Turn with me to Joshua chapter
five tonight. Last week, we saw four things
that God used to reveal and to assure Israel that they'd been
returned and restored to his favor. First, if you remember,
was circumcision. In verse 8 here of chapter 5,
we read that, and it came to pass, when they had done circumcising
all the people that they abode in their places in the camp till
they were whole. All those that God had spared
under the age of 20 that wandered in the wilderness for 40 years,
and all the male children that were born in the wilderness during
that 40 years, were now circumcised. And I remind you that circumcision
represented the covenant promise that God made with Abraham. And the circumcision of the hearts
of God's people represents our redemption by the wounding of
Christ's flesh and the shedding of his blood. And this was a
sign, or this is a sign of God's covenant with his people. And secondly, the Passover, verse
10, and the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal and kept the
Passover on the 14th day of the month, that even in the plains
of Jericho. And the Passover, I remind you,
declares to us that Christ alone is our righteousness and our
acceptance with God. Christ was made sin for us that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Christ, the Passover
Lamb, shed His blood, and His blood is applied upon our circumcised
hearts. were given the perfect righteousness
of Christ in the eyes of God, and what a blessing that is.
Thirdly, was the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, verse 11, and
they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after
the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the same
day, and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread pictures and illustrates
to us that Christ is our sinless, unleavened bread and our sustenance. We feed upon Christ. He gave
us life and he keeps us alive. And there's no other way to be
saved and kept except through the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
fourthly, we saw the cessation or the ceasing of manna, verse
12. And the manna ceased on the morrow
after they had eaten of the old corn of the land, and neither
had the children of Israel manna any more. But they did eat of
the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." God stopped the manna
that day because it was no longer needed. Why didn't they need
it? Because God had fulfilled His
promise. They were now in the promised
land, in that land that flowed with milk and honey. And that
term, milk and honey, simply means agricultural abundance,
fertile land. It was a good land and it brought
forth much fruit. And now they ate of that fruit.
Up to this point, they had looked to heaven for their daily provisions,
but now all their needs would be fulfilled in the land that
God gave them. God provides all our needs in
Christ Jesus. And Jesus Christ is the one thing
needful. The believers crossed spiritual
Jordan. We've talked about that, picturing
our baptism into his death. And we enter into God's kingdom
and being born now from above, we feed upon Christ and we never
hunger or thirst again. We're assured of victory. over
all our enemies because our Lord goes before us fighting every
battle for us. And by the grace of God, I pray
that we again tonight can see that every time we meet together,
Christ, our Lord, our Savior is a mighty warrior who cannot
fail. He cannot fail. God cannot fail. He would cease to be God if he
did. And what a picture in the verses before us of God's people,
his church, going into battle in this world with the preaching
of the gospel. That's the great commission.
Our Lord said, go into all the world and preach the gospel.
And that's what we as God's people endeavor to do. Now look at verse
13. And it came to pass, there's that phrase again, as we mentioned
last time, and every time we read it, we know that it's God
that brought it to pass. And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,
there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his
hand, and Joshua went up to him. And he said unto him, art thou
for us? or for our adversaries. Now here we find Joshua no doubt
in prayer or in deep meditation before he leads Israel into battle.
He lifts up his eyes and a man appears before him, a warrior,
and he's standing in a offensive position. He's got his sword
drawn. And verse 13 shows us that Joshua is a man that believes
God. God had told him in chapter one,
verse five, he said, there shall not any man be able to stand
before thee all the days of thy life as I was with Moses. So I'll be with thee and I will
not fail thee nor forsake thee. He believed God. I wouldn't believe
God. I do believe God, but as we talked
about, Sunday helped out my unbelief, so full of unbelief. If we could
truly get our eyes on Christ, our great warrior, and believe
what he tells us, that the battle's over, it's finished, the war's
already won. Maybe we wouldn't be so doubtful.
