Crossing Over With Joshua

Q: What does the Bible say about salvation through Jesus?

The Bible teaches that Jesus, as the true Joshua, leads His people to salvation and eternal life by removing their sins. Salvation through Jesus is a central theme in Scripture, illustrated by the figure of Joshua who led the Israelites into the promised land. In Matthew 1:21, we learn that Jesus' very name means 'The Lord saves' because He will save His people from their sins. Just as Joshua brought Israel out of their sinful past at Shittim, Jesus has removed our sins far from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). This act of removal signifies not only forgiveness but also a complete cleansing, allowing us to enter into a relationship with a holy God.

Q: How do we know Jesus is our leader to eternal life?

Scripture affirms that Jesus is the appointed leader who guides us into the promised eternal life. Jesus is our divine leader, comparable to Joshua in the Old Testament, appointed to lead us to eternal life. Hebrews 12:2 describes Him as 'the author and finisher of our faith,' illustrating His role as the one who completes our journey of faith. It is through His resurrection that He confirms His leadership; just as Joshua rose in the morning to lead the Israelites, Jesus arose after three days, demonstrating His power over death and sin. This assurance allows us to follow Him without fear, knowing He has gone before us to prepare our way to eternal life.

Q: Why is faith in Christ important for believers?

Faith in Christ is crucial as it sanctifies and prepares believers to stand before a holy God. Faith in Christ is the means by which believers are justified and made holy before God. As indicated in 1 Peter 1:22, we are sanctified through obedience to the truth, which is found in Christ. This faith is more than mere belief; it’s a transformational trust that leads to a new desire to follow Christ and His teachings. Additionally, it affirms that we are accepted by God, as we cannot approach Him through our works but only through faith in the finished work of Jesus, who sanctifies us. Without this faith, we remain distant from God and unprepared for His holiness.

Q: What does the story of Joshua crossing the Jordan teach us about God's provision?

It illustrates God's faithfulness in leading and providing for His people as they follow Him. The crossing of the Jordan River by Joshua and the Israelites serves as a powerful illustration of God's provision and faithfulness. When the priests bearing the ark stepped into the overflowing waters, God miraculously parted the river, allowing them to cross on dry ground (Joshua 3:13-17). This act demonstrates that God is not only present with His people but actively goes before them to clear the way. Similarly, in our lives, as we trust and follow Christ, He leads us through the difficulties we face, parting the 'waters' of challenges and fears we encounter. It is a reminder that when we stand firm in faith, God will provide a way through any circumstance.

Q: How does God sanctify His people according to the sermon?

God sanctifies His people through Christ, enabling them to approach Him in holiness. God's process of sanctification begins with Christ, who is described as the one who sanctifies believers, allowing them to stand before a holy God. In Deuteronomy 31:3, God promised that Joshua would lead the people as they entered the promised land, which parallels how Christ leads us today. Sanctification is not about our works but comes as we believe and trust in Christ alone (1 Peter 1:22). This sanctifying work transforms our hearts, directing us away from sin and toward holiness. As we grow in faith, we are continually being set apart for God’s purposes, made holy through our reliance on Jesus’ righteousness.

