🎵Music🎵
Good to see you all again
Let's take our seats and open our blue hymn book
page 274
It came upon the midnight clear
page 274
in your blue hymn book
If you have a favorite Christmas song
We are going to sing
274
It came upon the midnight clear
🎵Music🎵
On the first
It came upon
the midnight clear
That glorious song
of old
From angels
bending near the earth
To touch their hearts
of gold
Peace on the earth
Good will to men
From heaven's all
gracious king
The world in
solemn stillness
lay to hear the
angels sing
Still through
the cloven skies
they come with peaceful
wings unfurl
And still
their heavenly music
floats for all
the weary world
Above
its sad and lowly
plains they bend
on hovering wings
And ever
o'er its babble
sounds the blessed
angels sing
And
ye beneath life's
crushing glow
whose forms are bending
low
Who toil along
the climbing way
with painful steps
and slope
Look now for
glad and golden hours
come swiftly on
the wing
They'll rest beside
the weary road
and hear the
angels sing
For lo
the days are
hastening on
by prophet bard's
foretold
When with the ever
circling years
comes round the age
of gold
When peace shall
over all the earth
its ancient splendor
swing
Let the whole world
give back the song
which now the angels
sing
Amen. Great singing
brother CJ. You want to open us
with the word of prayer first?
Amen.
Brother CJ.
Got it.
Yeah, get your favorite Christmas song
ready.
Oh come, oh come Emmanuel.
On the first.
Oh come, oh come
Emmanuel
and ransom
captive
Israel
that mourns
in lonely
exile
here
until the son
of God
appear
rejoice
Emmanuel
shall come
to thee
oh Israel
Gabe.
282
beautiful star of Bethlehem
page 282
oh beautiful
Ok, that's not the one I'm thinking of.
282?
Oh, I was on 287. My bad.
Alright.
282.
Oh holy night
282. On the first.
Oh
holy night
the stars are
brightly shining
it is
the night of
the dear Savior's
birth
long
lay the world
in sin and error
pining
till he
appeared and the
soul felt its
worth
a thrill
of hope
the weary
world rejoices
for yonder
breaks a
new and glorious
morn
fall
on your knees
oh hear
the angel
voices
oh night
divine
oh night
when Christ
was born
oh night
oh holy
night
oh night
divine
Kayla
264
on the second
Oh come
oh come Emmanuel
on the second
Oh come
thou rod of
Jesse
free
thine own from
Satan's tyranny
from depths
of hell
thy people
save
and give them
victory
for the
grave
rejoice
Emmanuel
shall come
to thee
oh Israel
Sheila
282
282 on the third
gotcha
282 on the third
on the third
truly
he taught us
to love one
another
his law is love
and his gospel
is peace
change shall he
break for the slave
is our brother
and in
his name all
oppressions
shall cease
sweet hymns
of joy
in grateful
chorus ways
we let all
within us
praise his holy
name
Christ
is the Lord
oh praise
his name
forever
his power
and glory
evermore proclaim
his power
forever
and
glory
evermore
proclaim
292
ring the bells
gotta hear you on this one kids
you know this one very well
ring the bells
page 292
on the first
ring the bells
let the whole
world know
Christ
was born in
Bethlehem
many years
ago
born to die
that man might live
came to earth
new life to give
born of
Mary born so
low
many years ago
God the Father
gave his son
gave his own
beloved one
to this wicked
sinful
earth to bring
mankind his love
forever
ring the bells
let the whole
world know
Christ
the Savior
lives today
as he did so long
ago
wow
so many kids
he's got the favorites
who are we going with here
Aili
you had the highest hand
so you win
she's like up to the ceiling
I'm sorry say that again
294
got you
God rest you merry gentlemen
294
on the first
God rest you merry
gentlemen let nothing
you dismay
remember Christ our
Savior was born on Christmas
day
to save us all from
Satan's power when we
were gone astray
oh tidings
of comfort and
joy comfort and joy
oh tidings
of comfort and
joy
let's go with front row
Jack
271
oh come all ye faithful
page 271
oh come all ye faithful
on the first
oh come all ye
faithful
joyful and
triumphant
oh come ye
to Bethlehem
come and
behold
him born the
king of angels
oh come
let us adore
him oh
come let us
adore him
oh come let us
adore
him
Christ
the Lord
let's go with
Rebecca
279
279 away in a manger
got it
away in a manger
page 279
on the first
away
in a manger
no crib for
a bed
the little
Lord Jesus
lay down his
sweet head
the stars in the
sky look
down where he
lay
the little Lord Jesus
asleep
on the hay
two more this evening
we got two more
the kids are on a roll here
Eli
292
on the second
gotcha
292 on the second
ring the bells
what a glorious
morn
men and angels
worship him
singing Christ
is born
born to die
on Calvary
born to set
his people free
God himself
in human form
tell it
Christ is born
he has left
his royal throne
he has come
to claim his own
Christ the
Lord has come to
earth to spread
the news of Jesus
birth
ring the bells
let the whole world
know
Christ the Savior
lives today
as he did so
long ago
last
one
Emmy
Wayne a manger
what page is that
270
all right
last one yep
279 away in a manger
on the second
the cattle
are lowing
the baby
awakes
but little
Jesus
no crying
he makes
I love
the Lord Jesus
look down from
the sky
and stay by
my cradle
till morning
is nigh
and great singing
good favorites
this time we'll have our announcements
all right good evening
welcome back to Sherr Foundation Baptist Church
for the evening service some of us have never
left
we're going to go through the announcements real quickly
does anybody need a bulletin?
all right on the front cover we have our verse of the week
again it says for unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior
which is Christ the Lord
Luke chapter 2 verse 11
of course this morning we celebrated
Christmas as a church and
we had the kids sing for us
and I think that was actually the best
our kids have ever done
I thought it was really good
they did minimal
mistakes
and the mistakes are always funny
so they're not really
mistakes to me I think it's cute
anyway good job kids
I thought they did really well
they all pretty much stayed
still for the most part they got ADD
a little bit at the end of the last song
they were doing the wave on the banner back
here I was trying not to
lose my mind over that but it was fine
nah they did a great job
anyway of course service time
is 10.30am Sunday morning
Sunday evening 3.30pm we're in Joshua chapter 6
tonight and
if you get
if you're in a food coma right now
I'll just wake you up at the end of the sermon and you can just listen to it later
or whatever but we're
going to cover the whole chapter
it's not too terribly long but there's a lot of
interesting things that I want to teach you
about this chapter tonight
and Thursday night
Bible study is
6.30pm
and let's see
we're still having our regular
church service this week so
it's the day after Christmas
so we'll be in
1 Chronicles chapter 17
sowing times we had sowing today
did we have any salvation out there brother?
3 and we'll praise the Lord for that
and Rylan got yelled at by some lady
and
he still has his PTSD's
he's back there shaking
in the back room right now so
nah he's alright
so praise the Lord for the 3
you can see the praise report
there at the bottom left
just want to say thank you for all the people that cooked
and all the people that brought stuff appreciate it
it was very good
the desserts were good also
and
we'll probably all be on a diet together
at the first of the year
let's see
next preaching night don't forget about that
next Sunday night
hopefully we have enough guys
who's planning on preaching?
