the swelling earth, when we say
companion, Sire. Songs of praises, songs of praises,
that I will ever give to thee, that I will ever give to thee. I forgot about that hymn, John.
It was perfect. Perfect. Go back to Joshua 3 now with
me. Joshua 3. This Scripture and
this message were given to me after I heard some bad news.
And it was really good news to me. The bad news wasn't so bad
after all. after I read this and heard this
for myself. Brother Scott Richardson used
to say that. He said, I haven't heard any real bad news since
I heard the good news. The Gospel. I thought of several
titles. Bearing up the ark. Or when you
see the ark, go after it. Or a people on the brink. Or on Jordan's stormy banks. Or walking through on dry ground. But I chose this one. All past
clean over. Joshua, his name means Savior. The New Testament word name is
Jesus. Joshua represents the Lord Jesus
Christ, as most of you know. The ark represents Christ and
Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. Most
of you know that. John prayed in his prayer about
the Old Testament types. And our Lord said this, they
are they, Scripture, that testify of me. The whole Old Testament
are stories and pictures and types and symbols and emblems
and shadows, the Scripture says, of Christ. The whole Old Testament
says someone's coming, God manifesting the Savior, the Redeemer, the
Lord our Righteousness. The Gospels say He's here. And
the epistles and the revelations say, it's coming again. The whole
Bible testifies of Christ. And this story, oh my, what a
picture of Christ. The ark, here we go again. The ark is the gospel of Christ. The ark was designed by God. You know, the box, it was a wooden
box covered with gold. It's a picture of Christ, his
humanity and his divinity. Christ, God, manifest in the
flesh. The ark was purposed by God.
The only way to worship God, that's what Christ said, I am
the way. There was only one way to approach
the God of Israel, that's by the ark. Christ said, I am the
way, the truth. The ark had a mercy seat on it. That ark was for one chief purpose,
to pour blood on it. When the Lamb was slain, God
said, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission
of sin. He said to the high priest, take this blood of a lamb and
go into the Holy of Holies and pour that blood over that mercy
seat that covers this ark. Inside the ark is the Word of
God, the Law of God. Everybody's broken it. And the
soul that sinneth must surely die. But when I see the blood,
will cover their sins. I'll pass over their sins. They're
forgiven. Pardoned completely by the blood. That's Christ. He is the ark. He is the high
priest. He's the tabernacle. He's the
blood. He's the lamb. He's the mercy sake. He's all
these things. The ark. I could go on for two hours on
the ark. The Ark is the gospel of Christ.
There's no worship without it, no salvation without it, no crossing
over Jordan without it, no coming to God without it, no escape
from sin without it, no entrance into glory. Jesus Christ and
Him crucified is salvation. The River Jordan here in this
story represents several things. The River Jordan represents this
present God calls it this present evil world. The River Jordan
represents sin that separates us from God. Muddy. Filthy. The River Jordan represents the
wrath of God. Raging. That threatens to destroy
all the Israelites. You can't cross it. You can't
swim it. You can't get over it. You can't
get through it. But one way, Joshua and the ark, Christ and
Him crucified. All right, look at verse 1. Joshua
rose early in the morning, and they were moved from Shittim
and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. And they
lodged there before they passed over. I hope the Lord will give
you attentive minds and receptive hearts. This is such a blessing. Joshua and his people, they all
lodged there in tents. Verse 14, I believe it is, says
they removed their tents when they were left. They all dwelled
in tents. Joshua and his people. before
they passed over, before they came to the Promised Land. They
dwelled in tents. Hebrews 2 says, For as much then
as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same. Christ took a body, a tent, a
dwelling place, that through death he might destroy him that
had power of death. He tabernacled among us, the
Scripture said. A body hast thou prepared me
for the suffering of death. Tents. We dwell in tents. This
body that we live in is a temporary dwelling place. Have you ever
stayed in a tent? Anybody? Most of you haven't. Is it a nice place? Is it comfortable? Is it without suffering? Is it a strong place? Will it
last? I'm not going to tell you the
story about several of us men camping out to, but a raging
storm came through and almost literally washed us away. Isn't it, Wesley? A tent is a temporary dwelling.
