(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, Joshua chapter number six, now I'm going to do this one slightly different and I'll do this from time to time. Normally I read through every single verse again as we go through this passage. I'm not going to hit every single verse this time. There's more kind of near the end that I want to get into, but the beginning is ... Basically what's happening in this chapter is that the children of Israel, now we've already read the first five chapters. I'm not even going to recap all those for you, but they're just now going to get started doing any type of battle in order to start destroying the people of the land and taking over the land of Canaan for their inheritance. This is the very first battle that they get to on this side, Jordan. Of course, we know they already fought against Og and those on the other side of Jordan. They already had those battles. They already defeated those enemies, but now on this side, Jordan, they're just getting things started. God tells Joshua, this is the way I want you to do things. You're going to have seven priests with seven trumpets, not seven trumpets each. One priest each gets a trumpet, so I'll have one trumpet and you're going to bring the ark of the Lord and you guys are all going to compass or walk around the city of Jericho. The city of Jericho had walls, it was all walled up. They were defensed and they were fortified, so he said, this is what you're going to do. Every day, you guys are just going to walk around once and you're going to do that for six days. Every single day you're going to get up, you're going to go around, priests are going to blow with the trumpet and they're just going to go around one time and stop. Then he goes on the seventh day, you're going to walk around the city of Jericho, but you're going to do that seven times. You're going to go around and around and around and the seventh time then, when you get around seven times, then that's when they're going to blow with the trumpets, they're going to make a long sound and then everybody's going to shout and you're all going to make a noise kind of with one accord and the city's going to be yours. Of course, that's exactly what happens. We're going to see, there's a few verses I'm going to kind of point out here, Joshua follows that to a T. That's exactly as the Lord commands and the city, of course, is given into their hand and they get a great victory. That's ultimately the real brief overview, but there's so much going on in this passage as there is in all of these. It's really fun to study these out and to prepare for the preaching on these sermons because I usually end up learning some things, but it's fun just going through everything and seeing all of the different things that tie into this. So the first thing that stood out to me, excuse me, as I was reading this and studying for this passage, what I was going to preach. First of all, we see that the city, it says in verse number one, now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel, none went out and none came in. We saw in the previous chapter as well, their spirit was lost. I mean, they were scared, they were holed up in this city, but they were terrified of being there. And the Lord said unto Joshua, verse number two, see I have given in thine hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor. And then he tells them all of his instruction here. It says in verse number six, and Joshua, the son of Nun, 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. And basically he says exactly what God tells him to do. Now as I'm reading this, I see seven trumpets, seven trumpets, you see it over and over and seven trumpets. Like where do you see seven trumpets? There's one other place in the Bible that you see seven trumpets. And I'm thinking like, well, there's got to be a connection here. And there is. And it's actually really cool. And I think I'm just going to be scratching the surface on all of the extra meanings and the symbolism and everything behind this. But even just what I understand about this, I think is really neat. So keep your place here. I want you to turn real quickly to Revelation chapter 11, because what I believe about this passage is that it's simply a foreshadowing of end times events. I don't think there's necessarily anything more to it than that, but it's a picture just as so many things are throughout the Old Testament, pictures of things that are to come, pictures of things that are to happen. And I think that this is a picture of end times events. And especially I think there's also a symbolism between Jericho and Babylon. And we see the destruction of Jericho just as we're going to see the destruction of Babylon. And I'm going to tie it all together for you right now. We look at Revelation chapter 11. Of course, we have the trumpets being blown in Revelation 10 and 11. And I'm only focusing on the seventh trumpet, because it seems to be like there's not a lot of detail given in Joshua about each individual trumpet, but it's just the fact that there's seven priests blowing the seventh trumpet, and they're doing it for seven days. And all of the action happens on that last day. So it's not like every single thing is going to line up, just, oh, here's the first trumpet, here's the second trumpet. That's not the way it's designed. On the seventh trumpet, though, what we see here in Scripture, what happens at the seventh trumpet, look at verse number 15 of Revelation 11, the Bible says, And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. So the seventh trumpet is signaling basically the millennial reign of Christ, when Jesus Christ is going to rule and reign, and that's going to be the inheritance and the promised land for those who are believers. Just as here is this very significant first battle, as it were, for the physical seed of Israel going in to inherit their promised land. So that's the very first thing that I catch here that's happening at the beginning of the seventh trumpet. Look at verse number 16, it says, And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God under seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and was to us, and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned in the nations where angry and thy wrath is come, in the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth. And then verse number 19 says, And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament, and there were lightnings and voices and thunderings, and an earthquake and great hail, and I want you just to take note of that very last phrase there in verse 19 of all these things that are happening, because it's going to help us in our time placement, our chronology in Revelation, because basically we're going to see the seven vials then being opened and poured out later in Revelation. We're going to turn to Revelation 16, and we're going to see the seven vials. Now I don't personally believe that the vials and the trumpets are exactly the same. I do think there are two different events taking place, but I do believe they're happening