In Joshua chapter 1 and verse
1 we read the following. Now after the death of Moses
the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto
Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant
is dead. Now therefore arise, go over
this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I
do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place
that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given
unto you, as I said unto Moses. Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over
this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I
do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Moses my servant is dead. Is he dead to you? Is Moses dead to you or are you
still serving him? Are you still serving under the
law that Moses brought? Do you still seek to make yourself
right before God by the works of the law? or by some works
of your own righteousness? Is your approach unto God, is
your perception of how God views you based upon your works, your
deeds? Are you still under the bondage
of the law in your heart? Whatever you may say doctrinally
regarding it, Whether you say, no, Christ died for me. Christ delivered me from my sins. Christ spared me the judgment
and condemnation of the law. I am now in Christ. I've been
delivered from the law, from the curse of the law. Whether
you may say that, in practice, in experience, in your heart,
Do you still approach unto God? Do you still walk before God,
bound by conscience to the law? Do you still feel that when you
walk right, God is more pleased with you? And when you fail,
God's condemnation is against you. Is your walk before God
one as a servant One who must serve according to the law, according
to works. One who will be rewarded when
you serve well. And one who feels condemnation
and anger and wrath when you fail. Is your relationship with
God that of a servant? Or is your relationship with
God that of a son? As one who has been delivered
from the servitude of law, as one whose conscience is freed
from the condemnation of law. as one who knows the grace of
God, the love of God, the mercy of God, and as one who knows
that God views you as a believer, not as one who is under law,
not as one who must attain to a certain standard or level every
day, but as one who is accepted in the Beloved in Christ. as
one who is viewed as righteous and perfect in Christ, every
day, without fail, without exception. On the days when you keep from
sin, God looks upon you as perfect in Christ. On the days when you
fall first thing, and when you let yourself down, and rise up
in anger against another on the days when you're frustrated and
you doubt and you fear when trouble comes and you don't run to God
first thing on the days when you look back on that day and
say I've had a miserable day if you're Christ's God looks
upon you in Christ as a son without condemnation. His love for you
is the same every day because he does not look and treat you
according to your deeds. Because in Christ, if you know
Him, if you know His salvation, if you know the application of
His blood, in Christ you have been delivered from your sins. His blood has paid the price,
He has washed them all away. And God will never look at those
sins again. He'll never bring them up before
Him to say, that you must pay the price again. When Christ
died for his people, he died for their sins, past, present,
and future. They were all blotted out. Moses, my servant, is dead. Moses' ministry was to bring
the law before God's people. And the reason God sent that
law was not that that people should be justified by it, not
that that law should be that which makes them right, not that
they should remain under that law, but that law was given that
they through the law might have the knowledge of sin. that they
by that Law and the Spirit's application of that Law to them
might discover what they are by nature before a Holy God. That Law is given to us as it's
made known in the preaching of the Gospel as the Spirit begins
to work in the Gospel at the beginning of the Gospel, He as
it were brings that Law to us to show us what we are and our
need to be delivered from our sins. Because all men are sinners,
you and me included. All have fallen short of the
glory of God. All are dead in trespasses and
sins. We're all guilty. But in our
natural state we're blind to it. In our natural state we have
shut our ears to God and His truth and we have not given Him
one thought and we have no idea of where we stand before a holy
God. Naturally we think we're fine. Whatever our understanding of
religion, whether we've heard anything of the Bible or none
of the Bible, whether we've been brought up to go to church and
hear the word of God read or whether we've never set foot
in one church or ever opened the Bible, naturally we are blind
to these things and we are apathetic about our own state. But God would have us to know
what we are. That we are guilty before Him.
That we are fallen, that we are rebels, that we hate Him with
our hearts, that we serve ourselves. We hate men and we hate God. We hate those that cross our
paths. We hate those that annoy us.
