Gooding, David: 5 - We Will Serve the Lord

It is one of those passages that one sometimes comes across in scripture that looks as if they should be easy and that everybody would know what they mean, but upon further examination they prove to be not quite so easy. So we shall attempt to be workmanlike this afternoon and not be content with superficial answers to our questions as we inquire what the meaning of this particular passage of Joshua is. Though I would admit, a- admit forthwith and immediately that my grasp of its meaning is rather tenuous, and I shall not have proceeded far, but what you will see your need, and I hope your duty, to come eventually to my rescue and to help me further. We start, therefore, the second section, if I am right in my analysis, the second section of the book of Joshua, beginning in chapter five. The great climax of the first section has been reached. The objective was put before Joshua that he must do what Moses command and bring the people into their inheritance across Jordan. And by the time you reach the end of chapter four, three times over you have had it emphasized that Joshua obeyed what he was told and brought God's people, all of them clean over Jordan. First great objective achieved. And then chapter five opens the second major section with its formal remark, that it came to pass when all the kings of the Amorites, which were beyond Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was their spirit in them anymore because of the children of Israel. And with that general observation, you will notice the quality of that remark in verse one. It is not a particular incident, it is a general summary of what now took place. It is often so that the historians divide their material in that fashion, by placing at end or beginning a general summary of a remark that serves to mark out what has gone before from what follows. It is also clear, therefore, that the great objective that was achieved in this second section of the book of Joshua was the establishment of the law of God in this erstwhile evil and corrupt land. And we ought to see that in, uh, achieving that objective, Joshua was once more doing what Moses commanded. Lest you should think that I have made that up because it sounds pretty, let me read to you the actual command that Moses delivered. It is found in Deuteronomy chapter twenty seven. Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandment which I command you this day. And it shall be, on the day when you shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up a great, up great stones and plaster them with plaster, and thou shalt write on them all the words of this law when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of thy fathers, have promised thee. And it shall be, when you are passed over Jordan, that you shall set up these stones which I command you this day in Mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster. And there thou shalt build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones. Thou shalt not, thou shalt lift up no iron tool upon them. And thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of unhewn stones, and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord. And thou shalt sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of the law, this law very plainly. And then Moses and the priests, uh, advise the people how they must recite the terms of the law, both its blessings and its curses. And as the Levites rehearse in the ears of the people the holy demands of God's law, they are to reply, amen, amen, both to the pronouncement of blessings upon those who obey and to the pronouncement of curses on them who disobey. Thus did Moses command. As we have said before, Moses was very good at commanding. He wasn't also very good at carrying it out or getting it carried out, but what Moses could not do, that Joshua did. And it's a tremendous sense of triumph, isn't it, that fills our hearts as we stand in our imagination and by the help of the end verses of chapter eight of Joshua. And here the Israelites, now at Mount Ebal and Gerizim, there they have set up the stones, there they have plastered them, there they have written out the terms of the law. There is the altar, there is the ark. And as we listen to the Levites pronounce the terms of the law, the blessings first, blessed be the you if you this, this, this, and the other, and then we hear them recite the curses upon disobedience. What a thrill it is. To hear that full-throated roar of the assembled throng, Amen, resounding round the hills of Canaan. Canaan had never heard of anything like that before for centuries. We'll say now they were to hear it, the full-throated cry of the redeemed of the Lord to the demands of God's law for obedience. Amen. Amen. That much is clear, isn't it, gentlemen? Joel say. And what a moving scene it was with all its symbolism. There was the ark. The tabernacle wasn't yet exo- uh, uh, erected there. That wouldn't have been a safe operation at that stage. But they took the ark there, throne of God. Ah, what recent memories would have clustered around that ark, as it stood now in silent testimony between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. The ark that had gone down into Jordan, carrying the very presence of the God of all the earth, the ark that had come up the other side. In the presence of that ark that had brought them through the waters of Jordan to stand with their feet in their inheritance, how could they do anything else than say amen to God's demand that now they keep his law? There could be no thought that God had brought Israel into the land by his grace to set them free to do just as they pleased. Although Moses and his law could not possibly be the condition upon which they entered, it must be the result. Just as with us, we are not justified by the deeds of the law, but the whole operation of God's salvation, says Romans chapter eight, is geared to this, that the righteous demand of the law shall be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. It is true, of course, as we look at that ark and consider its contents, the old, the law that was the basis of the old covenant, that we shall be moved to thank God that we are no longer under that old covenant, but under the new. And we might be allowed, uh, uh, uh, a few moments as Christians, not to be proudful, but to rejoice in the glorious superiority of the new covenant to the old. Their law was holy, just, and good, but it did have its limitations, you'll see. It was simply written on tables of stone. The writing was clear enough, it could tell you what to do and what not to do, but it couldn't give you the strength to do what it told you to do, nor the power to desist from doing what it forbade you to do. The law was merely written on stone. And in the end, it failed, of course. Here, Romans eight again, in that it was weak through the flesh. Oh, thank God for that better covenant. Better in this, that its terms are not written on hard tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart. That's some going, you know. If you have a message to write, uh, permanently, get out your chisels, gentlemen, and a hammer or two, and though rock be hard, with a little practice you could write a message that will stay put once you've written it. You try writing on the human heart and see how long it'll stay put. It's a different material, isn't it? So fickle, so changing. Today's