In this sermon, Stephen Kahn focuses on the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho as described in Joshua chapter 5 and 6. He emphasizes that in spiritual conflict, we are to stand as bound slaves, following the orders of the Lord. The condition of the city of Jericho was fearful, with all gates closed and valiant men guarding the walls. However, Joshua is reminded by the Lord that the battle is not his, but the Lord's. The sermon emphasizes that Jesus is the captain of the army of the Lord and has already won the decisive battle on the cross, spoiling the principalities and authorities.

This is Monday evening, November 10th, 1975 in Richmond, Virginia. Ministry is being given through Stephen Kong. Will you please turn to the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter 5. We begin with verse 13. Joshua chapter 5 verse 13. Am I now come. Then Joshua fell upon his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him what said my lord unto his servant and the captain of Jehovah's army said to Joshua lose thy sandal from of thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy and Joshua did so. Chapter 6 verse 1. Now Jericho was shut up and was barred because of the children of Israel none went out and none came in and Jehovah said to Joshua see I have given into thy hand Jericho and the king thereof and the valiant man and he shall go around the city all the men of war encompassing the city once thou shall thus shall thou do six days and seven priests shall carry before the ark seven blessed trumpets and on the seventh day ye shall go around the city seven times and the priest shall blow with the trumpets and it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the blessed horn that all the people on hearing the sound of the trumpet shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city shall fall flat and the people shall go up each one straight before him and Joshua the son of nun called the priest and said to them carry the ark of the covenant and seven priests shall carry seven blessed trumpets before the ark of Jehovah and he said to the people pass on go around the city and they that are armed shall pass on before the ark of Jehovah. Verse 15 and it was so that on the seventh day they rose early about the morning dawn and went round the city after the same manner seven times only on that day they went round the city seven times and it came to pass the seventh time when the priest blew with the trumpets that Joshua said to the people shout for Jehovah has given you the city and the city shall be accursed it and all that is in it to Jehovah only Rahab the harlot shall live she and all that are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent but in any wise keep from the accursed thing lest you make yourself a curse in taking of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it and all the silver and gold and vessels of copper and iron shall be holy to Jehovah they shall come into the treasury of Jehovah and the people shouted and they blew with the trumpets and it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpets and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat and the people went up into the city each one straight before him and they took the city quite long ago we began to fellowship on the book of Joshua by crossing the river Jordan the children of Israel came into the promised land at last and spiritually speaking in our identification with Christ in his death burial and resurrection we are delivered from the life of the desert that is the life in the flesh and come into the promised land which is the life in Christ so the children of Israel were now in the promised land now of course several things happened which we will not go into details this evening one thing is the whole nation was circumcised at Gilgal the second thing was after they arrived in the land then they began to eat the old corn of the land and the manna stopped and the third thing of course we read in the very beginning the Lord came into their midst to be the army the captain of the army of the Lord now the children of Israel were now in the promised land and of course to be in the promised land was to possess their possession but before they could possess their possession they had to enter into battles because the promised land was not unoccupied the promised land was occupied by seven tribes not only very wicked but very strong in order to possess their possession they had to first dispossess all their enemies there will be warfare involved before they could actually possess their possession so you find that in the book of Joshua the first part of the book of Joshua is occupied completely with warfare and it is only when you come to the second part of Joshua then it has to do with the partitioning of the land the dividing of the land but we must remember that the war is not the end the war is a means to an end the end is to possess the land but in order to possess the land because the enemies were there therefore there would be warfare so dear brothers and sisters in our life in Christ there is spiritual warfare involved but we must remember that spiritual warfare is not an end in itself it is inevitable if we want to possess Christ in all that he is we shall be involved in spiritual conflict that is something we cannot avoid and yet on the other hand this is not our aim this is not our end our end is to possess Christ you know sometimes people can be so war conscious they feel they are involved in a warfare and they see the enemy everywhere and they are fighting day and night they are only conscious