1, 2, 3
4
is that maybe?
what's that guy that ran with Kamala Harris?
that's his wave
I don't want to see that wave
walls, don't do the walls
wave
nah I'm just joking
I think and then
Gabriel is going to be preaching
the other Gabriel
the big Gabe is coming to preach
so that would be good
and let's see we have
the 31st is going to be
our New Year's Eve service
and we'll pray in the New Year
that will be our midweek service
so it will be Tuesday
so if you can make it for that that would be great
and let's see January 1st
New Testament challenge begins
and I forgot to bring that clipboard
let's see, Gabe will you go grab that clipboard
that's sitting on my backpack right there
and hand it to me please
this wreath is hanging on by
a thread here
alright
it's going to fall off while I'm preaching
I just know it
so
this is the calendar form
of that challenge that I was talking about
this has the whole New Testament
calendar form
and then there's also
that whole year
that whole year Bible one is
the New Testament challenge in the 30 days
but it's printed off like the regular
ones we usually have
but then it has the Old Testament
and the New Testament
and it goes all the way in
and you read the New Testament twice
and then you finish off
with the Old Testament and then it just rolls
into the next year
and then you read the New Testament 30 days
and then you start
the New Testament again with the
Old Testament and once you're done
it's at a regular
pace though, so like 15
minutes a day
and then by the time you're done
you should be finished with the New Testament
two times in one year, once at the fast
pace, once at a regular pace
and then the whole Bible cover to cover
within the year, having read
the New Testament twice in one year though
so you really kind of just get a little
extra, you get a little
New Testament twice and then
the Old Testament once, so
if anybody's interested in doing that
we have the sheets for that
otherwise you can just do the New Testament
challenge or if you're not going to do it at all that's fine too
but just let me
know when you want to get right with God and then
I'll be
praying for you, no I'm just kidding, alright
but it is a good challenge to do
if you just want to do
even just, I got some other
charts back there that has a reading
plan, they're sitting on the
fireplace back there as you
walk in on the left hand side
and it has some different Bible
charts that you can do and it has the words
that might be a little tougher in the King
James, you know the false
friends words or whatever
probably that, what's his face
that weirdo likes to say
anyway, so
and there's calendars back there if you didn't get a chance to get a calendar
I got some bookmarks to hand out
and brother Ramon you can start handing those out now
if you want while I'm doing
this but anybody
I got tons of bookmarks
kids can have them
yeah so
but brother Ramon those have ten of the
same ones in each package so
you probably have to take them out of the package
yeah
so yeah just
one each, yeah
so yeah you have to open up the package
there's like ten in each one so they probably don't need
ten of the same one, alright
sorry I thought I'd explain that
also
yeah the
Shure Foundation Baptist Indie Plant
is celebrating one year
February 1st and 2nd
and there will be a soul winning
on Saturday, lunch will be provided at
Chipotle, there will be
bowling alley rented from 2 to 5 PM
and so we can all fellowship and hang out
and bowl
and then I'll be preaching the services on Sunday
February 1st and 2nd
that's that weekend in Indianapolis
at our church plant
and our church plant's doing really well
so if you want to go there
and see what it's all about
that'd be a good service to go to
so May 15th through 18th
is of course the King James Conference
and we'll have guest speakers
Pastor Shelley, Pastor Mahia, Pastor Anderson
and of course I'll be preaching there
and that's all
that's all I have for announcements
I think everything else is done
and with that we'll go ahead
and sing another song
and then we'll receive the offering
alright
our next song will be page 287
in our blue hymn books
page 287
Beautiful Star
Bethlehem
Beautiful
Beautiful Star
Bethlehem page 287
blue hymn books
sing out loud with me on that first
Oh beautiful
star of Bethlehem
shining afar
through shadows dim
giving a life for
those who long
have gone
in guiding
the wise men on their
way unto the place
where Jesus lay
beautiful star
of Bethlehem shine
on
Oh beautiful
star
of Bethlehem
shine upon us
until the glory
dawn
Oh give us thy
light to light the way
into the land
of perfect day
beautiful star of
Bethlehem shine
on
Oh beautiful
star the hope of
light guiding the pilgrim
through the night
over the mountain
till the break
of dawn
and into the
light of perfect day
it will give out
a lovely ray
beautiful star of
Bethlehem shine
on
Oh beautiful
star
of Bethlehem
shine
upon us until
the glory
dawn
Oh give us thy light
to light the way
into the land of perfect
day beautiful
star of
Bethlehem shine
on
Oh beautiful star
the hope of rest
for the redeem the good
and bless yonder
in glory when the
crown is won
for
Jesus is now the
star divine
brighter and brighter he
will shine beautiful
star of Bethlehem
shine on
Oh
beautiful star
of
Bethlehem
shine upon us
until the glory
dawn
Oh give us thy
light to light the way
into the land
of perfect day
beautiful star of
Bethlehem shine
on
great singing at this time we'll have our offering
on
the seat in front of you
Joshua chapter number six
Joshua six the Bible reads
now Jericho was straightly shut up because
of the children of Israel
none went out and none came in
and the Lord said unto Joshua
see I have given into thine hand
Jericho and the king thereof
and the mighty man of valor
and ye shall compass the city all ye
men of war and go round about the city
once thus shalt thou
do six days and
seven priests shall bear before the ark
seven trumpets of ram's horns
and the seventh day ye shall compass the
city seven times
and the priests shall blow
with the trumpets and it
shall come to pass that when they make a
long blast with the ram's horn
and when ye hear the sound
of the trumpet all the people shall shout
with a great shout and
the wall of the city shall fall down flat
and the people shall ascend up every man
straight before him and Joshua
the son of none called the priests
and said unto them take up the ark
of the covenant and let seven priests bear the
seven trumpets of ram's horn before
the ark of the Lord and he
said unto the people pass on
encompass the city
and let him that is armed
pass on before the ark of the Lord
and it came to pass when Joshua
had spoken unto the people that the seven priests
bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns passed
on before the Lord and blew with
the trumpets and the ark of the covenant
of the Lord followed them
and the armed men went before the priests
that blew with the trumpets
and the reward
came after the ark
the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets
and Joshua had
commanded the people saying
ye shall not shout nor make
any noise with your voice
neither shall any word proceed
out of your mouth until the day I bid you
shout then ye shall shout
so
the ark of the Lord compass the city going
about it once and they
came into the camp and lodged in the camp
and Joshua rose
early in the morning and the priest took
up the ark of the Lord and seven
priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns
before the ark of the Lord went on continually
and blew with the
trumpets and the armed men went before
them but the reward
came after the ark of the Lord the priests
going on and blowing with the trumpets
and the second day they
compass the city once and returned into
the camp so they did six days
and it came to pass
on the seventh day that they rose
early about the dawning of the day and
compass the city after the same manner seven
times only on that day they
compass the city seven times
and it came to pass that the seventh time
when the priest blew the trumpets
Joshua said unto the people shout
for the Lord had given you the city
and the city shall be
accursed even it and all
that are therein
to the Lord only Rahab the
harlot shall live she and all that
are with her in the house
because she hid the messengers that we
sent and ye and any wise
keep yourselves from the accursed thing
lest you make yourselves accursed
when you take of the accursed thing
and make the camp of Israel curse
and trouble it but all the silver and
gold and vessels of brass and iron are
consecrated unto the Lord they shall
come into the treasury of the Lord so the
people shouted with when
the priest blew the trumpets and it
came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet
