Vacation Bible School is this
week, and I hope the Lord will bless us, and I want everybody
to pray for the Lord's blessing on that. Every time we have that,
I pray that the Lord will reveal himself to these young people,
and I pray that that's what takes place. And tonight, I'm going
to be preaching on meekness, part of that worthy walk, meekness. Now I've been trying to preach,
this sounds strange, but for 40 years. I preached my first
message when I was 19 years old, I'm 59 years old, and I've been
attempting to preach for 40 years. And I have never preached from
this very important passage of scripture that Stephen mentions
that's found in Joshua chapter 3 and 4. That's where I'd like
you to turn, Joshua chapter 3. It's the story of the parting
of the Jordan River. And I was thinking about this.
If I were an unbeliever and I saw a group of people reading about
something that took place 3,200 years ago, it was about when
this took place, reading in a book this old, about a river parting,
I would think these people are strange. That's about what would
come to my mind. But by the grace of God, I'm
not an unbeliever. And I see the gospel so clearly
in this passage of scripture. Now, the Jordan River is used
to symbolize death. Jeremiah 12, 5 says, how wilt
thou do in the swelling of the Jordan? How will you do when
you face death? That's really something we should
ask ourselves very often. How will you do when you face
death? Everybody in here, you're going
to die. I'm going to die. That's for sure. How will you do when
you face this thing of death? How many times in songs when
we read of, I'm just going over Jordan, I'm just going home,
Jordan represents the passage of death into heaven for the
believer. But it symbolizes death, so I
need us to remember that as we consider the parting of the Jordan.
Now the children of Israel, had been wandering in the wilderness
for 40 years as a result of their unbelief. You'll remember when
they sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan and they spent 40 days
in there and they said, we can't take it. There are giants in
the land and it's indeed a land that flows with milk and honey,
but we can't take it. They were unbelieving. They weren't looking
to the Lord to bring them in. So they were sentenced to 40
years of wandering in the wilderness. And now it's time for them to
enter the land that God had promised. The land of Canaan, the land
that flowed with milk and honey. And I think it's very interesting.
Moses couldn't bring them in. Moses represents the law. Your
works will never bring you in. Write that down. Joshua. The Old Testament name for the
New Testament name, or the Hebrew name for the Greek name, Jesus. Only Jesus, Joshua, could bring
the people in. Now, they are brought to the
River Jordan, and it was swelling at this time. It was very wide.
And they sat down by the River Jordan, not knowing how they
were going to get in. Now, let's pick up reading in
verse one of Joshua chapter three. And Joshua rose early in the
morning and they removed from Shittim and came to Jordan. He
and all the children of Israel and lodged there before they
passed over. And it came to pass after three
days that the officers went through the host And they commanded the
people saying, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord
your God and the priests, the Levites bearing it, then shall
you remove from your place and go after it. The ark of the covenant of the
Lord your God. Now, this is what Stephen said
Israel brought into the promised land, Canaan, the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord your God. Now, also the rest of the tabernacle,
but this is what is specifically mentioned. This is what you're
going to do. You're going to watch the Ark
and wherever it goes, you go. You follow the Ark. They didn't
know at this point that it was going to go straight through
the River Jordan. The waters were going to be parted, but
they were to follow the Ark. Now, the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord your God. I'm going to spend a few minutes
talking about that. This was a box made of gold and chitim
wood, representing the gold, the deity, the wood, the humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is man. Jesus Christ is the God-man,
the Ark. Within that Ark, there were three
things. First, the law. Jesus Christ,
my righteousness. I stand before the law of God
without guilt because Jesus Christ kept the law perfectly. So did
I. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. I don't try to keep the law.
I've kept the law in the person of my substitute. Also in that
ark, We have Aaron's rod that budded. I mean, it was a staff.
It didn't have roots in the ground. It was a staff by itself. Yet
it budded and life came from it. Christ is my life before
God. I've said this a couple of times
in the last few weeks. I'm gonna say it again. That's
not like, well, his job is his life or her children are her
life. That's not what I'm talking about at all. Christ's life is
my life before God. Christ our life, my life. I don't have any skeletons in
the closet. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ did is my life before
God. That's why I don't fear judgment.
