I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Joshua chapter three. I was thinking, I don't know,
I was meditating on the blessing. The blessing of a heart that's
inclined to rejoice in Christ. I don't know about you, but that's
a gift. To be able to rejoice in Christ.
God has to give you that gift. To be able to see his glory God
has to give you that gift. Don't you fool yourself. Don't
you fool yourself. Whole lot of people are not interested
in the savior. A whole lot of people are not
interested in his glory. A whole lot of people are not
interested in the things that interest God. Don't fool yourself.
And to be able to have your heart filled with the joy of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that's a gift.
That's a gift to be able to find your satisfaction and your completion
in him is a gift. Now, what am I talking about?
I'm talking about being delivered from having to contemplate yourself. You know, when you're stuck on
yourself, you're in trouble if you're honest. But if God gives
you another vision, you're good to go. If he allows you to see
Christ and from your heart, be able to embrace his fullness
and his sufficiency and his glory and his goodness and his mercy,
God's done something for you. If God allows your heart to run
after him, I think it's one of our memory verses, Ecclesiastes
chapter one, verse four, draw me and I'll run after you. Isn't that what the women said?
Draw me and I'll run after you. The daughters of the king have
delighted in your glory. We will remember your love more
than wine. You have brought me into your
banqueting house. You have brought me into the
intimacy of who you are in Christ. And I'm saying, I'm saying if
you're here today with a heart wide open, fully and thoroughly
interested in Christ, God's done something for you. If he didn't
we've got to pray for you because the only vision that matters
Is the vision of jesus christ. That's the only thing that matters
No man has seen god at any time Only he who is in the bosom of
the father watch this now. He hath revealed him john said
in john 1 14 what and we beheld his glory It's in the present
tense. We're stuck on the glory of god
in christ We beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten
of the father, full of grace and truth. Isn't that good? Now
what's happening right here in Joshua chapter three and four,
I hope I can have your attention for that. I'm praying for you
that God will give you, give me your attention for one hour.
The events that are taking place in Joshua three and four are
very important events. Very important events not only
important to the people of that time but to you and to me. These
are very important events Do you remember the memory verse
that we had in joshua? Listen to it now. Let your soul
hear this and joshua said unto the people sanctify yourselves
For tomorrow the lord will do wonders among you The lord will
show himself mighty among you That's what Joshua said. That's
what I'm praying for us right here. Listen to what it says
in Joshua three verses one through four. And I want you to pay particular
notice to verse four, as we prepare to enter into our message. Joshua
rose early in the morning. It sounds like that's a man who
was serious about his business. Isn't that right? I, you know,
I love the King James version. I accept other translations of
the scriptures. There are parts of scripture
where other translations are better than the King James. That's
without a doubt. What I love about the King James is a continuity
of language structure that they were mindful of from both the
old and the new Testament. So though, even though you're
dealing with the Hebrew in the old Testament and the Greek in
the new, when they translate it in the English, They are mindful
of the continuity of phraseology and terms so that when you read
something in the New Testament, it will remind you of something
in the old because of the continuity. And the continuity is important.
And I remember a man who rose up early in the morning when
God had told him, Abraham, I want you to offer your son Isaac up
on the altar to me. And Abraham got up early in the
morning. You know what that means? Abraham believed God. See, when
God calls sinners and he really calls them, they get up early
in the morning. I want to find out what God has
for me. Early in the morning, we get up. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? And Joshua got up early in the morning. I hope
to help us understand exactly why he got up early in the morning.
But early in the morning, he got up and they removed from
Shittim. and came to Jordan. Here we are,
they came from Shittim. Now remember what happened in
Shittim? All kinds of horrible things took place. We talked
about this last week. If you weren't here, get the
CD. It was the place where Israel committed probably its worst
crime against the glory of God. God had to bring judgment upon
them in that scenario. 23,000 died in one day, ultimately
24,000 died. God wiped out all of the old
people in Shittim. He wiped them all out. He finished
his promise to Joshua and Caleb saying the old folks are gonna
die. But here at Shittim, in the place of judgment, in the
place of death, God now is getting ready to move in a way that is
magnificent. And that's the gospel, folks.
It's in the midst of death. It's in the midst of chaos. It's
in the midst of judgment that God rises up with his promises
to his people. And it's just so. So here they
move from Shittim right up to the edge of Jordan. We talked
about this last week. We are at Jordan now. Do you
know how important that is? First of all, it's because as
we learned in Numbers 23, 19, God is not a man that he should
lie, nor the sort of man that he should repent. Hath he not
said, shall he not do it? Hath he not spoken? Will he not
make it good? We believe that, don't we? God has brought his
people to Jordan. That's more important than a
birthday. That's more important than a wedding. Now, wedding's
important now, but we are at a very monumental event here.
I'm trying to get you to understand something. We are at the Jordan.