simultaneously, because for those of you, you can check out Pastor Anderson's Revelation series or After the Tribulation if you haven't already. The key to understanding Revelation is when you understand that this book is essentially split in half and you have two witnesses in the first half and the second half of Revelation of just end times prophecy and the prophetic events, and you can make that division, the whole book's going to make a lot of sense. It's not going to seem out of order or anything like that, because you can start then pairing up your passages with the same types of events happening. Obviously in the first half and the second half you get some different details, but it's really easy to determine the chronology just by doing that one little thing. So I encourage you to do that if you haven't heard that before, you can check that out. But Revelation chapter 16, we're going to see the vials being opened, and when you start comparing the first trumpet with the first vial, the second trumpet with the second vial, you're seeing very similar things happening kind of at the same time, whether it has to do with darkness, has to do with famine, whatever is going on with those plagues, they're very, very similar. But when the seventh, look at verse number 17 here in Revelation 16, the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done. Okay, now verse number 18 says, and there were voices and thunders and lightnings and there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. So these are the same exact things that we saw happening in Revelation chapter 11. And the reason that's why I had you kind of look at that, the seventh angel sounded, and then you have these earthquakes, thunders, lightnings and all that stuff, and then we have the same exact thing happening after the seventh vial is poured out. So I'm just trying to tie the two passages together here to show you the same event now is taking place in order to continue on with this passage where it says in verse number 19, and the great city was divided into three parts as a result of this mighty earthquake that happens during all this other destruction. And it says, and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away and the mountains were not found, and there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, and on and on. And then chapter 17 and 18, of course, just talk about Babylon, Mr. Babylon, everything else. So this is where I tie in Jericho with Babylon, because you've got the seven trumpets, you've got the seventh trump, which is the seventh day that they sounded with the trumpet. They're bringing destruction, right? So there's destruction now coming upon this city. And I think Jericho is just representative of Babylon. So that's very interesting. Let's go back, if you would, to Joshua. Joshua chapter six, and we're going to pick up reading here, starting verse number nine again. It says, and the armed men went before the priests that blew at the trumpets, and the rearward came after the ark, the priests going on and blowing with the trumpet. So basically, the way that Joshua set it up is that he had protection in front of the priests and behind the priests. So they're the ones going forward with the ark. The priests are in front of the ark, blowing the trumpets, the ark's behind them, and then he's got men of war going before and behind just to make sure that they're all protected. And then it says in verse 10, 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 shall you shout. And I love how clear Joshua makes this command. And this is a job of someone who's supposed to be leading and preaching God's word and being a judge. Joshua's considered one of the judges, and being able to just take God's word and really expound it onto the people and be like, look, this is what God said, so you're not going to make a peep. Don't talk, don't say anything, don't make any noises, I don't want you to say anything until the day I tell you to shout, and then you shout, right? Because God's direction to him was pretty, it was clear, but Joshua's just like really trying to hammer it home, like you guys gotta listen to this, you don't make a noise, not a sound. I want to hear a pin drop as we go around this place until that last day, and when I tell you to shout, then let her rip. And so that's pretty interesting. Let's keep going here, verse number 11 says, so the ark of the Lord encompassed the city rolling about at once, and they came into camp and lodged in the camp. And basically it just continues in detail here. You know, each day they follow to a T everything that they were supposed to do. The second day they do the same thing, the seventh day they go around six times, and it says in verse number 16, of course, we finish up with this, it says, and it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priest blew at the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, shout, for the Lord hath 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 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 accursed and trouble it. Now I was going to go into this a little bit, but I'm going to hold off until next week. We're going to see, that's exactly what ends up happening. He says, don't, he says, this city and these people are all accursed. He says, they're cursed by God. The whole city, everything in it, everyone in it, they are all cursed, they're damned, and you better not touch anything in it or else you're going to be accursed and you're going to bring a curse upon Israel by taking anything out of this city, by touching the accursed thing. And of course, that happens, we'll see that in the next chapter, but we get the warning right here. So I'm going to go into that in a lot more detail next week. Continuing on here, 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 again, this is a concept, I'll probably end up teaching on this at some point soon. Again, this is another, it's another basic doctrine, but the doctrine of just giving God the first fruits, you know, whether that be through the tithe or just anything for that matter, giving God the glory, giving God the credit first. This is their first real battle going into the promised land. This is going to be that first victory. Of course, God is doing all the fighting for them. He's already promised that, that He will make sure that they are, you know, if they're doing what He says, then He will be with them and He will protect them. And there's actually not one life lost in this battle. It's all God doing that and fighting for them. And as a result, they say, okay, well, this all then is being dedicated and consecrated unto the Lord. He gets the first. And that's the way that we ought to treat, you know, basically everything, especially all of our increase, you know, give the first to the Lord. He deserves the first. Give the first of your time to the Lord. He deserves the first of your time. You know, God shouldn't just be getting your leftovers and your scraps and well, whatever's left and then I'll use that to read or I'll use that to pray or use that to, you know, give unto