And we see that Joshua was a man of great courage. If you remember
him and Caleb were the only two out of the 12 spies that came
back from Canaan some 40 years before this and said, let's take
the land. Everybody else said, oh, they're
giants over there. There's high walled cities. It's just too much. We've gotten
ourself into a mess. And Joshua and Caleb said, let's
go. Let's take it right now. God promised he'd give it to
us, and we believe God. Let's go. All for that kind of
faith. He's a man of courage. And he's
now the captain and leader of his people. As you know, Moses
is dead. And that's why we find him in
prayer here. He bears the responsibility of
his office. He's in deep consideration of
what lies ahead. Somewhat like our Lord in Gethsemane's
garden, of course, nowhere near the same, but our Lord's in Gethsemane's
garden, sweat as it were, great drops of blood for what lie ahead. He was going to war for his people. Our Lord asked this question
in Luke chapter 14, verse 31. He said, what king, going to
make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth
whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against
him with 20,000? And we're told that when Joshua
lifted up his eyes and he saw this man in this battle posture
with sword drawn, that he approached him. He gives no indication of
fear, no indication of hesitation or restraint in his advancing. He immediately went to him. And
he speaks to this man, this warrior, directly, and Joshua's words
could be very well construed as fighting words. He asked,
are you for us or are you against us? Are you with us or are you
with our adversaries? And it seems, as they say, Joshua's
throwing down the gauntlet. He seems to be challenging and
even confronting. He's a man on a mission. And
he will not be denied. And, you know, it wasn't uncommon
for warring countries to send out one man from each side, their
best warriors, to do battle for the whole nation. That's pretty
much what we had in the story of David and Goliath. Remember,
Goliath challenged Israel daily. Is there no one in Israel that'll
come out and fight me? And David visited the camp, and
remember what David asked? You see, he was a man who believed
God. A young man, but he believed God. And he asked, for who is
this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies
of the living God? You see, as a youth, as a young
shepherd, God had delivered him from a
lion and a bear, and David said, the Lord that delivered me out
of the pawl of the lion and of the pawl of the bear, he'll deliver
me out of the hand of this Philistine. in a sovereign God. And we ought
to be. And that's why I love the sovereignty
of God. I'm convinced that we couldn't
truly worship a God that wasn't sovereign. That was all my life. The God that I heard about was
a God that was wanting to and trying. He was a weakling. And
I had no respect for him. I had no fear of him. And then
one day, in the providence of God, God crossed my path with
a preacher that told me the truth about God. And I can remember
all so well, thinking, there's a God that I can worship. There's a God that's deserving
of my worship. There's a God that I can trust
my soul with. There's a God who's able to do
exceeding, abundantly above all that I could think or ask. Aren't
you glad that God revealed himself to you? I certainly am. Confidence in a sovereign God
will enable and cause the child of God to fear nothing. Now, if the answer to Joshua's
question to this warrior brought about a negative response, it
would no doubt be a call to do battle. And Joshua approaches
this man without fear, for every elect child of God, like Joshua,
is strengthened by God's promise to them. I mean, really, what
do we have to fear when God has said, I'll never leave you nor
forsake you? God had said, and ye shall dispose
the habitants of the land and dwell therein, for I have given
you the land to possess it. Remember, that was God who told
him that. God had said, I'll send my fear before you and I'll
destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, I will. And I'll make all thine enemies
turn their backs unto thee. And Joshua believed God. Now the warrior with whom Joshua
speaks answers him with one of the most powerful words in, I
suppose, any language. It's often a very difficult word
to say. His first words here in verse
14 are, nay or no, nay or no. There's a song that says, sorry
seems to be the hardest word. Well, it may be, but no's right
there close. It's hard to say no, isn't it? But that word no means determiner. It's a negative answer that one
determines to give. It's a negative decision that
one governs to make. Now, many commentators believe
that this warrior is saying no to the second part of Joshua's
question, saying that he was not for the adversaries. But as this warrior reveals who
he is, the answer to Joshua's question, to me, seems to be
no on both accounts. He's not saying that he's not
for Joshua. Joshua's words are the words
of a general who has a right to ask. But the response from
this warrior are the words of the general, the general of all
generals, the Lord of all lords, and the king of all kings. And
in verse 14, and he said, nay, but as captain of the host of
the Lord, Am I now come? I can't help but immediately my
mind go to the fact that Christ came into the world to save sinners. I've come. Christ came to seek
and to save that which was lost. And friends, He's now come. And
there's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
because He has come. And He's fulfilled the law and
He's paid the debt of sin for His people. He satisfied God's
law and justice on their account. What a glorious thing that God
in the flesh has come. And Joshua falls on his face
to the earth and he worshiped and he said unto Him, what saith
my Lord? Unto his servant. Joshua is again reminded that
though he's a captain, Christ is the captain. What relief and
comfort I have in knowing that I am not in control of anything,
especially my salvation. That doesn't worry or concern
me that I'm not in control of anything because I know who He
is. He's the captain of all captains. He's the Lord of all lords. He's
the King of all kings. And He's my Savior. He loved
me and gave Himself for me. And what relief that is to me,
because if I can do something to be saved, then I can do something
to be lost. But I can't be lost because of
who it is that obtained eternal redemption for me. I just wish we could enter into
that as we all. We'd find so much comfort and
peace and rest right there knowing who it is that paid the debt
of sin for us. Now the question here is not,
are you for us or for them? His reply is no. If I may, use my own words, he's saying,
no, I'm the one in charge of it all. I'm the one running this show.