We hate those who are against us. We love not our neighbour
as ourselves and we love not God. We're guilty. And when Moses brought the children
of Israel out of Egypt, God sent that law by Moses to that people,
written in tablets of stone, that that people might learn
what they are, that they might learn how high the glory of God
is, how holy their God is, and how weak, how base, how sinful
they are. That law came to them as a ministry,
a ministration of condemnation. It utterly condemned them. When
Moses came down from Sinai carrying that law and read them out to
the people, read out those 10 commands to the people, the people
said, all that the Lord has commanded that we will do. and they never
did one thing that the Lord commanded rightly, however much they might
conform in the outward fashion. They might attempt to keep the
Sabbath holy. They might attempt to worship
God and none other gods. They might attempt to keep from
adultery or covetousness. And they might make a show of
righteousness externally, but in their hearts each and every
day, every one of them broke it, and everyone ever since has
broken it. You and me. We have covetous
hearts, idolatrous hearts, selfish hearts, wicked and sinful hearts
and the condemnation of the law comes straight down upon us with
its awful penalty of death. When Adam in the garden sinned,
sin entered that innocent and perfect world that God had created
and death by sin because the consequence of sin is death. And when the law comes and discovers
our sin, it brings down the condemnation of God's perfect righteousness
and justice upon it, which is death. The wages of sin is death. Why do we die? And why will we
go to a awful eternity and utter condemnation in hell if we remain
in our sins? It is because the wages of sin
is death. That's all our sin has brought
us. That's all our selfish deeds
have brought us. And that's all the ministration
of condemnation by the law of Moses will bring us to. It will bring us to death. It's a ministration not of life. not of salvation not of grace
or forgiveness or mercy it's unflinching in its condemnation
it's unflinching in its demands of us we must obey we must live
according to its terms continually absolutely every day without
fail and none of us even begin to therefore its condemnation
comes upon us it's a ministration of death And those who are under
its rule are simply servants. And those who put themselves
under its rule, put themselves under hard labor, hard service,
and bring themselves back under condemnation. But at the beginning
of the book of Joshua, the Lord speaks unto Joshua the son of
Nun, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise,
go over this Jordan thou and all this people unto the land
which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Joshua
succeeded Moses as the leader of the children of Israel. But
whereas Moses is referred to as my servant, Joshua is referred
to as the son of Nun. Nun, the name Nun, meaning continuation. He's the
son of continuation or the son without beginning and without
end. Joshua here is a picture of Christ,
Jesus, Joshua, our Joshua, God's saviour. For that's what Joshua
means as a name, God's saviour, God's anointed saviour, Jesus
Christ. The Anointed Saviour of God,
Joshua. Christ is without beginning and
without end. He is eternal. Eternally the
Son of God. He ever was and ever will be
and ever was in the position of being the Son of God. The
Son. And here Joshua in type and figure
is spoken of as the son of none, the son of continuity, the son
of continuation, the eternal son. Not a servant but a son. And his ministry is greatly contrasted
with the ministry of Moses. Moses led the people as servants,
under law, And that ministry brought them under condemnation.
And Moses never entered into that land which was promised,
the promised land which was promised to the people. Spiritually he
would when he went to be with God in glory, but in the type
and figure in this world, he never entered with the people. And he never entered because
of that condemnation that the Lord brought upon his head. And
there were countless numbers amongst that people, a generation
that never entered with him, because they sought to enter
by law, by works, by their own righteousness. And if we seek
to enter into Heaven's glory, into that promised eternity,
that promised inheritance for God's people in Christ, if we
think that we will enter into that glory, it will not be by
our works or our righteousness. We will perish in the wilderness
as Moses and that people did. Moses, my servant, is dead. But Joshua the son of Nun was
anointed and commanded to arise and to go over Jordan through
that river of death with his people, thou and all his people,
unto the land which God gave to them, even to the children
of Israel. His ministry is completely contrasted,
it's not a ministry of condemnation, it's not a ministry of law. It's
a ministry of salvation, of life, of righteousness, of grace. He actually took the people through
into the land. He led them through the sea,
thou and all this people. That sea, that river of Jordan,
He led them through it as a picture of death. He led His people through
death, into life, into the promised land. Joshua the son of Nun,
Christ the son of God, the eternal son of God, Jesus. What a difference
there is in the ministry. Jesus saves. He saves. He doesn't command salvation.
