Okay, this evening I want to
bring the message from Joshua chapter 5. Very, very interesting,
interesting chapter, especially the last three verses. In the
title of the message that I've given here, Joshua meets the
Savior face to face. Joshua meets the Lord Jesus Christ
face to face. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
captain of our salvation. We read that in the book of Hebrews,
don't we? He is the Prince of Peace. He is the King of Righteousness.
He is the Lord of Lords. He is the King of Kings. As we just read in Exodus chapter
3, when Moses asked, whom shall I say sent me unto the children
of Israel? And God replied, I am that I
am. He is the everlasting, eternal,
almighty God. Now, Joshua had before him a
mighty foe, a mighty enemy. No doubt his heart was heavy
with burden considering what was to take place in the next
few days, weeks, and months. What a comfort this must have
been to Joshua when he faced all the enemies that were before
him in this land of Canaan, to know that the Lord was with him
just as he promised back in chapter 1. Remember, turn back over there. In Joshua chapter 1 verse 5,
there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the
days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will
be with you. I will not fail thee. I will not forsake thee. Be strong,
be of good courage. For unto this people thou shalt
divide for an inheritance, a land which I swear unto their father
to give them. And the Lord has given us the
same promise. He says, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. Now, before we get down to verse
13, 14, and 15, I want to point out just a few gospel pictures
we see in this chapter. Look at verse 1. It came to pass
when all the kings of the Amorites, which are 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
before the children of Israel, until we were passed over their
heart, melted, their spirit was gone in them because of God's
deliverance to his people. Now here's the point. When the
enemies of the land heard of all the mighty power of the Lord
who dried up the water, their hearts did melt. They were whittled to nothing,
their strength was perished. And here's the gospel lesson.
Only when a sinner is confronted with the absolute power of God
and is shut up to the sovereign power and sovereign mercy, the
sovereign will of the Lord, who can save or condemn, will the
heart of the sinner and the will of the sinner be broken to bow
in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. Not until he's confronted
with God as God, as God, the Almighty God. And when that happens,
the scripture said, the Lord is nigh unto them of a broken
heart. Save us such as be of a contrite spirit. Now, the second
thing I wanted to point out, they make, the Lord gives us
a very detailed record from verse two all the way down to verse
eight. about this business of being
circumcised. All the men who crossed over
Jordan were commanded to be circumcised. Now, that was very, very vital
for them to do that. This had been neglected in the
wilderness for 40 years. They spent wandering around until
the whole generation of those who did not believe God died
out. millions of them died out over
forty years, the whole generation God killed. But now is the time
the Lord commanded these men to be circumcised. Showing, what
did it show? It showed their submission to
the covenant of God that God made with Abraham. I'm the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was a physical token, a mark
in the flesh that they were God's own, that he chose them and that
he delivered them. And it was a mark in their flesh
saying that we are God's people. We are submissive unto the word
of the Lord. Now here we know the gospel lesson
for us, the believer in Christ has that operation of God, that
circumcision of the heart, not in the flesh. Before we can enter
into the heavenly Canaan, our heart must be circumcised by
God. That is, God must operate on
our heart by the new birth. And that's how he does that.
Our Lord said, except a man be born again, he can't see the
kingdom of God. Except a man is born again, he
can't enter into the kingdom of God. If you find the book
of Colossians chapter two, turn to the book of Colossians chapter
two. Let me remind you of this verse
here over in the book of Romans. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you in the book of Romans. You go to Colossians chapter
two. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is
that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew
which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit,
not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. God must operate upon our heart.
Now, you find Colossians 2. Look at verse 9, for in him,
that is in Christ, willeth all the fullness of a Godhead bodily,
and you are complete in him which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of
the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. buried with him in
baptism, wherein also are you risen with him through the faith
of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead,
and you being dead in your sin, and uncircumcised in your flesh,
yet hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you
all trespasses." God must operate on our heart, and that's what
happens in the new birth. We'll never enter in. Our Lord
said, except the man be born again, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God. God must do a work of grace in
our heart, making us new creatures in Christ. One other gospel note
on the way down to the meeting of Joshua with Jehovah. In verse
9, the Lord said unto Joshua, this is Joshua 5, 9, you with
me? The Lord said unto Joshua this
day, I have rolled away the reproach, the sin, the rebellion of Egypt
from off you, wherefore the name of that place is called Gilgal."