Every believer knows the significance of what I just said. We are at
the Jordan. God's brought his people from
Egypt to Jordan. If you're a child of God today,
he did that for you. Will you hear what I'm saying? Because
his promises cannot fail. He brought his people to Jordan
just as he said he would. They're there now. They are on
the brink of a magnificent blessing. And if you listen carefully today,
you'll learn something about the Lord Jesus you never heard
before. And if you don't know the Lord
Jesus, say, Lord Jesus, reveal yourself to me today through
the preaching of the gospel. And in fact, you who know Christ,
pray for them who don't know him today, that they might see
his glory here. See, Joshua said the Lord's gonna
do wonderful things, miraculous things, mighty things today. Now listen to what it says. And
it came to pass after three days, do you see that? That the officers
went through the host and they commanded the people saying,
when you see the ark, got it? When you see the ark. of the
covenant of the Lord your God and the priest, the Levites bearing
it. Then you shall remove from your
place and go after, what does it say? It, did you get it? Go after it, but you can't go
after it until you see it. This is important now. I want
you to hear Joshua saying something and listen to what he says in
verse four. Yet there shall be a space between you and it. I
believe that there shall be a space between you and it. About 2000
cubits by measure. This is approximately 3000 yards and a thousand yards rather. And I don't know how many miles
that is, but it's a long way off. the people were to keep
a massive distance between them and the ark so that there is
a clear distinction between them and the ark because what needs
to be done needs to be done with regards to the ark first and
then second did you get that very important now notice what
it says yet there shall be a space between you and it two thousand
cubits by measure do not come near it Do not come near into
it in order that you might know the way by which you must go. Do you see? Now watch this last
phrase. For you have not passed by this
way before. You have not passed by this way
before. You can't cross until he crosses. You can't go until
he goes. You're not gonna even know how
to go until he goes. Are you hearing what I'm saying? This
is very important. Now, I wanna start with our outline.
You can follow me in your outline. This will help you, particularly
those of you who are not quite familiar with the scriptures.
We are at a major, major point of what we call sanctification.
We are at a major, major point of sanctification. Sanctification
is what God does to you. Sanctification is what God does
in you. Justification is what God does
for us. Did you hear that? Sanctification
is what God does to you and in you. And listen to me now, you
can't know God without sanctification. You can't see him without sanctification.
You can't experience God without sanctification, but you won't
have that until justification takes place. It's what God does
for us outside of us in the person of Christ that prepares us to
see him and see his glory. That's already taking place in
Joshua. Now is speaking to the people
and saying sanctify yourselves. We are at a major point of sanctification.
Now the sanctification that I am talking about is not the subjective
sanctification of us preparing ourselves as it were for the
Lord. It's the sanctification objectively
of us seeing something. We are at a major point of sanctification. There are three things that will
be sanctified on this day. Now to be sanctified as you see
it in your outline. Well, it's not there to be sanctified
in this sense means to be honored. It means to be exalted. It means
to be lifted up. It means to be revered. See,
God sanctified his son, isn't that right? And his son is honored
and revered and lifted up. And men and women speak of him
everywhere to to honor something that's sanctified. I quoted this
last week in Isaiah, chapter eight, verse 13, where the spirit
of God says to his people, sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Let him be your dread and your
fear. When you sanctify something, you set it apart. When you sanctify
something, you make it special. When you sanctify something,
you see to it that that sanctified thing is not mixed mingled with
other things that are common. Do you hear what I'm saying?
And when believers sanctify the Lord God in their heart, what
that means is God gives all the glory in their life. When a believer
sanctifies the Lord God in their heart, what that means is they
see God, they see God as exclusively and distinctly different from
everything else. And what's gonna happen today,
what's about to happen right now, are three things are going
to be sanctified. First of all, in this major event,
God's gonna be sanctified. Do you hear that? God's about
to sanctify himself. Listen to what it says here in
Joshua chapter three, over in verse seven, listen to what it
says. And the Lord said unto Joshua, this day will I be magnified
in the sight of all Israel. Do you see that? This day will
I begin to magnify thee. And God's talking about Joshua.
This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel
that they may know that I was with Moses as I was with you. Joshua here is being magnified
in this text of scripture. If you look over in chapter four,
listen to what it says over in chapter four. I'll start at verse
18. And it came to pass that when
the priest Oh no, look at verse 14, here
it is. 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 Joshua's magnified here,
look down at verse 23. For the Lord your God dried up
the waters of Jordan from before you until you were passed over.
as the Lord God, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea,
which he dried up from before us until we were all gone over,
that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord
that is mighty, that you might fear the Lord your God forever.
The account that's before us is designed to glorify God in
this very special event that's taken place. Now, if you go back
to Joshua chapter three, you'll notice something that is of unique
interest. In Joshua chapter two rather,
God tells Joshua to prepare the people. for their crossing over. And in three days, they were
to be prepared. You'll see this here, Joshua
chapter one, verse 10, here it is. 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. I thought about
that and I remember a couple of other occasions where in this
whole idea of the three days was important. Back in Exodus
chapter three, when God met Moses, what God told Moses was to tell
the children of Israel that they were going to be delivered out
of Egypt. And when you talk to Pharaoh, tell Pharaoh to let
my people go, let them go three days journey into the wilderness.
