1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:05,120 Would you grab a Bible and turn with me to Joshua chapter 5? 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:13,360 Let me pray for us. Father God, we desire to humble 3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,400 ourselves under Your Word. You have exalted above all 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,160 things Your name and Your Word. So we as your people, we've come 5 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,160 to honor Your name by submitting ourselves to the teaching of 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,760 Your Word. So we ask you, Lord, to take up 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,160 these next few moments to send Your Spirit as You promised to 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,920 us, so that we could be built up and established in the faith 9 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,400 that the body of Christ might build itself up in love. 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:44,640 So we pray, Lord, that You would equip us through this word, and 11 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:46,080 I pray that You would use me to do it. 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:52,640 Give me joy in it and give us all gratitude for the fact that 13 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:55,040 our God is a God who is not silent. 14 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:00,200 You are here with us and you speak to us even now. 15 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,080 And so we await your good pleasure. 16 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,640 Lord, speak and we will listen. We ask it in your name, Amen. 17 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:14,560 So you're in Joshua chapter 5. And let me say as we dig into 18 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:19,160 this text, that the context of any kind of word or any kind of 19 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:23,440 action matters at least as much as the words themselves, right? 20 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,800 So if, if I if I say the phrase to Gracie, maybe Gracie says to 21 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,240 me, I want to eat, I want to eat guacamole for dinner. 22 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,400 And I say, but I don't there's no great strain there, right? 23 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:37,600 I'm allergic to guacamole makes me sick of my stomach. 24 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:42,640 So there's no my my words, but I don't don't mean all that much. 25 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,520 But if Gracie looks at me in the face and says, Will Martin, you 26 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,320 are the greatest man I've ever known and I'm so glad I'm 27 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:55,200 married to you and I love you and I say, but I don't. 28 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,400 It's the same words in different contexts makes all the 29 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,040 difference, right? Stories are the same way. 30 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,200 Any any action when you're in the scriptures, anytime you read 31 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,680 about a about an action in scripture, the key to unlocking 32 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,200 what's actually going on is to make sure that you understand 33 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,280 the surrounding context. And so today there's three 34 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:19,320 distinct actions that that the text that Joshua chapter 5 is 35 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:23,160 going to give us, and they're sandwiched in between two very 36 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:27,080 important things, right? We're going to see 3 distinct 37 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,000 movements, 3 distinct actions that are sandwiched between 38 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,720 Joshua leading the, the children of Israel over the Jordan into 39 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,920 the promised land. And, and, and that's, it's after 40 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:39,760 that and it's right before Jericho falls. 41 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,320 And so these actions, when we see them in that light of it's 42 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,240 sandwiched between those 2 events, they come to us as a 43 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,520 preparation for for conquest, as a, as a response to what's 44 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:56,440 happened and as a preparation for contact or for conquest. 45 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:58,920 And so the three actions, and I'll show you each in turn, 46 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,760 circumcision, celebration and visitation. 47 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,320 Those are the three things that that God shows us in Joshua 48 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,760 chapter 5 to prepare God's people for conquest. 49 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,560 So the first we're going to see a circumcision or renewing the 50 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,560 covenant with the Lord. So I want to reread this to you 51 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,760 and verses one through 1 through 9 and I'll make a couple of 52 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:23,120 comments on on the way. Joshua, the book of Joshua says 53 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:29,120 as soon as key, key phrase, as soon as So there's a time stamp 54 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,320 there as soon as all the kings of the Amorites who are beyond 55 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,520 the Jordan to the West and all the kings of the Canaanites who 56 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:39,440 are by the sea heard as soon as they heard that the Lord had 57 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,640 dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel 58 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,480 until they had crossed over their hearts melted. 59 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,560 There was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of 60 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,280 Israel. So Joshua says right after God 61 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:57,200 has dried up the waters of the Red Sea, all the enemies of 62 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:58,920 Israel lose all of their courage. 63 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,560 And you might understand that like they are being led by a God 64 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:04,720 who can do wonders that we have never seen. 65 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,920 And so the enemies of Israel in this moment are terrified. 66 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,840 Now pop quiz What do you do if you're in a fight and your enemy 67 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,160 is terrified, has no spirit, wants to run? 68 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:20,440 What do you do if you're a good general, you sound the charge, 69 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:25,320 you go, you fight, you pursue. Look in verse 2. 70 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:31,040 At that time, as soon as all of the enemies of Israel are 71 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:36,840 terrified, at that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make Flint 72 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:40,680 knives, circumcise the sons of Israel a second time. 73 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:44,120 Isn't that wild? Do something that will 74 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,560 debilitate your army. What do you think about that? 75 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,840 It says so Joshua made Flint knives and circumcise the sons 76 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:55,280 of Israel at Gibeath. Ha Arala, your guess is as good 77 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:56,840 as mine. How that's supposed to be read. 78 00:04:57,760 --> 00:04:59,800 It means the hill of the foreskins. 