All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back with me to Joshua 5. Joshua chapter 5. The Lord has delivered Israel
over the Jordan River. And news of that delivery has
come to the attention of the inhabitants of the land, the
land of Canaan. And the inhabitants are perplexed,
they're really perplexed. Not only because of the vast
numbers of the people that have come over the Jordan into Canaan,
but how they came over. Joshua 5, 1 says, it came to
pass when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side
of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which
were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters
of Jordan from before the children of Israel until we were passed
over, that their heart melted, neither was their spirit in them
anymore because of the children of Israel. You know, how God delivers his people perplexes
the world. As long as I tell men, as men
that are standing in pulpits today, Brad, that are lying on
God, as long as they're telling men, now listen, God wants to
do something for you if you'll let him. He wants to save you. He wants to. He's done all he
can, and now it's up to you. As long as men are hearing that,
and they think that they've got some glory in it, but when you
stand and faithfully proclaim that God Almighty rules in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and
He has mercy upon whom He'll have mercy, Unto whom he'll have
compassion, he has compassion. And it's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. When
you tell them that God has chosen a people from before the foundation
of the world, and given them to Christ, and all that he's
given Christ, Christ laid down his life for them. And God's
gonna save them. And they're going to come to
him. They don't have anything to glory in save the grace of
God. Now, men are perplexed over that.
They were perplexed over how God delivered his people. You
see, the inhabitants of the land, they formerly thought that they
possessed a place of safety. Jordan River don't keep out a
lot of the riffraff. That's what they were thinking.
But knowing that God has driven back the Jordan River, they had
good reason now to fear. Because God's done something
that men couldn't do. And their fear was truly fear,
because God had put fear. Hold your place there and turn
back to Exodus 23. Exodus 23. Look at verses 23, Exodus 23. verse 23 to verse 27. For mine
angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites,
unto the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, and the Hivites,
and the Jebusites, while I cut them off. Thou shalt not bow
down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works,
but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their
images. and you shall serve the Lord
your God and he shall bless thy bread and thy water and I will
take away, take sickness away from the midst of thee. There
shall nothing cast their young nor be barren in thy land. The number of thy days I will
fulfill. I will send my fear, my terror,
my dread before thee. and will destroy all the people
to whom thou shalt come. And I will make all thine enemies
turn their backs unto thee. You know the God we serve is
God. He's God. I love that. I love proclaiming
the sovereign grace of God. God almighty that does as he
will. And he doesn't ask any money. Who art thou? Oh man, that replies
against God. Well, the Lord back in Joshua
5 gave Joshua some specific instructions concerning those that had come
over. I'm gonna read now back in Joshua 5, verses 2 to 12.
Let's look at that. I'm actually gonna be preaching
starting in verse 13. But again, I wanna bring us right
up to where we are. Joshua 5, 2. At that time the Lord said unto
Joshua, make these sharp knives and circumcise again. Not those
that had been circumcised, circumcise them again, but there's going
to be a circumcision. You'll see why right here. Circumcise
them again, the children of Israel, the second time. And Joshua made
him sharp knives and circumcised the children of Israel at the
hill of the foreskins. And this is the cause why Joshua
did circumcise all the people that came out of Egypt that were
males, even all the men of war died in the wilderness, by the
way, after they came out of Egypt. Now, all the people that came
out were circumcised, but all the people that were born in
the wilderness, by the way, as they came forth out of Egypt,
them, they had not circumcised. For the children of Israel walked
40 years, in the wilderness, till all the people that were
men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because
they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, unto whom the Lord
sware that he would not show them the land, which the Lord
sware unto their fathers, that he would give us land that floweth
with milk and honey. And the children whom he raised
up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised,
because they had not circumcised them by the way. And it came
to pass when they had done circumcising all the people that they abode
in their place in the camp till they were made whole. And the
Lord said unto Joshua, this day have I rolled away the reproach
of Egypt from all few. Wherefore the name of the place
is called Gilgal to this day. And the children of Israel camped
in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month
at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn
of the land on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes
and parched corn in the self same day. And the manna ceased
on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the
land. Neither had the children of Israel manna anymore, but
they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. So all that had not been circumcised,
all that were born in the wilderness and had not been circumcised
were. And the Lord commanded that the
seal of the covenant, that's a seal of the everlasting covenant
God's made with his people. Well, there was a seal that was
given to the nation, natural history, that they were the Lord's
people. Here again, a sign, and that
sign was circumcision. So they circumcised all those
that had not been circumcised previously. They, after they
came over, set up those stones, and they observed the Passover
according to the law, and the Lord provided food for them of
the corn that was there in that land that God had made provision. And the manna ceased, and they
ate of the fruit of the land that year. Now here's where we
are. They've come across Jordan, safely delivered, The Lord's
had all those that were not circumcised to be so. And now the Lord has
stopped the manna, because he's given them food now over there.
