Well, good morning. We are in the midst of a study of the life of Joshua. And in the immortal words of Jerry Reed from the movie Smokey and the Bandit, we have a long way to go and a short time to get there. So let us get going. We are in the book of Joshua, the fifth chapter this morning. Join me there as we will read our text. In fact, let me read to you the entire fifth chapter of the book of Joshua, these 15 verses. Follow along, please, in your Bible as I read. Joshua 5, beginning in verse 1. And it came to pass when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the side of the Jordan westward and all of the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we were passed over, that their heart melted. Neither was their spirit in them anymore 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 four skins." And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way after they came out of Egypt. Now all the people who came out were circumcised, but all the people who 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, till all the people who were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, unto whom the Lord swore that He would not show them the land which the Lord swore 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. And it came to pass when they had done circumcising all the people that they abode in their places in the camp till they were whole. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you, wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal until this day. And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the same day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land. Neither had the children of Israel manna anymore, 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 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." In our study, we have seen, first of all, the rise of Joshua to prominence from being Moses' aide de camp, his assistant to the one who would replace Moses at his death. Then we did a session on the very miraculous faith of Ahab, that harlot in the city of Jericho who hid the spies that were sent there to spy out the situation. And then the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River that we looked at last week A very similar episode to what had happened when they came out of Egypt, the dividing of the Red Sea, now as they are crossing into Canaan, the Jordan River at flood stage divides for them. They walk across on dry land and camp in a place called Gilgal. We'll understand why it got that name as we study our text today. Again, sort of stepping back and getting the big picture, and I want to do this and keep impressing this on you because of the mistakes I made and things I was taught in the early days of my ministry. Certainly Egypt, if we say, what's the object lesson here? And Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10 that these things happened to them for a lesson for us. So we're supposed to look at this and glean understanding about some things. And certainly if we stand back, we see three sections or three stages of Israel's existence. First, there's slavery in Egypt. Then there's the wandering in the wilderness. Then there's the entrance into Canaan. And if we ask ourselves typically, you know what I mean by type, a foreshadowing of something, what does Egypt represent? Well, it represents the world. Everybody agrees on that. Their bondage there to the Egyptians mirrors the Christians' bondage before he was saved. to sin. Pharaoh certainly represents Satan's grip on us as Pharaoh gripped them. And in their exodus out of Egypt, we have a wonderful picture of what salvation looks like. In fact, you may go back and read the account of the exodus, and the word redemption keeps popping up, that God has redeemed His people out of bondage. But the wilderness experience is, to say the least, rather disappointing. And I was taught in my early days from a deeper life perspective, well, the wilderness wandering represents the carnal Christian. It's how we live when we first become a Christian. And that Canaan represents the spiritual Christian. It represents, you see, two stages to the Christian life. And I taught that for a number of years. I've got a lot of old sermons I'd love to burn. And I have come to see better in studying the entire record of the Word of God, it becomes clear to me that the wilderness and Canaan don't represent two successive stages to our life. Now that's holiness teaching. Pentecostal teaching is that you have this early stage, that is carnal, worldly, and then you need to be filled with the Spirit and kicked up to a new level of sanctification and so forth. And what I began to see is that the Scriptures in the New Testament plainly teach that we have both things going on at the same time. It's not that we used to war against the flesh. And now we're in the Spirit, but Paul writes in Galatians that, no, we still got this war going on between the flesh and the Spirit. Every single day of my life, I've got the old man, which I think Israel in the