This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to week two, day four of our look to the book of Joshua. We're going to
be looking at chapter five today as we walk through how they began to live in
the land of God's promise and talk about how you and I can live the life of
promise. The people of Israel have received the promise from God.

They crossed over the Jordan River. So now it's easy street, right? Now the
struggles are over, correct?

No. Now they are just ready to begin the battle. And there are so many of us as
believers, as followers of Jesus, that need to learn from this example.

In fact, I need to learn from it every day. We expect somehow that real
Christians don't have to endure struggles because they really love Jesus. So he
works everything out for them.

The truth of the matter is we face a life of struggle. Jesus did. And so we're
going to face a life of struggle.

For his followers, our Christian life here on this earth is pictured in the
Bible in terms of warfare, not easy street, but warfare. Putting yourself in the
center of God's will does not guarantee the easy chair of victory. It simply
puts you in a place where you can begin to successfully fight life's battles and
see God being at work.

So we're going to, as we begin into this section, chapter five of the book of
Joshua, we're going to begin to see how victories are won. Of course you have to
cross over into that place where you're ready to fight the battles. You got to
see yourself in a new way.

You got to begin to see tomorrow in a new way. You got to take that step of
faith. You got to stand in the middle.

Here I am. I've started out. Now what are you going to do?

Now you got to fight the battles. And God wants to win some victories in your
life, his victories in your life. Victories occur in our lives when we allow
ourselves to become vital parts of building the kingdom of God on this earth.

We achieve victory over time as we further his will on this earth because that's
the victory that God's working to do. Israel's first taste of victory in the
promised land is going to come at a place called Jericho. Most of you have heard
of it.

We're going to look at their victory these next few days together, even into
next week, to understand how God's victory can happen in our lives, can take
place in your everyday life. Actually, there's a two-part reaching for victory.
In chapter two, we saw how God prepared the people for victory even before they
came over.

So there's a preparation part for victory. But now there's the time when they're
right on the edge of fighting their first battle. You know what God's going to
do?

He's going to keep preparing them for victory. If you're going to live out and
win God's victories in life, you've got to have a heart that's prepared. That
means spending time with God and his word.

That means allowing God's word to enter your life in such a way that you live in
obedience to him. The scripture tells us that when we've prepared our hearts to
serve him, that's when God uses us. If anyone prepares himself for noble
purposes, then God uses that person.

So that's why we hear again and again this theme of preparation in the early
parts of the book of Joshua. And we're going to see it again today. Now for
them, three things occurred to the people right as they entered the land that
prepare them for victory.

First there's the sign of circumcision. Then there's the celebration of the
Passover. And then there's the ceasing of the manna.

First the sign of circumcision. Listen to what happened in chapter 5 verse 1.
Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings
along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites
until we'd crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage
to face the Israelites.

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the
Israelites again. " So Joshua made flint knives and he circumcised the
Israelites at Galbeth-Hareloth. This is why he did so.

All those who came out of Egypt, all the men of military age, died in the desert
on their way after leaving Egypt. All the people that came out had been
circumcised. But all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt
had not.

The Israelites had moved around in the desert 40 years until all the men who
were of military age when they left Egypt had died since they had not obeyed the
Lord, for the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he
had solemnly promised to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and
honey. So he raised up their sons in their place and these were the ones that
Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they'd not been
circumcised on the way.

And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were
in camp until they were healed. And then the Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have
rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. " So the place has been called
Gilgal to this day.

There's a lot in the Old Testament about circumcision and we feel a little bit
uncomfortable with it because it's about sex organs and what do we do with all
that. The truth of the matter is that it wasn't that way for them. It was just a
sign for them of the fact that they were the people of God.

And they are reminding themselves here in this act of circumcision that they are
God's people. God has chosen them, He has directed them. There's something very
deep that happens here in chapter 9 when the Lord says to Joshua, "Today I have
rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.

" You want to live with God's victories in your life? Get a hold of what that
means. You and I, the Bible says in the New Testament, it gives us this picture
that there's a circumcision of our hearts.

There's a sign in our hearts of what Jesus has done for us. He has set you free
from sin. He sets you free from having to live by the rules of this world.

