If you have your Bibles, let's turn to Joshua chapter five. As I was thinking and praying about the opportunity to come here, I wanted to find a passage of Scripture that I thought would address you where you are right now in God's forming you as a congregation. And this passage in Joshua seemed appropriate. So I want to address you from Joshua 5, or better, I want to be God's instrument to address you from the Lord Jesus. You're His congregation and He's forming you right now by His grace and by His love, by His power. And I want you to see from Joshua here, this passage in Joshua 5, how you're a congregation that He's forming to be conquerors. He's making you a congregation so that you can be conquerors in this present age. And so, let's read all of Joshua chapter 5, and then we'll look at this passage, and I'll have a few things to point out. This is God's Word. Reading from Joshua chapter 5, verse 1. As soon as all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan to the west, And all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel. Until they had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time. So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath Ha'aralom. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. The Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was their children whom he raised up in their place that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the people of Israel were camped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. And when Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and he looked and behold, A man was standing before him with his strong sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said, Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so. So when I was thinking about how to address you from the Lord, from the scriptures, and I thought of Joshua 5 and how that can encourage you as a congregation that he's forming I thought of three things that I saw from this passage that I wanted to share with you. The first thing is, as you're being formed to be a congregation of conquerors, you need to recognize the importance of knowing that God's promises always come true. God's promises always come true. You need to recognize that. This is how you're going to be formed. This is how you're going to be a congregation of conquerors, is that you'll know that God speaks truth and keeps his promises. The second thing I want you to notice and to recognize is the privileges. To recognize the privileges God has given you as a congregation. Visible privileges and signs that will set you apart from the rest of the world. And the third thing is recognize the power and the presence of your King. who is the Lord Jesus Christ in your midst. So let's do that. Let's look at that. Looking at that as how to be encouraged as a congregation who is being formed to be conquerors. The first is to recognize, recognize that God's promises always come true. You see, what's happening to Joshua and the Israelites is they're in the promised land. They're going into the promised land. On this day, the scripture tells us, right around verse 12, that there was no longer manna for the people. They ate fruit of the land of Canaan that year. All of that fruit that they had anticipated. That land that they'd heard tale about. All of those things that had been described to them by the Lord. That year, they ate from the fruit of the land. It became a reality. All of the promises of God became a reality. You can imagine the joy with eating that fruit. And the fruit dripping down the chin all over their clothes. blessed stickiness, to be reminded that all that God has said will come to pass. They held the fruit, no longer any manna or quail sandwiches. Those were sufficient for the time in the wilderness, but they have come now to the reality, to the fruit, to possess those things that God had promised. And I want you to note that as you come to this passage, I want to go back and remind you what was happening in chapters 3 and 4. God had brought Israel through, through His might and through His power, through the Jordan. to remind them of the Red Sea, to remind them that as He had been with them, to free them from slavery, to bring them out from the bondage in Egypt, and to bring them through the Red Sea so He could do it again, so He would do it again, so that He would show that His promises always were kept. There was nothing that would hinder the people from getting in the Promised Land. They came upon the Jordan, and the Jordan at this time of year was overflowing the banks. There was no place to ford or cross the river. It was a raging river, and God in His power, He held back the waters. And it says that the Israelites walked across on dry ground. So they'd always remember that God kept His promises, that no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the difficulty, God was a God of truth, that He never, ever lied. And you look at the end of chapter 4, how it says this in chapter 4, verse 23, it says, For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and you may fear the Lord your God forever. You see, it was going to be declared to all the world that God kept His promises to His people, that God's name would be glorified. And we hear that in the beginning of chapter 5, verse 1. Notice, it says, when the kings of the Canaanites heard of the Israelites, their hearts melted like wax before a powerful flame. Their hearts melted in them because of fear. God was keeping His promises to Israel. He was bringing them into the promised land. He was bringing them into the place that He had promised to them way back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was now becoming a reality. And beloved, I want you to notice something. glorious God and His power and His might and His keeping His promises are happening against the backdrop of men's unfaithfulness. Because we're told in this passage in chapter 5, verse 6, that the people of Israel walked for 