The Two Voices of Jericho — Teresa Conlon

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, P .O. Box 260, Lindell, Texas 75771, or calling 903 -963 -8626.

You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply.

The Two Voices at Jericho and the Call to Joshua

This afternoon, I'd like to speak on a topic called The Two Voices at Jericho. The Two Voices at Jericho. And if you would turn with me to Joshua Chapter 1, the first book. The first chapter in the book of Joshua, Joshua Chapter 1.

I'm glad that we're studying the book of Joshua in Bible School because I really feel it's a very timely book for right now in the life of this church and in our lives. Joshua Chapter 1. I'm going to pray.

Father, I come to you in Jesus' name. Lord, I ask that you have your way. Lord, your word has a purpose here today, that Lord, you have specifically brought people here today, that you may speak, that you may bring us into a light, Lord, that we may open our hearts to you, and Lord, that you would change us.

God, we are such a needy people. Lord, I ask you now to just bring weight to your word. I ask you, Lord, to let it be understood. Let it be lived. Let it, oh God, be exalted above everything. For Lord, there is such deliverance and light, and Lord, we learn to love you.

We learn to know your heart. Lord, I pray that it be a living word. Holy Spirit, come and be our teacher. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. The book of Joshua talks and tells us about the defeat of Jericho.

Jericho as the Last Stronghold Before the Promised Land

And Jericho is, the scripture tells us, through Joshua, an accursed city. Jericho is a city with a curse on it, because it represents a stronghold. It represents a fortress between the wilderness of sin and the promised land.

It represents the last barrier, the last place that the children of Israel must come to. It bars the way to the promised land. And because of what it does, that city, in a spiritual sense, has a lot of significance for you and I.

And the Bible tells us that if you look at the history of the children of Israel and all that it took for them to get to the place where they had to face down that city of Jericho, all that they had to do is very much their story and their history is our story and our history in our journey of faith.

The one that God takes us on so that we can learn to trust Him. And the battles and the trials that they had to go through to get to Jericho are very significant. It occurred to me that the only way you get to Jericho is you have to be led there.

We can't get to the place where we are confronted with a stronghold in our lives unless the Lord reveal it to us. You see, unless the Lord reveals spiritual truth, unless the Lord Himself, in His light we see light, the scripture says.

And there are things about us that we can't know and can't understand. There are things that are going on in the kingdom of God. There are things that are going on in spiritual realms we cannot understand with a natural human mind.

They must be revealed to us by God and they must be made real to us in our spirit. That's where we start to understand and have a capacity to know God. That goes beyond our mind. It goes beyond. It's deeper than our mind.

It's our spiritual knower, if you will. And Jericho represents to the children of Israel, they were finally, after 40 years wandering in the wilderness, they were finally getting to a place where finally they wanted to be led by God.

Where finally they were willing to trust Him like they had never done before. And you would think that now that God has engaged a people's heart that He would just lead them into the promised land. No, He leads them to a stronghold.

He leads them to a place that epitomizes unbelief. It epitomizes a stronghold that bars entry into the promised land. But I feel that when you and I get to actually be led to our Jericho, we get to be led to a place that is a stronghold in our lives that we only get there.

You see, Joshua was led to Jericho by the captain of the host, the scripture says. That the captain of the host, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Old Testament, appeared to him. And when Joshua said, whose side are you on?

The Lord said, I'm not here to take sides, I'm here to take over. The Lord said, I'm going to lead this army. And because I'm going to lead it, I'm going to lead you to the last stronghold before you enter in my promised land.

And it's a doomed place, because I'm leading the army. But you can't get to Jericho until you've gone all the other places. Because once God is leading us to our stronghold, when the Lord is leading us to our stronghold, it's a doomed place.

It's going to fall. And so when we get to our Jericho, we've had a history with God. By the time we get to Jericho, there is something that we know we have not known before. Jericho is a fortress that never falls by human warfare.

And Jericho is a place that, by the time we get there, we do not have a perfect track record of faith and trust and obedience. We do not. By the time we get to Jericho, we have finally, in us, we have this cry for Him.