wilderness is representing. You say, why do you think that? Because look at their experience in the wilderness. It is one of failure, unbelief, disobedience. I mean, down the line, they represent us as what we are. in our old life that is still hanging around. The old man is still with us. And yet at the same time in the Christian's life, there's new life. There's a victorious life represented by what's going on here in Canaan. An obedient life, a trusting life as we will see today. And so if I stand back and I look at it, what is being taught to us in succession is actually happening at the same time, simultaneously. Oscar was covering a section out of Colossians this morning, where we're told to put off the old man and put on the new man. But those aren't successive stages to our life. It's what we have to do every single day we live. That when I wake up in the morning, I am to die to the old way. I'm to mortify the flesh. And I am to put on the new life of Jesus Christ. Undoubtedly, that is what our Savior meant. If you'll read Luke's version of this text, that he that would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." It's that word daily that shows us that he's not talking about literally taking up a cross and going to be crucified. You only did that, you didn't come back and do it the next day, you understand. But in the councils of my mind, every single day of my life, and Paul in fact speaks in this language over in verse Corinthians, he says, I die daily. So it's a daily battle. OK, enough of that. We've got enough before us that we've got to get on. I want you to realize, and probably if you are familiar with this text that we just read at all, the fact of this being a wonderful exhibition of faith probably escaped you. Am I correct? In other words, you would say, well, yeah, by faith they crossed the Jordan River. And by faith, in the next chapter, the walls of Jericho are going to fall. But may I set before you that what is happening here is a gigantic illustration of what it is to trust and to believe in God. Let me explain. In addition to the fear of Israel that had already fallen upon the land, Rahab told the spies that, Now, an additional fear here in verse 1 has fallen upon the inhabitants because of the miraculous way that the Israelites have crossed the Jordan River. You can sort of understand it from the perspective of Jericho there on the west side of the Jordan. The Jordan is at flood stage. How are you going to bring half a million people from over there on the east side over here on the west side? We're relatively safe, at least for a little while, till the floodwaters subside. Maybe then they could ford the river. But till then, we're sitting pretty. And then all of a sudden, you look up and here they are over on your side of the river. How'd they get from here to there? Well, their God stopped the water and they came across. Oops. We're in big, big trouble. The fear of God fell upon the people. But it is now, and you would expect perhaps, that it is at this moment, the people are pectorified, Israel has come across the river, that the next command out of the mouth of God Almighty to Joshua is charge, attack, get out your swords and go to hacking off heads. Well, instead, It's get out your knives and sharpen them and circumcise all the males. It's a peculiar command, isn't it? We've given a great deal of explanation as to why, because the writer of this is expecting you and I to have questions. Why do they need to be circumcised? And he explains that the men that came out of Egypt out from Egypt in the Exodus were circumcised, but all of the males that were born in the wilderness for the last 40 years had not been circumcised. So if you sort of do the arithmetic that any man 40 years and younger has not been circumcised, so now they are to make them sharp knives and to circumcise them. Now, I don't want to be in any way inappropriate or crude or vulgar this morning. because it's not easy for us in our modern society. It seems like we can talk about everything else, but we get in church setting, we talk about circumcise, you know, all the men go to, you know, it's not an easy topic to address. Among the Jews, it was no problem. That's like talking about going down to the barber and getting a haircut. No big deal. In our culture, this is difficult for us to talk about, but I must talk about it in order for you to understand what's going on here. And the Bible talks about it. The Bible gives us a clue that we need to know in order to grasp what is happening here at this place called Gilgal. It's back in the 34th chapter of Genesis. Genesis chapter 34. Would you turn back there? Jacob and his family are in the area of central, the mountainous area of central Israel. And, uh, we learned that, uh, Jacob not only had these 12 sons, but he had some daughters, including this one here in this chapter named Dinah. And one of the men, one of the Gentiles or Canaanites there in the area of Shechem, his name is fact is Shechem, uh, sees her, takes her, basically rapes