message, deeply imprinted, seems to be washed away tomorrow like the sea washes out the child's writing on the beach when the sea comes in. And yet, and yet, and yet, oh, don't let anybody put you in despair, says Paul. Consider what a ministry is yours, my good brethren. In your way, like the ministry given to the Apostle Paul, our sufficiency is of God, he says, who has made us capable as ministers of the new covenant. You are my letter, says Paul, written by Christ to the Spirit of God. What a thing it is, gentlemen, when God, the- when the risen Lord takes you as his pen, and the ink is the Holy Spirit, and the risen Christ uses you as his pen to write on human hearts a message that is eternally indelible. And not only is it a writing, I will write my laws on their hearts, says God, under the terms of the New Covenant. It implies with its metaphorical language that within the heart of the believer is put a new life that carries its new powers and its new laws. Just as I received from my father a human life that was, uh, controlled by its, uh, uh, its, uh, uh, basic cells, its, uh, uh, RNA and DNA and all that kind of stuff. So in the believer, if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation and a new life and a new nature that will work itself out under God in a new way of living. So then the objective achieved in the second section, section of Joshua is clear enough, the establishment of the law. The question, the major question that confronts us is how was that objective achieved? Here we may look back for a moment to section two, uh, to section one, and compare it with section two. The objective in section one. was that Joshua was to bring Israel in, eh, through, across Jordan into their inheritance. The great question of interest was, how did he do it? How did he overcome the barrier and get them in? We must ask a similar question of the second section. If the objective to be achieved was the establishment of the law, how was the objective achieved? And how was got Joshua empowered to deal with the obstacles that stood in the way of achieving that objective? So here again, we may notice, before we leave that, the simple comparison in both sections, you start off with a division devoted to preliminary exercises. Then in each case, the preliminary exercises are followed by two main stories. The first main story, the spies and Rahab. The second main story, the crossing of Jordan. Now here once more, after preliminary exercises, two main stories, the destruction of Jericho and the destruction of Ai. Before we go further with that, therefore, let us, uh, uh, uh, attend to the preliminaries now in chapter five, the preliminaries to dealing with the great obstacle, the cities of Jericho and Ai. And the first thing to be noticed is the command to Joshua that he make knives of flint and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. And what is meant by the second time is then explained. When Israel came out of Egypt, they were circumcised, but that generation had died in the wilderness, at least all those over twenty. The, their children who had succeeded them and now grown up had not been circumcised while they were in the wilderness. So far as the right of circumcision goes, they were a lot of old heathen Gentile pagans, do they? Now, at this juncture, God commands Joshua to circumcise Israel. Hm. And it's a matter of some interest, perhaps, is it? Or will you agree or won't you? Perhaps you won't. I don't know. Perhaps you'll say I'm even contradicting myself what I have said in other sessions when I now say what I say, but you're a lot of kind gentlemen, and I, uh, you'll see, confide in your mercies. It seems to me not an unimportant question to ask exactly when were Israel circumcised? Before they got into the land of their inheritance, or afterwards? Ha. You say, why do you ask that? Well, I ask that on the same principle as Paul, uh, discusses a similar matter in Romans chapter four, doesn't he? Romans chapter four, Paul is referring to, uh, the history of Genesis. Abraham believed God, says Genesis, and it was counted to him for righteousness, and therefore that creates a precedent for us. But then Paul raises the question, therefore, verse ten: how then was it reckoned when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, that the ri- that righteousness by- might be reckoned to them, and the father of circumcision to them who not only are of the circumcision, but also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in circumcision. And we'll see the issue at stake. Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Moreover, Abram was promised and his seed that they should be heir of the world. The great inheritance was promised to them. But when was it promised, says Paul? At what particular point in Abram's life was it promised? Was it promised to him before he was circumcised or after he was circumcised? You say, why bother your head about such a triviality, Master Paul? Well, it isn't such a big trivia- such a triviality after all, says Paul. You'll see, if it could be shown that Abraham was first circumcised and then justified, thousands of Jews would argue, there you are, that's the order. You have to be first circumcised and then you can be justified, but if you're not first circumcised, your justification wouldn't count. And so God saw to it that Abraham believed and was justified and was given the promise of the great inheritance before he was circumcised, that it might become evident that circumcision contributes nothing either to justification or to inheritance. Very good. Galatians will discuss a similar question with you as Romans, uh, four does. Entry into the inheritance. Is it conditional upon being circumcised or not? When did they actually enter? And how? Ah. Well, the fact is staring us in the face, isn't it? That they were in the Promised Land, over the Jordan, before they were circumcised. Only then were they circumcised. Now, of course, circumcision has many meanings. It was for Abraham a sign and a seal of the righteousness which he had by faith, given to him after circumcision, after his belief. For his descendants, circumcision could be simply a physical sign of their physical descent from Abraham. According to Genesis, uh, seventeen, circumcision became also a s- token and a symbol of what you might call a circumcised walk. Walk before me and be perfect, says God to Abraham. And similarly, the prophets are to be heard to denouncing Israel because Israel in their time was content to have the outward symbol of circumcision and were not prepared to behave in a circumcised manner. Circumcise your heart, says Moses, without which the outward, uh, symbol of circumcision of the flesh is worth very little. And of course, when you come over to the New Testament, circumcision is used as a type, isn't it? We are the circumcision, says Paul. Who? Those who diligently are circumcised and circumcise their children on the eighth day and think thereby they are qualifying for salvation. No, that's not true circumcision, says Paul. That's concision. Putting your faith in some ritual performed on a baby at eight years old, as though it somehow contributed to your salvation, that is an abuse of the right of circumcision. Contributes nothing to salvation. We are the true circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and have no confidence in the flesh. I, if anybody, could have confidence in