Joshua chapter 3, title of this
message as said, is a people on the brink. As you know the
story of the children of Israel, how they passed through the wilderness,
passed over the Red Sea, Hebrews 11 talks about they all passed
through and over the Red Sea, they all went through the wilderness,
And they represent all of God's people, all time. And we go through
this world, the wilderness of sin. We pass through the Red
Sea, which is a picture like the River Jordan of sin, the
world, and death. And now these people, they have
come all this way. These are mostly the children
of those people. Because only two people, remember
David reminded us of this, only two people over 20 went into
the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb. But why? Because the people
murmured and complained, they just didn't believe God. Unbelief. And that manifests itself with
murmuring and complaining. If we really believed God, if
we really believed that God is sovereign and does all things,
we wouldn't complain about anything. we would realize that everything
in this life is mercy and grace. Like Jacob, after 135 years,
what he said? He said, I'm not worthy of the
least of all thy mercies and all the truth that you've shown
me. So these people had come, now they're at the brink of the
Jordan, or on the verge of crossing over, okay? And that's us. That's us. We're all on the brink
of eternity. We're right on the cusp, right
on the edge of eternity. It's just a breath away. Young
and old. All of these people, young and
old, are on the verge of crossing over. These people saw and heard,
they heard and saw a wonderful thing. They heard the word of
the Lord for 40 some years. And so have many of us. I have.
You have. She's heard the word 80 years. They saw many wonderful works
of the Lord. They saw the Lord do so many
things for them. The Lord's mercy, and His grace,
and His provisions, and His protection, and all that He provided, and
all He kept them from, and all that He spared them. Forty-some
years, and so have I. Looking back, look back on your
life and see all the mercy of the Lord, all the ways He's led
us, all the things He's brought us through. We ought to believe
with all our hearts and we shouldn't doubt Him for a moment. Yet we
are. We're full of doubts and fear. This church, this church has
heard the gospel over 40 years. A church that I grew up You too,
heard it for over 60 years. The Lord said of many of the
Israelites, he was not pleased with them. And so the warning
throughout the scriptures, the Lord uses the children of Israel
as a warning to all of us, especially 1 Corinthians 10. Paul said, these things are an
example. The Hebrews, he said, don't let these things slip.
The word the gospel was preached unto them is like unto us, but
it wasn't mixed with faith. They really didn't believe God,
so they didn't go in. We're right on edge. Let's hold fast. This is why
I keep saying this, Brother John. Let's hold fast the beginning
of our confidence, steadfast, how long? To the end. I want
to die in faith. I don't want to just start that
way. I want to end that way. I want to die in faith. Most of the
churches that we are associated with have heard the gospel over
40 some years. We're a people on the brink.
Many of the churches, if not most of the churches, have older
members, like ours. We have some in their 20s, well,
some in their teens, some in their 20s, some in their 30s,
some in their 40s. We have probably the majority
of us in their 50s, 60s, 70s, even 80s. Ninety-six. We're on the edge of eternity. Seventy years is all the Lord. said Mike can expect. 80 maybe. So we're on the brink. We're
people on the brink. That song we sang, I'm bound
for the promised land. Oh, who will come and go with
me? I can hear Joshua singing that, can't you? Caleb, come
on, fellas, it's ours. Sure promises, sure mercies of
David. That we're full of doubts and fears and unbelief. Our brethren
everywhere right now are just so full of fear and it's a shame.
It's grievous to the Holy Spirit of God. It's dishonoring to our
God. It really is. And it makes us
miserable. We don't have to be miserable.
The joy of the Lord is our strength. Matthew Henry said, Unbelief
is its own worst punishment. I mean, all these years the Lord
has protected us. Back before all this present
scare, you know, we're not afraid of anything. Just going right
along. Aren't we? Everything. God hasn't
changed. Look at us. We're still here. His mercies haven't changed.
That's why I keep saying, His mercy endures forever. His mercy
endures forever. His mercy endures... How many
times do you have to say that? But our Lord knows our frame.