And they were traveling, while they were in the wilderness,
they were traveling, they didn't raise crops and stuff. God gave
them something to eat, now they're over there. Now they're in the
land of promise, and God has stopped the manna. Now here's
where we are, this is where we're gonna look at today. Verse 13,
and it came to pass, Joshua was by Jericho. He lifted up his
eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against
him with a sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went unto him and
said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? Now, here's something that God
Almighty has eternally purposed. I love to say, and it came to
pass, It always does. Joshua had his path crossed with
the Lord of glory. Now the reason I can faithfully,
truthfully say, and I'm not going to go into chapter 6 today, but
in verse 2 of chapter 6 it said, after we deal with what we're
gonna do to it, it said, and the Lord said unto Joshua, see,
I have given unto thine hand Jericho. So I know it's the Lord.
You know it's the Lord, but the scripture says that it's the
Lord. So divine providence has caused this vessel of God's mercy
to be exactly where the Lord would meet him. So here's Joshua,
verse 13, it comes to pass. Joshua lifts up his eyes, and
he looks, and there's a man standing there, and he's got a sword in
his hand. And Joshua beheld what he thought
was no more than a man standing against him with his sword drawn. Now, here's a great trial of
Joshua's faith is gonna be unfolding here. God is standing, before
Joshua in the form of a man. And Joshua didn't know, he didn't
know who he was. It made me think, how often,
how often has the Lord, even though we don't experience the
actual visible sight of the Lord Jesus Christ, how often He is
the ever-present. He said this, I will never leave
you. Neil, I wish I believed that
like I'll. I'll never leave you. And I'm all down and out, perplexed,
and I'm thinking, mumble, mumble, mumble. I'm not
going to leave you. And here, here, here's, here's,
This man, the man Christ Jesus, with his sword drawn, that sword
that's either gonna be the sword of his vengeance, or it's gonna
be the sword of his word, the two-edged sword that cuts, that's
going to convict and bring his people to themselves. But his
sword, his word, his word is standing there. And the eyes
of Joshua He didn't know who he was. And surely being restrained. Now here's Joshua. He's come across Jordan and he
knows that there's gonna be a fight. And God's already told him. He
said, nobody's gonna stand before you. I'm gonna give you deliverance.
And he walks across and here's a man standing there with a sword
in his hand. And the scripture says he went up to him. And he
asks this question, art thou for us or for our adversaries?
Now I understand that question. And Joshua didn't know it was
the Lord. He didn't know he was. The man
obviously wasn't with the group that Joshua just came over with.
Obviously he recognized that. And he knows that the Lord has
given the land into the hands of Israel, so logically, he just,
I mean, this is an assumption I can understand. Are you for
us or them? Who are you for? Are you for
us or for our adversaries? Now, you know, as I looked at
that, I thought, how merciful the Lord is. The scripture says, The Apostle
Paul was moved to say, my God shall supply all your need, all
your riches and glory by Christ Jesus, all your need. And I thought
to myself when this man appeared, standing with a sword in his
hand, how the need of Joshua was being met right here. You
know, when the Lord appeared to Abraham, he appeared to Abraham
when Abraham was in the wilderness there as a sojourner. And the
Lord appeared to him before the Lord sent those angels into Sodom. You remember how the Lord appeared
to Abraham as a traveler? He appeared to Abraham. Here
comes the Lord and these two angels that were with him. That's
whenever the Lord spoke to Abraham and he told him. Of course, Abraham's
wife, Sarah, was barren. And the Lord appeared as a traveler
Coming out of the desert, he walks up, and Abraham spoke to
him. And the Lord told him, he said,
this time next year, your wife's gonna have a baby. And Sarah laughed, you remember
that? The Lord asked, why did she laugh? And she said, I didn't
laugh. He said, yeah, you did. He appeared to Abraham, associating
himself with Abraham as a trafficker. And then whenever the Lord met
with Moses, remember how he met with Moses for the first time?
