Delivered, Devoted, Destroyed

Well, we saw last week that the walls of Jericho came down. The children of Israel walked around the walls thirteen times. Over a seven-day period, they went around the walls once each day and then returned to the camp. On the seventh day, they went around the walls seven times.

As I considered this portion of Scripture, I thought about the significance of walking around the walls thirteen times. I wondered, Lord, why thirteen times? What’s the purpose? The Lord began to put on my heart that He needed to bring every single person in the camp of Israel to the realization that they could not do this on their own. As they marched around those walls and saw how high and thick they were, and perhaps the army atop the walls, they began to understand that this was not something they could overcome by their own strength.

I believe that the Lord allows us to walk around various trials in our lives repeatedly. We often frustrate ourselves trying to handle things on our own, thinking, Lord, I can do this. I know I can. Yet, at the end of the day, we return to the camp and wonder how this will happen. When we finally come to the end of ourselves, when we reach that place where we can lay it down and realize that there is absolutely nothing we can do, we see that our army is not big enough, our shields are not strong enough, and we don’t have enough swords. What are we going to do?

But we saw last week that the Lord was with His people. The children of Israel had the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord in their midst as they went around the walls. Each day, they began to see a little more that they could not do this on their own, but they understood that God had told them to do this, and they would obey. The Lord would bring about the victory.

After the thirteenth time, the priests sounded the trumpets. The seven priests who had the seven ram's horns blew the trumpets. Joshua told the children of Israel to shout, and they did shout. As we saw last week, the walls came down.

However, it doesn’t end there. In Joshua chapter 6, verse 17, Joshua told the children of Israel, "And the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are therein. To the Lord, only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent."

And so it's possible, it's most likely, that Joshua spoke this to the children of Israel before they began walking around. He told them that when they shout, they need to understand that the Lord is going to bring the walls down. However, everything in this city is to be accursed. A better word for that might be "banned." They were not to touch it. It could also be translated as "devoted." You see, everything in this city is to be devoted unto the Lord, as God said. It is all to be given over to Him. They were not to take it for themselves. It is accursed. The things that God has devoted to Himself are not for us to touch, nor for the world to touch.

Joshua told the children of Israel that the entire city is to be accursed, even all that is therein, unto the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her. The only thing that is to live in this city, the only thing that is not to be accursed, banned, and devoted unto the Lord, is Rahab and all that are with her. Why? Because it says there at the end of verse 17 that she hid the messengers that we sent. Rahab had a faith that worked. She had a faith that was tested and made true. She had a faith that you could say was real.

Rahab was a Gentile; she didn't know the Lord. In fact, she lived in the city of Jericho, where they served the God of sin, the moon god, and all sorts of different Canaanite gods. They would bow down to Molech and Baal, worshiping these foolish things. Yet, in the midst of this, Rahab began to understand that there is one true God. When she heard the stories of the children of Israel crossing over the Red Sea and all that had taken place in Egypt, she began to wonder how it was possible that these people crossed over on dry ground.

Then, when she heard the stories about how they were in the wilderness, how the Lord fed them, gave them water, and got rid of their enemies, Og and Sihon, there in the wilderness, the Amorite peoples, she began to think that something was different about these people. They had a God in their midst who obviously fought for them. When she heard the report that they were just across the river, right there on the edge of the land, she could see them afar off. Her heart, as well as the hearts of all the people, was shaken. The Bible says that their hearts melted within them because of the children of Israel. They were fearful and afraid.

Then one night, a couple of men, strangers, came into the land. They entered the city of Jericho.

She took them in, as we looked at in Joshua chapter 2. She hid them in her house. The king of the city caught word that the Israelites had come in, that these spies had arrived. He sent people to her house and asked, "Where are these two spies?" She replied, "Well, they came in, but they've left already, and you shut the gate." In reality, she had hidden them.

After the king and his advisors left, she went back up onto the rooftop where she had concealed them and began to speak with them. She said, "I know that your God is the God of heaven above and earth beneath, and we're scared to death because of Him." She asked these men to save her. They told her, "If you stay inside your house and don't tell anybody about what's going on here, then we'll save you. When we come, only tie this red cord, or this scarlet thread, in your window so that we know this is the house that is covered with that scarlet thread."