Aren't you glad? He knows our frame. He's compassionate. He knows
our frame. It explains it. I read in Ecclesiastes
12 earlier today, listen to this. It talks about, remember the
Creator in the days of our youth, before the evil days come now,
before you get too old. Because it goes on to say, when
you get real old, you know, an old believer ought to have the
most faith, the most strength, the most peace, but that's not
always the case. Just not. Caleb and Moses, the
only old men in the Bible that had their strength in their old
age, the only ones. 80 years old. That is, after
men lived 900 some years. Caleb and Moses had their strength
when they were 80 years old. But Ecclesiastes says that when
the evil days, the old age comes now, then everything's a burden.
And it says, it says, desires shall fail. It says they're afraid
of that which is high. Fears are in the way. I don't want to be fearful when
I'm right on the verge of crossing it over to you. I don't want
to be, but some are. And I hate it. And so, this is
why we preach messages like this. We preach the sure mercies of
our God and the promises, all the promises of God in Him are
yay and amen. All right? Let's look at this
story. Let's look at this story. In this book, in this story,
as in every book, there's a principal person. Who is it? What's his name? Joshua. Well,
he represents the principal person in all the book of God, the Bible.
The one who has the preeminence, Jesus Christ. Joshua, look at
Joshua. He's the Lord and Savior as it
were. He's the captain, the conqueror
of his people, for his people. He's the leader, provider, protector. All the days of Joshua. Look
at chapter 1. Chapter 1. Mel and I were discussing
this and she got really excited talking about Chapter 1. I do
too. It says in verse 3, Every place,
the Lord said to Joshua, the sole of your foot shall tread
upon I have given unto you. Well, the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. The world and the day that dwell
therein belongs to Jesus Christ. That's right. He hasn't relinquished the title
of this earth. He's still in charge of it. He still owns it. Verse 5, There shall not any
man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. Is
our Lord living? Yes. He said, I'm alive forevermore. He that was dead, lo, I live. He's the first and the last.
And he says, as I was with Moses, I'll be with thee, I will not
fail thee, nor forsake thee. And he went on to say, you be
strong and of good courage, you're going to bring the people in.
Verse 8, the book of the law, you're going to meditate therein,
that to do it, everything written, that you might make your way
prosperous. That's Christ, who is the law
keeper for his people. He is the wisdom of God. Isaiah 53, one of the last verses
says, By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
me. By his knowledge. He came to do God's will and
he did it. And he did it for God's people.
And Isaiah said he shall not fail. He won't even be discouraged. So we shouldn't. Not one word
has failed. Not one of the mercies of God
for us has failed. Not one who has trusted Him has
failed. We shouldn't even be discouraged. You look at people, you get disappointed. You look within, you get discouraged.
You look to Christ, you'll never be disappointed or discouraged.
You'll be encouraged. You'll be strengthened. They
looked at Joshua. As long as Joshua was out in
front of them, they were, what's the word, indomitable,
unbeatable. Our salvation is sure because
Jesus Christ is our surety. Salvation is certain. In fact,
long before it happened, he said, it's accomplished. It's accomplished. The warfare is over. Before it
even began. It's all over but the shouting.
The Lord's telling Joshua and to tell the people that it's
all over but the shouting. You're going over. You're going
to inherit the land. You're going to take it. Joshua's
overcome it all. And to meet shall inherit the
earth, our Lord said. And it just, the only thing remains
is a shout. A trumpet and a shaft. All right,
let's look at the ark. The ark. This is a principal
thing. The person, the place, and the
thing here. Christ is the person. This ark
is the thing and the place, really. Remember, our Lord said, I'll
meet with thee at the mercy seat. This ark. All right, look at
verse 3. It mentions the ark. several
times. When you see the ark of the covenant
of the Lord, your God, the priests of Levites buried it, leave and
go after it. What's that? That's a gospel.
