Great Texts of The Bible: The Fall of Joshua (Jericho) | Joshua 5:13-15 | Pastor William Hixson

with me this morning.

The fifth the sixth book, excuse me, the

sixth book in our Old Testament,

Joshua

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5.

Our target passage is verses 13 to 15.

That's where we're going to camp out

in Joshua 5:13-15.

Joshua 5:13–15

We're going to get a run at it and get

some thought about the whole book and

then we will

uh focus on that section.

Moses has died. He's buried in Moab.

the uh nation of Israel, two million

Jews have crossed over the Jordan under

Joshua's leadership. There's been a

transition in leadership

and that transition God promised as I

was with Moses so I'll be with you. Uh

and Joshua now who'd been Moses

assistant for 40 years now Moses is

gone. Joshua doesn't have Moses to look

to. Moses is Moses is gone.

He is passed away and is buried before

they cross the river. So now Joshua is

facing the stress

of not being second in he in command

top.

He's the top man under God.

So all the weight of leadership has

suddenly come upon his shoulders

and that's a big big job.

And Joshua has was a man of war uh under

Moses's leadership. Joshua went to war a

lot uh and the and and fought enemies of

the Lord on the other side of the

Jordan. But now Moses is not there.

you know, the leaders that God gives us,

uh, sometimes they frustrate us,

sometimes they upset us, but then when

they're gone, we kind of miss them and

think, "Oh, now I'm now I'm in charge.

And now I'm sitting in a different seat

now, and I need wisdom from God. I need

help from God. There's nobody above me.

I'm it." And that might be in a family.

It may be in at work. It may be in a

neighborhood where you've got some

responsibility that others don't have.

Now it's all on you. And as President

Truman said, the buck stops here. Well,

we we find that out. And so, it's good

to know that above the leaders is the

leader.

Yes, husbands are the head of the home,

but Christ is the head of the husband.

And so, uh, it's very important for us

to know that leaders are led

by the Lord,

and Joshua is finding that out in this

particular section.

Now, they've taken care of some matters

that need to be dealt with, and we're

going to mention those a little bit.

They've crossed the river.

uh they've engaged in uh uh in chapter 5

with some things that had to happen. And

once they cross that river,

they're in enemy territory.

They're crossing that river to attack.

And the river has come back. It's come

back to full flood stage behind them.

And so it's kind of like George

Washington crossing the Delaware. They

didn't have the Delaware partying, but

once they're on the other side with

their boats and their cannon and their

men, it's mid winter, everybody's cold

and tired. It's an all night march and

they're going to attack. There was no

retreat. If they didn't win the battle,

the war is over.

And no doubt Joshua was feeling the

weight of all this.

And so Joshua uh leaves the people

behind for and goes for a walk

by himself.

And maybe he's reconording recon

ordering uh Jericho, but he's certainly

probably thinking now what?

How do I attack this place?

Jericho was an outpaced military city,

1500 people in it, walls that were

massive and high.

uh and um

uh they could not bypass it.

If they tried to go south, then the the

garrison of Jeremiah Joshua, excuse me,

garrison of Jericho could attack them in

the rear. They tried to go north, the

garrison and Jericho could attack him in

the rear. If they tried to go forward

and bypass it, they could attack him in

the rear. They couldn't do any of those

things. Jericho had to go.

And so Jer the strategy was to split the

nation and split it in half. Uh kind of

like in the civil war when Sherman went

across the south. The the uh the it was

to go into the promised land, take out

Jericho and and then they they had then

they decided to go north and south. I

think they went south first if my memor

is correct. and and then they went north

and it was very successful strategy. But

Jer Joshua doesn't know any of this

stuff. He's starting to figure out

what's next.

No doubt he's praying.

No doubt he's thinking.

And so in Joshua 5:13,

Joshua 5:13

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. That was a surprise.

Total surprise. He had no armor bears.

He had no guard. He's by himself.

There stood a man over against him with

a sword drawn.

Now, drawing the sword is like drawing a

gun.

Somebody draws a gun, it's more

threatening than if that gun's in the

holster, right?