the flesh, says Paul. For look at all the religious rites and ceremonies and attainments that lay in my young manhood. But I found them to be useless. My only hope of being justified and received by God was not in my rituals, but when in true repentance I abandoned all hope in my rituals and my own righteousness and put my faith in Christ, that I might be justified by faith and receive the righteousness which is from God through faith. And therefore, as you hear this story that Israel were at this point circumcised, you may be thinking in your mind what particular circum- uh, uh, significance of circumcision ought we attribute to the thing here. I shall be interested, gentlemen, in hearing from you subsequently on that score. But there is one significance that the writer himself chooses to relate, isn't it? Is there not? Look, if you, uh, uh, if you will, at Joshua five verse nine: And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of that place was called Gilgal unto this day. And pray, what was the reproach of Egypt that was at this point rolled away? Well, for my part, I suppose it refers to the potential reproach of Egypt, such as is mentioned in the book of Numbers in chapter fourteen. You will remember that when Israel were brought at first to the very borders of the land, and they sent the spies in, the spies came back with a wretched, uh, uh, misrepresentation of the land, and Israel rebelled and refused to go in, and God threatened to destroy them. To disherit, disinherit them and start with Moses afresh and make a nation from him. And Moses pleaded with the Lord and said, Lord, you can't do that. Why not? Why can't I do that? I mean, Moses, you are of the seed of Abraham, aren't you? So if I destroyed all the others and I preserved you, uh, that would do, wouldn't it? I should still be fulfilling my promise that of the seed of Abraham I should make a nation. Why can't I obliterate all these desperate apostates and make a nation of you, Moses? You can't do it, God said Moses, and I'll tell you why you can't do it, because you see, then the Egyptians shall hear. Ah, uh, for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They, they have heard that thou, Lord, art in the midst of this people, for thou, Lord, art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now, if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore hath he slain them in the wilderness. The world is always standing around to watch what happens to the newest converts, isn't it? I say, give them six months, give them a year and a half. I mean, it won't work. You'll have to abandon the scheme. That's impossible, all these claims of salvation. You can't obliterate them, says Moses. Lord, you can't because your own reputation, now that you've begun the work, you can't obliterate the nation. You must bring them in for fear of the reproach of the Egyptians. Now, gentlemen, enjoy the moment of triumph, of divine triumph, and Israel's triumph. Here they are, standing the other side of Jordan. They are in the land, let the Egyptians hear. And they circumcise themselves, symbolizing their intent not only to be in the land, but to do the law of God and to obey him. Savor the triumph of the moment when all Egyptian pessimism has been proved wrong, they are arrived in the land at last. And then in the land they kept the Passover, verse ten. And what a Passover it was. Passover had lain at the beginning of their career, as their fathers had come out of Egypt. But the whole point of Passover, what was it? You say the whole point of Passover was to get the people out of Egypt. Oh, really? You know, there are some people that seem to preach the gospel like that. If they had been Moses, they would have gone to the Egypt, to the Israelites and said, now look here, my brethren, you know, the main thing that I'm about is this, get you out of Egypt. Now, would you like to be out of Egypt? Once you get out of Egypt, of course, then there is a, a, an sort of an advanced course that you could possibly take if you were interested in taking things any further. That would be rather strenuous, going across the wilderness towards this inheritance business. But you don't have to take that if you don't want to. I mean, the main thing is to get out of Egypt. No, indeed not. There was no such gospel. If you wanted to get out of Egypt by the blood of the Passover lamb, you were committed forthwith and immediately, girded round your loins and staff in your hand, you were committed to the full program. There was only one program. You took the lot or you took nothing. And therefore, now, when they at last get in and they're in the inheritance, how meaningful their keeping of the Passover, the goal of redemption now reached. And there also the manna ceased, and they ate both the old corn and the new corn of the land, for it was Easter time, and in the early harvests of Israel, this, uh, of Canaan, this would be the new corn of the new harvest, the first fruits that were eaten. Here began a new year, a new era for Israel, as they munched the first fruits of this glorious inheritance. And what a picture, gentlemen, it is. Heart of the Lord Jesus, himself the first fruits of them that slept, risen and glorified, and we seated with him in the heavenlies. And subsequently the first fruits of the Spirit come down from heaven, already within us, first fruits of the glorious inheritance that it shall be. And finally, in the preliminary exercises, the matter that we have adverted to many times already came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and said, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. Now had come the moment when the judgments of God must begin to fall on Canaan. It was the second person of the Trinity who came to direct their execution. Mark his gesture. The sword drawn. And as a matter of a literary device, but then it's scarcely a literary device, is it, because the historian is, uh, recording actual history, so it isn't just a device. But it might help you in grasping the thought flow of this passage. Here at the end of this first paragraph here. See the figure of this illustrious man, sword drawn, ready to execute the judgments of God. Now turn to chapter eight, if you will, when AI, the final obstacle against the objective being achieved is now being destroyed. And Joshua, having a- arranged with his ambush men behind the city, fleeing away from the city himself with his detachment of troops, at a given point turned round and lifted up his javelin. And the men of the city saw the sign. It was a prearranged signal, and they rose up out of their ambush to take Ai. But notice also what it is said. Verse twenty five, 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, until. We've already noticed, haven't we learned to note that work until, that word until, that marks persistence until the objective is achieved. The ark stood in Jordan until all Israel were clean passed over, and Joshua withdrew not his arm with which he stretched forth the javelin until... until what? He had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai, and the way was clear for the law to be established. Gentlemen, God appeals to us through our intellects, our logical thought, and praise God for those gentlemen, uh, uh, who are strong in that division of the brain. God also uses the other side of our brain, the picture side of the brain, that with our imagination and visual possibilities, we