Joshua 6 // 10 May 2026

Scott Wellard

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

It's good to have communion together, isn't it? It's good to be here with you guys this morning. We're up to chapter six of Joshua, and I want to just jump straight into telling you about the first victory and the first battle of the Promised Land. And so it's the story of Jericho, which we may know bits and pieces of, but let's try to just understand it for a minute. So the story of Jericho starts with Joshua at a distance on his own looking out over the great fortress and stronghold that was Jericho. Now, this was not the first time Joshua had seen Jericho. Thirty-eight years earlier, he was one of the scouts sent into the land to look at what was there. So here Jericho is aga here Joshua is again looking at Jericho. In that moment it says he saw a man with a sword. Joshua immediately asks, Are you for us or against us? And the man says, I am the commander of the Lord's army, which made Joshua immediately fall face down in reverence. And he asks, What message does the Lord have for me? And the the commander of the Lord's army said, Take off your sandals, because where you stand is holy, which echoes the words we heard to Moses and the burning bush. The message is that the Lord has delivered Jericho to the people of Israel. The battle will be won. And the instructions were given on exactly how to win that battle. Joshua was told you are to march daily, once, around the city of Jericho for six days, with the ark ahead of your soldiers, and seven priests with trumpets made out of horn. But on the seventh day, I want you to march around the city seven times. And then on the s at the end of the seventh time, when you hear the trumpets sound, have all the men shout. And when they shout, the walls of Jericho will fall, and your men will be able to go in and take the city. So Joshua goes back to the Israelites and he tells them what they have heard. He said, The Lord has given us Jericho, and these are the instructions. And then Joshua really clearly says to his people, But stay silent, no war cries, no shouts, no talking until I tell you to shout. And then on the seventh time around, on the seventh day, he told his people, Shout, because the Lord has given us the city. And as they shouted, the walls fell down, and they made their way in. And that's the story of Jericho, the first victory of the Promised Land. But what I find really polarizing about that story is this generation of Israelites that experience this victory and win this battle is incredibly different to the previous generation we talked about two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, when we started Joshua, we talked about the generation that was brought out of Egypt that were doomed to wander the wilderness because of their spiritual immaturity. And those markers we saw of their spiritual immaturity is they were driven by their flesh. They were easily defeated. They grumbled, quarreled, and complained, and they had a negative self-view. But what we see of this generation that conquers Jericho is a generation of maturity. And look at those signs of maturity we see in this battle. Firstly, they showed faith. They believed Joshua when he said the Lord has promised to give us this city. They believed in the promise. But it wasn't just faith, they showed obedience because they followed the Lord's instructions. But it's not just about obedience, it's about a uh patience. Because we can follow, but can we follow through? You see, it takes obedience to follow, but it takes patience to follow through, because they followed through on the exact instructions, in the exact timing, in the exact method they were asked. And then it also showed maturity in self-control because they stayed silent until it was time to shout. This new generation we see in the Promised Land is not the same as the generation we saw in the wilderness. But the story of God the story of Jericho is a reminder that God goes ahead of us and wins the victory for us. But I think if we're really going to understand chapter six of Joshua, if we're really going to understand the victory, then we need to understand the spiritual preparation that took part in chapter five. Because our preparation is key to our victory. Now, if we look at chapter 5, what's happened is the Israelites have just crossed into the promised land. It said that the Lord dried up the Jordan so the Israelites could come into the promised land. And so they're in the promised land. And what we read is the rulers of the other nation in the promised land had heard how God had dried up the Jordan to bring his Israelites into the promised land. And it said that their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites in battle. So if you're one of the Israelites right now, you're in the promised land, you're in your inheritance, and you've heard that the other nations now are scared to battle you, scared to fight you because they know the Lord is with you. So you're thinking, game on. We're ready. Let's take this land, it's ours. Let's fight, let's win, let's do it now. However, the Lord had other plans, plans of preparation. Let me read about that preparation. Joshua 5, 2 to 3 says, At the time the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites. So Joshua had the made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites. It's kind of