Remember back in the book of Exodus, when the children of Israel had their exodus and left Egypt? They were to put the blood of that yearling, that firstborn lamb, upon the doorposts of their houses and the lintels, and that blood was a covering. In the same sense, that scarlet thread she tied in the window was a covering for her house. The two spies told her that if anybody was to be saved, they needed to come into her house. If they stayed inside, they would be okay, but if they left, their blood would be upon their own heads.

The same is true for you and me. We need to abide and stay close to Christ, not go out into the world and engage in wickedness. We need to stay close because that's where safety lies. If the sheep leaves the shepherd, he is no longer safe. If we walk away, we become prey for the enemy. He will come and sift us like wheat. We must stay close to the Lord.

Rahab remained in the house during the time the children of Israel crossed over. She continued to stay there for all seven days while they walked around the city. She and her family stayed inside while the whole of Israel shouted, and the walls fell down. Some people think she lived in the wall, that her house was inside the wall. How is it that the walls fell down?

And she was okay? Well, that portion of the wall stayed up. It's quite obvious to me; I don't see any conflict there. She was the only one who was to live—her and her family and those who were with her. Why? Because she had faith that worked.

If she believed that God, the God of the children of Israel, was the true God, and yet she went outside of her house, would she have been saved? No. The Bible says that your blood will be upon your own head. She had faith that worked, which said, "I'm going to trust and I'm going to obey. I'm going to do what these people have told me to do." Even though it sounds kind of awkward that she was to stay inside, wouldn't you think it would be better for them just to run to the hills? No. Stay where you're at. Stay put. Don't leave. Stay under that covering. And so she did. Her faith was proved.

The Bible tells us in James chapter 2. In fact, turn there in your Bibles to James chapter 2 in the New Testament, verse 25, right after the book of Hebrews. We read there in James chapter 2, verse 25: "Likewise also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

Now, this is a real contested scripture. There have been many who have said, "Well, that's not right. We know that we're not saved by works." Absolutely. The book of Ephesians chapter 2 tells us that we're saved by grace through faith, that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

But verse 10 goes on to say, Paul said, "For we are His workmanship, created for good works, that God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." God had ordained and prepared beforehand that Rahab would do this good work of hiding these two spies and not revealing their secret, and that she would stay inside of this house with all of her family. God had foreordained that she would do that, and she did. Because she followed in those good works, she proved that she trusted in the Lord.

The word of the Lord was to stay in that house, and she did. She followed what the Lord had said. But had she not followed...

She would not have been saved. If we don't follow the word of the Lord, cast ourselves upon Him, and trust in Him, we must accept His grace by faith. We should say, "Lord, I'm going to lay hold of that which You desire for me." If we don't do this, then we haven't taken hold of the gift that He has given to us, and it is not really ours. But Rahab did, and because of that, she was saved.

I think it's good, if you would, to underline that word "because" in your Bibles, specifically in verse 17. We know that she was saved because she followed the words of the Lord obediently. In verse 18, it says, "And you in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed things." Joshua tells the children of Israel that this city is accursed and devoted to the Lord. They are not to touch it; only Rahab and her family are to be saved. They are the only ones to be spared.

Joshua warns them, by whatever means possible, not to touch the accursed things. They should not lay hold of those things, lest they make themselves accursed when they take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse, troubling it. Joshua emphasizes that whatever they do, they must not touch these accursed things in this place. If they do, they will make themselves accursed, and in turn, they will curse the nation of Israel and trouble it.

The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 12, verse 9, that we are to abhor evil things and cling to that which is good. As believers, we are to abhor the evil things in this world and cling to that which is good, not lay hold of the accursed things. In Ephesians chapter 5, verse 11, we are told to have no fellowship with darkness, avoiding the dark things of this world. Then in 1 John chapter 5, verse 21, we read to keep ourselves from idols.