might grasp what we have have absorbed by the intellectual side of the brain. Yes? Ponder those two images long and watch them. The rod himself with his hand outstretched, that sword shall not be withdrawn until the judgment of God has been completed. And here stands Joshua with his hand outstretched and his javelin in his hand, and the hand will not be withdrawn till the last bit of opposition is defeated, and the way is clear for the Israelites now in their inheritance to fulfill their objective. And I am to tell you that you who have been brought in by God's supreme power and grace into your inheritance and now have an objective before you, and the objective is this, that the righteous demand of the law shall be fulfilled in you, who walk not after the flesh since you've been spiritually circumcised, haven't you, but after the spirit. Now there's some struggles ahead for you, gentlemen. You know it well, don't you? But courage up. See the man with the sword stretched out. See Joshua with the javelin in his hand. Neither shall withdraw their hand until all resistance is overcome and God's objective will be achieved. The righteousness of the law shall one day be perfectly fulfilled in you. Courage up. Hey, this book of Joshua has a lot of exhortations, but goodness me, don't let the exhortations crowd out the other, will you? It brims over its brim with gospel, and thereby gives us the courage and the hope to attend to the exhortations that must follow the gospel and the duties that grace itself lays upon us. That then be, for the moment, uh, our lesson. Let's take a break now before we proceed. Jesus commanded the Israelites that when they crossed Jordan, they should establish the law publicly among the nation of Israel. He did not allow them to just set up the altar and the stones on the plains of Jordan. He demanded the much more rigorous thing that they should go to through the mountains to Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim and there perform this great public ceremony. Therefore, in order to do that and achieve that objective, Israel was obliged first to deal with the two great cities, Jericho, the great city Jericho and the smaller city Ai. It is now on the destruction of those two cities that we must concentrate, and where you will very soon see how tenuous my grasp is and how small my understanding. There are, there is to be another question time, and if I am provoked to it, I might allow the chair- ask the chairman, as I did today, to allow me to question you, gentlemen, over these matters. But first of all, we come to the destruction of Jericho and the two things that were extraordinary about that destruction. One is the method that was used when Israel were commanded to line up in file and to take the ark with them and the priests of blowing of the trumpets, to encircle the day, the city once each day for a week, and on the seventh day to encircle it seven times. As far as we are told in the book of Judges, this was a technique not used in any other city, only in the city of Jericho. Secondly, this situation is special in that God pronounced a certain kind of curse or ban on the city of Jericho, to the effect that everyone in the city had to be killed. That was also done in other cities. But on this occasion, not even the spoil might be spared. What could not be killed, silver and gold and garments were to be taken and put in the treasury of the house of the Lord. No Israelite might benefit from the spoil. He must take nothing whatsoever from that doomed city, uh, of Jericho. In other cities, it was not so. Even with Ai, they were allowed to take the spoil for themselves. Not in Jericho. Everything was put under the ban. In the old English word, not in our modern sense, of course, but in the meaning of the old English word taken from the Latin, everything was to be devoted to the Lord, that is, set aside for God, for God's judgment. Man must not touch it for himself. Let us therefore take the first peculiarity, the technique that was used for the subjugation of Jericho. The silent parading of the ark round its walls, one day, once every day of a solid week. Seven times on the seventh day. I wonder what the Jerichoites made of it. What would you have made of it? As you peered over the battlements of your city or looked through your window if you had a house on the wall like Rahab, and said to yourself, what are they doing there below? You may not have been able to conclude every detail, but you would have had remarkably little sense if you didn't feel in your bones what the outcome was going to be. Rahab shows us that the inmates of that city feared what was going to happen. So long as the armies in the ark were the other side of Jordan, they might have felt safe, but now treated to this tremendous miracle, seeing the ark come through the waters of Jordan and up the other side, it must have sent shivers down their spine. Here was the Lord of heaven and earth. It was the Lord encircling their city. What would he do? Oh, gentlemen, what a thing it is. What a responsibility it was for the Israelites to march solemnly. They didn't speak a word, march solemnly around that city with this ark, calling attention now and again with a trumpet sound. And I drew the analogy this morning. No different are we really, are we? Walking round our world for the week of our lives, bearing the message that a transcendent Lord died on our planet, crucified on a cross, went through death and is resurrected and now ascended, and as sure as he is ascended, this world will be judged. Why didn't God do it at once? I presume for the gen- uh, the reason so typical of God, not willing that any should perish. But the judgment fell at the end of the week. We cannot testify to the risen Lord and all the glory and the wonder of the salvation he offers without simultaneously testifying to the fact that as sure as he is risen, the prince of this world has been judged, and one day God will judge the world with that sa- through that same Lord Jesus Christ. The other part of the story is that when the judgment fell at the end of the week, Rahab was saved. She was not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation. And may I say it, gentlemen, with, if I stick close enough to history to suit you, through the grace of him who on that ark had gone down into Jordan and come up again. But now we come to the sterner message, that terrible curse pronounced upon Jericho. Kerem is the Hebrew word. And to the fact, as we said this morning, that Israel was required by God to come and stand by God's side and to agree with God that the execution of his wrath on Jericho was true and just and not overly severe. And as I said this morning, so I need say it only again, uh, in a few words. There is a sense in which that is true of us, isn't it? If you will be saved, then you must first accept God's sentence of judgment. If you're go- wait half a minute. If you're going to establish the law, well, start by establishing it, gentlemen. That's a good place to do it, isn't it? There were some people in Paul's day, and they said, Paul, you wretched apostate, you telling people that they are saved by grace and giving them the opinion and the idea that you can be saved by faith without works, and then live as you like. Cannot be true, Paul. You are minimizing the law. Oh, really, says Paul, I didn't know it was I who was doing that. I had the impression it was you