There is now a willingness, a willingness and a thirst above all else to be led by God and to obey Him and trust Him. Because His Word is speaking that to us and we're finally saying, Lord, when You speak to me, that is the greatest power in heaven and earth.

Your Word, when You speak to me, if I will hold that Word up and I will say, God, this is going to be my reality. If You speak to me from Your Word and I say, no matter what I feel or think, what I am seeing or experiencing, Lord, You are greater than it all.

You are Lord of it all. That's why when You speak a word to me, this is, if I will cling to this, You are going to bring me through to a place of victory. You are going to bring me through to where I know I can have confidence in You.

When I understand Your Word, I understand Your heart. There is this greater depth in You. I love You more. I have an understanding of how You work. You see, Jericho is finally a fortress of unbelief that is now being assaulted by a people of belief that are being led there by the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we start to see Jericho on our horizon, we are confronting a stronghold in our lives, but we confront it with a decision. We are now at the point where we say, Lord, in my life, whatever the trial, whatever the temptation, whatever the impossibility, I want to trust You.

Whatever is now looming on my horizon, I want my reflex to be one of trust. And Jericho will forever symbolize a triumph for God. It will symbolize that God can subdue His wayward people and bring them into a trust relationship where He can bring them into the promised land where God can finally take us where He wants us to go.

And it kind of begs the question, what is the promised land? And the promised land is simply the promised land where we finally believe God's Word to us. Where everything God has promised to us, they are ours by faith in Christ.

In the New Testament, Christ is our promised land. That everything that this book promises to a believer is ours in Christ. And so we enter there by faith. It's finally this Word to us. We know it is ours because God has spoken it to us.

And we are able to take this Word and set it above our fears and above our failures. Where it becomes so precious because it's God to us. It is the living Word to us. So it rules our life. Where God Himself, this is His Word to us and He becomes so real.

Jesus becomes so real to us. And the process of trust is one that the children of Israel had to go through. They had to be led there. You think if we look at their history to this point, we realize that God brought them out of Egypt.

And that's a type, as you know, of salvation. Being brought out of Egypt, being delivered from bondage of sin. From bondage of taskmasters. Of a transfer of our life into God's hands. And then they are led by Moses.

And if you read the Bible, they are led out of Egypt, right across the wilderness. Right to the border of the promised land in short order. But Beloved, have you ever been to the border of the promised land?

Israel at the Border: Faith Against Fear

Have you in your spiritual walk? Have you in your walk with Christ? Have you ever been brought right to the border? Where sitting in a message or something lights up in your spirit. There's a call for Him and all of a sudden it seems like you're starting to get it.

It's Christ. And it's His righteousness and He promises to deposit His life in us. And it's His life He's asking us to live. And then He's asking us to live it by His strength. And we have no strength in ourselves.

And we say, Lord, if I call on You, Your life in me is going to spring up like a well of water. And when I need it, it's going to be full of life to me. And I'm going to draw on Your life and I can do this.

And it's like we're standing right at the edge of a breakthrough. But the days go by and the weeks go by and so little of that reality seems to be happening. It's like it's this spiritual reality stuck in our heads.

Have you ever been to the border of the promised land? Looking in and it looks so clear. And the children of Israel were brought to the border of the promised land, right there inherited. Everything that they could have in God, if they would enter it by faith, if they would enter it through trust, if they would go in dependent on Him, they were brought right to the border of it.

And they saw when the spies went in and they went in all through the land and they were there 40 days. And they were looking at everything there was to see and they came back. You know the story. How big there was a land flowing with milk and honey.

God's promise, the inheritance of a life in Him and the land that He was giving them was beyond their expectation. And they came back and said the grapes are so big. This is what this land can produce.

But the enemies are bigger. It's a land flowing of milk and honey, but I'm afraid that for us to conquer it, it's going to flow with our blood in order to get it. And you know the story where God says, My word to you is I give you this land.

But when they looked in and they saw what was before them and what would oppose them, they staggered at the promise. And unbelief rooted in their heart as a nation. That unbelief, it was heavy in their heart and the weight of sin and His word was not greater than their unbelief.

