In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the unshakable truth and fulfillment of God's word. Despite the mockery and disbelief of the world, the prophecies recorded in the Bible will come to pass. The preacher confidently declares that Jesus is coming again and that the signs of His return are evident. The sermon also highlights the story of Rahab, a sinful woman who became an ancestress of Jesus, showcasing God's grace and salvation. Additionally, the preacher warns of God's judgment upon nations that mock Him and discusses the state of apostasy and darkness in society.

Pick up the authorized version of the Holy Scriptures before you in the pew. Turn to the Old Testament, to the book of Joshua at page 244. And we will read there from the seventh, from the sixth chapter of the book of Joshua. It is the story of the destruction of Jericho. Verse 16, And it came to pass, at the seventh time, when the trumpets blew, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city, 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 ye in any way keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed when ye take up the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel accursed and troubled. And all the silver and gold and bethels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets. And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him. And they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and ass, with the edge of the sword. And Joshua had 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 hath, as ye swear unto her. And the young men that were spies within, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she hath, and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. And they burned the city with fire on all that was therein. Only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass, and of iron, they put into the treasury. And Joshua sieved Rahab, the harlot, and I, and her father's household, and all that she hath. And she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy Jericho. And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, that writeth up, and buildeth this city, Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his freedom was noised throughout all the country. Amen, and God will bless his infallible word to our hearts, for Jesus' sake. I want to speak upon a very intriguing subject that is found in the word of God. I have named this subject by the title, The Accursed City Builder. The Accursed City Builder. Fallen man, after he fell, became a builder of cities. But he was an accursed city builder, because God never commanded anywhere in the Bible that his fallen creatures should build cities. There is only one city that is a real city, and that is built by God Himself. Do you remember the patriarch, Abraham? It said he looked for a city. He did not try to build it. He looked for it, whose builder and maker is God. It was never God's purpose or plan that men and women should congregate in cities throughout the world. It was God's plan that they should be spread evenly across. But fallen man would not have God's plan. And if you turn with me to the first book of Genesis, chapter four, you will find the first murderer became the first builder of a city. His name was Cain. And it says unto Cain, there was born Enoch, and he built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch. So the first builder of the city in defiance of the laws of God was the first murderer, Cain. And all through Genesis, we read about fallen man trying to build the city. I was in Strasbourg this past week. I've been traveling there quite often the last 25 years. I even know the hedges in the people's gardens. I've traveled so often. And when I came to the building, I had a man with me, and I said, please look at this building. This is a building that cost the taxpayers of the United Kingdom millions of pounds. Because one of the largest contributors, by order of the European Parliament and Commission, to have to, it's built in the shape of a rounder building. I said to him, sir, would you just look up at the top of that building? He said, I will. And I said, what do you see? He says, it's not finished. One side of it is not finished. I said, that building is built like the great painting by a very famous painter called the Tower of Babel. It is a replica of the Tower of Babel. And the Tower of Babel was not finished. But out there in their folly, the Europeans are building the great tower again. It's going to fall. I'm glad I'm getting out in June. It's going to fall. I'll pray for the preservation of my successor. But I want to say to you, that's the type of thing that is happening in Europe today. The picture of fallen man, accursed building, the accursed city. You know what happened to Babel? God confounded the city. It was never finished. Men have tried to finish that building and they've never done it. I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but the European building will never be finished. Because Jesus Christ is coming again. And when He comes, there's going to be a city. But it's not going to be a human-erected city. It's going to come down from heaven. A great city. And it is one thing different from every other city in the world. It's length and it's breadth and it's height are all the same. I can understand a city having length, but imagine a city having the same measurements to it's height than it's length and breadth. Can you remember a city like that? This is the city that God is building. I'm glad I'm not a citizen of Babel. I'm glad I'm a citizen of the kingdom of God. But here we have fallen man trying to build. But every time fallen man tried to build this city, God thwarted it. And it never was