Somebody draws that gun,

you know that there's a reason they've

drawn it and it's much more threatening.

So,

uh, I've had guns drawn on me twice in

life, my life, and it makes you think

about a little bit.

And so Jeremiah meets this person and he

the person has a sword drawn in his hand

and Joshua went to him. Now, this tells

you something. The guy's

he'd been through many battles. It

wasn't like this is a new thing.

He went up to him

and said, "Are you for us or for our

adversaries?"

That's the lookout's answer for friend

or foe.

Are you for us or you for adversaries?

As far as Joshua knew in the beginning,

it's going to be oneon-one since God

gives the adversaries we're going to

have to take this guy out.

Who's ready for that?

And he said, "Nay,

I am not for your adversaries and I'm

not for you."

But as captain of the armies, King James

says host, it means armies. of the Lord

am I now come.

And Joshua fell on his face

to the earth and did worship

and said to him, "What says my Lord

unto his servant?"

And the captain of the Lord's host said

to Joshua, "Loose thy shoe from off thy

foot, for the place where on you stand

is holy."

And Joshua did so.

Now, there are some Bible teachers

believe that this that's all there was

that this was it. And there's others

believe that chap part of chapter six

comes in there. I happen to think there

was more than just verse 15 that went

between them.

Uh but I'm not going to read into

chapter six right now. Father, help me

to speak and help us to hear your word

in Jesus name. Amen.

The significance of this is that they

have a commission from God to attack and

take over this land.

This isn't a land grab.

It It's their land because God gave it

to them.

He gave it to them.

And their responsibility was to take it.

And there's different outlines of the

book of Joshua. And I'm going to get the

big picture and then we'll come down to

our little section.

One of my Hebrew professors, Old

Testament professors, John Davis,

outlined this this way. the book of

Joshua uh entering the land chapters 1:5

conquering the land chapter 6 to 12

dividing the land chapters 13- 24

you notice as as Dr. Davis outlined in

it. It's all about the land.

Entering the land 1:5, conquering the

land 6 to2,

dividing the land 13, chapters 13- 24.

Another Bible scholar, Martin Woodstra,

he outlines it this way. The promised

land conquered 1 to 12. The promised

land distributed 13-22.

the promised land kept by covenant

obedience chapters 23 and 24 and a

little bit different but you notice both

those men translate

do have the land in their outline

Dale Ralph Davis the Presbyterian

scholar outlines it this way chapters 1

to4 entering the land chapters 5 to 12

taking the land chapters 13 to 21

possessing the land and chapters 22 and

24 holding the land or retaining the

land. Every one of those outlines deals

with the land

and the Baptist David Howard deals with

this particular section. Joshua, the

book of Joshua is written to provide an

interpretive history as one slice of

Israel's life as a people. more

specifically interprets the period in

which Israel entered and settled in the

land promised to Abraham and his

descendants.

And then he said, "Concern with the land

is part of the warp and woof of every

chapter

in this book."

Now, there's things we ought to be

concerned with that God has commissioned

us to do as a church. go into all the

world and preach the gospel to every

preacher. We should be obsessed with

that. Getting the gospel out where it is

not known in our own town, in our own

family or in uh other places even

that that's a very important matter in

their in their time. Their thing was to

get the land

promised it to you. These other nations

I've given them their land. This is the

land I've give to you. But now they have

to go through a transition of leadership

right when you would least want it to

happen.

Moses, they trusted him 40 years. He got

him through that. God used Moses to get

him through everything. Now Moses is

gone.

And even though Joshua was his

assistant, he was his assistant.

And so now Joshua is the mediator of the

Old Testament kingdom in place of Moses.

He's the new guy on the job. I've been

an assistant pastor and I've been a

pastor. As an assistant pastor, you do

what? Assist the pastor. You don't do

what you want to do. You do what he

wants you to do. You're under him.

And so Mo Joshua had been Moses's

assistant for 40 years, but Moses is

gone. And now Joshua is in this place.

You know, it's hard on churches when you

have a change in leadership.

Often a break break or make thing.

I don't know how long I'm going to be

here, but I know sooner or later if the

Lord carries somebody will be standing

here instead of me.