the Lord or whatever, whatever, whatever the case may be. But I don't want to get too far into that, but this is just one more example of that. This, this truth is found all throughout scriptures. I'm going to preach that sermon on another day. I'll just give you a little bit of a taste there of what's going on here. Verse number 20 says, so the people shouted when the priest blew with 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. Now, what, what a sight this must be. Obviously we know God is involved in this. Well, I wonder, I often wonder if there is a physical reason behind the walls all falling down because think about what he's doing, what he had them do, and they probably weren't necessarily considering that all of this was going to happen in this way, but God knew and God knows what he's doing and he had them do this, but they're already scared because they know the children of Israel were coming over. Then they hear about them crossing over the Jordan River, right, and there's this great miracle that God just stops the river and they just cross over on dry land. Now here they are, they show up outside of the city and they're going, oh man, what are we going to do? And then they see them and they're watching them and they just walk around the city, right, they blow the trumpet, they just walk around and see what they're doing. They do this for a week. They're just like, what is going on? So then on the seventh day when they actually do something, they're like, wait a minute, they're not, they didn't just go around once, they've got to pick up on this and notice they're going around again and again and again and, and I don't know about you, but I try to put myself in a situation, I'd probably be freaking out, like what are they doing? And what I imagine, again, this is my opinions, my thoughts on this as I just read through this, they probably, everyone is probably getting up on the wall like just watching like what is going on? And then they finally blow with the trumpets and everybody shouts. The fear that must have been going through that city and everybody probably is getting up on the walls potentially could have caused, you know, possibly could have caused the walls to crumble if there was a physical explanation. Regardless, we know it's God's doing, right, it could be totally miraculous where God just made those, those walls crumble and I'm not trying to steal any glory from the Lord. I just, these are some of the things that I pictured. We know that God can use all kinds of things for this stuff to happen and, but in any case, we do know that it was by the faith and we'll see this verse a little bit later in Hebrews that by faith the walls of Jericho fell down because it was the faith of the children of Israel doing exactly what God told them to do for that to happen. And then, of course, that completely destroys their defense and, I mean, imagine the turmoil just from their own walls being broken down. It's a route. It's a route. The city of Israel or the city, the children of Israel able to go in and destroy the people. Now, I want to take a little bit of time and go into what happens here because a lot of people that hate God and hate the Bible will use these passages, especially this time period when the children of Israel are going in and destroying the Canaanites and they'll look at a verse like this and they'll try to claim that God is an evil God or a wicked God and how can a God, you know, destroy children? Because look at what it says here in verse number 21 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. That's not a pleasant thought, right? It's not a pleasant thing to be thinking of all of that happening. I could understand why that's a little troublesome, and I know, and I've talked to people about this before, especially younger Christians that don't understand, well, why? Why does that happen? Because we're so ingrained already with just, which, and I'm not saying necessarily for a bad reason, but that when you think about, you know, women and children dying and being, you know, and being killed in war time, like that's not something we typically do. Now that's also not something that God ever told the children of Israel to do outside of when they're taking over the land of Canaan. There's other laws given on how they are to behave with their military and, you know, with taking prisoners, with who they're supposed to fight and things like that, but here is why. I'm going to give you the reason we're going to go over this. I want you to follow along closely and take notes if you want to, but turn if you would to Leviticus chapter number 20. The reason why this judgment is so severe is because it's God bringing a judgment on the people. God commanded them to not leave anyone breathing, that they all need to be just wiped out, and the reason why it's justified, this level of destruction, is because of how wicked the people really were. This isn't the first time we've heard this type of destruction happening. Think about the flood. I guarantee you there were women and children on the earth at the time of the flood that ended up being destroyed with all of the waters. What happened then? Noah found grace in the eyes of God, but the whole world overall was given to wickedness and it had just gotten way out of hand to where God said, you know what, I've had enough of this, there needs to be judgment to come. You notice in every single instance of this utter destruction, there's always someone that finds grace, there's always a salvation, there's always a way out. In this case, it's Rahab the harlot. The entire city is being destroyed, man, woman, child, everybody, everything, all the animals, but not the house of Rahab. Her whole family found grace. Her whole house, Sodom and Gomorrah locked in his family, taken out right before that destruction happened, again with the flood with Noah. When people get extremely wicked, sometimes that curse, what is going to be brought upon them is just total destruction. This ought to be a warning to everybody, especially the unbelievers, especially the heathen that think they could just do and live however they want and that there is no God and there is no judgment because the more you murder babies, the more you live in filth and just promote your pride and perversion and just get worse and worse and commit abominable acts upon abominable acts, God only puts up with so much. It's not God that desires to kill the people, but when they bring that destruction upon themselves, they're bringing it upon themselves and ultimately they're the ones that are responsible for bringing that destruction even upon their own families and upon their own children by getting in themselves into that mess. And we're going to see how bad could it possibly have been in the land of pain? Let's take a look at Leviticus chapter number 20. Leviticus chapter 20 is a very famous passage. There's a lot of sins listed here that deserve the death penalty in God's law. We're going to skip through some of these, but we're going to start reading here in verse number nine. The Bible