He sets you free to live an eternal life. He sets you free from the reproach of
your past life. They could have seen themselves the rest of their history as
Israelites, as slaves.

Slaves in Egypt who maybe now are living in Israel. But by this act of
circumcision, they are called to see themselves as sons and daughters of God who
are now living in the land of God's promise. So how do you see yourself?

Because of what Jesus has done for you, He's rolled away the reproach of Egypt,
the reproach of this world, the reproach of your slavery to sin. He's rolled it
away from you. Will you see that?

When you see that, it starts to solidify your faith in such a way that you can
begin to live the life of God's victories. You can't live that life on your own
power. You got to see what He's done in your life.

That's the first thing that happens here as they strengthen themselves for this
battle. The second thing that happens is the celebration of the Passover. In
verse 10, "On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at
Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.

" They celebrated God's deliverance. The God who had brought them out of Egypt
would certainly be able to bring them in to Israel. To solidify our faith
towards living victory in God's promises.

As we recall, Christ's death on the cross, what He did for us, the life that He
gave for us. You see, the Passover in the Old Testament is a perfect picture of
what Jesus was going to one day do on the cross. The blood that was shed, the
blood that was put on the doorpost of their houses, now it's put on the doorpost
of our hearts.

Jesus has given His life for us. So when you remember what Jesus did on the
cross, that's our celebration of the Passover. And remember that He gave His
life for you.

You're setting up your life for the kind of victory that God wants to live
through your life. There is the sign of circumcision, there's the celebration of
the Passover, and then a third thing happens, the ceasing of the manna. Verses
11 to 12, "The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the
produce of the land, unleavened bread and roasted grain.

The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land. There was no
longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of
Canaan. " When they ate in the promised land, the manna, you remember the bread
that fell from heaven all the time they were in the desert, every day it fell,
it ceased.

This is extremely significant. They had reached this new plateau. Now they were
dependent on the land.

Now they were dependent on this place of promise. God was revealing to them,
"You can't go back. You can't go back to eating manna again.

" Now they complained about it once, but just think of what it would be to never
have to really grow a crop, never have to really hunt for any kind of meat. They
always just got it delivered to them every single day. God was saying, "You
can't look back, you've got to look forward.

" We solidify our faith as we look forward to God's will. Rejoicing in the past,
that's okay, we talked about that yesterday, but you never depend on the past.
You never think that God's best work was in the past.

His best work is in the future. And here they had to grow up a little. They had
to grow up to begin to see how God wanted them to prepare the food in the
promised land.

He's going to do that same thing in your life. Living by God's promise means
sometimes there's a day when the manna that was delivered, now you have to work
for, but you don't work on your own power. You're working in the land of God's
promise.

Now let me just remind you, this all happened at Gilgal, the same place where
they put the 12 stones. And Gilgal, this place becomes, in essence, the base
camp for their early battles. What we're saying as we walk through this chapter
is, you need a base camp in your life if you're going to live out God's
victories.

You need a place of security and strength from which you can go out to fight
life's battles. Remembering what God has done in the past, we talked about that
earlier this week. Solidifying your faith for the future by seeing that God's
rolled away the reproach, by looking at the cross of Christ, by seeing that you
can't look to the past, you have to look to the future, you have to live by
God's promise now.

Solidifying your faith for the future, that's the base camp you need. You don't
leave this to chance. How do you and I build a base camp today?

You worship with other believers. You gather with other believers in a small
group. You spend time in God's Word in a daily quiet time.

Those are the places where, if you'll listen, it's not guaranteed, I mean, you
can go to worship and get nothing out of it. You can have a quiet time and even
get more selfish out of it because all you do is complain to God. But those are
the places, if you'll listen, if you'll be humble, God will work in your heart
to keep this base camp strong.

And if you're going to live a life of faith, a victorious life of faith, you
can't do it without this base camp of faith. You need a Gilgal in your life.
Let's pray together.

Lord, help us, all of us, to not neglect our time with other believers, to not
neglect our time with you in your Word, to not get so busy in the work that
you've given us or so overwhelmed by the busyness of the world around us that we
forget the need for this base camp. Thank you that right now we're spending time
in your Word, and thank you for what that does for our hearts and lives. We are
grateful.

In Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow we're going to remind ourselves that you never
fight alone.