All right, I'm gonna go ahead
and get started. So if you would, turn with me to Joshua 5, Joshua
5. Joshua 5, 13 through 15 is what
I'm gonna read. 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 unto him and
said unto him, art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he
said, nay. But as captain 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? And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. This account is just before they
were gonna go into Jericho. And as we see here, Joshua sees
a man with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua asked, whose
side are you on? Ours or theirs? And it's amazing,
I mean, when I first read this of how it says this, and Walter,
of course, pointed this out in one of his messages, and it just
caused me to wanna look at this, and I'd read it before. But this
man's answer was this, nay or no, neither one, not on your
side and not on your enemy's side. This man said he was come
as leader of the army of heaven, that is, captain of the host.
In hearing who it was that was speaking to him, Joshua had an
immediate response. He fell on his face in the dirt.
He did not begin to tell the Lord of Hosts, well, let me tell
you what I think we should do. A lot of people who serve the
God of their imagination do this, though, thinking they are serving
the God of Scripture. They have in their mind what
they think they can do for God, but they do not recognize the
Lord of Hosts. And he does not need anything
from anyone. What does Joshua do or say? He says, what do you
say to your servant, Lord? What you say is important because
of who you are. What I have to say is of no importance. Where the Lord of hosts is is
a totally set apart place because he is totally set apart from
anyone or anything. There's none like unto him. The
only thing Joshua could do was what he was told to do. He was
told to take off his shoes because his works were of no worth here.
And it says he did so. Not too many religious folks
want to serve a God like that where the only thing that matters
is what he says. So I want to talk about the following
things today. There is none like unto him.
All things are for his glory. He is almighty, but he is merciful,
and he makes friends from enemies. So first, number one, there is
none like unto him. The Lord of hosts is not on your
side or your enemy's side. The Lord is the Lord of hosts,
and he is on his side. The question immediately becomes,
whose side am I on, or whose side are you on? We get a glimpse
of who this Lord of Hosts is and his might in the surrounding
verses and chapters. First, let's talk about what
happens next in Joshua. They're told to march around
the city one time for six days. And the priests are blowing the
trumpets as they go around the city. The people were not to
make a sound. Then on the seventh day, they
were to march around the city seven times. and the priests
blowing their trumpets as before. On the seventh time when the
trumpets were blown, the people were told to shout. After that,
the walls came tumbling down. Now let me ask you, what military
operation would have that in their war book? Walk around the
city that you're gonna besiege and blow trumpets and then shout
one time? Do you think any one of them would think marching
around the city blowing trumpets and giving a shout at the last
would bring down walls? This is not any kind of plan
in man's war book. But we're talking about the Lord
of Hosts, Captain of Hosts. He can do what he wills, when
he wills, and it will be successful. All he has to do is say the word.
He needs nothing from man. This shows us that God has all
the might. Just by doing what God had told
them, the walls came down. We read of nothing else happening.
It does not say there was an earthquake or anything like that.
The walls just fell down. So I believe that it happened
just that way. No earthquake, no other thing
other than what the Lord of Hosts told them to do, and it is He
that brought the walls down. He told them he had already given
them the city. Remember Gideon, Judges 7-2,
and the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee
are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands,
lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own
hand hath saved me. God will make it so you have
no reason to think that you have anything to do with your salvation.
If he is fighting for you, he will make sure you know it was
not by your power or might. If he doesn't, then you're not
on the Lord's side. But what does he go on to say
in Judges? Judges 7, 3, now therefore go to proclaim in the ears of
the people, saying, whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him
return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And there returned
of the people 20 and 2,000, and there remained 10,000. At this point, there's 10,000
men who would be going against a much larger number group of
people, a number that couldn't be numbered. But then God whittles
it down even further, if you will. He says this in Judges
7, 4, and the Lord said unto Gideon, the people are yet too
many. bring them down into the water,
and I will try them for thee there. And it shall be that of
whom I say unto thee, this shall go with thee, the same shall
go with thee. And of whomsoever I say unto
thee, this shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. When God was done, there were
300 men that went to go fight this large number of enemy. God
does use men. But he does it in such a way
that it is apparent that the might and power is not of them,
but of God. Job found out who this God is,
didn't he? If you would turn over to Job
38, Job 38. We'll just read a few verses
of God speaking to Job, Job 38. Job 38 verse 1. Then the Lord
answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkeneth
counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a
man, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast
thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou
hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof,
if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line
upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid
the corner stone thereof? Now just go down to 16 through
18. Hast thou entered into the springs
of the sea? Or hast thou walked in the search
of the depth? Have the gates of death been
opened unto thee? Or hast thou seen the doors of
the shadow of death? Hast thou perceived breadth of
the earth? Declare thou declare if thou
knowest it all. When did God consult any man
when creating all that there is both in heaven and in earth?
