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Houston's First Baptist Church is a relevant biblical community where we gather our hearts, grow our souls and give our lives as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). This podcast provides weekly messages from Pastor Gregg Matte and others. Visit us at HoustonsFirst.org to learn more about HFBC, and visit us in person the next time you're in Houston!
Turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 1. We begin a new phase of the Word of God tonight, the history of God's people, and shall continue therein for many wonderful weeks. You will not want to miss a single one of them. Joshua chapter 1, verse 1. Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give thee, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea, for the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not be any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so shall I be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong, and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong, and very courageous, that thou mayest observe, to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong, and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. For the Lord thy God is with thee whethersoever thou goest. The book of Joshua covers 25 to 26 years. It is written from 1451 A .D. to 1425 or 24 and a half A .D. The word Joshua in the Old Testament means that salvation is of Jehovah. Jehovah. It is the Hebrew word Jehovah. When we come to the New Testament, the word is translated Jason, or in the Greek, Jesus, meaning the Savior. And so, Joshua is the word from the Old Testament which our Lord's name became in the New Testament, Jesus, the Savior, salvation of him, the Christ. He is, again as Abraham, again as Moses, a beautiful type of Jesus Christ. He is probably the best because there are no known sins recorded at least in the word of God of the man Joshua. The book of Joshua, God's book for us, God's ledger of heroism, is one of the great books in the word of God. The book of Joshua is a book of a story. It is a story about a man. The story about the man Joshua. It was a sad day when Moses had died. Yonder on the top of Pisgah he had been buried, and the mantle had fallen on the young prophet of God, God's man for God's time, the man Joshua. But it had fallen on capable hands for he was a good general and there would be no failures in the faith and leadership of the man Joshua. The story, you will recall, for centuries, God's people had been in bondage. Moses had led them out. They had come to the promised land. I want you to feel the excitement and the zest and the expectancy and the light and the tingling taste that must have permeated the hearts of the people as they now stood on that shore of that promised land promised to their beloved patriarch Abraham over 400 years ago. God had said, had reaffirmed Christ, and now did so again through his servant Joshua, that he would give them this land. And I want you to remember that that land promised to Abraham, captured by these Jews, from which they have been driven again and again, will never again be arrested from the hand of God's people, the Israelites. All of the Chinese communists, and all of the Arabs, and all of the Egyptians, and all of the Russians, will never again drive them out. And they will do well to remember it. They will lose many a tank. Many a plane will fall without cause. Many an Egyptian boy will die before they get the message that that land was promised, and God's people have taken it. And nobody but nobody in this world will drive them from the land that God promised for the Jews. Now, they stand on the precipice of victory. They are there on the very threshold of conquering what had been burning, and boiling, and seething, and longing in their loins for the conquest of through the centuries. And now, it stands beyond the river. There on the other side, seven miles into the east, the city of Jericho. Joshua is no fool. He takes time. He organizes. He instructs. He plots out the plan. He makes well certain that everything is in readiness for the conquest. The people grow impatient. He reminds them to be patient, that God has promised, and God is in no hurry, and the land will be delivered in God's time, in God's plan, to God's people, and nothing will change the word of God. Wisely, Joshua decides to send again some spies into the land, not to determine if it could be taken, for that was settled, but to decide the best way to take it. Two of them go. In the land, they are kept in the house of a woman named Rahab. Rahab hears of the impending death, for the triumphant news of what God has been doing in his people has shed havoc. And along throughout all of the people of Canaan, they fear for the onslaught of this mighty army, before whose onrushing power, the very earth trembles, and the waters split, and the mountains quake, and strong men tremble, because God is marching among his people. He knows that there is to be an awful and an awesome attack by the children of God. Sometimes God uses earthquakes. Sometimes God uses a catastrophe. Sometimes there is a flood. Sometimes there is an awful hurricane. But sometimes God uses men to whip other men. And in this case, God has chosen the Israelites to punish the enemies of the living God. Their hearts deep inside them, with fear for the approaching onslaught of God's people, coming from 400 years of frustration