This is Exodus chapter three, verse 18. And I thought back
there, what is the significance of the three days? What is relevant
about them leaving Egypt and going three days into the wilderness?
Here's the first point. When they entered into the wilderness
after three days, they were at a very specific place too. Do
you remember what that was? It was the Red Sea. It was the
Red Sea. What I recognize then is that
what's happening to Joshua here is also what happened to Moses
back then when God told Moses to tell the children of Israel,
tell Pharaoh, let my people go. They came out and in three days
they were at a very monumental point to that was the crossing
of the Red Sea. You remember what happened there?
They got stuck between Pharaoh and the Red Sea and they cried
out, who's going to deliver us? They turned to Moses and they
started badgering Moses about the fact that they were going
to die. And what did God tell Moses to tell them? Stand still
and behold the salvation of the Lord. Now I'm gonna make a clearer
point on that here in a moment, but I also want you to remember
that there's another point at which three days were marked. In Exodus 19, another very monumental
point took place. In Exodus 19, Israel had come
after two months to Mount Sinai, remember that? And at Mount Sinai,
this is what God said, go through all the children of Israel and
tell them to sanctify themselves for on the third day, God shall
speak to you. That was a major point of revelation
as well. And so what I see is this continuity
where God is telling his people be sanctified on the third day.
And I recall saying, so I don't know about you, but in the gospel
of Luke, where Jesus is headed to Jerusalem and Herod is seeking
to kill him, a lot of the Sadducees and scribes tell Jesus, Herod
seeks to kill you. Here's what Jesus says in Luke
chapter 13, around verse three, go tell that Fox. Today I work,
I'm doing cures and miracles, and tomorrow I have to work.
And on the third day, watch this, I'm gonna be perfected. On the
third day, I'm gonna be perfected. And so the idea of the third
day has to do with a point of sanctification or a point of
glorification. And that's where we are right
now. Joshua has been instructed by God in chapter one, to tell
the people to get prepared for the crossing over into Jordan.
And there are a number of things that transpire in chapters one
and two that you don't see there that are significant. For instance,
God tells Joshua what to do. And then Joshua tells the officers
what to do. And then the officers tell the
people what to do. And then Joshua tells the priest
what to do. And I'm cutting this down because
it's very important for you to see something. I recall when
Moses was bringing the children of Israel out of the wilderness,
that he had all kinds of trouble with them. Every time he was
at a particular station, they were complaining and bickering
and murmuring. But if you look carefully at Joshua chapter one,
Joshua chapter two, and we're gonna see here in Joshua chapter
three, there's something that takes place that's of great significance. And you know what that is? Everybody
is obedient this day. Everybody. Everyone is obedient
to the call to cross over. God tells Joshua in chapter one,
listen to it in verse two and three. Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise and go over
this Jordan. You and all this people unto
the land, which I give to you, even the children of Israel.
Verse three, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread,
that have I given you, as I said unto Moses. verse 4 from the
wilderness of Lebanon even unto the great river of Euphrates
all the land of the Hittites and unto the great sea toward
the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not
any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life
as I was with Moses. So will I be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake
you. Do you see that? Be strong, be
of courage for unto this people, for unto this people shalt thou
divide for an inheritance, the land, which I swear unto your
fathers to give them. And God goes on to tell Joshua,
we're about to get some business done. Now, what I love about
this is there is a radical distinction that takes place between the
leadership of Moses and the leadership of Joshua. With the leadership
of Joshua, and you'll see this when we go through the book of
Joshua, in essence, everything that Joshua does will be successful. The crossing over here is unique
because God tells Joshua what to do. Joshua doesn't ask questions. He doesn't complain. He doesn't
demonstrate the slightest unbelief. And then Joshua turns around,
as I said earlier, and he instructs his officers and his officers
go through the camp and his officers tell all Israel, all 1.8 million.
Sanctify yourselves, get ready to cross over. And then Joshua
tells the priest what to do. We see that in Joshua chapter
two as well, Joshua chapter one rather. And in Joshua chapter
two, here's something that happens. And this happened with Moses.