And that won't be easy.

But uh churches uh take that pretty

hard. There's a joke among pastors, it's

a joke, you may have heard it, but if a

pastor has been in a church for a long

time

and then the new guy is the first new

guy to come along after a long pastor,

20, 30 years or in my case 49,

then the new pastor has a hard time

being accepted.

People say things like, "We never did it

this way before."

Famous words of every church,

the new pastor, it it and sometimes it

gets very difficult, right? Uh

and so pastors often call privately a a

younger guy that's put in that position

as the sacrificial lamb.

In other words, he's not going to last

long. They're not used to him. So, he's

not going to last long. the other pastor

lasts a long time. So, the new one's not

going to last long. He'll give up. And

uh people won't accept his leadership.

And they have to go through a transition

where they do.

And transitions uh can be hard.

Remember, David came after Saul and that

caused a civil war.

But sometimes it's not a violent or open

thing. Sometimes it's what you call

passive aggressive,

passive aggressive

towards the new guy.

And uh uh let me read what I read

something uh that I read somewhere. A

church got a new pastor

who the music minister immediately

disliked.

Now, we don't have a music minister

here, but bigger churches do, right? His

whole job is music.

So, the church got a new pastor who the

music minister immediately disliked.

Eventually, their conflict spilled out

into the Sunday service.

The first week, the pastor preached

about commitment and how we should

dedicate our lives to serving one

another. The music minister led the

song, I shall not be moved.

The second week, the pastor preached

about tithing and how important it was

for the congregation to contribute to

the church. The music minister led the

song Jesus paid it all.

There's some subtlety going there. The

third week, the pastor preached about

gossiping and how we should all watch

what we say about one another. The music

minister led the song I love to tell the

story.

At this point, the pastor caught on.

Embarrassed over how the music

minister's feud with him was disrupting

their service. He told the congregation

the next week that he was thinking about

resigning. The music minister led the

song, "Oh, why not tonight?"

And sure enough, the pastor did resign.

In his farewell sermon the next week, he

told the congregation that as Jesus had

called him to the church, Jesus was now

calling him away from the church. The

music minister led the song, "What a

friend we have in Jesus."

Now, that's funny, isn't it? But

sometimes there's that kind of

undercurrent kind of thing going on. And

Joshua was God's replacement.

And it's very clear in chapter one, God

told him, "As I was with Moses, so I'll

be with you. I want you to meditate in

my word day and night.

God was very clear about his

responsibilities.

And Joshua on top of just being the next

guy, it was a different situation. This

wasn't getting out of Egypt. This wasn't

wandering in the wilderness. This was

taking over the land with hostile people

on the other side. Moses had a little

bit of that on the east side of the

Jordan, but this was going to be rough.

So,

um,

they needed continuity as well as

transition, didn't they? And by God's

grace, they got it.

By God's grace, they got it.

The church ministry is like a relay

race. Passing the baton is a critical

moment.

And

there's problems when the ton theaton is

passed from one to another. And there's

problems with a person passing it.

There's problems with the person getting

a hold of it. And the book of Joshua is

written mainly to show how that all

happened.

And it happened well.

And Moses is mentioned 10 times in

chapter one.

God knew the transition. The people knew

the transition.

and the transition has taken place, but

the battles haven't been fought yet.

That brings us to our chapter.

How to be successful

in spiritual warfare,

especially when you're the new person

engaged in it.

Now, Joshua wasn't new in the sense he

was fighting a lot. Moses was holding up

his hands and praying. Joshua's down

there fighting, but this time it wasn't

Moses that was leading. It was Joshua.

So, the scriptural prerequisites for

spiritual warfare

under transition.

When the Lord calls me home or when I

have to retire, there'll be a

transition. But guess what? The Lord's

not transitioning out.

He will still be here.

Same thing for every other position. in

the church.

Okay, what's the picture? Number one,

as we come back to chapter five, we come

into

they're on the other side of the river.

God has used Joshua to get them across

the ri flooded river the way he used

Moses to get them across the Red Sea.