that was doing that. We? No, we preach, uh, we preach that you have to keep the law to be saved. That's what keeps people on their toes, you'll see. I see. And, uh, how much of the law do you have to keep to be saved? Well, well, well, as best as you can keep the law. Oh, I see, yes. And, and, and how well do you think that by the time the final judgment you will have kept it? Will you have kept it a hundred percent? Well, not a hundred percent. I mean, as nobody can keeps it hundred percent. Well, what do you think is going to happen to you then? Well, there's one woman said to me, well, I think God will be merciful, really. I think he'll say, my dear, you did go astray there a bit, but then look how you were provoked. And on the whole, I think God will be merciful, and they say, well, you didn't keep it all together as you should have done, but, uh, you know, pretty decently, so come in. They won't say anything of the sort. And to talk like that is to degrade God's law. Better if you only scored seventy five percent. Why, gentlemen, I used to work in a university, and on the whole, university dons, as you who are such know very well, are a very merciful crowd. We would set examinations, and if our students got seventy percent, we were ecstatic with delight and awarded them a first class honours degree. And if they got sixty-one percent, we gave them a marvellous degree, two one we called it, second class, first division. And if they got somewhere in the fifties, well, we said that was pretty reasonable, we gave them a 2.2. And if they got over forty, well, we said, you know, don't tell everybody, we'll let you through. Well, I mean, it's a third degree anyway, third class degree, but I mean, a third class is a degree, isn't it? So you don't need to tell anybody it was only a third class. I mean, you've got a degree. And I've known such mercy among the examiners that when a man got thirty nine and they said, well, push him up the extra mark, what's a mark here and there? Nobody will know that in a hundred years time, and they let him through. And you know, while a university dons a merciful, some people think the final judgment's going to be like that. You score seventy one percent and God will say, marvelous, first class degree and a front seat in heaven. And even if you were to only get forty one or bordering, God might even consider letting you through. It's all nonsense, gentlemen. That is not maintaining the law, to tell people they have to keep the law for salvation, and then when they come short, God will be merciful and say it didn't matter after all whether they broke it or not. If we're going to be saved, we must face God's sentence of judgment. And what is that? Well, we know that what things 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 try that on some fashionable lady in a fashionable drawing room and tell her, well, ma'am, I'm sure of salvation, you'll see, because I came to realize that before God's law I deserved nothing th- th- but to be damned. All my good works were useless now because I fell short and I was worthy to be damned. And oh, she'll say, oh, don't, oh, young man, that's being extreme. Don't think like that about yourself. You're a good young man. You're going in danger of be- getting a little neurotic old chap. You must have more positive thinking about yourself. It's a very ugly form of Christianity you've got. It seems to deny the virtue of human effort. Huh? You'll have to learn to resist that silly talk and agree with God. That whatsoever things the law says, it says to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be closed and admit the righteousness of God's judgment, that we deserve damnation. How then do you uphold the law? Well, it's we who uphold the law, says Paul, because we have a salvation that honors the law. Yes? It says that the law's punishment must be executed, and awesome as it is to relate, it was executed upon the head of Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's upholding the law. You must therefore, like Israel, gentlemen, you must, you will be required even for salvation itself, to stand by God's side and agree with him on his judgment and sentence upon sin. That's clear enough, isn't it? And so, um, they went, and according to chapter seven of Joshua, they were told, right at the last it was repeated in their ears. Sorry, in chapter six, verse seventeen— the city shall be devoted. Even it and all that is therein, it shall be devoted to the Lord, that is, set aside for God's judgment. 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 you in any wise keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing, so you should make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. So were they straightly warned. At the end of the week, the power of God brought the walls of Jericho down. Jericho was destroyed, except for Rahab and her relatives, who were saved. Thereafter, according to, uh, chapter eight, Joshua sent the people up to take the next city, and as we heard this morning, it was only a little city, and therefore they went up with only part of the army, and to their consternation, they suffered a defeat. It was, of course, alarming, particularly for Joshua. Here he was, head of this army, now over his Rubicon, so to speak. He burnt his boats, he was the other side of Jordan with his army, but in the middle of a country, or on the edge of a country, that teemed with Canaanite cities fortified to the teeth with the very latest technology that Canaan could, uh, provide. Magnificent cities. How would he conquer them unless the Lord was with him? Up till now, as the spies had learned, the terror of the Lord was on the inhabitants like on Jericho. But if now AI managed, little old AI managed to defeat a detachment of the Israelites, the BBC would carry it that night, biased as usual, and uh, you'll see, uh, they would have it around that there was a near rout, and all the nations would pluck up courage, and uh, they would um, come swarming out against the Israelites and decimate them. It was a very fearful moment for Joshua. And he fell on his face before the Lord to inquire why it was, and the Lord indicated that Achan or someone had troubled Israel and taken of the devoted thing. What lesson shall we learn from this? Well, first, of course, the lesson that we learned this morning. At the sheer practical level of this historical, uh, uh, narrative, yes, that was an excellent message to derive from it, wasn't it? That after our splendid victories, how easily we fall into excessive self-confidence and imagine that we can be superior because the enemy in front now is only a little one, as though we could defeat any enemy, however small, by ourselves. And so we fall into mistakes like that and need, therefore, to be chastised and to be brought back to our proper senses. Yes, certainly at the level, the practical level of the sheer history, that is true. But that there is a deeper lesson in it all, I want now to argue from several points of view. And for that reason, I, uh, prepared for you the sheet of paper that you have been mulling over, and it stopped you having your afternoon siesta, and I apologize for that, uh, Dulce, where it- where I have begun by listing certain observations. What the significance of those observations is, that may well be open to question, but that the observations are simple observations of biblical facts, I think there can be no dispute. And I ask you to notice the similarities between Joshua five, six, seven, and eight and certain places in the New Testament. First, the establishment of the law commanded by Joshua and achieved by Moses, item one. And in the New Testament, uh, the law, what the law could not do, God has done through his son. We've had that many times. Secondly, the question of the relation of circumcision to Israel's entry into the inheritance. We have already commented upon that this afternoon. At what point in the process were they circumcised? Before they entered or after? And the reply is after. Of course, the question of the relationship between circumcision and the inheritance is raised again in the New Testament. We saw it the other day when we began, particularly in Galatians three fifteen to twenty nine. It's explicitly raised, gentlemen, what relation has circumcision to the entry into our inheritance? 