What do I got to fear if Christ is my life? And then we have
a golden pot of manna. Christ, the bread of life. Christ, our sustenance. Christ is what we live on. Christ,
crucified. That's it. Now, I also love the
fact that it's called the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord,
your God. This is so important. We know
from Galatians chapter four that there are two covenants. I've
heard people say, well, there's seven covenants. No, there are
two covenants. Paul tells us that these be the
two covenants. The first covenant is the covenant
of works, symbolized in the law. Salvation conditioned upon your
obedience. If you obey, You will be saved. It's the covenant God made with
man, a covenant of works, salvation, conditioned, contingent, predicated
upon something you do. That's no good. You know why it's no good? Because
you'll mess it up. You will not fulfill that covenant. I can assure you that. I won't.
It's no good. And then the covenant the Lord
made with Christ before time began. As a matter of fact, he's
called the surety of the better covenant. This was not a covenant
that God made so much with you. He made it with his son. And
if you're in him, he made it with you. Now in this covenant,
all of salvation was conditioned upon, was predicated upon, was
dependent upon the Lord doing everything, the surety, the guarantee
of this better testament. It's called in Hebrews 13 verse
20, the blood of the everlasting covenant. This is a covenant
God made with Christ and Christ took full responsibility for
the salvation of his people. Now that's better. That's better. That's glorious. That's the only
hope I have. That's what David was speaking
of when he said, although my house be not so with God, yet
have he made with me an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things
and sure. And this is all my salvation.
This is all my desire. I don't want anything else. Now,
this Ark is called the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the
Testament. All my salvation is in this Testament.
You know, when the Lord instituted the Lord's Table, He said, this
is the blood of the New Testament, the New Covenant. Salvation by
this covenant God made with Christ Everything, I wish I could say
this the way, I wish somebody'd hear this, maybe for the first
time, everything was dependent upon him. Nothing on me, all
on him. I like that. I love that. The ark, he said, you follow
the priest wherever they carry that ark of the covenant of the
Lord, your God. Now let's go on reading. verse
four. Yet there should be a space between
you and it, about 2000 cubits by measure. That's about a half
a mile. You're not going to come within a half a mile of the ark.
Now that could be because all the children of Israel had to
see it. It could be because God said under this covenant, worship
ye afar off. Worship ye afar off. It's not
until we see the light of the gospel that we're able to come
into his presence. But he said, half a mile away,
there should be a space between you and it about 2000 cubits
by measure. Come not near unto it that you
may know the way by which you must go. For you've not passed
this way heretofore. You've not come this way. This
is something new. And Joshua said unto the people, sanctify
yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua spake unto the priests
saying, take up the ark of the covenant and pass over before
the people. And they took up the ark of the
covenant and went before the people. Everybody could see this. Verse seven, and the Lord said
unto Joshua, this day will I begin to magnify thee. in the sight
of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses,
so I'll be with thee." And this speaks of the magnification of
Christ, the Lord exalting his son. And thou shalt command the
priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, when you
come to the brink of the water of Jordan, you shall stand still
in Jordan. And Joshua said unto the children
of Israel, come hither and hear the words of the Lord your God.
And Joshua said, hereby you shall know that the living God is among
you and that he will without fail. It's what I need. Where the Lord
does something without fail. Where he does it all. Hereby
you shall know that the living God is among you and that he
will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and
the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites
and the Amorites and the Jebusites. Now these were the aboriginal
people in the land of Canaan and every name represents something. Canaan is merchant. Salvation
by you paying for it. Hittite means terror. Hivite
means tent villagers, something temporary. Parasite means open
region, as opposed to being closed into Christ. That's what I want,
to be closed, shut up in Christ. Girgashite means dwelling on
clay soil, Not dwelling on the foundation, Christ Jesus, clay,
soil, that's going to be washed away. Amorite means to boast. Boasting of your own works. Jebusite
means trodden. You're going to be trodden down
if that's the direction you take. And the Lord says, I will, without
fail, drive all of these out. without fail. Now, what that's
a reference to is the successful work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that is the theme of this story. He will without fail.