These are the things we are called to do as believers. We must stay away from that stuff, just like the children of Israel were called to do when they entered the area of Jericho. We should not lay hold of the accursed things or keep ourselves from the idols that these people worship. We must not go into that darkness, for what fellowship has light with darkness, and what fellowship has Christ with Belial? We are to keep ourselves.

Abhor the evil things and turn to that which is good. This isn't just an Old Testament principle; it is throughout Scripture that you and I are to lay hold of that light which is in Christ and not go after the wickedness of this world. If you do, it will cause you to be accursed. It will cause you to be unclean, and you'll make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it.

In verse 19, it says all the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and iron are to be consecrated unto the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. All the goods in the area of Jericho are to be consecrated or separated unto God. As believers in Christ, we are consecrated unto God as well. We've been set apart for His purposes.

If you look in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, turn in your Bibles there. In 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, Paul says, "Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not of your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

As believers, we are God's goods, and we are to be devoted and consecrated to Him. We are not our own; we've been bought with a price. The Lord purchased us, and it cost Him everything when He gave His life upon the cross. Therefore, we are to glorify the Lord God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are God's property. They have been consecrated unto Him.

If we give ourselves to the things of this world, we make those things accursed. We have been consecrated and set apart for God. Those things shall come into the treasury of the Lord, as mentioned back in Joshua chapter 6. You and I are to be a part of God's treasury. He treasures us and desires so much that we would not be tarnished by the things of the world, but that we would be set apart.

In verse 20, the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpet. It came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet.

The people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him. The city was to be accursed; it was to be set apart, consecrated to God. The children of Israel weren't to take of it. They were to take the goods, the gold, and the silver, and stash it in God's treasury. All that was wicked and abhorred was to be burned and destroyed, except for Rahab and her family and all that she had. They were to be delivered.

This passage of Scripture divides nicely into three things: Rahab was to be delivered, the goods were to be devoted unto the Lord, and the city was to be destroyed. The same is true for you and me. When we are delivered, when the walls of our lives are broken down, we too need to be devoted. We should take all that is good and devote it unto the Lord. It may be dirty, but the Lord desires to purify it. We give it all to Him and say, "Lord, I devote myself to You." All that is gross, wicked, and dark is to be destroyed. We lay it upon His altar and say, "Lord, I no longer want it. I give it to You." He takes it, burns it, and it becomes sweet-smelling incense unto the Lord as that gross wickedness is taken off of us.

The children of Israel were to deliver Rahab, devote the goods of the city to the Lord, and destroy all that was wicked. They weren't to touch it; the city was to be accursed. They shouted, the trumpets blew, and the walls came down. They fell down flat, as it says in verse 20. The people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

You may wonder in your life, "What am I to do?" You've seen the walls fall down in your life; you've been delivered, but what are you supposed to do now? Well, what is before you? Notice there in verse 20 that the children of Israel went straight before them. They didn't run around wondering what to do. No, they were instructed to go straight ahead, whatever was in front of them.

If you've been delivered tonight and the Lord has cast down the walls that you were in bondage to, what are you to do now? You're to go straight forward. What's right in front of you? You might say, "Well, there's this little portion of my life devoted unto the Lord." Or perhaps, "There's this dark area of my life delivered unto Him so that He can destroy it." What is right in front of you tonight? Don't try to figure out.

What's going to be ten years down the road? Are you going to be a preacher somewhere, or are you going to be a missionary somewhere? What is right before you tonight? If it's something good, then offer it to the Lord. Devote it to Him and say, "Lord, You take it." But if it's something wicked, then cast it down and say, "Lord, You destroy it." If He has delivered you, that's what we're called to do.

In the book of Judges, turn there to Judges chapter 11. We see this also pictured in the life of a man by the name of Jephthah. Jephthah is just an awesome man in Scripture, and the thing that he did blows my mind every time I read it. Judges chapter 11, verse 30 says, "And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord." He said, "If Thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be that whatsoever comes to me from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up to You as a burnt offering."

