Things Joshua Saw

Numbers chapter 14 and let's begin at verse number 6. Numbers 14 verse number 6, And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us, a land which floweth with milk and honey.

Now to the book of Deuteronomy please. We'll start at chapter 1, verse number 28. Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, The people is greater and taller than we.

The cities are great and walled up to heaven. And moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

Chapter 3, verse number 21. And if I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings, so shall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. Now to Joshua please.

And what we're looking here is a few things that Joshua saw. Joshua chapter 1, and I want to read at verse number 2. The Lord is speaking to Joshua. Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast.

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

Now to chapter 5 quickly. Joshua chapter 5 verse 2. And at that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make these sharp knives and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. And Joshua made him sharp knives and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise all the people that came out of Egypt that were males. Even all the men of war died in the wilderness, by the way, after they came out of Egypt. Now all the people that came out were circumcised, but all the people that were born in the wilderness, by the way, as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised.

Drop down to verse 10. And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at Even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land in the morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the south same day.

And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land. Neither had the children of Israel manna any more, but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand.

And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay. But as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy.

And so did Joshua. The Lord have blessed to us the reading of his word. Now that's kind of a scattered reading of scriptures, but I'd like to just sum this up very simply for us this morning, and I hope that it's an encouragement to us.

Joshua by experience saw a lot of things. You can imagine what he saw when he went up the mount with Moses, when Moses got the law and there was the cloud, and he come down and they saw the people of Israel and their golden calf. And you can just imagine as you experience this man in his life what he saw in the tabernacle.

He went and he stood there. He was found in the tabernacle. He dwelt there.

He stood before Eliezer. And so he saw many things there. But what has touched me as I consider this man is three specific things.

I want to look at what he saw as a spy. And I'm not so much interested this morning of the land that he saw, because he saw the great land, the land that flowed with milk and honey, and he saw the grapes and he saw all the positive things there, and he saw the negative things there, and he saw that the Lord was with them. But what this man saw as a spy when he came back to give his report, I hope it makes us weep.

Because what Joshua saw as a spy that day as they give their report is he saw the hearts of God's people discouraged. That's what he saw. He just got back from seeing all the great provision of God and the promised land of God.

And there, he and Caleb, you know what they saw? The hearts of God's people discouraged. Discouraged in their God. Their faith was wounded.

And they saw God's people discouraged. Maybe you're discouraged today. This is meant to be a message to encourage us.

But this is what hurts me. Have you ever seen someone of God's people discouraged and it not break your heart? Brethren, are we growing so cold sometimes that we look at people that are discouraged and just write them off? Now they don't come anymore. We haven't seen them for a long time.

And we see God's people discouraged and we're not moved by it. I can see this man. He rent his clothes.

He and Caleb both. And what they were witnessing there that day was something that they would never forget all the days of their life. As they wandered through the wilderness and they saw those that they had loved and those that were there, and they were dying by way in the wilderness because they were discouraged.

And it says that their brethren had discouraged them. They were discouraged. And I can see these two on their journeys as they would be the ones that would enter into the promised land.

And those that were around them that were discouraged and they were gone. I hope if you see a discouraged Christian, your heart breaks for them. And let's be real.

A lot of us are discouraged today. Within the last few months, I've talked with two people that were so discouraged. And that's just a couple in my little realm.

And I know there's many more. And it just breaks your heart to see God's people discouraged and their faith in God basically nonexistent because they're doubting everything. They're doubting if God can provide for them.

Sometimes they get to the point they doubt if they're even saved. And they're discouraged. And Joshua saw it.

And I can see Joshua now going to the tabernacle and it's said that he stayed there. And we read later that he was standing there. And what is he doing? He's encouraging his heart in the things of God.

And he's dwelling there in the tabernacle. Why? Because that's where the God that he knew was. That's where he was refreshed.

That's where he was strengthened. And there he was in the tabernacle. I love that.

So that's what he saw as a spy. He came with a good report. And he sees the hearts of God's people be discouraged by an evil report.

And then we read in Deuteronomy chapter 3 of what he saw as a soldier. Now Joshua was a mighty man. And I'll confess, when I get a little bit discouraged, I love to read about Joshua because I don't know how many times the Lord tells him to be strong and have a good courage.

A little booster-upper, you know. We all need that. But as a soldier, you can see him there in the valley as he's fighting with Amalek.

