Gooding, David: 4 - The Captain of Our Salvation

Standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the howling swords of doubt and fear are still, by the living Living where word the of God water I shall shall prevail. remain. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing. Tonight is the fourth of our studies in the book of Joshua. Tomorrow night, God willing, Wednesday and then Thursday night, there will be two others if the Lord. Tonight we must attempt to cover no less than chapters five, six, seven, and eight of this interesting book. And therefore, we shall have to do our best to hurry along as quickly as we may. It will not be altogether too difficult, because many of us will already know very well the details of at least some of its stories. Who among us hasn't known of the sack of Jericho when Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down? Some of us too will know a little bit at least about the sack of Ai that followed. Though it could be that the surrounding details and context are not fresh in our minds, therefore let us use our reading to refresh in our memories some of the important highlights of this particular part of Joshua. First of all, therefore, shall we notice that in these chapters five, six, seven, and eight of the book of Joshua is recounted the second great objective which Joshua achieved as he brought the people of God into their inheritance. An objective that Moses had commanded him, the record of it is to be found in the book of Deuteronomy chapter twenty seven. An objective straightly charged upon Joshua, which Moses himself, of course, could not and did not achieve, but which Joshua, thanks be to God, Joshua, the great captain of Israel's salvation, achieved, and she achieved most gloriously and utterly and thoroughly. And the objective was, as we shall see, to establish the law of God in that erstwhile evil country of Canaan. The record of it comes, therefore, at the end, naturally, of this passage, and we shall now read it. Last night, by contrast, we were thinking of the first objective that Joshua achieved. The first objective, of course, was getting the people of God into the land of Canaan, the land of their inheritance. Now this second objective takes them further. Once in the land, then the next great objective to be achieved was, as I say, the establishment of the law of God in that land. And we are to read now, at the end of chapter eight how that objective was gloriously achieved. Chapter eight of the book of Joshua and verse thirty. Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal. As Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones upon which no man had lift up any iron. And they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. And he wrote there upon these stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. And all Israel and their elders and officers and their judges stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests, the Levites, which bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger as the homeborn, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded that they should bless the people of Israel first of all, and afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the assembly of Israel, the woman- women and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them. It's then the great objective that Joshua achieved that will be the center of our attention this evening. But now let's read a little bit further in the earlier chapters and ask ourselves, what barriers were there to be overcome before this great objective could be achieved? Last night we were thinking how that when the objective was to bring Israel into their inheritance, the great barrier that had to be broken was the great River Jordan, the river of death. And we stood in open-mouthed wonder and awe as we saw the almighty intervention of the Lord High God Creator, how he passed through that barrier that nature had put in his way and brought his people through the waters of Jordan out onto the other side and into their great inheritance. Tonight, the barrier will necessarily be different. Not now a barrier placed in Israel's way by nature herself, not the barrier of death, but the barrier of two Gentile cities of Canaan, one large and fortified to its very teeth, the other small, but in the end a very serious hindrance to their progress. I refer, of course, to the great barrier of the twin city of Jericho on the one hand and Ai on the other. Tonight we are to see another great miracle of God, and solemn it will be when on the seventh day, after the ark had been paraded round seven times, the miracle of God happened. Walls of Jericho fell down flat, and the armies of God's judgment entered to do their solemn work. Let's read part of the story, then, of the destruction of Jericho, beginning now in chapter six and verse twelve. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priest took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests, bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord, went on continually and blew with the trumpets. The armed men went before them, and the rear ward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests blowing with the trumpets as they went. On the second day, they compassed 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 at 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. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is 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 send. And you, in any wise, keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing, so should you make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. There we ought to pause, perhaps, in our reading, just to clarify our minds about the terms that are being used. This is the most severe judgment that fell on any of the Canaanite cities. In our Old English translations, the word that is used for God's judgment is, uh, translated devoted or sometimes accursed. It is exceedingly important that we understand exactly what those terms mean. If you have a translation that says devoted, then understand, if you will, please remember that the term doesn't mean devoted in our modern sense of that word. We talk about godly men and women being devoted to the service of the Lord, and we're talking about something delightful. But when older translations use the word devoted of the judgment that fell upon the city of Jericho, they are using it in its ancient Latin meaning. The Hebrew word is cherem. Anything that came under the cherem, the curse of God, in this sense, was set apart to the Lord, utterly given over to God for the purpose of complete and utter destruction. So, as you now hear from the text, when Israel were about to ascend through the fallen walls of Jericho, the order was given to them very sternly that they were not on this occasion to take any