It's a weak place. It's full of hardships, hot, cold. And all of God's people
dwell in this temporary tabernacle. So did our Lord. He came down
here and tabernacled among us, lived as we live. Like Abraham,
it says, Abraham dwelled in tents with Isaac and Jacob all their
days. Traveled around in tents. A lot
of hardship, a lot of labor, wasn't it? So did our Lord, and
He knows our frame. That was a blessing to me. Joshua
dwelled in a tent with him. He didn't have to. He's the king.
No, they're sojourning. They're passing over. They haven't
here no continuing place. Christ came down here temporarily
and we're here temporarily. He came to dwell among us and
came to tell us we're crossing over. I've come to get you. Verse 14 says, when they remove
their tents, that's when they remove from their tents. It's
time. As soon as we laid Brother John's
tent, we folded up his tent, didn't we, Brother John Micah?
Folded up his tent. Where'd he go? He crossed over.
How? Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
One way. This corruption must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. And when it does, we'll say,
O death, Where's thy sting? O grave, where's thy victory?
O river, why was I afraid of thee? And it all started when Joshua
arose. Verse 1, Joshua arose early. And the command came, verse 7,
when he did, the command came, verse 7, to Joshua, this day
will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel. Are
you reading this with me? You could preach this. Couldn't. I'm just reading it. Soon as
Joshua arose, the command came from God saying, Joshua, I'm
going to magnify you before all Israel, and all Israel is going
to know that I'm with you. And if they're with you, they're
crossing over. When Christ was crucified, buried,
and rose again, Scripture says, we're going with
Him. going over with Him because Christ
died, was married, rose again. Paul wrote that in 1 Corinthians.
He said, I gave you the gospel concerning Christ, how He died
for our sins according to the Scripture. And it says, let me
turn there and read just a portion for you. It says, Christ is risen
from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
In Adam all die, but in Christ they'll all be made alive, and
every man in his order, Christ first. He went far. And everybody's coming after
Him. They went after Him. But first, every child of Israel
has got to go through the Jordan. Got to cross through it. And as I said, these waters represent
several things. They represent our sins that
separate us from God. and separate the children from
the promised land. Something's got to be done about
our sins. Somebody's got to gather our sins as a heap. Put them
all together. Remove them far from us. And
not let one be upon us until we get to a holy God. Somebody's
got to do that. There's only one person that
can and does. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sin. He's got to do something about
it. Sin represents the wrath of God. I mean, the river. The river represents the wrath
of God because of sin. This Water of Jordan, verse 15,
says, overflowed all his banks all
the time of harvest. Raging, stormy, on Jordan's stormy
banks I stand." We're going to close with that here. Overflowing. Scripture talks about when the
overflowing scourge of God's wrath comes through. It's going
to cover somebody like the first flood. But he said to his people,
with Christ, in Christ, and him crucified, it will not come now
ye. The wrath of God against this
world. Sin and this world threatens
to destroy us and overcome us. It drowns many. Not just actual
committal of sins, but Scripture talks about riches. And this
world, the things of the world overcome many as one way through
Christ and Him crucified. The muddy Jordan, we always call
it the muddy Jordan, don't we? Because it was always muddy.
That story of the eunuch, Nahum and the leper, the story
of Nahum and the leper, And Elijah telling him to go down and dip
in the Jordan. And he balked at that. I don't
want to get in that muddy Jordan. The rivers are far, far. Damascus
are greater, clean, nice. But no, he said, you're going
to have to get down in that muddy water. Dip seven times until
you completely and utterly understand that you're a leper and you're
filthy. Muddy Jordan. A raging river,
a raging river, you know, a pig river. We lived on the pig river
and you see it. When it rains, when the rain
comes down and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and sin, and it dredges up, when that rain
and that river starts raging, it dredges up muck and mire,
doesn't it, and filth. And the law of Scripture says,
There's a strength of sin and it just dredges up sin and rebellion
in man. That raging river was turbulent
waters and troubled waters. Troubled waters! And there's
no bridge over this. And we go through this world.
Job 14.1, he says, Man, it is born, a woman is a few days and
full of trouble. Why is that? and trouble with
God because of sin. Turbulent waters, this world
that we go through, full of troubles from within, troubles from without,
the filth of sin, violence in the world. How can we get through
this? How are we going to make it through
this? How are we going to get over this? How are we going to
get through this sinful world without being overcome by it?
How are we going to make it to God someday? We can't swim. We can't ford it. One way. When you see the ark, go after
it. That ark gone before you. Verse 3, that's what it said.