So Jephthah says, "Lord, I'm going out to fight against the children of Ammon. If You deliver them into my hands, then whatever comes to me when I come back to my house in peace, that I will offer to You as a burnt offering." In verse 32, Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. He smote them from Aror even till thou come to Mennoneth, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards with a very great slaughter. Thus, the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Jephthah came to Mizpah unto his house, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances. She was his only child; beside her, he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he rent his clothes and said, "Alas, my daughter, thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that troubles me, for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back on it." He said, "I've made a vow unto the Lord, and I cannot turn back. What was his vow? He said, 'Whatever comes to me, whatever is right before me after You deliver me, Lord, that I'm going to deliver into Your hands as a burnt offering. I'm going to devote it to You.'" And what did he see? He saw his daughter.

And she came out to him and said unto him, "My father, if you have opened your mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth." As you read the story and go on, you find out that this is exactly what Jephthah did. He offered his only daughter as a sacrifice to the Lord. That thing that was right in front of him, before him, he devoted it to God. I can't imagine how difficult that would be to do.

In fact, there are some who think, "How could he do that? That's a foolish thing to do. A foolish vow that he made. How could he go through with that?" God doesn't delight in the offerings of human sacrifice. We start to wonder, "What is up with this guy, Jephthah? How would he do that? Why would he do that?"

Well, the Bible in Psalm 15, verse 4 tells us that the Lord delights in a person who will vow to his own hurt and not change. Jephthah was a man who vowed to his own hurt. He said, "Lord, if you deliver me, then I will do it. I will give you whatever is right before me, even if it's painful." This man, Jephthah, is numbered in Hebrews 11, verse 32, as being in the hall of faith. Why? Because he was a faithful man to God and he delivered to God whatever was right in front of him.

If the Lord has delivered you tonight, then whatever is right in front of you, God says, "Deliver it into my hands," even if it's painful. Even if it's a friendship that you've held onto for a long time and you don't want to deliver it into the Lord's hands, He says, "Give it to me." If it's a good thing, God will purify it and He'll give it back to you. But if it's bad, He'll destroy it. If you hold onto it, it'll destroy you. It will make you a curse and cause the family of God to be a curse as well. It will bring the rest of the family down.

You might think, "But this is a hidden sin. No one else sees it. No one else has to know about that." But that's not true. As Josh talked about last week, a little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump. If there's just a little bit of sin in our body, it will cause the whole body to be deficient. Just like if you hurt your little toe—has anybody ever hurt their little toe before? It throws everything else out of whack. Your whole body focuses on that little throbbing toe. After a while, as you walk a little differently, your ankle starts to hurt. Then you walk a little differently to compensate for your hurt ankle.

And then your knee starts to hurt, and then your hip. Then it throws your back out, and you're spending $50 a week to go to a chiropractor. You see a little bit of sin; it leavens the whole lump. That little thing that you grab a hold of may just seem like, oh, it's not that big of a deal.

Next week, we're going to look at a man who does. Some of you tonight are just like him. His name was Achan. I wonder, is there anybody here tonight aching from sin? You've got just a little sliver that you've held on to. You haven't let it go. The Lord has delivered you. The walls have fallen. The Lord would say, now that I've delivered you, devote it into my hands, and I will either destroy it or I'll purify it and give it back.

I think of Matt Dotson, our old worship leader. He came to a point in his life years ago where he really loved music, and he finally said, "All right, Lord, I'm going to give it up to you completely. You can have it." He devoted it into the hands of the Lord, and it wasn't too long after that that Pat asked him to come on and be the worship leader here.

See, the Lord takes it and purifies it, and then He's able to use it in your life. But if it's wrong, if it's sin, and if it's against Him, then He'll take it and destroy it, and you'll never miss it, I promise you. In fact, I've never met a believer before, and I don't think you will ever meet a believer either, who will say, "I wish I would have sinned more before I came to the Lord." I wish I would have had a few more drinking binges, gone out on the town, gotten drunk, and come home to bow down to the porcelain God. I wish I would have done that three or four more times. I've never met anybody who says that, and never will.