says, for everyone that curses, his father, his mother shall be surely put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, his blood shall be upon him and the man that committed adultery with another man's wife, even he that committed adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulterer shall surely be put to death and the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them and if a man lie with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have wrought confusion. Their blood shall be upon them. So we're seeing here just wicked children cursing their parents. We see adultery going on. We see all manner of just lewdness between relatives, in-laws. That just ought not to happen and it's perverted and disgusting. And then we get to verse number 13, the Bible says, if a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. Talking about homosexuality, talking about the sodomites deserving the death penalty because it's disgusting, it's abominable in the sight of God. Verse 14, if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burnt with fire, both he and they, that there be no wickedness among you. Imagine someone being married to a woman and her mother at the same time. That's just bizarre. That's just perverted. It's sick. It's disgusting. Any normal person is just going to be like, what in the world? There's a reason why there's jokes already about mother-in-laws, right? There's a very common joke, but imagine being married. It's hard to even joke about this. It really is because it's just weird. It really is just weird and unnatural to think about that type of a relationship with your wife's mother. It's bizarre. Verse number 15, and if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death and you shall slay the beast. It just keeps getting weirder and weirder. So we see these laws as if a woman approached on a beast, you know, all this stuff, right? If a man shall take his sister in verse 17, it just, it keeps going on. Jump down now to verse number 22, the Bible says, you shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments and do them that the land, whether I bring you to dwell there in, spew you not out. So just as it gets done mentioning all these things that you don't do this, you don't lie with animals, you don't lie with other men or other women. If you're a man or a woman, you say you don't lie with your, with your, you don't take your mother-in-law to be your wife. You don't lie with your sister. There's no incest, there's no bestiality, you know, this, these are things you ought not to do. And he says, cause if you do these things, the land is going to spew you out. The land is going to be like, you people are discussing, you're getting spewed out. And obviously it's not physically the land doing that because it's going to be God doing it. It says, verse 23, and you shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you, for they committed all these things and therefore I abhorred them. You want to know why that judgment came in the book of Joshua? This is the book of Leviticus. This is Moses in the wilderness giving the children of Israel the law. He's giving them God's law and he's saying, the land that I'm going to give you, those people do all of these things. All of these things. It's bad enough that it got people doing any of those things, and they're doing all of those things, showing the depravity that the land of Canaan was in when God decided to bring judgment upon those people. But before you start feeling sorry for all the wicked people of Jericho, that they got utterly destroyed and God commanded that, they all just need to be taken out and destroyed. Remember and look back at all of these things that they were doing. And I guarantee you it didn't stop there. They were given over to all manner of wickedness. They're reprobates by and large. This is why God brought that destruction. Turn, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 7. I want to show you a few places here. Also just on having pity, I actually, it's funny that this is coming up. I very rarely even get a chance anymore to listen to any other preaching. Pastor Anderson just preached a good sermon on being too nice recently. I just saw that. It was really good. And I do, that is a problem today, and by and large throughout Christianity. There's been almost a brainwashing going on within Christianity to just be too tolerant and too nice over really, really wicked things that the Bible calls out and God destroyed people over and destroyed nations over and destroyed cities over and just had them sent utter destruction. And if that's what God's judgment is, then who are you to want to love and show pity on a person that's receiving God's judgment and God's wrath in that capacity? That turns you into a judge of God's judgment. We ought to be careful about being holier than thou when it just comes to living a life and trying to live separated under Christ and looking down on other people. You better watch out when you become holier than God. When you think that you can be nicer than God, that, oh no, if God decided to kill, but I'm going to pity those little children. I'm going to love and care for all those people. God said deserve the death penalty. Wrong. That is not the right response that we need to have. Look at Deuteronomy 7 verse number 16, Deuteronomy 7 verse number 16, the Bible says, and thou shalt consume all the people, which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee, thine eyes shall have no pity upon them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, for that will be a snare unto thee. And this is again, giving instruction, they shall agree to say, look, don't pity them. Don't start to feel sorry for these people when you have to carry out the judgment against them because this is the judgment that God is ordained. He says, and don't you fall and let a snare come upon you because of any of their ways, because of any of their false gods or anything like that. Don't get involved with them. Don't start going down that path yourself. Watch out for it, but don't have pity on them. Deuteronomy 19, flip over to chapter 19, we're going to see basically the same thing about not having pity on these people that deserve it. The Bible says in verse number 11, but if any man hate his neighbor and lie and wait for him and rise up against him and smite him mortally that he die and flee into one of these cities, who's talking about someone who's committing murder, first-degree murder. He's lying in wait, he hates his neighbor, he waits for him, he sets a trap, and then he kills him. And then he flees in one of the cities of refuge, it says in verse 12, then the elders of this city shall send and fetch him thence and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die. That's the judgment. If someone commits murder, he needs to be put to death by the avenger of blood. I love this law because that avenger of blood is someone that's like close to whoever got killed. That's the person who's executing the judgment upon him. And this is the way that God commanded to be, I