3. The curse pronounced on Jericho, Achan, and Israel. The Hebrew word herem. There are several words, uh, two or three words for curse in Hebrew. At the end of the chapter, when Joshua pronounced a curse on Jericho that no one should build it again, that was a slightly different word. The curse pronounced on Jericho at the beginning was this sense of everything devoted handed over to God for his judgment upon it. Now, it is the fact that the Greek word for the Hebrew herem, and the word that is used in the Septuagint translation at this point, is anathema. I sat one day in the comfort of my drawing room, uh, pondering this story of Jericho, and the old unbeliever inside me said, and can I really believe this? Isn't this altogether too severe? What a whole city devoted to God's judgment? Harem. I said, is there anywhere at all in the New Testament where such a severe judgment is even countenanced? Then, of course, I was rebuked by the memory. Well, there is, of course. Twice over in the first chapter of the, of the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul pronounces a herem and anathema on certain people. God warned the Israelites that if they disobeyed his command and they tried to salvage something out of Jericho which God had submitted to the ban, then the ban and the curse would fall on the person who perpetrated the deed and along with him upon Israel as a nation. Don't do it, says God, lest you trouble Israel. But Achan did it, and when at last he was exposed, Joshua said to him, this is seven twenty five, and Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire, and they stoned them with stones. Wherefore the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor, the valley of troubling, unto this day. Then we can't help noticing the notion used by different Greek ver- expressed by different Greek verbs in Galatians. There are some that trouble you. I wish they were even cut off, says Paul, in the depth of his feeling and emotion. I wish they were cut off, that trouble you. Why? Because the trouble with which they were troubling Israel, uh, with the church was serious trouble indeed, as presently we shall see. Look at seven. A curse was pronounced on any who rebuilt Jericho. Well, I know it's only a metaphor, but it's an interesting metaphor that is used by Paul to Peter, isn't it? In chapter seven, uh, in in item seven, in Galatians two eighteen, If I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor. So we might go on. Notice in particular item five. The law, when it was established on Mount Ebal in Gerizim, was, uh, read out, and in particular its blessings and its cursings. The topic is discussed at length in Galatians three ten to fourteen. As many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles. To my mind at least, you may disagree, but to my mind, that outcrop of similarity of expression and behind it substance of thought, that outcrop of similarity between the Jericho and Ai incident in Joshua and the Epistle to the Galatians in the New Testament in particular, is too striking to be brushed aside. It must surely be significant, and if I haven't seen the correct significance, well then, gentlemen, do you help me? But surely you must account for this, even if you only account for it by saying it's an accidental epiphenomenon or something. What was the issue? What did Achan do anyway? And what was the solemnity of it? Well, this, that God, as I say, had given his sentence of judgment on that city, everything came under his cherem. Nothing could be salvaged. But instead of agreeing with God on God's declaration of judgment and assessment of that city, Achan, being tempted by the lust of his eyes, saw the gold and the silver and the brightly colored Babylonish garment, and he took it and he tried to salvage something out of that cursed city, and hid it in his tent, and brought therefore the cherem on him and on the nation. What has that got to do with Galatians? Well, says Paul, you know, if anybody preaches a different gospel from what I preach, let him be anathema as kerim. Why? What, what, what, what is it so serious? What is so serious in what these false teachers are beginning to teach? By this. God has said that all they that are of the works of the law are under a curse. Why? Because cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written in the law to do. And none has kept the law, save Jesus Christ our Lord. And all who take their stand before God on the grounds of having kept his, uh, law for salvation, that is, are under God's curse. It is an exceedingly solemn thing, isn't it? What were these teachers doing in, in Galatia? Paul had taught them that under the law they were under the curse of God. They couldn't free themselves from that curse, either by their good moral works, still less by their religious rituals taken from the law itself. How could they be freed from the curse of the law? You say by Christ keeping the law for them. No, no, no. No, no. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. He didn't keep the law and say, there, I've set you an example, and if you follow my example, you may escape the judgment of the law. That is impossible. We have broken the law. We stood under God's curse as much as Jericho did, and Christ, our blessed Lord, delivered us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. Spine-chilling words, aren't they? And the only way of salvation is through Christ. If righteousness had been by the law, then surely there would have been a law given if it could have given life, uh, justification would be by the law. If righteousness is by the law, Christ has died for nothing. And all the horrors of Calvary are unnecessary, were unnecessary. All they, therefore, who put their trust in the law under a curse, all they who acknowledge that they deserve the curse and put their trust in Christ are delivered from the curse solely through the work of Christ. Yes? He bore the curse that the blessings of Abraham might come upon us. Oh, what lovely, sunshiny words they are. After the darkness of Calvary, all the golden, glittering blessings of God pronounced through Abraham come upon us solely through faith. And here are these wretched men, come along to these new converts and saying, oh, it's all right to trust Christ to start with, but if you would be really saved, uh, you must be circumcised after the manner of Moses, and after all, circumcision does contribute to your salvation. Trying to salvage something from that old ritualistic system. Why did they do it? Because