Because when we give those things over to the Lord and He takes them and destroys them, it's always a good thing. Things devoted into His hands are good. Some of you tonight are sitting in this room, and you haven't been delivered. There may be a sin that so easily ensnares you. As Paul prayed in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, "Lord, remove this thorn from my flesh." Some of you are in that place tonight, and you wonder, am I ever going to be delivered from this? Is it ever going to be taken away? Will it ever fall down?

Well, we have hope. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4. You see, as I was reading this passage of Scripture today in verse 20, it says there that they shouted, that the trumpets sounded, and they shouted.

We look forward to another trumpet that is going to sound and a shout that is going to come. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 16, we wonder, "Am I ever going to be delivered?" The Lord says here in verse 16, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."

There is another trumpet and another shout that is going to take place, and we look forward to this day. When that day comes, and the trumpet sounds and the shout comes, this flesh will be put away. That thorn that you carry, that you wonder, "Lord, will you ever deliver me from this?" will be gone. But until that day comes, devote yourself to the Lord and destroy whatever it is that is wrong. We wait for that shout and that trumpet to sound.

Just as with the children of Israel before Jericho, the trumpet sounded, and the people shouted, and they were delivered. You and I wait for that sound of the trumpet and the shout, and we too will be delivered. Isn't that such a comfort? Just as Paul said in the very last verse there, verse 18, "Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." What a comfort it is to know that that day is coming. That day when we will hear the trumpet sound and the shout will come, and we will be gone. We will forever be with Him.

This corruption shall put on incorruption, as the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and this mortality will put on immortality. What a wonderful day that will be! Behold, Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 51, "I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. So we tonight need to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Lord, what is it that You would have me to deliver into Your hands, to devote into Your hands tonight? What is it that You would have me to cast upon the altar to be destroyed? You've delivered me from sin, from death. I no longer am in bondage in Jericho. Lord, what would You have me to do? And He would say to you and He would say to me, what is right in front of you? What is it that stands before you tonight? Is it pure gold, a heart of worship, desiring just to cast yourself before the Lord? Well, then give it to Him, and He'll purify it.

But as you look at yourself tonight, as you consider your own heart, you see there's something dark, something there that you've been carrying along for a period of time. Then cast it upon Him and let Him destroy it. Because if you hold on to that accursed thing, it'll make you feel like you're dead. It'll make you feel like you're cursed. Don't hold on to it. Lay it down.

Back in Joshua chapter 7, verse 21, it says, "And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and ass, with the edge of the sword." They utterly destroyed it all—everything that was before them with the edge of the sword. Underline that in your Bibles: with the edge of the sword. You wonder, but how do I get rid of this? Again, it's the word of God. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, that the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. It's able to cut deep into our hearts. It's a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.

Maybe you've just been holding on to something and you say, "But I don't know how to cast it over to Him." Get in the word. Tomorrow morning, wake up ten minutes before you normally do and read a portion of Scripture. Start in the Proverbs. Begin to read, "Lord, what would You have me to do?" The Proverbs is filled with wisdom, practical wisdom that you can do. As you begin to read through the word, it will purify; it will cleanse you. Remember Ephesians chapter 5 tells us that we are to be washed with the water of the word. As newborn babes in 1 Peter chapter 2, we are to desire the pure milk of the word.

As we looked at several weeks ago, Eglon—remember he was a very fat man there.

In Judges chapter 3, I believe it was, they kept feeding him and feeding him. He just got bigger and bigger. Maybe you've been feeding your flesh, but remember there was one man, Ehud, who fashioned for himself a two-edged sword, a dagger, and he plunged it deep. It says the sword went in and the dirt came out. The Word of God went in there, and they utterly destroyed everything that was there with the edge of the sword.

But Joshua said unto the two men that had spied out the country, "Go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all that she has, as you swore unto her." The young men who were the spies went in, and they brought out Rahab and her father, her mother, her brethren, and all that she had. They brought out all her kindred and left them outside of the camp of Israel.

These two spies went into the house of Rahab the harlot. Remember, they had told her that if anybody was to live, her family needed to be brought into her household. That took a big step of faith on the part of Rahab to go out into her community, to go into her family's home, and say, "This city is going to be destroyed. You need to come into my house if you're going to be safe."