And there's a parallel in those. And God

was saying, "See,

I use Moses to get you across the Red

Sea. Now I'm using Joshua to get you

across the U Jordan River. Same God. A

little smaller miracle, but still a

miracle."

Now, as we come to this particular

section of scripture

in this particular chapter,

the first thing we see in spiritual

warfare, if a nation is going to have a

new leader and they're going to go into

battle, not just the leader has to be

right, but the nation has to be right or

the local church has.

Success doesn't depend. I know everybody

says things rise or fall in leadership.

In one sense that's true, but it doesn't

always it's just not all leadership.

Followership is important too.

So what did they do? Number one,

the first thing was to amend their lives

to holy scripture, especially in areas

that have been neglected.

Areas have been neglected.

um

circumcision.

Everybody that came out of Egypt was

circumcised. Moses was circumcised.

And

God got upset when his son wasn't. So,

he took care of that.

And everybody that came out of Egypt was

circumcised. Nobody

in the 40 years of wandering the in the

wilderness were circumcised.

That was a God-given religious right.

Not something that would save you, but

something that was responsible. It was a

biblical requirement in the Old

Testament, and it had been neglected for

40 years.

I hope whatever our church has neglected

in the years I've been here, when I'm

gone, God will fix that.

Maybe fix it before I'm gone.

Now on a circumcision is a ceremonial

right. On the surface it seems quite

unimportant. It can't save you but it's

it was a biblical requirement in the Old

Testament. Had been neglected for 40

years. In Genesis 17 11-14

we see Moses got in trouble by

neglecting in his own family.

And it was a requirement if you were

going to keep the Passover feast to be

circumcised.

that weren't circumcised, you couldn't

you couldn't uh keep the Passover feast.

Exodus 12:42-14

and verse 48.

And both of these in some ways picture

the death of Jesus, the putting away of

sins through the work of the

circumcision of Christ and uh at at the

cross and the uh the it was a

prerequisite

and you know they took those

circumcision

flint knives and buried him with Joshua

in Joshua 24:3.

Joshua 24:3

So before the battle starts,

you got to be biblically

conformed

what God expects.

once said the task task ahead of battle

were too too important to enter into

lightly or unprepared in any way.

Now today if we want to win a battle

we have to amend our lives to holy

scripture especially in things we've

neglected as individuals or as a church.

That's why we got to be in God's word so

we know oh wait we haven't been doing

this. This is biblical. This is right.

We've been neglecting this. Athens Bible

Church has been ignoring this. Haven't

been up on this.

And so as we come to Joshua chapter 5

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

verse two and following is dealing with

the circumcision

verse 2 to

uh 9. And then in verse 210 to 12 they

celebrate the Passover. That's another

thing they hadn't done since they left

Egypt. The first Passover was in Egypt.

And they didn't do it for 40 years in

the wilderness.

And so it was time for them now they

were settled to amend their lives to

Revelation.

And Joshua 5 10. The children of Israel

entered encamped in Gilgal and kept the

Passover on the 14th day of the month at

evening in the plains of Jericho. And

they and so that was a very important

thing. Worship should precede

warfare.

They were worshiping the Lord who

brought them out of Egypt.

Worship. Warfare without worship is

presumption.

biggest thing pastors need to do is not

make workers but make and warriors but

make worshippers.

Young Christians need to be worshippers

first, workers and warriors second and

third.

So the first Passover has been

uh celebrated.

Third,

they've had their circumcision. It's

back. Passover's back.

Then something happened.

The mana stopped falling

in the sky.

No more mana.

Mana was the diet for 40 years. When

they were on when they were in traveling

and moving, you couldn't plant stuff.

They couldn't stay anywhere long enough

to plant stuff. So God rained food down

from heaven just like he earlier has

brought food up from the ground.

Both are miracles. We're just used to

the one and we don't think about it.

But when they got to the land for the

first time, they ate

the grain of the land

first time.

And the consumption of food in the land

was symbolically taking possess

possession of the land.

And and no more uh daily mana. It's

gone. Diet change.

