Preparing For Victory - The Book of Joshua

Hello everyone, I'm Dr.

Steve Holt.

I want to welcome you to the Road Church podcast.

Each week we go into God's Word.

We teach chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

We are here to build the Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world.

So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life.

So we are in Joshua chapter 5, men and women, and Israel has come into the Promised Land.

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

They've seen the waters part very much like the Red Sea, but it was the Jordan River.

And all of these kings of Canaan have seen all this happen.

They've been watching in many cases over on the eastern side of the Jordan River, this fire coming down by night.

I don't know if they could see manna falling from heaven.

We have no idea, but maybe.

So they're about to freak out about what's about to happen.

They're starting to realize that Israel is really, really coming.

So if you would, what I'm gonna do today, I'm calling it preparing for victory, uh, because that's all we're gonna cover in chapter five, is what they needed to do to get ready for the work that God's calling them to do.

That I don't, I'm not even sure they know what's going on, because we know by next chapter, which is next week, when I cover that, when we have the walls of Jericho falling, that God spoke to Joshua right before that event.

So he doesn't know.

He doesn't know what's going on.

I think they feel that probably they're coming in to fight.

They're gonna come in and they're gonna immediately have to fight, right?

So I think that's what's happening right now.

So turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 5, and verse 1 is super interesting.

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

Verse 1 is very, very interesting to us because it's not what we would expect, probably, as a beginning of this work that God's about to do.

Look at verse 1.

So it was when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan.

So this is the Jordan that they've crossed over to, which covered last week, and all 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, now look at that, we, we.

So we believe that that's probably meaning that Joshua's writing this.

So it says we, we, Joshua's probably writing this, this narrative, had crossed over that their heart melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

Okay, so I'm gonna give you four thoughts this morning about what I think God did with Israel, but God does with us to prepare us for victories in our life.

And the first one is that you have power and authority, men and women.

You have power and authority, and the enemy knows it even if you don't.

So listen to this, it's really important.

Write this down.

This is, I was quoting me this morning.

So I woke up this morning and I had this thought when I was redoing my sermon, I was looking over my sermon again, I was reading the verse again.

Write this down.

God's work always worries the enemy.

God's supernatural work always worries demons.

They are more fearful of you than you know.

And even Israel doesn't understand what's happening here.

And guess what, men and women, it's been happening for 40 years and they missed it.

So keep your finger in chapter 5, turn to the left in your Bible and go to Exodus.

Look at Exodus 15.

So Exodus 15 is the song of Moses.

He's singing out after the parting of the Red Sea.

And I want you to look at some cryptic verses that are easy to miss.

Look at these verses, look at verse 14.

Look at verse 14.

So this is 40 years ago.

40 years ago, they've left Egypt.

The people will hear and be afraid.

Sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistine.

Okay, that's that's modern-day Gaza Strip.

That's right there in Canaan.

Then the chiefs of Edom, that's in Canaan, will be dismayed.

The mighty men of Moab, trembling, will take hold of them.

All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away.

Forty years ago, they're saying this.

Fear and dread will fall on them by the greatness of your arm, they will be as still as a stone till your people pass over, O Lord, till all the people pass over whom you have purchased.

Verse 17.

You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which you have made for your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

Verse 18, the Lord shall reign forever and ever.

In other words, as they came out of Egypt, there was great faith, there was a belief that God was going to take them right into Canaan.

That was God's plan.

It was only an 11-day walk.

It was only an 11-day walk from Egypt into Canaan.

Now, this is what's important.

Do you remember what happened?

Is that when they sent the spies in, ten of the 12 spies came back and said, the giants of Anak, which we believe, and I'll get to this later in the coming months, we're gonna talk about the Nephilim in Genesis 6, that the descendants of Nephilim are in Canaan.

And we were like grasshoppers to them.

There's giants in the land.

We were like grasshoppers, and what did they do?

They spread cowardice, they spread fear all over Israel, and they never went in.

Gotta be so careful who you listen to.