His word to them was not the reality. His word to them, I give you this land, was not what controlled them. That was not the controlling force in their life. Their unbelief was. And you know the story.

That God, after delivering them out of Egypt through the Red Sea, led them through a wilderness. And in that place, they built a tabernacle, a mobile worship center. And the Bible says that when it was completed, the glory of God came down into that tabernacle.

So that nobody could enter it. Moses, no one could enter it and offer sacrifices there. God said, I am with you. And the glory was such that they all fell on their face and they knew that the only true God was in their midst.

Their only true God delivered them. The only true God now had a plan. He had an inheritance for them. And they alone of all the people on the earth were being gathered in His name and saying, You are mine, I am with you.

And the cloud by day would cover this tabernacle. And as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, the children stayed put. But when the cloud lifted, they would go and they would follow the cloud.

And the scripture says that night, fire came down in this tabernacle and it became a light for them in the darkest night. They had light. No one else in the face of the earth had this kind of light in their night.

And the scripture says that these people were brought with such an evidence that the only God of the universe was in their midst, had called them by His name and was among them. And given them great and precious promises.

But the scripture says that there were a segment of them that could not believe God. That when they went into the inheritance, all they could see was how it could not be done. All they could see was something greater than their God, greater than His power, greater than His promises, greater than His word.

And the scripture says that the wrath of God came upon these unbelieving leadership and these unbelieving warriors. And the scripture says that God says, Not one, not one evil, doubting man, twenty years old and up, shall enter into My promised land.

God's wrath and God's judgment fell on the unbelief that was found in Israel. And they were turned back, and the scripture says, into the wilderness of sin. And beloved, I believe that it's such a picture of a believer's heart.

I believe that this whole story is a picture of a believer's heart. That Israel is a type of a heart of a believer who has a portion, there is a deep root of unbelief in the heart. They love God and they're named by His name on areas in their life.

But there's another area that when God leads them into a place of impossibility, they back away. When God leads them to the inheritance, they can't see it for what it is and they pull back. And this root of unbelief, God must judge.

And the scripture says that these men, these leaders, the warriors among them, they were turned back along with all the people and they died empty, wasted lives in the desert. Every one of them, to a man, fell in the sand and died there.

The Wilderness as Judgment and Preparation

And it's a type that God, when we are in our wilderness, beloved, when we are in our wilderness, it is for a purpose. The wilderness is that stage in a believer's life, is a stage in a believer's heart that is between the captivity that he was brought out of and the covenant he's being brought into.

The wilderness is that journey where we're brought out of captivity and God says, there's covenant promises that you enter by faith, but in between is that testing time where God says, I'm going after that root of unbelief in your life and I'm going to do judgment on it.

And there's a purpose for the wilderness. And God's saying, I haven't left you. I have not forsaken you. You have a cloud of glory and you have light in your night. But we're not to stay there. You know, when we're in the wilderness, here's how we know we're still in the wilderness.

The doubts are always springing up. God, always the doubt and always the murmuring about provision. It's like, God, are you going to provide for me? And there can be brave declarations on Sunday, but when the bills come in, or if I have to take a stand, it could mean my bread and butter.

God, will you provide for me? And there's always the fear in the heart. It's the overriding fear. God, if I follow you, are you going to provide for me? Will this religion suddenly have real feet and some reality to it?

Because, beloved, we come to God and we give Him our heart, but God knows where the deep areas of unbelief still reside. And the children of Israel are always murmuring and complaining about provision.

I'm thirsty. I'm hungry. God, don't you see me? Why do I have to ask for water? God, don't you know we need water? Why do I have to ask for meat? Is all you have for us manna? And there's always the murmuring, and God says, Yes, I am water to you, and out of a rock is going to flow water.

That's how I'll provide for you, in a way you never thought, in a way you could never dream, in a way you'd never know about. Because the rock itself does not have water in it. But it's a symbol of the life in Christ Jesus.

It's a symbol of what Christ is in us, an ever-flowing water supply of living water that cleanses us and renews us. And they would cry for meat and He would give them quail. We're in the wilderness when we're still, still the greatest fear.