79 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,560 OK, so you have hundreds of thousands of men who need to be 80 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,000 circumcised. And so the pile of gross, bloody 81 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,240 flesh is substantial. And this is the reason why 82 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:14,720 Joshua circumcised them. All the males who came out of 83 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,520 Egypt, all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the 84 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:20,080 way after they had come out of Egypt. 85 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,360 The though all the people who came out had been circumcised, 86 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:27,400 yet all the people who were born on the way. 87 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,560 That's the key phrase. Anybody born on the way in the 88 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,760 wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been 89 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,080 circumcised. That is contrary to command, 90 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,920 that's contrary to law. They had not kept the covenant. 91 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,280 Parents did not put their the sign of the covenant on their 92 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:44,840 children. For the people of Israel walked 93 00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:47,600 forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, the men of 94 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,960 war who came out of Egypt perished because they did not 95 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:54,560 obey the voice of the Lord. The Lord swore to them that He 96 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,520 would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to give 97 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,640 their fathers, to give us a land flowing with milk and honey. 98 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,120 So it was their children whom He raised up in their place that 99 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:08,480 Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they 100 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,400 had not been circumcised on the way. 101 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,640 Now in verse 8, when the circumcising of the whole nation 102 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,040 was finished, they remained in their place in the camp until 103 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,200 they were healed. That might take a beat. 104 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:24,520 And the Lord said to Joshua, Today, I have rolled away the 105 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:28,320 reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is 106 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,760 called Gilgal to this day. It means to roll away, to roll 107 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,960 away their approach. So I don't know if you know this 108 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:40,720 or not, but an adult man who receives circumcision needs the 109 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,680 weekend off. Like that's not something you 110 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,280 want to do and then go dancing as a as an example. 111 00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:50,440 You don't want to do that. So I just want you to see that 112 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:55,240 right before the battle in a sight of all of the enemy who's 113 00:06:55,240 --> 00:07:00,000 already terrified, God has his people, his army perform an 114 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:05,400 action that will mean all of the fighting men are down for many, 115 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:08,320 many days. And it's marvelous, right, that 116 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:10,800 God would God, our enemies are watching. 117 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:12,960 The last thing we want to do is show weakness. 118 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:14,840 They're afraid. Let's charge. 119 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:17,680 And he says, no, I want you to do something that that is going 120 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:19,960 to make you very weak. If you remember in your old, in, 121 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:24,800 in the book of Genesis, God's Jacob's sons do this to the men 122 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,800 of Shechem. They say, hey, we, we, you can, 123 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,640 they, they took their sister and so they say you can marry her if 124 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:33,640 you're all circumcised. They do that. 125 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:36,880 And on the third day while they're laid up recovering, 2 126 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:38,840 guys come in and kill the entire village. 127 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:42,960 This is a weakening, A weakening thing that God commands his 128 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:44,920 people to do in this exact moment. 129 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,440 So if you were planning conquest, this would straight up 130 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:51,240 be the very last thing that you would do. 131 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:55,320 You would never do this to ensure that all of your army 132 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:59,160 cannot move for three days and that the enemy knows this. 133 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:00,840 The enemy is going to watch this. 134 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,160 This is like many of other gods of God's war strategies. 135 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:09,720 It seems absurd and you can hear the realist, right? 136 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:14,600 Save your prayers, armies. Wars are won with soldiers. 137 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:16,560 So. So don't give me the covenant 138 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:18,000 renewal. Don't give me prayer as a 139 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,680 strategy for war. Don't give me getting right with 140 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,080 God as a strategy for war. You need soldiers. 141 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:27,760 Well, as absurd as this may sound, this is exactly what God 142 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:31,200 had Joshua do. And He did it because He wanted 143 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:35,559 Israel then and us now to know it in our souls that it is not 144 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:39,679 to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name. 145 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,640 Give glory. Some may trust in Chariots and 146 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,440 some may trust in horses, but we will trust in the name of the 147 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,880 Lord our God. Brothers and sisters, we can 148 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,680 embrace anything that God commands that makes us feel 149 00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:55,800 weak. We can embrace anything because 150 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,160 His strength is made perfect in weakness. 151 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:02,040 You can imagine, you can imagine all of the people coming to 152 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,640 Joshua and saying, do we have to do it now? 153 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:07,400 Let's, let's go win some fights first. 