He was in a burning bush, a bush that was not consumed, a picture
of glory, of the God made flesh, that little bramble bush picture
of the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the fire that didn't
concern the bush, a picture of the glory. of Almighty God, and
here he appears to Moses as one that's gonna be sent to tell
Pharaoh, you go tell Pharaoh that I want my people to be let
go. And God's gonna show Pharaoh,
he's gonna show Moses, he's gonna show all the people how he's
gonna deliver his people out of Egypt, yes, but from the bondage
of sin. How's he gonna do it? He's gonna
do it in the Redeemer, in the Messiah. God made flesh, that's
how he met with Moses. And God sent Israel over the
Jordan River. And he's gonna send them over
the Jordan River because there's gonna be a fight. And God tells
him, he said, I'm gonna give you the land. The Amorites and
the Hittites and the Perizzites They're not gonna stand before
you. You're gonna go, you're gonna do battle. You're gonna
do battle. But I'm gonna be with you. How did the Lord meet Joshua?
There's a man standing there with a sword. Standing there
before God, I mean, standing there before Joshua is God Almighty. A man of war. That's what Moses
was moved to say in Exodus 15, three. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord, capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital T, is his name. So standing before Almighty
God, without divine revelation, Joshua asked, art thou for us
or for our adversaries? You know, I think about that
question and I think, you know what Moses told Korah and that
group that stood against Moses there in the wilderness? Korah
told him and his compadres, he said, Moses, you take too much
on your hand. You're taking way too much. God's for us, Korah
said. Moses said, you get your censor. You all, you get your censors.
and you meet me here, and we're gonna let God decide this. We're
gonna find out who's on the Lord's side. Are you on our side or
their side? It ain't but one side, and it's
His. It's His. Are you on our side
or their side? Oh, and I listened, back in Joshua
5, I listened to how the Lord answers in verse 14, and He said,
nay. You know what that word nay means? Neither, no, neither. You on our side or their side?
Neither. He said, but as captain, the
prince of the host of the Lord, am I now come. And Joshua fell
on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him,
what saith my Lord unto his servant? Joshua immediately, when the
man spoke by the grace of God, Joshua heard with new ears, and
God's people do, they do. I realize that this gospel goes
out preached by frail creatures of dust, I know that. But I know
this, if God Almighty gives ears to hear, then you're gonna hear,
you'll hear. If he doesn't, you won't. You're on our side or
their side. I'm not on anybody's side, neither.
I am the prince. I'm the captain. I'm the captain
of the Lord's host. And Joshua fell on his face. This was the one that Isaiah
He said, I saw, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up. He said, whose train fills the
temple, above which stood the seraphims, and each one had six
wings, two to cover their face, two to cover their feet, and
two to fly, and those seraphims cried one to another, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. I'm the captain of the host of
the Lord. The whole earth is full of his
glory. He's captain of the host in heaven,
and he's captain of the host in earth. Hold your place, turn
to Exodus 12. Exodus 12. Exodus 12, 40 to 41. Exodus 12, 40. Now the sojourning
of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years. It came to pass at the end of
the 430 years, even the self same day came to pass, that all
the host of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. I told
you that people that came out, they were a picture. All natural
Israel came out of Egypt. Those that came out of Egypt,
Egypt being a picture of bondage, the bondage of sin, darkness. And those people that came out,
they were a picture, they were a type of the host of the Lord,
the Lord's people. That was a picture of deliverance
from the bondage. So he's the host, he's the host
of heaven, the captain of the host of earth. And now Joshua
knows. He's standing before him. And
he prostrates himself and he humbles himself and he seeks
his will. Now, if this had been merely
an angel, if it had been an angel, that angel would have absolutely
rebuked Joshua. Right there. Right there. In
Revelation 22, eight and nine, it says, and I, John, saw these
things and I heard them. And when I had heard and seen,
I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed
these It showed me these things before the feet of the angel,
and then saith he unto me, see thou do it not, for I am thy
fellow servant, and of thy brethren, the prophets, and of them that
keep the sayings of this book. You worship God. Whenever Joshua fell down and
worshiped before the Lord, the Lord who was worthy to be worshiped
accepted it. The message of the Lord is to
be received reverently. The messenger who is not the
Lord is just that. He's just a messenger. He's to
be heard because of the one whom he speaks is not to be worshiped. Here Joshua worships and he says
something here that I want to make a special note. Now I'll
try to wrap this up. Here's the evidence of one that
truly hears from God. And what he says in verse 14,
Thou for us, or for our adversaries, nay, but as captain of the host
of the Lord, I'm a now come. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth, and he did worship. Now he worshiped. That's a note. Let's take note of that. He worshiped.
