It's so good to see all of you.
It's good to be here. I said this last time, I'll say
it again. I've been coming here a long
time. And every time I come, I'm reminded
of the mercy of God to maintain the candlestick of the gospel.
Danville, Kentucky Them I'm thankful for that. I pray that the Lord
be pleased to bless us today I Ask you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Joshua Joshua I'm gonna be
in three and four Joshua three and four And I'll go ahead and tell you
what I'm gonna preach I I'm going to tell you, by the
grace of God, I'm going to set forth how Almighty God has been
pleased to deliver a people of His choosing, a people that He
chose in Christ from before the foundation of the world, how
He was pleased to be just in dealing with sin and justify
his people before him. You know, if we preach that,
then we've preached it right. We've preached the gospel. The
gospel is the declaration. It's the good news concerning
how God has been pleased to save a people. in the person of his
son. Now you know that all scripture
is concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Lord
told us to on the road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses. He set forth himself. So when
we look at these scriptures, We're looking for Him. That's
what we're doing. We're looking for Christ. You
show me Him and I've seen a right. The Lord
had told Joshua and Joshua Chapter 3 in verse 7, 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 will be with thee. Now, the people, they had witnessed
The Lord sent Moses into Egypt. When they were in Egypt, they
were in bondage to the Egyptians, and they saw what God did through
Moses when the Lord sent all those plagues, and how after
those plagues, God victoriously brought them out of Egypt. They saw how the Lord opened
up the Red Sea, They saw how 40 years in the wilderness, how
the Lord provided. He sent manna. God Almighty had magnified Moses
in their eyes to be the man that God had raised up. And the Lord took him. The Lord
took Moses. And the Lord told Moses that
he was gonna raise up Joshua. Joshua was the man that God was
going to use to lead the children of Israel into the promised land. They were gonna have to cross
over a river, the River Jordan. Now let's just go back to that
river. That river that's so often mentioned
in the scriptures, that river that God has been pleased to
teach us something of himself, something of his mercy. I say
something because we do see through a glass darkly. We see, but we
don't see as we shall by God's grace, but we see. And I want
us to think upon that river, the River Jordan, in the days
of our Lord's humiliation. Hold your place in Joshua. Turn
with me to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter three. In the days of our Lord's earthly
ministry, our Lord was baptized. in this Jordan River. Now you
know that. You know that. It says in Matthew
chapter 3 and verse 13, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to
Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him,
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering and said
unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us
to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus,
when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water,
and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him, and lo,
a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased. Oh, how the Lord Jesus Christ, the willing, obedient servant
of Jehovah, He who humbled himself, made himself with no reputation.
How he was magnified that day by the Lord. Magnified as he
was baptized of John, God spoke from heaven. The Lord magnified
him. Well, at the very river where Jehovah,
years before He gloriously magnified the Lord Jesus Christ, magnified
Him at His baptism, like He said He would, God Almighty magnified
a man named Joshua. Now back in Joshua, in Joshua
chapter 4 and verse 14 it said, On that day the Lord magnified
Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they feared him as they feared
Moses all the days of his life. Now let me tell you where I'm
going with this. I'm going to show all of us, I want all of
us to behold how back then How the Lord was magnifying a man,
Joshua, who was a type and a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. How
God was going to set forth before the children of Israel in magnifying
Joshua. He was going to be magnifying
his son, setting forth in type the Lord Jesus Christ. These
people were going to see it. They were going to behold it.
So here's Joshua. He's a type of the Lord himself. And he must lead the nation of
Israel into Canaan. Moses was a type picture of the
law. And Moses could never lead God's
people into the land which set forth in picture eternal rest
and peace and security. Why? Moses couldn't lead them
in. Why? Because by the deeds of the law shall no man be justified
in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So Moses,
he led them in the children of Israel, through the wilderness,
I'm sorry. But when it came to entering
into the land of promise, Canaan, a picture of rest, peace flowing,
milk and honey. God wasn't going to let Moses
go in. Going to raise up Joshua. Joshua, whose very name means
Jesus. Going to lead into the land of
Canaan, promised by this man. Christ and Christ alone could
answer the law's demand for justice. Precious truth, turn with me
to Mark 10. Truth that could be set forth
only by the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter
10, verse 35 to 40. Mark 10, 35 to 40. Now, two of the Lord's
disciples are talking to him. James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
come unto him saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest
do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them,
what would ye that I should do for you? And they said unto him,
grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the
other on thy left hand in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them,
Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink of the cup that
I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
with? And they said unto him, We can't.