Psalm 115.3 says, but our God is in the heavens. He hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. I know this world does not like
this, but God does it as He pleases. Psalm 135, six, we read, whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven and in earth, in the
seas and all deep places. It has been said before, and
rightfully so, even the dust particles that you see in the
room from time to time, those are all there for God's purpose. But this same God who controls
even the sea and the winds also controls man. We read in Proverbs
21.1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the
rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. And as
others have said, if he can turn the heart of a king whithersoever
he wills, he's not gonna have any problem with us. I do want to say this though.
The same power and sovereignty that shows God is awesome and
terrible and great is the same power and sovereignty that brings
comfort to some. What did Rahab say about those
at Jericho? Our heart did melt. Some there
found no comfort, nothing but fear. But there was one, Rahab,
that found comfort, and that by faith. We know the scripture
says, and this is a rhetorical statement, if God be for us,
who can be against us? The answer is a resounding, no
one. If God is not for you, you are
against the Lord of hosts. He is for those who are with
him. But we know the Lord of hosts
fights for some. The Lord of hosts is on his side,
but he does fight for some. We have an example of him fighting
for some right here in the book of Joshua. He fights for some
and others he utterly destroys. I want to be on the Lord of hosts
side, don't you? If you are like I was, or like me in this flesh, and
you have that thought that I've told you before, if that is who
God is, then I don't want a God like that. First of all, if you're
hearing words like I'm telling you from this book, you are hearing
who God is. He is for himself. All that is
being done is to his honor and glory. But maybe, just maybe,
you are coming to that place where you realize, I cannot do
what God has said. You cannot gain it by your own
doing, that is salvation and fellowship with God. If I'm against
God, I will be utterly destroyed. I thank God we read the following
in scripture. I was found of them that sought
me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. Well, how in the world do I find
God if I don't seek him or ask for him? It sounds like an impossible
thing, doesn't it? I do want to say this. Knowing
God is not because you are smarter than anyone else. You will not
find God by intellectual prowess. You can read the scripture from
cover to cover and know by memory every word in the book, but still
not know God. You can know certain facts. People
quote these all the time. But you can know he created all
things, even man. You can know he is in sovereign
control of all things. You can know he predestinated
a people for his name. You can know he was born of a
virgin, died on the cross, put in a tomb, and raised again the
third day. But yet not know him. All these
things are true. First of all, God is the cause
of all things, and He must know you. There will be some, and
we've read this before, there will be some who think they serve
God. They think they, they will think that they were saved, in
other words. Matthew 7, 21. Not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. God is on his side. But again,
man's wisdom will never reveal God to anyone, 1 Corinthians
1, 20 and 21. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Salvation is by revelation. He must reveal Himself to you
before you will ever know Him. He will come to you through the
preaching of the gospel, having given you life, spiritual life,
and reveal to you that He is the Lord of hosts. The scripture
is full of the truth about man as it relates to God. There's
none righteous. And if you're ever to have communion
and fellowship with God, you must be righteous. There's none
that understandeth. Job found this out, didn't he?
There's none that seeketh after God. That is what God tells us
in his word about us. We, by nature, think we can get
to God our own way. We, by nature, do not care what
God says about it, only that we feel good about what we think
or say or do. For many folks, I'm afraid all
they think about is numbers. If that many people were following
this thing, it must be right, correct? Many have that kind
of thought about God. But as we have seen, God does
not show his power through man. He shows his power in spite of
man. God does big things with small
things. All of us are just clay pots
and we have no strength of our own. But God, he is in the heavens
and hath done whatsoever he has pleased. All that is done is
to his honor and glory. So number two, all things are
for his glory. Turn with me to Romans 11. Romans
11. Romans 11 starting in verse 33. Oh the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his
judgment and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind
of the Lord, who hath been his counselor, or who hath first
given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For
of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom
be glory forever. Amen. I'm not going to figure out God.