And Moses is up on the hilltop, and Moses' arms go down, and Aaron and Hur hold him up, and the battle goes on, and they discomfort. They beat the Malachites. He saw that in battle.

But what we read in Deuteronomy chapter 3 was Sihon and Og, the two kings. And he's with Moses, and he's starting to see now how the Lord is going to drive these enemies out of the land, how the Lord is going to win the battle. And he's starting to experience that, and he's seeing that firsthand, isn't he? Why? God is starting to encourage him.

God is starting to build up his faith even more for his job that he has to do. And God is seeking to do that for you and I. Day by day, he's seeking to encourage us for the job that he's got for us to do. And so Moses is reminding him about what he saw with these two kings.

And he says, all the kingdoms that are in your way are going to fall like these kingdoms. Can you imagine that? I want you to think back in your life of a little experience you've had with the Lord. Or something that was too big for you, and the Lord took care of it.

And what you learned from that experience was this, that God took care of this, and He's going to take care of the next one too. And this is what Joshua is learning. And this is what Joshua is seeing.

And his heart is being strengthened. And we come to Joshua 1. And the Lord is speaking to him now. Moses is dead.

Moses, My servant, is dead. And He says, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that I have given unto you as I said unto Moses. And He encourages him to be strong.

So the book of Joshua has begun. And the Lord told him not to turn from what Moses had commanded him. And you come to chapter 11, verse 15, and it says this, that Joshua completed.

He did everything that Moses had commanded him. Nothing was left undone. Nothing was left undone.

Of all the great work that he was commanded to do, nothing was left undone. We're working our way to chapter 5 because that's where I want to get. Now they're on this side of Jordan.

And before Jericho is even talked about, before there's even a plan for Jericho, the spies go, you know, and they come back and they tell about Jericho. There's two things we read about I want to draw to your attention in chapter 5. Things that had to take place before that they could go. You know, they have to take place for us.

There had to be a re-circumcision. It had to be done. It was a principle, it was a practice that God had commanded them that had been neglected.

It had been maybe forgotten even. Maybe it's worse than neglect. They were all circumcised when they come out of Egypt and now there's those that were born along the way and they didn't carry it out along the way and now it needs to be done again.

And it's like God is saying this, we're not going to go forward here into the land and do all this work and all this blessing until the things that have been neglected are set in order and they're done. And you know, really we can't, as God's people today, we can't expect a blessing. We can't expect the Lord's presence.

We can't expect to conquer anything if the things that we know to do are being neglected. We can't expect that. Now God moves in His sovereignty, but for us to expect it, we can't.

We can't. And God says to Joseph, circumcise these people again. How does that affect you and I? We've got all the desires of the flesh and the defilement of the flesh and all the worldly likeness, don't we? It's got to go, brethren.

If we're going to expect God's blessing and God's presence, that stuff has got to go. This is what we're learning here. They weren't going to go and conquer Jericho until they were obedient to what they know.

Now we're all at different levels of Christian maturity and spiritual understanding. And God isn't expecting you if you're just first saved to know everything you need to know. And I'm thankful for that.

But the little simple things that we do know, God expects us to obey. However long you've been saved, if you're disobeying the little thing that you know, you can't expect a blessing from God. We can't expect it.

I use that word on purpose. Because God is so gracious and God is sovereign. But we can't expect it.

We can't. What's the other thing? It's kind of mentioned in passing. After He circumcised the people, it says this, that they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month.

How long had it been since they kept the Passover? I'm not sure. But I think it was a long time. And it might be the ones that we read about are when they left Egypt that night, clear back in Exodus.

And maybe when they were at Mount Sinai. But God wanted them to keep the Passover. First of all, they needed to be circumcised.

They needed to be obedient to the things that they knew. We need to cut out the things of the world and the desires of the flesh. And we can read about that in the New Testament.

Being circumcised not in a physical way, but in a spiritual way. And now the Passover. Oh, the Passover.

They were remembering the redemption that took place in Egypt, weren't they? How God brought them out of the land. And now He is bringing them into that promised land. Their feet are there.

They're on this side of Jordan. The stones of memorial are placed that God stayed the waters of the Jordan. And they're on this side.