And Jesus said unto them, you shall indeed drink of the cup
that I drink of, and with the baptism that I'm baptized with
all shall you be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and
on my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to
them for whom it is prepared. Now I want you to turn back to
Matthew 20. Matthew's account of the same
event, Matthew 20, verse 20 to 23, is where Scripture says,
Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons,
worshipping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he
said to her, What wilt thou? She said, She saith unto him,
Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right
hand, the other on the left in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered
and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of
the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
He saith unto them, ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit
on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. But it shall
be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father." And
here's what the Lord was saying. They came and they wanted to
ask Him, Lord, can we sit on the right hand and left hand
on your throne in your glory? He said, you don't know what
you're asking. You don't know what you're asking. Can you be baptized with the
baptism that I must suffer? He said, now you're going to
be baptized, meaning they were going to die for the cause of
the gospel. They were going to die for it.
But to do what he was ordained of God Almighty to do, to come
into this world and live before God's law perfectly, to answer
every demand God's law every demand of his of justice and
satisfying Be made sin and suffer the wrath of his father He said
you don't know what you're asking The baptism that I'm to be baptized
with what he was saying he was going to absolutely be immersed
in the all-consuming judgment of God's law and its demand of
for satisfaction, only he could answer that. He said, you're
asking me to do so. You don't know what you're asking,
you don't know what you're talking about. This was given me of my
father. You'll suffer, but you're not
gonna suffer like I'm gonna suffer. So the Jordan River, back in
Joshua. Now we're at the Jordan River.
And here's, it's all laid out. This is the picture. of what
the crossing of that Jordan River actually means. How are we gonna
get across this Jordan? The Jordan River is a picture
of many things, but it's a picture of death. I just read a little
bit about the Jordan River. It was somewhere around 30, 20
to 30 yards wide. Wasn't that wide? Really, relatively
speaking. But it was deep. Some say it's
deepest point, it was 20 feet deep. Boy, that goes deep fast
when you're just talking about 20, 30 yards. And the Jordan River had overflowed
its banks at that time. And it was a swift running river. But here's the situation. Joshua was told, you're going
to lead the people over. He wasn't told how he was going
to lead the people over up to that point, but he was going
to lead the people over. And they were going to be delivered
to the other side. And so that safe crossing of that river into
the land of promise pictured Salvation. How are we going to
get to the other side? Canaan is the land of rest. That's
the land flowing with milk and honey and peace. It's the promised
land. This is our home. We're going
home. But we've got one problem. How are we going to get there? How are we going to get there? Here's the problem. And the Lord
spoke of the baptism that he was going to have to be baptized
with. The baptism of our Lord which
he spoke was the way in which he himself was going to be the
way. The people of God, the people
of Israel, God's chosen, picture of God's elect, were going to
be able to safely be delivered. How was he going to do it? Turn with me, hold your place,
turn to Isaiah 48. Isaiah 48. Isaiah 48, verses 16, 17. Come you near unto me, hear you
this, I've not spoken in secret from the beginning, from the
time that it was, there am I. And now the Lord God in His Spirit
has sent me. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth
thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest
go. To enter into the land of Canaan, the people were going to have
to cross over a river that was deeper than they could wade across,
swifter than they could swim. It was the only way that they
were going to have to be able to get over. There's only one
way. God was going to have to stop that river. God was going
to have to stop that river. And here's the amazing thing.