of the spoil. Later occasions, there would be many of them, even, for instance, with the city of Ai, that when the Israelites had destroyed the city, they were allowed to take the animals at least and the material goods as spoil to themselves. Jericho, however, stands unique in the book of Joshua. On this occasion, Israel may not touch not one ounce of the silver, not one centimeter of garment, not one bullock, not one sheep, not one ass might be taken. The whole thing was put under the herem, the ban. All had to be set aside for God's judgment. For human beings involved that came under that ban, it was solemn indeed. Everything that breathed had to be destroyed. Material that couldn't be destroyed had to be placed in the treasury of the Lord. An exceedingly severe judgment, therefore, such that reading of it would make your blood run cold. Israel was straightly warned as they went into that judgment that they should not touch anything or take it to themselves. Listen to the word again, so you should make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. Now, so that we may write that on our understanding right from the start, because it will be very important later on in our study, let us turn to a passage in the New Testament that describes that same kind of judgment. It occurs in the epistle to the Galatians and chapter one. The Hebrew, as I say, for this type of sweeping judgment is herem and its related terms. When the ancient Jews translated their Old Testament into Greek, they sought a parallel Greek word and came up, of course, with the Greek word that means exactly the same as the Hebrew. It is the word anathema. For in Greek, an anathema is something that is set aside for God, set aside for his solemn judgment. Hence, in Greek, the verb to anathematize means to pronounce upon somebody the curse, the ban, to set them aside for God, for God solemnly to execute his judgment upon them. If the solemn judgments of Jericho make our blood run cold, we should not forget that our New Testament has a similar judgment and pronounces it on certain people. Let us, therefore, to get these ideas into our mind, read some verses now in the Epistle to the Galatians, chapter one. Verse six: I marvel that you are so quickly removing from him that called you in the grace of God unto a different gospel, which is not another gospel. Only there are some that trouble Trouble you. you. And we notice, of course, immediately the vocabulary that is being used. Said God through Joshua to the people, don't you touch that spoil of Jericho, lest you become accursed and you trouble Israel. Let us listen now to the inspired apostle. Which is not another gospel, only there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven should preach unto you any other gospel than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema. Hebrew, herem. Let him fall under the ban and the judgment of God, such as was pronounced upon Jericho. So solemn is that, that Paul now repeats it the second time. Verse nine: As we have said before, so say I now again, if any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which you receive, let him be anathema, herem, put under the ban. So much for the technical terms that will be important for us in understanding the story of Jericho. As you will know, chapter seven of the book has to deal with the sorry fact that there was one in Israelite, let's read of him in ver- chapter seven verse one. who did commit a trespass in the devoted thing. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. Verse twenty four. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons and his daughters, and his oxen and his asses, and his sheep and his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them up unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble you this day. All Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. They ra- raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. And the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called the valley of Achor, the valley of troubling, unto this day. And as we read these solemn words of one who defied God, came under the curse, and involved Israel in it and troubled Israel. I dare say presently, the words of the inspired apostle will come afresh and afresh from his epistle to the Galatians. Only there be some that trouble you. They shall bear their burden. Who trouble you? I could wish they were even cut off. Who trouble you? If any man preach another gospel, let him come under the ban. Let him be in Athan. Let him suffer cherem. Israel's attempt to take Ai, as you'll remember, was at first thwarted, though Ai was a small city, because of Achan's sin. Not until Israel had repented and judged this sin, and in their repentance cleared themselves of it before God, could they be led in victory by Joshua against the city of Ai. So our passage tonight will be about the destruction of two cities. The Holy Spirit has chosen to describe the incidents at length, obviously for some important reason. Many other cities Israel took in the course of their conquest. They are given us in mere lists, or at the most a verse or two attached to their description. But here are two cities, and their destruction is told us at great length and in detail, because, of course, they are the two cities that stood in the way of the law of God being established in the land. Consider them just a moment, if you will, from a military point of view, down at the bedrock of the literal history that we have before us. Interesting cities, they form a pair, do they not, even from the point of view of military tactics. Jericho was a large city and fortified with massive walls. There the commander's strategy was this, how to get into the walls and in through the walls into the city, and thus to exercise the wrath of God upon that city. Problem then, militarily, was to get into the city, there to execute God's judgments. With Ai, it was the reverse, wasn't it? It wasn't how to get into the city. It was how to get the men of Ai out of their city. And the story is told us in length, at length, how Joshua eventually triumphed by, uh, making the men of Ai leave their city and be caught in a pincer movement between two divisions of the army of Israel. For, as the text tells us in detail, Joshua took the precaution, when the Ai pe- people of Ai were not looking, of setting an ambush behind the city where it could not be observed. Then he himself took another part of the army and led it up to the walls of Ai. When the enemy came out, as they had done before, Joshua led his troops in retreat, apparently repeating the defeat that they had earlier suffered. Picture him in your mind, leading the troops in apparent defeat, running away from the city before the advancing Aites who came out of the city in their thousands and chased Joshua and the Israelites, thinking