and the people shouted with a great shout that
the wall fell down flat so
that the people went up into the city every
man straight before him and they took the city
and they utterly destroyed all
that was in the city both man and woman young
and old and ox and sheep
and ass with the edge
of the sword but Joshua had said
unto the two men that had spied out the
country go into the harlot's house
and bring out
thence the woman and all that she had
as you swear unto her
and the young men that were spies
went in and brought out Rahab
and her father and her mother and her brethren
and all that she had and they brought out
all her kindred and left them
without the camp of Israel and
they burnt the city with fire and all that was
therein only the silver and the gold and the
vessels of brass and of iron
they put into the treasury of the house of the
Lord and Joshua saved Rahab
the harlot alive and her father's household
and all that she had and she
dwelleth in Israel even unto this day
because she hid the messengers which
Joshua sent to spy out Jericho
and Joshua adjured them at that
time saying cursed be the man before
the Lord riseth up to buildeth this city
Jericho he shall lay the foundation
thereof in his firstborn and in his youngest
son shall he set up the
gates of it so the Lord was with
Joshua and his fame
was noise throughout all the country
brother Alex will you pray for us
will you pray for us
Amen, alright well it's been a little bit since we've
been in Joshua here so I'm just going to recap
where we were last time
last time we were in
Joshua chapter 5 the next
generation was circumcised
remember they didn't get circumcised all the way through
that 40 years after they left
Egypt and
then the Passover was kept
and then manna
ceases they were getting manna that whole
40 years God was just
giving them bread every morning they just had
to go collect it and the manna
ceased after they ate of
the fruit of the land for the first
time after they crossed the river Jordan
and then Joshua
meets the captain of the host
of the Lord's army which was
a Christophany or a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ
went through and showed
or at least attempted to prove
all that which I think
everybody probably agrees with that
and this happens right before
Joshua leads the attack
against the
first heathen nation
city nation basically it's like this
big walled fortress
city and
that is the
first city that God
allows them to conquer in the promised
land because they've already conquered
Og, Abashen
and all that other area but
this is the first of the
promised land on the other side of Jordan that they're going
to conquer so
and so let's look at verse number 1 the Bible says
now Jericho was straightly shut up
because of the children of Israel
none went out and none
came in so they got everything
locked down tight and
so and it says and the Lord
said unto Joshua see I have
given into thine hand
Jericho and the king thereof
and the mighty man of valor
so God is speaking
to Joshua directly so
Joshua is a prophet he's
also the judge of Israel
just like Moses was the judge
Joshua is in complete control he's
the boss there's no other boss
that's why God is speaking directly to him
when it comes to this and it says and he shall
compass the city all
ye men of war and notice
it says all ye men of war
and he's talking to Joshua here so he's including
Joshua as one of the men of war right
and go round about the city once
thus shalt thou do six
days so what are they supposed to do
so you know they're getting the battle plan
here but what's he supposed to do they're all supposed
to go around six
they're supposed to go around once around
the city six days right
and seven
priests shall bear before the ark
seven trumpets of ram's
horns and the seventh day
shall compass the city seven times
and the priest shall blow
with the trumpets
so the last day is different
than the other six the last day
they go around the city seven
times and then they blow
the trumpets so on the seventh day is
different so
and this is
you know it's talking about seven
specific
days 24 hour periods
are days right
and only in
creation do
people doubt
literal days these days right
like you'll have people that say there's
day age theory like
God took specific
you know it'll say in Genesis
the first day but if you
get the modern versions it'll say
instead of it saying the first day it'll say
a day so
it's not very specific is it so
the modern versions will change
to make it seem like it took God time periods
but he calls them days
but in the King James Bible if you'll flip over
to Genesis chapter two
real quick and just keep your you got
bookmarks now so put a bookmark
where you're at there and I
can actually tell you to put a bookmark there
or a ribbon and then in
Genesis chapter two I just want to
show you this really quickly
Genesis chapter two two it says
on the seventh day
what does it say the seventh day it's the definite article right
God ended his work
which he had made
and he rested on the seventh day
from all his work which he had made
and God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it
because that in it
he had rested from all his work
which God created and made
do you think God wants us to understand
that it was the seventh day
not the seventh billionth
day
the seventh day
that God created this world
in six literal days
and on the literal seventh day
he rested just like in our chapter here
he didn't tell them to
circle around
six billion days
but he's just tricking us
and saying it's six days
you know these weirdos
that just believe that it took
billions of years for this world to be created that God
is just not powerful enough to do it in six literal
days it's just weird
because people just want to make
modern science fit into the Bible
but why don't you just believe
that God did what he said
he did that it was literally
six days he rested
on the seventh and so
you know
people just believe this weird theory of
theistic evolution that God
had to use evolution
to make the world what it is
and so they do they fit
this that
God had to use evolution to create
what we have here today
it's bizarre that Christians
would come up with this because
they just they don't know
how to read the Bible right they don't understand
the Bible or they just don't want to be laughed at
and mocked because they don't want
to defend the Bible because
then they'd have to defend that
God could just speak things and
they happen God could just speak
the universe into you know
it's funny it's called the universe
because God said
and things happen
it's a single
spoken sentence
and he just said things and they happen
but
people are just such skeptics they don't want to believe
what the Bible says
and you know
if you just think that
one day means a billion years
then you might be just
re
not intelligently thinking
I'm not going to say the other word
but
it's just ridiculous I'll use that one
God made everything
in six little days anyway
this destruction of Jericho
though it might
it might actually possibly
picture I think the
end times
and the reason why I think that is because
you have these seven trumpets that it's talking about
and it will
sound that will sound
after the rapture happens
so after the rapture happens
when Jesus comes and
changes our vile bodies into
everlasting bodies that can't die
then what happens after that
well those seven angels
start to sound off these trumpets
and then
God starts to rain down
his wrath upon the heathen world
but what's happening here
these priests
are starting to
prepare to sound these trumpets
and then it's seven
priests seven days
and then they sound
the trumpet on the seventh day
turn over to Revelation chapter 8
now I'm not saying it
perfectly fits but it is interesting
how it does
fit somewhat with the end times because
after we get raptured
we have a body that can never die
it can never get hurt
if someone locked up and you have an everlasting
body and they shoot you with
a glock or
any kind of gun a bazooka whatever it is
what's going to happen
if someone just launches an
RPG at a saved
indestructible person
what's going to happen
you're not going to die
right?
so that's interesting isn't it
have you ever thought about that?
you know because we're going to be on the earth at the same time
that there's still going to be people that aren't
in glorified bodies
so
we're going to live in a time
in the millennial reign of Christ when there are going to be
unsaved people that are in not
glorified bodies
but that happens
after Christ comes
and subdues the heathen
and he judges the heathen
and he does that pretty quickly
but when the children of Israel
go into the promised land who's leading them?
