We have been looking at encounters
with Christ. So I thought today would be interesting
for us to look at Christ in the Old Testament, an encounter that
someone had with Christ who appears as a Christophany to Joshua. The Old Testament pre-incarnate
appearances of the Word of God were called Christophanies. Turn, if you would, to Joshua
chapter 5. I remember shortly after the
Lord saved my soul, reading this passage. And I've told you before
that before the Lord saved me, when I was reading the scriptures,
it was just paper and ink. Didn't see anything in there.
And after the Lord saved me by his grace and his mercy, the
whole Bible came alive. It was like a different book.
And this is a passage that I read early after my conversion, and
I'll never forget seeing Christ here. And I went to my pastor
and said, that looks like a Christophany way. And we were both rejoicing. And then I found an old Spurgeon
sermon on it and read it and he brought forth the same thing,
that this is Christ appearing to Joshua. And my heart just
leapt. My heart just leapt. Now, the
name of the message is simple, it's called The Captain. The
Captain. And this chapter contains several
very memorable events. Israel is now entering into the
land of the Canaanites, the frontiers of the Canaanites. And the Canaanites are alarmed.
They are alarmed. They've heard. They've heard
about Israel coming through the Red Sea. They've heard about
the destruction of the Egyptian army as the sea fell upon them. And Israel is energetic. The Lord, as if to remind them
of his covenant engagement, commands the rite of circumcision to be
renewed, which had been long omitted. And the Feast of the
Passover, also after 830 years neglected, is again celebrated. So the Israelites, they're energetic
about going into the land of Canaan. And the Lord supplies the camp
with The good things of the land of the Canaanites. The manna
ceases and the captain of the Lord's host appears to Joshua.
So with that in mind, let's read this whole chapter. Joshua chapter
five. And 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
any more because of the children of Israel. At that time the Lord
said unto Joshua, Make these sharp knives and circumcise 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 the 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
forty years in the wilderness. To 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 a land that floweth with milk and honey. And their children whom he raised
up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised
because they had not circumcised them by the way. So when they
were in the wilderness, they hadn't circumcised them. And
the children whom he raised up in their stead, oh, sorry, and
it came to pass when they had done circumcision, verse eight,
all the people that they abode in their places in the camp till
they were whole. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
this day have I rolled away the reports of Egypt from off you.
Wherefore the name of this place is called Gilgal unto this day. And the children of Israel encamped
in Gilgal and kept the Passover, so now they're keeping the Passover
here, on the fourteenth day of the month, and even in the plains
of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn
of the land on the morrow, after the Passover, on eleven cakes,
and parts corn, in the south same day. Now parched corn there
is roasted grain, just roasted grain. 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 any more, but they did
eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. 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 the
captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell
on his face on the earth and did worship. and said unto him,
What saith my Lord unto his servant? Now here's where we find out
that this is the Lord appearing to him. Look what he says. And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for
the place wherein thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Remember the burning bush? Remember
what the Lord said to Moses from the burning burnt, take off your
shoes. The ground you stand on is holy. Oh my. Matthew Henry comments this way
about the captain of the Lord's host, that this man was the son
of God, the eternal word. Joshua gave him divine honors.
He received him, which a created angel would not have done. Remember
the angel in Revelation said to John, don't worship me. No, I'm a servant just like you.
