Would you turn back to the fifth
chapter of Joshua? Joshua was looking over Jericho,
that place that God had commanded the children of Israel to destroy,
and he had not yet been told how they would be defeated. This was a strong, fortified
city with high walls. And he didn't know how they would
go about destroying this city. And he was looking down, perhaps
praying for direction as to what the Lord would have them do.
And we read in verse 13 of Joshua chapter 5, 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? Now, without doubt, this is a
pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ when you read
how Joshua responded to him when he saw who he really was. And when he saw the Lord Jesus,
he saw him as a warrior with his sword up in the posture of
an attack. And Gil suggests that when he
saw this, he thought, he's going to get me. He wasn't sure who
he was for, whether he was against him or whether he was for him.
He saw him looking over against him with this drawn sword in
his hand. It is said of Christ that a sharp,
two-edged sword comes out of his mouth. When he's riding that
great white horse It said that there's a sword strapped to his
thigh. And we read of the word of God,
which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Now Joshua came to him with this
question. He wasn't real sure what was
on his mind. And he said, are you for us or
are you for our adversaries? I've entitled this message, The
Wrong Question. The Wrong Question. You know,
men love to take sides, don't they? My side and your side. My side and my opponent's side. And they identify themselves
by whose side they're on, and they classify everybody else
by the particular side they're on. Are you on my side? or are you on the side of my
adversaries? A man moves from an irreligious
state to a religious state. He gets on the religious side.
We have the right side and the left side. We have conservatives
and liberals. We have Democrats and Republicans.
We have Protestants and Catholics. We have rich, we have poor. We
have clergy, we have laity. We have white collar, we have
blue collar. We have Calvinist, we have Arminian. Different sides,
different positions that men espouse. And when Joshua asked
the Lord this question, whose side are you on? He was asking
the wrong question. You see, the Lord of glory does
not take sides. Let me repeat that. The Lord
of glory does not take sides. He doesn't have a side to which
he espouses. The issue is not, is he on my
side? The issue is, am I on his side? That is the issue. You know,
someone once came to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War
in that horrible time, and they said to Lincoln, is God on our
side? And he replied, I don't know,
but I sure hope we're on his side. If we think of the Lord being
on our side or our opponent's side, we're making it about us. This is not about me. This is
not about you. This is not about my side. This
is not about your side. This is about him. Now, did Joshua understand who
he was when he saw him? I believe he did, but there was
something wrong. Joshua saw him as standing against
him with a sword drawn and he didn't know, is this for me or
for Jericho? He wasn't real sure. And that's why he asked this
question. Are you on our side or are you on our adversary's
sides? Now, this is not about my side or your side, our side
or their side. It's not about us and them. Now look how the Lord replies
to this question in verse 14. Art thou for us or for our adversaries? Whose side are you on? And he
said, neither. Neither. That's what nay means,
not. Neither. I'm not on either side. I didn't come to take sides.
Now man's religion presents a God who wants to be on your side.
He wants to be for you. He wants to help you if you'll
just let him. He wants to help you navigate
through life's difficulties if you'll let him. You and God can
do this together. He's on your side. He's all for
you if you'll just let him have his way. He wants to be on your
side. The very idea of sin is negated. God wants to be on your side. Now, that idea is foolishness. That's all it is. Christ is not
trying to enlist our cause. This glorious, uncreated being
with the drawn sword says, I didn't come to take sides, but as the
captain of the hosts of the Lord have I come. I love the way he
identifies himself to Joshua. I'm the captain. I'm the prince. I'm the king. That word is also
translated, I'm the head. I'm the chief. I'm the general. I'm the governor. I'm the keeper. I'm the lord. I'm the master. I'm the ruler. I'm the principal. That's how the Lord identifies
himself. I'm not on anybody's side. I
am who I am. Now this Hebrew word is derived
from the word which means to exercise dominion. The Lord says I am come to exercise
dominion. Listen to this scripture. Daniel
chapter 4 verses 34 and 35 says His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. Don't you love to think about
that? There was never a time when He began to rule, and there's
never a time when He'll end ruling. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and His kingdom from generation to generation. And
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And He doeth according to His
will. in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth." I love thinking about that. You
know, His will is always being done. He's in absolute control.