Baby, sit. Come thou with us, and we will
do thee good." Bound for the promised land. That's what we're doing this
morning, preparing ourselves to meet our God, who dwells over This is a wonderful type of Christ,
just a wonderful, wonderful type of Christ. But I'm not sure I'm up to it.
It's too much here. And it takes you following along
carefully. It takes the Holy Spirit what
it takes, not my ability to bring it out. You may have been blessed in
just the reading of it, I hope so. It's a wonderful type of
Christ, and it needs no introduction. We just need to dive right in.
Dive right in this overflowing passage. All right, let's look
at it together. The type of Christ. Lord, increase
our faith through this. And Joshua rose early in the
morning. Joshua rose early in the morning. Joshua represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. His very name, the New Testament
name for Joshua is Jesus. This is the name that God chose
to give to his only begotten son in the flesh, Joshua, or
Jesus. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people. God said concerning Joshua to
Moses, he shall lead them into the promised land. He shall.
Who shall lead us? Who shall lead the people, Moses
said, the law said. God said, there's only one, Joshua. He shall lead them, he shall.
Call his name Jesus, he shall save his people. And like Joshua,
our Lord arose to lead his people. The scripture says the son of
righteousness is arisen with healing in his wings. In the
morning, Joshua rose early in the morning. Well, early in the
dawn of time, our Lord was Lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. He was there with the Father from the beginning,
early in the morning, the dawning of time. Christ was there early
in the morning. And God's mercies are new every
morning. And His mercies are in Christ.
who was made flesh." And read on, it says, "...and they removed
from..." Joshua arose early in the morning and they removed,
or he removed, the people from Shittim. Now, what's the significance
of this place? We need not turn, but this place
called Shittim was over in Numbers chapter 25, if you're taking
notes. Numbers 25 verse 1 says that
this place was where the people had fallen into gross sin and
idolatry. This is where the children of
Israel had fallen grievously, terribly, in rebellion and sin
and idolatry. And it says Joshua took them
out of that place. And our Lord Jesus Christ hath
removed our sins far from us. They left Shittim, staying a
long way from that place, as far as the east is from the west.
And so has Christ removed our sins from us. And someday he
will take us out of the very presence of sin. He'll take us
out of this planet, this Shittim, if you will. And they came to
pass after three days, that the officers went through the hosts,
and they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark
of the covenant of the Lord your God, the priests and Levites
bearing it, then you shall remove from your place and go after
it. After three days, the officers went through the hosts, passed
through the people, and commanded the people, saying, Look to the
ark. It's leading the way. Well, our
Lord arose from the grave after three days and ascended back
to glory, and he appointed officers. He appointed twelve men who were
apostles. And the prophets were his officers, his messengers
of the covenant, which tell us but one thing to do to get to
the promised land. Try your hardest to get there.
Have a man for himself. You're all on your own. What
do they say? What do these officers say? There's the ark. It's going before you. Look to
the ark. It's going to lead the way. Sell
what you have. Sell everything. Look to that
ark. Follow that ark. You stay here,
you're going to perish. Go toward the ark. Go after the
ark. What's this picture of? It's a picture of the gospel.
The Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant. Remember,
there's that box wherein was contained several things, the
Aaron's rod that budded, the pot of manna, and the law of
the Lord. Well, that's a picture of the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fullness,
in whom are hid all the treasures of mystery, wisdom, and knowledge. Christ is that ark of the covenant.
He is that blessed tabernacle, or box of mercy and grace. He is that mercy seat. He is
that one in whom all blessings are, from whom all blessings
flow, to whom everyone who follows him are blessed in the doing,
in the following. And every messenger of the covenant,
every officer of Christ, everyone he sends to the people, everyone
that passes through the host of the people, everyone he raises
up from among the brethren, every one of these officers, they have
but one message. Right there's the gospel. This
is the gospel. That's Christ. Follow him. He'll lead you to
the promised land. Just follow Christ. Look to Christ.
The ark, the ark. All right, look at verse 4. He
said, Yes, there shall be a space between you and it. Are you with me? Are you with
the Word, in other words? It's not me, it's God speaking.
There shall be a space between you and it, about 2,000 cubits