154 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,680 Do we have to weaken ourselves? Now don't miss the purpose of 155 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:13,840 this weakness that God inflicted upon the men of Israel. 156 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,080 It was to put them into their covenant strength. 157 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,400 So let me explain this. Genesis 17. 158 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,760 God had commanded Abraham that all of his male offspring should 159 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,120 be circumcised on the eighth day of their lives, and that this 160 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:31,240 circumcision would be a sign of belonging to the covenant of 161 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,760 grace. And for sure, later on, Israel 162 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:37,480 eventually turned that circumcision into what they saw 163 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:41,560 as a covenant of works, as though if you just do the right 164 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:43,160 things, you'll get the right result. 165 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:45,320 And that's obviously not the case. 166 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:47,920 But it was not. Circumcision was not given as a 167 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,000 covenant of works. It was given as a covenant of 168 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,920 grace. Circumcision was an objective 169 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:57,240 action that incorporated people into the covenant community. 170 00:09:57,680 --> 00:09:59,760 They just showed it, marked them out as you. 171 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:03,880 You belong in the community of God's people, and that community 172 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,600 was formed by God's grace, not by man's doing. 173 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:11,360 And so for thousands of years, there were two types of people 174 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:13,600 that received the sign of circumcision. 175 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:18,000 You had, First off, the children of people inside the covenant, 176 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,960 all of them were supposed to be circumcised on the eighth day. 177 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:24,880 And then you had strangers who were born outside but saw the 178 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:27,000 goodness in the grace of God and wanted in. 179 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:30,160 They would be circumcised and then they would be counted in 180 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,360 the in the community. So you have two groups of people 181 00:10:32,680 --> 00:10:36,320 that received the sign so and the scriptures tell us that any 182 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:41,000 circumcised male in a stranger's house was welcome to partake of 183 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:43,680 all the things that were available to natural sons. 184 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:46,920 And the chief of those blessings was the Passover. 185 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,760 So it's important for us to see that was the command, everybody, 186 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:53,360 you're to circumcise your son on the 8th day. 187 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:57,000 But here we have a whole generation of Israelites that 188 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,720 haven't been circumcised. We should ask why? 189 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,760 Why did they not obey this faithless generation, the one 190 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,800 who saw the Exodus, though they had been circumcised themselves, 191 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:11,840 they didn't circumcise their children, which is why Joshua 192 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,240 had to do it when they reached the promised land. 193 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,840 And this is a shame, right? Because circumcision puts the 194 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,640 marks of the covenant of grace on your children and then you 195 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,400 get to raise them up in the faith. 196 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:26,560 And they had withheld this from their kids. 197 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,000 God insisted on children of the covenant being put inside the 198 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,440 covenant at 8 days old through no choice of the child. 199 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,600 He didn't say wait till they grow up and accept it. 200 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,000 You just do it and you raise them in the faith. 201 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:42,280 All of this to highlight the sovereign nature of the 202 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,000 salvation of our God. And because of him, Paul tells 203 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,840 us you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, 204 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:52,680 righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 205 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:56,160 So that as it is written, let the one who boasts boasts in the 206 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,240 Lord. Yes, you must boast, but your 207 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:02,000 boast is in the Lord because you have everything you have is 208 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,200 because of your identity, your your union with Christ. 209 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:08,520 And Paul just told you that the only reason you're in union with 210 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:10,200 Christ is because he put you there. 211 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:12,920 So he gets all the glory, you get all the joy. 212 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,840 So the first order of business for Joshua is for the second 213 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:21,080 generation down from the exodus to be to put right what their 214 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,640 parents got wrong, to perform the duty that their parents 215 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:26,440 neglected, the duty of circumcision. 216 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:31,120 They needed to bear the sign of the covenant before they 217 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:34,160 conquered, before they converted, or before they killed 218 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,000 anybody in the promised land. And this is massively important, 219 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:42,720 mainly because as Christians, sometimes we get a false notion 220 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,480 that God is a God who will bless the good and he'll curse the 221 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:48,520 bad. And it's fundamentally not true. 222 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:51,640 God is not a God who blesses the good and curses the bad. 223 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:55,200 In reality, God has always been a God who blesses with his 224 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:59,160 covenant grace the bad people that are in covenant with him 225 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,480 because that's all there are. News flash, it's all we have is 226 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:07,480 sinners in covenant with God or sinners not in covenant with 227 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,400 God. And God has always been the God 228 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:14,160 who blesses bad people who are in covenant with Christ. 