Joshua's leading them and he
pictures Christ leading us into
that reign
and then they have to fight those battles
to subdue those kingdoms
Christ doesn't have to fight that hard he just has to say
die and then people die
he fights them with the sword
of his mouth
and we don't have to
lift a finger so it is a little bit different
it's not a perfect shadow
it's not a perfect picture
but look at Revelation 8 one it says
and when he opened the seventh seal
there was silence in heaven for the space
of a half an hour that's how
you prove that ladies go up a half hour later
into heaven
I'm just kidding I'm just kidding
I have to tell that joke every time though
sorry I'm just joking
and I saw the seven angels which stood
before God
and to them were given seven trumpets
so the seven angels
there's seven angels they get seven trumpets
and I really was joking
I'm sorry about that
had to skip to verse
six so these seven
angels get seven trumpets
and they're about to sound also but it says
and the seven angels which had the seven
trumpets prepared themselves to
sound so
there's silence in heaven
the people of God have already
in chapter seven they've already
they already appeared in heaven all different
kindreds tongues and tribes
and nations of the earth right
so now
flip over to
chapter nine
verse twenty
so the
plague starts as the trumpets blow
one by one different plagues
hit the earth and it starts
destroying these heathen nations
these heathens the beast
and his armies
so verse twenty
says
and I mean there's some pretty bad plagues I just don't have
time to get into the whole thing but
it's just interesting what it says in chapter
nine verse twenty it says and the rest of the
men which were not killed
by the plagues
yet repented not of the works of their hands
that they should not worship
devils and idols of gold
and silver and brass
and stone
and of wood which can neither
which neither can see nor hear nor walk
neither repented they of their
murders nor of their sorceries
nor of their fornication
nor of their thefts. Why is
that? Why is it
during this time where God is pouring
his wrath upon the earth and they know
what it is because
when Jesus first
makes his appearance we're happy
because we're getting rescued from the great tribulation
but they're hiding in the caves
in the dens of the earth because they're afraid
of the wrath of the lamb
but why aren't they just saying oh
hey didn't know
that you were real now I'm
sorry I'm going to get saved why aren't they doing that
because they're reprobates
that's why isn't that
why they would like why would you want to
go through all these plagues that the angels
are throwing at you and if you have time
spare time just go back and look at
what God's throwing at them
these locusts that come out
and sting them for months on end
all these different plagues
it's horrible
but this is
the state
of the promised land
in Joshua chapter 6
the children of Israel
go to take it
from these reprobate societies that cannot
be fixed
why is God just saying hey
go in and kill everybody
don't leave any left to breathe
men women and children why is he doing this
the only
people that are getting saved are people
like Rahab and what she's
one family out of the whole city
that's actually getting
out of this alive
and it's only because she's like come on dad come on
mom come on brothers and sisters trust
me stay at my house tonight
or you're all going to die
and whoever got saved out of
her house were the only fortunate
ones because she had
that corner house or wherever she was
on the wall remember her house was on the
wall of the city
but she's the only one that got saved
and she's the only one
that's going to make it out of this
so God is having the children
of Israel come in and destroy
them because they're not fixable
they're not redeemable
he's not saying hey come in and see if you guys
can get these people saved he's saying come
in these people are trash
they're castaways they're scum
they won't repent
they're bowing down and worshipping
idols they're doing all these
wicked things now let's flip back to
Joshua chapter 6 verse 5 I'm going to revisit
that thought a little bit later on in the
sermon but
these people you know it does
kind of have a semblance of what's
going to happen why is God just going to punish
the earth later on in the
book of Revelation because these people aren't
fixable because they've taken the mark
of the beast and they can no longer
be saved that's why
because people just act like God's just
he's so mean
why would you serve a God like that well
you know some people can't be fixed
that's why
looking back at Joshua 6 5 it says
and it shall come to pass
that when they make a long blast
with the ram's horn and when you hear
the sound of the trumpet all
the people shall shout
with a great shout and the wall of the city
shall fall down flat and the people
shall ascend up every man
straight before him
I'm going to read this part to you one more time because this is
very important that you just
get this real quick all the
people shall God's saying this is what
to do this is what you need to do
all the people shall shout with
a great shout and the
wall of the city shall fall down
flat and the people
shall ascend up
every man straight before him
so that's what God says
he says the wall
is going to fall down flat
and the people are going to go straight up
and Joshua the son of none called
the priest and said unto them
take up the ark of the covenant
and let seven priests bear
seven trumpets
of ram's horns before the
ark of the Lord
and what does the
ark of the Lord represent
when they take the ark before them
why are they doing that?
what is the purpose of them doing that?
does anybody have any idea?
did you say God?
well yeah
but what is
on the top of the ark
the mercy seat
and the cherubims cover what?
the mercy seat
and that's the presence of God
that's what that represents
so when they are carrying that ark around
they are essentially
it represents them carrying God around
because when that
ark is in the
tabernacle or whatever
when his presence comes down
it comes down through that tent
that tabernacle
and they see that cloudy pillar
comes down into that spot
and then meets with them there
so they are basically
carrying it around
and that represents God to them
so
verse seven
the people pass on and
compass the city
compass around
compass is a circular
motion there and let him
that his arm pass on
before the ark of the Lord
so some people are passing on
before the
ark of the Lord and it came to pass
when Joshua had spoken unto the people
that the seven priests
bearing the seven trumpets of rams
horns passed on before
the Lord
so am I right about that
the ark so the last
verse said they pass on
before the ark of the Lord
and in verse eight it says
that they passed on before the Lord
you see how that's giving us
it's saying that the ark of the Lord
and then it says passed on before
the Lord
so it's signifying
that it's talking about the same thing right
so the ark of the Lord
is talking about the Lord right there
right the ark isn't the Lord
but it's the presence of the Lord
and blew the trumpets and the
ark of the covenant followed them
so again
signifying it's the Lord right
and the armed men went up before the priest
and blew with the trumpets
and the rearward came after the ark
and the priest going on with the blowing of the trumpets
and Joshua had commanded the people
saying you shall not shout
nor make any noise
with your voice
neither shall any word
proceed out of your mouth
and it kind of sets me back to that scripture
where it says there was silence in heaven
for the space of a half hour
so there was just nothing being said up in heaven
and then you think about this verse
and they were not supposed to say anything
he said don't say anything
just be completely quiet
don't let any word proceed out of your mouth
until the day I bid you shout
then shall you shout
so verse 11
so the ark of the Lord compassed the city
going about at once
and they came into the camp and lodged in the camp
and Joshua rose early in the morning
and the priest took up the ark
of the Lord and seven priests
bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns
before the ark of the Lord went on continually
and blew with the trumpets
and the armed men went before them
but the rearward came up
or came after the ark of the Lord
the priest going on and blowing
with the trumpets
and the second day they compassed the city once
and returned to the camp
and so did they six days
so they did exactly what God said to do
and it came to pass on the seventh day
that they rose early about the dawning of the day
and compassed the city after the same manner
seven times
only on that day
they compassed the city
seven times
so just like God said
that last day they do it seven times
so and if you know anything about
that number seven it represents
that day of completion
so we have seven days in a week
why do we have seven days in a week
because that's the model that God
used when he
made the earth
he made it in six days
and on the seventh day he rested
we have a seven day week that's the only thing that works for us
it's still in effect today
from the 6,290
days ago
or years ago that he made this earth
that's the system
that's still in place
people have tried to change times
change calendars
we do have different types of calendars
but a seven day week is the only thing that works
because God just made it that way
so seven
kind of represents that number
of being complete
and what's going to be complete
the complete annihilation of this city
is what's going to be complete
he's telling them how to completely
get this huge victory against them
but it says
and it came to pass on the seventh time
when the priest blew the trumpets
Joshua said unto the people shout
for the Lord hath given you the city
and the city shall be accursed
even it
so the city shall be accursed
even it
so the city itself
and all that are therein
so anybody there
right
to the Lord so they're the city's
cursed the people are cursed
then it says only Rahab the harlot
shall live she and all
that are with her in the house
so they're protected the people
that are protected in the house and what was the
sign that she had to show
that she was
that she was the one that was what house it was
that scarlet thread that was
to be hung out the window remember
which what represents the blood
of Christ so that's
the only thing that protected her
and it says which was a
symbol or a token that she was
saved right she and all that are with
her in the house because she hid the messengers
that we sent
and ye and any
and ye in any wise keep yourselves
from the accursed thing
lest ye make yourselves
accursed
when ye take of the accursed thing
and make the camp of Israel a curse
and trouble it
so
there's some important things to learn
here you know they're going in
and he's warning them before he goes
they go in there because these soldiers
they're going to probably find things that
they want to keep they're going to find
people that they might want to spare
you know a pretty single woman
for some of these soldiers that aren't
married hey I could just capture
her and she could be my wife or whatever
or clothing
jewelry
anything
that they want that they don't have
it's theirs for the picking that's you know
normally spoil are
the things that people get in war
when people would go to war
in those times or any time you know
we were just talking about you know these
Nazi guns that soldiers
in World War II they would kill an officer
or something and they'd get these
guns that they could take off of them
and they'd bring them back they'd sneak them back to the
United States and people there's a
market for them you know they still have the Nazi
logos on them or something and people collect these things
I guess but
you know there's trophies and
awards that you get for
spoil the Bible talks a lot
about it and there's nothing wrong with getting
spoiled but God had already said don't touch anything
don't take anything
the only thing that we're taking is the things that
go into the house of the Lord which is going to be the silver
the gold and the brass
and the iron right
so I don't think it's been said in this chapter yet
but that's what it says later on
but he says
everything there is cursed
the people are cursed
only rate habinger people are allowed
to live and
don't
don't touch or keep the
it says anyways keep yourselves from the
accursed thing lest you make yourselves
accursed so
this is a great lesson
for us and it's a great lesson for them
don't take anything that's cursed and bring it
into the camp
so there's things that we should
stay away from also that are cursed
that we shouldn't bring into our camp
that could trouble us also
and so
when something or
someone is accursed we should keep ourselves
from it also
or
them and
you know don't take
or partake of it don't hang out
with it or them
so don't
bring them into the camp, don't bring it
into your home, don't bring it into
church, like what?