When they got to the brink of the promised land in Numbers
13, remember Moses was inclined to send spies over to examine
the land. And you remember all the trouble
that happened with that? They sent 12 spies over, 10 came
back with an evil report, only two said, let's get busy. That
was Joshua and Caleb. I want you to note that in chapter
two, which is a whole scenario in itself, where these two spies
meet Rahab the harlot, you remember that, right? Rahab the harlot
is the progenitor of the Lord Jesus. She's the Lord's mother,
great, great, great grandmother. But I want you to mark this,
Joshua sends two spies to go spy out the land. Do you know
they do exactly what he says? They don't complain. They don't
bicker. They don't murmur. They accomplished the task for
which they went. They come back. And I want you
to see this in the latter part of chapter two, verses 22 through
24 this way. After that, they had escaped
being pursued by those men of Jericho. They went out and came
into the mountains and abode there three days. Until the pursuers
were returned and the pursuers sought them through all the way
but they did not find them so the two men returned and Descended
from the mountain and passed over and came to Joshua the son
of Nun and told him all That befell them and they said unto
Joshua. Will you listen to this saint
truly? the Lord hath delivered into
our hands all This is a huge difference, I don't know about
you, from the report that was given to Moses that's given to
Joshua. There's something, I want you
to get this now, there's something different about the attitude
and the temperament and the demeanor of the people who are about to
cross this Jordan. And I believe that it's because
God has raised up a leadership that makes the difference. This
is no this is no plight or blight on Moses. God bless Moses. He
brought them to the break, didn't he? He brought them to to the
to the break of the promised land. But we know that Moses
couldn't bring them over. There was another who had to
do that. And what we're seeing here is that God having raised
up Joshua to take Moses's place, the whole attitude of everybody
is totally different. Everybody's compliant. Everybody's
obeying. Everybody's doing their job.
Now when we get into chapter 3 here, as we are about to right
now, something takes place. And here's what I have to call
it. Impeccable obedience. Flawless obedience. Everybody
in the kingdom is doing what God says do. Now, you got to
stop and mark that because when was the last time you did what
God told you to do? Not just one of you, all of us.
I've been pastoring here for 10 years and I can't find one
day where we all together did everything God calls us to do.
But on this day, it's happening. On this day, it's happening.
You know what this tells us? God's already working in the
hearts of these people. to help them possess the land.
He's giving them obedient hearts. Even before they cross over,
he's preparing them to obey him. Isn't that what we need? God
has to prepare our hearts to obey him. So this is what we're
gonna be dealing with. In our outline, the next point
of observation is this. We are at the Jordan. Now you've
heard that several times. Do you know the significance
of the Jordan River? Do you know the significance
of the Jordan River? Some of you will know this next week
when you get baptized. Some of you will know this. The
Jordan River is significant. All you need to do is ask Naaman.
Remember Naaman the leper? He knew the Jordan was significant,
didn't he? That brother knew exactly what Joshua said when
Joshua said, sanctify yourself because the Lord is going to
do wonders among you. Naaman knew that. You know who else
knew that the children of Israel in the days prior to the immediately
prior to the Lord's coming when John the Baptist was raised up
as a forerunner of the Lord Jesus and John was preaching the gospel
pointing to Christ saying repent prepare you the way of the Lord
and all the people came down to Jordan to what to be baptized.
God was already working in their hearts, wasn't he? He was already
working in our wonders were taking place at the Jordan There's another
person who also went to the Jordan. You know who that is the Lord
Jesus In Matthew chapter 3 it tells us that Jesus met up with
John and he told John John it's time for us to fulfill all righteousness
And Jesus entered down into the waters of Jordan, and God baptized,
John baptized Jesus there, and God confirmed him. Did God do
wonders that day? The scripture says the heavens
opened up, the Father spoke from heaven, the Spirit of God descended
on Christ, and it was clear that he was the Son of God. Isn't
that right? God does wonders. at the Jordan. And I'm just here
to tell you, this is what we're going to see today, a wonder,
a wonder by which Joshua will be magnified in the eyes of the
people, a wonder by which God himself will also be magnified
in the eyes of the people. And at the end of the message,
you'll see that the people are magnified by virtue of their
crossing the Jordan in the eyes of the world. All right. Point
number one, As we go forward. There's a process taking place
here. I don't know and I know you didn't have time to listen
very carefully as we read chapters 3 and 4 but chapters 3 and 4
about the crossing of the children of Israel from the wilderness
into the land of Canaan. This is not just sort of a a
recollection of a mass group of people just crossing over
the river. This is not like a news bulletin that the Bay Bridge
is crowded, 150,000 cars stopped, backed up all the way to the
Hayward Overpass. And you have this idea of a jam
and then gradually people just cross over. That's not the way
Joshua wrote this. If you look very carefully at
the format and structure in which Joshua speaks, he's magnifying
certain events. He's magnifying certain people
and he's magnifying certain activities which are designed to call our
attention to how they crossed over, how the people crossed
over. Point number one, look at Joshua
chapter four, verse one. And this is very good. The process
by which they crossed over would secure the safety of every one
of the children of Israel as they crossed over. In Joshua
chapter four, verse one, and it came to pass when all the
people were clean passed over Jordan. Do you see that? that
the Lord spoke unto Joshua. Back up to chapter three, look
at verse 17. He says it again. And the priests
that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry
ground in the midst of Jordan. Do you see that? And all the
Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people were
passed clean over Jordan. Now, why would he say the same
thing in chapter four, verse one, that he says in chapter
three, verse 17? to help us get a point. It's
not merely that the people passed over, it's how they passed over. It's how they passed over. So
I want you to mark the process, because the process is very important.