by measure. Come not near unto it. Come not near unto it. Now, wait
a minute. I thought Paul said in Hebrews,
But we're not come to a mount that's burned with fire. If any
man touched, he was consumed by it. But we're come to Mount
Zion, the church of the living God. I thought we could come
nearer to Christ. You can't. But not so near that
there's no fear of God before your eyes. That there's no holy
awe and reverence of this gospel. You see, that's what this world
is doing with the gospel. They're making it a familiar
thing. They're making it an easy believism. They're making it
a common thing. An easy, a flippant, just a something
little thing like a rabbit's foot. Carry it around your pocket
if you ever need it. Carry Jesus around your pocket
if you ever need him. Just pull him out. You don't come near to it like
that. You come bowed. in reverence, in fear, in holy
awe, in respect. And read on, it says that you
may know the way by which you must go. You see, we still hold
the gospel in fear, in trembling, in respect, in awe. We preach
in part. We know in part. We know some
mystery, but how many? And the gospel is a holy thing.
It's still a holy thing. These people didn't dare come
too near that ark. Oh, they came to it. They followed
it. But they didn't dare come too near it like us did and touch
it, in that sense, defile it. And we stand back in fear and
awe and amazement of this gospel. And we stand back as ones that
are ignorant that still need to be taught by it. You don't
know everything there is to know about it. We don't say, well,
is that a work? I've seen that before. Oh, no,
we still stand back in wonder and amazement at it. He hadn't
lost it. See that? That's what he's saying.
Read on. He says, you have not passed
this way hereto before. Oh, you thought, this is a picture
of all those religionists. See, the gospel is a revelation.
The gospel is a new revelation to former idolaters and blasphemers,
and it creates a newfound knowledge of the true God and the way to
worship him. And the first thing it does is,
it shuts their mouth. All religions
have a lot to say about Jesus, but, oh, when the gospel is revealed
to you. You put your hand over your mouth, like Joe did. I've spoken things too wonderful
for this. And you hold it in awe and fear
and respect, don't you? I haven't come this way before.
This is not the God I used to know in religion. Why, he used
to be feared. You see that? Religion just runs
on up to God like he's some sugar daddy. Not those who know the
true and living God. They come with fear and trembling. And it never stops. They never leave that. Fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And I tell you, it's
the end of it. It's the end of it. Moses knew
God well, didn't he? He feared Him to the end. So you see that? That's what
this is saying, I believe. He hasn't passed this way before.
So shut up and stay back, and you fear. I know how you came
before. I know how you accepted Jesus.
I know how you ran down the aisle and did this and that and the
other, but boy, you're going to approach God in a different
way now. See that? That make sense to you, John?
That make sense? Read on. Verse 5, Joshua said, Sanctify
yourselves. Tomorrow the Lord will do wonders
among you. Before crossing Jordan, these
people had to be sanctified. Before crossing Jordan. And before
we cross over to a holy God, before we come to a holy God,
we've got to be sanctified. We've got to be sanctified. And
Christ said this. Christ said, I sanctify myself. that they might be sanctified.
He came down and made flesh. You see, flesh can't go with
God. Flesh can't goâ€”flesh and blood of hers is not the kingdom
of God. Flesh can't go to God. We can't come to God. Huh? God's holy. We don't know. There's
a great gulf that's fixed between us. The gulf of sin, the flaming
cherub of God's law, bars the way into God's holy presence.
He can't even look upon us. How do we come to God? God comes to us and sanctifies us and makes us
as holy as his Son to bring us to God. He said sanctify yourself. Look over at 1 Peter 1. So this is how we sanctify ourselves
here in this sense. 1 Peter 1. Very quickly now,
I want to get through this. 1 Peter 1, look at verse 22. in obeying the truth, how does
one sanctify himself? How is one made holy? How is
one accepted by God Almighty? By trying their best, by working
the law? No, in believing Christ. And
that, really, is not of yourself. It's a gift of God. But humanly
speaking, you trust Christ, you have sanctified yourself through
Him. Back there. Joshua said, sanctify
yourselves. Tomorrow the Lord will do wonders
among you. And I tell you, when you believe
Christ, well, that's a wonder in itself, isn't it? One who
never had an interest at all in Christ. You take this old
boy here. As a young man sitting back on
the back row or whatever, listening to the gospel and just absolutely
not interested, you take that young held in, and that young
prodigal son, and just change him, turn him, and make him love
what he once hated and hate what he wants to love. Now, that's