He doesn't tell you what to do if you would be saved. He doesn't
say you must do all these commands and if you do then I will give
you this as Moses did. But Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. And he tells us to do nothing
but to look and follow him. He does it all. He brings in
the righteousness which we need to stand before a holy God. He comes unto a people condemned
by Moses' law, utterly without strength, without righteousness,
sinful through and through. and no longer condemns them but
says that I will make you to be the righteousness of God in
me and I will take your sins and your iniquities and I will
take them upon my back and I will take the stripes of condemnation
upon my back for you I will pay the price that you must pay you
are guilty but I will take your guilt You are condemned but I
will and I have taken your condemnation. I've taken it in total. I've
taken all of it and I've taken it with me down into the valley
of death. I have been slain for you. I have taken your sin and the
judgment of God against you and taken it upon me that you might
be spared and that in me that you might go through this Jordan
into the land which God has given you. I've done this freely for you
and God has given you this land you have not earned it You've
not bought it, but He has given it to you. Every place that the
sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto
you, the Lord says, as I said unto Moses. Christ leads His
people into this land and He leads them as the Son of God,
the Son of Nun, Joshua, the Son of God. He leads them in and
He leads them in as a people united to Him. No longer God's
servants but God's sons. Adopted as sons, treated as sons,
treated as sons as He is a Son. One with Him. sons. Do you know his ministry? Do
you know what it is to walk with Joshua Jesus Christ? Or are you still walking following
Moses? Do you know what it is to approach
unto God the Father through Christ Joshua? Or do you still seek
to serve God the Father through the law of Moses by your own
righteousness and works? Moses must be dead before you'll
ever set one foot on the other side of Jordan. You'll never
pass through death into eternal life until Moses' work is done. And yet there are so many professing
Christians who make a profession of believing on Jesus and yet
who are still serving Moses. And just as that countless multitude
amongst Israel professed to serve God and thought that they would
make it into Canaan's shores, they perished in the wilderness
because they were condemned by law and they sought to serve
God by law. And so many who claim to serve
Jesus and think they're going to glory will find that they
never pass through Jordan dry shot. They'll find that when
they enter that river of death, that unlike the children of Israel
who went through with Joshua and the waters never touched
them because he was a picture of Christ who had taken that
judgment, those waters upon himself and spared them the judgment.
These professors of Jesus, these professors of Christ who still
serve God by works or by their will or in their strength will
find that when they step into Jordan's shores that that water
overflows them that that water drowns them and that they find
it condemns them and it is a water of death eternal death to them
what a state to be in what a state to reach to walk to live as though
you serve God thinking you are right with God but to spend your
life serving him by the works of the law, by your own strength
and righteousness, and to find that Moses was never dead to
you and Joshua was never truly alive to you. You spake of one
called Jesus, but it was never this Son, never this Eternal
Son, never this One who brought a ministry of grace, because
you were ever alive to Moses and his works. And when you stepped
into Jordan, it slew you. Oh flee from the wrath to come,
flee from the condemnation of God's law. Don't be fooled to
mix law with grace, to mix works with faith. It will utterly condemn
you. Salvation is by grace and grace
alone from start to finish and it does not truly begin. until
in your experience in your heart you can say that to you Moses
God's servant is dead and now you rise up and follow with Christ
Joshua and he has led you forth he has led you over Jordan dry
shot dry shod the waters haven't touched you because he died in
your place because he took the condemnation because he paid
the price because all that law was met upon Christ and there
is nothing more for you to do in respect of it you've been
delivered from it you are dead to it I through the law am dead
to the law that I might live unto God I have been delivered
from the law by the body of Christ. When he died in my place I was
delivered from it, delivered from its condemnation, from its
curse, from its rule. I am in Christ, walking through
Jordan dry shod, in the inheritance of the world to come, alive in
him under grace. Is that where you are and can
you say it and rejoice in it? Or does your legal spirit rise
up and say yes but surely I must use the law of Moses, surely
the Ten Commandments must rule my life, surely I should be up
and doing. Is Moses still alive to you?