well how about like alcohol
or drugs. You shouldn't
bring them into your home, you shouldn't bring them into
your camp you shouldn't bring them into your church
you shouldn't be on them in your church
how about pornography
or fornication
or adultery?
These are things that you should not allow
to your life, how about filthy lucre, like money,
and money gotten through ill gains,
like gambling or bartending or loan sharking,
which hopefully nobody's doing that,
but payday high interest loans,
if you work at a place like that,
I mean you're just basically scamming people
out of their money.
Or, I talked about being a bankster earlier, you know?
I'm talking about a bankster that like,
you make your living off of just high interest loans
and things like that.
Those are things that we should stay away from.
That's getting your gains from ill ways.
How about sodomites?
We don't wanna be around them,
let them around our children, be around them ourselves,
and even if they're in your family,
they're like, well yeah, but that's my cousin.
I don't care if it's your Siamese twin.
You should stop hanging around them.
You should not let them around your kids.
You're like, yeah, but they're funny.
Yeah, that's what they seem to be,
but behind closed doors, they're filthy.
And really, nowadays, they don't even care
about acting filthy out in the world.
It's right, I mean, we've seen it firsthand.
I don't even need to tell you guys this.
You already know, but you know,
these guys that charged into Jericho,
they probably looked at people's faces
and felt bad for them, I'm sure.
But we gotta be aware not to just feel pity for people
that might look innocent enough, but they're really not.
And something that you bring into your home
might seem innocent, but it's not.
And we gotta avoid the cursed thing,
the things that God says to avoid and to stay away from,
we should just stay away from, why?
Because God said so, that's why.
Because God told us not to, that's why.
We're not gonna bring sodomites into our church.
Why would you wanna do that?
So that they can corrupt our church?
We don't wanna bring false prophets into our church.
We don't wanna hang out with them.
We don't wanna listen to what they have to say
in their preaching.
We don't wanna suffer them to be in our church
teaching lies to people.
It's like, but you know, it's funny,
nobody wants to be associated with our kind of churches,
but these same Baptist pastors that will just say,
oh, we can't have anything to do with these
Andersonite people or whatever,
but they'll let any weirdo in their church
and let them teach all kinds of junk
to people in their church as long as they're not
Steven Anderson disciples or whatever they call us.
It's so weird.
Because I've been in churches where they just let any,
I mean, they're letting all kinds of weirdos in their church
that believe, they're just straight up teaching Calvinism.
And you know that the pastor doesn't believe that.
But then they're just allowing some Calvinists
to be a deacon at the church.
But that's okay.
That's just fine.
Or that they are hardcore repent of your sins
or hardcore lordship salvation.
I mean, I've been around some characters
in the life of these churches.
And the fact that they're just allowing
anything goes pretty much.
As long as you're putting the tithe in the envelope,
you're a-okay, and they'll never challenge that person,
they'll never say anything about them,
as long as they love Israel and the pre-trib rapture.
It's just perfectly fine.
Yeah, brother.
Yep, you're my brother.
No matter what.
And they can sit there and rail, they can lie,
they can be the biggest gossip in the church.
They can just cause chaos and havoc all they want.
But as long as you're not one of us.
If you're one of us, get that person out of the church.
I've just never seen anything like it.
I've been dealing with this issue a little bit lately,
and it's just, it's bothersome.
To watch the railing that I've seen lately,
it's sickening.
It really is.
Because in reality, the most,
we love the old IFB.
I do love the old IFB.
They might teach some garbage stuff,
but as long as they're saved,
and they believe the right things
as far as the core doctrines, I'm cool with them.
I might not agree with them about the pre-trib rapture deal,
but you know why I don't?
Because there's no verses for it.
Show me a verse.
Chapter and verse.
Jesus is coming back in the clouds
before the tribulation.
Show me that verse.
Oh wait, you don't have one?
Okay, well then I don't believe that.
But I can show you a verse in Matthew chapter 24
that says immediately after the tribulation,
he's coming back.
That's why I believe it.
And you know, I don't believe that Jesus could come back
at any moment because in second Thessalonians chapter two,
it says these things, that he cannot come back
until the son of perdition is revealed.
But you know what, if you wanna believe something stupid,
then go ahead and believe it.
And then they're like, that's heresy.
Heresy?
Or you guys believe that Jesus went to hell.
So you're a heretic.
Well have you ever read Acts chapter two verse 31?
Where it says his soul was not left in hell?
Well it's funny, I actually have a verse for what I believe.
How about the other verse in Acts chapter two
that says the same thing?
How about Psalm chapter 16?
How about Jonah chapter two?
How about like Genesis chapter 22?
I mean there's, how about every offering in the whole Bible?
You have to burn them with fire in the offering.
His soul was made an offering for sin.
Do you burn every offering?
Yeah you do.
That didn't mean really burning though, Pastor Thompson.
Okay.
You're a heretic.
How am I a heretic?
You're just a railer.
That's what you are.
That's a very serious charge to call somebody a heretic
when you actually have a verse to show somebody
and they don't.
You're so stupid, Pastor Thompson.
It's Abraham's bosom that he went to.
Chapter and verse.
Why don't you give me a chapter and verse on that?
Do you have a chapter and verse on that?
No you don't, because there is no chapter and verse on that.
And besides that, Abraham's bosom is a body part,
it's called a chest.
There is no cool place in hell the last time I checked.
Hell is a hot place where people go to suffer
for eternal fire for the sins that they've committed
and because they didn't believe in Christ.
I mean I just, to call somebody heretic
when they actually have a scripture to show you,
more than one scripture, multiple scriptures,
I could show the whole doctrine.
But they just, heretic, you are a heretic.
And then when you feed them the scriptures,
they're just like, can't compute, can't compute.
They just go crazy.
So irritating, I'm sorry, but that just.
And then, but what I'm trying to say is that
they act like we're the mean ones and the hateful ones,
but I don't go, you believe in the pre-trib rapture?