once more to defeat them. And thus, by apparent defeat, did Joshua bring them out of, uh, Ai. When he had the whole army of the Aites out of the city, then God said to him, ride, lift up your javelin that's in your hand. And he lifted it up. The men who were in the ambush saw the signal, and they arose up and entered into the now empty city, set it on fire, and then began to pour out of the other gates in pursuit of the Aites and behind them. When the Aites looked back, they saw their city going up in smoke and suddenly found themselves far from victorious over an apparently defeated foe. They found that Joshua turned back on them. Then the Israelites from behind assaulted them, and in that terrible pincer movement, they were brought to their end. Joshua's lifting up his javelin, therefore, was a military signal for the ambush to know the time that they should rise up out of their ambush and attack the city. But it was more than that, wasn't it? For now I read you a verse or two from chapter five. Let's read verse of chapter five and verses thirteen to fifteen, for something at first sight that may seem nothing to do with AI, but when you think again, perhaps you will see an important connection. Five thirteen, and it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that is before even Jericho had fallen, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? He said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. Joshua fell on his face to the earth, did worship, said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? The captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so, the man with the outstretched sword. So finally, for a moment, let us read now in chapter eight. And here is verse twenty five of that chapter, coming to tell us of the final victory over Ai. And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. And if I had my wish and choice and could imprint one thing upon your visual memory this evening, I think I would choose these two sights. Can you visualize it now in your mind's eye? The man with the sword drawn, standing over the city of Jericho. Solemn indeed. And our hearts instinctively recognize who it is. It is none other than the pre-incarnate Son of God, in unusual stance, certainly, but with his two-edged sword drawn. Figure fit to move our hearts in prostrate worship. Picture him, my brothers, my sister, if you get nothing more than this tonight, the figure of the man with the outstretched sword. The sword of judgment. Picture then the great captain of Israel's salvation in the moment of his victory. How at length did Israel overcome their weakness and reverse their defeat and find their final victory so that the law of God could be fulfilled in them? Picture it again in your visual memory, Joshua standing with his arm outstretched and in his arm a javelin. Victory was secure because Joshua withdrew not his hand in which was the javelin until the enemy was finally defeated. This then, just to refresh our minds of some of the contents of the passage that we must now study in more detail. Hitherto, in our three studies of the book of Joshua, we have found both sunshine and stormy clouds. Glorious visions of Israel coming into their God-given inheritance, according to the gracious promise given to Abraham and faithfully fulfilled in Joshua. And our hearts have been lifted up with joy and triumph as we thought of Joshua, the captain of Israel's salvation. And there have been moments of cloud, very, very somber cloud, because, as we noticed again last evening, two things were happening when Israel crossed the Jordan. One was, of course, the very happy thing that Israel were now entering into their long promised rest and inheritance. But simultaneously with that, the judgments of a holy God were descending on the corrupt and perverse, though sophisticated, Gentile culture of Canaan. We saw last night how it im- how important it is that we should keep both these folkie in their true position, both these points of view. We shall get a lopsided idea of the message of Joshua indeed, if we would allow ourselves to concentrate merely on the fact that Israel were brought into their inheritance, without allowing ourselves constantly to remember that simultaneously with their entry into the land, the judgments of God fell, as God had promised Abraham they would, on the evil culture of Canaan. Now, if in night parts, therefore, there have been very solemn moments in our studies, tonight, I fear the solemn moments must predominate, and the coward in me would almost be tempted to, uh, point out to you before I start that I didn't write the book of Joshua. I'm only here to expound. Now, you won't blame me, will you? For what must necessarily follow. For tonight, you'll see the objective that Joshua was charged to achieve was not merely to bring the people into their inheritance, but to establish the law of God in that hitherto evil, desperately perverse civilization. Praise be to God, our hearts worship him for the fact that in those far off centuries that objective was achieved. I say yet once more, Moses commanded it. Moses, alas, could not achieve it. But thank God there came one, the great captain of Israel's salvation, and what Moses could not do and what the law could not do, that Joshua did. He established the law of God in the land of Canaan. Glorious though that triumph was, yet you know tonight it must solemnize our hearts, surely. We stand with Israel before Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. There they stood with the altar, the law written on the plaster, the Ark of the Covenant, and the priests that bear it, and the people of God in two divisions. And first of all, they blessed them. And then Aaron proceeded with the Levites to recite the blessings of the Lord, and as Deuteronomy had commanded them, as each blessing was pronounced, the full-throated roar of the people ascended to heaven. Amen! Be God's blessing on those that obey his law. From our vantage point from the New Testament, we perhaps our amen isn't, isn't quite so full-throated. Oh, what if my blessing depended on keeping Moses' law? Where should I be? Then after they had recited the blessings, then the Levites were detailed to recite the curses. What must happen if Israel disobeyed God's law. And after each successive curse was pronounced, we listen again in our imagination to the full-throated roar of the armies of Israel saying, Amen, so be it. May God's curse rest on any and on us too, if we break God's law. As we, from our vantage point of New Testament doctrine, watch that early scene in those early centuries, how God's law was established, we could be forgiven perhaps if our knees tremble. What if my blessing depended on keeping that law? What if my inheritance depended on keeping that law? What if I, my sins, must bring down upon my head the curse of