When they were clean over, when they were completely over, that's
repeated three times. Christ's work in behalf of his
elect was, is, and always will be successful. Matthew 121, thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. You know, the thief understood
this when he was hanging on a cross. He looked up at that one beside
him, He said, Lord, you're not going to stay dead. You're going
to come back as a mighty reigning king. You must be successful. You know, everybody that knows
who the Lord is knows this. He must be successful. If he died for you, you must
be saved. No doubt about it. You must be
because of who he is. He said, I without fail. drive
out all of these enemies and you're going to possess the land
that flows with milk and honey. Verse 12, verse 11 rather, behold
the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes
over before you into Jordan. He's going into death. Jesus
Christ is going into death. That's what that represents,
that ark going into the Jordan, he's gonna die. Now, the only
hope me and you have is the death of Christ. You see, there's a
reason for death, sin. My sin became his. He became guilty of that sin,
and that's why he died. But his death is like no other
death. His death satisfied God. See,
me and you, our death could never satisfy God. That's why hell
is eternal. But his death satisfied the father. And so the ark is going into
death. Let's go on reading. Verse 12. Now therefore take you 12 men
out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe of man, and
it shall come to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the
priest that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth,
shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall
be cut off from their waters that come down from above, and
they shall stand up upon an heap." Now, picture that in your mind. The word rest. As soon as the
feet of the priest rests upon the river Jordan. What did God
do when he finished creation? He rested, didn't he? Why? Because it was very good and
there was nothing left to be done. He rested. And when those
priests representing the Lord put their foot in the Jordan
and rested finishing the work, what's going to happen? And I
want you to imagine this. We're talking about several million
people. This wasn't just a little one. I mean, this big water stood
up as a heap. What a what a miraculous thing
that would have been is that. And there they are watching it.
You know who else was watching it? The folks in Jericho, because
Jericho was right over there on the other side and they saw
this happening. So can you imagine how scared they were when they
saw these millions of people marching through the River Jordan,
the water standing on a heap? verse 14, and it came to pass
when the people removed from their tents to pass over Jordan,
the priest bearing the ark of the covenant before the people.
And as they that bear the ark were come into Jordan, and the
feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim
of the water, for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of
harvest, that the waters which came down from above stood, and
rose up, and heaped very far from the city of Adam. Now, I
read where that means this was 16 miles wide. when they make
this reference to the city of Adam, because you think this
millions of people getting across, it's not going to be, you know,
it'd take days or weeks for millions to get through a little narrow
place. But this, I mean, the waters were standing up on a
heap and they're the people march through. And those that came
down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea failed and
were cut off. And the people passed over right
against Jericho. They were watching these people
in Jericho. You'll remember the walls coming down as they come
in. And the priest, verse 17, that
bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Notice it's never
just called the ark. It's the ark of the covenant
of the Lord. I can't get away from that. the
covenant, the, the, the primacy of the covenant, the ark of the
covenant of the Lord. Let me show you a scripture in
Hebrews chapter eight. Would you turn with me there?
Hold your finger there and let's just read this. In Romans chapter 11, he says,
this is a covenant I'll make with him when I take away their
sins. I look here in Hebrews chapter eight, beginning in verse
6. But now he hath obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if the first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with him, this first covenant, the
covenant of works. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when
I make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of the land of Egypt, because they continue not my covenant.
And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. But this is the covenant.
This is the ark of the covenant we're speaking of. Here it is.
For this is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. This is talking about
the new nature. And I will be to them a God and
they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor and every man his brother saying, know the
Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest for
I will be merciful. Not I will be merciful if I'll
be propitious is the word. I'll be propitious. I'll be a
sin removing sacrifice is what that word means. I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities while
I remember no more. And the reason he remembers them
no more is because there is nothing there to remember. Every believer
stands without fault before God. Now that's the glory of this
covenant. The covenant, the ark of the covenant of the Lord your
God. And go back to our text. Verse 17. The priest that bared the ark
of the covenant of the Lord stood firm. on dry ground in the midst
of Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground into
all the people were passed clean over Jordan. That's. Once again, a reference,
the word is actually completed or finished. That's the work
of Christ. It's completed. It's finished.
You're complete. in him, you don't need anything
else. They passed through completely. Now look in chapter four. And
it came to pass when all the people were clean passed over
Jordan. There it is again. I love the
way they didn't just say pass, but clean passed. Clean passed. I mean, they were plum safe. It was finished. Everything God
said would take place, took place. And it came to pass, when all
the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake
unto Joshua, saying, Take ye twelve men out of the people,
out of every tribe a man, and command ye them, saying, Take
you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where
the priest's feet stood firm, twelve stones. And you shall
carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place
where you shall lodge that night. Get twelve stones out of the
dry ground you're walking on, that had been submerged under
the water. Then Joshua called the 12 men
whom he prepared of the children of Israel out of every tribe
of man. And Joshua said unto them, pass over before the ark
of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan. Take ye up every
man of you a stone upon the shoulder, according unto the number of
the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign
among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to
come, saying, what mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer
them. that the waters of Jordan were
cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it
passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off and these
stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever. When your children see these
12 stones, you tell them exactly what they meant. And that's the
same thing with regard to the Passover. When you observe the
Passover, when your children say, what mean you got this service?