He controls me. He controls what's going on through
my mind. What about the bad stuff? Well, I'm not making him the
author of sin, but I'm saying he's in absolute control of everything. Even the thoughts that go through
my mind, the things that I think, the same is true as you. He has
absolute dominion over all things. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
Give an account for yourself. This is he whose goings forth
are from everlasting, the child that was born, the son that was
given, whose name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This one is called in Hebrews
10, the Captain of our Salvation. And then he's also called the
author and finisher of our faith in Hebrews chapter 12. You know
what that means? That means he's the one who saves
us and he's the one who gets every bit of the glory. Don't
you love that? He identified himself as the
captain of the hosts of the Lord. Now who are the hosts of the
Lord? Well, everything and everybody. That's why he didn't take sides.
He's in control of everything. as the captain of angels, the
captain of demons. He controls the physical universe,
by him all things consist. He tells the wind to stop blowing,
it stops blowing. He tells the sun to stop shining,
it stops shining. He tells the sun to go backwards
ten degrees, and that's what it does. He's in absolute control. All men, unbelievers and unbelievers
are serving his purpose. I love that scripture where it
says, for he saith to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised you up. that I might show my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. He says that about Pharaoh. Now
I think it's glorious to think about this. He says that about
Pharaoh, and he had Moses raised up in Pharaoh's house. And he
had Moses fitted and prepared in Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh didn't
know that, but the Lord was in control of all of that. Joshua, finds out who he's talking
to and his posture changes. Now he comes up to him at first
and says, are you for us or for our enemies? Verse 14, and he
said, neither, but as captain 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? Now, Joshua finds out who he's
talking to now. I don't know whether he thought
this was an angel. I don't know whether he knew this was the
Lord Jesus Christ, but he knows now. And he falls on his face. And he does what everybody who
ever sees the Lord Jesus does. He worshiped him. He worshiped him. Now, when anybody
hears from the captain of the host of the Lord, you know what
they say? What do you have to say to me? I'm not telling you what to do.
What do you have to say to me? Now, as long as we haven't really
seen him, we'll dictate to him all the things we think he needs
to do, or what he should be doing, or what we think he needs to
do to us. And we'll have all kinds of things to say, but if
we ever see who he is, it will shut us up. And our only response will be,
what do you have to say to me? You know, before we see him,
we think the things we have to say to him are very important.
But when we see who he is, this is all we have to say. What do
you have to say to me? Can you say that right now? Lord,
what do you have to say to me? Speak to me from your word. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
pass me by. Don't let me go on. No, speak
to me. What do you have to say to your
servant? Now, he fell at his feet like
John in the Isle of Patmos, dead as far as the way he felt, overwhelmed
at the majesty of his person. And I love the way the scripture
says, he worshipped him. He worshipped him. Now, this
is the issue that must first be settled in my heart and your
heart. It's the issue of worship. Now, what is worship? I don't
even know how to describe it. But I know this, when you worship
him, you're going to be on your face. You're not going to be
standing up as his equal. You're going to be on your face
and you're going to say, Lord, what do you have to say to me?
You're going to be down. Not up, but down. All your high,
haughty thoughts of yourself, they're going to dissipate. You're
not going to have those when you're in his presence. And you're
going to say, what do you have to say to me? This thing of worship,
I mean, you look at all the examples, particularly in the New Testament
of worship. When that leper came and the scripture says he worshipped
him, saying, Lord, if you will, You can make me clean. Now, the
issue of worship was first settled. He didn't say, Lord, I will that
you make me clean. He didn't know whether the Lord would make
him clean or not. He said, if you will, you can. But I tell
you this, he worshiped him before the Lord did anything for him.