229 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:18,880 You say true and I say thank you and God curses the the 230 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:22,800 unconverted who refused to be in covenant with Christ and you can 231 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:26,840 set your watching warrant on it. It is God's grace and mercy that 232 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:31,040 matter here ultimately, not your performance and not mine. 233 00:13:31,680 --> 00:13:37,800 God is not at our good pleasure, we exist at His but, but the 234 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,440 means of covenant belonging really matter to Him. 235 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,720 The way you come into covenant with God really matters to God. 236 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,240 So it is a true statement worthy of all acceptance that we are 237 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:52,200 justified by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone for 238 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,240 God's glory alone. And there's no but coming to 239 00:13:55,240 --> 00:14:00,760 that sentence, that's just true and full stop foundational fact. 240 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:04,840 We are justified by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ 241 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:09,600 alone. And and the God who taught us 242 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,720 that through Christ also said that we should fear the Lord and 243 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,160 keep his commandments. Does our, does our obedience 244 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:17,640 matter? Of course it does. 245 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:20,040 We're not saved by it, We're saved by faith. 246 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:24,240 But our obedience does matter. So it means Christian obedience, 247 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:29,120 like baptism is not negotiable. It's not a take or leave thing. 248 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,440 It's been commanded and so we carry it out. 249 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:37,760 You cannot not do it. So let me ask you, can an 250 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:40,040 unbaptized person be eternally saved? 251 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,400 Can somebody who who hasn't been baptized be eternally saved? 252 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,000 There's no question about it. The answer is of course, of 253 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,360 course they can. The thief on the cross was never 254 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:51,360 made wet with the waters of the triune name. 255 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,920 He's never baptized. On the other hand, can a man who 256 00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:00,120 sleeps on his baptism, or would rather not like I, I don't know, 257 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:02,360 it's just, it's weird. I don't really want to do it. 258 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,080 I'm fine with Jesus. I love Jesus, but I just don't 259 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:08,560 want to obey him. Can he claim to be a Christian 260 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,600 answer? Absolutely not because Christ 261 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,200 has commanded it. And if you love Christ, if you 262 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,600 believe in him, if you've been justified by grace through 263 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:21,840 faith, you do what he says. And so baptism isn't is is very 264 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,960 important. It's not a saving thing, but it 265 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:29,120 is an obedience thing that that shows that you are walking under 266 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:32,320 the lordship of Christ. So God help the Baptist, and I 267 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:33,560 know this because I used to be 1. 268 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:36,400 Many of them are so backward in the way that they view the 269 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,360 sacraments because they haven't seen the pattern that the Old 270 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,120 Testament sets for the Church. So a lot of Baptists will 271 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:47,040 withhold the sign of covenant belonging, the sign of baptism. 272 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:51,800 But then they'll, they'll bring their kids to the Lord's Table 273 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:56,640 and, and listen, that's just if it was done. 274 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:58,960 And if you've ever done this and you did it in innocence, which 275 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,320 is totally fine, you didn't know any better, There's no, I don't 276 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:04,240 think there's judgment for you. Be of good cheer. 277 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:10,080 The Lord always overlooks our sincerely motivated errors. 278 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:11,480 But listen to me, that's an error. 279 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:13,280 You can't, you can't do that. Don't do that. 280 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,120 It would be like a man saying that it doesn't really matter 281 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,240 which comes first, birth or breastfeeding. 282 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:24,840 There is a distinct order, birth and then sustenance, baptism, 283 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:27,720 then Lord's Supper. So if you look at the text, 284 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:29,840 we'll see it in a second. What immediately follows the 285 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,200 circumcision of the nation is the celebration of the Passover 286 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:36,560 that they kept for the very first time since the Passover. 287 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,480 They were supposed to keep the Passover every year, remembering 288 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:44,240 what God did in Egypt. They had not kept it since they 289 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:47,320 left Egypt. The rule given in Exodus 12 was 290 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:50,360 as clear as crystal. Listen, all the congregation of 291 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,720 Israel shall keep the Passover, and if a stranger shall sojourn 292 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,800 with you and would keep it with you, let all his males be 293 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,040 circumcised, and then he may come near and keep it, and he 294 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:05,119 shall be as a native of the land, but no uncircumcised 295 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:08,520 person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the 296 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:11,440 native and the stranger who sojourns among you. 297 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,960 So when we read in Joshua 5 that Israel had not been practicing 298 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,720 circumcision in the wilderness, we can conclude with authority 299 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,079 that they had also not been keeping the Passover, because 300 00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:24,079 you can't do the second without the first. 301 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,440 You can't keep the Passover unless you've been circumcised. 