and captivity to the final conquest of the land of Canaan. There Rahab, hearing the news, brings them in and says, I'll make a deal with you. The king of the land knows that the spies are there, understands that the death is waiting at the very door. And they make an agreement that she will have her life spared if she will hide them. And so she hides them. And they agree that when the attack begins, she and her family alone will be spared beneath the onrush of the powerful army of God, as Canaan is at last castivated. The word comes. And the king of Canaan hears about it. He sets loose his forces and began to search from house to house to find the spies of the Canaanites, of the Israelite children. He lets them down a scarlet thread out of a back room. And that thread, that scarlet thread, that red thread, that crimson thread, it is agreed upon, will remain out that window as the attack begins. And the armies will be instructed that when the warriors attack, the house from whence they see the scarlet hang will be the one that is to be prepared. Again, a beautiful picture that when the death angel came in the book of Exodus. And when God sends his angel of judgment in the future, that only those beneath the scarlet symbol of the blood of Christ will be spared the judgment of God. Now they are back. Now they are safe. Now the city braces and they are ready for the first attack. The children of God are led by the Levites. They go bearing the ark of God and singing the songs of God to the conquest of the battle for which they have been eager through the centuries. They put their foot yonder in the Jordan River, the last barrier between them and the completion of the Exodus. Immediately God sends another miracle and in like manner, as did the Red Sea, it splits and again, not once, but twice do they walk across on dry land. God commands his men that from the middle of the river they would pick up twelve stones. One stone was selected by each tribe. One stone was representative of each tribe. On the other side, the waters again cover the riverbed. The twelve stones are erected as a living symbol and memorial to the evidence that God is the deliverer of the men of Joshua, the people of God. Now they are on the other side and it is of necessity that Jericho be conquered first. I want, if you can, to picture just a little bit of the tingling excitement that must have been in the air as they were ready after 470 years to conquest what had been promised to Abraham. They are charging. They are organized. They are orderly. The priest goes before. The water splits and they cross and the first man and the second cross and the third and the fourth and step their foot into the land of Canaan and the exodus has been completed for the exodus involved redemption out of something and redemption into something as we are saved out of hell and sin into heaven and salvation and eternal life. The armies are poised. They look. The waves are high. The waters chilly, but across the long for prize of the century, the palm of Canaan. I read it again and again this week and how fresh and real the words of that old song became to me. On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie. I am bound for the promised land. I am bound for the promised land. I am bound for the promised land. Hallelujah. And who will come and go with me? I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, I don't know if they were singing bound for the promised land, but I'll tell you they must have been singing in triumphant joy at the conquest now to be consummated yonder beyond Canaan. Jericho is seven miles east. The conquest was from the west to the east exactly the opposite as our forefathers moved in pioneer passion across this nation to the west. They moved to the east for there lies the country. Now chapters 1 through 12 tell us of the conquest of Canaan. Chapters 13 through 22 speak of the division of the people and the tribes as they settle the promised land. 23 and 24 speak of the last words of Joshua and then his death. Now there are a thousand things that I could say to you. I could talk to you about making of your very life a monument built as did they after the victory to the glory of God. I could speak to you of trusting God in provision as God led them to step into the sea. We could talk to you about the pillar of clouds of fire and the cloud that had led them by day and night of the joy of promise fulfilled. But Joshua was a warrior. Joshua was a fighter. Joshua was a great general. And I cannot bring this message to a conclusion without saying to you that the great lessons of the book of Joshua are to be to be learned in the manner of the conquest of the city. They were an awful, a tall, a barbarous, a clitorous, a fighting people, and the poor ragtag, bobtail army that had been organized and brought together of God's people that had not saved the Lord conquered them every one. But in so doing yonder as they split the country in half in a wedge with great military strategy severing the north from the south and making a flying wedge toward the Mediterranean Sea as they would split the country and divide and conquer great lessons were to be learned. And indeed they were. Let me suggest to you three brief battles in closing and make an allusion to an important application for us today. First of all, there was Jericho itself, seven miles to the east. It wasn't a path on either side of the path, but there was a