40 years in the wilderness. After God had shown His power, after He had given His promises, they still walked. in their own strength, doing their own thing, living selfish lives. It says, the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished. Why? Because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. In other words, they didn't believe God was a God of truth. They thought they had brought Him out into these difficult circumstances, that God had brought them out just to betray them, just to leave them there. If you're going to be a congregation of conquerors, you want to understand that you've got a faithful God who is truth, that He never lies, that Scripture is from Genesis to Revelation filled with the promises of God and how they're fulfilled. We're shown over and over that God will do what He says He will do for His people. And this is in relief in God's faithfulness against the backdrop of all of these fallen, covenantally unfaithful bodies. You can see the picture of all these people who did not obey the word of the Lord. It says in verse 6, the Lord swore to them that He would not let them see the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. They didn't believe Him. Beloved, remember how important it is, no matter what the circumstances you're in, to know that God is with you and for you, and to know that He's a God of truth, that He's not in any way without power in your situation, that He is working through that situation to bring about good. Note even the context of this mass circumcision that's going on that we're going to look at in a moment. These warriors were about to take this great fortress. They were supposed to go in as men of war and to destroy the Canaanites as instruments of God's judgment and wrath. And God calls them to a circumcision. I remind you that God often calls his people to something that seems contrary to his promises, sometimes contrary to what we would expect from him, and yet he's got a purpose and reason for it. Why was he doing that here? Because, one, he was going to show them the privilege of being his people, as I'll show in a moment. But furthermore, he wanted to show that vulnerability is a valuable asset as the people of God. The circumcision would make them vulnerable. They would not trust in their own strength or their own security. They would be a vulnerable people. But God was making the hearts of their enemies melt. God was in charge of their enemies. God was in charge of their enemies. They would take Jericho by believing the word of the Lord, by doing exactly, precisely as God said in God's time. Oftentimes we find, beloved, that the ways of the Lord are different from ours. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. You think of the times where you say, you know, I know the Lord wants me to give in this situation. And yet I've got my own issues over here. If I do that, it's going to take my security away. Yes, yes, yes. It's going to make you vulnerable. It's going to make you utterly reliant on God keeping his word to you. You see, oftentimes we are like that. We want that security. We need that comfort. We think we make those false gods. We say, no, no, no, no, no. I've got to keep that back. Some of you are here and you know God is asking you to do something, and it's according to His will, and you've read it in Scripture. But it makes you vulnerable. You realize you can't do it on your own. Well, beloved, it may not be weakness. Meaning it may not be a weakness that's just in you. It may not be that you're going to be unable to do it. It may be that He's humbling you. Weakness and humility feel a lot alike. And maybe He's humbling you to be vulnerable before His Word and to receive His promises to know ultimately that in your weakness He is strong. So there's the setting. The setting is that God keeps His promises to His people because they're coming in and realizing the promises right before our eyes. They're coming into the promised land. And beloved, guess what? All of God's promises are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. on this side of the cross, we have the Lord Jesus, truth incarnate, saying, I am the way, the truth, the life. I am the way to the Father. Jesus says, I am truth. Everything I say is true. I will send you the spirit of truth who will teach you all that you need to know from Scripture. see that we can trust Him by looking to the cross, by seeing all God's promises as yes and amen in that crucifixion of Jesus, how He laid down His life for us, for our unbelief, for our disbelief, for our doubtings. He believed God and trusted Him on our behalf perfectly. Isn't that wonderful? That's what we know. And we're reminded, though, how important it is to believe and trust him, to not fall into the temptation of unbelief, to say oftentimes, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Let that be your prayer. But listen, in Hebrews chapters three and four, we're told that the wilderness generation, the one the generation before this one didn't enter in because of unbelief. And so we're given that, so not only we see God as a God of promise and power to do what He said He's going to do to keep His promises, but also to fear Him, as it says at the end of chapter 4, you may fear the Lord your God forever. You may fear Him not as a monster, but as a Father, in awe, in reverence. So, as a congregation of conquerors, Believe God. Trust God. He will keep His promises. You know what the Apostle Paul tells us? That we are in a very similar situation as Joshua and the Canaanites. You know how so? We're seated with Christ in the heavenly places. We're in the heavenly Canaan already by the Spirit. Isn't that something? Although we're still on the way in the wilderness. Every obstacle, everything that could possibly keep us from that heavenly Canaan has been taken away. And we walk through that blood of Jesus Christ, we walk through freely by his spirit, we walk through confidently and boldly, knowing