This is the Lord. This is a Christophane, a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember, the word
is the word of God from eternity. Who else appeared with two angels
to Abraham? Christ, the Word of God. He was the one who spoke to Abraham
while Abraham, or while the two angels went off into Sodom and
Gomorrah. My oh my. Note in verse 2 of
chapter 6, The captain of the Lord's host is called Jehovah. Look at the next chapter. Now
when Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of
Israel, none went out and none came in. And the Lord, that's
Jehovah in the Hebrew, that's the self-existent one, said unto
Joshua, see I have given unto thine hand Jericho and the king
thereof and all the mighty men of valor. This is none other
than the word of God appearing to Joshua. Remember that servant of the
prophet who said, all this army's encamped round about us. And
the prophet prayed that his eyes would be opened and what? There
was a multitude of angels all about them. This is the one who
commands them all. Our president's called the commander
in chief, right? This is the commander in chief of glory,
right here. This is the king of kings and
the lord of lords. That's why he says, take off
your shoes, because the ground that you stand on is holy. Everywhere
he stands is holy. Everywhere where Christ stands
is holy. Oh my, he's the son of God. My, oh my. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
see I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof,
and almighty man of valor, I'm just going to give them to you. You're going to defeat them
all. Everywhere I tell you to go, everywhere I tell you to
go, if you listen and you obey, I'm just going to plow the way. That's why we should always pray,
God go before me. Don't let me go anywhere where
you don't go before me. Please, Lord, don't let me go
anywhere where you don't go before me. Go before me, Lord, please. When
a preacher stands in the pulpit, we should pray, Lord, don't let
me get in that pulpit unless you go in there before me. My, oh, my. And every one of
us a believer should pray the same thing, shouldn't we? Now,
this is none other than, again, the captain of the Lord's house,
the eternal word of God. Think of this again. He appeared
to Abraham as a traveler, right? Spurgeon said that when the Lord
appeared to folks in the Old Testament, he appeared where
they could relate to him. Abraham, he appeared as a traveler
with two angels, but appeared as men. Josh was a man of war,
isn't he? Josh was a soldier. The Lord
appears to him as the captain. I imagine he's just decked out. Just decked out in shimmering
armor. The Lord's a man of war. People talk about the love of
God all the time, and we should, because we can't even fathom
it. But our God is also a God of wrath, isn't He? He is. He's a man of war. My. And here He's appearing. He's
appearing. Joshua, he's got his sword drawn
out. You only draw that soldier back then. Those soldiers only
drew those swords out if they were going to do battle. They
didn't just draw them out, look at my sword. Most of those fellows,
they only drew that sword out when they were going to battle
or if they had to clean it. He appears, he's got his sword
out. He is ready to go. My. So this denotes how he's
ready to defend his people. Think of that for you and I.
Our Lord said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Here's our
Lord right with his people, isn't he? And he's going before them,
isn't he? Remember, he was a cloud by day
and a pillar of fire by night. He protected them 24 hours. And here he is, ready for war. You know why those king's hearts
melted? Because of the great things God
had done. He's the one who parted the Red
Sea. He's the one who parted the Jordan so they could walk
across. See, that's why we're to always give the glory to God.
Because he's the great one. He's had mercy upon us in Christ,
hasn't he? It's all what he's done. And here he is, set for the defense. And we know for the salvation
of his people, he's going to save them, isn't he? If he didn't go before them,
they might be wiped out. No, but they're his people. He
didn't go in battle before them. He's going to defend them. Who's
our defense? Christ. Who's our high tower?
Who do we run to? Christ. Who's our city of refuge? Christ. Who's our shield and
our buckler? Christ. He's everything to us. So we can see here how God goes
before his people. And we know that we who are his
elect, he goes before us, doesn't he? He's with us every day. We don't
always see the things that he does for us, but you know he's
ever with us. I love that promise, you know. People may forsake
us. I had people forsake me in my life, and I'm sure you have
in your life. They're one day and gone the
next. But just remember this. And oh, how this has ministered
to me in the past and still does. The Lord says, I'll never leave
you. And in the Greek, that's never,
not ever, ever. It's in the triple negative.