His will is paramount, and His will will be done. regardless
if I fight against it or not. By nature, I do fight against
God, to no avail, I would add. Ephesians 1, 4 through 6, we
read, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace. wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved." God from the beginning purposed
all things. He did this to give Himself glory. God is on His side. It is all
to the praise of the glory of His grace we just read. He will
be praised for being a just God and a Savior at the same time. Revelation 4.11 we read Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for
Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are
and were created. He is the potter, we are the
clay. He created all things, we just
read it, for His pleasure. He will give Himself glory for
all that He has done. Scripture says even the wrath
of man will praise Him. It doesn't matter what you see
around you, all of it will praise him. It will praise him in showing
his strength and power just as he did with Pharaoh in totally
destroying him and all his men in the Red Sea. Just the breath
from his nostrils could destroy everything if he was pleased
to destroy it. Job 4, 9 we read, by the blast
of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they
consumed. But he is almighty, but he is
a merciful God. Number three, we already read
it from Ephesians, to the praise of the glory of his grace, favor
from God. God who is mighty and powerful,
who can destroy the world with the breath of his nostrils, is
the same God who is gracious and merciful. He delights to
show mercy, the scripture says. He shows mercy and justice. God
will never just overlook your sin. Oh, that's okay, I'll let
you get by with it this time. To do that would mean he is not
just. If he pardons someone who has
sinned without any payment for that sin, God's justice demands
payment for sin. But again, he delights to show
mercy. Psalm 89, 14, justice and judgment
are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. God will punish sin. He either
did this in his son, the Lord of hosts, or he will punish the
sinner himself for the sins that they have ungodly committed.
I need his mercy and grace. For without him, I will certainly
be destroyed. I have proved it time and time
again in this flesh, this flesh is not on God's side. We already
know it as God's word declares to us. There is not one that
will seek after God, none that are righteous before God, none
that doeth good. So all this religious talk about
doing good things for the Lord cannot be man as he is born from
Adam. Because there's not one of us
that could do good that we might gain mercy and grace from God.
But this merciful God does make friends from enemies. So next
we have he makes friends from enemies. Colossians 1 verses
20 through 22 we read. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. God did something
to cause you to be holy and unblameable. He purged our sin on that tree. He can be merciful because he
paid the debt of sin that I owe. That is how God can be just and
merciful at the same time. He did this while we were enemies
against him. We were enemies in our mind and
it manifested itself in our wicked works that came forth from that
old Adamic heart. But we read again in Romans 5.10,
for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be
saved by his life. We are saved by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, but still we know we are born
the children of wrath, even as others. So what changed that? What then made me take sides
with God? What do we read in scripture?
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds. Let me tell you, all of us have
a stronghold, at least what we think to be a fortification against
God. But he, if he is pleased, will
knock down those walls. He will send you someone blowing
a trumpet, the gospel trumpet, marching around your fortress,
and if he is pleased, the walls will crumble to the ground. You
will be left desolate, naked before him, and he will ascend
the throne, so to speak. We see by this that God has all
the might, he has all the power. God does not need anything for
man to accomplish anything. In her text, this is after the
spies went into Jericho, where they encountered Rahab the harlot. Scripture says, by faith she
did not perish with them that believed not. She received them
in peace. She believed God. She did this
the only way she could have done this, and that's by God-given
faith, just as any of us believe today, by God-given faith. She
did this before she even talked with them. These spies came in. They were not declaring the God
of Israel. They were spies. But Rahab knew
this, and she knew it by faith. She believed God. The first thing
that happened with them, as far as we know, when they came in,
is she took them up to her roof and hid them under some flax.
It never says she said a word to them at this time. Then the
scripture we read, she did a justifying work. James 2.25 we read, likewise
also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had
received the messengers and had sent them out another way. Faith
does not sit idly by, else it is a dead faith. She lied about
where they were and where they went to the king's men. After
she did this, they left taking out after them, and then she
sent the spies out another way. She sent the king's men out one
way, then she told the spies, you go this way over the wall,
that's Scarlet. Did she lie for lying's sake?