That's Christ. Look at verse 4. There'll be
a space between you and it, at a distance, because this thing
is fearful, but the ark wasn't a thing to be toyed with or trifled
with, but to be reverenced and feared. Verse six, Joshua said
to the priests, take up the Ark of the Covenant, pass before
the people. So they did, took up the Ark. Verse eight, the
priests that bear the Ark of the Covenant come to the brink
of the Jordan, step in that water and just stand there and don't
move. And verse 11, the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord of the Earth passeth over before you. This
gospel speaks of Christ our Lord has been long before us. God is the first one to preach
it. To the first two sinners, didn't it? Verse 13, it shall come to pass,
it shall come to pass, the priests bear the ark of the Lord, the
waters will be cut off. You're going to go through on
dry land. That ark, as you know, And if I'm not careful, we can
stay right here for a little while. The Ark. Wouldn't you
like to go back through the tabernacle again? It's been years since
we went through there. That Ark was a gold-covered wooden
box. Wooden box covered with gold. That's the deity of Christ, the
humanity of Christ. God manifests in the flesh. That
Ark represents Christ. Everything about that Ark represents
Jesus Christ. It was a vessel of mercy. Christ is the mercy of God, the
vessel. Inside that ark was three things. The law, the pot of manna, bread
from heaven, and Aaron's rotted budded fruit. These three are
one, Christ, who bore fruit for the glory of God, who is the
bread of life, and he is the law, he is the word made flesh. That ark had a principal thing
on top of it, with a crown around it, called a mercy seat. A mercy
seat. And the principal purpose of
that ark and that mercy seat was for you to pour blood on
it. The sacrifice of the lamb, the
blood of the lamb was to be poured on that mercy seat and it would
cover that whole box with blood until it was sealed. The law
inside that we broke was sealed, kept perfectly, pristine. That's Christ, by his own precious
blood. And that golden box was covered
with blood until it turned brown, like that tabernacle in the wilderness.
Oh, I've got to go on. The Ark. The Ark was always with
them. The Ark went before them. What that Ark declares is the
love of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, the salvation
of God. Whoever had the Ark, God was
with them. John read. John Davis read Psalm
46 tonight. God is with us. God is in the
midst of us. How do we know that? The Ark
is here. The Gospel. Christ. Christ crucified. Now add the
priests. These priests were men that were
chosen and called by God to do one thing. The priests were called
to do one thing. What was that? Joshua said in
verse 3, he commanded them, when you see the ark of the covenant
of the Lord your God and the priests and the Levites bearing
it, they were to take the ark and put it on their shoulders.
With staves, mind you, they weren't to put their hands on it. With
staves, mind you. And those priests would hold
that ark up on their shoulders. Hold it up high now. Everybody
needs to see it. Because that's how they're going
to pass over. Everybody, to the last person, to the shortest
person on the back row, got to be able to see this ark. Because
that's going to be their faith, that's going to be their strength,
that's going to be their courage. Verse 6, he said to the priest,
Joshua said, take up the ark of the covenant and pass before
the people. And they took it up. That's what they did. When
our Lord called his 12 disciples, What did he call him to do? One
thing. He said, go in all the world
and preach the gospel. Christ said, if I be lifted up
like this ark, I'll draw all men to me. And everybody that
looks to me will pass over. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. For when you see Christ high
and lifted up, you'll pass over Jordan. You'll pass over the
river of death. You'll overcome this world. You'll
get through it. The priests, that's what they
were doing. Look at chapter 4, verse 10. Remember he said when
he come to the ark, stand there. Stand still in the Jordan. In
chapter 4, verse 10, the priests, this is after the fact. The priests
which bear the ark stood in the midst of Jordan until everything
was finished. They were standing right there
in the middle of that Jordan holding that ark the whole time. They
never moved. What are y'all doing? What we
were called to do. Standing firm. Standing true. Holding this ark
up. The gospel is the power of God.
Isn't that what John Chapman preached the very first message
of our meeting? Second message. The gospel. I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. He said, Paul wrote, it's the
power of God and His salvation. So those priests, they were doing
one thing, holding up the ark, and they were standing in the
middle of that water until every single person crossed over. And
this gospel is going to be declared until the last sinner is saved.
And then no more preaching. No more world. It's over. Like
Jericho, going to be destroyed. So that's the job of the priests.
That's how you know if you've got a true one. All right, the
Jordan. Let's look at this Jordan. This
whole story, in fact the whole Bible, is about God's people
crossing over. One of my favorite verses, and
Mindy just reminded me of this, is in Exodus 3. Go back to Exodus
3. Look at this. I love this. Exodus
3. purpose to deliver his people
out of Egypt, which is a picture of God's people coming out of
this world. And here's what God, after he called his deliverer,
you see, he called his deliverer first, Moses. From a babe. He had him prepared as a child. That's a picture of crying. In
Exodus chapter 3, look at this, verse 7, the Lord said, I have
surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters. I know
their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the
hand of the Egyptians, to bring them up out of that land into
a good land, a large land flowing with milk and honey. I've come
down to deliver them out, to bring them up, to bring them
in. That's the gospel isn't it? Don't
you love that? That's what Christ came to do.