And the cry is, God, will you provide for me? We are still in the wilderness when doubts and unbelief in God are causing us to doubt the direction in our lives. God, you know, I can't submit every question to you.

I might have to go in a direction I don't want to go. I will ask your direction on this, but there are certain areas in my heart that I'm just going to say I'm giving it to you, but God never gets control of it.

And the children of Israel were always, where are you leading us, God? They were in the wilderness because the doubt would spring up. What are we doing here? Isn't this long enough? How long do we have to walk in this sand?

And there were always leaders full of rebellion, full of their own ways, not knowing the mind and heart of God, always saying, we need to go back to Egypt. We need to go back. We have to turn back. There's no life for us here.

This can't be God. This can't be God taking us to a wilderness and day after day, having us here, calling us His people and forcing us to live in this wilderness. Why? Always the desert. We know that we are in our wilderness when there is idolatry, that something else is always before our face when in our moments of quiet, there's a longing, there's something greater in our minds and in our hearts that our hearts go to and center on and focus on and long for and yearn for.

That when our hearts at rest, our heart is not going to Christ. Our heart is being drawn and dominated by wanting something, of having something, of being something, to the exclusion where God is much less part of our life.

We are nowhere in the wilderness when that murmuring of provision and direction and our thoughts are being dominated by another God. But beloved, I believe the Scripture tells us there came a time where the children of Israel as a group, where the desert, where the wilderness had accomplished its purpose, where when those men died in the wilderness was a symbol that God said, your heart now, I have purged it in my ways.

I know what I'm doing. Why? The purpose of the desert has been accomplished. The purpose of the wilderness has gone deep into you. And there is now produced a cry for me that's saying, God, lead me, it doesn't matter, but lead me.

I'm ready now. No matter what, your word to me, that's what I want to be, my meat and drink. Your word to me, that's going to be my life. God, I see where the wilderness takes me. I see what the wilderness does.

I see that if I cling to my doubt and unbelief in your name, I'm going to die in this place. But God, I know you're about life. I know you've not left us and forsaken us in the wilderness. And God, I want the ability to trust you.

I'm going to start knowing that you will provide. I'm going to start knowing that you are directing my life. That my steps are ordered. That God, you have a plan and a purpose. I release my life and you lead me and I'll follow.

That God, I want above all things to obey you when this word you begin to speak to me. That God, you're going to create in me the desire and the power to obey you. I'm going to trust you for that. God, I don't want to live in this wilderness anymore where I'm setting how I'm going to live my life before you.

I'll give it to you. And the wilderness produced a good thing because there was a people emerging. A new generation that were longing to be led into the promised land. They were longing to be led. And the scripture tells us that Joshua now is the leader of this new group.

Of this people that have been dealt with. The doubt and the unbelief. They see the fruit of it. And they know how deadly it is. And they're saying, God, now your word is what will lead us. We want what you want for us.

No matter what. And so Joshua now, the new spokesman, it tells us in Joshua 1. That God speaks to Joshua and it says in verse 3. God says to Joshua, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon.

That have I given unto you. As I said unto Moses. See, I've given this word before. And it was held as a light thing. You didn't believe it. But now there's a people saying, no. Anything you say. We want to cling to it now.

If you say that you've given this land to us. And wherever our feet trod, that is our inheritance. God, we believe it. We're ready now. We're going to exalt your word above our doubt. Above our fear. Above the impossibilities.

If that's what you say, I'm out of the wilderness. Because I know that you're willing to lead me out. And so the scripture says that in verse 5. That there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.

God says, I'm going to put such an anointing on an obedient God spirit led people. That there shall be no one able to withstand you all the days of your life. What an incredible reward to obedience. What an incredible life is opening up now.

To a people who are being willing to risk it all. And say, God, no matter. There is not one area of my life you cannot touch. That you cannot lead me in. That you cannot speak to me about. And God says, when I have that kind of heart.

There shall not be a man that will be able to stand before you. Be able to curse you. Be able to direct your life away from me. To take you out of my hand. There shall not be a man. There shall not be a teacher.