I'll never, not ever, ever leave you, nor forsake you. That's
what he says to his people. Now, sometimes we forsake him,
don't we? But he'll never forsake us. He's ever faithful. Man, that's my God. That's my
Savior. Is he yours? He's wonderful. That's the one
who we trust in. The one who said, I'll ever be
with you, Wayne. I didn't know him. I shook my fist at him. I used his name in vain. And
yet he was ever there. And I had no idea. Till the time
of love, until he revealed himself to me. I've sinned so much. My past
is so black with my sin. It's all forgiven. When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. So they had just celebrated the
Passover, which that very thing happened, right? When I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. Oh my. They were remembering
that. Remember, God is always ready
for the defense of His elect. He's purchased us with His eternal
blood, or with His precious blood. He's purchased us with His blood. He loves us with an everlasting
love. And the only way for Sinners
to be cleansed is by the blood of Christ. There's no other way. So the word himself, he comes
to this holy war. Let's read verses 13 to 15 again. And he's clad in armor and he's
equipped for war. He's ready. He doesn't come unequipped. He's ready. He's ready to defend
his people. And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked. So we
don't know what he was doing. Perhaps he was surveying the
battlefield. Perhaps he was just off on his
own praying to God. Scripture doesn't say. But we
know he was on his own, away from the people. And all of a
sudden he looks up. And behold, there stood a man
over against him with his sword drawn in his hands. Now, what
is a man of war going to think when he looks up and he sees
a man standing there with a sword drawn? Well, he's going to put
his hand on the sword, isn't he? Oh, yeah. But note, as far as
we know, Joshua didn't draw his sword,
but he went unto him. Joshua's a brave man. He went
on to him and look at what he says, art thou for us or for
our adversaries? I can just picture him having
his hand ready to go. Are thou for us or against us? He didn't expect this answer,
did he? He said, nay, but as the captain
of the host of the Lord. Now, just let that sink in. The
captain of the host of the Lord. Our Lord said he could call,
what was it, six legions of angels? Each legion consists of 5,000
armed and ready legionnaires. 30,000 angels. One angel killed
over 100,000 men. So what our Lord was saying there
was he could call those angels and destroy the whole world if
he wanted to. But he knew that he must go to
Calvary's cross and redeem his people from their sins by the
shedding of his precious blood. He knew that. He told Peter, though, I could
call, and they would come just like that. Why? Because he's
the captain of the Lord's host. Now, that's not all the elect
angels. I don't know how many, we don't
even have a clue how many there are. We know a third of the angels
fell, so there's still two thirds that didn't fall, right? That
are the elect angels. And they're ministers to God's
people. The book of Hebrews brings that forth, that they're ministering
angels for God's people. And he's saying, I'm the captain
of all that host. Think of the power he wields. I am the captain of Jehovah's
host, the host of the Jehovah. The captain. Am I now come. I'm here for you. And he doesn't just send his
angels. He comes personally. You know why? These are his people. These are his people. And Joshua fell on his face. That's what every one of us would
have done if we'd been there. Just fall on our face. And did
worship and said unto him, what sayeth my Lord unto his servant?
Look how he's immediately submissive to him. And we'd be saying, we'd be saying,
I ain't worthy to be here, Lord. Wouldn't we? I'm not even worthy
to be in your presence. And that's what Joshua's doing
basically. And remember, he's the commander of the whole camp
of Israel. A multitude of people. And he's
on his face in front of the captain of the Lord's house. And he says, what saith my Lord
unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's
hosts, again, the captain of Jehovah's hosts, said unto Joshua,
loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place wherein thou standest
is holy. And Joshua did so. You're on holy ground, Joshua.
You're on holy ground. Again, perhaps Joshua was in
prayer, Perhaps he was in meditation. Perhaps he was seeking grace
from the Lord. Perhaps he was surveying the
situation. We're not told. But we are told
that the captain of the Lord's host appears to him. And he had at the Lord's command,
he had observed the Passover of the unleavened bread. And
they had circumcised those who had not been circumcised in the
wilderness. And now he's just waiting on
the Lord. What are we to do when we see
situations in this world spiraling out of control, in our minds
out of control? What are we to do? Sit at the
feet of Christ. He's sovereign. He's the king
over all. Do you know there's not a maverick
molecule in this whole world? He's in charge of everything.
Absolutely everything. My. But you know what's hardest
thing for us to do? Just rest. Just to trust him. And He knows that. He knows we're
but dust, doesn't He? He still has mercy upon us. He's
so good. He's so faithful. Even when we're
not faithful, He's so good. He's so faithful. And cannot we look here with
the eye of faith and see our blessed Redeemer standing before
us? the one who purchased us with
his precious, precious blood, who ever goes before us, the
king of glory. Joshua sees him with a sword. And you know, our Lord meets
people where they're at. We're told to just come as we
are, aren't we? Come unto me, all you that labor in our heavy
laden. You mean I don't have to clean up? Just come to Christ. Right? Just as you are. You mean
with the filth of all my sins? Just come. Come unto me all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. It sure is, isn't it? You mean
salvation's only in you, and there's nothing I have to do?
Absolutely, that's exactly right. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. And when we look, that's by God-given
faith, isn't it? Because we're born again by the
Holy Spirit-given faith, and then we look right to Christ.