And what are we doing here? What are we doing here? Right
now? Same thing they were doing, celebrating the covenant of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoicing in the covenant of
the Lord Jesus Christ that makes me perfect in God's sight. Verse
eight. And the children of Israel did
so as Joshua commanded and took up 12 stones out of the midst
of Jordan. And the Lord spake unto Joshua, according to the
number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over
with him into the place where they lodged and laid them down
there. And Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of Jordan in the
place where the feet of the priests which bear the ark of the covenant
stood. And there they are to this day. Now we read two memorials. The one outside of the river,
12 different men put up to represent all the 12 tribes of Israel.
But this memorial, notice Joshua didn't have any help. It was
not 12 men that put this together. He did it by himself. And he
did it in the middle of the river Jordan. And it was going to be
submerged and nobody could see it. Now, what's the significance
of this? I mean, a memorial that nobody
could see? Well, the first thing I'd like to point out is that
Joshua had no help in this. You know where that's going.
When he had by himself purged our sins, he didn't have any
help. He didn't have any aid. He was
forsaken by his father. He didn't have the angels helping
him. His people weren't helping him. What he did, he did by himself. And what that's a reminder to
me and you of is that our works don't enter into this. He did
this by himself. Joshua made this memorial by
himself. And it was to be submerged to
where you couldn't see it. Faith is believing what you cannot
see. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, can I see that
I stand perfectly just before God without seeing? No. It's not something I can see
because I'm painfully aware of sin even now. And I can't see my justification
before God, my perfect standing before God. It's not something
I can physically see. But it's something I cannot see
but believe. You know, when those folks would
see that River Jordan there, they knew that there was a memorial
under there that they could not see. But there's somebody who could
see it. God could see it. God said, when I see the blood,
not when you see it, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Aren't you thankful for this
type? I mean, he shows us what faith is. Faith is something
you can't see. It's something Joshua did by himself. It's something
Christ did by himself to make you perfect in God's sight. You
can't see it, but God does. And you believe it, don't you?
You believe that what Christ did is all that's needed to make
you perfect in God's sight. Verse 10, chapter 4, for the
priests which bear the ark stood in the midst of Jordan until
everything that was finished. You see the emphasis this is
making? Everything that was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua
to speak into the people according to all that Moses commanded Joshua
and the people hasted and passed over. Now I like the way it's
pointed out that they were in a hurry to get across. Was it
because they were looking up at the walls of water and thinking,
I need to get out of here before these come down? Well, maybe.
I probably would have felt that way. But I think the point of
hasting is If you ever see your need of Christ, you'll haste
to get into him. I mean, you won't be waiting
on anything. You won't be waiting for something to make you ready
or some kind of good. You won't be waiting. You'll
be like that man running into the city of refuge. He wasn't
just strolling along. He was running into that city
of refuge to be found in Christ. These people hasted. Verse 11, look at this emphasis
once again, and it came to pass when all the people were clean
passed over. There it is again, clean passed
over. Now, oh, I wish I could say this
the way it ought to be said, but the work of Christ is absolutely
successful. He said, I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the father's will, which has sent me, that of all which
he has given me, I should lose nothing. Every one of those children
of Israel passed through and the waters didn't come back until
they were all clean, gone over, completely finished. And it came
to pass, verse 11, when all the people were clean, passed over,
that the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests in the
presence of the people. After they were all clean and
gone over, then the priests come out of the midst of the dry land. And the children of Reuben and
the children of Gad and half the tribe of Vanessa passed over,
armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them,
about 40,000 prepared for war, passed over before the Lord into
the battle to the plains of Jericho. Let's talk about those people
who stayed where they were at. They were still part of Israel,
but they wanted to stay in these lands and they weren't going
into the land of Canaan, but their armies did to help them
conquer the land. Verse 14, on that day, the Lord
magnified Joshua in the sight. all Israel. And they feared him
as they feared Moses all the day of his life. Now I love on
that day, that's the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. On a certain
day, in a certain place, Golgotha's hill, on that day,
the Lord magnified the Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of all of
Israel. Oh, how we magnify His glorious
name in what He did. Verse 15, And the Lord spake
unto Joshua, saying, Command the priests that bear the ark
of the testimony that they come up out of Jordan. The ark of
the testimony. This is talking about the resurrection
of Christ. He comes up, he goes down into death, but he doesn't
stay there. He comes up out of Jordan. And
I want you to think, and the Lord enables you just for a moment
about the resurrection of Christ. He was delivered for our fences
and raised again for our justification. And you know when the Lord was
raised from the dead, nobody saw it but the Lord himself.