Well I tell you that Joshua's ministry, Christ's ministry,
will only begin in reality in your soul, when in your experience
you have passed through the ministry of Moses. When it has slain you
and condemned you and left you bankrupt before God, without
any strength, knowing that your works, your will and your righteousness
will do nothing to save you. And you're left on the banks
of Jordan crying out for God's mercy. and only then will Joshua
come your way and lift you up and call you by name and lead
you and he will go thou and all this people through Jordan unto
the land which God has given unto him and his people, you
if you know him. Do you know him? His ministry
only begins when Moses is dead, when Moses' work has been completed. Whilst Moses is still alive to
you and you're still alive to Moses, there will be no being
led by Joshua. Whatever you may say. Moses must be dead to you. Moses, my servant, is dead. Can you say it? Can you say that
Joshua, Jesus is your all? That Moses had his work. That
the law rightly condemned you. You were guilty, you could not
live up to it. You ought to have. But it slew you. And left you
in the grave. And left you crying out for a
savior. One who could make you righteous. One who could fulfill
the law's demands for you. One who could answer its demands.
One who could take away the judgment and the curse. One who could
make you right before a holy God. One who could wash you clean. One who could save your soul. Moses must be dead. His body
must be laid in the grave. If you're still looking to that
law, still looking for Moses' body, his burial place, then
you're still under that law and still condemned by it. That's
why in the book of Jude we read of Michael, the archangel, disputing
with the devil over the body of Moses, over the law. Because the devil, the accuser
of the brethren, accuser of God's people loves to bring God's law
he loves to come with a railing accusation he loves to come in
their hearts and their conscience and dispute and say unto God's
people ah but the law says and ah but shouldn't you do what
it says here and he brings that law and he brings it in their
conscience and he brings it to condemn them and any trouble
by him feel his accusations and know that what the law says is
right but Michael the archangel brought no railing accusation
He rebuked the devil and his accusation and he rebuked him
by saying that Moses, my servant, is dead and his body is laid
in the grave and his body, the law, the body of work that came
by Moses, that which God sent by him, is in the grave. because
it was nailed to the cross upon which my son died, upon which
Joshua, Jesus, was slain. That law was nailed to the cross
and all its condemnation of my people was nailed to that cross. And when my son died and took
away the judgment and answered every command of that law and
every judgment of God against that people, he nailed the commandments
which were against us. and nailed them to the tree and
took them into the grave and that law and Moses and his body
is in the grave and there it lies and it will never be brought
up again and it will never be brought up to accuse my people
again they are delivered they are saved they are spared But
if we're taken in by the accusations of Satan, if we're taken in by
the accuser and turn again to the law and turn again to our
strength and our efforts to keep it, then all we find is that
it slays us again. All we find is a burden and a
condemnation in our spirit. We look to return to it to keep
it alive. We're trying to keep the body
of Moses the law alive. But God says Moses, my servant,
is dead. And what we find of that law
that which we think we will live and drink by. People say it's
a rule of life that by which you can live well you live by
bread and water you live by that which you eat and if you try
to drink or eat of the law if you try to drink of the waters
of the law you will find that it is not the waters of life.
It is not the water of life that comes by Christ and his gospel.
It is not that water that came out of the rock that led the
people forth in the wilderness when God led them. It is not
that water by which they live. But it is the bitter waters of
Meribah, bitter waters which will slay you, condemn you, It
promises life but it brings death, it's poison. There may be water
there but it's poisoned water. It will slay you. This is why
when Moses, in Numbers 20, was frustrated by the complaints
and the grumbling of the people. This is why he in his frustration
and his anger with them struck the rock twice and the water
came forth. That rock from which water had
come, that rock from which they had drunk, he struck it twice
and the Lord's anger was kindled against him. Why? Because in
striking that rock, which is Christ, twice he was bringing
the condemnation upon Christ and his people again and yet
they had been delivered from that condemnation and to put
people under law again when they have been delivered from it by
Christ in his gospel is to bring them under condemnation again
is to cause them to perish in the wilderness In Numbers 20
verse 7 it says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take
the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron
thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes. And
it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to
them water out of the rock. So shalt thou give the congregation
and their beast drink. And Moses took the rod from before
the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered
the congregation together before the rock. And he said unto them,
Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?