a wonder. Make him love this gospel which he before said,
I have no interest in that. Now, that's a wonder. He's done
wonders among us already. And since you believe, he has
shown himself over and over, haven't you? He's done wonders
among you. Read on. Joshua spake unto the
priest, verse 6. He spake unto the priest, saying,
Now take up the ark of the covenant, take up the ark of the covenant,
and pass over before the people. Now turn over to Mark 16. Mark
16. And those of you who are familiar
with that know what it is. Mark chapter 16. Turn over there,
and I want to read to you a passage from Acts. Acts chapter 9. You turn to Mark 16. Joshua told
the priests, now you take up the ark. Take up the ark and
pass over before the people. Stand up in front of the people
with this ark lifted up. Bear that ark on your shoulders
before all the people. Take it before them. Listen to
this in Acts chapter 9. Let me read this to you. Acts
chapter 9. It says, The Lord said unto Saul, or Paul,
as his name was changed. The Lord said unto him, Go thy
way. He said this to Ananias, who
was to go to Paul. Go thy way. Paul, or Saul, is
a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and
kings and the children of Israel. He's to carry something. He's
to bear something up before the children of Israel. He's one
of my officers. He's one of my priests to minister
about the tabernacle. He's to bear something before
the people. He's to carry something. What is it? It's the gospel. Look at Mark 16. This is what
our Lord told all of his officers and his priests. Verse Mark 16,
15. Go into all the world and you've
got a burden. You've got something to carry
to the world. This is what you're going to
bring to the world. Preach the gospel to every creature. Christ said, If I be, what? If I be lifted up. I'll draw men to myself. Oh,
if you do this and that and the other, if you entertain, if you
have big programs and all that, you'll draw men to yourself and
to your church, and you'll get church members, and you'll get
names on a roll, and you'll get money in your pocket. But if
I don't listen to that, I'll draw men to me, to Christ. And that's what the true priest
and officer He does. He preaches the gospel. He wants
men and women to come to Christ. It's like John the Baptist. I
love that story where two of them were following John, and
Christ came along, and he said, you follow him. Don't follow
me. There you are. Behold the Lamb
of God. Just follow him. Follow him. And they did, and he thought
revival had come. Lost his only two church members.
And he said revival's here. I mean, if you had the service
this morning, John, two, but they left, the Lord was among
us. They followed Christ. How many of y'all had down there? I'm not sure, but they're all
following Christ. Thank God. Back to the text now. All right,
so they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the
people. Now, that's what every true officer, every true chosen
man of God does. Right, Stan? That's it. That's
how you'll know them. Does this man come from God?
Is he one of God's preachers? Is this woman, this person you
meet with out in the world, are they a believer? This is how
you'll know them. They shall speak of him. They'll speak of Christ. How
will you know a believer? This is the discerning factor. They'll speak of Christ, and
Christ don't know. He's the theme of their talk,
their conversation. Verse 7, And the Lord said unto
Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight
of all Israel, that they may know But as I was with Moses,
so I will be with thee." Now, you've got to see this. John
1. Turn over there quickly. John
1. You're going to love this. Deborah,
hang onto your seat. John 1. Our Lord said concerning
Joshua, "'This day,' here you are, you're standing at the brink
of Jordan, the waters of Jordan, the Ark of the Covenant held
up. This day, Joshua, I will magnify
you in this very place, right here, right at the Jordan here. You're going to be magnified
before all the people. Look at John chapter 1. John was preaching. John answered the people and
said, Now I baptize with water, but there standeth one among
you whom you know not. He it is who coming after me
is preferred before me, whose shoes latcheth. I am not worthy,
young Luce." Now, these things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was
baptizing. You know where Bethabara was?
You want to take a guess where Bethabara was? You know what
the name means? Crossing. The next day, verse 29, John
seeth Joshua coming. And he said, There he is. He'll take you over. The very
start. where Joshua brought the people
to the water and said, We're going over. And where God said,
This day I'll begin to magnify you. The very first day of Christ's
beginning of his ministry, when God began to lift him up and
magnify him before all the people as our Joshua, as the one who
was to take us over Jordan, put away our sin, is the very spot
he came to in the beginning. The very place, coincidence,
disproves who he is beyond a doubt. Behold, this is he. He's removed
us from Chittim. He'll carry us over to God. Back