it looked nice. It was very attractive. Nice little ceremonies with pookie little infants, all dressed up in lace, handed down from grandmama. Yeah. And somehow that helps towards salvation. This is stern stuff, isn't it? Trying to salvage something from that system of rituals where God has said that all who put their faith in it are under his curse because they have broken the law, trying to salvage something from that and adding it to Christ's salvation is so serious it will bring God's curse on those who advocate it. They trouble you, confusing the issue. I would they would be cut off if anybody teaches a gospel different from what I preach, he will come under a herem, under the anathema. And you'll say, here we do near clear, clear thinking, don't we? Not only clear thinking, but you'll say, um, consistent behavior. I needn't, uh, repeat to you the ar- detailed arguments of Galatians three ten to fourteen, where Paul goes into the detail of this whole question, how we can be delivered from the curse of the law, and how the blessings of Abraham can come upon us, including the inheritance. But, uh, let's just remember that incident that took place between Peter and Paul at the Christian conference at Antioch on one occasion. Peter himself had been sent by the Lord to Cornelius, and Peter manfully at Jerusalem in the so-called council gave his statement with which all the apostles agreed. We believe, he said, it is our belief that it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus, not by circumcision, that we Jews are to be saved, even as they Gentiles. So against the Judaizers in the church, some of the Pharisees who believed, who stood up on their hind legs and said, oh, but the Gentiles must be circumcised if they want to be saved, Peter stood out clear, and so did James. Circumcision is not necessary for salvation. It contributes nothing to salvation. To demand that people be circumcised in order to be saved is to put a yoke on their neck, says Peter, that neither we nor our fathers could bear, and it is a form of tempting the very Lord. Why tempt you, God, seeking to put a note, a neck, a yoke like that on the neck of the believers? Peter was doctrinally clear. Alas, at the Christian conference at Antioch, his behavior didn't match his conviction. And when they'd been eating at the table, you know, with these Gentile believers. When certain came from Ju- Ju- down from James in Jerusalem, Peter said he had a stomach ache or something and didn't think he would, uh, uh, uh, eat dinner, take dinner today, and he didn't feel quite well, you'll say. And as he was going out of the door, Paul said, oh no you don't, Peter, there's nothing wrong with your stomach, except you've got the cogliwuggers by looking at these chaps from James. Your real trouble is this, isn't it, Peter? That you're pretending, you now want to pretend that you don't believe what you do believe. Hypocrisy comes in two forms, gentlemen. One form is to pretend you, you are, or you believe what you are not, or you don't believe. There's another form of hypocrisy, which is called dissimulation, and that is to pretend you don't believe what you do believe. And Peter, by his behavior, was pretending he didn't believe what he did believe. What did he believe? He believed those Gentiles were as much saved as he was, cleansed by faith. God had purified their hearts through faith. It was perfectly okay to eat with them. They were equally brothers in the Lord, equally justified on the very same ground as the Jewish believers. But when the people came from James, he withdrew, not prepared to eat with his Gentile brethren, which gave the impression that he felt that they were somehow inferior and weren't as equally saved as the Jewish believers were. That denied the very gospel. And the dissimulation was so heavy that even Barnabas was carried away by it, says Paul, and I wouldn't have it, said he, and I rebuked the man to his face. And, uh, if I might, says Paul, I quote you the case of Titus. There were a lot of folks who insisted that Titus should be circumcised, and I wouldn't give an inch to them. He sounds like a Protestant in Northern Ireland, but there he was. I wouldn't give an inch to them, he said, because Titus was a Greek. And if anybody tries to demand that Titus be circumcised, I wouldn't. Why wouldn't I? That the truth of the gospel might come as far and continue as far as you. If Paul had given way over it and said, yes, well, perhaps after all Titus ought to be circumcised because he's a Greek, you and I sitting here today wouldn't know exactly what the gospel was. And if Peter was going to fluff the gospel by his behavior, then Paul would rebuke him, for it is a very serious thing, gentlemen. When it comes to the gospel, we must act consistently. We must walk uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, and mustn't engage in religious things that suggest that we don't believe what we really do believe. So Paul rebuked Peter. Then he said to Peter, Peter, my boy, we were never sinners of the Gentiles ourselves, were we? We were Jewish sinners. That's a respectable kind of sinner, a Jewish sinner, you know. Except, I mean, respectable sinners are sinners like me. Others are not respectable sinners, but we Jews were respectable sinners. We weren't sinners of the Gentiles. But even we had to come to the point where we realized that we could only be justified by faith in Christ, just like anybody else. And so we gave up hope in the law for justification when we put our faith in Christ, and now we're in Christ, and our faith is in Christ, and you're telling me, are you, that in spite of that you have to add a bit of the law to make salvation secure? What does that mean then? You were wrong to abandon it in the first place, weren't you? And having put your faith in Christ, that doesn't somehow achieve enough, and you're still a sinner before God and exposed to the wrath of God. So Christ is a minister of sin, is he? And you have to add this extra weight of circumcision to, to make Christ's salvation effective, otherwise Christ would leave you the sinner he found you exposed to the wrath of God. Peter, old chap, he says, if I build again the thing that I destroyed, make myself a transgressor. Now I've gone into reverse. I meant to quote Jericho first, but I somehow quoted the New Testament first. Well, let's come back to Jericho. That's what Jerry- Joshua said when Jericho was destroyed. He pronounced a curse on anybody who would rebuild it. Gentlemen, somewhere along the line, there are some connections between the story of Jericho and Ai and the epistle to the Galatians, whatever they be. So now perceive what happens when Achan is exposed. The Israelites who had been asked to agree with God that his judgment on Jericho was right and deserved, now must come and agree with God that his judgment on them themselves is deserved. And Israel has to take the execution of God's discipline into their hands, and Achan was stoned that Israel might clear itself from association with that disobedience to God. Ah, it's one thing to stand judging the Jerichos, isn't it? Sooner or later, we shall have to turn round and judge ourselves. Jericho, uh, Ai was eventually taken, in spite of the initial setback, when Israel had purged themselves by self-discipline before God and got rid of this false attitude to the stuff of Jericho. Then they set forward, but now in a very