In our outline, it's very clear that the way they crossed over
was because of the obedience of the priest. The obedience
of the priest. The obedience on the part of
the priest. made it possible for the children
of Israel to cross over. And on this day, there's gonna
be obedience, not only on the part of the priest and on the
part of the people and on the part of Joshua, but on the part
of the river. Have you ever crossed a river
before? Think about this for a moment.
Now, I've never really crossed the river. I've seen rivers and
I've seen their torrents and I've seen how they flow. And
according to our text, the river is flowing mightily today. The
torrents are full. In fact, this is the harvest
time and it overflows at this time. So God's timing is impeccable
as well. But have you ever, some of you
probably, have you ever felt the power of a river? Anyone
here? Hands up. Okay, a few people. You guys
know a river is no joke, isn't that right? It ain't no joke.
When you cross that river, did you honor that river? Yes, you
did. You respected that river. You
understood that if something wrong happens, this river is
going to swallow me up. And you understood also that
the river was so powerful that it could, given the wrong opportunity,
take you where it wanted to take you. Now, God often talks about
rivers and oceans and their power and their might, but he always
indicates in the scriptures how that he has control over those
things. I want you to know that on this day, the river actually
honors the people. And here's how it's done. The
first thing that we need to see is there's something that goes
before the people into the river. You know what that is, right?
What is it? It's the ark. Go back to chapter
three, look at verses three and four, very important. I want
you to see it. Some of you have been here with me before, but
I want us to go back here because this is very important. Joshua
commanded the people saying, When you see the ark of the covenant
of the Lord, your God, and the priest and the Levites burying
it, then you shall remove from your place and go after it. There
shall be a space between you 2,000 cubits. What did God tell
the priest to do? He told them to bear the ark
of the covenant of the Lord up to the brink of Jordan. And when
the priest brought that ark up to the brink of Jordan, he told
them in chapter three to put your feet in the Jordan. Isn't
that what he said? And when they put their feet in the Jordan,
what happened? The waters receded. Isn't that
what it says? Listen to what it says over in
chapter three. Not only did they recede, it's the manner in which
they receded. In chapter three, looking over
at verse 13 through 15, and it shall come to pass as soon as
the soul of the feet of the priest that bear the ark of the Lord
of all the earth shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the
waters that come down from above shall stand upon and he and it
came to pass that when the people removed from their tents to pass
over Jordan and the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant before
the people as they that bear the Ark were coming to Jordan
and the feet of the priest that bear the Ark were dipped in the
brim of the water for the Jordan overflowed all his banks at the
time of the harvest that the waters which came down from above
and rose up a very from a rose up and he very far even from
the city of Adam. That is besides Zeratine and
those that came down to the sea of the plain, even the salt sea,
they failed and were cut off and the people passed over right
against Jericho. Now you have to understand some
of the geographical event here. If you understand the city of
Adam, if you know the geography here down at the Jordan, we're
talking about 20 miles up the river. 20 miles up the river,
God tells the water to stop and become a heap. Now, I don't know,
saints, if we had a wall of water right on the side of the people,
on each side, so that when they crossed over, they could see
a wall of water. I have the feeling that what happens is the water
dried up several miles up the way, and then there was a heap
of wall of water going all the way up to the city of Adam and
draining over into the salt sea, so that the ground was completely
dry before they crossed over. You believe God could do that?
That's what he had to do. That's what he had to do. Now
the ark goes into the water first. Who does the ark represent? The
Lord Jesus. You got that? The Lord Jesus.
The ark represents God. It represents Christ. This is
good news for a sinner today. I want you to hear me now. See,
the River Jordan is very significant too. But in order for the River
Jordan to divide, to separate itself for the people to cross
over, the ark has to go in. Joshua knew this, this was God's
plan all the time. This is why process is so very
important. And so Joshua tells the priest, you go into the river.
And these priests bear the ark into the midst of Jordan. As
soon as they touched the water, it starts backing up. They go
all the way into the midst of Jordan, and guess what they do?
They stand there. You got that? Is that hard to
do? Listen, two men bear the ark. We talked about this last night
in the men's meeting. Two men bear the ark in the front, two
in the back. They go smack dab into the middle of Jordan, and
they stand there, and the waters recede. The people are what? 2,000 cubits away. They see this
happening. And then Joshua tells them to
proceed across the water. They proceed across the water
because the ark is in the midst of the river. Now, what does
the river Jordan signify? It signifies sin and death. I
heard somebody say that, sin and death. It signifies affliction. It signifies the curse and the
wrath of God upon our souls. Isn't that right? And here, here,
this river is working its way all the way back up to where?