The result of this war is not if I'm on your side. And the
result of this war is not whether or not you're on my, is whether
or not you're on my side. That's the issue. Are you on
the Lord's side? Whose side is the Lord on? No,
the question is always, who's on the Lord's side? You know,
after Israel and Aaron made the golden calf, Moses stood in the
gate of the camp, and he said, who's on the Lord's side? That's
what he asked. Who's on the Lord's side? He
said, let them come unto me. And those that came were spared,
and yet 3,000 men died that day. You remember that? Now it's true
that if God be for us, who can be against us? But if God is
for us, friends, it's only because we're in Christ. If God loves
you, it's because He loves Christ and you're found in Him. And
being in Christ, we're on the Lord's side. Now the description
this mighty warrior gives of himself here leaves absolutely
no doubt whatsoever in Joshua's mind, or in ours for that matter,
who this is. He's not only the captain, he's
the captain of the host of the Lord. God the Father said, behold,
I've given him for a witness to the people, a leader, and
commander to the people." Isaiah 55, 4. And the Lord delivered
Israel. After the Lord delivered Israel
at the Red Sea, they sung, the Lord is my strength and song,
and He has become my salvation. What's your salvation? The Lord
is my salvation. He's my God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God. And I'll prepare Him a habitation
My Father's God, and I'll exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name. And secondly,
this man, this Captain of the Host, he's Captain of the Host, but
he's the Captain of the Host of the Lord. He's the Captain
of Jehovah. He's Captain of Savior. He is our Savior. He's the captain
of our salvation, Hebrews 2.10. And then fourthly, he said, I'm
now come. And immediately we need to ask,
where did he come from? Well, this man is none other
than Jehovah himself. And this is a pre-incarnate manifestation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the response of Joshua is
always the response of those who come face-to-face with the
Lord. Now, when I say face-to-face, I really mean heart-to-heart.
I know that no man has seen God face-to-face. One day we will.
And I'm looking forward to that. This is amazing. Here Joshua,
who is a type of the Lord Jesus, bows to the one he typifies. Now the prophecy bows to the
prophet. The shadow of righteousness bows
to the son of righteousness. And the picture bows to the express
image. Isn't that amazing? And this
is not only the proper way to respond, but it's the only way
to respond to the revelation of who Christ is. And I'm convinced
that we'll never see our need of Christ until we see Him as
He is. I can remember years ago as a
young preacher, I don't even know if I qualified to be called
a preacher, but I remember Brother Mahan very specifically saying,
We ought to include these three things in every message. How
holy God is, how sinful and wretched we are, and how the two can be
reconciled together. You see, that's the gospel. How
a thrice holy God and a wretched, depraved sinner like me can be
brought back together in fellowship. And there's only one way. Through
our mighty warrior, Our Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ. John the
Beloved said, And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.
Amen. And have the keys of hell and
of death. When we truly see who Christ
is, we'll bow. We will. We bow to God's great
and mighty warrior. We won't argue about our will. We won't desire to have our way.
We take sides with God against ourselves, like that poor woman
in Mark 7 did. And we bow to His sovereign will
and providence in all things. He does all things well. Let's
trust Him. We don't do anything right. Let's
trust Him. At His feet is a place well suited
for us. You know, and it was in the passage
there in Mark we read, she fell at His feet. That's the place
that Ruth was found. She took the place at the kinsman
redeemer's feet. That's where the lady with the
issue of blood was found. She touched the hem of His garment
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we don't stand at
Moses' feet. We'll never repent there. Never.
All the blessings of God are found at Christ's feet. That's
the place where help is found. There's no higher place than
to be at His feet. That's the place intercession
is made. That's the place where thanks
and glory are given. Now the earthly Joshua is here
found at the heavenly Joshua's feet. He who is divinely present with
us, the captain of the host of the Lord, has come to lead Joshua
and his people to victory. And He's come to do the same
for His people today. And that's why we can rest and
find comfort. Joshua doesn't say, what will
you have me to do? Joshua doesn't ask, what will
you do for me? He simply in adoration declares
who this is, and at the same time, He plainly professes what
He Himself is. He says, what does my Lord say
to His servant? You're the Lord, I'm your servant. You're the Lord, you're the King
of kings, the Lord of lords, you're the captain of all captains,
I'm your servant. Whatever you say, whatever you
determine, whatever you purpose, I'm fine with that, because I'm
your servant. I want to be a faithful servant.