I want nothing to do with you.
We don't act like that.
Every place we ever go on a soul wanting trip,
we've always tried to just connect with the local pastor
and say, hey, what do you believe?
So we can just say, hey, we want you to go to a good church,
here's a good church.
We've always tried to send people to good churches.
But they accuse us of just going and getting
a bunch of people saved and leaving the babies
in the dumpster.
Oh, it's great that you got them saved,
but who's gonna disciple them?
Well, we would've sent them to you, but you're a bozo.
We would've sent them to you, but you're too busy hating
to even come and help us.
You won't even labor.
You just sit there on your pedestal and your high horse
and your ultra-spirituality that you really don't have
because you won't even lift two fingers
to get somebody saved because you're a lazy bum.
But then you're gonna criticize what we do.
But I still love the new, I mean, the old IFB,
I love the new IFB too, but I still love the old IFB.
But they don't return the favor.
It's usually you're a heretic, you're a cult,
blah, blah, blah, but you know what?
They act more cult-like than we do.
If some old IFB pastor walked in and sat in here,
I wouldn't treat him badly at all.
But we'd get the stink eye in half the churches
in this town if our family showed up there, guaranteed.
Anyway, let me move on.
Really gotta move on, sorry.
Okay, I went a little crazy on that one.
All right, accursed.
So basically, okay, let me ask you this.
He says, from the accursed thing,
lest you make yourselves accursed.
So can Christians become accursed?
Yeah.
But that doesn't mean we get thrown in hell for anything.
Christians can't go to hell.
So what does that mean?
That God's wrath can be placed upon us
where he'll beat us here on earth.
He'll chasten us here on earth.
He'll punish us here on earth.
In Hebrews chapter 12, verse six, it says,
for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
So, chasten and scourging means he's beating us, right?
And it says, every son whom he receiveth.
So, yes, that means everyone.
So that means every one of God's children sin.
Except for Jesus, of course.
But every one of us is adopted.
And so, we get, if it says every son,
that means every one of us sin, and we get beaten.
So, and if we commit one of the sins in 1 Corinthians five,
you know, the Bible says that we're supposed
to pull from among ourselves that wicked person.
And so, that person then becomes
the accursed thing, doesn't it?
Don't they?
And then we're supposed to get rid of that person
and kick them out, and we mark them.
They become accursed.
And then, if they get it right,
then the mark can get taken off of them,
and then they're not accursed anymore.
They get right with God.
So, it can get so bad, also, that God would just kill you
and take your life.
Turn to 1 John chapter five, verse 16.
1 John chapter five, verse 16.
Is there a sin that you commit
that God would kill you for it?
Well, Saul, King Saul was killed for going to a witch.
The Bible says in 1 Chronicles that he was killed
because he did not, you know, obey the word of the Lord,
and basically the last straw was that he went
and saw a witch.
In 1 John 5, 16, it says,
if any man see his brother sin a sin
which is not unto death, he shall ask
and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.
There is a sin unto death.
I do not say that he shall pray for it.
All unrighteousness is sin,
and there is a sin not unto death.
So, there's sins that are unto death.
Of course, all sin brings forth death,
but what it's saying here, though,
is that there is a sin that you could commit
that would be worthy of death in God's eyes as a Christian,
but he says, I do not say that he shall pray for it.
We shouldn't just say, God kill that Christian.
You know, we shouldn't curse other Christians, right?
I mean, obviously, if they did something that was,
you know, I mean, the Bible says we shouldn't.
I say that he shall, I do not say he should pray for it.
He shall pray for it, but I mean,
I guess there might be, you know, exceptions to the rule.
I don't want to get into that,
but the best thing that we can do, though,
when we anger the Lord and we take of the accursed thing
or we hang out with the accursed person
is we ask God for mercy, you know?
The great thing about God is that he is merciful.
He is forgiving, and, you know,
obviously, I'm not talking about going to him
for forgiveness and getting spiritual salvation.
If you're already saved, you're already saved,
but physical salvation and physical mercy
from chastening by God or directed at us from God,
because when someone gets thrown out of the church,
what's he do?
He turns them over to Satan.
I mean, so he allows Satan to chasten us.
I mean, that's not, you're like, that's not cool,
but that's what it says.
For the destruction of the flesh.
Like, I don't want Satan to be unleashed.
I mean, look what he did to Job.
I mean, obviously, God probably gives him parameters
and says, just like he did with Job,
hey, you can do this to him, but don't kill him.
I mean, maybe we have stricter parameters,
but I'm sure sometimes he's like,
all right, go ahead, kill him.
I don't know.
He allowed Saul to be killed.
He allowed other people to be killed in the Bible, so.
The good news is that in 1 John 1-8, it says,
if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
So we don't wanna deceive ourselves and say,
hey, what I'm doing's okay.
We don't wanna do that,
because the truth is not in us.
If we say we don't have sin,
you're just lying to yourself if you say that.
But it says, if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Does he say he will if we ask him?
Yes.
If we confess our sins, because we all have them,
so we all should be doing this from time to time, right?
Probably every day, probably like four times a day.
But Psalm 86 verse five says,
for thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive
and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
So when we call upon God, not just as like,
oh, forgive me, Lord, I did this thing,
but like, when we know we screwed up,
and we know when we've screwed up,
and we call upon him, he is ready to forgive.
I wish more people were like that.
And he's plenteous in mercy.
I wish more people were like that.
I wish more Christians were like that.
But you know who is like that?
God is like that.
And I'm glad that our supreme ruler,
our Lord and Savior, our master, our God, is forgiving.
So at least we have somebody in our life
that is actually plenteous in mercy and forgiving,
and he's the main one that actually matters.
So when all forsake us, at least God won't do that to us.
Turn back to Joshua 6, 19, it says in verse 19, it says,
but all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron
are consecrated unto the Lord.
They shall come into the treasury of the Lord.
And why?
Because you can make things out of it.
You can make weapons, you can make tools,
you can use these things to further, to buy stuff, whatever.
And these things can be cleansed with fire from the filth,
because everything's accursed.
But the Bible talks about it in other places
that you can cleanse these things through the fire, right?
And so it was okay to pass these things through the fire,
burn them up, and even when it talks about our works,
the things are able to be passed through God's fire,
when it talks about the fire burning up
the wood, hay, and stubble, what passes through.
The gold, the silver, the precious jewels, right?
So verse 20 says, so the people shouted
when the priests blew the trumpets,
and it came to pass when the people heard the sound
of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout
that the wall fell down flat,
so that the people went up into the city,
every man straight before him, and they took the city.
Now, Revelation 11, 15 says this,
and the seventh angel sounded,
and there were great voices in heaven,
saying the kingdom of this world
are become the kingdom of our Lord,
and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
So when the final trumpet sounded in Joshua,
I mean, this is signifying, you know,
obviously they still had all these battles to fight,
but it still signifies something,
that this is now, it's the doom of all these nations.
Joshua has become the man.
At the end of the chapter, what's it say?
The fear of Joshua came upon all these people,
and the fear of Christ is gonna come upon
the heathen nations of this world
when he comes down with his big shout.
He's gonna come with a shout,
and people are gonna be terrified,
all these people that made these great speeches,
and talk all bad about him,
and all the wicked things that they've said about him,
they're gonna be quivering in fear,
and they're gonna be, like, literally trying to hide,
like, putting things on top of them,
thinking they can hide from them,
but they can't hide themselves from him.