That river that pictured sure death if you tried to cross over. You try to cross over this river,
you're going to die. You're going to die. You ain't
going to make it. God's going to have to stop a
river that was absolutely impossible to cross. Well, Joshua chapter 3 verses
9 to 17 tells us exactly what was going to happen. Joshua 3.90,
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, 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. Behold, the ark of the covenant
of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into
Jordan. Therefore take you twelve men
out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man." Now,
when I first, I was reading this passage of Scripture, and as
I was reading that, I just went on right past that. I kept reading,
which I'm going to plan to do in just two seconds here. But
the Spirit of God moved upon Joshua to call out twelve men. Here's what he said. He said
in verse 11, Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of
all the earth passes over before you into Jordan. Now, therefore,
take you 12 men out of the tribe of Israel, out of every tribal
man, one man out of every tribe. There's going to be a representative
out of every tribe. You take your 12 men. And 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 from
above, and they shall stand upon a heap. 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, the feet
of the priest that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the
water, that Jordan overfloweth all its banks. harvest, that
the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up upon
a heap very far from the city of Adam, that is, beside Zareton. 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. And the priests that bear the
ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm, Dry ground in the
midst of Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until
all the people were passed clean over Now here's what happened
Joshua told Now I want you to know for a fact We're going over
Jordan And here's how you're gonna know that God's with us
The Ark of the Covenant is going to be born by the priest. And when the priest go into the
midst of the Jordan River, God's going to make a way. I tried to read as much as I
could. I got this from Mr. Gill, and as accurate as he was,
that's how accurate my statement's going to be. He said, based upon
what was said right here, He said that whenever the priest
walked in to the Jordan River, the water just started piling
up. All the water was coming down from, say, this way, and
it's going that way. where they stood right there.
They came in the midst of the Jordan River and the scripture
says that they stood, verse 17, the priests that bear the ark
of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground. They walked
out there and that water that was passing over that ground
on the bottom of that river dried up immediately. And they stood
on dry ground. And the water behind him was
coming back, you know, just started standing up. And all this water
from there on, it just flowed all the way on down, just kept
going, just like it was naturally going. And Mr. Gill said, based
upon the record, it says it was probably somewhere between 16
and 17 miles that opened up. There was a lot of people that
was in the wilderness. And God just made a way. And those priests
stood in that spot. And they stood there. These,
back where these men, I said, back in verse 12 of chapter 3,
whenever these priests were going in, he said, now you take 12
men of the tribes of Israel out of every man. That's going to
come back to give us some information here in a minute. Those priests
entered that water. Those priests entered that water. They were not alone. God was there. God was there. God Almighty, they carried that
ark into that water, that river with them, and the priest entered
and they buried that ark. And we see the glorious, precious
Redeemer. entering in to judgment. That river was a picture of death. That picture was a type, was
a shadow of death. It's got to be stopped. And the
Lord himself in Titan, he went into that river first. and made
a way, standing firm in that river, a picture of him standing
before God's law and answering every demand for the people that
are gonna pass over. If the people got any hope whatsoever,
God's gonna stop. He must stop that river. So here,
these priests go in. And they enter in first, and
they stayed, the scripture says, until every one of the people
were safely passed over. Oh, the surety of the fact that
all that the Father hath given me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. The priest stood
firm, dry ground. They stood right there. They
did not move. They stood. And the people went
across. Everybody went across. Now I want us to read in Joshua
chapter 4. I'm going to read the first 18
verses of this precious chapter. Now we've got what's happened.
Here's what happened. People had to cross over. The
priests went in there with the ark. And when they touched that
water, that water backed up. The rest of it flowed out of
the way. All of it was dry. Here's a clear shot. And it came to pass, verse one,
chapter four, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan,
that the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, take you 12 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. Then Joshua called the twelve
men whom he had prepared of the children of Israel out of every
tribe a man and said unto them, I want you to remember before
those priests went into that water Joshua was to take twelve
men. You take 12 men, one of every
tribe. And now He's telling them, I want you to take those 12 men
that He had prepared, verse 4, of the children of Israel. And
Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your
God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you
a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of
Israel, that this may be a sign unto you, that when your children
your fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these
stones? Then you 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.