The marginal reference is a rolling, a rolling. I tell you what I
see here, the Lord, our God, had put away our sin. The Lord did roll away their
reproach and their sin against God, and it's true in the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ has put
away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. Don't turn, let me just read
this one to you, are you familiar with it? David also describes
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness
without works. saying blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered." Now listen
to this, blessed is that man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. That's a blessed man. How can
that be? It's only because God has dealt
with our sin in our substitute the Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. Now, the next thing I
want us to consider is this, verse 10 and verse 11. The children
of Israel, when they came across Jordan, on dry ground passed
clean over the children of Israel and camped in Gilgal and kept
the Passover on the 14th day of the first month even at the
plains of Jericho. As soon as they came across the
river, they came across that river, you remember, the 10th
day of the first month, four days later, they observed the
Passover. They observed the Passover. What
a special, special time when they observed the Passover 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 that manna ceased from heaven. They kept the Passover
sacrifice. This goes all the way back to
that deliverance from Egyptian bondage after 400 years. Remember
we read a moment ago, God told Moses, you go down and you tell
Pharaoh to let my people go? And you remember that plague,
all those plagues that came upon Egypt there, and then the plague
of the death of the firstborn. And God told Israel to take a
blood, the blood of a lamb, put it up certain days and observe
it, that it have no blemish and no spot. And then on that certain
day they were to kill the lamb, take the blood, put it on the
lintel and the doorpost, go inside, shut the door and sit down. God
said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And that Passover
feast was a memorial, a memorial of God's sacrificial lamb. And we know all of that speaks
of Christ our Passover that was sacrificed for us. The Lord Jesus
Christ, he is that special lamb. He is the lamb of God. that bears
away all our sin. John identified him and said,
behold, this is God's lamb, the Passover feast. The next thing
I want us to consider in verse 12, the manna ceased on the morrow
after they had eaten of the corn of the land, neither had the
children of Israel manna anymore, but they did eat of the fruit
of the land of Canaan. Now this is most interesting.
The manna from heaven had rained down consistently, consistently
six days a week. Six days a week. And then they
gathered, they gathered enough on that sixth day to sustain
them on the seventh day. The manna from heaven rained
down from heaven consistently for forty years. and that sustained
them. But when they crossed over and
ate the corn of the land, the manna stopped. Now, I want you
to turn and read this one with me. This is interesting. Turn
to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Our Lord says
here in verse 31, John 6. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
came down from heaven, and giveth his life unto the world. Then
said they unto him, Lord evermore, give us this bread. And the Lord
said, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. Here's
the point for us to remember. We are sustained in our journey
here in this wilderness, feeding upon the heavenly manna, the
bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are fed daily with
his mercy. His mercies are new every morning.
We're fed daily with his grace, but one day soon we'll be forever
in his presence, and there more completely and more fully when
we cross over our Jordan into that heavenly Canaan, we won't
be feeding like we are feeding down here. If you'll find Revelation
21, 22 rather, will be feeding more completely
and more fully upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The true bread
from heaven which God has given us. Revelation 22, the last chapter
in God's book, verse 1, and he showed me a pure river of water
of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne and of the
Lamb, and in the midst of the street of it, on either side
of the river, there was a tree of life, which bared twelve manner
of fruits, yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of
the tree were for the healing of the nation, and there shall
be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall
be in it, and his servant shall serve him. They shall see his
face, and his name shall be in his forehead. We'll feed upon
him absolutely perfectly with no sin and no destruction and
worship Him forever. Now, that gets us all the way
down to verse 13, but I did want to overlook those previous things
that we've mentioned because they're all pictures of the gospel
of our blessed Savior. Now, in verse 13, 14, and 15,
it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up
his eyes and looked. And behold, there stood a man.