Now, here's a question I want to ask you. I ask you this all
the time. I'm asking myself this question.
Is the Lord worthy of worship if he passes you by? If he leaves you to yourself,
Is he still worthy of worship? The disciples saw him command
the sea and the waves to be still and the wind to quit blowing
and the scripture says they came and worshiped him and said of
a truth, thou art the son of God. That's worship. It's an acknowledgement of who
He is. Like the Syrophoenician woman. I love the way she comes
to the Lord. Jesus, our son of David, have
mercy on me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And He didn't answer. Did she
stop? No, she kept crying. Have mercy on me. And the Lord
replied, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. I didn't come to save everybody. And you know what
the scripture says next? Then came she and worshipped
Him. Then came she and worshipped
him. Now, the point is, you and I
will only worship an absolute sovereign that we can't manipulate,
that we can't control, that we can't get him to do what we want.
We know we're in his hand. Then came she and worshipped
him. You know this thing of worship.
Our Lord said in John chapter 4, verse 24, God is spirit. You know, what does that mean?
That means he's not material, I know that, but how do you even
describe God being spirit? God is spirit and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now the only way
you or I'll ever be able to worship him is if we're given a spiritual
nature. If we have the Holy Spirit, because a natural man can't just
up and start worshiping God. It's impossible for him. And
that's why I never say, come worship with us. I say, come
hear the Gospel. I want you to. I want you to hear the Gospel.
I want the Lord to save you. I want you to rejoice in the
Gospel. But I'm not going to say, come worship with us, because
you can't do it unless God gives you the Spirit. They that worship
Him must worship Him in Spirit, with the Holy Spirit. It's not
something a natural man can do. And what else does he say? They
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. There is no worship of God. There might be religion, but
there's no worship of God apart from the truth. The truth of
who God is, the truth of how he saves by his grace, the truth
of who Christ is, the truth of who I am, nothing but truth.
There's no worship of God apart from the truth. God doesn't use
error. He doesn't have to. Somebody says, well, you know,
maybe there's not anybody who preaches truth. The Lord will raise up
somebody. That's no problem with him. God does not use error. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. I love that scripture in Philippians
chapter 3, verse 3, where Paul says, we are the circumcision.
We're the true Jews. We're the ones who've had our
hearts circumcised, that God's done something for. We are the
circumcision which worship God. in the Spirit. And what does
someone do who worships God in the Spirit? They rejoice. They glory in Christ Jesus. They rest in Him. They really
believe He's all in their salvation. And what does someone do who
glories in Christ Jesus? They have no confidence in the
flesh. And that's what worship is. It's
to worship God in the spirit, to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
to have absolutely no confidence in the flesh. I don't. I don't
have any confidence in my flesh. I don't have any confidence in
your flesh. Oh Lord, do something for me. That's worship. He says, What sayeth my lord unto his
servant? He was down on his face. He worshiped. He wanted to hear
what the lord said and I love the way he says what sayeth my
lord to his servant. What a blessed glorious thing
when the lord is my lord. He's, as Thomas said, my Lord
and my God. You, the thief on the cross,
knew who he was, didn't he? He said, Lord, remember me when
you come in your kingdom. You're not gonna stay dead, you're
gonna come back as a mighty reigning king. Remember me when you come
in your kingdom. When the Lord was on the shore
after the resurrection, watching the disciples fish. He said, children, have you any
meat? Have you got anything out of this? When they went back
to fishing, I think they'd quit the disciple business and went
back to fishing. He said, no. And then John recognized him. He said, it's the Lord. It's
the Lord. He fell on his face and he worshiped
him, saying, Lord, what do you have to say? your servant." Naomi, you remember the story
of Ruth and Naomi, Naomi said to Ruth regarding Boaz, the kinsman
redeemer, she said this, she said, it shall be that when he
lieth down that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie
and thou shalt go in and uncover his feet. Now I want you to think
of that picture. He tells her when he's laying
down asleep, Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, the only one who can
do anything for us, the only one who can restore us that which
we've lost, what I want you to do, I want you to pick up the
covers and you go lay down at his feet. Just lay there. Don't say anything to him. Just
lay there, uncover his feet, and lay thee down, and he will
tell thee what to do." Now, you know, that almost seems scandalous,
doesn't it? This young woman, and that's what she is, she's
a young woman. I suppose she was a beautiful woman. But to
come to this rich landowner's bed and uncover himself and lay
down at his feet, that almost seems scandalous, doesn't it?