he's kept his promises for us. The second thing, as a congregation that's being formed to be conquerors, not only know his promises, encourage one another with his promises, encourage one another that the God whom we serve is a God of truth, Secondly, recognize the privileges He's given you. This is a chapter that's full of circumcision. It takes a long time, quite a few verses to insinuate and to show us in this story, in this narrative, in this text, in this scripture, to show us the importance that God's given us of signs. See, God not only tells us that He's good, He not only tells us He's faithful, He not only tells us His promises, He not only tells us He'll keep His promises, He shows us. And His signs are those signs He gives to His people as a privilege to be set apart from the rest of the world. You see, Israel had so distrusted God in the wilderness that apparently there had been no one No one circumcised of this generation going in. No one had put that outward sign that showed an inward reality of God's grace in the heart. No one had that sign. Now, we assume, and I think this is a good assumption, that Joshua and Caleb and their families had these outward signs. But the first thing that God wants them to understand as a congregation being formed for conquering, is you need these signs. These signs are not for me, ultimately, they're for you. They're to show you that I'm in relationship with you. That I'm in relationship with you. They're to show redemption. And so it goes through this circumcision service where the men are made vulnerable and where an outward sign is being given a privilege for these Israelites called by God's name. Now, look back in Genesis 17 just to be reminded of the sign of circumcision. I think it's extremely important to go back now and then to remind ourselves of this relationship. And I'm summarizing it as a relationship, because what Almighty God does is he condescends or he stoops down to us as sinners. He calls us out of bondage and he gives us signs to accompany his promises, his word. And he gives us these signs to remind us that we're his. Isn't that wonderful? You're his. They're signs of adoption, as Calvin, our forefathers put it. They're signs of adoption. So he puts it back in Genesis where he promised to Abraham all because of grace, he says in Genesis 17, 9. God said to Abraham, ask for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins. It shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. He's broken my covenant. I want you to note something. Notice the relationship here that this sign is. It says that verse 11, you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins. It shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. It was an outward sign to point believers and their children to an inward reality that was to be received by faith. It was to help aid the promises. It wasn't that he just gave us ink and paper, but that he gave us something outside on our bodies that could remind us, that could remind us, particularly with men in the old covenant. It was because he had promised that the seed of the woman would come, that it would be a man who would come to be the redeemer. And the old covenant, it was that sign. It was a sign of being cut off or having cut away the slavery to sin. It was, to put it more positively, a consecration unto God. It was God embracing the people under his word in a relationship that although he knew they were sinners, although he knew they were undeserving, He was showing His grace, His favor for them, apart from and distinct from all the other nations, to come and listen to the Lord their God, to learn from Him, to grow in Him. And this sign was a reminder. of that love, of that adoption, of that affection that God had for his people. You see why, Joshua? This is the first thing they have to do. There's been disobedience in the camp. And God says, the first thing I want you to do is I want you not only to believe my word, Joshua, I want you not only to be bold and be courageous and be strong and to be brave and teach my word to the people. I want that. But I want you. to give those signs of my relationship with the people. I want that sign on my people. I want you to be obedient to that. That's very important for us, beloved. That's one of the privileges of being God's people. Now, in the new covenant, we have a bloodless sign. We don't have a sign of circumcision and it's not merely on males. The king has come in the fullness of time. The seed of the woman has come. The Lord Jesus has come and he's begun that assault against the head of the serpent. He has, in effect, he has destroyed the serpent. It's just a matter of time to let that be shown. So now we have a sign, too, as God's privileged people. It's a sign of water. It's not a sign of blood because Jesus shed his precious blood for you and I. Jesus shows that God wants a relationship with you. God wants a relationship with those who will repent and turn from their sins and idolatry and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. The Lord Jesus will purify you. The Lord Jesus will cleanse your heart. There's always a chance, isn't there? That somebody's going to take advantage of those outward signs. That somebody's just going to have an outward sign, but not an inward reality. That they're going to go around being baptized, thinking highly of themselves and proud before the face of God, and not have any kind of tenderized heart. Or not to have any kind of faith at all in their hearts. But I'll tell you, there are lighthouses without lights as well. Lighthouses stand for security. They remind people of danger. And yet some of them are pitch black. They're an outward reality without an inward sign. Or you can think of a painted fire. It brings no comfort or heat. It's only painted. But what God wants us to see is that our circumcision, the circumcision of the old covenant people, comes to fulfillment in Jesus Christ on the cross. That He was cut