of warfare and that can be very damaging and very unhealthy we should be conscious of Christ we should be conscious of possessing Christ this is our aim this is our end and because we want to arrive at that end we are involved in a warfare I think this is something that we need to always remember the children of Israel they had to enter into warfare and Joshua being the leader of the children of Israel no doubt he felt the burden upon him and the first city that stood in their way was the city of Jericho now the city of Jericho was a very big city with very high walls so Joshua being the leader no doubt he went out to survey the city he went out to see the city he went out to plan the strategy of taking that city but while he was planning the strategy of taking that city a man appeared to him with a drawn sword and naturally Joshua went to him and said now are you for us or against us because in war there is no such thing as neutrality even though people say we will be neutral but we know there is no such thing as neutrality especially in this matter of spiritual warfare there is no neutrality you are either for you are either against so Joshua went to that man and said are you for us or are you against us but he got the surprise of his life because that man said no I'm neither for you nor against you yet he was neither neutral he said I come to be the captain of the army of the Lord Joshua thought that he was the captain of the army of the Lord Joshua thought that he had the whole burden of the war upon his shoulder Joshua thought that he had to plan the strategy it was his battle so before he entered into that battle the Lord reminded him that the battle is the Lord's the burden is upon the shoulder of the Son of God and he is the captain of the army of the Lord dear brothers and sisters you know when we are led as it were into that heavenly realm and we know Canaan is that heavenly realm in the heavenlies God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus we are in Christ Jesus and we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in other words the whole land is before us and yet in the same heavenly place there are principalities and authorities and powers of darkness and evil spirit of the air just like in the promised land there were the seven tribes there so as we enter into the heavenly realm on the one hand we are to receive the blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus yet on the other hand we are confronted with principalities authorities powers of darkness and evil spirits of the air spiritual conflict but in our innocence when we meet spiritual conflict or when we enter into that realm of spiritual conflict we oftentimes think that we have to fight it out we always think that the burden is upon our shoulder and we are to plan as for how to overcome our enemies not knowing that our enemy is just too clever and too strong for us and it is not the will of the Lord that we should enter into spiritual conflict with that kind of attitude if we enter into spiritual conflict with that kind of attitude we will be defeated without doubt we will be damaged we will be hurt and you'll find many among God's people are hurt because of the lack of knowledge even though it seems as if we are involved in a spiritual conflict and yet dear brothers and sisters we must remember that the battle is not ours the battle is the Lord's we must be remember that it is the Lord who leads us into the battle he is the captain of the army of the Lord it is the Lord who plans the strategy of all the battles he takes upon himself that responsibility and he did two thousand years ago there on Calvary's cross our captain had dealt a fatal blow to our enemy there he spoiled the principalities and authorities there he make a public show of his enemies there he proclaimed his victory so in other words dear brothers and sisters before we enter into spiritual conflict we need to know that our Lord Jesus is the captain and he has already won the decisive he has already won the battle on Calvary's cross the head of the serpent has been crushed and today as we enter into spiritual conflict we are in the train of his triumph that's all that is so first of all you'll find the Lord came and said I am to be the captain of the host of the Lord and immediately Joshua prostrated himself before him and worshiped him what a relief you know sometimes we take too much responsibility we need to be responsible no doubt some people are just irresponsible but for those who are serious we tend to be overly responsible for we tend to feel that everything is just upon us and if we don't then the whole world will collapse there is no such a thing it is upon the shoulder government is upon his shoulder the battle is the Lord oh what a relief and the Lord said Joshua said what shall I do what do you want to do you are the Lord what do you want to do the Lord said remove your shoes you are standing on holy ground in other words in this matter of spiritual conflict we are to stand in the position of a bond slave we are just to follow order that's all we are just to follow the Lord that's all that is to it the battle is the Lord now of course in the division of chapters it is arbitrary because in the original manuscript there is no division of chapters so chapter six actually follow closely chapter five and chapter six verse one is a parenthetical verse because the holy spirit just want to show us the condition of the city of Jericho at that moment the condition of the city of Jericho at that moment was the people were so afraid that they closed all the gates and they