But you know, when you come to the Lord Jesus, you come in all
your scandal. You come in all your vulnerability. You come in all your need. You come honestly. And you lay
yourself down at His feet and wait to see what He says to you. That's the only way somebody
comes to Christ. They don't come dictating. They
come to lay down at His feet and see what He has to say to
them. He'll tell you what you should
do. Now look in verse 15. Now look at the answer of the
captain of the Lord's hosts. And the captain of the Lord's
hosts said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place wherein thou standest
is holy. And Joshua did so. Now what our Lord tells Joshua
at this time You are in the presence of holiness. Why? The very ground you're standing
on is holy because I'm on that ground. Now what in the world
is holiness? What does it mean? You know we
say God is holy and I love that Song we sing, holy, holy, holy,
though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man
thy glory may not see, only thou art holy, there is none beside
thee, perfect in power and love and purity. What is holiness?
Now, I think it's very interesting to know that the first time the
word holy is mentioned is when Moses sees that burning bush
And God says to him the same thing he said to Joshua, take
your shoes off your feet. The ground you're standing is
holy ground. Would you turn back to Exodus
chapter three for a moment? Now Moses, verse one, kept the
flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. He'd been in the wilderness 40
years. And 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 to him in a flame
of fire out of the midst of a bush." Now this bush is a bramble bush.
It's a very small bush. It's not a big impressive looking,
it's a very small bush. And yet it's on fire, and the
fire does not consume the bush. And that caught Moses' attention.
And the angel of the Lord, verse 2, appeared unto him in a flame
of fire out of the midst of a bush, and looked, and behold, the bush
burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said,
I'll now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is
not burned. Now, this bush represents the
Lord Jesus Christ. Represents His crucifixion. He was a man. He had all the
limitations of flesh, sin accepted. He was crucified through weakness. He was a bramble bush. The fire
of God's wrath came upon him, and it couldn't consume him.
Now you think of the strength of the fire of God coming down
on him, and it couldn't consume him. And this is such a glorious
picture of what we see in the gospel. And if I would learn
anything about what holiness really is, May God give us the grace to
see this. Now, verse 3. And Moses said,
I'll now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is
not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see.
I think that's interesting, don't you? The Lord was watching Moses. He was watching to see what he
was going to do. I mean, somebody else might have just said, well,
that's interesting and gone on. But the Lord watched him turn aside
to see. Boy, it's something when the
Lord puts His hand in somebody's heart and causes them to be interested
and wanting to hear and understand what's being said. And when the
Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out
of the midst of the bush. There was God in that bush. That
fire! God called him out of the midst
of the bush and said, Moses! Moses! And he said, Here I am. And He said, draw not thy hither,
don't come close, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Now, Christ is the bramble bush. That's His humanity. The fire
of God's wrath comes down upon Him. But He, it doesn't consume
Him. As a matter of fact, He consumes
the fire. Now, if you want to understand
what holiness is, here we have it. God is so holy, that when
sin is found on His Son, Jesus Christ, He pours out all of His
wrath on Him. That's how holy God is. God will
not let one sin go unpunished. For me to be accepted by a holy
God, all my sin has to be paid for. Now that's holiness. I tell
you, this is holiness. Christ is so holy. that when
the wrath of God came down upon him, it could not consume him. Now that's holiness. What glory
and excellence is in his person that when the wrath of God falls
down, it cannot consume the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go on reading. Verse 6,
Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face,
for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have
surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt.