I don't care if they're elders, I don't care if they're deacons, I don't care if they're pastors, I don't care if they're leaders.

You gotta be careful who you listen to.

These were the top leaders, these are the top 12 spies from the 12 tribes who went and they came back.

And except for Joshua and Caleb, they're full of fear.

And yet we see even 40 years ago, remember Rahab a few weeks ago?

Rahab said, We heard about you going through the Red Sea.

She knew, they knew the stories.

They were trembling in fear, but guess who is trembling in more fear?

Israel.

I man, that's my story.

That's your story, right?

Man, I struggle with fear all the time.

I battle with fear all the time.

And this whole thing that I've been through over the last five months, I battle with fear like all the time.

Man, I have to renew my mind.

I have to say out loud what I believe.

I have to say it out loud.

I gotta speak it out to get the courage back.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about?

So they're struggling too.

So remember that Joshua is a book that is an illustration of the principles of the kingdom.

And so here we see demon, we would say demonic powers.

There are demonic strongholds in Canaan, complete idolatry all over Canaan.

And the kings.

What does it say?

Let's go back.

What does it say?

It said the kings, their hearts melted, there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

So remember that story in Luke?

Remember in Luke, where Jesus sends out the 70 and he says, Heal the sick, cast out their demons, preach the kingdom.

So they go out and do it, and here's what it says in Luke 10.

It says, The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.

And he said to them, I saw Satan fall from heaven.

Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall be at any means hurt you.

That is you and me, men and women.

We have power and authority living within us.

When we start to believe the promises of God and trust the promises of God, demons tremble.

They're more afraid of you than anyone else on the face of the earth.

Because Christ lives in you.

That's why Jesus said, wait until you're endued with power.

When the power comes upon you, you shall be my witnesses.

Wait for the power.

It's just the power of the Holy Spirit flowing in our lives.

That God wants to move in a mighty way.

Look at verse 2.

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.

So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them.

All the people who came out of Egypt, who were males, all of the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt.

For all the people who came out of, who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been 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 did not obey the voice of the Lord.

And Joshua circumcised their sons, whom he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

So it was when they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, This day I've rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.

Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day, which means to be rolled over.

Now the children of Israel camped at Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.

And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day.

Then the manna ceased, underline that, manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land.

And the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.

So number one, he's given his power and authority.

Number two is restoring God's covenant.

It was real important for them to restore God's covenant through circumcision.

And so they had not followed as a covenant people for 38 years.

As far as we know, Israel never had the Passover.

They were not circumcised.

There was no circumcision of their sons.

And so for 38 years to 40 years, they actually are not the covenant people.

I mean, they are in principle, but they're not in practice.

They're not God's covenant people.

They're not following God's covenant.

And it would seem to me, and wouldn't it to you, that here you've got all this momentum.

They just saw the whole river move back.

They march through, they've got the Ark of the Covenant right there.

They've still got the fire by night, the cloud by day, this powerful encounter.

Now everybody's fearful in the land, and what's happened is all of this, this is during the time of the barley harvest.

So the people who are all around Jericho, by the way, Jericho's only about seven acres.

It's only about seven acres, but there would have been farmland all around there for their food.

They've gone back into Jericho, they're all holed up there, they're fearful there.

That's momentum.

They've got momentum, they're unified, they're excited, they're ready to go.

Let's go, let's take it.

And then God says, get circumcised.

I don't know about you, but that creates a lot of images in my mind.

And um, that just does not seem like a good strategy.

And so here you have, probably for different commentators say different things, five to ten days, these men can hardly move after the circumcision.

What a perfect time for the warriors in Jericho or other Canaanite kings to attack.

What a perfect time.

Man, God's ways are definitely higher than our ways.

That does not make any sense to me.

From any strategic standpoint, any tactical standpoint, circumcise your warriors just a couple miles from your enemy.

And it's on a hill.

It says it's on a hill.

So let's just do the circumcision in front of everybody in Canaan, and they can see that all the warriors are circumcised, they're in pain, they're laying on the ground or whatever they were doing during that time of healing, and then only a couple miles away is the enemy.