Maybe some of you, as we've been talking about the Billy Graham crusade for the last several weeks, think, "Well, I just don't know if I can go out there and tell other people." But that's what Rahab did. Notice all those who were saved: her father, her mother, her brothers, and all her kindred—her whole family. She went out into the city of Jericho and said, "You need to come with me."

That's exactly what you need to do as well because you have family and friends, and I have family and friends who don't know the Lord. We were at this Christian Life and Witness class on Thursday night, and they gave out those little cards for the friend-to-friend initiative. I was going through it, trying to write down people's names, and I thought, "Man, I don't really know a lot of unsaved people." But as I started to sit down and think about it, it began to come to mind—oh, wow, this person and that person and this person.

If you knew tomorrow that everything was over, that the trumpet would sound and the shout would come, and we'd be out of here, who would you call? Who would you call? What would you tell them? Maybe you've heard it before: Why are you waiting? What are you waiting for? If you're sitting here tonight...

And you think, well, if I knew we were going to be with the Lord tomorrow and then the tribulation was going to start right then and there, why would I wait until tomorrow to call those people? I encourage you, if there are family and friends you know who don't know the Lord, tell them that Billy Graham is having a crusade. You need to come with me. I don't care if you say no; I'm going to drag you. I assure you that if Rahab's family had said, "Well, I just don't know about that," she would probably have been dragging them into her house. You have to come with me.

We will have some buses here on Friday night and Saturday night for the Billy Graham crusade. We won't have Saturday night service that night, I don't think, because we want to make every opportunity available for you to bring those unsaved friends. Those buses aren't just for all of us; we could fill those buses easily and just go down there. Yes, we're going to a concert, but that's not what it's for. It's so that we can bring those who don't know the Lord with us. Go out there. Find those unsaved people; they're all around you. Say, "You need to come with me." That's exactly what Rahab did. Her father, her mother, her brothers, and all her kindred were all saved.

The two spies went in, brought them out, and put them outside of the camp. The reason they put them outside of the camp is found in both Leviticus and Deuteronomy. These people were Gentiles, and they were to stay outside of the camp of Israel because, until they had been purified, they were accursed. Until the men had submitted themselves to circumcision and become part of the people of Israel, they were accursed.

Later, we find out that this lady Rahab went on to marry a man named Salmon. If you look in Matthew chapter 1 and read the entire genealogy, I know many of you in this room might think, "I don't want to read that genealogy; it's too long and has weird names." But if you read it, you find out that Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab. You see, this Gentile harlot was looked upon by God, who loved her and brought her in so much so that she is in the lineage of Jesus. She is the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother of Jesus. And we've been brought into the family of God as well. We were wicked, perverse Gentiles.

I praise the Lord that, first of all, First Corinthians says, "And such were some of you, but you've been washed." We've been washed. We've been made clean.

She went outside of the camp for a period of time to be purified, to be made clean. Then she married a man by the name of Salmon. There is a lot of rabbinical tradition that says one of the spies was Salmon. He went in to spy out the land and ended up marrying this lady who brought them in. You can look into that on your own. Search the internet; you'll find all kinds of interesting stuff about Rahab and Salmon.

They went in and brought them out. In verse 24, it says, "And they burnt the city with fire and all that was therein; only the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord." Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive. Jesus, our Joshua, has saved us alive. We were wicked, but He saved us. He's brought us in, along with her father's household and all that she had. She dwells in Israel even unto this day because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Tonight, if you have hidden the message, the gospel, in your heart, then Joshua too has saved you. Jesus has saved you and me because we took hold of the gospel, the message, and the messenger, Jesus, the Son of God. We've been made alive by Him.

Joshua adjured them, or he charged them. In verse 26, at that time, he said, "Cursed be any man before the Lord that rises up and builds this city, Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and his youngest shall he set up the gates of it." Joshua makes this prophecy and says, "Cursed be the man who builds this city back up." If anybody comes along and tries to rebuild the city of Jericho, you know what? About 500 years later, under King Ahab, one of the most wicked kings in Israel, in 1 Kings chapter 16, verse 34, it says, "In his days, Hiel, the Bethlite, built Jericho, and he laid the foundation thereof in Iberam, his first son. He set up the gates thereof in his youngest son, Sugub, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by Joshua, the son of Nun." Most believe, most commentators and most Bible thinkers...