We are His servants. And many today seem to have that
backwards, don't they? They act as though God is there
to wait on us hand and foot and provide our every whim and every
desire. But that's not how it works.
And this is the true understanding of God's sovereignty. Whatever
the Lord says, He'll do. And we're fine with that. Because
we know He's working all things after the counsel of His own
will. And at the same time, He's working all things together for
our good. And I say that often, but I just love to think about
that. Don't you? I love to think about that. God's
on His throne. He's ruling. He's reigning. He's
working all things just the way He wants to. And at the same
time, it's always for my good. Always. The people are His people's
good. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back?" He spoke the worlds into existence.
He said, let there be light, and there was light. He purposes, and it shall be
done. It just can't be turned back. Now, I know religious people
who believe that a man is in bondage to the words of their
mouth. They say that by the words of
your mouth, we overthrow God's will and purpose. There was a
period of time where we were around folks, and if you said
something like, you know, I feel like I'm getting sick, they say,
oh, don't say that. Don't say that. You're snared
by the words of your mouth. You can tie God's hands by the
words that you speak. No, you cannot. None can stay
his hand. You can't put God in handcuffs.
You can't stay God's hand. You can't tie God's hand. And
these same folks are always looking for signs and wonders. You ever
noticed that? Oh, this is a miracle. And that
was a miracle. You know what a miracle is? That
God would save a no good wretched like me, a wretched man like
me. That's a true miracle. We have the Lord's Word. We have
faith that's grounded in what He has said. It's the most glorious
possession that we have, whether we know it or not, is this book,
God's Word. It has all the answers to what's
the meaning of life? Well, I don't know, but it's
in this book. And it's to worship the Lord Jesus, who loved me
and gave Himself for me. His word is the power of God
unto salvation. How can a man be saved? It's
in this book. It's in this book. His word endures forever. Joshua
just simply says, my Lord, what sayest thou? That's faith's response
to a sovereign Lord. What do you say, Lord? What do
you will, Lord? What's your will and purpose? Help me to bow to your will and
purpose in all things. And Joshua's response teaches
us three things, and I'll finish up. First, we see that the believer's
ready to do whatever the Lord says. We don't butt and kick against
the pricks. No, we, yes, Lord, yes, Lord. We have a readiness of mind and
a willingness of heart to hear the word of the Lord and respond
accordingly. Remember what Mary told those
at the marriage feast? Whatever he says, do. Secondly, our response should
always magnify the Lord Jesus, should always magnify God. Joshua's
captain becomes subservient to his captain, ascribing greatness
to him. When we see who Christ is, I'll
say it again, we give glory to His name for the great things
that He's done. The Lord has done great things
for us, whereof we are glad. And aren't we? And thirdly, Joshua is willing
to wait on the Lord. True faith always is willing
to wait on the Lord. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for Him, the scripture says. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him. To the soul that seeketh Him,
it's good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord. And look at verse 15. And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy feet, For
the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. You see, friends, wherever the
Lord is, that's holy ground. I hear people talking about planning
a vacation to go to the holy land. Nothing holy about that
land. How divine is the Lord's presence?
In the Lord's presence, the ground on which we stand is holy ground,
and it's there that we should wait, and Joshua did so. Lord,
teach me to wait patiently. We want it right now. That's
just our nature. We want it right now. We want
it quick. We want it fast, and we want
it bigger and better than what we asked. The God-man stands in the midst
of God's people, and he assures, and he comforts them by saying,
lo, I am with you. I am with you always, even to
the ends of the earth and to the end of the world. According
to God's word, Christ is present with us even now. You ever think
about that when we meet together, excuse me. Where two or three
are gathered in his name, he's in our midst. The Lord is here
right now. We can't see him. But that didn't
change the fact that he's here. Wherever his people meet together
in his name, preaching his gospel to unsearchable riches of his
mercy and grace, he's in their midst. For where two or three are gathered,
I'm in the midst of them. Joshua took off his shoes and
he waited. Oh, may we, like Joshua, take
the dusty and dirty sandals of our hearts off, these calloused
hearts. We can't do it. God's got to
do it for us. But may we, God, enable us to
believe that we're truly standing on holy ground. Every time we
open this book and proclaim Christ, that's what we're doing. We're
standing on holy ground. We're in the midst of our great
captain, the Lord Jesus, and our victory is in Him. The thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where it
is.