have the valiant man guarded the wall now that was the condition of that city humanly speaking it was impossible to take that city impregnable well guarded all shut in but of course the Lord after Joshua had removed his shoes then the Lord began to reveal his strategy and the strategy of the Lord in taking the city of Jericho was most unusual never was a battle fought in that way because the Lord said now you the whole army of the children of Israel were to surround that city once a day following the arc of the covenant with seven priests blowing the blessed trumpets as you encircle the city and on the seventh day you shall encircle the city seven times and at the last when the priest blow with a long blast then you all shall and the walls shall fall now that was the strategy of the battle over before we go into the whole matter of how the Lord led the people to take that city of Jericho I think we should do a little application first you know Jericho the very word Jericho means fragrance is that a surprise Jericho means fragrance do you remember there is a fragrance which is of the Lord 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 but things be to God who always leads us in triumph in the Christ and makes manifest the order or the fragrance of his knowledge through us in every place there is a fragrance which we carry with us wherever we go and that fragrance is the knowledge of our knowledge of Christ he is a fragrance in our lives you know fragrance or odor is something in a sense you cannot help it if if the fragrance is there it just continually diffuses unconsciously it spreads it cannot be hidden it cannot be hidden you put some perfume on you and when you walk around you carry that odor you carry that fragrance around and it just diffuses and you cannot help it it cannot be hidden now that is the case with believers and where does that fragrance come from from the knowledge of Christ the true knowledge of God gives a fragrance a heavenly fragrance if you know the Lord wherever you go you don't need to speak now I do not mean to say that you should not speak sometimes we should speak but even though you haven't spoken your very presence will give people a kind of sense there is something different there is something heavenly it is your knowledge of Christ that is such a fragrance and you can't help it you cannot hide it you cannot hide it it just diffuses it just diffuses and this kind of fragrance to those who are saved you know is life and to those who are perished is is until death it is a powerful thing it is the most powerful perfume in this world and this fragrance comes from the knowledge but do you know dear brothers and sisters there is another kind of fragrance that comes from Jericho it is a counterfeit instead of being the knowledge of Christ it is that which stands against the knowledge of Christ so you read 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4 and verse 5 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4 and verse 5 for the arms of our warfare are not fleshly but powerful according to God to the overthrow of strongholds overthrow of strongholds overthrowing reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God and leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ now what is Jericho Jericho is a stronghold it is a stronghold a city wall city and what are these strongholds reasonings every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God you know dear brothers and sisters in this world there are reasonings human reasonings there are things high things that lift itself up against the knowledge of God all kinds of things that oppose the knowledge of God that profess to be knowledge profess to have a kind of odor and yet it is against the knowledge of God like strongholds standing in the way of knowing Christ what is possessing Christ is knowing Christ Paul says to know him and the power of his resurrection to have fellowship with his suffering to be conformed to his death you find that to know Christ not mentally to know Christ experientially to know Christ in life to know Christ in in your spirit that is possessing Christ that is the real knowledge of Christ and that emits a kind of fragrance in your life but here you'll find there are knowledge so-called or wisdom so-called there are reasoning so-called philosophy so-called and all these high things so-called that stands in the way of our knowing Christ that is to hinder us from possessing Christ and these strongholds are in the promised land in the heavenlies let's illustrate it Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians now these Corinthians were believers they were not only believers but they were not behind anybody in gifts in knowledge in all kinds of things and yet the enemy raised a stronghold and what is that stronghold that stronghold is carnal the carnal mind of the Corinthian believers is a stronghold raised by the enemy so that they cannot enter into the full knowledge of God that keeps them babes after many years because they are carnally minded they think they know they think highly of themselves they boast of their knowledge and you know what happens they divided into parties why did they divide into parties because they thought they knew they knew so well some say they knew Paul some say they knew Apollo some say they knew Cephas and some say they knew Christ because they all thought they knew and they knew better than anybody else and that's the reason why they were divided and look they profess they had the knowledge therefore there was no love some of them felt that to go to the temple of the idols