A man was in his way. A stranger stood in his way.
There stood a man over against him with a sword drawn in his
hand. And Joshua went unto him and
said unto him, Are you for us? or are you for adversary? In other words, he's saying,
whose side do you want? Whose side do you want? And this man,
who we know now is the Lord Jesus Christ, the great I am that I
am, he said, nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord,
I now come, and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did
worship him. He did worship him, and he wasn't
rebuked. You remember when John fell down
to worship an angel, the angel rebuked him, 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. Look at verse 2 in chapter 6,
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Who'd said? The Lord said unto
Joshua, I've given Jericho into your hand. Now we have this very
special meeting between Joshua and the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is absolutely no question as to who Joshua was meeting. It
is the same Lord Jesus Christ that met Moses out of that bush
that burned and was not consumed. And God spake out of that bush
and said, I am that I am. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ
all through the gospel, especially in John. He's identified as,
I am the way, the truth, the life. I am the bread of life. I am the door. I am the water. I am the life. I'm all and in
all. The Lord Jesus Christ comes to
Joshua's rescue, to his aid. Standing ready to fight and defend
the Lord's people he come to the battle with his sword drawn
The sword in his hand. I'm he's ready to do battle with
the enemy the sword in his hand ready to do battle any that would
appear against him this sword here we know is the emblem of
and his hand is an emblem of his power. You remember in Hebrews
chapter 4 verse 12, the word of the Lord is quick, powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to dividing asunder
of soul and the spirit, the joint and the mower. The sword is an
emblem of his power and the emblem of his word. In Revelation 19
we read this, Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with
it he should smite the nations. Out of his mouth went a sharp
sword. He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. Now notice something here about
this sword. The sword of the Lord is in his
hands. Not in my hand. Not in any other
man's hand. It's in His hand. His hand is
a hand of power. We read in Scripture that none
can stay His hand or stand Him, Lord God Almighty. The Lord takes
the powerful sword of the Word, the sword of the Spirit, and
He operates upon our heart precisely and perfectly to make us new
creatures in Christ. That's how he circumcises our
heart. Salvation is an operation of
God upon our heart. We read in Philippian letter,
God who has begun a good work in you, he will perform it. He
will perfect it. He will finish it. And notice
something here interesting. Joshua asked a question before
he knows who this man is. The last part of verse 13. Are
you for us or are you for the people in the city of Jericho?
Are you for our adversaries or are you for Israel? Now, whose
side are you on? Well, listen to this. The Lord is always on the side
of truth. He's always on the side of righteousness. He's always on the side of holiness. I want to be on his side. I want
to be on his side. The real issue for us, are we
on the side of the Lord? Are we aligned with Him? Are
we united and one with Him? I remember hearing this story
of Abraham Lincoln, president during the Civil War. Someone
asked him about this war and all the division that went on.
Someone asked him, said, Mr. President, is the Lord on our
side? To which he replied, I don't
know, but I want to be on his side. That's the issue. I want
to be one with Christ, one with him. We read in scripture of
God before us who can be against us. He that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things, who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Well, notice the answer that
our blessed Savior says. He said, no. He said, I'm on
my side. But as a captain of the host,
he's the Lord of hosts. He's the Lord of a people. He's
the Lord of his elect. But as a captain of the host
of the Lord, I am now come. He comes as Lord. He is the God-man
mediator, but let us never forget he is the Lord our God and God
our Savior. He's the Lord of heaven and earth.
I am now come. And Joshua, what did he do? He reverenced. He reverenced
him in worship and Joshua fell on his face He put his forehead
right in the dust. He made his headquarters right
in the dust, right at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he worshiped him. That's a good place to be. At
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, with reverence, holy and reverent
is his name, and did worship him and said, my Lord, my Lord,
my Lord. What saith my Lord to his servant? I'm ready to receive instruction.
That's a good place to be. At his feet, in reverence, in
submission, saying, Lord, what would you have me to do? I am
the captain. And that word there, captain,
means to exercise dominion. That's what the captain does.