We look to Him, and we live. Well, I don't have great faith,
Lord. Just a little bit of faith will do, eh? As long as it's
in the right place, and in the right person. Our faith is like
a grain of mustard seed, beloved. Remember how we looked at it
last week? Oh, ye of little faith are in that boat. The winds are
howling and the storms are just raging. Oh, ye of little faith. Yeah, that's me. Oh, ye of little faith. At least
I got a little faith, right? At least we have a little faith.
And it's God-given faith. It's not that we mustered up.
Praise be to God. Yeah, that's wonderful. So Joshua sees him here with
a sword in his hand. Oh, you know our Lord's in our
midst right now. He says, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
He's right here, right now with us. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful, isn't it? Oh,
it's wonderful. You know, He has the sword of
the Spirit, right? That sword of the Spirit, it
cuts to dividing asunder, doesn't it? Cuts to the quick, doesn't
it? Remember when it cut us for the
first time? Oh, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. There's a
publican over there. That was me before the Lord saved
me. I was a religious Pharisee. Oh, I do this and I do that.
I knock on a thousand doors and I do all this stuff. That's how
I used to be. Now, Lord, save me. I'm over
here with that publican going, don't even want to lift our heads
up, do we? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And he's so merciful. He is so merciful. My, just flee to him. And that two-edged sword cuts,
cuts to the bone, cuts to our heart, slays our unbelief. lays our iniquities bare before
us. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the divide and the sunder of the soul and spirit, into
the joints and marrow and the discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. Oh my. Take a look at our text again
in verse 13. The sword is drawn, it's not in the scabbard. And
it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up
his eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man over against
him with a sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him
and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? The
sword in the Lord's hands. The sword's not in the preacher's
hands, is it? The sword's in the Lord's hands. I just proclaim the Word and
the Lord is the one that makes it effectual. He's the one who makes it quick
and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. That's His work. My. The sword's drawn. It's in Jehovah's hands. He's
Jehovah there. That's the Word of God appearing
to Joshua. And the sword's in His hands. The hand of the Mighty
One of Israel. The word of God eternal. The
Lord Jesus Christ is in his hands. No wonder he said to Peter, put
that sword down. Now he could have said, be gone,
and those guys would have just fallen over dead. They came to
take him away. He could have take their life
away from them, just like that. He gave life, didn't he? He could take it away. He has
all power, the scripture says in John 17, as we're going through
that, he's got all power. Give eternal life to as many
as the Father's given him. Oh, as many as the Father's given
him? Yep. Those who were given to Christ
in eternity. Those who Christ went and died for. He didn't
die for everyone in this world. He died for his elect. He went,
he's a successful savior. See, if someone says that he
died for all the world, then he's a failure. Because there's
people in hell. But I'll tell you what, everyone
who he shed his precious blood for, they're in glory, or they're
on this earth, or they're yet to be born. But they will be
saved. They will be saved. He not lose
one of them. Not one of them. We're proof of that, aren't we?
We tried to destroy ourselves by our own sinfulness. He kept
us, didn't he? He kept us. My, what a savior. He's going to take us home to
glory. We'll be with him forever. But he's the one who has all
power. He's the one who has all power. He holds the sword. So
what comfort that can bring you and I is pilgrims going through
this world. We're just sojourners, right?
This world's not our home. We're looking for a better country.
We're going to glory by the grace and mercy of God. Turn, if you
would, to Psalm 45. Psalm 45. Oh, my. You know, Christ, again, he defends
his people. He goes before his people. He's in the midst of
us right now. Psalm 45, verses 1 to 6, the
scripture declares, My heart is indicating a good matter.
I speak of the things which I have made, touching the king. My tongue
is a pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children
of man. Grace is poured into thy lips.
Therefore, God bless thee forever. gird thy sword upon thy thigh,
O mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty." See, here's the
Word of God. He's appearing. He's got that
sword in His hand. He's got all power and majesty.
Remember Isaiah 6? That's the Lord appearing to
Isaiah. And Isaiah says, woe is me, I'm
a man undone. A man, I dwell in a people of
unclean lips. That means all of the world is
in sin. And in thy majesty, ride preposterous. Prosperously, because of the
truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right hands shall teach
thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee. Thy throne, O God, is what? Forever. It's forever. I'll tell you what,
it's forever. Kings and presidents and prime
ministers, raised up, and then they go out of power, or kings
are raised up, and then they die, and another one comes in
their place. But our king, our great God,
he is forever beloved. He has never abdicated his throne,
and he never will. And there's no one who can tell
him, what are you doing Lord? He's king over all the earth.