The city, Adam. You heard that before? The scripture
says, for by one man, what entered into the world? and death by
sin so that all have what? The river is backing all the
way up to the beginning. Now that word Adam is the same
word Adam in Genesis 3, 17. Now I know that we are merely
talking about a physical miracle here, but we're dealing with
redemption here. And this is very important because in order
for me to cross over Jordan into the promised land, Jesus has
to enter into the river. And so the ark enters into the
river and it sits there. That ark, as we have learned,
represents God's covenant, his pact for his people. We talked
about this as we were dealing with the whole building of the
tabernacle. When you look at the ark of the
covenant, there are two things you need to understand. The ark
of the covenant represents God's righteousness. his holy impeccable
character in nature. In the Ark of the Covenant is
the broken law, isn't that right? In the Ark of the Covenant is
the manna in that golden bowl, that manna. Now that manna represents
the humanity of Jesus Christ. In the Ark of the Covenant is
Aaron's rod, that what? Body. That represents Jesus as
the chosen high priest of his people. And we learned last night
that that Ark of the Covenant represented God as king over
his people. But also in the Ark of the Covenant
is not only the testimony of God's righteousness in Jesus
Christ, but the Ark of the Covenant testifies to your sinfulness
in mind. Isn't that true? Every point
of that Ark teaches us something about our sinfulness. What do
we know about the law of God, Saints? We broke it. Didn't we
break his Ten Commandments? God told Moses after the children
of Israel broke the Ten Commandments, make another set of tables and
stick them in the ark. Isn't that what he said? What
do we know about the manna? We know that even though it came
down, Israel complained about it, didn't they? They rebelled
against God because they didn't like this thing called God's
manna. And ultimately they crucified God's manna, didn't they? So
here's what we understand about the Ark of the Covenant. It gives
us a testimony of two truths. God's righteous and we're sinful. Well, you hear what I'm saying?
This is the gospel. God's righteous and we're sinful. But saints,
the righteousness of God and the sinfulness of man was met
in one place, in the ark. Who is that ark? Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? And so then
Jesus Christ represented in the ark goes into the midst of Jordan. and sits there. And you know
what happens? He makes it possible for all
of God's people to pass over. That's why we preach salvation
by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. That's why we
preach salvation is not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but by his mercy, hath he what saved us. So we see that
the priests have obeyed Joshua. They go down into the water and
in the waters, the waters receive. And now all the people, all the
people pass over. Now I'm making emphasis on that.
Cause not some of the people passed over, all of them passed
over. Not most of the people passed over, all of them passed
over. Do you believe that? I remember telling you a few
months ago as we were dealing with the numbers, how many people
came out of Egypt? And how many people would go
into the promised land? And the numbers are here in your account.
You don't have to go there. In Exodus chapter 12, around
verse 37, it was marked out that there were 600,000 men plus women
and children who came out of Egypt. Everybody that God had
ordained to come out of Egypt came out. If you go to the book
of Numbers, and it's in our account concerning that too, in the book
of Numbers, it will tell you precisely how many people came
out of the wilderness into the promised land. You know how many
it was? 600,000 men plus women and children. There wasn't one
person for whom God had determined to come out of Egypt to go into
the promised land that God missed. The same number that came out
of Egypt went into the promised land. Some of y'all know what
I'm getting at, don't you? Jesus said in John chapter six,
verse 37, and this is the will of him that sent me of all that
the father had given me What? I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up at the last day. Isn't that good? See, I want
you to understand, you may not be able to appreciate this, but
I'm hoping you will in a moment. I appreciate this because I know
how much a rabble rouser those group of Hebrew people were.
They were a bunch of sinners. They're not like you, but they
were a bunch of sinners. And they all should have perished
in the wilderness. Shouldn't they? They all should have perished.
Every one of them should have perished. And I don't know about
you, but if you were to look carefully, even at the children
who were younger, who were destined to cross over, they were just
as sinful as their parents. They were just as unbelieving,
just as rebellious, just as doubtful as their parents. But why did
God bring them into the promised land? Because he promised his
son. that he would have a people for
himself. And you and I, if we believe the gospel, are merely
objects of his grace. Hear me now, we don't cross over
because of who we are or what we do. We cross over because
of who he is and what he did. And the manner in which they
cross over is also unique, because I want you to understand something.
The children of Israel have a very great privilege this day. Point
number one, the Ark of the Covenant, of which I've made mention of
several times now, because the text makes mention of the Ark
of the Covenant several times. The children of Israel, particularly
these 20 and under, they never saw the Ark. Will you hear me
for a moment? They were in the wilderness all
that time, worshiping God week in and week out in the tabernacle.
But the Ark of the Covenant was in the Holy of Holies. Wasn't
it? And the only person that could
see the Ark of the Covenant was the high priest. Once a year. Listen to me. Everyone else was
told what the Ark looked like. And then you have to make up
your own ideas of what that meant. The ark was a mystery to all
the children of Israel. It was a mystery to the Levites.