to the text. Joshua 3, verse 8. This day I'll
begin to magnify thee. Verse 8, And thou shalt command
the priest to bear the ark of the covenant. Christ said to
those disciples there when he gave them that divine command,
he said, Now, you go preach the gospel in all the world, and
I'll be with you. I'll tell you what to do. Don't
take script, don't take part, I'll command you. Isn't it? Verse 8, And thou shalt command
the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, Now
when you come to the brink, when you come to the brink, here you are carrying the ark. And when you come up to the edge
of it, come to the brink of the water of the Jordan, just stand
still. Oh, Joshua, let's put the ark
down, and then we'll all get a shovel, and we'll all . . .
No! You keep holding that ark up.
You come to the water and just stand still. Just hold the ark
up. That's it. How are we going to
get up? Stand still. I'll give further orders. Let's
go over to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. Look
over here. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. This
is the message I told you that Brother Todd and I heard from
Brother Tom Harding. And may I tell you, we were floating
the whole time. I don't know if Todd's preached
it yet, but I'm having a good time. 2 Chronicles 20, look at
verse 15. Our Lord said this many times,
many times. Stand still. 2 Chronicles 20,
verse 15, Harken ye, all Judah, ye inhabitants of Jerusalem.
See, Judah is the true people of God. That's the true Israelite.
That's where we get the name Jews from. The true Israelite. Thou, ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and thou King Jehoshaphat, thus saith the Lord unto you, be not
afraid, nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, this
great way that bars you. The battle is not yours, but
God's. Oh, this great barrier. Tomorrow
go ye down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff
that's his, and you shall find them at the end of the book,
before the wilderness of Jerusalem. You shall not need to fight in
this battle. Set yourself. Stand still. But wait! We've got to do the work of the
Lord. What is it? Stand still. There
they are. Stand still. Just watch. and see the salvation of the
Lord. Okay, preacher, take the ark
up, take the gospel, preach the gospel, and just watch. Yeah,
but we've got to help it out. If you really preach the gospel,
you realize there ain't nothing else. There's nothing to add
to it. There is no helping it out. If you stand back from it
like he told them to do, you'll realize, hey, I can't touch this.
This is it. This is all. This is everything.
The gospel is everything. It's the power of God. If you
have experienced the power of God yourself, if you're a real
priest and you've seen what's the kind of glory of God around
that ark, you will stand still. You just preach Christ and you'll
say, and you just watch. And you'll behold in wonder and
amazement as the Lord does wonders. Saves people through
the mere preaching of the Word. Ezekiel promised Si to drive
on. All right? And watch. Stand still. I tell you, the
gospel is the power of God. Stand still. And he said, when
you come to the brink, have you all ever come to the brink? Have you ever come to the brink,
or that is at your wit's end? Stand still. Stand still. Dark waters before you. You stand
before this huge, overflowing scourge. These dark waters that
stand before you. You don't see any in the sight.
Stand still and watch them part. Joshua said unto the children
of Israel, Come hither now. Come hither. Now, God just told
Joshua this, and what's Joshua going to say? The same thing.
He's going to repeat, Come hither and hear the words of the Lord
your God. Come hither the words of the
Lord. Come hither. I've got a good message for you.
I've got good news, Joshua. Come hither, I've got good news.
Christ stood at that last day, the great day of the feast. Hear the word of the Lord. Come
unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. I will take you into the land
of the rest, of rest. I'll take you over Jordan. Come. Come. Hear the word of the Lord. Hear
the word of the Lord. It's the word of the Lord, our
Joshua, which tells us how to pass over. It's the word of his
promise. Look at verse 10. Joshua said,
Now hereby you're going to know that the living God is among
you. You'll know that the living God is among you. God was made
flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
amongst us. God was here. And it says, And
he will with . . . He will . . . Can I holler here? Without fail,
drive all your enemies out. Isaiah says, he shall not fail. Isaiah 42, he shall not fail
nor be discouraged. Joshua never lost a battle. God
was with him. And Christ has, without fail,
brought all his people home to God. He has, without fail, put
away our sins from us. He has, without fail, purged
our transgressions. The Scripture says, as a matter
of fact, when he by himself purged our sins, he went up and sat
down. The high priest sat down. Wait, wait, wait, wait, there's
more to be done? No, there's not. He sat down. It's finished. That's good news. All right.