There shall be no one that will be able to rise up. And take you away from my purpose for you. From an ever increasing revelation of how much I love you. Of it is my will to put my glory upon you. And lead you into places of impossibility.

He says, I will be with thee. He says, I will not fail thee. He says, I will not forsake thee. And these became life to him. These words became life to Joshua. And he became a voice to the people that they would finally listen to.

Moses said the same words. Moses had the same word from God. But it was not heard. It was not esteemed. It was not clung to as life. More than bread to them. But now it was. Now they were ready. They had gone through a wilderness.

And they saw where they were murmuring. And the death that it brought. And the rebellion to him only brought a wilderness. All the days of their life. And they were ready to leave. And the scripture says in verse 6, Be strong and be of good courage.

The word is be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord. And be of good courage. Hallelujah. Once again we are seeing the land of the free will always be the home of the brave. And be of good courage.

And then he says only verse 7, Only be thou strong and very courageous. And verse 9, Have not I commanded thee? Have not I commanded thee? And these words began to have weight. This was not idle talk.

This was a people so desperate now. So thirsty. So willing to come out of the wilderness. And they could be led. And Joshua became a voice to them. Joshua became a voice to them. And it was life to them.

And they understood that God was not speaking idly to them. That what he said he would do. This is exactly what their life would be as they followed him. And a people were made willing to trust and believe him.

Crossing Jordan and Consecration for Victory

And then they were led to Jericho. That's when they stood before that city of Jericho. That's when they were ready to see things they needed to see. And understand some things they needed. They could never be brought to Jericho in their deep unbelief in their heart.

It never would have come down. And Joshua's voice to them. Joshua's voice to them. This is how he led them with these kind of words. And this is what he was speaking to them. And people were hearing it.

And Joshua's voice became like the word of Christ. Joshua's word to them, a living word, was like the word to us today. Joshua's word was like a godly life being lived out before them. The power that's in it.

And their heart burned. And they wanted this. And there was direction and light and life and glory in it. And it's like their spirit was turning in them. The water in them was moving. And they were recognizing this was God once again so willing to lead them.

And the Scripture says that under Joshua's leadership that they arose from the desert. And the Scripture says they crossed over the river Jordan. And when they, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, and when they stepped in the waters, the waters parted one more time.

And they walked across dry land one more time. And when they got there, then God said, now we're going to have a circumcision. Because all the children that had been born in the wilderness had not followed the commands of God.

And the Bible says that God gave Joshua the command that all the males were to be circumcised. And the Scripture says that the reproach of Egypt was rolled off them. The reproach of living in their flesh and leaning on their own understanding and crying out for their flesh and always murmuring about them and never understanding, never looking higher than their own flesh and their own needs, never looking up and seeing it's a God who knows all that but has something so much higher and better for them.

And the reproach of Egypt and living only with such a narrow focus in the world and living outside the vision of God was being cut away from them. Flesh was being cut away from them. And a walk in the Spirit now.

God, You lead us by Your Spirit. And beloved, I don't understand all what it is to walk in the Spirit, but I know that when you do that, the deeds of the flesh get put down, can't manifest, can't break through.

We say, God, You've given us a Holy Spirit and You're taking the reproach of Egypt off me because Your Holy Spirit dwells in me and there is a power now that I draw from Your life in me. This is a walk in the Spirit.

And Lord, I thank You that You give me power to recognize when it's flesh and when it's spirit, if I ask You. You will show me these kind of things. And now these people circumcised. That's when the captain of the host shows up.

He says, now you're a people I can lead. And I'm going to lead you to victory. And Joshua's voice was life to them. But beloved, there's another voice. And that other voice, you have to hear me now, is from a woman who lives on the wall of Jericho.

Rahab's Voice and Faith in a Doomed City

And her name is Rahab. And Rahab, the Bible tells us, was a woman who, when Joshua also, just before he entered the land to conquer it, he sent spies. He sent two spies. And the Bible tells us their story, that these two spies enter the city of Jericho.

And this harlot, Rahab, that lives on the wall of Jericho, recognizes them. And the Scripture tells us that she brings them into her house. And the Bible tells us in Joshua 2, verse 9, she says to these spies, I know that the Lord has given you the land.