different mood. The first time they had gone up to Ai, the king of Ai and company had come out and chased them away, and they ran away as fast as their little hairy legs would take them in acknowledged defeat. Now it was to be taken. By what military tactic would it be taken? We'll say the b- the thing to do will be to get the Ark of the Lord, triumphant from the crossing of Jordan, and the priests once more with big trumpets and all march round little Ai and blow the trumpets, and the Lord will have the wall down. But no. No. That wasn't appropriate. In fact, the techniques are opposite, aren't they? The military tactic applied in Jericho was a means of getting into the city to destroy them. The means of destroying the people of Ai was to get the Aiites out of the city. They're opposite sides of a coin, aren't they? And how did you get them out of the city so that you could take possession of the city, destroy it, and then destroy the inhabitants? Well, the military tactic was this. Joshua secretly placed an ambush behind the city, and then in the morning he gathered a detachment of the troops, and they were to go up to the city, and when the people of Ai came out against them as before time, they were to turn around and make as out as they were fleeing. And for the moment reenact their first defeat and run away as if once more they were defeated. Painful memories that for some of them had been up the time before. And running off as though in defeat, they would thus draw out the enemy against them. When the enemy had come out of their city, chasing these apparently defeated Israelites, Joshua would give the signal and the ambush would arise and come in the rear and take the city. And then Joshua and his, and and the troops would, um, turn round and get them in a pincer movement outside the city and destroy them. So that was how what was done. One lot were the victorious men in the ambush that rose up and and and and, uh, took the city and burned it and destroyed it. That was a very romantic role to play, wasn't it? But the other lot had to go and reenact the defeat. If you'd have had any choice, which lot would you have been in? Ah, I think I would have liked to have been in the victorious boys of the ambush. Which group did Joshua go with? Oh, did you ever hear such a story? He went with the lot that had to reenact the defeat, and as they ran away from the city, he ran away with them. As though defeated, as though under God's curse as they were the first time, and Joshua went with those Israelites back from the city, until the point came when he raised his javelin and turned the apparent defeat into a brilliant strategy of victory. And you may think me fanciful for what I'm going to say, and if you do, well, forget Joshua, because I'm going to say it anyway. It is the fact. How will God work his victory over me? When I have learned to face my defeat. If I will compromise with sin like Achan did, there is nothing but defeat for me. All that take their stand on the works of the law are under a curse. How will God bring victory out of defeat if I will admit my defeat? See the blessed Lord come and stand by my side and bear my defeat, and turn the defeat into subsequent victory. Oh, gentlemen, this book of Joshua, whatever else it is, is a book of gospel. Gospel indeed. Joshua didn't withdraw his hand until the last member of Ai was destroyed, and the way was clear. Now to go up to Mount, uh, uh, Gerizim and Ebal, there to establish the law amongst the people of the land. You have long since made the necessary distinctions. We are not under that old law anymore. We are under a new covenant. And in the stories of Jericho and Ai, we have prototypes of how we can overcome all opposition, and that the righteousness of the law shall be fulfilled and established among us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. One little observation, and I'm done. Detail is as follows. Look with me, please, to this side of our chart, and you will remember that when we were talking about the spies and Rahab, we emphasized the fact that Rahab was saved from death. Her plea was that you will save me alive, save me from having to die, and that indeed is what happened to her. She was saved from death. But when you move on to the next story, the crossing of Jordan, that tells us the other side of the story of salvation. I fear at this point you may think I'm being very fanciful and allegorical, but, uh, in your compassion then, if you think like that, allow this old man his fancies. But by the consent of the church all down the ages, the crossing of Jordan speaks to us of salvation through death. The people went as the ark stood on the riverbed, and they went down between the waters and then up the other side. And so the believer is baptized into Christ's death and raised with him that he might walk in newness of life. If Jordan may remind us legitimately of that, then you'll see how these two stories are a pair. Rahab experienced saved from death. The crossing of the Jordan, Israel saved through death. A similar balance can be found now if you will look at the stories in section two, the destruction of Jericho, and then the destruction of Ai and Achan. When it came to the destruction of Jericho, the Israelites, God insisted, must come with God and agree with him in his judgment on Jericho, and indeed be God's executives in executing that judgment on Jericho. They had to agree with God that that world of Jericho, its culture and civilization, was an evil thing. Agree with God, therefore, in his condemnation of the world. Yes, but the story of Ai tells us that Israel got involved and got placed under the same ban and curse as Jericho had been because of what Achan did in catching, taking the spoils of Jericho. And now this time, before Israel could take Ai, they must come and agree with God against themselves. And they who with God had judged Jericho must now with God judge themselves and condemn themselves as worthy of death, seek the pardon of the Lord, and in God's name must judge themselves and judge that member of their nation, Achan, who had put himself and them under God's curse. The two stories then are a pair. In the one, Israel is judging Jericho, in the others they are judging themselves with the same kind of judgment that, uh, Jericho deserved. Now, in that context, let us finally listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians, that same epistle that has been speaking so much to us about our inheritance and its relationship to the law. Says Paul finally in chapter six: when it comes to deliverance from the world, it is not through the law that I find deliverance, nor through circumcision and its ritual. God forbid that I should put my confidence for deliverance from the world in anything but this. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by means of which the world has been crucified to me. Ah yes, I agree with God that Jericho must be condemned. The cross by which the world is crucified to me. And then, and I unto the world. I agree with God that just as the world deserved his condemnation, judgment, and wrath, I too deserve that selfsame judgment and wrath and must have perished, except that the blessed cross of Christ was my deliverance from that world. The Lord write it on our hearts, that in us being truly delivered from the world, the righteous requirement of the law shall be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.