Did she lie because she just loved telling lies? No, she heard. Joshua 2, 9 through 11, it says,
and she said unto them, this is after the king's men and done
left, and she's talking with them, and she said unto them,
I know that the Lord hath given you the land and that your terror
is falling upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land
faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord
dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out
of Egypt. and what ye did unto the two
kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan,
Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we
had heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain
any more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God,
he is God in heaven above and earth beneath. She lied to protect those who
served the living God, the living God whom she believed. It says
they heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea,
and this, she said, he did for you. My point today is not to say
that God does not do for some, but God is on his side. He will
cause some to take sides with God against themselves. Because
had he not fought for some, all would have been destroyed. He
will do this for some and has done this for some, but he will
destroy some because they do not take sides with God. None
of us will take sides with God on our own. We already talked
about that. I've told you all this before.
There was a time when I said, if that is who God is, I don't
want a God like that. What is the difference between
what I said and what Christ speaks of some saying and those who
said of Jesus at the cross? Turn over with me to Luke 19,
Luke 19. Luke 19. Luke 19, I'm gonna read verses 12 through 14. He said, therefore, a certain
nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return. And he called his ten servants
and delivered them ten pounds and said unto them, Occupy till
I come. But his citizens hated him and
sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man reign
over us. Then we have one more passage,
John 19, 14, and 15. And it was the preparation of
the Passover in about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews,
behold, your king. But they cried out, away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, shall
I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, we
have no king but Caesar. Same thing. We will not have
this man reign over us. Same thing I said. What's the
difference between what I said and what was said in these two
passages? Not a single thing. All are a
rejection of Jesus Christ. But there is a difference for
some, though. There is someone who makes a difference between
us and them. I'm not the only one who has
been affected by this difference. Turn over with me to 1 Corinthians
4, 1 Corinthians 4. First Corinthians 4. First seven verses. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
nor handling the word of God deceitfully. but by a manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel... I'm in the wrong place, you all.
I'm sorry. I thought I was in the 1 Corinthians, but it wasn't
sounding right. No matter how many times you
look at it, you can still be wrong. So 1 Corinthians 4, sorry. Let a man so account of us as
of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of
God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found
faithful. But with me it is a very small
thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment.
Yea, I judge not my own self, for I know nothing by myself,
yet am I not hereby justified. But he that judgeth me is the
Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before
the time unto the Lord come, who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts. And then shall every man have
praise of God. And these things, brethren, I
have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for
your sakes, that ye might learn in us not to think of men above
that which is written, that no one of you will be puffed up
for one against another. For whom maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? If there is a difference with
you or I or anyone else, it is not us that made the difference. It is God. in that while we were
yet enemies of Christ, Christ died for us, making peace with
God as our substitute. He will, for all those whom he
did this for, send them the gospel to break down those walls of
rebellion. The walls will come tumbling
down if he's pleased for them to do so. And there's no doubt
because it is his might that does it. But it is equally his
mercy that does this. else we would never know Him.
The Scripture says that if you believe not, you are condemned
already. You do not have to do or not
do anything else. If you believe not, you will
die in your sins. But God be thanked for His grace
and mercy, which is purpose before the world began. This purpose
was to give Himself glory. Glory because He is a just God
and a Savior. A mighty God, able to do whatever
He pleases. There is none that can stay His
hand, and what a comfort. If God is merciful and gracious
to you, what a comfort it is to know that. Who's going to
stop Him? Who's going to take us out of
His hand? I tell you, there's no one. Not
even myself can take me out of His hand. It is as someone has
said, Christ Jesus died for my sins, so I have to commit them. But God bethinked, he does not
leave us as enemies of God. He causes us to take sides with
God against ourselves. He gives us faith to believe
and comes to us with the gospel and knocks down those walls of
rebellion against him so that we begin to say, what saith my
Lord to thy servant? Whose side are you on? Amen. Dear Lord God, cause us to bow
down to you. So many times, dear Lord, we
seem to still rebel against you, dear Lord. But you are gracious
and merciful and kind to us all the time. You're faithful to
do so, dear Lord, and we thank you for all the things you've
given us. Cause us to see you, dear Lord, forgive us of our
sins. All these things we ask in Christ's name, amen.