Verse 11, he says, Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord
of all the earth passeth over before you in the Jordan. Joshua said, I've got good news.
Hear the word of the Lord. The ark's going over before you.
On the other side, it'll be waiting for you when you get there. This
ark that's led you all the way, kept you safe and provided for
you and led the way, it's going to be waiting on you when you
get there. The mercy seat, the covenant,
the promises, the blessing, it's all going to be over Jordan,
waiting on you to get there. And Christ never lives at the
right hand of God, never lives to make intercession for us until
we go to him. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord." Our ark over Jordan. The ark of the covenant passeth
over before you. Verse 12, Now therefore take
ye twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe
a man. Take ye twelve men. That's a good number. Our Lord
came through this earth, and he chose him out twelve men to pass over before the people, to bear this ark and to pass
over before the people. These are the apostles, to lead
and prepare the way. That messenger of the covenant,
prepare ye the way of the Lord. Verse 13, It shall come to pass,
as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests 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
the waters that come down," or that is, upstream. They shall
stand on a heap. And it came to pass, it came
to pass. It happened just like he said.
He said these waters will be cut off. Now listen, people. When the children of Israel When
God came to them at the first, when God came to the children
of Israel when they were in Egypt, you remember what happened? You
remember the story? He led them out of Egypt. He led them out
of Egypt and they came to the Red Sea. You remember that? And
you remember what happened at the Red Sea, don't you? In the
beginning, when they first came out, they came to this seemingly
thing that barred their path. You remember what happened, don't
you? God told them the same thing. Stand still. I'll carry you over. That was in the beginning. Right? That was in the beginning. Well,
forty-some years later, fifty years later, some of them are
getting old now. Young people coming up. They
come to the Jordan. What happens now? What does God
tell them to do now? Does he change? Oh, no, he's
the same. Yesterday, today, and forever.
And he tells them the same thing in the end that he told them
in the beginning. Stand still. I got you out of
Egypt. I'll get you into Jordan. And
I'll get you over Jordan. I got you. I called you. I chose
you. I called you. I brought you out. And I'll bring
you in. There's only one thing you need
to do. Stand still. In the beginning, he says, stand
still. In the end, he says, stand still. Oh, I'm with you. Even unto the end, stand still. He's the author and the finisher
of our time. Verse 14, And it came to pass,
when the people were moved from their tents, They left off to
Passover Jordan. When they were moved from their
tents, verse 14, to Passover Jordan, the priests bearing the
ark of the covenant before the people, they were following this
ark, doing what Joshua said. As they that bear the ark were
come to Jordan, the feet of the priests that bear the ark were
dipped in the brim of the water. Now here it says in parenthesis,
Jordan overflowed its banks all the time, of the harbor. This wasn't a big river. You couldn't wade across this
place. This is a big bass gulf that separated the people from
going over Jordan. They couldn't wade across if
they wanted to. They couldn't swim it. It was too wide. But
I tell you, as long as the ark was in the water, They were going
to get over, and it parted. And our sins are deep. The Scripture says, the exceeding
sinfulness of sin, it overflows its banks. Doesn't it? The exceeding sins, David said,
my sins have gone over me. Over my head, they're more than
I can number. We're sin-mounded. Our Lord came down in the flesh
and condemned sin in the flesh and spit in the waters. He said,
You're going over. I'm going to put away these sins.
I'm going to separate them from you. Christ as He hung on that
cross, as if He was standing in Jordan, and He even went into
the grave. that dark water of the grave
and said, and came out and said, it's dry ground. Gone. It's dry ground. Nothing need
to fear. You're going to die. Ah. It's no, you know, I don't
have to walk that lonesome valley all by myself. He said, I'm with
you. So I walked through the valley
of the shadow of the dead. I fear no evil. It's dry ground. Ain't no snakes going to bite
you. Ain't nothing going to bite you.
You're going to get over. It's going to be a peaceable
going over to. Don't worry about death, believer.
He giveth his beloved sleep. Y'all worry about going to sleep
tonight? You look forward to it. I'll let you in on something. I look forward to a Sunday nap
every now and then. That's a sign of old age. It
really is. My parents used to do that every
Sunday and I thought, what a waste of time. But now, I look forward