Have you ever thought that when God, I know I've thought over the last five months, that when God is doing something new and different, it wouldn't be the way you would do it.

Circumcise your warriors when the warriors you're about to fight are just a couple miles away?

Makes no sense.

God's ways are not our ways.

But covenant is God's way.

God loves covenant.

God loves the covenant of marriage.

God told me this morning, 3 a.m., there's some people in this room.

You're contemplating you're seriously contemplating divorce?

You're here today.

And I'm going to challenge that in your life and tell you that God's ways are not your ways.

And that person that you married and all the stuff that you're going through, if you'll invite Jesus into that relationship and you'll be willing to battle for it, he'll show up.

He will show up.

We've been married 39 years, and I can tell you that it's been glorious for the most part.

It hasn't been recently.

But every marriage and every covenant goes through challenges that challenge you to want to quit.

Raise your hand if you ever wanted to quit.

I'm not going to say in your marriage because you're sitting next to your spouse.

But how many of you in your Christian walk have had things in your life where you just absolutely wanted to quit?

And maybe you even did.

I know.

That's the battle we're in.

That's the fight we're in.

That's what the book of Joshua is about.

It's about going in and having to fight.

It's going in and having to battle.

And so it's a covenant.

It's a covenant relationship.

First of all, it's through circumcision.

It's a circumcision of the heart.

I love what Warren Wearsby says.

He says, this physical operation on the body was meant to be a symbol of a spiritual operation in the heart.

Deuteronomy 10.16, Moses says, Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart.

Do not be a stiff-necked people any longer.

So men and women, God tests us.

He tests us in covenant.

What is a covenant?

A covenant's a promise.

It's a promise we make to the Lord.

It's a promise he makes to us.

You're a chosen people.

Israel was a chosen people, chosen of all the nations.

They were chosen.

And you've been chosen before you were born.

Before you're born, God predestined you to know him and to experience him and to have a personal relationship with him.

That's how much he loves you.

You're a chosen people.

The church is a chosen people.

Not only that, are we not only a chosen people?

Listen, it's important.

You're marked.

You're marked out by God.

You're marked out by God, and the enemy knows it.

The enemy knows that you're marked out by him.

And he is, he's afraid of you.

He's fearful of who you might become by growing in Christ.

That's why we're here on Sunday morning.

We come here to get equipped, to get empowered for the rest of the week.

That's why we get involved in a small group, because we get empowered and equipped by those around us.

That's why we come, you men come to wholehearted men, and you're at a table with seven guys, is because in that relationship you're getting empowered, you're getting equipped, you're becoming stronger and stronger.

Because we are a covenant people.

We're marked out.

We're marked out by God.

That circumcision of the heart is something that we have to do all the time.

And it's painful.

Church, it's painful to be a covenant people.

It's painful sometimes.

It's the testings of the Lord.

That's what I think is happening here.

Why didn't God have, remember, this is the floodplain.

This is a this is when the the river of the Jordan is at flood level.

In some cases, like a mile across.

Why didn't God do the circumcision on the east side?

He does it on the west side.

He does it right there in front of the enemy.

Because I believe he's testing Joshua.

He's testing Joshua to make it almost seem like an impossible situation so that he's gonna get all the glory.

Especially next week when we look at what he actually tells him to do.

Again, it makes no sense.

So God tests us in our covenant relationship.

He puts us in situations where it's super painful and super difficult because he's forming in us a walk of faith.

And this is the battle of our souls with American Christianity.

Because American Christianity constantly presents to us kind of an easy faith.

Put your faith in Christ, and things are just gonna fall into place.

And guess what?

When you put your faith in Christ, you just entered the battle.

You just entered warfare.

Because you now, not only are you a marked people, you have a mark from the enemy on you.

You're marked by the enemy.

And so God takes us into being worshipers and warriors when we receive Him, because He's forming in us, Christ in us, the hope of glory through that.

And that's what's happening here with the people of Israel.

They're under tremendous duress.