large fortress. It was the pathway into the mountains and Jericho was critical. It must be captured or they could not make their way across the country. And so with great plan and preparation, it was announced that Jericho would be the first target seven miles into Canaan. God spoke to them. He led them. They had prayed and asked him for leadership and God gave the following instructions to them. He said, you will go first of all with your men bearing the Ark of the Covenant, yonder representing the very presence of Yahoo, Jehovah God, round and round the walls of Jericho. They were eight feet six and forty feet high and on top of them another wall seven feet six and thirty feet high. It was old, it was trapped, but it was strong and it was powerful. God said, you will march round and round the people following the Ark of God. Once a day, every day for six days. Each day, the priests are to blow the trumpet. And on the second day, the trumpet again will blow the second time, the third time, the fourth time, the fifth time, and the sixth time. Now on the seventh day, they were to march around not once, nor twice, nor thrice, but seven times would they go. Around and around they went. Each time, there was a long blast on the trumpet, followed by a short blast. The instructions of God to Moses were, to Joshua were, that on the seventh day, they would go around seven times. And on this day, they were to make a short blast, a long blast, followed by a shout from the people of God. Father of those who have surmised that the consistent trotting of the people had so weakened the things that the shout and the reverberation of the trumpet caused it to crash. I do not know about the acoustics of the Jericho wall, but I do know this. When they did what God said to do, business began to pick up. Joshua, you see, fit the battle of Jericho. Now fit is past tense for thought in Oklahoma. And that's what he did. Jericho, Jericho. I think you know it, don't you? Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. Sing it. Jericho, Jericho. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. And the walls come a -tumbling down. Sing it again. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. What? Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. And the walls come a -tumbling down. Well, you can talk about the men of Java or something or other. You can talk about the men of Saul. But there ain't nothing like good old Joshua. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. And the walls come a -tumbling down. Sing it again now. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. Jericho, Jericho. And the walls come a -tumbling down. When the ram's lamb's sheep horn began to blow. The children started walking about. Oh, Joshua commanded the children to throw it. And the walls came a -tumbling down. Sing Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. Jericho, Jericho. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. And the walls come a -tumbling down. Once again now. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. Jericho, Jericho. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. And the walls come a -tumbling down. Boy, that must have been a sight to see. And the walls split. And the heavens opened. And the power of God fell. And the enemies of God were destroyed. And God's people had won a victory. And there was, you see, a lesson to be learned. And what was it? That regardless of how ridiculous or impossible it might seem to get a bunch of priests, followed by about 3 million folks, walking around the walls, yelling and blowing their temper. There's a lesson for you, Brother Ray. Blowing their temper and shouting. The truth was that when God said, blow and shout, God knew something they didn't know. He was going to make it happen. And all they had to do was obey the Lord. And the victory was won. And they marched on to victory number two. In this battle, they learned the importance of absolute honesty. The message of obedience was first. The message of honesty was second. One of the most fierce group of men were the giants against whom they looked as grasshoppers that dwelled in the country of Achan. Yonder at Achan, they faced one of the more fierce battles that was involved in conquering the land of Canaan. There, God had told them that when the city was sacked, there were certain things that they could take and certain things they could not take. And the things that they could not take were not even to be touched. Now, when God's people went up against Jericho, they had victory. Again and again, after the minor scournesses, there was victory. But when they came to Achan, they charged three thousand of them into the giant city of Achan and were set to rise. I'm sorry, I was the city. A, I, pronounced I. And yonder in the battle of I, they were put to rise. Many were lost and they were defeated. Joshua went before the Lord. He began to pray and he began to seek the face of God. And God said, there's sin in the cast. You lost the battle because somebody disobeyed me. You were defeated because somebody was dishonest. And so, they began a tent by tent first and found that in the battle of I, one of their own men from the tribe of Judah named Achan had stolen an orange robe, some gold bars, and a few shekels of silver. He had hidden it in his tent. The man was exposed. He confessed his sins and with his entire family were slain. This time, God gave him the way to do