think that's right. I think there's justice in that. But then look at verse number 13, it says, thine eyes shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee. One of the things that I've noticed, one of the things I like, or I've spent some time watching, I don't watch a lot of TV shows and things like that, but I watch documentaries and one of the things that's fascinated me is just kind of like crime documentaries and things like that. And one of the things I've noticed, and this is why you always gotta be careful with what you just allow to put in front of your eyes anyways, one of the things I've noticed with a lot of these shows that will focus in on, you know, just whether it be like an FBI file type of thing where they're looking back and forensically looking at crime scenes and stuff like that, almost every single time, I would say probably not even almost, every single time what they do is they take the victims and they put them in this pitiful light. And it's just always, oh, this poor person, that poor person. But do you know how often that I've seen, it's like almost every single time they're doing something like committing adultery or being involved in some extremely wicked behavior and then they end up dying and I look at that and I see the judgment of God there. Now I'm not saying that whoever the person was that took their life was just in doing so, but I also don't see all the pity that's going to be going toward the adulterous who's cheating on her husband and this guy that she ends up going off with ends up killing her. I don't have any pity for her. Well, you got to watch out for the world that's going to want to brainwash you and think, oh, this poor woman, oh, we're so, you know, we ought to shed all these tears that it's so sad that she lost her life. Well, she shouldn't have been a whore. She shouldn't have been committing adultery. And this is what the Bible say, you know what, don't pity that guy, don't pity the murderer that gets put to death, don't pity the adulterous that gets put to death, don't pity anybody that God has this judgment upon when the execution is carried out. Because you start pitying him and then what's going to happen is you're not going to want to impose the sentence. You're going to want to change God's law into saying, no, we shouldn't do that. And that's, you know, all these Christians, these real believers today, they freak out when people like me or people like you will say, I believe that sodomites should be put to death. I believe it should be against the law and homosexuals should be executed. I believe that ought to be a law today. They'll freak out over that. Oh no, where's your grace? Where's your love? Where's God's grace and God's love in his law then? You tell me, are you going to be more just than God? Show me in the New Testament, show me anywhere in the Bible where God just says, nope, those laws. I know that that was the sentence that I gave for human beings that engage in this type of behavior, but I've changed my mind on that now. I actually think I was a little bit too harsh and now I'm going to start having pity for these people, even though I said don't have pity on them when I gave you the law. What in the world? What is wrong with people? It's because they've been brainwashed into having pity. Now we go out and try to win souls all day long and that's great, but you know what? The law is still the law and still needs to be carried out. If someone could get saved before they get put to death, great, but that doesn't mean that we should just not have any laws then. Well, let's just not have a death penalty then because all we care about is getting somebody saved. Nope. I actually care about my kids and your kids and other people more than that. The law still needs to be carried out. And it's funny that people just want to pick and choose because they won't say there should be no laws because that is insane, but they fail to see their logical problem when they just start picking and choosing, well, which laws should you think we should enforce? Because a lot of these same believers, and I mean believers, I'm not talking about people just call themselves Christian, believers will say, yeah, a pedophile should be put to death or yeah, a first degree murderer should be put, I believe in a death penalty, but they don't want to say it's for the sodomites. Well, who are you to make that decision then? And show me from scripture where you get that idea from at all because you're not going to be able to find that. It's ridiculous. In the same passage here, Deuteronomy 19, verse number 21, let's just read in verse number 19. It says, then shall you do unto him. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So in this passage, in verse 16, in verse 16, it's talking about a false witness. So the false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong. And it's going to give us the punishment of what that judgment is. If someone's found out to be lying, so if someone comes up against brother Miller and says, you know what, I saw brother Miller, you know, I saw him murder. You hear about that girl that showed up dead last week? I saw him do it. Right? Just total false witness comes up and points a finger and says he did it. Well, the judges should make diligent inquisition, the Bible says in verse 18, that they're going to, they're going to look into this very carefully. If they find out that the guy who's, who's pointing the finger at him is a liar, then the judgment is that the false witness gets the sentence carried out on him that would have been carried out if he was convicted of that crime. And that is right and just. We're so far away from anything like that ever happening in our justice system. But how wicked is that? I mean, it's only right. I mean, if someone's going to lie and cause him to lose his life potentially based on your words, then of course you ought to be put to death if you're found out to be a liar in that regard. And the Bible says in verse number 20, because it says, that's what you're supposed to do in verse 19 says, then shall you do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother. So shall thou put the evil away from among you and those which remain shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. This is the purpose is that we have these judgments and they need to be carried out. That way there's a lot less people doing it because they're going to hear about it. They're going to be afraid and be like, okay, I'm very, very careful on the things that I say and what I'm testifying to you because I don't want that then coming back against me. And then verse number 21 says in nine, I shall not pity, don't pity that person, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. That's God's righteous judgment. But he didn't do anything. He was just lying. Yeah, he almost, he almost caused someone else to die and that's malicious and you deserve death because that's God's judgment and we're not going to pity that person. You're not going to feel sorry for that person. They shouldn't have done it. And people who