And they're to keep the Passover. How does that apply to you and I? We need to remember our redemption, don't we? Are you discouraged today? Go back and remember in account and detail the moments and the deeds that led up to your salvation. And it's kind of hard to still have a frown.

And then feet on the roast lamb. Oh, the roast lamb. You know, I marvel when I can read about the Lord Jesus and the Passovers through the Gospel, how He would partake of the Passover as being a Jew.

I can't imagine what went through His mind as that lamb would be killed. And He knew that He was God's lamb. And that lamb would be roast with fire.

And He would maybe in His mind anticipate the judgment of God that He was going to go through. And it was His desire to eat that Passover with them. And He wanted to see the disciples strengthened.

And He wants to see us strengthened. And so we remember our redemption. And we feed on the roast lamb and the unleavened bread.

And it strengthens us, doesn't it? But the Passover had been forgotten. It had been neglected. And they were to eat of that Passover.

And then they ate of the old corn of the land. And we won't go into that. But I want to get to the person that Joshua saw.

So Joshua saw the hearts of God's people discouraged. Joshua saw what the Lord did to Sihon and Og, those two great kings. And now he's seeing a man.

And we read in verse 13 that Joshua was by Jericho. And he lifted up his eyes and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. Reminds me of Balaam, doesn't it? Balaam's ass was the one who saw the Lord there with the sword that was drawn.

And here's Joshua now, the man of God, but he sees this man there with this sword that is drawn. And it's almost like with boldness, he's going up to this man and he asks him, what side are you on? What side are you on? And I think in my mind, I don't read it here, but I think if he would have said that he was on the enemy's side, I think Joshua would have slew him right there. So he sees a man.

What is he seeing? He's seeing divine presence. I want us to see this this morning. He's seeing divine presence.

What more did he need? This was the greatest thing that Joshua needed to encourage him. It was a little glimpse of the divine presence. And this is what we need.

We need to see afresh the divine presence. We need to see the Lord's presence with us. And oftentimes this is why we're discouraged.

We'll come to meeting and we'll go places, but we'll never see the divine presence. And we're going to see what this does to Joshua. So there he is and he sees him.

A man with his sword drawn in his hand. A sword that was already drawn. It was already ready.

It was already ready. It wasn't in the sheath. It was drawn.

It was drawn to conquer. It was drawn to help. It was drawn to fight.

The sword of divine presence. We're going to see what that does to Joshua. You ever been into a battle? And you see the Lord standing there with his sword drawn? Who's the sword for? Is it for Joshua? It's not for Joshua.

So he sees the sword drawn. But Joshua has to ask. He says, well, whose side are you on? There's a man there with a sword.

Whose side are you on? What does he say? Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he says, no. But as the captain of the host of the Lord, I am now come. Forgive me, but when I read these stories, I just put myself right in there.

If I'm not Joshua here, I'm on Joshua's shoulder. I'm trying to hear what's going through his mind. And here's the divine presence with the sword drawn.

And he says, I'm here as the captain. And I can just see Joshua just explode inside. Yes.

Yes. I remember you fighting for me with Amalek. And I remember you fighting for me with Sihon and Og.

And I remember all the battles that were won when the Lord was with us. And he is here as the captain. And this is what Joshua is seeing now, not as a spy and not as a soldier, but he's seeing this as the servant.

Because he calls himself the servant. Can you imagine his heart? The spies come back with Jericho, this great walled city. And Joshua's there and he's kind of inspecting it himself, isn't he? He's drawing near.

And he meets the divine presence. This is exactly what he needed. At the right time that he needed it.

And God has something for us at the right time. And so, what does he do? He finds out who this man is. He's the divine presence.

He's the divine captain. And he's on his side. And not only is he on his side, but he's already got his sword drawn.

Talk about firepower. This isn't just backup here. This is the one that's going before.

This is the one that's going to take care of it. This is the one that's going to do the work. He's not there just to help him.

But it's the Lord's battle. It's the Lord's battle. And so then, now he... What a relief.

What a relief. He's there. The man's got the sword.

And he's not only on my side, but he's in front of me. He's my captain. And it's the Lord.

And what relief. And what encouragement. Just exactly what he needed.

So they go on. He falls on his face and worshipped. We're learning about prayer.

He falls down on his face. And he's worshipping. What's been accomplished? The battles haven't been fought yet.

But he's worshipping because he's in the presence of the Divine. That's why he's worshipping. It's hard to be discouraged when we can worship.