her. And after it's all said and done, Shechem says to his father, I want her for my wife. And so they realize they need to do some negotiating with Jacob and with his son. So they have a powwow in which you'll see in verse 8, Hamelar, who is Shechem's father, tells Jacob that the soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter, and I pray you give her him give her him as his wife. In other words, I'm asking you to give Dinah to my son Shechem to be his wife. Well, the long story short, Jacob and his sons say, well, okay, that sounds like a pretty good deal, but there's just one stipulation, one condition. all of your males are going to have to be circumcised. See, they're wanting to enter into a treaty. They want Jacob and his sons to live right there and to intermarry with them. He says, we'll do that, but first, all of you men are going to have to be circumcised. So, lo and behold, that's what they do. Then we read in chapter 34, verse 25, And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword and came upon the city boldly and slew all the males." Two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, slaughtering an entire village worth of males because it was the third day after they were circumcised and they were, to put it mildly, incapacitated. Vaguely remembered a story Dan Hall told me that happened down at MITC, so I called him up this week just to double-check my facts. And sure enough, he was telling me that back when his father was the director there, Dr. John Hall at MITC, there was one of the young men that had to have this surgery performed on him for health reasons. And Dan was a witness to what all went on, said it was a great lesson to them. about illustrative of this text here in Genesis the 34th chapter, that it was every bit as, I don't want to go into the graphic details, but every bit as incapacitating and debilitating as what we see here in our text. Okay? So you got the picture of what's going on in Genesis 34, how these sons of Jacob use the fact of circumcision and the recovery of these grown men. That's why we do it as infants, by the way. That's why the Jews did it to infants. Because if it is done as an adult, it becomes very debilitating and incapacitating for a period of time. Now you have the key to understanding what's going on here at Gilgal. When God commands first order of business, Joshua circumcised the army. This is the heart and soul. This is the strength of your military. Circumcise them. And I could almost hear some of these guys saying, wait a minute, what are you talking about? We have just set foot into enemy territory. We are sitting ducks. Why, if you wanted this done, why couldn't it have been done over there on that side of the river? You know, if it took a miracle for us to get over here, it would have taken a miracle for them to get over there. We were safe over there. Why now, of all times, do you command this? Does anybody here understand why God would command this at this point? Because you see the utter Helplessness of your army means what are you going to trust for your defense? You're going to have to look to God Almighty for your defense. I completely forgot about the responsive reading this morning. I'm sorry. We were intending to read out of Jeremiah chapter 17, so I'll bring it in here in Jeremiah 17. The contrast is made between two types of people. Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his hope. Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord. That's the other side. And he likens them to the heath, this old scraggy stuff. That's the man who trusts in flesh. And the tree that's planted by the water, that's the one who trusts in the Lord. But notice the fact that everybody's trusting in something. I've said this off and along. We sometimes think that the problem with lost people is they don't have faith. Oh no, they've got faith. Every man trusts in something. Well, why don't we call them unbelievers? Because they don't trust in God. They don't trust in Christ. But they're trusting something. You remember the Pharisee that went into the temple to pray? Jesus said, they who trusted in themselves that they are righteous. Here's the example. He's not trusting in God for his righteousness. He trusts in himself. So here we see the contrast. And there's not a third group, folks. It's either one or the other. You either trust in man and you make flesh your arm, you trust in what man can do, what you can do, or you put your trust in God and you make Him your hope, Him your strength. And notice the first order of business is to incapacitate the army. This would be like invading Omaha Beach. And the first order you get when you set foot ashore is shoot yourself in the foot. Right? That's the first order of business. Absolutely, debilitate yourself. Incapacitate yourself. What is the lesson? That the first order of business in serving God, in being a Christian, is to utterly and completely cast away all hope. in the flesh. What we studied in Philippians 3, as Paul relates his own experience, that's