In Galatians 3, we read, For you're all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

So we've entered into the new covenant through faith in Christ.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

So that baptism, that covenant of baptism, by which we go under the water, the death of Christ, we come out of the water, the life and the resurrection of Christ, we put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free.

There is neither male nor female.

You know what he's saying here?

He's saying, look, the new covenant is not based on where you were born.

It's not based on being a Jew.

It defies ethnicity, it defies race, it defies gender, it defies color.

All are free in Christ.

You're all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ, then you are of Abraham's seed.

So he's saying this covenant that I made with Abraham is the covenant that I'm now enacting as they come into the promised land with Israel, is also now the seed of Abraham that we received, and we're heirs according to the promise.

So all the promises of Abraham are our promises.

And because you are sons and daughters, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts.

That's that circumcision of the hearts.

God's Spirit lives in you.

You're a son and daughter of his.

He doesn't end there though.

He says this, crying out, Abba Father, you're no longer a slave, but a son and an heir of God.

So I think sometimes we understand that we're sons of God and daughters of God, but we don't realize that we're heirs of God.

That we have this power and authority that lives within us that can push back darkness, that can cause the enemy to fall like lightning from heaven when we follow Christ.

When we begin to share our faith.

When we begin to love people, the power of love, the power of unconditional love, when we love and we forgive, forgiveness has power on it.

It makes you a king, it makes you a queen in Christ when we extend forgiveness to others, when we extend God's healing to others.

God moves in mighty and powerful ways through your heir as a son and a daughter of God.

May we get that.

Maybe grasp that.

This kingdom authority that each one of you have is amazing.

It's amazing.

It's a new partnership.

So look at verse 10.

A new partnership, verse 10.

Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.

And they ate the produce of the land on that day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day, and the manna ceased.

Thirdly, there's a new partnership that occurs for Israel.

Where the manna had come down free, where the manna had come down free, they're gonna have to fight for the promises of God.

They're gonna have to battle now in a whole new way.

It's a new partnership with the Holy Spirit.

And so it's enacted through circumcision.

It's enacted through the Passover.

So they come and it's the barley harvest, it's all around.

They're eating of the barley harvest when they take in the Passover.

But now they're gonna have to battle for it.

They're gonna have to fight for the promises of God.

So that's why I've entitled this whole series, Possessing the Promises of God, because we have to fight for those promises.

They're given, they're given to us by the grace of God, but it's through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us that we possess them.

So something can be given, but we have to possess it.

That's the battle.

That's the fight.

So in 2 Peter, and anybody knows Peter's story knows that if anybody failed during the crucifixion, it was Peter.

And I think Peter, actually, legend tells us and tradition tells us that Peter carried a guilt, probably his whole life, for denying his Lord that infamous night when Jesus was on trial.

There's a story told of him going to Rome, and while he was in Rome, an edict was put out for his head, and he booked it.

He took off on the Apian way out of Rome, and then he remembered what had happened on that fateful night there after Gethsemane, before the cross with that slave girl, and he turned around, he went back, and he was in prison and then later killed.

He writes these words in 2 Peter 1.

Now follow me with this.

Follow me with this.

His divine power has been given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these, so so through the promises of God, you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

What's he saying?

That as you believe the promises of God, you get more, you receive more through grace of his divine nature.

It's in believing, trusting, and even speaking out that that divine nature becomes your nature, though you're mortal.

So he's not done yet.

He says, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control, perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

Now listen to this last verse.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

See what he's saying?

Church.

You see?

It's a battle.

It's diligence in our walk with God that we're never unfruitful.

Because God's purpose in our lives, church, is that we become more and more like Christ.

That fires me up personally.

Because I can tell you sometimes, you guys, there's things on the outside that don't seem to be working out so good.

And so I can focus on the outside and get full of fear and full of frustration and depression, or I can look on the inside and go, God, you're building self-control.

You're building diligence.

You're making me the man that you want me to be, even as I struggle with all diligence to do the right thing, and that says it's not unfruitful.