to rest. I don't fear going to bed tonight,
or this afternoon. It doesn't even matter. And you
shouldn't fear death either. Christ has been there. He parted
the waters. He said, come on. I'm over here. The waters, read
on, and they overflowed. Verse 16, the waters which came
down from above stood and rose up upon a heap, very far from
the city of Adam. Why in the world did he, Adam? Why? See? Why did he say there
was only one reason? Who's ever heard this before?
The city of Adam. Well, every sinner, from Adam
to the last sinner, nothing will bar his way into the presence
of God. Nothing. Who shall separate us? See, all these rivers and things
were flowing into Jordan, and he said there wasn't any of them
going to bar their way. Not the one coming down from
Adam, verse 16, and those that came down toward the sea or plain,
the salt sea failed. The sea failed. Nothing. Who shall separate us but Joshua? Look at all this. We're going
over. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? Shall death, shall tribulation,
shall distress, shall famine, shall nakedness, shall the sword? Oh, no. Oh, no. Nothing shall
separate us. Read on. from Adam to the salt
sea. And they were cut off, verse
16, and the waters were cut off, and the people passed over right
against Jericho. And the priests that bear the
ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground." What's
dry ground? About the driest ground there
is is rock. They were standing there on a rock holding this
ark. I'll say it again. They were
standing on a rock, holding their heart the whole time. And the
people got over. And folks, if you're standing
firm on Christ Jesus the Lord, and you believe this gospel, that this Christ that had been
so evidently set forth among you, you're going over. You're going
right over. have been put away on dry ground
in the midst of Jordan. They stood firm, and some of
the Israelites, the strong Israelites, the older Israelites, the ones
with great faith, passed over. All the Israelites passed over
on dry ground until he says it again, in case you didn't hear
it the first time, until all the people. Sounds like particular
crossing to me, particular salvation, redemption to me. They all passed,
I like this, clean over. That's not an old country saying,
Henry, that's Bible. He's clean over. He's over and
he's clean. He's clean. His feet ain't even
muddy. He went on dry ground. Well, I have one question here,
and I'll quit with this. Turn over to Deuteronomy, chapter
31, OK? I will quit with this. Thirty-five
minutes. This is record time. Deuteronomy,
chapter 31. Did you notice that From verse
10 on, there's no mention of Joshua's name. Did you notice
that it said that the priest carried the ark before them?
The officers went before them. Where was Joshua all this time? You know, I asked myself that.
I said, after I got through study of the nation, I thought, wait
a minute. He said, you go over, and where
was Joshua? And I looked all through this
passage, and read it, and read it again, and read it again,
and read it again, and said, where's Joshua? And I thought,
I'm going to search the scriptures to find it. Deuteronomy 31. God had already
said this. Verse 3, The Lord thy God, he
will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations
before thee, and thou shalt possess them. And Joshua, he shall go
over before thee, as the Lord hath said." See, he said that
all the way back in the first of Deuteronomy. He said it twice. He said, Joshua's going to go,
he's going to be in front of you the whole time. Where was Joshua,
Deborah? He was on the other side. waiting. He went first, he said. He went
first. He went first. The scripture
says that Jesus went before them and said, Come. That's how he
said, Come. That's how Christ says, Come. God was in Christ
reconciling the world. God was in the ark, Vicki, and
he told Noah, Come. Come into the ark. And Christ
says, Come unto me. He's gone over before. And mercy's
seat's waiting, the ark's. It's waiting. It'll be there
when we get there. Jeanette, it'll be there. The
blood's before the Lord. It'll be there when you get there.
Don't need to fear. Joshua's there. All right. Let's sing a closing hymn, number
504. Number 504. I don't recall saying this with
you before. But.

Crossing Over With Joshua

What does the Bible say about salvation through Jesus?

How do we know Jesus is our leader to eternal life?

Why is faith in Christ important for believers?

What does the story of Joshua crossing the Jordan teach us about God's provision?

How does God sanctify His people according to the sermon?

Sermon Transcript

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Crossing Over With Joshua

What does the Bible say about salvation through Jesus?

How do we know Jesus is our leader to eternal life?

Why is faith in Christ important for believers?

What does the story of Joshua crossing the Jordan teach us about God's provision?

How does God sanctify His people according to the sermon?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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