But when this actually happens,
you know, once that happens,
the kingdoms of this world are gonna become
the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he's gonna reign, and nothing's,
he's not gonna have to fight all these battles,
it's just gonna be one big mega battle
where he just kills them all,
and then he separates the sheep from the goats,
he lets some people live into the millennium,
and then he rules and reigns and shows how it's done.
This is how a real king rules,
this is how a real beneficial king rules,
this is how it's supposed to be,
this is how it would've been if things were done right,
and we get to rule and reign with him.
People throw rocks at you, ding,
you know, it's like, oh, where'd that come from?
Haha, RPG, fool, no, I don't know,
I mean, I don't think they love RPGs,
but who knows, it'll be interesting.
But what's really interesting is that Joshua
leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land,
it does represent the Lord Jesus Christ
leading us into that millennial reign,
excuse me, where we rule and reign with him
for a thousand years, but another interesting tidbit
is that archeology supports the account
of the book of Joshua and the battle of Jericho.
This is a historical book, Joshua,
and the only written account of this true life event.
You could literally book and place a ticket,
and you know, if the Palestinians don't kill you,
and go to where the ruins of this city are right now.
There's no disputing of the experts,
that they know exactly where the ruins are of the city.
In 1907, it was excavated by a German team,
they were able to trace the lower retaining walls
that hold the earthen embankment around the tel.
I'll explain what a tel is here in a minute.
There's a short section of stone wall
that can be seen at Tel Jericho today.
But what was the purpose of the retaining wall?
So like basically, a tel is like kind of like a,
it's like a mound that looks like an abnormal hill,
and it looks like a hill, it looks like just a lump,
but it's actually, you know, it's got stuff underneath it.
And the retaining wall that they would build around it
is so they could just lump all the stuff on it,
and eventually it starts to look like,
you know, just like a regular hill.
But they do that because if you just,
who's ever taken a bucket of dirt,
and you just kind of throw it on the ground,
and then like it kind of just spreads out?
But if you made like a rock retaining,
like a little mini rock retaining wall,
and you dumped a bucket of dirt into that,
it would fill up and become like a little mound, right?
So basically, this is what Jericho kind of looks like today.
And so, but on the top of Jericho,
on the top of Jericho, there was something similar.
They have a retaining wall around it,
and then they had on the top of that,
so like they had this, they had the retaining wall around it
and then they had a wall that went up on top of it.
So just say this is like the retaining wall around it.
They had walls that went up to there,
and then they also had inner walls around it,
but the city was kind of shaped, you know,
like a big long, and then it had a retaining wall
on the inside of it too.
It's hard to show it without like a real model or something,
but anyway, there's three different,
and the walls were made of mud bricks, okay?
Like you'd see, you've seen bricks, of course,
and they're made of mud bricks that, you know,
you'd put in like a brick kiln or whatever,
and there's three different teams that excavated Jericho.
The first one was Ernst, Sellen,
and Walter Watzinger in 1907 to 1909.
John Garstang, 1930 to 1936.
Kathleen Kenyon, 1952 to 1958.
So the outer wall and further up the embankment
that was the inner wall, and it was very well,
so the whole thing was very well fortified.
When they came upon this place, they were probably thinking
there's no way we're gonna be able to do this,
but you know, they had faith, obviously,
but archeology proves the Bible true
as a second witness to its accuracy.
I would believe the Bible even if I didn't,
I never knew where Jericho was,
but the fact that Jericho has been found
and excavated three different times,
you know, it obviously helps fortify your faith,
and it obviously, the Bible stands alone,
I believe it, without archeology,
but we have archeology to prove Jericho exists 100%,
and the walls did fall down flat,
and when they fell down, these brick walls fell down,
and like I said, they already had like
that retaining wall around it,
and when the brick wall fell down flat,
it kind of, it fell and sloped out like this,
so it like sloped out, and so when the Bible says
that they were supposed to run up into the city,
it said that because it kind of made like a little ramp
for them all to run up inside,
it was like, it kind of just made them
like little stepping stones to just run up into the city,
because otherwise they would have had to climb up
this tall retaining wall to get inside the city,
but because they fell down flat,
and when something falls down flat,
and then they have nothing but that retaining wall,
it just fell and kind of rolled out like that,
so that's how they found it when they dug it up,
they found all these bricks all the way around
the retaining wall, and they could have just ran right up,
but of course they dug it out and moved a lot
of those bricks out of the way,
but so, and they also proved that it happened
during the spring harvest, remember,
it happened during the spring harvest
when the barley and all that stuff was being harvested,
because they found a bunch of containers with burnt,
with all the burnt stuff in it,
they found a layer of burn inside that mound of earth,
so basically what a tell is, like I said,
is that it's a mound, and so think about a layer cake,
who knows what a layer cake is, right,
it's a cake that has all these different layers,
if you cut that layer cake, it has all these different
layers inside of it, that's how archeologists
dig out these things, and so they go down into these layers
and they find pieces of pottery, or coins,
or things that will help you date how old that place was,
because if say a city in the ancient times
is sacked and burnt, well they just go
and they put everything, another city on top of it,
like Seattle was burnt in a fire,
and you can go to the underground of Seattle, right,
and check it out, well, that's because they've just built
another city on top of it, and so that's what this Jericho
is like, it was destroyed, it was burnt with fire,
and then when they found that burn layer,
they found all this barley from that harvest,
preserved from 3400 years ago, just like the Bible says.
So, when it was excavated, they found the mud bricks,
and then that Kathleen Kenyon, the last person to go
and excavate it, she has diagrams where she wrote
that she found the bricks all fallen around, sloping out,
she said it wasn't the retaining wall,
it was the red bricks, but, so she's basically
attesting to what the Bible says also,
but then she says that the pot,
she was looking for a specific kind of pottery,
and she said because she didn't find that one specific kind
that she was looking for, that she said,
well this happened 150 years earlier,
and so she tries to throw out the fact that it was actually,
you know, that there was nobody,
that it was, that that happened 150 years earlier
than Joshua, so they tried, she tries to throw out
the biblical account because of that.
So, I just think that she was probably a God hater,
but now people go by what she says,
because she was the last one to excavate it,
but earlier people agree with the biblical account,
even one of the people that worked for her
agree with how it was found, and even her own writings
prove that it was true.
But people just want to make the Bible look bad,
and so that's kind of what she was doing.
But, you know, if you have literary evidence
and physical evidence of something happening,
and the bricks were used as a ramp to climb up the city
to attack the city, Joshua 6.20b says,
so that the people went up into the city,
every man straight before him and took the city,
you know, this is what happened,
this is what the Bible says,
and I don't need some woman
that doesn't know what she's talking about.
I mean, she's apparently some expert,
but she's looking for one piece of pottery.
She just wants to throw out the story of Joshua,
that's what it is.
But even though she found the red brick,
she drew pictures of the red brick,
you could go back and see all of her studies on it,
but she just wants to say that it was
an earlier date or whatever.
So, the tell mounds, basically,
there's still tons of them all over the place
in the Middle East that haven't even been excavated yet,
but they're very interesting.
You can watch videos about it if you want to after church.
I could show you one that's actually pretty interesting.
So, verse 21 in our text says,
and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city,
both man and woman, young and old,
and ox and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword.
So, these are the gnarly parts of the Bible,
like I said earlier, that the scoffers and atheists
love to point out and throw in our face.
Your God's a genocidal maniac
who kills children and women and animals.
They'd probably be more upset about the animals, actually,
than anything else, but why does God want us to do that?
Turn to Leviticus chapter 18, Leviticus chapter 18.