And so by faith they began to

appropriate the blessings God had

designed for them. And we are by faith

to to proclaim pro uh we by faith are to

uh enjoy the blessings God has enjoyed

for us.

We need to we got to watch how we're

feeding.

There was the time for the mana. Now

there's the time for the food from the

land. We amend our lives to holy

scripture. Worship must preede warfare.

Amending our lives to holy scripture

must precede warfare and transition to

the current program.

The current program is no more mana.

Don't live in the past. that that you

see there's a balance here between

keeping things the same that you need a

transition of mo leadership as God was

with Moses he's with Joshua but also the

changing of the things that need to

change.

So two million people are no longer

going to be fed by mana.

They're going to they need to embrace

the transition. And once they eat the

grain, the man has stopped. And there

now, think about where they're at. They

got the flood of Jordan behind them.

They got their enemies in Jericho ahead

of them. And there's two million of

them.

And by faith, they circumcised the men.

That made him too sore to fight for

three days. If you remember Genesis,

that took faith.

And by faith they celebrated the

Passover

they worshiped the God of the Passover

that brought them out of Egypt. And by

faith

they started eating

from the land. And by eating of the land

they were possessing the land before

they ever fired a shot.

We must know these things. And the

fourth thing is we must know clearly and

recognize who the real leader is.

Times a transition.

Who's the real leader?

Well, before that they were under Moses.

Who was Moses under? The Lord.

Now they're under Joshua. Who is Joshua

under? The Lord.

So guess what? Some things have changed,

but some things have stayed the same.

That's important.

And it was God that made the changing.

So, this is especially important for

leaders to know.

Um,

and it was important for them to know

that they and their leader

were under God. Abraham Lincoln in one

of the times he was in the Civil War,

somebody in his cabinet made a careless

remark about God being on the side of

the North.

And I I and Lincoln's answer was

beautiful. He said, "Sir, my concern is

not whether God's on our side. My

greatest concern is to be on God's side,

for God's always right." That's a

wonderful answer.

And so

Dale Ralph Davis said, "Sometimes we

need to see the Lord as not so much

partisan as sovereign."

That is more important for us to

recognize God's position than to know

God's plan.

We don't have to know God's plan. You

got to know God's position.

Those that have authority, like Joshua,

need to be under authority. You don't if

you're not under authority, you've lost

your authority.

And so

another person said, "We can easily

become more interested in spiritual

guidance than the right relationship

with the guide."

God direct us. No, I want I want a right

relationship with the guide, not just

leadership.

Now, what happened with Joshua is he got

alone

and he met with the Lord alone.

That's what he needed more than anything

else.

He needed it more than a battle plan. He

needed it more than to understand what

was going to happen and how it was going

to happen. He needed to be alone with

So, let's reread this just for a moment

and come into our text.

Came to pass, verse 13, 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, "Are you for us or for our

adversaries?" And he said, "You don't

have it quite right yet."

Said, "Nay, I'm not for you. I'm not for

your adversary.

at a higher position.

Nay, but as captain of the armies of the

Lord am I now come.

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth

and did worship and said to him, "What

says my Lord to his servant?"

Now, who is this captain of the Lord?

Who is this person?

Is he a human?

Is he an angel?

He wasn't a human, obviously. And he's

not an angel.

How do you know he's not an angel?

Whenever anybody in the Bible tried to

worship an angel, they were rebuked for

it. Book of Revelation, right? Beginning

and ending. Do it. Worship God.

So he's he can't he's not an angel.

Who is he? He is the pre-incarnate

Lord Jesus Christ.

That's who he is.

All the theophanes of the Old Testament

are Christophanes.

Every appearance of God in the Old

Testament is an appearance of the

pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.

This is very important. Whenever you see

God appearing to somebody, whether it's

Abraham or, you know, it talks about

Jacob or or or anybody like that, it's a

christophony, not just a theophony. Each

member of the Trinity has their own job.

And the father plans things, the spirit

presents things, and the son purchases

it at the cross of Calvary. They each

have their own job. But Jesus is the

word of God. John 1:1.

John 1:1

He is the revealer of God.