And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smoked the
rock twice. And the water came out abundantly,
and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD
spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not to sanctify
me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall
not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel
strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them. They
struck the rock, When they were not commanded to strike it, they
were commanded to speak unto the rock before their eyes and
that that rock would give them forth water. They were commanded
to go unto Christ as it were and pray unto them that he should
feed his people. They were commanded to preach
Christ and His Gospel to that people, that they might have
water of life from Christ. But instead they struck the rock
twice, they brought the condemnation of the law against that rock,
against Christ. And in so doing, they were striking
that people in Christ again. He'd already been struck, He'd
already taken the condemnation for them, that He might deliver
them from the law's wrath. And yet in striking it twice,
this is a picture of bringing that law again. Bringing it unto
us again. Trying to bring water to a people
by law. If you think you will live by
law, you will find it slays you. It is not a rule of life, it
is a rule of death. By the law came the condemnation
of death against us by which Christ then stood in our place
and brought it upon himself that we might be spared it. That law
was poured out in condemnation on him instead of his people
as he stood as their substitute. But to bring that law again once
they have been delivered from its judgment is to put yourself
back under its condemnation, back under wrath is to drink
the waters of Meribah, is to drink that which is poison. We're
dead to the law, we're delivered from it, we're not under law
but under grace, we're in Christ. Moses my servant is dead. And in Christ our Joshua doesn't
leave us in the wilderness but he brings his people into the
promised land. that land that the Father gives
unto Him and that people is theirs. Go over this Jordan, thou and
all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even
to the children of Israel. He's a Saviour. He doesn't demand
that you do to be saved. He doesn't make conditions upon
which His salvation is earned. but he comes to those who are
helpless and weak and lost, those who are broken in the wilderness
by the law, those who are condemned, those who cannot attain to righteousness,
those who feel the weight and burden and guilt of their sin,
those who cry out to God in poverty, Lord save me, have mercy upon
me, he comes unto such as these, is that you? If it is, He comes
unto such as you in the wilderness and He picks you up and He leads
you through Drod and Drishod and He brings you into a land
which God has given Him and you even unto the children of Israel. A land and inheritance given
to a people, not to all men, not to any who will choose it. but given to the children of
Israel, a people whom God has chosen to save, a people whom
God has chosen to deliver from their sins, a people whom he
has chosen in Joshua in Christ to have that inheritance which
is theirs because of the death of Christ on their behalf. When
Christ died his last will and testament was read out and that
testament says that all his goods will be theirs and those goods
are that land which God has promised them, that inheritance and it's
theirs and no one can take it away from them. And it's only
this, only those who are named in the will and testament, only
those whose names are written in the covenant have the right
to the inheritance. If a family member dies and leaves
his or her goods to their children it is only those named children
or those named people in that will who can have what they leave. It is given to those and none
else and God's covenant is written. It's written with names of the
children of Israel and those who are named in that covenant
are given the inheritance of eternal life. A land flowing
with milk and honey, a promised land, Canaan. It's theirs. It's theirs never to be taken
away and it's only theirs. It's not theirs if they claim
it. It's not there for anyone to
come and claim or anyone to pay a price for. But it's theirs
as an inheritance given to those whom God has named in his covenant. Are you one of them? Has he come
unto you in his gospel in mercy and said unto you that you are
one of my children? and you have a great inheritance
which I have given unto you and I have given because I have slain
my son on your behalf that your sins might be washed away and
that you in him may have eternal life. Have you heard those words? Has
he come to you in his gospel in power and said that thou art
mine? Mine. and this is your land, you are
one of my people. Or are you still serving Moses?