spiritual circumcision. You see, Paul in chapter 3 is saying we are the circumcision. He's got these Judaizers coming along behind him like little puppy dogs nipping at his heels. Telling these people, you need to keep the law of Moses, you need to be circumcised. And Paul is saying, wait a minute, we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, trust in Jesus Christ, and have no confidence in the flesh. Do you understand? To circumcise the entire army at Gilgal means you have no hope, no confidence in flesh. All of that, we're not talking about cutting off a piece of skin, we're talking about the heart being circumcised. Trusting in flesh, trusting in me, trusting in the old can-do spirit. That's what's gotten cut away in this operation. You say, what kind of knife will do that? I kept trying to do some research on, I'm sort of interested in these knives. Do you understand? We are sort of at the late Stone Age. I was thinking, is this Flint, you reckon? It's also the late Bronze Age, so maybe they had metal. I hope they had metal. I'm thinking about it. Yeah, I'll just soon not think about that. But if we ask ourselves what kind of knife will do this inner circumcision of the heart, there's only one answer. For the Word of God is sharper and more powerful than any two-edged sword, able to pierce, and we like to put the word between in here, soul and spirit, that somehow God's Word is so sharp it severs between soul and spirit. That's not what the text says. The text says that this sword is so sharp it is a severer of soul and spirit. It's a soul sword. That's the point. It is able to do to the heart what a knife can do to the body. That the application of the Word of God by the Spirit of God brings about this change that we would call spiritual circumcision. And I hope you understand I'm not making this stuff up. You go to the New Testament and Paul will say we've been in Colossians, Oscar, in the second chapter. That because of your union in Christ, you have been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. There wasn't a man involved with it. Even the circumcision of Christ, it's that circumcision He administers. And it illustrates the fact that in the heart of the Christian, all hope in self. And read Paul's testimony in Philippians 3. He said, you got a reason why you want to trust in your flesh? I bet you my reasons can outdo your reasons. And he gives you his resume, his fleshly credentials. Born a Hebrew of the Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin. He's a keeper of the law. He's a Pharisee. He's as straight-laced as you can get. Oh, it's his flesh. And now he says, what I once trusted in, what I once hoped in, I've cast it all away. What's your hope now, Paul? It's Christ and Christ alone. I have no confidence in this. I have complete confidence in Him. He's all I need. You are sufficient in Him. You've got Him. You're complete in Him. You don't have Him. It doesn't matter what else you've got. You have nothing. And so you understand this act of faith that occurred there on the banks of the Jordan River? The entire army Circumcised. Easy pickings. If two of Jacob's sons with two swords can go into a village and kill every man in there, what do you suppose the Canaanites could have done to the nation of Israel at this moment? What kept them from doing it? The fear of God. God's with these people. God was their shield. And then secondly, notice that immediately after this, Oh, and by the way, in verse 9 we have the explanation why it's called Gilgal. Gilgal in Hebrew means rolling. And God says, today I've rolled the reproach of Egypt from off you. That's an interesting thing. There are some writers who say by the reproach of Egypt they mean the insults that the Egyptians hurled at the Israelites. I don't think that's what this is talking about. but that this reproach of Egypt is that which is a reproachment in the eyes of God. In other words, it is an insult to God. Because what is going on in that wilderness wandering is that although they were out of Egypt, Egypt was never really out of them. I mean, every time you turn around, what have they done? Moses is up there on the mountain. We lost sight of him. He's probably dead. Aaron, make us some golden calves. Why golden calves of all things? Because that's what they worship in Egypt. It's the old time religion. And later on, out in the wilderness, they said, man, we're getting tired of this manna. Now, this is interesting, isn't it? We think, boy, if we could have a miraculous sign of some sort, that'll satisfy us. They had a miracle every day. They'd get up and eat manna. But before long, they're saying, you know, manna, manna, manna. Morning, noon, and night. Always manna. What are we having tomorrow? Manna. We're tired of this manna. Oh, that we had some of the fish, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic back there in Egypt. Oh, that we were by the flesh pots of Egypt, that we could eat flesh like those Egyptians eat. Do you understand? Their hearts never left. And so