are committed, committing wickedness are not people that we ought to be pitying when they receive their judgment. It's a righteous judgment. Don't have a soft spot for the wicked, especially the wicked reprobates of the world that are doing these things that are just, that are extremely wicked in God's eyes. Turn forward to Psalm 15. You see, in order for the children of Israel to even carry out this judgment, I mean, think about it. Put yourself in their shoes. God says, you need to go in and you need to wipe everybody out. It's one thing to read about that and to even think about that, but to actually walk in and they didn't have guns, they weren't shooting from afar, they didn't bomb the place. They went in with their swords and it was up close and personal and they took lives. It takes a lot of fortitude to be able to do something like that, but the reason why they're able to do something like that is because they would have gotten themselves a point where they hate wickedness. They hate it. When you are the more righteous that you are and you become with God and understanding God's laws and loving God and loving what's right and loving the truth, you ought to likewise be hating the exact opposite, be hating the lies, be hating the wickedness, be hating on all of the just extremely vile, wicked things that God hates. When you have that type of an attitude, carrying out the sentence isn't nearly as hard, because you're putting that filth away. You're carrying out what God says ought not to be there anymore. Psalm 15, did I have you turn there? Psalm 15 gives us great instruction, because we're not only just love without any type of hating. Look at verse number one. The Bible says, Lord, who shall bide thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbideth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. There's a lot of someone, hey, who's going to keep going strong in your tabernacle, God? Who's going to dwell in your holy hill? Who are you going to be right there with you? Well, you walk upright, you're doing good things, you're speaking the truth, you're not getting involved in sin, you're not doing evil to people, but then look at verse number four. Same person, in whose eyes a vile person is contempt. That means hated, like you have contempt. You hate that person, a vile person. Vile is extremely wicked and disgusting. This is talking about the reprobate, this is talking about as Proverbs refers to as the wicked person. I know that to some degree and to some level everybody has wickedness in them because everybody's a sinner, but there's a distinction between that type of wickedness of just being a sinner and what the Bible refers to as the wicked person or wicked man, especially you read through the book of Proverbs, we're going to see here in the book of Psalms as well, someone who's just vile and wicked is the reprobate, and it says that the wicked person, the vile person is condemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. That's how you're going to do well. This hasn't changed in the New Testament. Turn to Psalm 101. Psalm 101, we'll go through a few of the Psalms and we'll get to the New Testament real quick. We'll go back to the chapter, Psalm 101, Bible says in verse number one, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. And this is, again, just more wisdom into how we ought to live our lives. Even continuing on here, it says, who so privily slandered, verse number five, his neighbor, him will I cut off. Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within mine house. He that telleth lie shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, and I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. So what's he talking about? He's talking about destroying the wicked, just out of the land, getting rid of them all. He hates them. He hates the work. He hates the wicked people. He says, it's not going to cleave unto me. I love people who love the Lord. That's again, it's a biblical, godly attitude. Psalm 139, real quickly, Psalm 139, verse number 19, the Bible reads, surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God. Apart from me, therefore, ye bloody men. Again, talking about the wicked. God's going to slay the wicked. Verse 20, for they speak against thee wickedly in thine enemies. Take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee, and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them thine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. There's a righteous hatred that we ought to have. Because if you don't have this, then you're being too nice, and you have a little bit too much pity and too much of a soft spot for the really, really wicked that exists in this world. Now, obviously, there's a balance. We're not just all hate against every single person in the whole world. It's not what this is saying at all. It's about specific, wicked, extremely vile, wicked, contemptible people that the Bible points out as to who they are. These are the people, these are the reasons why that judgment comes, even in the New Testament. So, what about the New Testament? Romans 12, 9. Romans 12, 9 says, Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. We're supposed to hate the evil. We need to have that type of a hatred for sin, for wickedness. Hate the evil. Cleave to the things that are good, and hate the evil. Don't have the soft spot for the evil. Don't allow it. You've got to be strong. You've got to be steadfast. You've got to love the Lord. You've got to love ... Because think about it. When you start having a soft spot for the really wicked people that harm others, the doers, that means you don't really love their victims, the people who they're hurting. Where is your love for them? You want to love the extremely vile, wicked person, and in turn, you're hating the people that they affect. You want to love the sodomite, and you hate the children that they molest. Oh, they're not molesting anyone. Yeah, right. They're not going to tell you about it, that's for sure. You just expect all these fags that are after strange flesh already to just start telling you that, oh yeah, I'm lusting after children and trying to defile children. They're not going to tell you that. They don't even want to say it when they get caught. That's what they're doing. They're not reproducing, that's for sure. Let's go back to Joshua. Joshua 6. So when you come across that, because this isn't the only chapter that this happens in where the judgment is just, they're utterly destroyed, they're utterly annihilated. There's a purpose for that, they brought that judgment on themselves. It's a judgment from God, it's not the children of Israel that decided to do this, this is God's judgment. He's saying, you know what, these people, they need to be wiped out. And the land of Canaan, in fact, the Jews did not get the land, the Bible's very clear about this. Turn real quick, keep your place in Joshua, real quickly, turn if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 9. I'm going to skip this point, I almost did in my notes. Deuteronomy chapter 9, this is actually