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 you shall remove from your place and go after it. Oh
my. When you see the ark, when you
see Christ, when you hear the gospel, that the priests, those
raised up by the Lord to preach Christ, Christ said, and this
was Joshua's command to the priests, this short command, he said,
take up the ark and go before the people. That's all Joshua
said to the priests. He told the people, you look
out from every one of your tribes, each tribe, you get a man, you
call a man, and here's what he's to do, take up the ark and go
before you. That's it, yes, because you need
to see the ark. That's what their purpose is.
That's what they're to do. Christ said, if I be lifted up,
I'll draw all men unto me. I'll draw my people. Preach Christ
and Him crucified. Don't play games. Don't start
committees and programs and build gymnasiums and all of that. We've
got enough of those. We've got one thing to do, one
thing needful. Preach Christ, the remedy for
sin, the only way to cross over. And if people just look to Him,
they're going over. They'll not be overcome. When you see the ark, if you
ever hear the gospel, wherever you live, if it's not there,
pick up, move, and you go after it. You go where it is, because
this is the one way you, your spouse, your children are going
to make it to the promised land, Christ. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Christ came, Christ crucified,
and he says to us, come unto me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden. I'll give you rest. I'll take you over. Look unto
me and be you saved, all the ends of the earth. I'm God. There
is none other. I'm a just God and a Savior. Christ and Him
crucified. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will pass over. You have God's Word on you. Verse 4. This is interesting. It says, The ark shall be a space
between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure. A space, a
distance. Because he went on to say that
you'll know the way. It's a long way off, but this
way you'll know the way you must go. But you've not passed this
way before. You've not passed this way before. At this time, the actual time
was 1450 B.C. Okay, that's 1,450 years before
Christ came. There's not a clearer picture
of Christ in the Bible, is there? 1,450, afar off. This was written
afar off. Are you with me? Hebrews 12 says
that we have this great cloud of witness. Hebrews 11. It says
all these Old Testament saints, from Abel, from Adam, to Zerubbabel, heard the promise and saw Christ
coming afar off, and they believed. They saw it from afar, but they
believed. The same, same way. At a distance. And they all could see it. They
all clearly saw it. Abel, from Abel the first man
to the last, all could see it. There's only one way, clearly
seeing it. The way was paved clearly. And also, this also means, don't
be too familiar with this ark. Don't touch it. The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. One man in Scripture touched
the ark, Uzzah. You remember that? One man. The
high priests were to get the ark and hold it on their shoulder.
They were not to put their hands on it. It always had these staves
underneath it, and they would pick these staves up and put
them on their shoulders and bear this burden of the ark on their
shoulder, but don't touch it. It's a picture of the gospel
how God doesn't need your help. They weren't helping the ark
over, the ark was getting them over. And one man in the Scripture,
the cart, it was on a cart. Remember that? That's another
story. But the ark was on a cart. It wasn't supposed to be. It
was supposed to be on the priest's shoulder, and they put it on
an ark. All wrong. And the ark stumbled, and one
man put his hand on that ark. Oh, it needs our help. God needs
my help. He can't do anything without
me. And God killed him right there. Killed him right there.
To show him, you don't help God in salvation. No, sir. It's salvation of the Lord. They got over because of Joshua
and the ark, and we're going to go over because Christ died. One way. One way. Keep it at
a distance. Don't be too familiar. You've never been this way before.
I like this. He said, you've never been this way. You don't
know the way. I'll show you the way. The ark's going to go before
you and you're going to see the way. You don't know where you're
going. Joshua does. Those disciples followed our
Lord everywhere. They had no clue where He was
going. Didn't need to. If they keep their eyes on Him,
it's okay. And we've never been to God.
been through the muddy Jordan either. And Christ shows us the way. He is
the way. And all of us pass through ways
that we've never been. Tomorrow, today, if we live long
enough, something may happen that we've never been through
before. Right? Everyone in here has gone through
waters like that. A day happened that threatened to overthrow
you. You've never been this way before.
