Circling Jericho

1. Circling Jericho • Tearing Down the Walls

2. Crossing Our Jordan Recap • God’s Presence • Preparation through sanctification • Standing still in God’s Promise and obeying Him • Committing to walk faithfully in God (Passage) • Having a Posture of remembrance and readiness for battle

3. Circumcision of the Heart (Joshua 5:1-12) • The Step of Consecration (vv. 1-7) • 5 So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we[a] had crossed over, that their heart melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel. • 2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.[b] 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt. 5 For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. 6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of theLord—to whom the Lord swore that He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”[c] 7 Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

4. Circumcision of the Heart (Joshua 5:1-12) • Circumcision is an outward reminder of an inward work of faith; covenant with God • The Bible is clear that there are times when we must engage in spiritual surgery aka “circumcision of the heart” • “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer” (Deut. 10:16) • “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart...to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” (Deut. 30:6 ; vv. 1-6 are steps to restoration)

5. Circumcision of the Heart (Joshua 5:1-12) • In our case, a similar truth is at work: • 11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2).

6. Circumcision of the Heart (Joshua 5:1-12) • Dead to sin, Alive to Christ • What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?...5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6)

7. Circumcision of the Heart (Joshua 5:1-12) • The Step of Confirmation (v. 8) • So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. • Israel is temporarily disabled and rendered unable to fight during healing. • They were vulnerable to attack, but their faith was the secret to their success and to their safety. • God is more than able to sustain you through anything that He leads you into. • Look at Noah, firstborn of Israel, Daniel, Elijah, and Paul; God is still the same God He has ever been!

8. Circumcision of the Heart (Joshua 5:1-12) • The Step of Contemplation (v. 9) • Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal[d] to this day. • “Reproach of Egypt”: 1) men out of Egypt were not circumcised so not part of covenant; 2) the sins of people when they came out of Egypt • Now, God has “rolled away” the reproach at Gilgal (rolling) = their past was no longer an issue! • Many of God’s children are still living under the “reproach of Egypt” • shame, guilt, self-condemnation

9. Circumcision of the Heart (Joshua 5:1-12) • Let’s go back to Colossians 2: • 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. • Your past is no longer an issue. It has been forever “rolled” away, “wiped out,” removed and obliterated!(Can I get an HALLELUJAH?!)

10. Circumcision of the Heart (Joshua 5:1-12) • The Step of Celebration (vv. 10-12) • Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day.Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. • The Passover: Remember the deliverance of the Lord! • God had provided manna for the Israelites 6 days a week for 40 years. Now, His provision would take on a new form.

11. Circling Jericho (Joshua 5:13-6:27) • Joshua Meets the Lord (vv. 13-15) • And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so. • Leadership always comes with great responsibility; your decisions have ripple effects. • What’s with the one shoe in v. 15?

12. Circling Jericho (Joshua 5:13-6:27) • Jericho Marching Orders • Before moving deeper into the Promised Land, the walled city of Jericho first had to fall. • When facing Jericho, what do you choose to see? • 10 ...“You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.”

13. Circling Jericho (Joshua 5:13-6:27) • Tear Down the Walls: Power of Worship • On the seventh day only, they marched around seven times and the wall came down! (v. 20) • So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. • Human efforts will fail, but God’s plan will prevail. • Silence unbelief (words). Unbelief is belief in the wrong thing. • The walls in our lives stand between us and our receiving God’s best for our lives. Walls must come down! • Shame, guilt, and condemnation can chain us to our past. • Pride can make us believe that we do not need God or people (story of my life...until...)

14. An Achan Heart (Joshua 7) • Back in Joshua 6:18, Joshua commands everyone to “abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.” • Chapter 6 ends with the destruction of Jericho and Joshua’s fame spreading. Chapter 7 begins with a “BUT” so you know there’s a problem! • Joshua is confident that they can overpower Ai’s small army. However, because of Achan’s sin, Israel is struck down. When confidence is misplaced, we are destined to fail. • Achan: “I saw...I coveted...I took...I hid them.” Sin is man seeking to fulfill a legitimate need in an illegitimate manner.

15. An Achan Heart (Joshua 7) • 1 Peter 2: 9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.