a very important point. Very important point. It's not like the Jews were just so righteous and so godly that God's going, okay, I'm going to give you this land because you guys are so great. That's not the way it went down. Now that, this is the attitude that modern day Jews may have that are trusting in Abraham, they're trusting in their physical seed, or the deceived Christians out there today may have this view of the Jews that they're somehow great and they deserve all this land and oh, they're God's chosen people. That's not why God gave them that land. It's not because they're so holy and so righteous and so good, not it. Let's read Deuteronomy chapter 9, we'll get a good understanding of why God did give them that land. We see already, one, they're carrying out the judgment against the wicked people. That had to be done. And God uses other nations all the time to bring his judgment on a people. He's done that all throughout history. When one nation just gets really corrupt and really wicked, he can use even another wicked country to bring judgment upon that place and he'll do it. So whoever he picks and chooses to use to do that, it doesn't mean that all of a sudden they're just some great holy people. It's not always the case. Look at verse number 1, Deuteronomy chapter 9, it says, Hear, O Israel, thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go into possessed nations greater and mightier than thyself. Cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people great and tall, the children of the Anakims whom thou knowest and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak? Understand, therefore, this day that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee. As a consuming fire, he shall destroy them and he shall bring them down before thy face. So shalt thou drive them out and destroy them quickly as the Lord hath said unto thee. So basically God's saying, you know what, I'm the one doing the judging. Anyways, I'm the one going through and destroying these people and he may use the arm of Israel to do it, be saying, I'm going through and doing this and I'm bringing my judgment forth. And he says, it doesn't matter. There's people that they have more soldiers than you have more men of war. They have the giants there, a really formidable force against you. But the reason why they're all going to fall is because I'm fighting the battles and I'm bringing judgment upon them. And that's why he's making sure first and foremost that they understand, yes, you're bringing judgment and they're going to fall before you, but I'm the one doing it. But then look at verse number four, the Bible says, Speak not thou in thine heart. After that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land. But for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. So you're saying, don't get puffed up thinking that, oh, God gave me all this because I'm so great, because I'm so righteous. No, no, no, no, no. It's because they're so wicked is why they're being displaced and now I'm putting you there. It's not because you're so great. Verse number five, not for, and this is repeated like in almost every single verse now where you keep reading this, not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land. But for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee and that he may perform the word which the Lord swear unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he says. And because he's keeping a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he promised them. They were good people, but you guys aren't great. You're not righteous. You're not the reason that you're going into possess this land. They're wicked. We're bringing judgment against them. I made a promise to your fathers. Yeah, they were good. They were righteous, but it's not because you guys are so righteous that you're getting brought into this land. Verse number six, understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness for thou art a stiff neck people. Now he's going to lay into the children of Israel and remind them. So just in case they don't start to think we deserve this land, hey, God's giving us this land because we're so great and we're better than everybody else. And you know what? This is the attitude that the Jews had in the book of Acts, and this is the same attitude that the Jews have even to this day. Now obviously I'm painting with a broad brush. I'm not saying every single person individually, but by and large as a group, that's the way they are. You can see it's evident in the book of Acts, and I already did a Bible study through the book of Acts, and I go through those passages and those chapters. You see over and over again, they have these rules that aren't even, they're commandments of men and not of God. They couldn't even eat with like a Gentile, with someone from another land. They look down upon it to the point where even with Peter and Paul and Barnabas, right? And Paul had to withstand Peter in the face and say, look, you're wrong. You can't, you're not, don't separate from these people. You're not better than them. You're a sinner too, so you're not, you're not any better than these people. And you find example after example after example like that, where they just had these rules and these things, where Peter had to be told by God in a dream that he can go to Cornelius to preach the gospel to him, because they already, Peter was already taken by this stuff. Not to go into one of another nation. The Bible doesn't say that you can't go into one of another nation and like preach God's word to them. It never says that. You're not marrying the heathens' daughters and intermingling that way, but it doesn't mean you can't go and preach them the word of the Lord. As if they're the scum of the earth and you don't even want to, you know, like, like the Pharisee said to Jesus, oh, if this man were a prophet, he would know what manner of woman this is that's touching his feet with his proud, haughty attitude, thinking he's better than everybody else. And even to this day, people will think, oh, they deserve it for their, you know, they deserve the land and they deserve to be there at their place because they're better than it. You know, oh, these Palestinians don't deserve that land, you know. Even when God decided to put them in that land, he's saying right here, saying you're a stiff neck people, so don't get too full of yourselves in being in this land that you're being blessed with thinking it's because of your own righteousness that you're here. Let's read a little bit of this and the whole rest of the chapter basically talks about this. We'll read this a little bit. Verse number seven, remember and forget not how thou provoketh the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt until ye came unto this place ye have been rebellious against the Lord. Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you. And then he talks about how when Moses went up, you know, went up to receive the Ten Commandments, he comes down and they're already given over to idolatry and he breaks it, you know, and all these things and he's like, I'm praying for you and I've been treating God and all of these years you've done wickedly. So don't think that you're so righteous and great and that's why you're getting this land. And that that is repeated just almost ad nauseam for the whole rest of this chapter and you can read that out on your own later. Let's go back now to Joshua that was that was too important to miss that point. So hopefully that sheds a little bit of light onto why they had to destroy man, woman, child. And you could, like I said, you could go back into law and you can see where that wasn't the standard, that wasn't the status quo that if they ever get into a battle and if they're ever in a war, you know, that was not the way they were supposed to handle things. This was specifically God bringing forth his judgment on a wicked nation. But if they were to be, you know, going to war with someone, someone attacks them and they're defending themselves, you know, they're not going to go in and destroy man, woman, child, you know, and everything. They're going to fight with the men of war. They're going to defend themselves properly and deal with it appropriately as you would in wartime and actually have other rules established. But I'm not going to get into all those rules tonight. Let's keep reading here. Verse number 22, so in 21 he says they, you know, they were commanded utterly to be destroyed. Verse number 22 says, but Joshua 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 hath as he 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. Now what a great message and a great teaching there even from the story that and one of the things I noticed with Rahab throughout the entire Bible refers to Rahab as Rahab the harlot. Like every time, it doesn't just call her Rahab, it's Rahab the harlot. Just showing you know the type of person that she was, she was a harlot, she was a whore. Yet she was able to find grace in the eyes of the Lord by receiving and become part of the nation of Israel. She became one in her family with Israel. Why? Because she was saved. She was a believer and I mean think about the impact, these are people that she grew up with and everything else and she saw her whole city destroyed, annihilated, wiped out, burnt down the ground yet she still chose to live with the children of Israel after that. She didn't go off because she probably could have left and gone over to the Moabites, the Ammonites, gone into some other land, gone into the Philistines, gone over to Edom, gone wherever. But she didn't. She stayed with the children of Israel because, I believe, because she honestly believed. She believed the Lord. That's why she received the messenger. She believed God is almighty and that he was bringing his judgment and bringing his judgment for a good reason and she stayed and was part of that group. And in Hebrews, even in Hebrews 11 in the faith chapter, you see the verse number 30 and 31, the Bible says in reference to Rahab, 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 with peace. Again, this is the harlot Rahab. Who are we talking about? That harlot. Now she was known as the harlot I think before and after she got saved. Being saved has nothing to do with your works. You can receive the grace of God by putting your faith in the Lord and in Jesus Christ and even still, you know, be called the harlot or whatever and be fully saved and saved from God's wrath because of that faith. Let's keep reading. We have one more point to make and we're done for the night. Verse number 26, it says, verse number 26, and Joshua adjured them at that time saying cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and 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. This is a curse that Joshua makes. They finally destroyed it. There's just rubble left. It's all destroyed and he says, you know what, cursed be anyone who tries to rebuild this city. And again, I believe this is just kind of a picture of Babylon that should never be inhabited and should be destroyed and just completely annihilated and he's saying, you know, if you try to build this city again, you're going to be cursed. Well, of course, someone has to go and rebuild Jericho, right? We read about it later and this prophecy, this curse that Joshua made as a man of God actually stands and God made sure that Joshua's curse held weight hundreds of years later. Now think about this, in 1 Kings 16 is where we see this actually coming to pass, the last verse in 1 Kings chapter 16. In 1 Kings is when we start reading about, you know, Jehu and Ahab and these kings. We've already gone through, you think about the history, you have Moses bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt and you have Joshua leading them in the promised land and Joshua then after that follows the time of the judges. So you've got Samson, you've got all these various characters, Jephthah, you know, all these various judges through the book of Judges and then you've got Samuel who was the last judge, right? And that time span alone is quite a significant amount of time just having the judges there. Then you've got Samuel, then you've got David, then you've got Saul, then you've got David, then you've got Solomon, right? And you start getting into the kings and then we get all the way to Ahab. This is hundreds of years have gone by since Joshua made that statement, hundreds of years. And then we get Heil the Bethelite. Heil's probably like, I don't care what some guy said hundreds of years ago, whatever, this is a great place to have a city right by the Jordan River, you know, this is the perfect place, let's just rebuild this city, man, this was a mighty city at one time. Let's bring it back, let's bring Jericho back. Well there's a curse, you shouldn't do that Heil, yeah whatever. In his days that Heil the Bethelite built Jericho, he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son, Segub. Well was it worth it Heil? He lost two children building that city because of the curse that Joshua put on anyone that was going to build that city. The word of the Lord stands sure and true and even if it takes hundreds of years to come to pass, it will come to pass. We ought to take heed and respect the word of the Lord as such. Verse number 27 says, so the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was noised throughout all the country. This is a great victory and we'll read more next week on the coming battles. The Spy Rides have a word of prayer, Dear Heavenly Father, Lord we thank you so much for the great stories in the Bible, I pray that you would please help us just to gain even more understanding from scripture, dear Lord, on how we ought to act, on how we ought to think about things. Lord I pray that you would please wash our minds with your truth and your wisdom and your light. And help us to have the right, just the right judgment on things, that it would be lined up with your words, God I pray that you would please just give us the right heart to serve you better and to be more conformed unto the image of your son, in his name we pray, amen.