He's hearing this from out of that bush that could not be consumed.
And I've heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrows. And I've come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the
land unto a good land and a large unto a land flowing with milk
and honey unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and
the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
Now, therefore, behold the cry of the children of Israel is
coming to me. I've also seen the oppression wherewith the
Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I'll
send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt.' And Moses said unto God,
Who am I? that I should go into Pharaoh,
and that I should bring forth the children of Israel. And he
said, Certainly I'll be with thee, and this shall be a token
unto thee that I have sent thee, when thou hast brought forth
the people out of Egypt. You shall serve God upon this mountain.
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto 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 am that I am. And all that God is, is
seen in that bush that could not be consumed. That's the cross. I am that I am. Tell them that
I am has sent thee. Now there's holiness. God's going
to punish sin and Christ can't be consumed. But there's something
else that's so glorious about the fact that he could not be
consumed. Everybody in him cannot be consumed. Now, do you remember over in
Daniel chapter 3 or 4, I can't remember which chapter it is,
but it's the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I guess
it's chapter 3. Nebuchadnezzar has made a rule.
When you hear the music, You bow, you bow. Shadrach and Meshach
and Abednego wouldn't bow. They wouldn't bow before anybody
but the living God. And when it was reported to Nebuchadnezzar
that they wouldn't bow, he said, is this report true that I'm
hearing that you won't bow? He said, if you don't bow, I'll
throw you into a fiery furnace. And who is that God that will
deliver you out of my hand? And they replied, he's able to
deliver us. But if in his sovereignty he
choose to not do it, and let us burn up in that fiery furnace,
be it known unto you that we will not bow." And so he said, heat it up. And
they heated up the furnace seven times more hot than it was usually
heated, and they bound those men And they cast them into the
midst of that burning, fiery furnace. And as a matter of fact,
the people that cast them in, they were burned up. It was so hot. But
listen to this scripture. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was astounded and spake and said to his counselors, Did not we
cast three men into the midst of the fire? They answered and
said unto the king, True, O king, He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men walking loose in the midst of the fire, and they have
no hurt. And the fourth is like unto the
Son of God. You see, no fire can hurt me, because
I'm with him. That's my claim to fame. With
Him. And the fire of God's wrath will
never touch those who are in Him. Now, back to Joshua chapter
3. Chapter 5, I'm sorry. And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, verse 15, Loose thy shoe from off thy
foot, same way Moses did, for the place wherein thou standest
is holy. Such is the holiness of Christ
that wherever he is, there's holiness. And Joshua did so. Let's pray together. Lord, we pray that we might not
be asking whose side you're on, but Lord, we pray that we might
be on your side. that you might be the captain
of our salvation, the captain of the Lord of hosts. Lord, we
ask that you would give us such a view, an understanding of you,
that we fall to the ground and say, Lord, what would you
say unto your servant? Lord, put that in our hearts. Oh, Lord, do a mighty work of
grace in our hearts. Enable us to bow just as Joshua
did and worship in your presence. And Lord, we. As best as we can. And Lord, we ask that you would
hear this prayer through Christ and not on our own. But as best
as we can. We acknowledge your holiness. When we think of the seraphims
flying about your throne crying, holy, holy, holy, Lord, our reply
in a much feebler and weaker way is holy, holy, holy. And Lord, we understand why Isaiah,
after seeing this, said, Woe is me, I'm undone. I'm a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. O Lord, give us this sight, we'll
remain blind and hardened. Unless you're pleased to do this
for us and in us, for Christ's sake, may we see thy son. Lord, we say with the Greeks
of old, we would see Jesus. Lord, we want to be like Zacchaeus
who sought to see Jesus who he was. Lord, enable us to see him,
enable us to rest in him, enable us to believe on him, enable
us to glory in him. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. We got rich.