Is the only voice you hear the voice of the condemnation against
your sins? Joshua brings in for his people
life forevermore. a great inheritance for thou
and this people they are one with him they are united under
him they are one with their savior God says under him that I will
give it to them I you and all this people will go through Jordan
into this land that I to give to them you're one with them
you're a son and their sons with you you are mine and they are
your bride you are united He is the bridegroom of His bride,
His people. He is the vine and they are His
branches. They are one. They are fruitful
together. As one they bring forth fruit. I through the law am dead to
the law that I might live unto God I'm dead to the law that
I might bring forth fruit unto God because fruitfulness comes
because I'm one with Christ and it never came when I was a servant
under the law. It's grace it's being one with
Christ well are you? Believer, are you? What are you? Are you a son or a servant? Are
you under grace or are you under law? Are you walking by faith,
entirely by faith, or by works? Are you mixing grace with law? Are you mixing faith with works? Are you one with Joshua? Or are you a servant under Moses'
law? It's one or the other. You can't
mix them. You can't serve Joshua and Moses. You can't serve Moses and Joshua. You can't go back to Moses once
you've come to Joshua. When Joshua's ministry began,
Moses my servant was dead. You cannot go back to him. You
can go looking for his bones and his body, but it will just
bring you under condemnation. You'll find water that is the
water of bitterness. It will slay you, it will poison
you. It's one or the other. Then what
are you serving? Who are you serving? Who are
you walking with? Are you a servant? Or are you,
in Christ, a son? A son who's been brought into
an inheritance that will never be taken away. Brought in because
Christ died for his people and rose again with them on the third
day. Then Joshua commanded the officers
of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people,
saying, Prepare you victuals, for within three days you shall
pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which
the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. In three days
they'd enter through Jordan. And when Christ went to the cross
with his people, he said unto them, in three days we will enter
into a land. He was slain. They were slain
with him, crucified with him. All their sins were taken away
and blotted out. He and they were laid in the
grave. dead. The law had no more to
say to them. As it were, Moses was laid in
the grave never to be brought up again and his law. And on
the third day they rose up with Joshua their Saviour and went
through, and went through to possess that land their inheritance. And they enter in with Him into
eternal glory. And that's where we will be with
Him in the end when we pass from this world into the next, when
our life is brought to a conclusion because of what He did in those
three days, what He did on the cross, what happened when we
rose with Him on that third day. Because of that we will enter
in, into eternal glory when our days are brought to a close,
when our life is ended, when we die as it were and enter into
eternity. If we're in Christ, if Joshua
has been our leader, if we've been wed to him, if he's been
our husband, our saviour, our guide, our kinsman, our lover,
our God, our Lord, our King, if He has been our all in all,
if we are united to Him, one with Him, loved by Him, if He
has delivered us from the condemnation of the law and of Moses' ministry,
if we have known His ministry of righteousness, of life and
salvation, if He is our Bridegroom, if He is our Saviour, then when
we enter into to eternity, we will go not into that place of
condemnation, not to that place where God will send all those
who never knew him, but we will be greeted with a well done,
enter into rest, enter into thy rest prepared for thee enter
into those mansions prepared for thee because my son loved
you he loved you when you were lost he loved you when you were
in darkness he loved you when you were when you were a rebel
he loved you when you heard the gospel and shut your ears to
it he loved you when you resisted he loved you when you were put
under law and knew its condemnation he loved you when you were broken
by it he loved you when you were in despair He loved you when
from despair you cried out to Me. He loved you when I heard
you and answered you. He loved you when I brought you
to look upon Him, the Lamb of God slain in your behalf. He
loved you when your eyes were opened and you cried out and
said This is my God and my Saviour. When you saw the blood pouring
from His side, when you saw yourself cleansed, He loved you when He
cleansed you in that river. He loved you when He led you
forth through your pilgrimage. And I love you now, my good and
faithful servant, my son, the Bride of Christ, I love you now
as you enter into glory. Will that be your end? Will that
be the voice you hear when your days here are numbered? Will
you be with Joshua or will you be laid in the grave with Moses?
Moses, my servant, is dead, but now therefore arise, Joshua,
go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land
which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Praise God, amen.