He's king over all heaven. He's king over everything visible
and invisible. There's absolutely nothing that
is not under his control. That's the one who saved my soul. Has he saved yours? If he has, just rest. Just rest
in him. Trust in him. Take your burdens
to him. Nothing. Have you heard me say
it a hundred times? Nothing is too small for us to
take to the Lord. Absolutely nothing. It's only
in the Lord's presence where we'll find mercy, grace, and
forgiveness. We won't find it anywhere else.
Only before Him. Only before Him. And He's a God
ready to pardon, the scripture says. We used to think that He was
just angry at us all the time, right? Oh, God's going to get me for
that. I'm going to get in trouble for that one. Listen to a song
I shouldn't have listened to. Preacher told me not to listen
to that stuff. I'm in trouble now. God doesn't work that way,
beloved. Now he chastens us, yes, but
it's always in love. He never, ever chastens us in
anger. Never. His anger against us has
been poured out on Christ. And that anger is righteous anger.
There's no sin in that anger. It's righteous anger. But it
was poured out in Christ, on Christ, on our behalf. My, what a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And note the divine presence
all through that chapter. Take note of how God was with
them. He took them through the wilderness. through the Red Sea. He took them over through the
Jordan, divided the Jordan so they could walk right through
that river. He's ever with them. And now He's appearing saying,
I'm going before you. Who's the battles? The battles
are the Lord's. Not by might nor power, but by
the Spirit, saith the Lord. The battles are King's, beloved.
It's all His. It's wonderful, isn't it? It's
wonderful. My, he will vindicate his people
too, won't he? He will, he will. Oh. My, oh my. Many a time in the
presence of an old Roman general was equal to another legion as
soon as cohorts perceived that the general was coming, Oh my,
they all were spit and polished and lined up, and here's the
king of glory. Here's the one who the angels just stand at
attention to. And he says, I'm going to go
before you. I'm going to go to battle for you. And he's the king of kings and
the lord of lords. And again, he's in their midst,
isn't he? Just like he's in our midst.
This should encourage us. and fill us with courage while
we go through this world. The Lord said, I won't leave
you. That's not even for a second, beloved. I can say, well, Wayne,
I'm going to go over here while you have a coffee, and I'm going
to go over here and just take it easy because I know you're
just going to drink your coffee. No, He's ever with us, isn't He? He is
ever with us. Here, never leave us nor forsake
us. Never. I mean never. Oh, that warms
my heart. Does it warm yours? What a Savior. And can anyone thwart, if God
is upon the throne and He's the King of kings and the Lord of
lords, can anyone thwart anything He wants to do? No one, right? Do you know we're saved on purpose? God saved us on purpose. according
to His will and purpose, for the glory of His grace. And who
do we glorify? We glorify God, don't we? You
talk to religious folks, you know who they glorify? Themselves. What they've done, a decision,
or a prayer, or walking an aisle, and then they start telling you
everything they've done. What did the Lord say to that
demoniac after he was healed and sitting on his right mind
in front of Christ? He said, go and tell the great
things the Lord had done for you. That's what we're to do.
