It happened, 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 to him, and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries?
Every man throughout the whole camp of Israel must be circumcised before God would begin to speak about Jericho. Not a word about the walls failing flat to the ground; not a syllable concerning compassing the accursed city seven days, until, first of all, the reproach of Egypt had been put away, and His people had received the token of the covenant. Now, we are told in the New Testament that Christians must partake in a circumcision without hands, not of the flesh, but of the spirit. “He is not a Jew which is one outwardly. . .but he is a Jew which is one inwardly.” In the Colossians the apostle tells us that the true circumcision is the putting away of the body of death by the circumcision of Christ, by which I understand that the Christian must purge himself, in the power of the Spirit and in the name of Christ, of every fleshly defilement, of every sinful thought, of every wrong ambition, of every carnal desire: if he is to be used by his Master it is imperative that this be done, and be done at once, in the name of the Most High. “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” God will not fight His battles by the uncircumcised. He will have His people clean from the sin that doth so easily beset them, or else He will not use them. Stop, then, my brethren, and let me beseech you to search your own hearts, and see what there may be within that might render you unfit to be blessed. If I, as God's minister, have no conversion, I dare not attribute the fact to divine sovereignty. It may be so, but I am always afraid to make divine sovereignty the scapegoat for my iniquities. I rather think that if God withholds the blessing, there is a cause; and may not the cause be in myself, that I do not live as near to God as I should, or am indulging in something which His holy eyes cannot took upon? I speak to you who are church members, if in the Sabbath-school, if in your tract distribution, or if in any other work you are doing, you do not win souls to God, cry unto Him, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Sin blocks up the channel of mercy; the stream is strong enough, but you restrain its flow; your sins separate between you and your God; and, therefore, I conjure each one of you, if you be the Lord's, now shake yourselves from the dust, sanctify a fast unto the Most High, and come before Him with supplication. Sit before Him in sackcloth and ashes, in the silent dejection of your abashed spirits, and confess before Him all your sins. Arise, pour out your hearts like water before the Lord, acknowledge your sins and offenses, and then, being purged from these by the water and the blood which flowed from the riven side of Jesus, you may arise to service and expect to be made a blessing.