No angel saw it. No man saw it. No, it happened. His father saw
it and he made complete satisfaction. He comes up out of death. The
ark of the covenant of the Lord comes up out of Jordan. Verse
17. Joshua therefore commanded the
priest saying, come you up out of Jordan. And it came to pass
when the priests that bear the Ark of the Covenant were come
up out of the midst of Jordan and the soles of the priest's
feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of
Jordan returned unto their place and flowed over all his banks
as they did before. And the people came up out of
Jordan on the 10th day of the first month and encamped at Gilgal
in the east border of Jericho. Now remember, Jericho saw all
this. I'm sure they were scared to death. I would have been too.
And those 12 stones which they took out of Jordan to Joshua,
Pitch, and Gilgal. And he spake unto the children
of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers
in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then
you shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this
Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up
the waters of Jordan from before you until you were passed over. as the Lord your God did to the
Red Sea, which he dried up from before us until we were gone
over. That, here's the reason, that
all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that
it's mighty, that you might fear the Lord your God forever. Here's what is meant by all this.
The hand of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, His action, His
arm is almighty, all powerful. You know what that
means? That means whatever He wills,
He has the power to have. Now, omnipotence, the omnipotence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love thinking about this. So
powerful that he can make that which is to not be. Now, I've heard matter cannot
be destroyed. I'm not a physicist, but I've
read where matter, it might change forms. It might change from wood
to heat to ashes, but matter in the universe, it can't be
destroyed. My sin by omnipotence is put away. It's no more. That's the power
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I stand before God having never
sinned. Now that's power, isn't it? And his omnipotence makes that
which is not to be. See, that in creation, there
wasn't anything. God said, light be, and light was. I mean, he
created the universe from nothing. And he makes me to be what I
was not, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. I was born sinful, evil, wicked. I came in the world like that.
and he makes me to be what I was not. Now that is the power of
God. And why did he do this? That
last phrase, that you might fear the Lord your God forever. Now let me remind you what the
fear of God is. It's not some slavish fear of
him squashing me when I do something wrong. We've all had that, haven't
we? You think the Lord's gonna punish
me for that. You know, if that was the case, you would have
been wiped out a long time ago. Me too. The fear of God is not
this fear of I'm gonna get sick, I'm gonna be punished, something
bad's gonna happen, God's gonna take it out in a coffin. God's
gonna, the fear of God, the reverence, the respect, the awe of God is
being afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. Now that's
the fear of God. When you're afraid to find any
comfort, any assurance, any confidence, anywhere, but Christ alone. That's the person who fears God. Anybody who looks anywhere else
has no fear, no respect, no reverence of God. The fear of God is the
beginning of wisdom. Now, if you're going to take
something away from this, I hope the Lord causes us all to take
this away. This is a representation of the
success of Jesus Christ going into death, coming out, and every
single one of the children of Israel passed clean over, completely
over. Fully saved. And that, I love
to think, I reckon it's still there in the Jordan River. The writer said it's here to
this day. I love to think of that memorial that nobody could
see. And that reminds us what faith is.
It's not something I can see, but I know he's there. And I
know God sees him. And if God sees, I'm satisfied. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we ask in his blessed name
that you would bless this message and teach us what it is to rest
in our son. How we thank you for the covenant
you made with him. Lord, truly, that's all our salvation
and all our desire. And Lord, we pray for your blessing
upon the Vacation Bible School this week. Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that you reveal yourself to these young people. Give all
the teachers word from you that is needful. Meet with us as we
meet together tonight. Bless us for Christ's sake. In
his name we pray. Amen.