No man has seen God at any time. The

only begotten son who's in the bosom of

the father, he's revealed him.

If you get this understanding that every

theophony

in the Old Testament is a christophony,

it will open up the Old Testament to you

like nothing else.

Now there are angels, created angels

that appear and uh the word angel is

Malik in the Bible. It's used of angels

as messengers. Malachi is a human

messenger, the prophet

Malachi, my messenger. That's how that's

what Malachi means. And but there's

angels called Malik in the in the Bible.

But there is another messenger in the

Old Testament that is the ultimate

messenger, the ultimate revealer of God,

and that is the pre-incarnate Jesus

Christ.

So the father is the one that plans

things. The son is the one who reveals

and accomplishes things and the spirit

it presents all the information to those

who need it.

So

here we are

now to prepare us for the Lord's supper

which we're going to celebrate today.

We want to think about what's going on

here.

And guess what? Guess what Jesus's name

is?

If you take in our Bible, we call him

Jesus. Do you know what Jesus is in

Hebrew? Yahosa.

Yahosa.

And you know what Yahosa is?

Joshua.

Here the Old Testament Joshua meets the

New Testament Joshua.

This is very interesting.

And just as the Old Testament Joshua was

the one that enabled everybody to

inherit the land, the New Testament

Joshua is the one that enables us to

inherit anything that God has for us.

Jesus everything belongs to him. He made

everything. Everything belongs to him

and we are joint hes with Christ.

So this is fascinating.

So Christians who are aware of Hebrew,

they interpate, they translate this this

way. Yahos Hamashiach,

Jesus the Christ.

Hamashiach is the Christ.

Uh so Yahosa is Joshua.

You call his name Jesus Yahosa because

he will save his people from their sins.

And so all this is very precious.

Now let's think back of what we've

looked at this morning

and um

to prepare us for the Lord's supper.

Number one, there are God-given

ceremonies that are not to be neglected.

They're not to be neglected

if we want to be effective in spiritual

warfare.

In our time, the Lord's supper is one of

them.

Baptism is another.

Water baptism is one of a God-given

ceremony. If you're a Christian, you

should be water baptized.

And the Lord's supper is another one.

God-given ceremonies should not be

neglected if we want to be effective in

spiritual warfare. They neglected it.

So, they did what? Wait a minute. We

need to be circumcised, the men. So,

let's do that.

And uh Passover was another God-given

celebration. Wait a minute. time to

let's let's not fight till we've we're

up on our obedience and amending our

lives to Revelation. We're in the land.

Let's celebrate the Passover. And they

did it.

So God-given ceremonies are not to be

neglected if we want to be effective in

spiritual warfare. You might think, "Oh,

I need to read the Bible more." Well,

that's true. Oh, I need to be a better

person. That's true.

But these other things, you might think

they're not important. There are minor

things. The mode of baptism is a minor

thing in the Bible in my opinion. But

being baptized is important. It doesn't

save you, but you should be baptized

if you haven't been. If you're a

believer, believe in believers, baptism

here. And so,

um, I don't care about the fights,

whether it's a little water or a lot of

water. Some people are fighting that

stuff. But the big thing is it's

God-given ceremony.

Second thing, the Lord's supper is a

God-given ceremony.

And second, if we want to be effective

in spiritual warfare, the first thing we

do is to get alone with the Lord apart

from everybody

else.

So we can hear his directions

and his

uh directions and his guidance. He's the

captain of our salvation.

And that's a necessary precedent in

spiritual warfare.

So each of us needs to ask ourselves a

serious question as we enter 2026.

Have I been alone with the Lord enough?

I need to fight the good fight of faith.

I've got my battles.

Not Jericho. It's I've got my battles,

but I need to be alone with the Lord.

Am I ever alone with the Lord?

Is my Christianity just going to church?

Am I ever alone with the Lord?

reading his word, praying to him,

submitting to his authority,

uh enjoying his purity and his deity.

Um

remember that Jesus said, "I am that I

am."

Well, no, that's God that said that.

Yes, it's the burning bush. Yeah, but

Jesus was at the burning bush.

It was the God in the burning bush was

Jesus.