I believe that this guy who built this city, when it says that he laid the foundation in his first son, means that his first son died at that point in time. His second son died when he put up the gates. There was a curse put upon this place called Jericho, and it came to pass 500 years later under the wicked king Ahab.

The Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was noised throughout all the country. In the fame of our Lord, the fame of our Jesus will be noised throughout all the country and throughout all of your households as your family members begin to see you delivered. They will begin to see the walls of your life fall down. They will see you devote yourself unto the Lord and destroy all the wicked things that you've carried along with the world. It will be noised throughout your whole family. People will begin to say, "What's up with that guy? Why is it that he's always smiling?"

I was joking with Josh the other day about all this stuff on CNN, and they said we had a target of opportunity. I mentioned that a person who asks, "Why is it that you always have joy?" is a target of opportunity. Make sure you take it. We have been given targets of opportunity constantly because people see in our lives that the walls have come down. When they see it and recognize it, we need to be able to tell them of the hope that we have within.

In 1 Peter 3, verse 15, it says, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to him that asks of the hope that is within you with meekness and fear." Are we ready to give a defense? When someone comes along and asks, "Why is it that you're this?" or "Why is it that I've seen you not do this anymore? Why don't you drink anymore? Why don't you do this anymore?" When people begin to see that, have we sanctified the Lord God in our hearts? Have we set Him apart? Have we devoted ourselves to Him and destroyed all the wicked things that we've been carrying around for a long time? Are we ready to give a defense in meekness and in fear?

And don't get me wrong; when I say destroy all those wicked things, you can't destroy that stuff. But when you lay yourself upon the fire of God, the altar of God, as Romans chapter 12 tells us to do, His fire burns away all those wicked things. We sing that song, "Lord, empty me and fill me with all of You. Holy fire, burn away." When we sing that song, we're saying, "Lord, I'm placing myself on Your altar. Lord, I'm laying myself down."

As a living sacrifice, would you get rid of all that wicked stuff tonight? I'm going to ask everybody here tonight to bow your heads and close your eyes. If you are in a place where you know the Lord has delivered you, but you've just been holding on to the accursed things and you need to lay them down, I don't want you to stand up or raise your hand. But if you're in that place tonight, then I want you to take a knee and kneel down where you're at. I'm not going to open my eyes; I'm going to kind of watch. The Lord sees.

The Bible says that if you humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, He will lift you up. Tonight, if you've been holding on to something, then kneel down right where you are. I know it may be hard, but you know that you need to do this. Some of you tonight just want to devote yourselves completely to the Lord and say, "Lord, take all of this that is mine. Take all of this that is of me." Whatever is before you tonight, those who want to devote yourselves to the Lord and those who want to destroy that wicked flesh, take a knee where you're at. Let's ask the Lord to cleanse us.

Lord, I do pray as you see the hearts of the people in this place, as you see my heart, that I just want to be humbled before you. I thank you so much that you've made the way available for us to be delivered. But Lord, even after we're delivered, sometimes we take up the accursed things. Tonight, we lay those down on your altar. We come to the altar so that we can be altered, that we can be changed.

I praise you, Lord, that your Word says we're waiting for that day when the shout will come, the trumpet will sound, and we will all be changed. We will not look like this anymore; we will not have this wicked flesh to battle with. But tonight, Lord, we do, and some of us need to lay it down. We lay it upon your altar and say, "Lord, burn it away." For those of you tonight who are devoting yourselves, say, "Lord, I just want to be yielded and devoted to you." Know that His holy fire comes and begins to purify because gold and silver can only be purified by fire.

So, Lord, we pray that you would just burn it away. All the dross, purify us, and use us for your glory, that we can proclaim your glory throughout the whole world. God, I thank you, Lord, for this portion of Scripture that we've been delivered.

And now we devote ourselves to You. Lord, destroy anything that's not of You, but is of us. We ask this in Jesus' name.