He came down. Who is this that came? That ascended,
but He that first descended in lower parts of the earth. And
He came down to deliver. He's the deliverer out of this
world, this present evil world, to bring us up, to bring us to
God, into His kingdom. Alright, but the Jordan has got
to be crossed over. The Jordan. And this story here
is all about passing over this Jordan. Now, the Jordan was not
a little tiny river. It was very wide. And this particular
place is where waters came down from the north. This is what
I was talking about. Waters came, converged. God had them come
to one of the most dangerous parts of that river. to where
all these waters were converging, where it was just a rip-roaring,
wild, raging river, muddy, just overflowing its banks, logs and
stuff rolling down. Just frightful. Impossible. We cannot cross it. Like that
Red Sea. No way. It's a vast gulf fixed
between them and the promised land. It was a fearful, raging... Verse
15 says, at the time of harvest, Jordan overflowed, was always
overflowing its banks. That's a picture of how that...
Brethren, the older we get, it seems like our trials get worse.
And the sin that's around us, the sin that's within us, and
everything just gets worse, doesn't it? Abraham was a hundred years
old, and you know what all he'd been tried? And it said, after
these things, God did try Abraham, the hardest trial of his life.
He thought, aren't they over? Aren't these trials... No, Abraham,
you're about to go through the worst. Why? To show God's power. To show
you're... With man it's impossible, but
with God? I don't think it's possible.
It was fearful, it was raging, raging. Listen to, I know you
love these scriptures, Romans 5. It says, sin abounded, but
grace did much more. As sin hath reigned unto death. You see, the older we get, the
more we feel. A keener sense of our own sinfulness
we feel. And our weakness we feel. Until
we start having doubts. I don't know if I'm going to
make it. Even so, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal
life. How? By Jesus Christ our Lord. All these people are going to
get over this raging river one way. The same, the ark, Joshua,
Jesus Christ. As sin hath reigned, so grace
reigneth. It's going to reign till the
day you die. As sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Our Lord said this to the disciples
right before he left them. And he told them, you're going
to leave me. One of the hardest trials they
will ever endure is when our Lord was dead for three days.
He said, in the world you shall have tribulation. Turbulence, pressure, just gets
harder and harder, mounts up. He said, be of good cheer. I
have overcome the world. Our Joshua. The Jordan River. The Jordan, as I said, it represents
sin. The Jordan was muddy. It was
always, always raging, the Jordan. At time of harvest, that's a
good picture. At the time of harvest, when the Lord's about
to take us out. But it represents sin. Oh, what that Jordan would dredge
up, the muck and the mire and the debris and all that. And
the longer we live, We used to, we lived on the Pig River, and
after a raging flood, the rain, it'd go down there and you wouldn't
believe all the stuff everywhere. And when we look within, oh,
we can't believe all the muck and the mire and the trash and
the filth that's dredged up by sin. This world, We used to think
it was bad in the 60s and 70s. We thought it can't get any worse.
It has, hasn't it? This world is a raging river
full of filth. And this represents the river
of death. Death. All of these people were
on the brink and they were afraid of that river, weren't they?
They were afraid. To a man. They thought, how are
we going to get across this? How are we going to get through
this without drowning? Alright, go back to our text.