That's not difficult to prove at all.

Now, Joshua was missing Moses.

Moses was gone, but he still had the

Lord.

And we miss people that God calls home,

but we still have the Lord.

Joshua was a veteran, but his experience

wasn't enough. He needed a fresh

experience with the pre-incarnate Jesus.

You say, "I'm a veteran. I've witnessed.

I've served. I've labored. I I've got

all that under my belt so far." Yeah,

but we there's more battles to fight.

And we need to understand our

responsibility

to be alone with the Lord.

Experiencing and embracing our Lord's

majesty, authority, and sovereignty.

He's the captain of our salvation.

And only under his authority do we have

it.

Too many of us, especially in

leadership, do not know our place.

In fact, all of us should go into every

business meeting, not my will, but thine

be done.

We're not in any business meeting of

this church to to in any way uh say,

"Well, I'm going to get this through

this. I'm we're going to pass this. I've

got to got to go. We're going to then

we're going to do this in this meeting

and if the vote doesn't go by way I'll

meet.

We're never bring our own agenda into a

meeting. In any meeting,

speak Lord, your servants here.

In any meeting, we submit to the

authority of the one who's over us.

We're seeking God's will, not our will.

Every meeting ought to be what? every

church meeting, not my will, but thine

be done.

And so Joshua said, "What does my Lord

say to his servant?

I'm your servant.

I'm Moses's replacement." But Moses was

unto you and I'm unto you. And the same

God that used Moses was going to use

Joshua.

Now, here's a big contrast.

The New Testament or excuse me, the Old

Testament, Joshua drew his sword. Uh,

and the Old Testament,

excuse me, the New Testament, Joshua,

that's Jesus, drew his sword. The Old

Testament, Joshua removed his shoe.

That's an interesting contrast.

That's just what Moses did with the

burning bush. Take your shoes off your

feet because this is holy ground.

So Joshua is now experiencing the same

thing Moses experienced. He has to learn

that there's a spiritual side to

spiritual warfare. He already knew that

on one level because when Moses would

pray, he would win the battle and when

Moses' hands drooped, he would start

losing. Remember that? teacher some of

that. You need to know more of it.

So may God help us to think about this

section properly. Our Lord is the

captain of our salvation.

Our Lord deserves our submission. Our

our Lord deserves us to give him our

ears.

EP Meyer said, "Our Jericho are also

formidable.

Our Jericho might be an empty church.

Are we going to fill the Are we going to

fill the church? Our our Jericho might

be a hardened congregation." I'm quoting

FB Meyer. Our Jericho might be a godless

husband.

How can we ever capture peace?

take our shoes off our feet, which means

we reverent in his presence,

and we worship him

and we say, "What sayest thou, Lord, to

your servant?"

There's some precious things going on

here.

Now I believe that

chapter 6 verse one and following are

connected at least the first verses are

connected to our section.

So

Joshua wasn't just a worshipper.

He was submitting

to the leadership of the Lord Jesus

Christ. And it says in 61, now Jericho

was securely shut up because the

children of Israel, none went out or

came in. And the Lord said to Joshua,

and I think this was the same

experience, not later.

The Bible teaches on both sides. I know

the chapter divisions are man-made. I've

given into thy hand Jericho and its king

and mighty men of valor. And then he

told him how to fight. This is how

you're going to fight. You're going to

march around the city

for seven days and say nothing.

Nobody say a word.

March around all the way around. Say

nothing.

Next day march around twice. Say

nothing.

All the

very interesting way of fighting. It

must have been interesting as the people

on the other side of law said. They went

around once yesterday and twice now

three times

and you know the rest.

And in that whole business as they

marched around, remember the the two

spies had gone to Jericho first and met

the the uh ancestors of Jesus,

Rahab the harlot.

remember that.

And Rahab would become the ancestors of

Boaz. And Boaz and Ruth begot people who

begot David. And so here's the ancestors

of Jesus.

And she asked for mercy. And the two

spies said, "If if you uh tie a scarlet

scarlet cord and put it in your window

and everybody goes in your your your

house on her house was on the wall,

we'll spare you."