302 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:30,240 So not only were they not circumcising their children, 303 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:33,560 they weren't welcoming them to the covenant feasts. 304 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,600 You can't Make Love to your wife until you have a wife. 305 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:41,240 You couldn't keep the Passover to the Lord until you had a 306 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:43,240 Lord, until you were circumcised. 307 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:46,480 And therefore you can't come to the Lord's table until you have 308 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:50,240 the Lord as your Lord, through repentance and through faith and 309 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:52,200 through baptism, you can't do it. 310 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:56,560 So as the Lord Jesus commands us to be baptized and then you come 311 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,160 to the table. So the second action of 312 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:02,360 preparation in this text circumcision first, which puts 313 00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:05,720 them in covenant right covenant fellowship with the Lord. 314 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,840 The second action is the Passover. 315 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:12,120 Read it really quick with me in in 10 and 12 verses 10 through 316 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:15,320 12 while the people of Israel were in camped at Gilgal. 317 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,040 They kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month in the 318 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:20,640 evening on the plains of Jericho. 319 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,560 And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of 320 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:27,880 the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched 321 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:30,760 grain and the manna ceased. It's very important phrase, the 322 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:34,080 manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. 323 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,240 And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but 324 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,560 they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. 325 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,920 OK, so circumcision and then Passover. 326 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:46,960 Now there's a detail here that's a really important that I want 327 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,200 to point out to you. It says that the manna ceased 328 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,560 the day after they ate the produce of the land. 329 00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:56,280 So from this time forward there was no more manna to come to 330 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,320 God's people. And so manna had been a a 331 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:02,280 miraculous provision for a particular people for a 332 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,760 particular season. And so we should point out that 333 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,560 it's that it's not for us to make normative something that 334 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:11,840 was UN normative. Does that make sense? 335 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,840 Most of the people of God have never tasted manna. 336 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,280 It was given to particular people in a particular season 337 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:22,880 and it it is abnormal. So we don't want to make that 338 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:24,920 normative for the Christian life. 339 00:19:25,360 --> 00:19:27,680 And so let me ask you, could God have continued to feed his 340 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:29,800 people with manna? The answer is, of course, it 341 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,560 wasn't hard for him. He can still do anything that he 342 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:35,600 wants down to our day. We could have been feasting on 343 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,720 manna, but he didn't want to do that. 344 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,520 He had better plans. So I'm not going to fight 345 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:42,760 anybody on this, but it's important that I point this out 346 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,600 to you. When we read the book of Acts 347 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,400 and we see God doing amazing things through the hands of the 348 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,720 apostles, signs, wonders, tongues, prophecy, all of these 349 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:55,640 things. The reality is we read some of 350 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:59,520 those things and don't don't think carefully about how and 351 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:02,840 why God is giving those things and we make those normative. 352 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:06,520 Certain denominations will say, if you have not spoken in 353 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:08,600 tongues, you have not received the Holy Spirit. 354 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,720 That is a lie from hell. That's not true. 355 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,080 It is not normative Paul Paul even says do all of you does 356 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:17,680 everyone speak in tongues? Not everyone speaks in tongues, 357 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:19,440 does he and the obvious answer is no. 358 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,240 Not everyone prophecies, does he and the obvious answer is no. 359 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,840 So these were things given at a particular time for a particular 360 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,720 purpose in a particular season. And we ought not read the book 361 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,560 of Acts and say I I don't see that worked out in my life. 362 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,320 Therefore I must be off. Don't don't do that. 363 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:42,280 It's they're, they're, they're non normative gifts now 364 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:46,000 question, can God still do those things today? 365 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:48,720 You better say, yes, of course he can. 366 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:50,600 God can do anything he wants to do. 367 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,480 We just want to be careful to, to not make normative those 368 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,600 things that are not given in the Scripture as normative things. 369 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,200 So the manna was for a season and then it ceased when they got 370 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,240 into the promised land and God raised them up into better, 371 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:09,000 better things. So in response to crossing into 372 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,520 the Promised Land and in preparation for the conquest of 373 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,080 Canaan, Israel renewed their covenant with the Lord by being 374 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:19,120 circumcised, the covenant sign of the the sign of covenant 375 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:22,720 belonging, and then by celebrating Passover, which is 376 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:26,840 the sign of continued covenant sustenance of the Lord. 377 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,400 So the two counter signs in the new covenant, the counter sign, 378 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:35,040 the circumcision is baptism and the counter sign to Passover is 379 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,480 completed by Lord's Supper. Both of those signs are, this is 380 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:41,640 essential. They are not replaced, they are 381 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,080 completed. We don't do them anymore. 