A question I would like to discuss with you later, Pastor Adam. How do you discern between the thoughts of your own mind, rambling around, and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to look at Matthew 5, 6. And I'll find out later if I'm wrong doing this. Open your Bibles if you would to Judges 5. While you're there, go on over to Joshua, or back to Joshua 5. I gave you the wrong address. The question is, what do you need to know to be obedient to Christ? What Pastor Adam said about Peter, is what I'm thinking about. What do you do when you have commandments from God that appear to our humanity to be stupid? Probably myself more than y'all have a temptation because as a retired pastor, a portion of my income is, you know, without record. There's no W-2 form coming from some corporation. And so faced with, well, the government uses money illicitly, steals, Should I tell them I've gotten this much money? I mean, you don't know it. You can't find it out. There's no record of it. But I've received this kind of money. And we go through our minds and argue, I have a good reason not to tell the federal government, the IRS particularly, certain things about my income. Because they can't find it out anyhow. And I don't want to support abortion and various other things the government supports. So I think I'll just say to the IRS, no, I don't have any other income than what my W-2 form says from Marriott Corporation. How do you obey God when his law seems to you to be foolish at any particular point? Joshua 5, I think, is the answer to that question. Joshua, as you know, at the beginning of his conquest of Canaan, had a lot of apparently stupid commands given to him. You remember that when they are in the plains of what city? The plains of Jericho, because up here's Jericho, and they can look down and see the plains of Jericho. And Jericho, you remember the spies went in there. The people of Jericho, the king of Jericho, knew that Israel wanted to do battle with them. I mean, Israel had to do battle to them. There's no way up else into the promised land. I mean, that's the most strategic entrance to this promised land, because it divides it in two for divide and conquer through that mountain pass. And God tells Joshua, here's what I want you to do. 40 years you've been wandering the wilderness. Now these Jewish people haven't been circumcised. And they're not allowed, I won't allow them to enter into the promised land uncircumcised. There's a whole lot of gospel symbolized in that, as you know, through baptism, circumcision. So here's what I want you to do, Joshua. You're in the sight of your enemies, and they know you've declared war on them. They know you're coming. In fact, they're terrified of the idea. I want you to incapacitate your army. I want you to circumcise all the males of Israel under 40 years of age. So take your primary infantry and circumcise them. in the sight of your enemy. So Jericho's looking down there, and they can see these guys aren't able to fight. They aren't able to wield a sword for at least three days, because they're in so much pain. Let's go down into the plains and defeat Israel when they can't even defend themselves. Joshua obeyed. It seemed like a pretty stupid command. Now he's at the point where he's got to deal with some other commands. He's going to do battle with Jericho. Now Jericho is considered an unconquerable city because of its location, its fortifications, its walls, and there's no easy way to get to Jericho, really, except up the front main road, which they can see you coming. And God has given Joshua some commands. How many of you in charge of your army would try to wear out your army on a day of battle? This is an army battling a day in which brute strength makes a difference. Sword fighting, hand-to-hand combat. They can't push a button and send off some missiles or drones. How many of you would incapacitate your army the very day of their battle? That's what God told Joshua to do. You guys have been going and marching around Jericho once for each of seven days in a row now. And what I want you to do on the day of the battle is to go in and you march around seven times. so that your army is weary, tired, hungry, and thirsty, and then the battle cry, then you attack after you're all good and tired. Easy to obey? About as easy as stepping out on a stormy lake and walking. Notice what Joshua does. What's he need to know to obey such a stupid command? appearance of stupidity. None of God's commands are truly stupid. Chapter five, now it came about when all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until they had crossed, that their hearts melted. There was no spirit in them any longer because of the sons of Israel. They knew the Israelites were there to make war. They were there to conquer, to exterminate. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time. So Joshua made himself flint knives, circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath Haeraloth. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised there all the people who came out of Egypt who were males. All the men of war died in the wilderness along the way after they came out of Egypt. For all the people who came out were circumcised, but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the sons of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord had sworn that He would not let them see the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Their children, whom he raised up in their place, Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they had not circumcised them along the way." It's a fascinating revelation of God's wisdom and man's folly. Do you remember what the Israelites said when they came to the border? We go in there, our kids will be killed. They're so much bigger than us, we look like grasshoppers in their sight. Guess who died and who lived to enter? The warriors all died off, but their children entered the promised land. But at this point, they're uncircumcised. Now it came about when they had finished circumcising all the nation that they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. Then the Lord said to Joshua, today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you, so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal, they observed the Passover on the evening of the 14th day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. On the day after the Passover, on that very day, They ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna. But they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year. Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, a man was standing opposite him. People have been circumcised. They've now been healed. Now they're ready to do battle with Jericho. Joshua is out on the plains, meditating, praying, pondering. Lord, I know what you want me to do. Will this be successful? This is a strange methodology you have given to us. So he's struggling with it, with his obedience. And he's got himself away and apart from the people that he may pray and meditate. And while he's walking along the plains, he looks up and he sees this man standing over there. Opposite him, but look at verse 13, he's standing with a peculiar posture. He has his sword drawn in his hand. This man is ready for war. Joshua went to him and said to him, you love Joshua? This guy knows what warfare is like, and it's on the eve of a battle. And he sees the guy standing there with his sword already drawn. Joshua is at a disadvantage. And yet he walks up to this guy with the drawn sword. And he asks him a question, a challenging question. Are you for us or for our enemies? Are you on the side of Israel or are you on the side of the Jerichoites? And he, the man standing with the drawn sword, said, no. It's an illogical answer. Would you like apple pie or peach cobbler? No. That's not what I permitted you. I gave you a discursive. Disjunctive, excuse me. Apple pie or peach cobbler? That's the options I've given you in the question. You gotta pick one or the other. You can't just say no. But the man with the sword says no. He's not going to directly deal with Joshua's question. There's a rebuke in that. Rather, I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord. Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him, what has my Lord to say to his servant? Joshua immediately understood who this man was with the drawn sword. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Joshua is standing in front of her face to face with God. And God has said to him, Jesus said to him, your question's the wrong question, Joshua. I'm not going to enter into that discussion. No. I'm not gonna tell you if I'm for Israel or for Jericho. No. Your posture's wrong, Joshua. You're asking the wrong question. And Joshua falls on his face and worships Jesus Christ. Verse 15, and the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy, and Joshua did so. Now you know what Joshua remembers. His teacher, one-on-one, his private tutor for 40 years was Moses. And this immediately reminds Joshua of Moses at the burning bush. Take your sandals off. The dirt on which you're standing is holy dirt. Take your sandals off. Joshua obeys instantly and immediately. Then on into chapter six. Now Joshua was tightly, Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel. They're on a wartime footing. No one went out, no one came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and its valiant warriors. You shall march around the city, all the sons, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. Then on the seventh day, the day of the battle, you shall march around the city seven times and the priests shall blow the trumpets." Every army man, every soldier in Jericho is to have advanced warning of the attack. And they're to be able to watch you and see how you all are behaving and how you're lined up. How you're armored, how many swords you have, how many you don't. There will be no element of surprise for your attack of Jericho. Joshua is at an extreme disadvantage for the battle. But this is God's command. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And it shall be when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat. Then the people will go up, every man straight ahead. So Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priests, said to them, take up the Ark of the Covenant. Let seven priests carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Covenant. And he said to the people, go forward and march around the city, and let the armed men go on before the Ark of the Lord. And it was so. When Joshua had spoken to the people, The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord came forward and blew the trumpet and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord followed them. And it was so. I'm a fan of Star Trek. Some of you knew that. Some of you didn't. I hope it's not a bad thing to say. But I hated the next generation for a number of reasons. It was no longer science fiction. It was a lot more taught by psychologists than scientists. But the other thing is, you remember Captain Picard's words? Make it so. And whenever I'd hear him say that on the bridge, I would cringe. And I think it's blasphemy. Only God can say, make it so. I've spoken, it becomes true. Picard doesn't have that authority. You know, here Joshua has, and it was so. He spoke and it was so. And they carry on the battle. So Joshua has a difficult task. He has commandments in a logistical plan from Christ that doesn't make good sense for the day of battle to wear out your men. But he obeys. He tells Israel to do what the commandments of God are. And God graciously grants them the victory. What did Joshua know that enabled him to obey what seemed so contrary to the wisdom of man? To his own mind. That God was with him. Jesus Christ was there. Not off somewhere, but he was on the plain of Jericho with his sword drawn. prepared for battle. And that's all Joshua needed to know. It's the Great Commission, isn't it? Lo, I am with you even to the end of the age. That's what Joshua knew. So when God said, wear out your armies before the fight, Joshua said, yes, Lord, I'll wear them out before the fight. And that's what he did. Like Peter, on the Sea of Galilee. All he needed to know to walk on the water was that Jesus had commanded it. Jesus was with him. He could have absolute confidence in Jesus. Even though it doesn't seem a little strange to be told to walk on the water at a period of great storm. I mean, the boat is being tested. How well built is this boat? Let's find out. Walk under waves. I am with you to the end of the age. Let's pray. Lord, our God, we thank you that you are indeed the present savior, our shield, our stay, Help us to be obedient, help us to know that though your commandments may seem in our understanding to be foolish, and even more so in this day when our culture has so turned itself against you and so hates you and mocks any who stand up for you. It seems that what you want us to do often appears useless, often appears to be not the right way to accomplish things and to influence people. Lord, may we be obedient because we know you are with us and that these are your commands You will always bless obedience. And you will do precisely everything that you have promised to do. Joshua knew you were fighting for Israel, with Israel, for the glory of your father. That has not changed this day. You fight for your church, the New Testament church, as you fought for the Old Testament church, to bring glory to your name, to build your kingdom. Grant us confidence, O Lord, in you and in your presence. For your glory, we pray. for the advance of the gospel and destruction of Satan's kingdom. Help us, O Lord, to roll back all the works of Satan by the blessing of your Spirit. Thank you for those who have worked diligently to undo aspects of the curse that originated in Genesis. May we see your name hallowed and revered in the church and through the church, also in our culture. For your glory, we pray. Come and rend the heavens and make your name great as you had done in the past with your great and exceeding wonderful works. In Christ our King we do pray. Amen.