off for His people. that he was ultimately consecrated, sanctified unto the Father for perfect obedience on behalf of all who will receive him by faith. Listen to how Colossians says this, beloved. It's one of my favorite passages. It kind of surprises you at first when you read it. And in Colossians 2.11, notice how baptism, that sign of water, is is now a covenant sign that has replaced circumcision. And beloved, it's for all. It's not just for men. All are sons of God, male and female, in Jesus Christ. Listen to this in Colossians 2.11, in Jesus also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. You see that? We have a circumcision that's fulfilled in the cross And now we're baptized. But that's a sign. Beloved, our forefathers used to say, and still do in their writings, that we are to improve our baptism. And what it means by that is to take that outward sign that we have where God has set us apart through water, that he's committed himself to purifying our hearts to show us that we're his own. You see, to tell us his promises so that we'll believe upon the Lord Jesus and be saved, that those promises are for us and for our children. And so that water sign, that sign that we still have, you should improve your baptism. You should encourage one another. Ultimately, what the signs are doing is they're saying God is in relationship with you and he loves you and you're his own and you're precious to him. And your identity is ultimately found in him. Your identity is not found in your last name. Ultimately, your identity is not found in what you do or how much you have. It's found in the fact that God has placed his sign on you. And he says, look at that. Sometimes when your faith is weak and you hear the promises and you're having struggles believing them, look at the sign. What has He done for me? He's moved heaven and hell, literally, to come and be with you, to extend a hand and say, I'm your Savior, I'm your Lord, I care for you. I'll give you peace. It wasn't just the privilege of the sign of the circumcision. They also celebrated the Passover. That's another privilege. that we see where they're celebrating their redemption. If the sign of circumcision was one that pointed to the relationship with God, that Passover reminded them of redemption. And that's what we have in the New Testament too. We have a feast. We have a table that's set before our enemies. We have a feast that is given to us to not merely remember Christ's death until we come, but to remember his love for us and to ask him by faith to work through us by his spirit, to work through bread and wine so that we can feast with him, so that we can enjoy those four tastes of heaven with him. So we know that he'll strengthen us by his grace. Beloved, we have privileges. And those privileges are the outward sign of baptism, the sign of relationship, and the sign of the Lord's Supper that fulfills the Passover event. You think about that Passover for a moment. What was it symbolizing? Why would they celebrate here? They celebrated in verse 11 on that day, that very day. What would that have reminded them of? even though they deserve destruction and death, even though they deserve God's condemnation along with Egypt, because God had promised them. And because there was blood through that word that He said, apply to your doors. I won't give you what you deserve. I will pass over you. You won't be condemned. Your house won't be condemned. I'll look to the blood and I will pass over. Because that blood is substitutionary blood, it's precious blood, it's blood that points forward to the Son of God in the flesh. That's what the Passover was about. For those who knew it by faith, who believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, before he came, And the Lord's Supper is looking back on that, isn't it? Beloved, we have a privilege, don't we? Not only promises, not only telling us, He shows us. He shows us signs. He gives us signs. Beware mere outward signs. Beware mere trusting in mere signs. But let those signs aid your faith in pointing you to a gracious, merciful Savior who is with you and who is for you. And that leads me to the third point about the Lord Jesus. If you're going to be a congregation of conquerors that the Lord is forming together, you want to recognize that God's promises always come true, that He's given us privileges as His people, and we understand the presence and power of the Lord Jesus, our King. He's ultimately the King. Look at verses 13 through 15, this beautiful passage. Well, Joshua is continuing to be bold and courageous as he's been told to do. He's so bold and courageous that when he sees someone with his sword drawn, he runs up to that person with boldness and courage to face him as the commander of the Lord's army. You've got to give him that. He's doing exactly what he said that he was to do. He's doing exactly what God had told him to do. And he goes up with great zeal. Are you for us? You're against us? You're for us? He's trying to find out. Do I need to take my sword out? And there's this realization that happens in this passage that should, I think, melt your heart. That in a wonderful way tenderizes you. Because Joshua realizes he's in the presence of oneness much greater. This isn't a matter of just this side and that side. This is a matter of the Lord of all the earth. The Lord of heaven and earth. coming temporarily as a messenger to be with Israel, to be particularly with Joshua. To show Him He's not only with Joshua, but He's for Joshua. You know, God could be with us, and not necessarily for us. He shows that He's both. He's the God who is with us. When Jesus was here, when the Word was made flesh, there were many crowds who came around the Lord Jesus and ate from His very hands. He was with them. He comforted, He even healed. And some did not believe in Him. Some He was not for, even though He was with. And the Lord Jesus shows He is with us and for us. Now, let's talk about this passage