That God is bringing about a work of his spirit through that.

So don't quit.

Church, don't quit.

Keep battling for the character that God's building through sometimes the most difficult things that we go through.

Verse 13.

And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, and he lifted his eyes, and he looked, and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand.

Joshua went to him.

How many of you seen the series House of David on Amazon Prime?

It's really, really good.

And they took this particular scene and they transposed it into right before David goes into the Valley of Elah against Goliath.

It's really cool, that scene.

Joshua went to him, he said, Are you for us or for our adversaries?

So he said, Nope, I'm not going to tell you anything.

I'm not going to tell you whose side I'm on.

But as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.

And then 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 your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.

And Joshua did so.

What does this remind you of?

It reminds me of Moses with the burning bush.

So obviously, God is reenacting and reestablishing a new leader through Joshua by a scene very similar to the greatest leader that Israel had had at that time, Moses.

And in both cases, it was the holiness of God that caused Moses before, and now Joshua today in our story to worship the Lord because of the holy fear of God that comes down.

And you guys that come to Tuesday morning, you hear me say this a lot, and in my book, Worshiper Warrior, I say this, that you're a worshiper first before you're a warrior.

If you're a warrior before you're a worshiper, you become mean-spirited.

If you become a worshiper before you're a warrior, you can be tenderhearted.

We need tender warriors among men.

That doesn't mean we compromise, it just means that there's a softness to our heart because we're worshipers first.

So Joshua is having a paradigm shift.

Right here.

This is a huge paradigm shift.

Because what God is saying is, look, you're not in charge.

You're not in charge.

I don't need you.

I don't need you, Joshua.

Joshua, you need me.

So don't worry about whose side I'm on.

I think you need to be worrying about whose side you're on.

So, church, same for us today.

Don't worry about it.

Is God on my side?

I don't know if God's on my side.

Quit thinking about that.

Are you on his side?

And if you are, let him lead.

Let him lead you.

Let him guide you.

What does he say?

Servant of the Lord?

What does he say here?

He says, Joshua fell on his face and worshiped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant?

Now, turn to the left, go to Joshua chapter one.

Look how the book of Joshua opens up.

The book of Joshua opens up with this, verse one.

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord.

I'm a servant of the Lord.

You're a servant of the Lord.

You're a servant of the Lord when you go to work.

You're a servant of the Lord when you're fathering your kids.

You're a servant of the Lord when you do your finances.

You're a servant of the Lord.

He leads out.

Let him lead out.

This is not Sunday school Jesus.

This is not a little surfer boy Jesus, like you see on all your little pictures, you know, and like I had in my Lutheran church, little servant, I mean, really tanned, kind of has this, you know, windswept hair.

You know, perfect complexion and everything.

This is a pre-incarnate Christ, and he's a commander of the armies of the Lord.

He is a fighter for you.

Church, he's a fighter for you.

He's ready to lead out and be a warrior.

He's a warrior to us, he's a warrior for us, and he's a warrior with us.

The enemies, the kings of Canaan know it.

The spiritual, heavenly forces in the fourth dimension know it.

The people of God that are about him know it.

And now Joshua sees it.

He sees the pre-incarnate Christ dressed as a warrior.

So I put in, you can do the own research, put in Jesus' images, about a million.

Millions of images of Jesus.

And I have to tell you, he looks like a big sissy in most of them.

But then you put in Jesus warrior, you only have a few.

Because we don't think of Jesus that way, but he is.

Here he is, a picture of one who wants to lead out and wants to fight for us and battle for you.

And I was gonna get an image and I was gonna put it up, showing Jesus with the sword and everything, but I didn't like any of them.

And the guys on Tuesday morning know that I did a talk, people still talk about it called Navy SEAL Jesus.

But this is Navy SEAL Jesus.

He loves you, he's for you, and he's ready to fight for you.

Will you let him?

Will you let him lead out?

Thank you for listening to the Road Church podcast.

We pray today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.

For more information about the Road Church and to find more content like this, go to theroad.org.

That's therode.org.