382 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,440 We don't keep, we don't, we don't have to circumcise our 383 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,480 sons anymore and we don't have to keep the whole Seder meal and 384 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,640 dress up in the funny clothes like Hasidic Jews. 385 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,920 We don't have to do that because those things were shadows and 386 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,080 the full completion has come. And so now we have a bloodless 387 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:02,960 sacrament. We baptize our children and we 388 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,680 baptize the stranger who wants to be a part of God's people. 389 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,680 And we have not a full Passover, but all of it summed up in the 390 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,480 bread and the cup that Christ says, Do this in remembrance of 391 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:16,240 me. But there's a third, and there's 392 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:20,880 a final act, and it is glorious. And it comes both again as a 393 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,920 response to what has come before and as a preparation for what is 394 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:27,080 about to come, for the battle of Jericho and the conquest of the 395 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:29,760 land. And this action is the arrival 396 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:32,840 of what is the most glorious person in all of the Bible. 397 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:38,760 He's going to come right here. So watch this in verse 13, when 398 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:44,240 Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes, it's very important 399 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:48,520 phrase, and looked and behold, he's calling your attention. 400 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:50,960 There's something magic is about to go on. 401 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:56,760 He lifted up his eyes. He looked and behold, a man. 402 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:01,240 This brings you to Genesis 18. I'll explain that to you in a 403 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,160 moment. A man was standing before him 404 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,320 with his drawn sword in his hand. 405 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:14,200 And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for 406 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,440 our adversaries? And tremble at these words. 407 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:22,280 And he said, no. Are you for us? 408 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:29,920 Are you for our enemies? No, no, no, I am the commander 409 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,920 of the army of Yahweh. And now I have come. 410 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:39,000 And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and he worshipped him 411 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:43,680 and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? 412 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:48,760 And what happens when any creature, be it Angel, priest, 413 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,720 leader, when any creature has another creature fall and do 414 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,720 homage to them, what do they always say straight away? 415 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:57,720 No, get up. I'm a a creature like you. 416 00:23:57,720 --> 00:23:59,640 I'm a servant like you. Don't do this. 417 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,480 Don't worship me. Watch what this man says. 418 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:05,960 What does my Lord say to his servant? 419 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:10,520 Says the lesser, the lesser Joshua to the greatest Joshua. 420 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,920 And in verse 15, the commander of Yahweh's army said to Joshua, 421 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:19,400 take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you 422 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,200 are standing is holy. And Joshua did so. 423 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:27,560 It is not enough that Joshua is on his face before Christ, you 424 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:31,640 must take your shoes off, because this man is a holy, 425 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,720 holy, holy man. This is God in the flesh, our 426 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,680 Lord and our Christ. And let us all tremble at His 427 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:45,560 name. So in Genesis 18, the same 428 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,120 phrase is used. Abraham is sitting in his tent 429 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:54,000 and it says when Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, 430 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,480 he saw three men. So it's the very same phrase. 431 00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:00,480 Anybody who who who tracks well with details in the text is 432 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:02,600 going to go, oh, that reminds me of Abraham. 433 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,680 Abraham lifts up his eyes, he looks and he sees the most 434 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,640 glorious person in the entire Bible walking with two other 435 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,320 mints. It looks like three men. 436 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:17,280 But as the text unfolds, you realize it's Yahweh and it's 2 437 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,720 angels. And the angels by comparison to 438 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:27,360 this one man are not even worthy of mention next to this guy. 439 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:30,520 They were not even worthy because the man was none other 440 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,600 than Yahweh in the flesh. He's also called the Angel of 441 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:38,000 the Lord who is Christ Himself. And obviously these verses take 442 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,920 us back as well. The Exodus chapter 3. 443 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:43,840 Listen to these words. I just want you to see the fire 444 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,360 here and the glory. Moses was keeping the flock of 445 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:49,640 his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. 446 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,040 He led his flock to the West side of the wilderness and came 447 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:56,040 to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord 448 00:25:56,040 --> 00:26:00,280 appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a Bush. 449 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,480 OK, so you have the Angel of the Lord who is appearing to Moses 450 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:10,360 in in a fire that's in a Bush. And Moses looked and behold the 451 00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:14,240 Bush was burning but was not yet consumed, but yet was not 452 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,360 consumed. And Moses said, I will turn 453 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:19,080 aside to see this great sight. Why the Bush is not burned. 