You've never been through this water before. And you can't do
it. But you keep your eyes on that
hour, on Joshua, and you'll get through. And every one of us,
this river represents, as you might know, death. And nobody
in here, we've seen others, but nobody in here has actually set
our foot in that water yet. But God said, you know, I'll cross over. And he gave this command to the
priest, whom He set apart, take up the ark and pass over before
the people. Christ said, if I be lifted up,
I'll draw all men to Me. And He commanded them that bear
the ark, verse 8, when you come to the brink of the water of
Jordan, just stand still. Stand still. Does that sound
familiar? Same God, same people, Israel. Same way over. Stand still and
see the salvation of the world. Stand still. Stand on the rock. Stand firm. The priests are going
to step their foot in that water. And they took up the ark. So
they did. Every man whom God calls, every true God-called
preacher does one thing. And that's a fact. Only the priests
did one thing, didn't they? One thing held up that ark. That's it. And every man called
of God to preach does one thing. That's how you know him. He preaches
Christ. Every time. No doubt. Because
we've got people ready to go into the Jordan. Going through
the Jordan. And he said, bear up the ark. Now look at the command
to the people. They got to the brink of that
raging river. And you see this, this is a true
story. True story. And you know that there were
601,730 adults. That's over 20. 601, they're numbered. Numbers 26, they're all numbered,
601,730, exactly, over 20. Not counting children, which
probably the whole thing amounted to about 2 million people or
more. Now here's one reason he said, hold it afar off, hold
it out there where everybody can see it. The people in the
back, they need to see it. The little ones can't see over
the people in front of them. Hold it up high. Lift it up. They all need to see this thing. They all need to see Christ.
All to save one way. Well, they came. Here they are,
two million people. It's hard to say it's two million
strong. No, they're all weak. They're all scared to death. They all came to the brink of
the river Jordan. It's overflowing its banks. It's
turbulent, raging, stormy. Water is overflowing, raging
river, turbulent waters, and they're all standing at the brink
of this river, and God said, you're going to cross over. And to a man, to a woman, they
can't see how. And so what happened? Joshua
comforts the people. Look at verse 9. Joshua said
unto the children of Israel, Come hither. Come here. Come unto me. You afraid? Come here, let me tell you the
words of the Lord. Let me tell you what's going
to happen, not what might. There's no ifs, ands, buts, or
maybes here of what Joshua says. It's all shalls and wills here.
It's all promises. And all the promises of God in
Christ are what? Yea and amen to the glory of
God. Joshua said in verse 10, "...hereby
you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He
will, without fail, drive out from before you the caning of
all your enemies that are pursuing you." He's going to, without
fail, put them away. This is how you'll know. Didn't
Christ say? Sin shall not have dominion over
you. I am come to put away your sin by the sacrifice of my sin.
And he will without fail, he shall not fail, Isaiah wrote.
Without fail, he's going to put away the sins of God's people.
Verse 11, Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all
the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. I'm going before
you, Christ said. I'm going to be made sin for
you. I'm going to go to the cross and bear your sins in my body
on the tree. I'm going to put away your sins.
I'm going to go into the grave, and I'm coming out three days
later, just like when Joshua, three days after. Three days
later, I'm coming out of that grave, and I'm going back to
the closet, and you're coming with me. And I shall do this without fail.
and I will put away your sins, they'll stand like a heap." All of them, put them away. What
happened? Verse 14, here they are, they're
standing at the brink of that raging river, and verse 14, it
came to pass. Just like Joshua said, just like
God promised, the people when they were moved from their tents,
They folded up this tent to pass over Jordan, the priests bearing
the ark of the covenant before the Lord. And verse 15, as they
that bear the ark were coming to the Jordan, the feet of the
priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water.
Jordan's always overflowing. When does it overflow? Harvest
time. This was harvest time, he said.