It was a mystery to the Aaronites. It was only seen by the high
priest. You understand what I'm getting
at? And even though Israel made several encampments, 42 to be
exact, according to numbers 33, do you know what the instructions
were when they were to carry the ark of the covenant? The
ark of the covenant was to be covered over with badger skin.
so that as they journey from one camp to the next, no one
ever saw the ark. Are you ready for this? If you
will see the ark of the covenant, and Joshua said in Joshua chapter
three around verse four, when you see the ark, isn't that what
he said? When you see the ark of the covenant,
if you will see the ark of the covenant, folks, you're gonna
have to see the ark of the covenant in the midst of Jordan. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? If you're going to see the Ark
of the Covenant, you're going to have to see the Ark of the Covenant
in the midst of Jordan. Now, what did we learn? The Ark represented
Jesus, God's righteousness, man's sinfulness wrapped up in the
God, man, Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? He who knew
no sin became what? Sin for us. He assumed a sinful
nature in order to condemn sin in the flesh. So we have wrapped
up in hypostatic union, the God-man Jesus Christ, the one who was
able to be righteous and the substitute for sinners at the
same time. But you can't see him until you
enter the Jordan. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Follow this. Now, this is very important now, very important,
because we're going to talk about here in a moment the significance
of the Jordan event. Imagine 1.8 million people. I really want to try to drive
this home. Sitting at the brink of Jordan, 1.8 million. And Joshua says to the people,
do not move until you see the ark of the covenant 1,000 or
2,000 cubits ahead of you in the midst of Jordan. And once
you see it in Jordan, follow me, saints. Once you see it in
Jordan, then I want you to get up and go after it. Can you imagine
all 1.8 million just marching down? And as they're marching
down, guess what? They're seeing the miracles of
God. The river is just spreading and
they're crossing that river. They're crossing that river.
Now follow me, saints. They're acting in obedience,
aren't they? Because God said go over. Crossing the Jordan
is equivalent to believing the gospel. Crossing the Jordan is
equivalent to believing Christ. Crossing the Jordan is equivalent
to looking to Christ alone as the sinner substitute. Am I making
some sense? Now watch this now. As you cross Jordan, guess what
you get to see? The Ark of the Covenant. As they
all pass by, Each one of them get to see the Ark. They never
saw the Ark before. Am I making some sense? They
never saw the Ark before. They get to see the Ark in unveiled,
full disclosure, all two and a half feet wide, two and a half
feet long, three and a half feet long. They get to see the gold. They get to see the cherubim
over the Ark. They get to see the staves that
held the Ark. They get a vision of the Ark
that you can't get unless you go into Jordan. Am I making some
sense? This is what God meant when he
said to Joshua, this day, will I glorify you? This day, will
I magnify you in the eyes of the children of Israel? This
day, will they know, will they know that as I was with Moses,
I'm going to be with you. And here I'm trying to get you
to understand something by way of application. Men and women
can hear things about Christ. You can be taught didactically
truth about our savior. You can read the scriptures and
you can even learn the doctrines of grace. But until you enter
into the Jordan, you won't see his glory. This is just true. Am I making some sense? All right,
now let me ask you the next question. What is entering into the Jordan
significant of? We said the Jordan represents
sin. It represents a death. Isn't that right? For us to enter
into Jordan means you and I have to die. Isn't that right? It represents our death. Do you
believe that? We are voluntarily entering into
death in order to see God's glory. Now, if it signifies death in
the word Jordan in the Hebrew, if you want to write this down,
the word Jordan in Hebrew means to descend. Literally, it means
to descend. If it signifies death, what's
the doctrine being taught here? Anyone know? Baptism. Write this down. The doctrine
being taught right now is baptism. You believe that? It's very clear. It's very clear. Can you see
it? Watch it now. Romans chapter 6 verse 3 says
what? Know ye not as many of us as
were what? Baptized into Christ have what? Entered into his what? Dab. We
entered into his death. Next week, a number of you are
going to, by emblem, picture the very thing I'm preaching
today. Do you see it? See, that whole group of Israelites,
all 600,000 plus of them, represent God's people. Do you know that?
They represent every one of God's elect. They represent everyone
for whom Christ died. Guess what? Christ went in first. Did he? I love it. John chapter
14 says, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I'll come
back and receive you to myself that where I am, you may be also.
And you know what? He says, you know, the way I
go, you know, the way Christ went the way of the what cross.
and he was obedient even unto the death of the cross. Isn't
that right? Isn't this amazing? In this Old Testament historical
account, we have the liturgy or the doctrine of the death
of Jesus Christ crossing the Jordan. Can you see it? Am I
stretching this? Or is it clear? In order for
us to cross over out of the wilderness into the promises of God, you've
got to be in Christ. Am I making some sense? In order
for us to cross over, Christ has to die for us first. And
so what we see here are the people have the privilege of, through
the obedience of faith, to cross over Jordan. And as they cross
over, they see God's glory. Now tell me something, saints,
isn't it true that the only way we're gonna see God's glory is
in the crucified Christ? You might love the philosophical
Christ. You might even enjoy the Christ
of miracles. You might even enjoy the loving
Christ, the one who has a perfect nature and he loves and serves
God in impeccable obedience. We all are attracted by the character
and nature of Jesus Christ, aren't we? But do you know Christ's
perfect righteousness, his perfect character, his perfect obedience
to the father means nothing to us unless he's crucified? unless
he enters into Jordan first. Are you following what I'm saying?