and eat the meat offer to the idols was nothing because the idols were nothing and things offered to nothing was nothing so they felt free to go into the temple to have their social life in the temple because the social life in those days were in the temples so they wanted the social life so much they went into the and they freely took all these meats offered to the idols they did not have the love for those who were weak they stumbled they professed they knew and the result was they could go to court against each other they thought they knew and the result was they doubted resurrection because resurrection was beyond human reasoning you see their carnal mindedness was the stronghold raised by the enemy in them so that they could not possess and dear brothers and sisters if we allow the enemy to build a carnal mind in us we will be defeated we will be held from knowing christ from possessing christ it might be in the mind carnal mind or it might be prejudice how the enemy will build up a stronghold in the form of prejudice and how christians can be prejudiced we can be prejudiced against certain truth we can be prejudiced against certain people to such an extent that we will never be able to be free to enter into the fullness that is in christ or the enemy can build up his strongholds in our emotion you know in our soul he can build up a kind of stronghold in our emotion he tried to direct our emotion to some direction to some area to some persons or to certain things it was inordinate emotion and because our emotion was directed wrongly we could never love the lord or he can raise a stronghold in our will give us a very stubborn will iron will well we need to have strong will for the lord will the will of the lord that's true but an iron world that would never bend sometimes could be a stronghold of the enemy the enemy is able to raise a stronghold he does not need to come out in the open and fight he can hide behind the wall and hinder us from entering into the fullness read the letter to the galatians you'll find the enemy build another kind of castle stronghold in the letter to the galatians it's just opposite of the corinthian believers the corinthian believers did not want to grow up they were very happy to be babies because being babies you can do many things and you know how many christians just like to be babies you can do things grown-up cannot do people will laugh at you if you do but if you're babes okay and people will even praise you look how clever you are but the problem with the corinthian with the galatian believers were just the opposite they wanted so much to grow up they were saved they believed in the lord jesus they received the holy spirit they were saved but they were so anxious to full maturity to perfection oh how could they be instantly spiritual and that was their problem and because they want to be instantly spiritual now satan came and build a stronghold and say you may oh if only you're circumcised if only you keep a few rules and regulations if only you keep a few days and seasons if only you don't touch certain things and don't taste certain things you are spiritual immediately instantly spiritual and how these galatian believers fell into the trap of the enemy and here you will find the stronghold and paul had to say he had to travel for them again as if they had to be born again of course not but as if oh how he travailed that christ may be formed in them by falling into the such trap christ could not be forming them christ was in them but could not be formed in them you know it takes the formation of christ in us for us to express christ well what's the trouble with the believers in colossians and here you'll find the enemy build up some strongholds in colossi and it's all different the enemy is a greek architect here you'll find he built another kind of stronghold and the stronghold was as narcissism asceticism philosophy so-called all these fancy all these abstract all these imaginative statulative things you know and give you a kind of feeling you are very few people know but you know you know and the result was they were led away from well probably you say with the church in philippi the enemy certainly could not build any stronghold he did the church in philippi was a model church from the very beginning they were of one mind with paul in preaching the gospel and how their hearts were knit with paul even though paul was in prison how they sent men there to supply his needs the church in philippi was a model church and yet you find the enemy was trying to do something you are spiritual are you all right i can make you spiritually so-called proud and how he got hold of two spiritual sisters and these spirituals two spiritual sisters were at rivalry with each other they were all spiritual but who was the more spiritual and the rivalry between these two sisters cast a shadow over the whole church they lost the joy dear brothers and sisters you find the enemy is so subtle he does not need to come out and fight you in open with that fork and with that tail and horn and so forth he doesn't need to do that he just builds some stronghold in your uh soul realm and he can withstand you from possessing that's jericho that's jericho oh it takes the discerning to know it's a different smell but here you are jericho stood in the way of the children of israel in their possessing their possession and the lord himself planned how what was the strategy most unusual most unusual jericho was taken not because the children of israel fought against it it was because the ark of the covenant surround the ark of the covenant