an holy God? How long should I ever enjoy my inheritance, if ever I got into it at all? And you will at once perceive that we have a vested interest in this book of Joshua, won't you? We reminded ourselves the other night how that comes to be. Let us remind ourselves again. When Joshua led the people of Israel into Canaan, he was in fact fulfilling the great promise that God had made to Abraham and his seed. For when Abraham had been justified by faith, then God said that he would give to Abraham and his seed this glorious inheritance in the land of Palestine, and he pledged it by covenant to Abraham and his seed. Joshua was the one who finally, under God, brought to Israel the fulfillment of that covenanted promise and brought them into their inheritance and rest. There we might have left the matter, had the New Testament not informed us that as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a very real vested interest in it. For as Paul tells us in the epistle to the Galatians chapter three, that that great promise of inheritance was made to Abraham and his seed. And he proceeds to argue that not only is justification by faith, but the inheritance is by faith. And who are they that shall inherit then? Says Paul, the inheritance was given to Abraham and his seed, not to seeds as of many, but as of one, and that seed is Christ. Now here comes a glorious thing, says he to his Galatian believers, most of whom were Gentiles. But my brethren, he says, by faith you have become sons of God, and all you have been baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ. If then you are Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. When in those far off centuries, God made promise to Abraham and his seed of the inheritance, God had the Lord Jesus in mind, says the New Testament. He was the true heir, he the promised seed, and all who are in him will inherit the promised inheritance. When he comes, God's glorious king, all his ransoms home to bring, then anew with joy we'll sing, hallelujah, what a savior, who not only saved us from the power of the enemy, but translated us into the kingdom of God's dear Son and made us fit for our inheritance, not only to own with him Palestine and the very ends of the earth, but with him that great eternal inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, reserved in heaven for us. Then you see at once we've got a ve- vested interest. We want to know, do we not? On what condition did Israel enter into this inheritance? For if, after all, they got it by law and could lose it, could it be in the end true that our inheritance depends on our keeping of the law, such that, uh, we could lose it. That, of course, as you now perceive at once, is the burden of the whole epistle to the Galatians, and not only the burden of the epistle to the Galatians, but that of the epistle to the Romans too, in many of its chapters. But it comes to special expression here in this second part of Joshua, for the whole objective was not merely to get Israel into their inheritance, but to establish the law. And what we want to know is this. The establishing of the law of God, was it a condition for their entry? Or was it that they first got in, and then being in, the law was established? Now, I'm not an, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, arguer of the powers of Paul the Apostle. Even I can see that this important topic is dealt with right from the very start in this particular part of the book of Joshua, is it not? Because in chapter five, from verses two to nine, the historian records for us a very interesting piece of history. It says that when Israel got into the land and were on the west side of the River Jordan and were now for the first time with their feet standing in their inheritance, then God commanded Joshua that they should make themselves sharp knives out of flint and circumcise all the male. That's interesting. Of course, as Paul would comment, is he not? You know, this circumcision is no innocent matter. It can stand for so many things, can't it? You'll see. It stands in the first place, uh, for the law, part for whole. Which is why, when in Paul's day people came along and said, except you be circumcised after the law of Moses, you cannot be saved. Paul and his fellow apostles opposed them, tooth and nail he opposed them. Because to make justification depend even on one solitary thing like circumcision is to undermine and completely destroy the whole gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and the principle of our salvation. And not only the principle of our salvation, for the Epistle to the Galatians will argue wi- wi- argue it with you at length, will it not, until perhaps you get tired of it, but it is important. That not only justification is, uh, a free gift through faith and does not depend on circumcision. But even the inheritance itself is a free gift and does not depend on circumcision. Listen for a moment once again to those familiar verses, this time from Romans chapter four, How Paul argues the case over the relation of circumcision and the keeping of the law to our inheritance. Passage we have read before, let us read it again. And you'll see, Paul has been describing in Romans chapter four that we're justified by faith and has cited the example of Abraham and David and the glorious blessings of forgiveness of sins. He says in verse nine, is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say to Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness. Now comes the question, how then was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision or uncircumcision? You say, what's the point of that argument? Well, look, you see, ha, Abraham was justified by faith, and you say, yes, that's good, I'm justified by faith too, but wait a minute. Are you quoting Abraham as a precedent, a legal precedent? You're saying that if Abraham was justified by faith, well, then everybody else must be justified by faith. Obviously, you're a very good lawyer then. So is the New Testament. But wait a minute. Suppose Abraham was, first of all circumcised and then justified by faith. Now where would you be? Because you could argue, couldn't you, that you have to have both these things, you see. First you have to be circumcised, and then you have to believe, and then you can be justified. Paul, being the great evangelist and lawyer that he was, saw the point at once, of course. If we Christians are going to be based on the precedent of Abraham, and we are indeed, this is not a type, this is a legal prince- precedent, a bit of case law. We shall want to know not only that Abraham was justified by faith, but pray, when was he justified by faith? And was it before he was circumcised or after he was circumcised? Oh, amen, thank the Lord, there's an answer to the question beyond all dispute. Get out your Genesis and read it. You remember the chapter, don't you, offhand and at once immediately. What is the chapter of Genesis that says Abraham was justified by faith? Is it number one, two, three, or four? No, you say, of course not, it's number fifteen. Ten miles out of 10. And what is the chapter that says that Abraham was circumcised? Number two, three, or four? You say, thank God, no. No, he was justified, chapter fifteen. He was circumcised, chapter seventeen. And what does that matter? Well, first of all, it tells us that Paul regarded Genesis as inspired. So inspired that you can found on the very order of its chapters this foundational supreme thing. How is a man or woman justified? Do you have to be circumcised or to have any other ceremony performed upon you before you can be justified and as a condition for justification? And the answer of God is, oh, thank God it is so. Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised. And that means this, that he becomes the father of all the faiths, because he stands as the prototype of the justified, showing that to us Gentiles who are not circumcised, that we can be justified without circumcision, and showing to the Jew who was circumcised that his circumcision didn't contribute one little bit, not one iota, to his being justified, for his great forefather Abraham was justified without either. Thank the Lord for that. But I'm more interested tonight in this further thing, you'll see. Not only justification, but what about this inheritance? Ah, on what term did Abraham inherit, given the covenant of God in Genesis fifteen. But what about this promise, you'll see? Look at verse thirteen. For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise is made of none effecter. For the law worketh wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. For this cause, it is of faith that is the promise of inheritance is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. What a marvelous argument it is, and how, how confirming to the soul my justification before God, depending solely on faith and not on circumcision or any other right or merit. Not only justification, but the promise of inheritance, utterly by faith, by grace, according to promise, and independent of any right ceremony or merit. Say hallelujah in your heart if you can't bring yourself to say it aloud. I'm going to make a beeline for Paul when I get to heaven. Well, I don't know him first, some others perhaps, but you know, if I get a chance to go around and talk at the great table, the Lord encourages to think that we shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob coming and taking their places at table. I shall be down at the other end, a few light years away, I suspect, but nevertheless, if I ever happen to come across Paul, I'm going to ask him, Paul, would you agree with me? I got the idea he would. That the same argument is applicable in Joshua chapter five. What argument? Well, this question of the law and circumcision. Tell me, you who read your Joshua inside out, ah, when were Israelites, Israel circumcised by Joshua? Before they got into the land? Or after they got into the land? And I got you pinned now, haven't I, because I got a verse for it. Was it before they crossed Jordan or after they crossed Jordan? You say Joshua five makes it absolutely indisputably clear. It was after they crossed the Jordan, after they were in Palestine, that they were asked by God to be circumcised. You say that's dry old theory, my boy. No, it isn't. If you don't see it, I do. I've got an inheritance at stake, my dear fellow believer, and it isn't only a few acres in the Middle East either, nor is it merely this world, though thank God I inherit that too with the Lord. For one day he shall ask of the Father, and the Father will give him the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. And when he reigns, God's glorious king, I hope to inherit along with him, don't you? Not to speak of that inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for us. I got too much at stake to dare think that these are mere legal quibbles. I wanted to be know whether I can be sure of my inheritance, and on what grounds. If Paul wrote a whole epistle to the Galatians and sundry chapters elsewhere to prove it, I say thank God for Paul. Can I be sure, on what ground, that my inheritance depend on being circumcised and keeping the law? And the answer is no. They were in their inheritance before they were circumcised. But you know, circumcision can be more than merely, uh, uh, symbolic, uh, emblematic pledge to keep the law. It can be used as a type, can it not? And Paul so refers to it in Philippians chapter three. He says, you know, we are the true circumcision, meaning now that literal circumcision is an external ordinance in the flesh, but it can serve as a type for an inner spiritual attitude of heart. And we are the true circumcision. And what does that mean? That we have no confidence in the flesh, that's what it means. I could have confidence in the flesh, says Paul, brought up as I was, Hebrew of the Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin, as far as righteousness of the law is concerned, blameless as far as any man could. What things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ, and I hung them out and count them as refuge, that I might be found in Christ, not having a righteousness which is of my own, but that which is through faith of Jesus Christ. Yes, yes, that's true circumcision at the spiritual level, abandoning all faith in the flesh and anything the flesh can do to merit anything from God, giving it up as refuge, learning to trust solely in the righteousness that is of God. Ah, we are to read some very solemn things in a moment. Let's get this straight. Inheritance for us does not depend on the works of the law. It depends on the very opposite, a faith that has no confidence in the flesh, but puts his confidence solely in the word of God. Not only were they circumcised, but then they kept the Passover. Hear it again, the lovely message of salvation. Remember it, my brother, before any evil days come upon you. Remember it, my sister. How were you saved from the wrath of God? We're going to read about it now in very solemn terms. Pray think first. Put on your helmet, if you will, your helmet of salvation, and guard your thoughts. How were you saved from the wrath of God? How will you ever be saved from the wrath of God? And your answer is similar to Israel's, isn't it? They were saved from the wrath of God by the blood of the Passover lamb. All put on your heads the helmet, the hope of salvation, that you shall be saved from the wrath of God through him who died for your sin at Calvary. There they not only kept the Passover, but the manner feasting. They ate the old corn of Canaan, and because it was the time of the new harvest, then after the first fruits