finished. Three million souls marched through the wilderness. For forty years, because of their unbelief, they were not allowed to. And then they came to the time under Joshua where they were to enter the promised. And at the doorway to the promised was called Jericho. It was the Babylon of Palestine. It was an evil city. A degenerate city. A city of idols. And a city of Babylonist religion. Because you remember that Achan stole a robe from the city. And that city resisted the oncoming three million people of Israel. Directed to conquer, to invade and take over the land. But Jericho declared its war against the army of Joshua. And so Joshua told the people that they were to parade around the city once every day. And when it came to the seventh day, the procession was to go around seven times. And then the people were to listen for the trumpets of the priests to sound. And then they were all to shout. And the walls would fall down flat. Now how could a wall fall down flat? It's an impossible thing for the simple reason that there'd be so much rubble. I have been to Jericho and I have seen the old city. But that word flat is the word for level. So here is the foundation of Jericho and here is Jericho's walls. And they're going to fall flat. How did they fall flat? They just went down like that there until they were level. And I have seen that with my own eyes. I examined it. The whole wall fell down flat so that they were able to walk over it and take the city. When God does something, He does it well. And God broke down the opposition of Jericho. And Jericho fell and great was the fall thereof. But after Jericho had fallen, something happened. And if you turn over to that portion of Scripture that we read together tonight in the sixth chapter of Joshua, you'll find something there. It says, And this Joshua had judged them at that time and saying, Do you see this scene? The walls had fallen flat. Israel had triumphed. And Joshua the great warrior stood among the rubble. And he said, But he said something more. He said, His firstborn shall be slain when he lays his farm. And his youngest son shall be slain. It's the extremes. Amidst the darkness of Jericho, God's man declared that judgment would continue upon that city. Now you turn over in your Bible to 1 Kings chapter 16. And you'll read something. In his days, something happened. What days? It was the days of Ahab, the wicked king of Israel. In his days did Hael, the Bethelite, build Jericho. He laid the foundation thereof in Ephraim, his firstborn. And he set up the gates thereof in his youngest son, Segub. According to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua, the son of Nun. Five hundred years later, Joshua saw five hundred years. When this city, they would attempt to rebuild it. And God would judge the man that attempted to rebuild it. By killing his son in laying the foundations. And killing his youngest son when he set up the gates thereof. The judgment of God is everlasting. The judgment of God standeth. Now we should ask ourselves some question. Why did God judge this city of Jericho? Because this city was the first city of the evil land of Canaan. That God would give in victory to his people. And God set it up as an epitaph to his anger and his wrath. We don't hear much about the anger of the Lord today. We don't hear much about the wrath of the Lord today. But this monument was set up. It was set up as an epitaph to the anger and wrath. Would you listen to these words? Because there is wrath, beware! Lest I take thee away with a stroke, then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. And there on the border of the land known as the Holy Land, the ruins of Jericho are still to be seen. Their very archeology record the truthfulness of the Bible. And their walls tell its history as it is already told in the book. Sinner, you can never escape the wrath of Almighty God. It is inescapable. Its epitaph stands as a warning to us all. God's anger, God's wrath is a terrible thing. But secondly, this is a monument to the grace of God in the city of Jericho. And all of that family, daughter, father, mother and brothers, they were all delivered. Why? Why was that one family picked out of God, out of the overthrow of this filthy city? And the leader and member of that family, a woman called Rahab, ran a brothel on the wall. She was an evil, contaminated. So here we have the picture of a sinner, a scarlet sinner, a double-dyed sinner. And she becomes with her family a monument of the grace of God. Because that's what this gospel of ours is about. That God saves people, not because of what they are or who they are, but he saves people because of what Jesus is and what Jesus can do for sinners. Jesus, what a friend for sinners. Jesus, lover of man. And thank God this woman became an ancestress of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the wonder. Read the first chapter of Matthew and you'll find she's mentioned there as an ancestress of our Lord Jesus Christ. An epitaph to God's anger and wrath, a monument to God's grace and salvation. But it's a prophecy to the nations that would come hereafter of God's judgment. God has prophesied certain things that are coming upon the world. When I listen to the BBC and other programs, they mock and laugh at God. They mock and laugh at his word, they mock and laugh at his truth. But I want to say that everything that is recorded in this book will be completely and totally fulfilled. Every I that's dotted, every T that is struck will be fulfilled as it says in this book. I don't care how many devils in hell squeal. I don't care how many scholars ream. I don't care what the nations of this world does. The word of God standeth forever. And everything God has prophesied of this earth shall take place. And I want to say you can't read that book today without being convinced of one great truth. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Jesus is coming again. The heavens shall glow with splendor, but brighter far than they. The saints shall shine in rapture as Christ shall them array. And the beauty of the Savior shall dazzle every eye. And the crowding day that's coming by and by. Jericho fell at a certain time. It fell after God had challenged it and it had refused to challenge. Jericho fell after they marched round its walls six times. There are seven areas of chronology in the Bible. Read the book of Revelation. And it was in the seventh time that the walls of Jericho fell. I believe we're in the seventh chronological age recorded in the Bible. And I believe the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. It was in the seventh time around that Jericho fell. It will be in the seventh chronological era that Jesus will come again. And then it was at the last blast of the trumpet. What does the Bible say? At the last trumpet. At the last trumpet. The trumpet will blow! And this world will have written by the finger of God over it. Finished! Where will you be then, sinner friend? Just ask yourself that question. It's coming to us all. We are all men of time headed for eternity. And the trumpet shall come. Let me ask another question. Why did God curse the rebuilding of Jericho? God cursed the rebuilding of Jericho because the rebuilding of Jericho was opposed to God's testimony against sin. The historical fact is that there came a man called King Ahab. He was a wicked man. And in his day, wickedness reached its height and its depth through the King Ahab's queen, Queen Jezebel. It was an age of terrific. And in that age of darkness, the men turned from the Bible's facts and they turned away from God's warning. And they put their hands to a deed that brought God's wrath. And they started to rebuild Jericho. Do you notice something that it tells us there in that passage in the book of Kings? First Kings 16 and 24. It's very interesting that this should occur. Because this is a prophecy that the Lord gave. And it says in the 24th verse, In the days did Hael the Bethelite. It doesn't say that he was born in Bethel. It says he was the Bethelite. Why does it say that? Because when you read about the finishing days of King Solomon and the dividing of the kingdom into Judah and Israel, something happened. King Jeroboam set up a new religion in Bethel. And that new religion was the religion of idolatry. So here was an idolatrous man setting up in Jericho resurrection the old apostate religion that supplied Agan with his fine Babylonian robe. How wonderful is the Bible. Everything dovetails together completely. And here is a man who was an idolater. And he builds the place of idolatry. What a day was that! 500 years after Joshua made the announcement. The start of rebuilding Jericho took place. And what happened? The foundation was laid. His elder son was slain. And as they came to setting up the gates, his youngest child was born. Because God is a God of eternal truth. And a God that cannot lie. I was thinking today that those who in this nation repeat the sins of their fathers will perish and be punished as their fathers were punished by God himself. And our nation was never at a lower ebb than it is at today. Our nation is destroyed through the curse of apostasy. Darkness is everywhere. The legislation pushed through Europe, pushed through Westminster, is an abomination. I don't know what next they will interfere with in regard to men's lives, in regard to marriage, in regard to the family, in regard to those things that are essential to good society. We live in a dark day of apostasy. But could I tell you something? If you read through the books of Kings, you'll find that some good things happened in Jericho. You'll find that God healed the waters. And you know in the midst of apostasy, God gives his blessing. Because the blessing of God is the blessing of God that maketh rich and out of no sorrow thereto. And we can look today to a healing in the midst of Jericho. The sour waters, the bitter waters, the poisoned waters healed. God threw Elijah a rod, a tree, and by casting that tree into the waters it was healed. Thank God the old tree of the cross has the answer to this world's problems today. Where there is sourness there can be sweetness. Where there is darkness there can be light. Where there is unhappiness and pain and agony, there can be peace, perfect peace. When we get men and women to the cross. Let us every day seek to get men and women to the cross. And let us every day witness to the power of that cross. And even in the darkness of Jericho, God will give light. And we will see days of reviving from the presence of God. And what happened? In Jericho, there was set up a theological school. And it had so many students that they had to go and build a bigger college. In Jericho, where there was a curse because of apostasy, there was blessing because of faithful men who held on to God. God can do anything but feel. He cannot feel. For He is God. And if you are in this service tonight and you have a saving interest in Him, call upon Him now. Trust Him. Say, Lord Jesus, save me. And He will save you now for time and for eternity. Let us bow our heads in prayer. O God our Father, take our thanks for the great truths of Thy Word. Write them upon our hearts. And may we see that even in dark Jericho there is hope. Even in the bitterness of death there is light. Even in the darkness of punishment there can be pardon. Move amongst us today with revival blessings. And to Thy name shall all the glory be. Of the people of God shed. Amen.