represents the presence of the lord so when the priest bore the ark of the covenant and march at the front it simply means that the presence of the lord was demonstrated here the lord was present and then when they bore the ark and walk around the city you know seven priests blowing the blessed horns now what the priest blew was not silver trumpets as we find in the book of numbers you know in the book of numbers god ordered them to to make two silver trumpets but silver trumpets in the scripture stands for prophetic ministry but here you'll find it is the ram's horn it is the ram's horn they blow the ram's horn they blow the ram's horn you know and when did they blow the ram's horn if you read leviticus chapter 23 and leviticus chapter 25 you find they blow the ram's horn on the first day of the seventh month and also they blow the horn at the year of the jubilee year of the jubilee so in blowing these horns now what does it mean spiritually spiritually it simply means this here is the ark going around and seventhly priests blowed the horns declaring declaring what the ark is they are declaring to the principalities and authorities they are declaring to the valiant men of Jericho standing there overlooking them they are they were declaring to them the what the ark and during that whole period the army of the children of israel walked silently without they were not allowed to talk they were not allowed even to whisper they just walk in complete silence and all that you can heard was the blowing of the horns the blasting of the horns and the marching this must unnerve the enemy oh they look down and say what's that dear brothers and sisters you know in spiritual warfare basically the battle is fought by the lord now of course we know the taking of Jericho and the taking of Ai these two battles form the basis of all the battles that were to follow so the spiritual basic principle of spiritual warfare were all involved in these two battles now in the first battle the lord decides to show us one thing and that is in spiritual warfare it is the lord who fights not us it is the ark of the covenant it is the presence of the lord the lord himself does the fighting the prayer of faith they do not talk you know sometimes we talk too much and our talking dissipates spiritual energy they walk in silence can you walk in silence without really be engaging anything will not your mind wander with nothing to do and not even allowed to talk oh no all the time they were silent they were listening to the blasting of the horn in other words they were taking it is by declaring because priests represent priestly function in other words we as priests we shall exercise our priestly function and just declare to our enemy what our lord is and what he has done that's all is involved when we are faced with enemies brothers and sisters all we need to do is bring the presence of the lord upon our enemy and declare to our enemy who our lord is and what he has done on Calvary's cross and that finished the and during the whole time the children of Israel walk in silence I believe it represents the prayer of faith they do not talk you know sometimes we talk too much and our talking dissipates spiritual energy they walk in silence can you walk in silence without really be engaging anything will not your mind wander with nothing to do and not even allowed to talk oh no all the time they were silent they were listening to the blasting of the horn in other words they were taking into themselves all that the ark was to them and after seven days of taking in enough faith was dear brothers and sisters you know the walls of Jericho fell flat by faith in Hebrews chapter 11 we are told by faith the walls of Jericho fell flat when the children of Israel encircled the city now how does faith come when we faced our enemy or when we are faced with a problem say some people are really prejudiced some people's mind are carnally minded or say you meet such strongholds either in yourself or in other people now what are you going to do you try to fight don't fight with flesh and blood we are not fighting with flesh and blood how are you going to be powerful before God to the overthrowing of the out you need faith but how does faith come you cannot manufacture faith oh there are lots of counterfeit faith today you you you try to hypnotize yourself and say I believe I believe yes I do but you don't where does faith come from faith comes from listening in your spirit what the Lord is and what he has accomplished on Calvary our Lord Jesus is the author and perfecter of all faith does not come from within faith come from looking off so you find the children of Israel as they surround it is that they were not inactive they were not just matching you know with their eyes closed as if they were sleeping you know passively no when they were marching yes they were in complete silence but they were attentively listening to the blasting of the horns until it began to swell up within them that dear brothers and sisters there is a time there is a time of silence but of course there is a time of shouting too so here you'll find they just surround it surround it and on the seventh day seven times and at the seventh time the priest will blow the trumpets with long blast and the children of Israel shouted with a great shout that's the shout if you shout too early it will not work you know sometimes we shout too early that's no use there is a time to shout after that faith is really bubbling within you can you shout but one more thing encircling around the city in silence their prayer is ascending but in shouting they shout