not what you're expecting when you've crossed into the promised land and the victory is in front of you. But God wants you to fight like you have nothing to lose. Circumcision is something that was instituted in Genesis 17. It was a physical outward sign of the relationship that God had to his people. And this new generation were in their inheritance, but they didn't carry that sign. They hadn't renewed that relationship because in the wilderness this generation was not circumcised. So they needed to be circumcised before the battle. Now, circumcision for them was a reminder that they were set apart. They were a set apart holy nation. But what I like is if this is a topic of spiritual preparation, circumcision is a reminder that we're not going to enjoy every aspect of spiritual preparation. See, that one got a laugh. That was alright. I tell you what, I think the first the first joke I tried to make about nothing to lose kind of got skipped over because there was a few men on their phone googling flint knives and then doing this. Just saying, I saw you. But you know what? I know we're joking about this because it feels uncomfortable, but the Israelites had it easier. The physical sign of circumcision was a lot easier than what we're under now. Because in the relationship that we're under with Jesus, circumcision is no longer an outward physical sign. It's an internal act. We're meant to circumcise our heart. That's a lot harder. You see, to be set apart for Jesus, we're meant to cut away the things of flesh that get in the way of having a pure heart, that get in the way of the things that are spirit taking hold. So what we experience following Jesus is a circumcision of the heart, not the circumcision of other areas. And we're set apart, as we learn in a Sermon on the Mount, to be salt and light. You see, salt is pure and light shines. And that's what we're meant to be. We're meant to be pure and we're meant to shine that so we glorify God and draw people towards Him. We're meant to be the hope in the world. The thing is, as we learnt in the Sermon on the Mount, salt doesn't decay in its natural state. But it can be contaminated and corrupted by what we mix in. And that's really important because if we're going to be a people who are set apart with pure hearts, then we need to remember that what we mix in is going to contaminate and corrupt the purity. So the question to ask ourselves when we're talking about spiritual preparation is what in our life are we mixing in that's creating compromise? Now I know it's really easy to point to really big things and say we don't do these big things, but the honest truth that we struggle to manage and handle is every day we're making little compromises that we've written off, that we've explained away, that we've said are harmless, that we said aren't a problem, but those little compromises are actually contaminating and corrupting the purity of our hearts. So the first lesson of spiritual preparation is do we have the cuts to circumc the courage to circumcise that from our life? To take it away. Now what I want to do is I don't want to be misunderstood because we're not meant to have perfect hearts. We don't. I don't have a perfect heart. Nobody here has a perfect heart. We're not talking about perfection. We're talking about a pure heart. You know, if you're ever short of something to pray for, Psalm 51.10 is a fantastic prayer. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. You see, praying for a steadfast spirit when we're praying for a pure heart is not just praying for strength, it's praying for commitment and consistency. God wants our commitment to Him and Him only, and He wants consistency in that. Now let me make it clear. We're not talking about perfection. Because holiness cannot be perfection because you can't be holy, you're not holy, I'm not holy, only God is holy. So holiness can't be perfection, holiness needs to be intimacy and proximity to the one who is holy. So if we're praying for a pure heart, we're praying for a commitment to the one who is holy and an in a consistency in our intimacy. See, the key to your purity is the consistency of your intimacy. That's something we need to remember because it rhymes. Or is catchy. But the key to your purity is the consistency to your intimacy. That's really powerful to unpack and understand for a minute. And that's the first aspect of spiritual preparation. What are you willing to cut away? If you want to win, if you want to see him win the victories, what are you willing to cut away? What is in the way? What is compromising? What is contaminating? But the second lesson we learn about spiritual preparation in Joshua 5 was the Passover. They then celebrated the Passover. Now, you are not allowed to celebrate the Passover back then unless you're circumcised. So this whole generation had not yet celebrated the Passover. But now they're circumcised, they can celebrate the Passover, and the Passover was about remembering God's goodness. It was about remembering once they were slaves in Egypt who cried out for deliverance, and God not only delivered them, but he renewed their promise and made them his people again. It's about remembering that they were set free by the blood of the Lamb. And so for us, this we've done this morning, communion is our Passover in following Jesus. It's where we remember whose body was broken, whose blood was