in this rolling away of the flesh, God said, I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt. I've cut Egypt out of your heart. And then notice the next order of business is to keep the Passover. Now you know what the Passover represented. Go back to Exodus. We know the first Passover was what finally was the plague that severed them forever from Egypt's grip. They were told that that night the angel of God would pass through the land to execute wrath on all the inhabitants and all the firstborn sons. I was thinking this morning, if I were to ask you, if you are a firstborn son, stand up. Okay. I'm a firstborn son, so I'm going to stand up. If you're a firstborn son, stand up. Pretty good proportion. What would you say? Almost a quarter of the room. Okay. Y'all can sit down. If I am a firstborn son in Egypt, and I am told that there is about to be a plague where all the firstborn sons are going to die, but there is a remedy, there is a shelter, there is a way of hiding myself from that judgment, and it involves taking a lamb, slitting its throat and taking the blood and smearing that blood up over the doorpost, Because God's direction to Moses, and I want you to get something through your thick skull. I know yours is thick because they did a CT scan on mine, and yeah, it's doubly thick, okay? This was not discrimination on the basis of race. It didn't matter if you're a Hebrew or an Egyptian. It doesn't matter. He didn't say, now all the Hebrews get over here and all the Egyptians over here, and he judges the Egyptians. The same plague fell upon both people. What was the discrimination? God said, when I pass through the land, if I see the blood of that lamb, I will pass over you. It's not a question of whether you're rich or poor, good or evil, Egyptian or Hebrew. It all has to do with the fact, has death already occurred here? You understand, that's what's being typified in that Passover lamb's blood. The sentence of death has already fallen here. No, not on the firstborn, but on a substitute that is standing in the stead, a token for the firstborn. And that being the case, if judgment has already fallen on that house, then not only is it possible for God to pass over, it's just. Because, you know, we have the principle of double jeopardy in our own legal system, don't we? that you don't make a man pay twice for the same crime. Why? That's not justice. Augustus Toplady, one of my favorite poem writers, put it like this. He's talking about the cross. Payment God cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine. I should have quoted the whole thing. It's a poem called Faith Reviving. And this is what he found his hope before God, is that the payment that my Savior has given at the cross is not a payment. If I have latched hold of that as my hope, if that blood is over my head, then God will never demand that payment again. You see the point? And therefore, I have confidence and assurance before God, because God will not only be just, but He would be unjust to judge. I mean, that's strange talk, isn't it? But it's the language of 1 John 1. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and what? Just to forgive us. We think merciful, gracious, kind, loving. No, he's faithful and just. How could it be just for him to forgive us? He can't forgive it if it's not just. If justice is not satisfied, then there is no ground for God's forgiveness, but it is because of the blood shed at Calvary's cross that not only makes it possible, but just for God to forgive the believer in Jesus. Let me hurry on because, well, we've got to talk about Passover. Notice the sequence of events. And by the way, anybody here need a primer on what the Passover represents? It's a type. It's a shadow. That lamb in the Old Testament really didn't... You understand. We understand that, don't we? Well, then who is this lamb in the Old Testament prefiguring? And we don't have to guess. We have the answers in the back of the book. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul writes, for Christ, our Passover. is slain for us. We don't have to guess who that lamb depicts. We have the answer right there. This is pointing forward. That's why I made that application a moment ago. Because we can say what is true of them in Egypt, when wrath came upon them and they were sheltered from that wrath by that blood, for you and I as new covenant believers, that's exactly what the blood of Christ does for us. It is a propitiation for sin. It is a wrath absorber. That the wrath of God falls on him that it might not fall on us. Now, the point I want to bring to your attention though is the sequence of events. Notice it is not that they kept Passover and then were circumcised. That they are circumcised as a prerequisite for keeping Passover. You see the sequence here? I want you to go back to Exodus. In chapter 12, this is during that first Passover, Exodus chapter 12, and there are certain directions being given here. Back about, oh, verse 43. Exodus 12, verse 43. The Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall no stranger, and that means a foreigner, somebody that's not Hebrew, there shall no stranger eat of it, but every man's servant, that is, his slave that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. And a foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten. You don't carry it. You don't break a bone of it. By the way, is quoted in the New Testament, the fact the soldiers didn't break the bones of Christ on the cross. Verse 47, all the congregation of Israel shall keep it. In verse 48, when, when a stranger that's that foreigner shall sojourn with thee and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised and then let them come near and keep it. And he shall be as one that is born in the land. In other words, the stranger, the foreigner, if he would be circumcised, then is treated as a Hebrew. And the final thing is said here, for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. Now I want you to let that sequence sink in. First circumcision, then Passover. And it becomes clear then that circumcision is the prerequisite, you know what that means, the prerequisite for Passover. And I started thinking about that. You know, that's an excellent way. No doubt it's an excellent way. Here I am talking about the way God does it and saying that's good. I mean, who am I? But you understand, what God is doing is then giving us a tool to understand some things. That before I am a candidate, to partake of that Passover lamb, and in this case, the Passover lamb is for us who? Christ. Before I am qualified to partake of the Passover lamb, an operation, circumcision, in my case, on my heart, must take place first. Now, I am not talking about the era that is sometimes called preparationism. I don't know if any of you have run across that. Preparationism is the idea that, well, you can't just immediately go to Christ, you've got to prepare yourself. You've got to mourn for a while, grovel in the dirt, wallow in the mud, and after you've been there for a long enough period of time, then God will hear you, and so forth. It's sort of like wallowing in the mud with one eye caught to the heavens, Say, you know, am I humble enough yet? Have I wallowed enough? It's just another form of trying to work your way to glory. Okay? So I'm not talking about preparationism in that sense. What I am, however, saying is that clearly there is something that happens to us that prepares us for Christ. And what that is, is the absolute loss of all confidence in us and in our flesh. That has to take place first. But as you see, Christ is not going to place the robe of His righteousness over your old filthy robe. He's going to strip you naked first before He clothes you with the righteousness of Christ. Christ didn't come to be an addition, a supplement, an enhancement to your life and my life. He came to replace it. And it is not that he adds his good stuff to my good stuff, because my good stuff, my robe is his filthy rags. And before I can be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, I must be unclothed with my own. Do you understand? I mean, because who is it that comes to Christ? Well, it's those who are hungry, right? That means you've got to be made hungry. It's those who are thirsty. It's those who are dead in trespasses and sin. And you say, well, they were. I'm reminded of my old friend, Harold Rudolph, down in Texas. He was riding to Austin with his buddy, his boss, actually, on a business trip. And they were about halfway between Houston and Austin. And they got into a religious discussion. My friend Harold told his boss, said, you know what your problem is? The guy said, no, what's my problem? He says, you're not a big enough sinner. Well, I mean, this guy started laughing and chuckling. He said, wait till I get back to the office and tell everybody else what the preacher, that's what he called Harold, the preacher, what the preacher told me, that I'm not a big enough sinner. Harold said, please don't misunderstand. You're plenty big enough sinner in the eyes of God. It's just in your own eyes. We're not talking about somebody getting worse. You're already bad enough. We're talking about your eyes being open to honestly the reality of what you are before God. That's what has to happen in order to come to Christ. And we don't qualify it. We don't say if you'll just stay there for a week or a year rolling in the mud and in wallowing in helplessness, then you're qualified. In other words, the qualification really is the lack of qualification. Isn't that strange? The worthiness to come to Christ is actually the knowledge inherently of your own unworthiness. Because this is a sinner's gospel. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, says Paul. He didn't come for the righteous. Didn't come for the can-doers. Didn't come for those strong in the flesh. You understand the principle why circumcision precedes Passover. And perhaps that explains some things. In my own life, I'm thinking about I know so many people that intellectually grasp the cross. If you ask them for an explanation, it's like listening to a systematic theologian. They can dot every i and cross every t. They know the doctrine. They know all about it. And I said, what's wrong? Why then do they not surrender to Christ? Why is there not this new life exhibited in them? And the only answer I can give is this. They've never had this operation. This cutting away of the flesh. And then thirdly, I'd like to talk about the man of C.C., but I'm not going to. Well, yeah, I am, because they're in the land now. They don't need it anymore. But I want to emphasize the third thing and final thing. And it's this encounter with this soldier. Joshua is out doing some reconnoitering, I guess we'd call it. He's scouting out the things. He's no doubt wandering around out there taking a look at Jericho. Now next week, Lord willing, I'm going to make you another one of my little movies about Jericho. It's fascinating to see. And in fact, we have a real, real good idea of what the defense of Jericho looked like. Remember that this generation, the ones they just circumcised, not only had never ever seen a river, not like the Jordan, they'd seen these wadis out there in the wilderness, but that's it. But they had also never seen a city with a wall around it. They'd never come up against this. They had fought the Malachites out there. in the middle of the wilderness, but they had never seen anything like this before. And so the question is, okay, what kind of tactics? I put myself in Joshua's shoes or sandals, and I'm out there trying to figure out how do we attack this place? It looks impregnable to me. It looks impossible. How are we going to do this? And you're wandering around thinking about all this when he encounters this strange personage, this warrior with a sword drawn. And it's like Joshua calls out, halt! Who goes there? Friend or foe? Are you for us or are you against us? And the answer is, neither. That's enlightening. Because you see, we like to think, are you on my side or are you on their side? I'm not here to take sides. I'm here to take over. As captain of the Lord, the host of the Lord, I've come. Joshua, I thought I was captain. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. You may be the visible captain. You may be the visible leader. You may be the guy, the general that yells charge, but no, you're not in charge, Joshua. I'm in charge. I've come to take over. Joshua falls before him. He says, what will thou have me do? Watch your command. I'm here. I'm at your disposal. I've thought about that. Are you for us or against us? You know, in the life of Jesus, there were a couple of episodes where the disciples had seen a guy casting out demons, but they said, he's not one of us. And Jesus said, he that's not against us is for us. Let that sink in. We saw a guy casting out demons, but he wasn't one of us. He didn't go to our church. He wasn't part of our denominator. He wasn't one of us. And she said, leave him alone. He that's not against us is for us. And then later on, he says, but whoever is not with me is against me. You say, well, that sounds like a contradiction. Well, the difference is us and me. That's the difference. Us? No, it's not a problem if they're not against you. That's OK. That's great. But when it comes down to Jesus, you're either for him or against him, one or the other. And so it is here. This one comes to take over. Who is this strange person? He's called a man in the King James, but clearly more than a man. I would be bold in saying that throughout the Exodus and the wilderness, there has been an angel, a particular angel that God said He would send with them. You may remember that when they were at the Red Sea, that the angel of the Lord, when the Egyptians started to attack, moved from in front of them to between the Egyptians and them to protect them. Later on, Moses is up on Mount Sinai saying, well, I need to know who you're going to send with us. You're not going. I don't want to go. And God promises that His presence, that I will send this angel. I don't have near enough time. You can get you a concordance, one of those computer deals, Google or whatever angel, through the book of Exodus, for instance, and you'll see what I'm saying. Time and time again, there's a reference made to this angel. A particular angel. The angel of the Lord. The angel of God's presence. Here it appears that the person that Joshua encounters is the very same person Moses encountered at the burning bush. Because in both situations, what are they told to do? Take off your shoes. You're standing on holy ground. You say, but that wasn't an angel back there at the burning bush. That was God. Go read Acts 7. Stephen will say, no, he's an angel. It was an angel yet speaking in the first person for God and as God. And because of that reason, Theologians like to call these Old Testament appearances like this one in our text, Theophanies, the appearance of God, or Christophanies might be a better way of putting it, an Old Testament appearance of the second person of the Trinity, that