against the wall you don't shout to God God is not there don't shout to him you don't need to shout he knows you shout to the walls and that's what you find in Mark chapter 11 the Lord said have the faith of God you remember that incident our Lord Jesus going into Jerusalem and he saw a fig tree full of leaves he went there and couldn't find any fruit so he cursed that tree and the next day when they passed by Peter noticed this and said Lord you cursed that tree yesterday and now it's all withered and the Lord said have faith in God to be more exact it means have the faith of God what is the faith of God the Lord said if you say to the mountain move into the sea and you doubt not but believe what you say will come to pass and it shall come to pass whatever you ask believe that you receive it and you shall this is what the scriptures what not the scripture scripture doesn't have the term this is what some people call executive prayer or authoritative prayer you know executive or authoritative prayer is there is a time of silence listening to the Lord and then when that comes to a consummation you turn and speak to the mountain or speak to the wall all like Joshua later on speak to the sun and to the moon and say stop fall and that's how the city of Jericho oh dear brothers and sisters the power is not in their silence nor in their shouting the power is in the ark of the covenant it is the Lord it is the Lord who does the fighting and the children of Israel just went in in the trial of the Lord and how was the city taken the wall fell flat and the children of Israel just went straight in you don't not do not need to turn around you see the city of Jericho was considered at that time a big city but you remember how many were the men of the children of Israel in the army over 600,000 600,000 men encircled the city they must meet from end to end make a complete circle the city was completely encircled there was no gap so when the wall fell everyone just go went straight in and the enemy had nowhere to escape no gap and that shows in spiritual warfare how it takes the whole church to encircle you know today because God's people are so divided even when sometimes the wall falls it leaves so many gaps for the enemy to slip away because it's not completely encircled how God's people should be together so when the wall falls we may all go in and leave the enemy with no escape whatsoever but when they and before they enter into the city God gave a command the whole city must be destroyed not only the people but things everything must be burned the children of Israel were not to take anything the whole city was devoted to destruction accursed devoted to destruction only gold and silver iron and copper that could go forth through a fire and refined they were to enter into the treasury of the Lord the children of Israel got nothing dear brothers and sisters here is a principle for us basically in spiritual warfare anything that belongs to the enemy is devoted to destruction we are not to take anything we are not to take anything but the Lord will have his spoil and the spoil that the Lord will have are things that can go through fire that can be refined that belongs to the Lord so in a spiritual warfare you find that there will be spoils no doubt but the spoils are the Lord's do nothing because we have gone into such trouble therefore we should have something now later on you will in the city of Ai yes but not basically basically it is for the Lord the battle is fought for the Lord that the Lord may in a sense salvage something out of the enemy's hand things that can be refined it will be into the treasury of the Lord for the Lord to use now that is spiritual warfare and you know the greatest spoil they got in that day is was not gold and silver was rehab that was the greatest spoil of that battle God got a rehab now who was rehab rehab was not only a woman in the city of Jericho devoted to destruction she was the lowest of all the people in Jericho why she was a harlot she was the one who who had the least possibility of anything certainly she was the first one that should be destroyed and yet see what grace could do somehow by the grace of God it touched her heart she was willing to disown her own city she was willing to stand with the children of Israel and God rescued her not only her but a whole household her father and mother brothers and sisters and relatives whoever came into her house furthermore David came from him her and even our Lord came out of her what a trophy what a spoil and that was the greatest spoil in that battle over Jericho so dear brothers and sisters in this battle over Jericho it lays as it were a foundation it gave us the basic principles that govern spiritual warfare and thank God it is not in vain even though you may not get anything the Lord it is for the glory of the Lord shall we pray our heavenly father how we praise and thank thee for the victory that our Lord Jesus has won on Calvary's cross it is decisive it cannot be reversed oh how we praise and thank thee for that victory that we can go from victory to victory how we praise and thank thee we have no fear because he who is in us is greater than he that is in the world how we praise and thank thee it is thee who leads us into the battle and thou dost plan the strategy all we just need to follow in the train of thy victory how we praise and thank oh Lord we ask thee that these principles may be livingly applied by thy spirit in our lives together that we may dispossess our enemy and possess thee in a fuller way and to thee be the spoil and the glory forever and ever amen