And I began to consider, we talk about worship. I'll tell you a passage of scripture
that, to me, gives me as clear an explanation of what it is
to worship. I know all this stuff, you know,
people, you know, I've said before, I've watched this, I've been
in places where this silliness took place, and they're going,
we're going to have a praise and worship service, praise and
worship. And what they do is they raise
their hands, And you have to put your head back a little bit
and close your eyes and kind of move your head a little bit
too and do like this. You have to do like this. And
I think to myself, okay, you've got your reward. Everybody sees
you. They see you. They see you. What is it to worship? Philippians 3.3, for we are the
circumcision. circumcised in heart, filth of
our sin put away. We are the circumcision, which
worship God in spirit, not in these outward signs, worship
in spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus, not
in what we've done, what he did, Not what we can accomplish, what
he accomplished and finished. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. That person worships, worships. To truly worship God is a marvelous
gift from above. To bow in heart and to possess
of an understanding of our own sinfulness and our need of Him
and to submit to Him and to worship. That's not natural to the carnal
man. That's not natural. Those granted
a heart to worship, they, in heart, they bow, bow to His revelation,
not to our reason, not to what we think. Well, I think, it don't
matter what I think. What does the Lord say? Well,
what if I don't understand what he's saying? What difference
does it make if I don't understand it? If the Lord's pleased, he's
gonna do like Brother Scott told me when I questioned something
that somebody did. I've told you before, Scott told
me, he said, Lord, teach him, Lord, teach him. I don't understand
everything I read. I pray that God will reveal it
to me. But it doesn't mean, because I don't understand it, that doesn't
make it not so. It's so, it's so. He bowed, the scripture said,
and he worshiped. And he said this, this is what
I was gonna say, there's something we ought to look at right here
and I'll wrap it up. Joshua fell on his face to the
earth and did worship and said unto him, what saith my Lord
unto his servant? He worshiped. and said, what
do you say? There's no worship, obviously,
that is better than hearing the gospel preached. If you want
to know the essence of worship, be where God's speaking. He said,
what sayeth my Lord unto his servant? What do you say? When
we assemble ourselves together, asking the Lord, Lord, what do
you say? What do you say today? Lord,
what do you have to say? It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter what men say. What do you want to say? We come
today, I felt, led of the Lord to preach out of these two chapters
in Joshua. Joshua 4, Joshua 5. Lord, what
do you say? Worship is that heart that desires
to hear the word of the Lord, the preaching of the gospel.
We hear that, I said before, we hear what great things the
Lord has done for us. What would you say? The captain
of the Lord's host, verse 15, said unto Joshua, this is what
I say. This is what I say. Loose thy
shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is
holy. And Joshua did so. Lord, what do you say? You humble yourself before me.
That's what I say. You're brought down. by grace
and mercy. Ecclesiastes 5.1 says this, keep
thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready
to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not
that they do evil. You know, shoes, obviously, humanly
speaking, that speaks of our comfort, our protection while
we walk. But you know, when I go home
at night, I want to take my shoes off and I want to rest. I want
to rest. Lord, what do you say? You rest
in me. Keep thy foot. I looked this
up to make sure I knew what it was saying. Guard, attend to,
and give heed to your pace, to your walk. Keep thy foot when
thou goest to the house of God. When you go to the house of the
Lord, be more ready or approach to hear, and hear by revelation. be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools, things that men think that they're
going to do for God because they don't consider what they're doing
is evil. Joshua met the man of war, the
man that said, the God man that said, They're not gonna stand before
you. And Joshua knew this man, as by the grace of God, allowed
us to be on his side. And he bowed. May the Lord bless
you.