He comes in this guise, And he's standing on holy ground. He said, well, I guess so. Now he crossed the Jordan River. He's over in the holy land. Well, it wasn't a holy land at Midian when Moses stood in front of him. You understand it's holy because that's where God's presence is manifested. That's what makes it holy. And so I would say, I think I'm on firm ground here. Most theologians agree with me that this is, in fact, an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ coming as captain of the Lord's host. to take over. And Joshua, we see his stance much like Paul on the road to Damascus who met the glorified Christ. Next words out of his mouth, Lord, what would you have me do? Now Joshua says, what you command for your servant. Whatever you say. That's what we're going to do. Let me close this day by just asking you a question. Have you met this fellow? Have you ever met this fellow? I have. You said, you met a man with a sword drawn? No. He didn't come to me that way. And he didn't come to me as he came in the flesh, back in the Gospels, performing miracles, teaching, finally crucified, rising from the grave. But he did come to me through the Word and through the Spirit of God. I was nine years old, on a top bunk at a camp, in the middle of the night, all by myself. And He came to me. And I wrestled like Jacob wrestled with that angel at the Brook of Peniel, until finally I could wrestle no more, and I said, I surrender. I surrender. Again, I was baptized with a whole group of kids at my home church back in Texas. And I would dare say that outside of one or two of the dozen or so of us that were baptized, not a one of them is walking with the Lord today. They all walked down the aisle and said a prayer and were baptized. Not a one of them walking with the Lord outside of precious few. You say, well, what are you chalking that up to? They didn't meet the same guy I met. My friend, you ever meet this one, it's all over. You might as well just turn over the steering wheel of your life into his hands. I mean, the very next words out of your mouth might as well be, Lord, what wilt thou have me do? Because He's not coming to give advice. He's not coming to be your assistant. He's coming to take over, to take charge, and He's not going to take no as an answer when this one comes into your life. It's life-changing, and it was for me. You say, oh, but if that happened to me, it'd wreck all my plans. He sure wrecked mine. I'll be here to tell you. I was going to be a scientist, had it all mapped out, and look where I am. Yeah, he's probably going to change your plans. He's probably going to absolutely overturn your goals, your drive, where you planned to be. Oh, and thank God He did. I've told you a thousand times, God will never let you be a loser for trusting Him, for surrendering it all into His hands. Sometimes what He calls us to do looks rather foolish, as circumcising the army on the west side of Jordan looked pretty foolish to the carnal mind. to worldly wisdom, that's not how you do it. But you understand, you and I as Christians are to operate by a different principle. Our trust is not in ourselves, but in the power of our God. Oh, that you might meet the one I met. That he might turn your life upside down like he did mine. Because he's the captain. The Lord, the King of glory came into my life, and it's never been the same since. May God be pleased to show grace and mercy. You see now how it works? First, there must be that painful operation on the heart, stripping you of all hope in self, cutting away all hope in flesh, to leave you utterly naked, exposed, impotent. But it is then at that moment, oh, finally, without those qualifications, now I am qualified to come to Christ, to embrace Him for all. May God be pleased to do this work in the hearts of His people. Let's pray. Father, we give You thanks today for this wonderful text. for the sequence of events that we see displayed here, of how it explains things that we so desperately need to hear, explains things like why so many superficial conversions, that we are face to face with the reality of what true conversion really looks like and what true faith in Christ really looks like. And that, Father, it is a faith that demands that we turn loose of all hope in anything else. It is, as we sung a moment ago, to stand in Christ alone, our sole hope, to trust Him as our only Savior, to look away from self, to look to Him, to turn over all to His rule, His direction, and unquestionably obey Him in every detail of our life. Lord, would You do that miracle again? You did it with me. You did it with many here in this room. Would You do it again? Not for our sake, not that we can brag or boast, but for the sake of Your Son to extend His kingdom in this earth. Will You seize souls for the crucified one? give Him payment for His work, honor His sacrifice by giving Him the people for whom He died. Seal these things to our heart. Let us not quickly forget them. Help us remember, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.