it. And Joshua planned an assault on the city of Ai again. They knew that they were coming. And Joshua sent men, five thousand of them, under cover of knife to hide in an amber form just outside the gates of the city. Again, the three thousand charge the city. The men of Ai are waiting. Under the cover of darkness they have hidden. The sun rises in the morning. The men of God charge. The doors open. And out come the soldiers, the giants, the killers of the great city of Achan. They charge God's men. And God's men turn and run. And they take off in hot pursuit, going back as it were toward Jordan. But as soon as the soldiers are drawn out of the city, after the decoy of the three thousand, God's men rise up, five thousand of them, in ambush, hidden outside of the gates of the city, and swarm the city, and destroy and burn it to the ground. Seeing the flames, the pursuers come back after the men of God who have burned the city. Then the three thousand turn and chase them. And the men from the city that have burned it come back from the city to attack the men of Achan. They are caught, ah, they are caught in a wood and destroyed. And there they found victory, but only because there was absolute honesty in their lives. There was a third lesson and a last to be learned. They learned the lesson of obedience at Jericho. They learned the lesson of honesty at Achan. And they learned, yanders, against the five federation of kings under Hazar, the lesson of the omnipotence of God. That with God there are no worries. With God, man, no problems. God takes care of everything. They went up against a group of men, outnumbering them under the kings of Hazar, by five to one. They overrun the city, and the lesson of the scripture comes true again in their lives. That though God, if God is with me, who can be against me? And that with one, one will put a thousand to rout with the Lord. And two or as ten thousand, little is much when God is in it. They go from victory unto victory. They divide. They begin to settle by pride around the land that is claimed in the promised land. And I would like very much to say to you that the lesson of trusting the omnipotence of God when the odds are against us, the lesson of obedience, the lesson of honesty in the smallest things, were lessons that were well learned. They settled the land and lived happily ever after and dismiss you and go home. But I cannot. For the sad ending of the story is that ultimately they began to amalgamate and worship the idols of the heathens whose lands they had inhabited until they themselves were conquered by their enemies and led into bondage and slavery. And the reason is this. God had told them to clean out the whole land. God had told them to destroy every pocket of resistance to Jehovah. God would have none of the idolatry and immorality of the people of the world. God's people must be a pure people, a holy people, unspotted and unpainted from the world. But they would not do it. They became self -satisfied. They had won the big things, but they left little isolated pockets of resistance uncontrolled. And these little armies grew into big armies. They became very subtle. They wild themselves into the hearts and minds and desires of the people. They compromised with sin. And sin got a toll. And sin began to grow until like a cancer it had controlled them. And the people of God were controlled and destroyed and led into captivity because they left that microscopic little particle of unconfessed, unforgiven, uncompromising, a compromising sin in their hearts. And it was through the years that it happened. But eventually it got them. Ultimately it destroyed them because unconfessed, unforgiven sin was compromised and grew until it destroyed them. And the lessons, I think there are many. Obedience to God. Honesty before God. Faith in the omnipotence of God in any circumstance. And an uncompromising attitude towards sin. Their lessons are there. And they are mighty and powerful for us. The last phase of the story, when Joshua dies and exhorts the people to be true to God, in which they failed and we shall see the result of their failure and the preaching of the prophets and the confusion that came throughout all the centuries that remain in the New Testament. Were because they did not obey this exhortation of the man of God. Hear it. It was the first scripture that I learned after I was saved. And it's been one of the most important of my life. Now therefore, Joshua says, Fear the Lord. And serve Him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt. And serve ye the Lord. And I like this. He says, Get on or get off. Get with it or get out. Make up your mind. If it seemed evil, A thing undesirable to you to serve the Lord, Then choose you this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods your father served on the other side of the flood, Or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But he said, Boys, I'm going to tell you one thing. Do what you will. Serve as you shall. Choose as you may. But as for me and my house, We will serve God. I like that. I like a man that tells it like it is. And Moses, when he said, I have fought and lived and prayed and sent blood and died for you. But he said, You're going to have to make up your own man. You can serve God or serve self in sin. You can follow the lessons of obedience to God and conquer And do great things as a young man under God. Or you can go your own way. But he said,