spilt. Spoiler alert, it wasn't your body and it wasn't your blood, because it's not about who you are and what you've done, it's about who he is and what he's done. It's about the name we belong to and the name we're under. I like to think of it as we sit under his oak tree of righteousness. So communion is our starting point when it comes to that preparation of Passover, but it's not the whole. Because it's important to remember who we belong to. It's important to remember the cost that was paid for us. But the second important part of remembering is building up a history of lived experiences with God. You see, we need to build up a history of lived experiences of God. We need to build up a history of encounters, we need to build up a history of answered prayers, we need to build up a history of divine presence and moments in those divine presence. You see, what we're doing is we're creating a personal record in our lives of God's faithfulness. And that builds our trust and faith in Him. And that's important because the truth is your faith is going to be shaken. Things are going to happen in life that's going to shake you to a core. But when we build up a tapestry of lived experiences, we're strengthening our belief so our faith can be shaken and not destroyed. This is really important. You see, this new generation of Israelites celebrated the Passover before Jericho because they had to remember the 12 plagues. They had to remember the parting at a Red Sea. They had to remember what happened in the wilderness. They needed to remember that the Jordan dried up. They needed to remember all that God had done before them. So when Joshua came back and said, God has given us Jericho and this is how He's going to do it, their faith was steadfast. So what are your lived experiences? Are you building up lived experiences with God? We got to be really honest about this. Because if our only God experience is this on a Sunday, our service, which I love, and God does incredible things. Last week was an example of that. But if this is our only lived experience, it's not enough to sustain you. If you want to build up your lived experiences to be able to sustain your faith when it's shaken, then you've got to take your faith outside of this building. You've got to take your faith outside of this building. You've got to go outside this building and you've got to share what you believe. You've got to share the gospel, you've got to share the good news, you've got to share what God has done in your life and the life of your family. But not just that, you've got to start praying for people. You've just not just the safe people, not just the people in this room who believe, you've got to start praying for the people in your life who don't believe. When someone at work is telling you what they're going through, guess what? You believe in Jesus. So your response should be, I'm going to pray for you. Even if you don't pray for them in that moment because they're not comfortable, get your phone out, write it down. So they say that you're not just saying it, they say you're committing to it. Because when you start standing in that gap of discomfort, but then you see God move, you are building lived experiences. And these lives experiences sustain you. And we've got to build them. I want this to sound okay. Hear it from the heart. We believed at the start of the year that God was calling this family, this whole family, this whole community, into ten nights of encounter. Because we felt that God through those nights is stirring up something in this whole community that's going to have an effect on that whole community. It's not just another thing to do. It's different than what we can do on a Sunday, and it's important, and we feel that we're being obedient to what God called us to do. We got to do better than a third of our congregation saying yes to that. Because a third of our congregation is not enough to change Dover. Dover shifts when we do something together. Now I know we have other commitments, I know we have work, but if you can make it, that's what's going to make the difference. Not just for yourself and those lived experiences you need to build, but for what God is trying to do with all of us together. So is that received alright? Can we hear that from the heart? That's not a telling off, but that's an encouragement that God's called us to do something together. Let's do it together. Because it's important, it's a part of our spiritual preparation. But the final act of spiritual preparation was at the end of chapter 5, it says that the manna stopped. After the Passover, they started to sow and reap again. So for 40 years in the wilderness, God provided food for them daily called manna from heaven. But now this generation, raised up, ready to take the promised land, knows how to sow and reap again. Now this is so important because when we first become a Christian, it's okay that we are preparing our meal. It's okay that as we're beginning to understand what we believe, others are helping us understand and learn the basics. But at a certain point we've got to get to a maturity where we can go to the pantry and prepare our own meal. Because we need to be people who can sow and weep. And when I say sow and weep in this instance, I'm talking about being able to sow the word of God in our life so we can weep the transformation. Because the Bible says what we