And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took
up 12 stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the Lord spake
unto Joshua according to the number of the tribes of the children
of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where
they lodged, and laid them there." Now he said, here's what he told
them, he said, I want you to go in, you 12 men. I want you to
take and go in verse 3 of chapter 4, command you them saying, take
ye hence out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place
where the priest feet stood firm. I want you to go back to the
exact spot where the priest feet stood firm. You 12 men, that
had been set apart. The word witness is not in there.
But the implication, these men knew where those priests were
standing. I want you to go back to the
very spot where the priest's feet stood firm. I want you to go back to that
spot. And you get 12 stones from the spot that they were standing. And verse 9 in chapter 4 says,
And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the
place where the feet of the priests which bear the ark of the covenant
stood, and they are there to this day. Now there was two memorials
set up that day. One of them in the place where
they spent the night, that was the first twelve stones. And
then Joshua went back to the very spot where those priests
stood. And he set up another pile of
stones right there, 12 stones in that spot. But it was explicit. You go back to the place where
those priests stood firm. I wanna know the exact spot where
they stood. You say, you mean, I mean it
had to be exactly where they were standing. Verse 10, for
the priest which bared the ark stood in the midst of Jordan
until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua
to speak unto the people according to all that Moses commanded Joshua
and the people hasted and passed over. It came to pass when all
the people were clean passed over that the ark of the Lord
passed over and the priest in the midst of the people and the
children of Reuben, the children of Gad, Hathor tribe, Manasseh
passed over armed before the children of Israel as Moses spake
unto them. About 40,000 prepared for war
passed over before the Lord unto battle to the plains of Jericho
on that day. The Lord magnified Joshua in
the sight of all Israel that they feared him as they feared
Moses all the days of his life. And the Lord spake unto Joshua,
saying, Command the priests that bear the Ark of the Testament
that they come up out of Jordan. Joshua therefore commanded the
priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan. It came to pass when
the priests that bear the Ark of the Covenant, the Lord, were
come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests'
feet were lifted up. to dry land at the waters of
Jordan, return unto their place and float over all his banks
as they did before." Amazing set of instructions. Going to be two memorials set
forth today. Twelve stones each. At the very place where the feet
of the priest stood firm. I don't want to know about where
it was. I want you to tell me exactly where my sins were put
away. You tell me exactly, you tell
me exactly how God Almighty has been pleased to save his people. I want to know exactly, I want
to know the way, I want to know the truth, and I want to know
the life, and don't give me general answers. Tell me exactly what
God has done for me. Those first twelve stones set
forth a memorial in the place where they lodged That night,
that was the first set of 12. You go in there, you get 12 stones
from where the priest stood, and you bring them over in the
place where we spent the night. Those 12 stones set forth this
truth, that God's people have been safely delivered over. They have been safely delivered
over. That second set of stones that
was put in the midst of the Jordan River. Now these first 12 were
in the place where they spent the night. The second were in
the river. The first one, in the place they
spent, said they made it. They made it. They made it. That second set says how they
made it. That memorial set forth. These
12 stones Set forth the glorious deliverance of God's people. I want you to take your Bible.