As soon as they put their feet in the water with that ark on
their shoulders, it says, verse 16, the waters from above stood
as a heath. The wrath of God was assuaged. When Christ was crucified hanging
on that cross, our great high priest, when they put those nails
in his feet, when Christ was on that cross,
he was going through the river of death. He was being made sin
for us. Plunged and drowning in sin,
like the River Jordan, for us. But as soon as they put those
nails into Him, as soon as Christ was hung on that cross, a little
while later, He said, it's finished. Sins put away. God got them all
like a heap and put them on a cross and separated them from us. As far as I've said, from Adam
to Zarephath. From Adam, Adam's sin, to whoever
the last child of God's sin is. When Christ was crucified, the
water parted. No wrath. No judgment. No sin. Buddy, we're going over. The gulf that was between us,
sins that separated, removed. The wrath of God, assuaged. Death? No, not death. Just going to
walk right into glory. Just like Enoch, going to just
walk right into glory on dry ground. Look at it. So it says in verse 16, that
those that came down toward the sea of the plain, the salt sea,
failed or cut off. People passed over right against
Jericho. It says, He shall not fail. But
sin won't have dominion over you, because he shall not fail. Our
Lord is the way, the truth, and the life. God gave all these promises to
all of them. And they came to this water,
and they were all scared to death. Every one of them. There wasn't
a man that wasn't afraid of this raging river. And if we're honest,
every person in here will say that we're afraid to die. We're afraid to die. The strongest
believer in here at times thinks, I'm afraid that my sins are going
to drown me. I'm afraid that this world is
going to overcome me. I'm afraid, I'm afraid. Lord,
David said, what time I'm afraid, yeah, I'll trust in that. Lord, You
said, and You came, and You died, and You were buried, and You
rose again. I believe You, brother David's
article. Help my heart to believe. And
when I come to that River Jordan, This is the culmination of this
whole story. Are you with me? Every one of us is going
to die. It's our day. And God says it's time. We've
known unto God all His work from the beginning. Our bounds are
set. We cannot pass. He pointed unto us, wants to
die. And all of us are afraid of it.
Be not honest if you don't say that. And the Scripture says
that Christ came to deliver them who all their lifetime were afraid
of death. How? He went through it. Like this ark. He went through
it. And it came out. And look at
verse 17. It says, The priests that bear
the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as soon as they set their
foot in that raging river with that ark on their shoulders,
it became dry ground. solid rock, not mud, dry ground. And our Lord went into that grave
and came out. He made sin for us and He came
out and He said, it's gone. Sin's gone. There's no wrath
for you. There's no judgment for you. You trust Me? And I
went into the grave and it's not death at all. It's the way
to pass over. It's not the end, it's the entrance
into the promised land. And Christ set foot in that grave
and He came out three days later to show us that it's just a passing
over. And it came to pass. The priest,
I like this, this priest, they stood firm on dry ground in the
midst of the Jordan, right in the middle of it. You know, all
of us are called kings and priests unto God. Revelation 1 says, unto Him that
has made us kings and priests. We're all bearing up the ark.
All of God's people. That's our purpose, isn't it?
Kings and priests unto God. And every single priest, every
single believer I've known comes to that Jordan, comes to
that river, You're scared to death. You're scared to death
until when the Lord says, get in. The Lord pushes you, as it were,
leads you, come on, come on, it's alright. And you put your
feet in. It's dry ground. Nothing to be afraid of. Can't you see this? They didn't
go all together. They got two million people.
They might have gone one at a time. Here's Abel walks in. He steps
in on that water's part. He steps in. It's okay. And they're holding this ark
up, you see. Everybody see it? They're watching it go over.
The ark is above the whole land. And they're all looking. And
Abel's hollering, I'm telling you, it's okay! To the last man, it's okay. And everybody's got to go through
it. And Abraham went through and
he told Isaac, it's okay, son. And Joel went through it. And he says, it's solid rock,
boys. Don't be afraid, son. Jacob,
get in the water. And look at this, until All the
Israelites passed over. All of them. Not one of them
failed to cross over. The Israelites are God's people.
God's chosen. The ark was for them. The blood
was shed for them. And not one of them was left
behind. And they all, when they got in
that Jordan, the waters parted, the ground was solid. Well, you reckon they were talking
about crossing over. Sure wasn't that place. And they all passed, look at
this, clean over. Clean over. We get these old
country sayings. They're not ignorant mountain
talk. It's Bible. Say, he's clean gone. He went clean over. That's what
we say in it. That's Bible. Every one of God's
people are going to go clean over. That means all the way
there, and it means you're going to be clean when you get there. No mud. They didn't have any
mud on their shoes. That's a picture of sin, people.
If one sin is found on us, one sin, God can't have us into His
holy heaven. Where'd they go? The Ark. Christ and the Crucified. They
all passed clean over. What did they do? What did any
of them do? to get over. Nothing but look
to that hour. Well, who got them over? Joshua. That's the gospel as clear as
I can make it. Oh, look unto me, Christ said,
and be you safe. You'll all pass clean over. Alright,
we want to sing in closing that song on Jordan's stormy banks,
I stand. Number 517. 517. We'll stand
as we sing a couple of verses. 517.