454 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:25,440 When Yahweh saw that Moses turned aside to see God called 455 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:27,960 to him out of the Bush. Wait a second, I thought it was 456 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,120 the Angel of the Lord that was appearing to Moses inside the 457 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:33,680 Bush. And now Yahweh is calling to 458 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,400 Moses from the Bush. What is going on? 459 00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:41,400 The every single time in the Old Testament you see a man that is 460 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,240 called the Angel of the Lord, that is Christ himself. 461 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:49,280 And this man says to Moses, Moses, Moses. 462 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,320 And he said, here I am. And he said, do not come near. 463 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,600 Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you're 464 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:59,560 standing is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of 465 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,000 your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of 466 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,400 Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he 467 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,360 was afraid to look at God. This is Christ himself. 468 00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:13,000 There's one other text that I want to read you that that 469 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,760 fulfills all of these things. This is John in the Book of 470 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:17,800 Revelation. He says, I turn to see the voice 471 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:21,600 that was speaking to me. And on turning I saw 7 golden 472 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,680 lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of 473 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:29,680 man, clothed with a long robe and a golden sash around his 474 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,240 chest. The hairs of his head were white 475 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,880 like white wool like snow. And his eyes were like a flame 476 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,680 of fire, and his feet like burnished bronze refining a 477 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,680 furnace. And his voice was like the roar 478 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,840 of many waters in his right hand. 479 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:51,400 Think about this. Joshua sees a man, and what is 480 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:53,880 he holding? It's a sword. 481 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,880 This is the same man. What is he holding in his right 482 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,120 hand? I'll give you a hint, it ain't a 483 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:04,040 sword in his right hand. Watch the change. 484 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:10,360 He held the seven stars, 77 liters of seven churches. 485 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:15,520 And then it says from his mouth came a sharp 2 edged sword, and 486 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:19,640 his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 487 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,520 Post resurrection and ascension, Christ no longer bears a 488 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:25,640 physical sword like he did in Joshua's day. 489 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,320 The sword comes out of his mouth, and it's the sword that 490 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,880 converts people, converts his enemies, right? 491 00:28:32,120 --> 00:28:35,000 He does more converting than killing in the New covenant. 492 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:38,760 And so he's got the sword of his, the sword of his mouth, the 493 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,400 sword of his word. And there's no accident that 494 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:45,240 Joshua here hears the same command as Moses because he is 495 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,840 in the presence of the very same God whose name is Christ the 496 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,440 Lord. The presence of our Christ makes 497 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,680 the very ground on which he stands untouchably holy. 498 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:59,880 And so Joshua is now met face to face with the greater Joshua. 499 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:04,720 There are two things that Joshua the greater says to Joshua the 500 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,520 lesser that I want to do nothing but marvel at with you. 501 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:09,240 I'm not going to. There's there will be no there 502 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:14,120 for there will just be an attempt to help you marvel at 503 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:19,160 what Jesus says. Joshua the lesser quote, Are you 504 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:23,280 for us or for our adversaries? Joshua, the greatest? 505 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:28,680 No, no, no. Whose side are you on? 506 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:32,520 No, we might ask, what do you mean? 507 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:37,640 Jesus, aren't you for us? Aren't you on our side? 508 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:42,000 And the answer that Christ would give us is gloriously No, I'm 509 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,520 not, I'm not on your side. Listen to me, brother and 510 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,800 sister, Jesus Christ is not on your side. 511 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,920 So we might say, horror of horrors, are you then for our 512 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:55,600 enemies, for our adversaries, to itchy answers? 513 00:29:55,720 --> 00:30:00,840 No, I'm not for them either. So we ask, OK then Lord, if 514 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,200 you're not on our side and you're not on their side, whose 515 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,680 side are you on? To which he says mine. 516 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:12,680 The only side that matters is mine, the side of Christ. 517 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,600 I'm the commander of the army of Yahweh. 518 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:21,920 And so you, Joshua the lesser, are welcome to be on my side. 519 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,360 I would love for you to be on my side, but I am not on yours. 520 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,880 You can be on mine. It is only my side that matters, 521 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:34,880 says the Lord Christ. Jesus doesn't join us in our 522 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:40,360 fight as we fight our fights for our ends with our best means. 523 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:45,000 Instead, much more wonderfully, he summons us to join in His 524 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:49,920 fight, and He promises His presence, His provision, His 525 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:54,240 victory when we fight with His weapons in His ways, for His 526 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:57,120 purposes, He will not be on your side. 527 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:01,840 He will not do it, but you can be on his glory to God on high. 528 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,600 We can be on the side of Christ. Blessed be his name forever. 529 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,600 So name him, brothers, Name him with love as strong as death, 530 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,760 but with awe and wonder and baited breath. 