And that scarlet cord is a perfect

picture of the blood of Jesus.

If you were in that in in that house,

even though it was a harlot's house, it

was under the blood.

Everybody died in that city but the

people in her house.

Walls came down. The battle was fought.

Those two men didn't kill Rahab. The

Lord didn't kill Ahab.

And Joshua heard about what happened.

And Joshua is obeying

what the agreement was.

And no doubt

as you go down and read about this

particular section, you see what

happened and Rahab and her family were

spared.

Uh I love this particular section of

scripture. I think it's a good place to

prepare us for the table of the Lord.

Whether you're thinking about the blood

of the Passover lamb,

whether you're thinking about

circumcision, blood is shed. Whether

you're thinking about the scarlet cord,

which represents the blood being shed,

what we're doing with the with the cup

is a similar kind of thing. We're

rejoicing in the blood of Christ.

We're accepting we can't save oursel.

We're accepting he saves us. And we we

want to celebrate this.

We want to enjoy this.

Ralph Davis said, "Sometimes we need to

see that the Lord is not so much

partisan as sovereign." We need to do

that.

That it's more important to recognize

God's position than to know God's plans.

What's your plan, God? Well, I'll tell

you some of it.

First of all, you need to know

who I am.

I'll close with this. Jay Oswald

Saunders in his book, Robust in the

Faith, he's talking about Joshua.

In this particular section, Joshua

learned this. No matter what the

command, he would obey it without

question.

His

own strategy and tactics were forever

renounced except as they coincide with

his commanders.

Henceforth they would work in closest

collaboration.

Have we been doing God's work our way or

God's way?

It's not enough to do God's work.

God's work done God's way will never

lack God's support.

And Oswald Saunders said, "On this

personal crisis, the whole conflict in

Canaan hinged. One personal victory

gained in secret can turn the fortunes

of a whole nation. Joshua had come to

review the battlements of the enemy. But

instead, he was brought into a personal

encounter with the Lord. Before he was

equipped to face the foe, he must know

what it is to stand before the Lord."

True, he was superseded in his command,

but what a burden of responsibility was

lifted from his shoulders. The battle

was no longer his, but the Lord's.

And that's our last point.

We often feel the responsibility, don't

we? Ministering to our family,

our friends

as if the responsibility is all on us.

We do have our responsibilities,

but the battle

Joshua learned was no longer his

pre-incarnate. Jesus had his sword

drawn.

Joshua knew

that he wasn't alone in leadership.

He was going to have the power of heaven

in this regard.

As we come to the table of the Lord, if

you know Jesus as your savior, we invite

you to take the bread, take the cup. If

you don't know the Lord, we would exhort

you to repent and believe the gospel,

which is God so loved the world that he

gave his only begotten son, his unique

son, and whoever believes in him would

not perish but have everlasting life.

Wages of sin is death. The gift of God

is eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord.

And if we know the Lord, let's take the

bread and take the cup. Let's remember

his death. Much as it was all planned

out, this whole circumcision Passover

thing and then this vision, it's all our

Lord Jesus.

Whatever happens in your life, whatever

transitions happen in our church or in

our life, let's remember we are under

authority. Therefore, we have authority

to minister to others and to do God's

work. We don't have to have a position

in the church to have authority. We've

got the authority to proclaim the

gospel.

He's already given us

the great commission. Jesus said, "All

authority is given me in heaven and

earth. I want you to go baptize them in

the name of the Father, Son, and Holy

Spirit. And Lord, I'm with you always,

even to the end of the age." Father, we

thank you for what we've looked at

today. Challenge us and change us from

uh ourselves.

May we know what it is to have a fresh

vision of the captain of our salvation,

the Lord Jesus Christ, who was also and

finally revealed in the Bible as the

King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

He's not a private person. He's a public

person. Public person. And that public

person is the one who died for us and

rose again. And it's on that work that

all these other things were simply

preceding it in a big wonderful story

that began shortly after the world began

and even plan before the world began. We

thank you in Jesus name. Amen.

Lord, as we go from this place,

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin darkened

world. As we go from this place,