God saved my soul. I couldn't save myself, but he
saved me by his grace and his mercy. And there was nothing
in me that deserved that. If I got what I deserved, I'd
be in hell. But praise me to God by his mercy and grace in
Christ Jesus my Lord, I'm going to glory. That's a miracle. And if you're saved, it's a miracle
of grace for you too. Do you know the scripture says
precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his people? And
you know what that word precious means in the Hebrew? Valuable. You ever consider yourself valuable
to the Lord? We don't think that way, do we? We're valuable to
Him. You know why? Because He purchased
us with His precious, precious blood. Gave His life for us. He's loved us for maternity. And the Father in love, the Father's
loved us for maternity too. The Holy Spirit's loved us for
maternity as well. Try wrapping our heads around
that, eh? Oh my, but it's the truth. So as the king of kings and the
Lord of lords, who can stand against him? Here he is, the
word of God, standing before Joshua. Can anybody stand against
him? Does Jericho even have a chance? No. No. They will be defeated. And think of this. The one who's
standing here before Joshua is the very one who went to Calvary's
cross. Scripture says that he set his face like a flint to
Jerusalem, didn't he? Right? He set his face like a
flint. He said, I must go. And that flint there is a stone,
a movable stone. I must go. I must redeem my people
from their sins. That's the same one who's right
here appearing before Joshua with a sword in his hand. Joshua says, are you for us or
against us? And he says, well, I'm the captain of the Lord's
host. He didn't have to say, I'm for you. He knew right away,
right? By that title. Joshua knew right away. Oh, my. This is the captain of the Lord's
host. This is the one who's in charge of all the angels in heaven. That's why Paul writes, if God
before us, who can be against us? Why? Because it's God who
justifies us, right? Let men rail, let men say what
they want to say about us, go ahead. Probably worse, right? But God's justified me. Don't matter what that person
says, God's justified me. Ain't that wonderful? So we get a glimpse. We get a
glimpse here of he who will die for our sins, who he really is. He's the captain of the Lord's
house. And we are not to go in any kind
of warfare without our Lord. Don't ever try to do anything
in our own strength. The Lord's already told us, without me you
can do nothing. Just let us remember, this is
the one that goes before us. The captain of the Lord's host. And again, note the position
of the Lord. He's in the midst of his people.
Note what it says again in verse 14. And he said, nay, but as
the captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come. He's right
in their midst. He's right in their midst, beloved.
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and
said unto him, what saith my Lord unto his servant? Think
of the relief that Joshua felt. If he was there surveying the
city, this city had great walls. Great walls, just like Babylon.
They said the walls of the city of Babylon were three, you could
fit three chariots on those walls on top. Now imagine Jericho wall,
they were pretty high. They were really high. So he's
looking at that going, how are we going to defeat these people?
Well, with man, things are impossible, right? But with God, all things
are possible, right? Think of that in the way of salvation.
With man it's impossible to save ourselves, but with God it's
possible to be saved. And he saves his people from
their sins. He has, he's done it. So the relief that Joshua must
have felt. And think of the courage it would give him too. Think
of how he'd be uplifted to know that the captain of the Lord's
host is here before him. And think of this too, the responsibility
of the battle's now been taken off Joshua, hasn't it? That leadership
role must have weighed upon him. He's in charge of all these people
of Israel. He's leading them. Where God tells him to go, he's
going. And he sees, he knows, we're
going to go to battle, we're going to lose some men. We're going to lose some soldiers.
So all that is now taken away. He's no longer the captain now,
he's the lieutenant. The real captain's going before
him. The king himself would marshal
his host. The king himself would bring
them walls down. And this is true amongst all
God's people. Some are called to lead and some
are called to serve, but we all serve Christ. We all serve Him. Every one of us. Servitude starts from the pastor
and is all the way down. We're all servants of the Most
High. That's why I always tell you, I'm no different than you.
There's no preacher mound at the foot of the cross if the
ground is absolutely level, beloved. We're all on the same ground.
The Lord's just called me to preach. It's an honor. It's a
privilege. But I'm just a saved sinner like
everybody else. Saved by the same blood, by the
same grace, given the same faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I rejoice along with you all. It's wonderful. We serve one master, don't we?
We serve one master. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
We serve him together. We bow down to him. We say down
to ourselves and up with Christ. Praise him. We can't lift Christ
up too high, and we can't put ourselves in the dust far enough.
You know that? It's he who lifts us up, doesn't
he? See, we feel like, Dave, you
always like to say we're maggots. That's what the scripture tells
us, right? And we're just nothing but animated dust, like Spurgeon
said. And it's him who reaches down
and lifts us up. Where were we? We were in that pit like Jeremiah,
weren't we? Of miry clay. You know when you
try to crawl out of a pit with miry clay? It's got water and
clay mixed in it. And you just, you go up three
or four, and you slide right back down. That's how we were. We were trying to get ourselves
out of the pit. And we'd just slide down, further down into
sin, wouldn't we? You know where help came from? On high, it came from above,
didn't it? Came from above, beloved. He reached down and plucked us
out. Oh, what a savior. What a redeemer. How'd he do
it? By the shedding of his precious, precious blood to redeem our
eternal souls. Then the scripture says he's
raised for our justification. So let us walk together as the
Lord's people, being comforted in Christ and the preaching of
the gospel, having our hearts knit together in love. And that's
what Christ does for his people. He knits our hearts together
in love. I've only been here six years, coming on seven now.