531 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,560 He is God the Savior. He is Christ the Lord, ever to 532 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:19,600 be worshipped and trusted and adored. 533 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,160 He's not on your side, but you can be on his. 534 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,240 God be praised. I've got a word that I'm not 535 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:30,120 going to give you the answer to for another couple of weeks, but 536 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,920 I want you to think on it and I want it to echo in your mind as 537 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,920 you think about Joshua and you think about the story for weeks 538 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:37,560 to come. I want you to think about this. 539 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:39,480 Are you for us? Are you for your, for our 540 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,680 adversaries? And his answer is no. 541 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,360 That means something. And it's going to, it's going to 542 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:46,120 become clear in the book of Joshua. 543 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:49,000 I just want you to think on it. I want you to dwell on it and 544 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,600 I'll give it to you sometime, but you got to wait. 545 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,120 Secondly, the second thing that the greater Joshua says that 546 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:58,520 we've got to marvel at, he says, now I have come. 547 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:01,480 What does that mean? Did you see that? 548 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:05,160 No, I'm the commander of the army of the Lord of Yahweh. 549 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:09,880 Now I have come. Joshua the Lesser received the 550 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:14,360 promise from Joshua the Greatest that he has come, and he's come 551 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:17,520 in such a way to indicate that this man has come to remain in 552 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:19,280 the fight. You will search the book of 553 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:23,760 Joshua in vain to find the text that says I have come and now I 554 00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:25,440 am going. He doesn't do that. 555 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,760 He comes to stay and to stay in the fight. 556 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,160 It's not a pat on the back. And they return to heavenly 557 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,040 glory. I have come and I will be with 558 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:37,800 you to the end of the age and give you victory. 559 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,720 I hope that sounds familiar. So I ask you, brothers and 560 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:45,840 sisters, if this man, this glorious God would deign to let 561 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:49,680 us be with him on his side and and delight Himself to be with 562 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,680 us and to give us what He has promised, what possible work in 563 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,440 this world could be too difficult for the people of God? 564 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:01,360 What could you possibly imagine would be too difficult if this 565 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:07,240 man is is with us, or rather, if we are with this man on his 566 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:08,680 side, what could be too difficult? 567 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:12,400 Brothers and sisters, we've been baptized into covenant union 568 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,520 with our Triune God, and He intends to feed us now at His 569 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:19,600 table so that we can know for good and all that this Lord 570 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,680 Jesus Christ, the Commander of the Lord's army, has come. 571 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,440 He has come to us. He has come to give us a 572 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:27,680 victory. We are his people. 573 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:31,680 We are on His side. We have received His grace and 574 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,680 His mercy. We are on His mission, fighting 575 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,040 his fight with his weapons in His ways, waiting for his 576 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,760 victory to be enjoyed marvellously through our hands. 577 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,800 If there was ever a communion text that is not a communion 578 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:48,240 text, this is it. So feel free to take your 579 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,160 sandals off, for the Lord of hosts is with us here at the 580 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:53,480 table. And therefore this is holy 581 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,560 ground, because Christ the Lord is here. 582 00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:00,160 Come to the Holy One of Israel. Come to our God and to our King. 583 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,960 Come to the lion of the tribe of Judah, who was worthy to take 584 00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,680 the scroll and has opened the seals. 585 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:10,320 Come to him who stands as a lamb slain, yet raised to dominion. 586 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,600 Come to him who was dead, but who lives forever more. 587 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,080 Come to the one who holds the keys of death and hell. 588 00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:19,840 Come to that self, same Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Good 589 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,000 Shepherd, who calls his own sheep by name. 590 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:27,400 Come brothers and sisters, and welcome to Jesus Christ. 591 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:32,080 Let me pray for us. Lord, would you do for us what 592 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:34,840 you did for Joshua in a greater way? 593 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:39,920 Would you draw near to us as we come to your table, as we eat 594 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:44,800 this bread and drink the cup, remembering that this is your 595 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,159 body broken for us, your blood shed for the forgiveness of our 596 00:34:48,159 --> 00:34:50,440 sins, and that we do this in remembrance of you? 597 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:53,000 And when we eat the bread and when we drink the cup, we 598 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,440 participate in the body of Christ. 599 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:02,320 Lord, these are holy things. Would you draw near to us? 600 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:07,040 Would you? Would you put us in awe of your 601 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:12,280 presence and then comfort us with the gospel that because of 602 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,160 what Jesus has done on our behalf, we can actually be 603 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:19,160 received here? So Lord, we pray that you would 604 00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:22,440 pour out your spirit and that He would make this table 605 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:25,400 efficacious to us and comfort us in it. 606 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:27,880 We ask it in His name, Amen.