And that your terror has fallen upon us. And that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you. And the Scripture goes on and she says, we hear how kings and great, great rulers were destroyed because your God was with you.

And verse 11, as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt. And neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, He is God. In heaven above and earth beneath.

And she says this to the spies. And the Scripture tells us, they went back to Joshua and they said, you're not going to believe what they're saying. You are not going to believe. When we move as an army to enter the promised land and we stand before that one fortress, that one citadel that blocks us from our inheritance, the promised land, you would not believe what the inhabitants of that place are saying.

They tremble before us. They are so afraid of us. The terror of us has fallen on them and they're probably looking at each other. Us. The terror of us has fallen on us. Beloved, it's so amazing to me, though, that there's a woman somehow that God reached down into that stronghold, a harlot, and began to reveal His heart and His mind to her.

And the Scripture, she alone in her house is saved. There was one person God could talk to in that fortress, in that city of unbelief. A woman named Rahab. And I see that she is living here in this place on the wall and she is a voice, beloved, that is now...

I want you to get a picture of this now. As you and I rise up under the voice of Joshua, under the voice of Jesus Christ, under the voice of His Word, and we are hearing, march forward. I'm leading you.

I'm taking you to your inheritance. I'm going to bring you to a place where your reflex is going to be to trust me first and think about everything else second. I'm going to bring you to a place where my Word to you is going to be meat and drink.

And we sit under this kind of preaching and it's reaching our hearts and our hearts are burning. I want you to know at the same time, there's going to be another voice going on in our heart. And it's going to be the voice of Rahab, one who lives on the wall.

Because when these spies came to her and she began to tell them what God was telling them to her, her voice is so much like the reason and will that speaks in our hearts at night. When you and I make this determination, God, I want to follow you with all my heart, there's going to be another voice.

And it's going to sound like Rahab's voice. And it's going to say, God, I know all these things are true. But I live on the wall that you are committed to destroying. You see, when she received the spies, she received these messengers, she received their message.

And she was agreeing with the God of Israel that the wall that Jericho had to be demolished, that it had to come down. She was receiving them so she could send them out another way. So that the king of Jericho would not see them.

And when they would leave, they would come back to her, but as a destroying army. The next time she saw them, she would be looking down from her house on the wall, knowing that they were committing to destroying everything she understood.

Everything that was her security. Everything that she knew about. And yet she was agreeing with them. But there is two voices going on in our heart if we want to walk with God. There will be the voice of Joshua.

There will be the voice of Christ. It will be this word. But there will be the voice of Rahab that will say, God, yes, it's all true. But God, I have to agree with You and You are committed to destroying strongholds in me.

Everything I've built my life on. Everything I've built my security on. And I've got to agree with You. Can you hear the two voices? Have you heard the two voices? I say, God, with all my heart I want this.

But God, if I follow You with all my heart, something's going to be destroyed and You're asking me to agree with it. God, You know the strongholds in our hearts. You know what has to come down. And I can't see it except You reveal it to me.

And when You reveal it to me, then You want me to stretch out my hand and say, Thy will be done. Bring down the wall I live on. Bring down my security. You know, it's one thing for Joshua and that army to come in against.

It's another thing for Rahab to be in agreement when she lives on the wall. But the Scripture says that she sends the spies out knowing that the next time she says, by doing that I release you to do whatever you have to do.

There would be times, beloved, of an unbelievable pressure and confusion in this woman's life. The Bible says in Joshua 6, you don't have to turn there, but it says that Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel.

None went out. And none came in. Six days. And you can feel what it must have lived to be. Live on a wall and a place. And everybody in that place, it's a doomed city. And everybody in their hearts knows it's a city of destruction.

And yet, she's the only one God can speak to. So it tells me that these people are so busy reassuring one another, this is not really a city of destruction. This is not really a place that God's judgment and wrath are going to come upon.

There's got to be a place of living in denial that we're not going to be judged. But beloved, you've got to know in that place there's got to be such terror and pain and confusion, and she was called to live in the middle of it.