbelief!

 

Those of us that believe would honestly admit to you that some days it’s hard to believe, and that we do have doubts. But what we do in the face of our doubts is shout back the truth in the face of our unbelief, knowing that it is not faith in self—it is faith in our great God. It is not a great faith that brings the walls down—it is a faith in a great God that brings the walls down. We have to, at times, shout in the face of unbelief.

There are times that we have to understand that we don’t have it figured out—it doesn’t make sense. That’s why it’s faith. And yet we believe that we have a God of war, who can topple things in our life, and we’ve got a track record of walking by faith and seeing what God has done to change our lives, and to come through at every moment. That why we have a confidence in our God, in whom we’ve put our faith.

And here’s the last thing:

 

• Faith understands, it is not about me.

 

If you’re one of these people who thinks that somehow, if you just believe hard enough, somehow God is obligated to give you all that you want, you do not understand faith. Somehow, you think that God exists to make much of you. “Boy, if I just believe hard enough, I’m going to win the lottery! If I just believe hard enough, all of my kids are going to be walking with God!” They might, and your faith may be the key to unlocking all of those things, but they may not. Faith understands, “It’s not about me!” In the Scripture, do you know how the story ends?

Scripture says here in Joshua 6:24: “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.” For some of us, if we would have been in the army and the walls fell, the first thing on your mind was going in to get the loot. “Man, there are some nice clothes in there—and they’ve got all their cell phones charged! I’m going to go in there and put some of those in my pockets.” What did God tell them to do? God said, “Get your greedy fingers off of it! Your faith is not what brought the walls down, and the walls didn’t come down for you to consume what is on the inside of the walls.”

The victory was God’s victory. It was to declare that there is a God in Heaven that was marching onward, and He was using these people to get glory that was only due His Name. When we think about this story, too often I think, we think about us being in the army—and I think God wants us to visualize that. God has told us to go forward, and He wants us to march and He wants us to shout and He wants us to worship.

But have you ever considered this? Have you ever found yourself, in the story, on the inside of the wall? Have you ever imagined yourself as a citizen of the city of Jericho? You’re a person who has walled yourself off from God; you’ve declared yourself to be an enemy of God. You’re worshipping false gods. You have faith in your walls, you have faith in yourself. Do you understand that that’s the reality for every one of us—that until or unless God provides a rescue for me, as a citizen of Jericho, I am doomed to destruction? I will receive the same fate as the citizens of Jericho received.

There was only one family that made it out alive, in Jericho. We read about her a couple weeks ago. Do you remember Rahab? Rahab was rescued by faith. She believed those messengers that brought her the good news of this great God. She acknowledged that she had been worshipping false gods, and she came and she threw herself on His mercy.

Do you understand, Jesus is the object of our faith and faith in Jesus is the only way to escape the coming judgment? Until you and I come to the end of ourselves and say, “I can’t make it to Heaven on my good works;” until we see ourselves as an enemy of God, wanting to be our own god, we’ll never trust in something outside of ourselves.

Do you have faith in yourself, or do you have faith in Jesus Christ, who’s the only substitute for sin? Again—at the end of the service we’re going to be standing here waiting for anyone who might want to come and express and profess their faith outwardly, something they believe in. We invite you to come at the end of the service.

This is what we’re going to do: I think you’re charged up and fueled up with some faith right now, and I’ve got to give you a release—or your heart’s just going to explode right there! Now, listen, some of you shouters have been waiting: “Are we going to get to sing again?” Some of you people who are more in the silent camp, you’re like, “Do we have to do that?” There’s a time to be silent and there is a time to shout. If your times of silence are not deep, your times of shouting will be shallow!

Don’t let this be a shallow worship time; let your faith express itself outwardly. I’m going to invite you to your feet, and I want you to reach down and let’s remember, the object of our faith is Jesus. Let’s get our eyes on Him. Let’s see the promise of a future victory.