sow, we reap. It's not what others sow for us, it's what you sow, you reap. So at the beginning, others help, but as we mature, we learn to be people who can sow and reap the word of God in our lives. And so that's the spiritual preparation of chapter five that comes before the spiritual victory. They cut away the things in their life that got in the way. They remembered who they belonged to and all the experiences they had with him. So when they heard the promise of God, they had the lived experience he's come through before, he's gonna come through now, and they learnt to sow and reap again. The challenge for today is to prioritize spiritual preparation over immediate action. It's hard. As we saw from the first part of spiritual preparation, not all spiritual preparation is enjoyable. But I just want to finish by looking at a different part of this story for a moment. I'll ask the band to come up because I I want to finish here, and having them behind me will help me stay on track. Peter, could I have some keys? Thanks. So to finish, I want to go back to the part of the story where Joshua encounters the commander of the Lord's army. He encounters that holy presence. And it says, Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy. And this echoes the moment when Moses was in front of a burning bush and he took off his sandals because the place he was standing was holy ground. And I just want to understand that for a moment as we finish. It's holy ground because of that divine presence. It's the divine that makes it holy. We understand that? And so the response is interesting because it says that Joshua and Moses fall down. And that's an act of reverence and humility because of the presence that they're in. But in Moses' case, it says he hid his face because he knew who he stood before, and he knew his own shortcomings, his own sinfulness, his own unworthiness. But then it also says they take off their sandals, which is another act of reverence, because that was what was done in sacred spaces in that time. In the temple, the tabernacle. So ask yourself for a minute, if you're in that situation, is that how you'd respond? Would you fall face down? Would you take off your sandals? Do we believe that's how we'd respond? See, I think honestly and openly, most of us are either saying yes or wanting to say yes. Wanting to believe in that situation, in that divine presence on holy ground, that's how I'd respond. The challenge is something shifted from the Old Testament to post-resurrection. You see, when Jesus beat the power of sin and death on the cross and rose again, Jesus teaches us, and the New Testament writers teach us that our body has become the temple of the Holy Spirit. That the gift after the resurrection was the Holy Spirit of God dwells within the believers as they're set apart to be salt and light. So as you choose through faith and repentance to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, it says that the Spirit of God dwells within you, that you are now the temple. This isn't the temple. You are the temple, you carry the Spirit of God, which means wherever you are, you contain the presence of God, which means if you are in the will of God, wherever you are, you are standing on holy ground. So we all said we wanted to respond in a certain way. The reality is we're supposed to live a response in that way every day. Because wherever we go is holy ground. You see, once you're set apart for Jesus, don't fool yourself. There's no more separation in your life between secular and sacred. There's no more common and consecrated. If you're in Jesus, you're in Jesus. Wherever you go, the Spirit of God dwells within you. Wherever you got, you are on holy ground. So what you do in public, you're doing in the presence of the Lord. What you do in private, you're doing in the presence of the Lord. God isn't limited to the self that you present on a Sunday, and He's not limited to the information you give in prayer. What you think is secret is not secret. God is there. He dwells within you, he knows every inch of your being. So we gotta stop fooling ourselves in believing that this spiritual part of our life can be comp can you know separated. The spiritual part of your life is not meant to be separated from the rest of your life. The reality is you are meant to be separated, to be salt pure, and light that shines. So I think this morning it's really important that we understand that in how we stand now and approach worship. Because we stand on holy ground. Not because we're in this building, not because certain people are here. Because if you've made a decision to follow Jesus, you carry the presence of the Lord within you. So why don't we stand? I think we should worship now on holy ground in spirit and truth. And I want you to respond to the Spirit however the Spirit's asking you to respond. If you need to take off your sandals, do that, but just be mindful of your neighbors. But I also think we're in a season where God's calling us to bend and he might actually bring you down to your knees. And if he's asking that of you, don't think about anyone else, don't worry about anyone else who's doing it, just be obedient. Because our purity comes from the consistency of our intimacy. So let's want him more than anything else. So I'm gonna let these guys lead us in worship. Let's worship in spirit and truth because we stand on holy ground.