And it's hard to worship when we're discouraged. But he bows down and he worships. So he's got the Divine Presence and now he's worshipping the Lord.

It reminded me of this. If God before us, who can be against us? In the battles that we're facing, can we bow down and worship God before we're even into the battle? I think we can. I think Joshua did.

But usually, you know, how we are, we're like, Well, I'm not going to worship the Lord until this battle's over. My faith in God isn't that strong. I'm going to wait until... Is that what God wants? Joshua worshipped.

That doesn't touch our hearts today. That this man, with all that he saw, and all of the work that was ahead of him. Now, I don't know if you ever took time just to really comprehend the magnitude of Joshua's work.

And all the people he had to drive out. And all the land that needed to be conquered and then divided. He did.

And before he even gets started, he worships. He worships. So, I want to look at next what the captain says to him.

Joshua says, What saith my Lord unto his servant? So now as a servant, he's seeing this divine presence, the Lord. And now the only thing he wants to know is, what should I do? Is that the attitude of your heart this morning? When you come into the presence of the Lord. Is that just the cry of your heart? It was the cry of Saul, wasn't it? Lord, what will thou have me to do? And here's Joshua.

Lord, what do you want your servant to do? What do you want me to do? He was ready for anything. Because the divine presence was with him. And the Lord was with him.

With his sword already drawn. I'd like to just look at this for a little detail. And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot.

Now, we read about the foot in chapter 1, didn't we? Wherever his foot would step, that was going to be for them. Loose thy shoe from off thy foot. For the place wherein thou standest is holy.

What would that mean to Joshua? I'd like to look at it this way. He asked the Lord to show him what to do. And the Lord says, take your shoes off.

Kind of strange, huh? But I think what he's telling him is this. The ground on which you stand and the ground for which you're going to fight is holy ground. It's holy ground.

Brethren, you stand on holy ground. We are on holy ground today. Saved by God's grace.

Gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in local assembly capacity. And we are standing on holy ground. We are.

But when we're discouraged, we miss it. And we lose sight of it. But here's what the Lord told him.

He says, take your shoes off. You're on holy ground. And go out and fight for it.

Are we fighting for holy ground today? Do we appreciate where we stand? Do we appreciate to whom we see? You know, Joshua the whole time was fighting for this land, wasn't he? And he really maybe didn't even know it. There is the spy. He goes and he sees the land.

And he comes and he gives a report. And he's fighting for it, isn't he? He's saying, no! The Lord will give it to us. And he and Caleb are there and they're saying, let's go! But he sees the hearts of God's people discouraged.

Did he give up fighting for it? He never gave up fighting for the land. He never gave up fighting for the ground on which he stood. Whether his brethren were discouraged or not, it broke his heart.

But he was going to stand on holy ground. And can I challenge my heart and yours today? Are we willing to stand on holy ground? In the presence of God. No matter what shall come.

Are we going to stand? And are we going to fight for holy ground? You know what's the easy thing to do? Give ground. Give ground. My dad had a statement and I never liked it.

I don't know why I didn't like it, it just bothered me. But he'd say, you can always give it away. And what he was saying was this, he said, work for it.

Work for it. Don't give up on it, don't just give it away. You can always give it away.

But brethren, are we given ground? Ground that is holy. Ground that is special to God. Ground that is where God's presence was seen.

And felt. Joshua saw a divine presence. Joshua felt the ground was holy.

He was standing on it. He was worshipping on it. And he was fighting for it.

What about you this morning? What about me? Be strong and of a good courage. Isn't that the Lord's message to him? Be strong and of a good courage. Brethren, we're on holy ground.

Let's not give it up. Let's not give it away. If there's something there of neglected practices, that's hindering God from using us, let's put them in order.

Whether it is the circumcision that we need, the putting away of the flesh, or whether it is missing out on feeding on the roast lamb, and the remembering of our salvation, and being all taken up with other things. God has us here for a purpose. For such a time as this, you and I are here.

For God's testimony. And for God's purposes. That we might stand on holy ground.

And that we might fight for holy ground. For God's people, yes. But for the one in whose presence we stand.

And whose presence we see. And whose presence we know. God help us to see the things that Joshua saw.

God's people with discouraged hearts. The ever fresh reminders of victory. In the ground on which we stand.