He's called Isaiah 55. He's called the leader and the
commander. He's the commander in chief of
all things. I am the captain, one who exercises
dominion. From everlasting to everlasting
thou art God. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. Whatsoever the Lord please, that
did he in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep places. Now it's
no mistake that in Hebrews chapter two, we're all familiar with
this, the Lord Jesus Christ there is called the captain of our
salvation, who's bringing many sons unto glory. Same person,
same man. This must have been a relief
to Joshua, don't you think? I just met the Lord. He said
he's gonna give Joshua into my hand and we're gonna have the
victory. You know, that had to be a relief for Joshua. The Lord
was in charge that day, and the victory over Jericho was not
in doubt. Salvation, as it's revealed in
this book we call the Bible, is in the hands of the Lord. He is the fifth Savior, God our
Savior. We read in John chapter four,
the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his
hand. That gives me comfort. That gives
me assurance. The Father's given all our salvation,
the accomplishment of it, the work of it, the power of it,
into the hands of Christ. And I know this, He cannot fail. The Father, He prayed in John
17, Father, You've given me power over all flesh, that I should
give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given to me. He
has power in heaven and earth to give us life, to give us salvation,
and he cannot fail. He cannot fail. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ has won every battle, For us conquered every enemy,
we have the victory in Him. Sin that was against us, He put
it away. The law that was against us and
contrary to us, He honored the law. Death, the last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death. The Lord said, I am He that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. Because He lives, we shall live. He won the battle over every
enemy and we have the victory in Him. Having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them Himself. By Himself, He purged our sins. And Joshua fell on his face to
worship the Lord. Now notice this, when Joshua
fell on his face to worship the Lord, to worship this one, he
was not rebuked. When John, there on the Isle
of Pappas, fell down before an angel of the Lord, the angel
of the Lord rebuked him. I'm your fellow servant. But
here, Joshua was not rebuked. What does that tell us? He tells
us that this angel here is no mere angel. He's the angel and
messenger of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Joshua
became a willing, ready servant unto the Lord to be obedient
unto the Lord. What would you have me to do?
Very similar to what Saul of Tarsus said when he was unhorsed,
when he met this same man, the God-man mediator, when he was
put in the dust, just like Joshua, down in the dust, he said, Lord,
what will you have me to do? That's a good place to be. And then watch this. Verse 15,
and the captain of the Lord said unto Joshua, same thing he said
to Moses. Notice the reference there, Exodus
3, 5. Take your shoes off. Take your shoes off. Now, there's
gotta be something more significant here than just taking your shoes
off. There's gotta be a spiritual
lesson for us. Loose thy shoe from off thy foot,
for the place whereon thou standest is holy." And he did so. Take your shoes off. Every place
where the Lord is, every place where the Lord is, it is a holy
place. For the Lord our God is holy. We read that God dwells in a
light to which no man can approach. That's from 1 Timothy 6, listen
to this verse. Who is the blessed and only potentate,
King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has
seen nor can see, to whom be honor, power, glory, everlasting,
amen. We can only come before the Holy
Throne of God dressed in His righteousness alone, not ours. Put off your shoes. Count all things lost, dung,
and ruined. Be done with it. Put it away.
Take off your shoes and rest in Christ. That's why the Apostle
said, Oh, I can't everything lost and I may win Christ and
be found in him. We must lay aside the shoe of
our merit, the shoe of our work, the shoe of our strength. That's
the lesson. Lay off those shoes. Be done
with it. And only rest in Christ. That's the message there. Take
your shoes off. And Joshua said, now wait a minute, you sure?
You sure you want me to take my shoes off?" And Joshua did
so. He did so. He didn't ask the
Lord why. He did so. And that's a good lesson for
us. Obedience unto the command of the Lord. May God give us
that same spirit of submission to worship the Lord, our God,
upon our face, and to take off anything that would hinder our
coming unto the Lord." Be done with it. Take it off. Cut it
off. Be done with it. Okay. We'll
look at chapter 6 next week, next time, and we'll see the
walls of Jericho crumble.