I'm going to wrap this up. I want you to take your Bible
and turn to Matthew chapter 3 again. Matthew chapter 3. Matthew 3. Matthew chapter 3 and verse 7,
Matthew 3, 7. John the Baptist is baptizing. And while he was baptizing, he
had some Pharisees come out there. It says, when he saw many of
the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto
them, old generation of vipers, you who hath warned you to flee
from the wrath to come. Bring forth therefore fruits,
meat for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is
able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Now, John the Baptist was making
reference to something. The scripture sets forth that
he was making reference to some stones that were there. I said,
well, okay, but what stones were those? Turn with me to John chapter
one. John chapter one. John chapter
one, verse 26. John 1, 26 to 28. The scripture sets forth in John
1, 26, John answered them saying, 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 latch it, I am
not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethadara,
beyond Jordan, where John was baptized. I looked up what Beth-Arab means. It means the house of passage. It means the house of Ford, F-O-R-D,
to pass over or to pass through. Years before the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world, A glorious event was going to
take place. The Lord was going to give deliverance
to his people over the Jordan River. And the scripture sets forth. God told Joshua, I want you to
take this ark, the Ark of the Covenant, these priests, and
you go into the Jordan River, and when their feet touches the
water, the water is gonna be divided and you'll pass over. And they did. And then Joshua,
after the people were all cleaned over, he set forth that 12 stones
would be put where they spent the night, 12 stones were set
in the midst of the Jordan River and Joshua said, I want to know
exactly, I can't make this emphatic enough, I want to know exactly,
exactly where they stood, exactly where they stood. And there were
witnesses there to exactly where they stood. And those stones
were set up in the midst, and the scripture says, until the
writing of that scripture right there, that they were there to
that day. And John was baptizing in that one city, Arab, in the
house of passing, where the children of Israel went over. And those stones were there.
And all the writers that I read, that I had some confidence in,
said that was the place that it was truly set forth and believed
to be exactly where John baptized the Lord. And the Spirit of God
moved Joshua to put a memorial right there. And when those Pharisees
and Sadducees came to him, was talking about how they had were
sons of Abraham and Joshua. I mean, John the Baptist pointed
some stones. He said, God could raise these
stones right here. This is where the Lord himself
was baptized all those years later. And then the scripture
sets forth back in Joshua. Back in Joshua chapter 4. Joshua chapter 4. Verse 19, and
the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first
month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
And these twelve stones which they took out of Jordan did Joshua
pitch in Gilgal. And he spake unto the children
of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers
in time to come, saying, What mean 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 dried up from
before us until we were gone over. That all the people of
the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty,
and that you fear the Lord your God forever. There was two memorials. One on the land where they spent
the night, and one in the Jordan River. There was two pillars,
stacks of stones set up. And as there was two stacks of
stones as a memorial, we have two ordinances by which we remember. Joshua told him, he said, when
your children come and ask you, what do these stones mean? He
said, you tell them. You tell them. This is what happened.
And we have two. We have two memorials for us,
as remembrance, not for salvation, but because of salvation. We have baptism, and we have
the Lord's staple, of which, by the grace of God, we'll be
remembering this morning. When we're baptized, not for,
but because of. What we say is this, when the
Lord died, we died in Him. Old Brother Scott used to say,
wherever God puts a man, that's where He keeps a man. God's people
were put in the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the
world. When He died, they died. And He was buried, they were
buried with Him. When He came out, they came out. We remember
the Lord. We confess the Lord before men
in baptism, saying, this is my hope. He's my hope, my life.
And concerning the Lord's table, that baptism is that confession,
just like they were. On the other side in Gilgal,
we made it. We're here. This is what we do. We made it. We remember the Lord's
table. We take those elements just to
spread some wine. This is his body. This is his
blood. When he died, he died for me. He shed his blood, it was for
me. That's what I believe. That's what I'm confessing. Joshua
told the people, he said, now I want you to do something. When
your children ask you, when they ask you, why are you doing this? You that know the Lord, when
you remember the Lord in baptism, and your kids, what do you do
that for? Tell them. Tell them what the Lord has done
for you. Tell them how Almighty God has
put away your sin. Tell them how you believe. I
believe in that all of my hope, all of my life is in Christ. just as he stopped the rivers
from flowing and he passed safely over. Almighty God stopped in
the person of his precious Son, bore all the guilt of all of
his people for all of time, even what I haven't done yet. What
I have done and what I've done since I've stood in this pulpit.
And what I shall do, if God allows me to live another day, I know
I will. It's been put away. You tell them. You tell them
what this memorial means. You tell them what we're setting
forth here. Oh, the preciousness of beholding
the glory of God in the face of his precious son in these
Old Testament scriptures. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for Christ's sake.