Now, in Leviticus chapter 18,
it talks about a lot of perversion sins,
like sleeping with your relatives
and just a bunch of weirdness,
but I'll just pick it up at verse...
22, Leviticus 18, 22.
Thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind.
It is an abomination.
Neither shalt thou lie with any beast
to defile thyself therewith.
Neither shall any woman stand before a beast
to lie down thereto.
It is confusion.
Defile not yourselves with any of these things,
for in all these things the nations are defiled,
which I cast out before you.
Who's he talking about?
Where are they at right now?
They're in Jericho.
So, if he says the nations are defiled,
which I cast out before you,
is Jericho one of those nations?
Yes, they are.
And the land is defiled.
Therefore, I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it,
and the land itself vomitteth out her inhabitants.
He shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments,
and shall not commit any of these abominations.
Neither any of your own nation,
nor any stranger that sojourneth among you,
for all these abominations have the men of the land done,
which were before you, and the land is defiled.
And the land spewed not you out also when ye defile it,
as it spewed out the nations that were before you.
For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations,
even the souls that commit them,
shall be cut off from among their people.
Therefore, shall ye keep mine ordinance,
that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs,
which were committed before you,
that ye defile not yourselves therein.
I am the Lord your God.
So he just straight up says,
all these nations that I'm kicking out from before you,
are doing these things.
They're murderers, they're throwing their children
in the fire and murdering their own children,
and there are all kinds of perversions going on.
This is why God is destroying Jericho
and killing everybody inside.
It's not just for no reason,
it's not just because he hates women and children
and animals and all this other stuff.
The place is completely defiled.
That's why the beasts are getting killed too.
It's not like, what do the animals do?
They get the death sentence too.
They're defiling them.
So there's a reason why God did it.
So that's why God said,
kill them all and let me sort them out.
You know, have you ever heard that saying,
kill them all and let God sort them out?
Well, God's saying, kill them all and let me sort them out.
I mean, he's actually saying it.
So I don't like it when people say that,
but God's actually saying it.
So when he says it, it's okay.
Because he's good.
His judgments are right.
Who are we to reply to God and say what's right or wrong?
When he says to do something,
you know, if he says jump, we're supposed to say how high?
How fast and how long do you want us to jump for?
Verse 22, back in our text says,
but Joshua had said unto the two men
that spied out the country,
go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman
and all that she hath as you swear unto her.
And the young men that were spies went in
and brought out Rahab and her father
and her mother and her brethren and all that she had
and brought out all her kindred
and left them without the camp of Israel
and they burnt the city with fire
and all that was therein,
only the silver and gold and vessels and the brass and iron,
they put it into the treasury of the house of the Lord.
So again, burned that grain,
burned everything in the whole place
and that's what you find if you look at that
layer of burning in that tale in Jericho today.
And it says, and Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive
and her father's household and all that she had
and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day
because she hid the messengers
which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
And it's interesting that it says
Joshua saved Rahab the harlot
and her father's household.
And this kind of reminds me of that verse where it says,
you know, what must I do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved and thy house.
It's kind of like, you know,
it says Joshua saved Rahab the harlot
and which Joshua pictured Jesus of course.
So obviously she was saved before that I believe
but it's still an interesting picture, it's a good picture.
In Hebrews 11, 30, I won't have you turn there
but it says by faith the walls of Jericho fell down
after they were compassed about seven days.
By faith the harlot Rahab perished not
with them that believed,
not when she had received the spies of peace.
This whole mission here was a mission of faith
and great things happened for God's people
and Rahab married Salmon which was of the tribe of Judah
and of course I've already preached about this
but she was one of, she's in Jesus' genealogy.
She's mentioned specifically by name.
Joshua 626 and Joshua adjured them at that time
saying curse be the man before the Lord that riseth up
and buildeth the city Jericho.
He shall lay the foundation thereof
in his firstborn and his youngest son
shall he set up the gates of it.
The fulfillment of that, I won't have you turn there
but that actually gets fulfilled.
So Joshua prophesized this and says
hey if anybody builds this city again
they're gonna literally lay the foundation thereof
of their firstborn child and their youngest son
shall set up the gates of it.
So this city was never to be rebuilt
but someone did rebuild it.
In 1 Kings 16 33, you can turn there if you want
but you don't have to.
This is the fulfillment of that prophecy.
And Ahab made a grove, 1 Kings 16 33
and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel
to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
This is many many years later.
In his days did Heil the Bethelite build Jericho
he laid the foundation thereof in a biram, his firstborn
and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son,
Segub, according to the word of the Lord
which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.
So I mean it sounds like he literally did that.
It's pretty crazy, pretty weird.
But he really wanted to build that city Jericho
back up again.
But what's even more crazy is that
I mean I guess it's not more crazy but
what's interesting is that Jesus goes to Jericho
and when he's, three times in three different gospels
I think it's talking about the same event
where blind Bartimaeus is healed from his blindness.
And then he's only mentioned once
but when Jesus does, he goes to Jericho,
he goes through Jericho and he heals sublime men.
But it's funny because right before Joshua goes
into Jericho he looks up.
Do you remember that verse where in chapter five
it says he looks up and he sees the captain
of the Lord's host.
So he sees Jesus.
And it's interesting because it says he looks up.
I mean he must have been looking at the ground all of a sudden
and it says he's by Jericho and he looks up.
And then when Jesus is mentioned in Matthew chapter 20
he's healing blind people.
So both, when you see Joshua who pictures Jesus
he's looking up at the real Jesus.
He's able to see him.
And then when Jesus is actually in Jericho
blind people are asking him to heal him.
I don't know.
I don't know what that means exactly
but it's definitely very interesting.
So last verse it says so the Lord was with Joshua
and his fame was noise throughout all the country
just like Jesus' fame went throughout all the country.
And so this is like one of the most famous stories
in the whole Bible, the Battle of Jericho.
There's a song about Joshua fighting the Battle of Jericho.
Who knows this song?
Raise your hand.
All the kids, you should know it.
Yeah, Joshua fought the Battle of Jericho
and the walls came tumbling down.
All right, I'm not singing the whole thing.
I don't have a good voice.
All right, that's all we got tonight.
All right, let's pray.
Lord we thank you so much for this great story in the Bible
and Lord I pray that you just bless us
as we go our separate ways.
We thank you Lord for this great story
and the things of faith that we can learn by it.
Pray that you just help us to love the Bible,
help us to be thinking about things
where we can prove our lives
and stay away from the accursed things
and Lord help us to stay on task
and help us to have a love for our Bible this year
and to want and desire to read the Bible cover to cover
and pray that you just help us to just hunger
after the things of God and help us to love you
and make you number one in our life this year.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Lou Himmels, last song this evening, page 285.
Angels we have heard on high, page 285.
Angels have we heard on high.
["Angels We Have Heard on High"]
Angels we have heard on high on the first.
Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains
and the mountains in reply, echo back their joyous strains.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
On the second, shepherds, why this jubilee, Why your joyous strength prolongs,
Say, what may the tidings be, Which inspire your heav'ly song?
Gloria, in excelsis Deo, Gloria, in excelsis Deo,
Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing,
Come adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King,
Gloria, in excelsis Deo, Gloria, in excelsis Deo,
Deo, on the last, a manger laid, Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth,
Mary, Joseph, Lanyorane, with us sing our Savior's birth,
Gloria, in excelsis Deo, Gloria, in excelsis Deo,
And thank you for joining us this Sunday for our Christmas services.
We'd love to see you back here next week.
Brother Alex, you want to end us with a word of prayer?