had been offered, they ate the early corn, uh, gra- bra- uh, bruised and baked. They ate the first fruits, in other words. Ah, thank God, not only redeemed and seated with Christ in heavenly places, enjoying the very first fruits of our inheritance, even now. Aren't you? Oh, what a lovely thing is it. You know, we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we have him as the earnest of our great inheritance and as a guarantee that God will give us our full inheritance at last. But if you have those things in your hearts now, preparing you by God's grace, now you must face very solemn things. Tomorrow, Jericho must fall under the wrath of God. Why must it? Because the law of God must be established in that guilty, sinful city. And in the land. There can be no thought that Israel are going to be favored of God and the Canaanites judged, and then Israel be brought in to be allowed to behave just exactly as they like. What monstrosity it would be, wouldn't it? If God's had the Canaanites slaughtered for their sin, then gave Israel the land and allowed Israel to enjoy it while committing the same abominations as the Canaanites. For these things comes the wrath of God on the children of disobedience. Don't you behave like that, says Paul. Israel not only enter their inheritance, but now they must come with God and witness and agree with God's judgment on Jericho. You say they were a bloodthirsty crowd anyway, weren't they? And they would have enjoyed slitting throats. Where did you get that idea from? I think you've been le- reading some liberal theology, haven't you? The very opposite is true. Their danger was constantly, as Joshua had to remind them, that instead of executing Canaanites at God's command, they would spare them and fall so much in love with the pretty girls, and they were pretty, and they made up too, but that's another story. Uh, uh, to fall in love with the pretty girls, that the last thing they wanted to do was to execute them. Who would want to execute people like that anyway? Doesn't it chill your very spine? See everyone that breathes, man, woman, little child, infant in arms, slaughtered. God save us from being people that would rejoice in judgment. These are solemn things. In any way, we can't afford, can we, to spend too long over Jericho's judgment. It was, after all, but a physical judgment, wasn't it? The eternal destiny of the little children that were slain is not told us in Joshua, and we shouldn't suppose we know what it will be. Ours is a much more serious matter and a much more serious judgment. Or, when the trumpet sounded around Jericho, the walls fell. The armies of God entered and did their destructive work. So one day the trumpet shall sound, and the blessed Lord will come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God. And the walls, not only of Babylon, shall fall down flat, but the very planet will be shaken. Come with flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God. And that shall be not merely physical destruction, that shall be eternal destruction, who shall suffer eternal perdition from the face of God. Heart-stopping, solemn things. Oh God, help us to believe. Really believe them, not hold them merely as bits of draftsmen on a theological chessboard. This is the end of this age, and God's son is coming in power and great glory to execute the wrath of God. How shall I prepare myself to think about it? We'll say it's not a subject I like thinking about, nor I either. Let's be careful. Lest we suppose that the doctrine of the wrath of God is some primitive notion surviving from the medieval age and in conflict with the doctrines of our blessed Lord Jesus. Come with me in the night gloom and see Joshua, captain of the host, responsible for the destruction of Jericho in the days that must come. And all at once he sees a vision of a man with a sword drawn. Ah. Ah. Going to him, he said, are you for us or for our enemies? He said, neither. This was none other than the second person of the Godhead, come to execute the judgments of God over the evil city of Jericho. We're not used to seeing him be thus, are we? We're used to thinking of the blessed Jesus of Nazareth, upon whose bosom John nestled his weary head. We think of the tender shepherd. One day we shall see him. Ascending the sky, rider on a white horse, double-edged sword. This too is Jesus Christ. Come to execute the judgments of God. Let us do what he said. Let's take our shoes from off our feet. This is holy ground. Or my friend, if you trust the Savior, you'll be in heaven. You will not be ignorant that there is a hell. And there you shall see our blessed Lord on his great white throne, and hear him pronounce the word, depart from me, and curse it into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Let's be careful. We don't make familiar with that Christ, do we? Say, is he for us or against us? Neither, friend. He rises up to judge. There is no respecter of person. He isn't against the Canaanite sins, but for the Israelite sins. He isn't for some sinners and against other sinners. That's an irrelevant question when it comes to the judge of the whole earth. He is utterly impartial. You say, how could I worship him? Oh friend, have you any hope of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and it fadeeth not away, or is that all dream story, Alice in Wonderland, fairy stuff? You say, no, I hope heaven is going to be real. It shall be real. Now, for this reason that the Blessed Lord has said, nothing, nothing, nothing that defiles shall enter in. The wrath of God is holy. The wrath of God is glorious. It bespeaks the beauty of the very holiness of God. For alas, those evil cities with their disease, their sexual perversion, their cruelty to children, their godlessness. You wouldn't have it in heaven, would you? Would you? It's going to be an inheritance at all. It must be guarded by the impartial judgment of God. Come then and watch. What a solemn thing it is. Israel are told now to prepare themselves, for this is not mere human spite nor avarice. It is the Lord High Creator coming. They are to take the ark, the men of war in front with the trumpets, the priests with the trumpets, the ark and the people following, the people following silently. Day after day, they circle the city one. I wonder what the people of the city thought it all meant, as perhaps they drew the courage a day or two to poke their noses over the top and see this cavalcade coming round. What did it mean? Perhaps you could tell them that ark was the ark of the Lord of the whole earth. It had recently been down in the waters of Jordan and had come up again. Now it was circling the city. It said this. Let me transpose it at once into our Christian language. The blessed Lord of creation had been down into death, risen again, and ascended. What does it mean, my brothers, my