for a moment in the sense of the big scheme of the redemptive history, okay? Jesus wasn't born until the time of Mary. He's the son of Mary, right? Yeah. Conceived by the Holy Spirit in the fullness of time. We've got to hold on to that, right? But the eternal Son of God united himself to our nature in the womb of the Virgin in time. And that was a permanent, permanent union. This is the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, making an appearance as a messenger. And what a gracious appearance it is. Again, Joshua is not consumed. He sees that this eternal Son of God making this appearance, revealing himself, a sort of a preview to the mystery that is to come. I believe it's how one of our forefathers said it. I thought that was a beautiful way of saying it. A preview of the incarnate mystery to come. But what happens is Joshua looks up and he sees and realizes that the one he needs has come. Listen to this in verse 14. In response to our euphoria for our adversaries, The Son of God changes the whole question. He doesn't respond to the question. He puts it on another playing field altogether. He says, no, no, no. You must understand, I am the commander of the Lord of Hosts. I'm the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come. And it shows something very important, that if Israel is going to conquer Canaan, and going to possess Canaan, going to know the Promised Land as their own, they're not going to do it by their own might or power. They're not going to do it merely through sword. They're going to do it by the Lord's Spirit. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. It's going to be because the Lord Jesus is with them, or the Son of God, more particularly, is with them. And he's for them. And you notice what happens as your congregation is being formed to be a conqueror. You notice what happens as you're realizing your leaders in your midst and who should serve you, who will be your pastor one day, who will be your elders. I want you to remember as a congregation of conquerors, I want you to see in this passage who you're looking for to be your leader. You're not first looking for the most knowledgeable of them. You're not looking for the handsomest. You're not looking for the tallest. You're looking for the man who knows he's a man under authority to King Jesus. And he's one who worships and adores Jesus. And knowing that's the heart of the battle, that he's a man who comes out from worship and adoration of Almighty God, and then goes to conquer, as he's been called to do. He becomes more than a conqueror because he worships and he adores Almighty God. Notice, this is the question that your servant will ask. This is the question your future pastor and your elders will ask. They will fall on their face and worship Jesus. And they will say to the Lord, what does my Lord say to your servant? And that's how they'll live. And you'll see that. And they'll know that everywhere Jesus is, is that special holy ground. Because He's taken us and made us new creations, a place where He by His Spirit dwells and makes us holy. You'll know that that's a life that's committed unto Jesus. What happens here? Well, the Lord Jesus is, or more particularly, the Son of God. You understand, don't you? The Lord Jesus, the preview of the mystery of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God here. secures the victory so that all the people can go into the promised land as they follow him by faith. And beloved, it's important to note that we have the book of Judges that follows this one, and many are going to do what's right in their own eyes. Don't you see that's given even in the scriptures to remind us that the future is bleak for those who won't listen, those who won't look to the signs and trust their Lord and God, and those who will think that the victory is had just merely through a man-centered kind of power. No, what's being taught here is that those who will get in the promised land and possess it fully will because they'll take hold of the Lord Jesus and worship in adoration. They'll follow His victory in. They will follow His victory in. You want that? The more I live, the more I want to go there. I want to taste that fruit. You know, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 6, we've already tasted the powers of the age to come when we gather for worship. It's as if right now by the Spirit through the word and through the signs, we get to taste a little of that heavenly fruit. Isn't that amazing? It's good. It's very good. That's the privilege of being a congregation of saints. You know, those who are in the Lord Jesus will never be able to be separated from his love. I want you to know something very important. This is a time in redemptive history when God's using Israel as an instrument of judgment. It's right for Joshua to pull the sword, because those people are under judgment. We're in a new time. I want you to note this. Jesus says, sheathe your swords. Sheathe your man-centered ways. And Jesus, rather than holding up a sword, extending it over his leaders, he holds up two palms. When he appears after his resurrection, he holds up two hands that are nail-pierced because of the condemnation that he took for his people. Because of the grace and the mercy of the Lord Jesus, Jesus extended his hands to give peace to all those who believe the gospel. Go out conquering through gospel grace, through telling the promises of God that are found and realized in Jesus. By telling of the privilege you have as God's people to be set apart and consecrated, not because of anything that you've done, but all because of the grace of the Lord Jesus. And follow Him under the shadow of the cross, knowing that you're more than conquerors in Him. That's how, by God's grace, and it is my prayer and it is my hope that you will be formed to be a congregation of conquerors, even a congregation who is more than conquerors, through him who loved you. I go forth in the power of the gospel.