And I love you guys dearly. I know, I love you guys too though.
And it's just, isn't it amazing how the Lord's knit our hearts
together in that short time. We've been through some adversity,
right, together. We've went through some things, but each time the
Lord's knit us closer and closer and closer. It's absolutely amazing. That's all Him. That's all His
doing. He brought us all together, and
then He knits our hearts together in love. Amazing. Amazing. Until the riches of
the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God and the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge are all wrapped up in Christ and Him
alone, nowhere else. He is our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption. And then look at verse 15. The
Lord who's present with Joshua and the whole host of Israel
says, and the captain of the Lord's host said unto him, Joshua,
loose thy foot from off thy shoe, for the place whereon thou standest
is holy. And Joshua did so. Notice he
fell on his face. He's worshiping the Lord. He
fell on his face. He who is the captain, Lord's
host, the Word of God, he fell before him. Moses did a similar thing. Turn,
if you would, to Exodus chapter 3. Do you know Moses did a similar
thing? And you know who the great I
Am is? He appeared to Moses, the Word of God. Same one who's
appearing to Joshua here. Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. Starting in verse 1. Now Moses
kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of
Midian. And he led the flock to the back
side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to
Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame
of fire out of the midst of the bush. And he looked, and behold,
the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And
Moses said, I will now turn aside to see this great sight, why
the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord, when Jehovah,
saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the
midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not hither,
put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place wherein thou
stand is his holy ground. That's the same thing that the
captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua. Oh, my. Moreover, he said, I
am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
the God of Jacob, and Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to
look upon God. What happened to Joshua? He just
fell on his face. He was eating dirt, wasn't he?
My. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people. See, he knows what we go through.
He knows every single heartache, every single thing we go through.
He knows it all. And He's right there with us.
Right there with us. My. Which are in Egypt, and have
heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters. For I know
their souls, and I am come down to deliver them. Look at that.
He come down to deliver them. Did Christ come down from heaven
to deliver us? Yep. Did the Word of God come down
to appear before Joshua? Yep. Look at this, I come down
to deliver them. Who delivered the Israelites
out of the land of Egypt? Jehovah did. He did. Christ is Jehovah, Christ is
God. In Him all the fullness of the Godhood dwelt bodily.
Look what he's going to do. I'm going to deliver him out
of the hand of the Egyptians. I'm going to deliver him out
of bondage and bring him up into the land, into a good land with
large, into a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place
of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perseids, the
Hevites, and the Jezebites. Now therefore, behold, The cry
of the children of Israel has come unto me, and I have seen
the opposition, wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come
now before, and I will send unto thee Pharaoh." Now, notice who's
doing it all. He says, I'm going to deliver you. I'm going to
send you. So it's God who's sending him,
right? I will send thee unto Pharaoh, and thou mayest bring
forth. Look at this. That thou mayest bring forth
my people. He's only going to bring forth
the people by the power of God. that I should bring forth, look
at this, that I should bring forth the children of Israel
out of Egypt. And he said, certainly I will be with thee, and shall
be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought
forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this
mountain. And Moses said unto God, behold,
when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say unto them,
the God of your fathers has sent me unto you. And they shall say
to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? And
God said unto Moses, I love this, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you. And God said, moreover unto Moses,
thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob has sent me unto you. This is my name forever, and
this is a memorial unto all generations. Remember Wednesday night's study?
It was called Sent. And we will look through the
scriptures in the book of John of how God sent Christ to this
earth to save his people from their sins. Oh my. Stand in awe, beloved. Stand in awe of our great God
and King here, the great I Am. The Word of God, the Captain
of the Lord's Host, Emmanuel, God with us. Our Redeemer is
none other than the Word of God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who has saved us from
our sins. And we're going to praise Him
forever, aren't we? When we get the glory. We're praising Him
now, but we're praising with sinful lips, don't we? But oh,
we're going to praise Him one time with no sin. There'll be
no sin hindering us. And then how we feel, we really
will be able to praise. He'll be glorious, beloved. Oh,
it'll be glorious.