sisters? Though Israel trod silently round those walls, that ark, having gone down and come up again, was the promise that soon would come the judgment. They walked around it for a whole week. Don't you do that at work? As you tread your factory floor, as you go around the shop and serve the dear lady buying her fashions, and you love them with all your heart, don't you? And your compassions go to them. But oh, my friends, see what you're saying. God has appointed a day. And the fact that the Lord Jesus is risen. He was on Calvary, he died and was buried and is risen again. What does it mean? It means this. That God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance to all men. He has raised him from the dead. Though you never spoke a word, your testimony to the risen Christ proclaims this to the world at large. The day of judgment came. The army shouted, trumpets blared. God intervened with a miracle. Jericho's walls fell flat, and all were destroyed. No, no, not all. Oh, no, no, not all. Ah, in the midst of judgment. Oh, hear the story, and there are more verses devoted to it than even to the destruction. Except Rahab the harlot, and it makes your heart leap for joy, doesn't it? Good old Rahab. Well, she wasn't so good, but you know, her reputation. Oh, but you know, if I'd have been Jericho, I should have been in Rahab's house, wouldn't you? I would have said, I don't care what you were, Rahab. Actually, I wasn't any better than you, but if you have found a salvation from coming wrath, Rahab, squeeze me into the cellar, into the attic, into the kitchen somewhere. I'll go in a cupboard, but get me into your house. I too want to be saved when the judgment comes. True to his faithful covenant, when the walls fell down and the executors of his wrath went in, God directed through Joshua that they went to Rahab. Her house was intact, and she was saved. Became the very ancestor of Messiah, you know. What a delightful story. How would she be so secure, you say, with all the walls are crumbling around her? Why, she had the very oath of God and trusted in his word. Verily, verily, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. All put the helmet of hope on your head, won't you? Even before you start your learned prophetic discourses and thinkings, always remember to put the helmet on your head before you even start to think the hope of salvation, for God has not ordained us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died and rose for us. So Paul, who explains to us in Romans one why we need to be saved, we need to be saved for the wrath of God is revealed. We need to be saved from the wrath of God, ends that part of his epistle by saying, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. The rest of the city was destroyed, lock, stock, and barrel. And God put it under a ban with a solemn warning that anybody who touched it and took anything from it would himself come under the ban and merit the same judgment. And so God straightly warned Israel, don't any of you touch that spoil and take it to yourself, for you'll come under the ban, and if you touch it, you'll not only come under the ban, but you'll trouble Israel. The whole nation will be infected by what you do. Don't you touch anything under the ban. There was a man that did precisely that. Fell under the same anathema as God pronounced upon the city of Jericho and the Jerichoites. You say, why should that trouble us at this age? Oh, sirs, my dear good friends, my sisters, my brethren, it must concern you immediately and directly. For as we found in our first reading, if the anathema, the ban pronounced upon Jericho was severe, no less severe is the ban that Paul pronounces in his first chapter of the letter to the Galatians. And pray why would Paul pronounce this extreme judgment as an anathema? Why? Because, says Paul, the very foundation of the gospel is at stake. How can we be saved? How can we be justified? How and on what terms do we inherit? God says this, you must first repent. And what does repentance mean? It doesn't mean just agreeing with God that being unkind to your mother-in-law is not good, does it? And agreeing that murder is in- not not nice and uh adultery is wicked. Repentance means owning God's law. For we know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God. You say that means the, the old pagans like the Jerichoites. Well, certainly it does mean them. They had the light of creation and sinned against it. They come under God's judgment and are without excuse. But you say it doesn't mean the Jews, does it? Oh yes, it does. Oh yes, it does. The Jew who boasted in the law, the Jew that was circumcised, the Jew that, like Saul of Tarsus, has trained every nerve to keep God's law from start to finish. He had to come to the point where he realized that he was under a curse. How a curse? Why? Because that holy law of Moses, established in Canaan, had said, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. For all his fine moral effort, Paul had broken that holy law, and because he didn't continue in all, came under its curse. That's a hard thing to face, isn't it? Many people find it impossible. That is God's judgment. That is God's law. We mustn't undermine God's law. We must establish God's law. God's law says that if you don't keep one hundred percent, you are cursed of God and must suffer perdition. At repentance. When I stand before the law of God, and own myself, not only the Jerichoites, but me, nice, sweet-smelling, morally intentional, good man, I stand under God's law, condemned with my mouth shut. And what about circumcision? Surely that will help a bit. No, circumcised as well. With the mouth shut. Under God's pronouncement of judgment. Do you know why so many dear Christians don't have assurance of salvation? I can tell you why some of them don't. Because they've never faced this. That in and of themselves, they stand under the judgment of God, condemned and utterly hopeless. Do you know it is not only modern people, that some of the ancients found it difficult to take. Paul tells us that when he was at Antioch, along with Barnabas, uh, with a Gentile church full of believers, there came down certain men from Judea. They, they said they came from James. It was a lie, but they said they did. And they taught the brethren that except you be circumcised after the law of Moses, you cannot be saved. And Paul and Barnabas got up on their hind legs, and they were having none of it. And there arose such a debate that presently the whole lot of them went up to Jerusalem to settle it once and for all. What did the apostles teach? Is circumcision necessary for salvation? Is anything necessary for servant salvation other than repentance and faith? The apostles at Jerusalem settled it, of course. No, salvation, says Peter, even for us Jews, must be utterly by grace. Ah, but there rose up suddenly the Pharisees which believed, and they said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, no, wait a minute. We hold that circumcision is necessary for salvation. Really. Do you see, they had been circumcised as babes, some of these, and then they said they trusted, they believed. I don't know what they believed. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah, perhaps, and they'd never thought it out before. But when the question was posed to them, they were in the assembly, you know, a Jerusalem. They said, oh, but oh, oh, oh, yes, but circumcision counts for something, surely. It does help to salvation. Paul and James and Peter had to tell them straight that such ideas pervert the very souls of the believers and utterly destroy the gospel. Why do you suppose Paul is getting so indignant in his letter to the Galatians? Why says he you can't have both? If you put your trust in even one rite and ceremony like circumcision for salvation, then you're severed from Christ. You cannot have salvation by faith in Christ plus circumcision or plus anything. Why? Because everything of man lies under God's curse. These men who were tempted to say, ah, well, yes, yes, that's true, we need to be saved by Christ, you see, but um, but uh, then you see we think circumcision is a nice thing, and it does help a little bit, doesn't it? What were they doing? They were taking something that lay under God's curse, the curse of his law, as having come short of his requirements, and they were taking it back out now to use it as the basis of their salvation. Look here, said Paul to Peter. If justification were by the law, Christ has died in vain, hasn't he? If we could be saved by being circumcised, no need Christ to have perished. Why did Christ become a curse for us? How did he save us? Why, for this reason that we were utterly under a curse, circumcision as well. And the only way Christ could redeem us was by bearing the curse, submitting to the judgment, and paying its penalty. To try to take circumcision now out of that and from under the curse of God and use it as a necessary means for salvation is obviously to come under the curse of God's sin. You make your salvation depend on anything other than Christ and repentance and faith. You automatically come under the curse, don't you? You're trusted in a work that comes short of God's standard. My dear brethren, in this modern day of compromise, it is not narrow-mindedness and certainly not denominationalism that should drive us to determine still to stand straight for the gospel of Christ. How is a man saved? Does any ceremony, any sacrament save us? Does baptismal regeneration in Christianity help towards our salvation? Well, first, there is no such thing as baptismal regeneration anywhere. And as for baptizing infants, as Israel circumcised dead infants, it can never add anything to the work of Christ. Put your trust in it as helping salvation, and you put yourself back under the curse of God's law. Anybody comes and preaches to you a gospel that says that circumcision is necessary for salvation, says Paul, let him be like Jericho was. Anathema. Anathema. And you know, it's not only heretics that need to be warned. There was a man, the great Apostle Peter himself, who was at a conference at Antioch at one stage, and when it came to the food, he was eating with Gentiles until one day he said he got the stomach ache, and he started to withdraw. And many were carried away by his pretense. He hadn't got the stomach ache at all, of course. Nothing to do with the vegetables or the meat on the table. What was it then where Paul saw straight some brethren had come down from James, and, uh, he's afraid of what they might say, for he was now eating with Gentiles, you see. And now he withdrew from these Gentiles and said he'd go to his own room. He didn't feel too good. Paul stood in the doorway and said, no, you don't, Peter. Oh, no, you don't, my boy. Now, there's nothing to do with your stomach, old chap, except a few nerves about for these people come down from James, you will say, but Peter, a moment ago you were eating with the Gentiles as being men and women equally saved as you, solely on the terms of grace, and you'll now withdraw and answer them. Because some people hold that they're not really saved enough. So you're not prepared to have fellowship with them at the table because you're circumcised and they're not. So you're a superior because you're circumcised and you're somehow better saved than they are, and they're not really genuinely saved. Is that what you're saying, Peter? Peter, said he, you know, if we build again that which we destroyed. Oh, you say I've heard that before. Where did I hear that before? Well, you heard it in the story of Joshua, where Jericho was destroyed and put under God's curse, and Joshua pronounced the curse of God on anybody that should rebuild the city. Peter, says Paul, if we build again what we once destroyed, we make ourselves transgressors, don't we, Peter? Now come, my boy, he said, Peter, you must stand clear, uncompromised. For why? The gospel is at stake. And if you believe it in your heart that circumcision makes no difference whatsoever and contributes nothing to salvation, then you must, in your behavior, show to everybody clearly that you're not prepared to compromise it, and that you behave according to the basic terms of the gospel. We need to hear the lesson, don't we? We must not build again the thing that once we destroyed. How shall I then learn tonight the message that I must learn from this passage? It was about the establishment of the law in the land of their inheritance, not as a condition for their entry, but something that God demanded thereafter. Ah, but secondly, God made them accompany him on his day of judgment, that they should agree with his judgment upon Jericho, that Jericho should come under God's total curse and ban. And it talks to us of what God will demand of us. Would you enter your inheritance? Would you even be justified? Well, first you must come to this, that the world stands under God's judgment and the curse of a broken law. How otherwise would you be saved from this world? Not through circumcision, would you? God forbid that we should put any confidence in anything else but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to us, to me. That's Jericho, isn't it? You say, Mr. Preacher, you're not being fair. There's another bit to that verse about I being crucified to the world. So there is, but there was another city too, wasn't there? And its name was Ai, and we've only had time to think about Jericho. God used that to solemnize our hearts, bring us back to the basis of the gospel, and move us to be determined to stand firm for this foundational doctrine of our faith. Tomorrow, God willing, we shall have to talk of AI. But now let us see.