Go back to our text. How are we going to do it? So
Joshua said, verse 9, Joshua said to all the children, come
here. Come unto me. Oh, you that labor
a heavy laden, hear the words of the Lord. You know the living
God's among you. And without fail, He'll drive
out these enemies, these sins. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God to justify. Who's He
that condemned? Christ died. You know that, don't
you? He didn't fail. He put away our
sin. The ark of the Lord passeth over
before you. Just look. Look. That's all they
had to do. Look and walk. Look and walk. Trust the Lord. So when you see
verse 13, I love this, and it shall come to pass as soon as
the souls of the priests that bear the ark rest in the waters
of the Jordan. He said, stand still in the Jordan,
rest. You see that? They'd all be cut
off. All the waters, all the sin,
all the filth, everything. You look to Christ and you'll
see your sins put away. You'll see all your troubles
are gone. As long as you keep looking to
Christ, your troubles will be gone. The river will quit raging. Death will not be fearful. And we all got to go through
it, okay? We go through this world. We can't ford it. We can't walk above it. They
couldn't swim this river. They were going to get over one
way, looking to Joshua, looking to that ark. And that's why they
said they told that priest to hold up that ark. And so they
did. So they went in. Here's what happened. Look at
verse 7 and 8. It says, This day I'll begin to magnify Joshua,
the Lord said, and you'll command the priests, and when they come
to the brink of the Jordan, they stand still, standing at Jordan,
just standing there. And you know what happened? It
came to pass, verse 14, it came to pass that people were removed
from their tents. We're going to leave this tabernacle.
Did you notice that Joshua tabernacled among them, didn't he? He lived
in a tent, too. They lived in tents. Well, they're
packing up the tents. Passing over. And verse 14, the
priest bearing the ark, the covenant for the people, and they stepped
into that brim of that water. And as soon as they did, the
water parted. The water parted. And they walked
down into the middle of that river, holding that ark high. And the people passed over. If
they didn't pass, it doesn't say, but they couldn't have all
passed, there were 600, it has a number, over a number, 630,150
some men. That means there are over 2 million men, women, and
children. They had to go through pretty
much maybe a single file, one at a time. Do you reckon? It
took a while. One at a time. And you know that's
what 1 Corinthians 15 said. That we're all, every man in
his own order. When it's time, when it's our
time, when it's our time. Now you keep looking to cry.
And when it's your time, you keep looking to cry. You know
what you're going to find? You're going to come to that river of
death. You know what you're going to find? Solid rock. Dry ground. That thing you were
fearing so badly. Abel was the first one. Abel. You notice it said, from Adam
to Zeratan. From A to Z. They all passed
through. All the sins of all of God's
people were heaped up and put on Christ. And put away. And parted from us. Okay? And
from Abel to Zerubbabel. all pass over the river of death
on dry ground, solid ground. Abel, the first one, I can hear
him now. And we all have this thing in
us called life, this life, that we don't necessarily want to
leave until it's time, okay? But when it's time, the Lord
gives us grace. And we set foot in that river. And Abel, he stepped
foot, the first one to die. The first man to die. Okay? He set foot in that river of
death, and I can hear him now. It's okay! It's dry ground. Well, it's solid
rock. Light it up your bed. You'll
not drown! It's the blood! It really is. And he passed over. And then
the B's, and then the C's, and then the D's. To every one of
God's people, it said. In verse 17, I know that you
love this, the end of this. The priests that bear the Ark
of the Covenant, the Lord stood firm on dry ground amidst the
Jordan and all the Israelites. The people of God, chosen, elect.
All of God's people, all His sheep, given to Christ. Christ
our Joshua, Christ our Ark, passed over on dry ground. You mark
the perfect man, that man that's in Christ, that woman that's
in Christ, that believer in Christ, no matter how weak the faith,
that person that's in Christ, they're going to pass over on
dry ground, solid rock. Jesus Christ. Until it says,
all the people were passed They didn't just pass over, they passed
clean over. You think that's an old country
saying? He went clean over to the other side. No, that's Bible.
What that means is, all the way over, and it means when you get
over there, you're clean. Now how can you go through a
muddy river and be clean on the other side? How can you dip in blood and
come out white? Come now, let's reason together
and I'll tell you. It all passed clean over. Clean
over. We're standing on the brink and
people, there's nothing to fear. Death and the fear. Christ is
the solid rock. Christ is the ground we stand
on. Christ is our ark who bore the
wrath of God. Christ is our Joshua who conquered
our foe. Look to him and live. Okay, stand with me. Dear Lord, thank you for your
blessed word. Oh my, what a book. What a person. Jesus Christ is. How wonderful is his name and
his work, his person. How wonderful. We thank you,
Lord, for showing us these things, showing us the things of Christ.
Thank you. Let us look to him and relieve
our fears. Relieve our fears. Thank you,
Lord, for the blood. Thank you for Christ in his name.
Amen. You're dismissed.