And so the people of Israel, when I said that we're at the
brink, they were at the brink of a major transition. They had
that foreshadowed, or rather in this sense, it would be anticipated
in the future by Naamans going into the water, being baptized.
By the children of Israel going into the waters, being baptized
under John the Baptist, and by Jesus going into the Jordan.
and being baptized by John the Baptist in God, God confirming
the significance of the river. The doctrine in view is indeed
baptism. Baptism teaches us that the sinner
who looks to Christ and trust Christ, when Christ died on Calvary
street, guess what? They did too. Isn't that a glorious
doctrine? Now, some of you say folks may
not be right rejoicing in this, but let me ask the question.
Is there a sinner in the house who needs a savior. I've got
one hand up. Is there a person, listen to
me now, is there a person here who know, listen to me, who know,
you know what you are. You're like me, you're a sinner.
And you know, apart from the mercy of God, you deserve Israel.
You and I got good sense, the rest of the folk don't. Listen
to me now, will you listen to me as I begin to wrap this up?
Listen carefully to me. I want you to hear this. Your
only hope and my only hope is that we identify with this one
who has already gone into the Jordan for us. Did you get that?
If right now by faith you can see this Christ that I'm preaching,
don't move. Stay right where you are. I don't
want no decisions for Jesus. Don't want you coming up to the
altar. Don't want you praying the sinner's prayer I don't want
you promising anything. Just listen to me now. I'm talking
to real sinners. I'm not talking to church folk
I'm talking to real sinners Listen to me right now If you see the
ark of the covenant by faith in your heart right now, just
do one thing go after it Just go after it. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? Just go out. I didn't say go
to church. You can come to church, but I
didn't say go to church. I didn't say learn doctrine.
You need to learn doctrine, but I didn't say learn doctrine.
I said that if you see Christ in him crucified right now, just
go after it. Believe him. Believe Him. See, some of you need to be delivered
today. I know that. We all need to be delivered constantly.
That's why we preach Him all the time. And the children of
Israel needed to be delivered from their wilderness sojourning.
They needed to be delivered from being nomads. They needed to
be delivered from an aimless circling in the wilderness with
no purpose in life. They needed to be delivered from
that. You do too, I do too. The only way we're gonna be delivered
is through this river called Jordan. and by this one who entered
into the river for us. His name is what? Jesus Christ. Now watch this now. Watch this
now. I wanna wrap this up this way.
It's in our outline. In your outline, it has four
glorious truths. Four glorious truths. In my outline,
I have seven glorious truths. It's early enough. I can give
you all seven. Here's the first of the four
glorious truths. Listen carefully to me. It's
the preaching of Jesus Christ that makes it possible for sinners
to pass from death to life. Did you get that? That's seen
in our text. I want you to hear this now.
It's the preaching of Jesus Christ that makes it possible for sinners
to pass from death to life. Religion won't save you. Forms
of religion won't save you. Right doctrine won't save you.
Zeal won't save you. Knowledge won't save you. Penance
won't save you. Some of you have been in penance
for years, trying to get your heart right with God. Listen
to me, that won't save you. The only thing that's gonna save
us is a crucified Christ. But that Christ has to be preached,
doesn't he? All right, let's see the picture
now. When God commanded Joshua to cross over, Joshua commanded
the officers to tell everybody to be sanctified. Then Joshua
told the priest, you priest, I want you to bear the Ark of
the Covenant. And I want you to go down right
into the midst of the Jordan. Isn't that what he said? Now,
you know, they bore that Ark of the Covenant, according to
the law on two staves. You know that, right? On two
staves. Those staves I've shared with
you before are two fundamental doctrines. The first is obedience.
The second is faith. Or you can call it faith and
obedience. It is the obedience of faith.
Romans 16, 25 says we, we, we, we command all men to, to, to
believe the gospel according to the obedience of faith. Here's
the point. You have to believe the gospel.
You have to trust Christ for your salvation. Now watch this
now. And the ones who are exalting the ark, they do too. They do
too. Now watch this. See, if I tell
you to cross over Jordan and yet I stand back and say, no,
I won't cross over. I'm gonna just let you cross over. I'm telling you
to believe something that I don't believe. Are you ready? But God's
called me to preach the gospel. So here's what I do. I, by the
grace of God, as a Levite, take the ark and I stand smack dab
in the middle of Jordan, right along with my other preacher
gospel brethren. And here's what we do. We just
stand there. Are you hearing what I'm saying? We stand there.
Watch this. Now this is simple. See, God
doesn't require rocket scientists to preach the gospel. He doesn't
require engineers to preach. It doesn't take a whole lot to
hold a pole. My job is to simply stand right here and let the
ark be seen. Isn't that good? Now watch this
now, stand there and don't do anything else. We believe that
it's through the preaching of the gospel that not only are
sinners saved, all sinners are saved. Everyone for whom Christ
died shall be saved this way. by preachers obediently standing,
lifting up the ark. Did you get that? Now watch this
now, they don't only stand and lift up the ark, they stand in
the midst of Jordan, lifting up the ark, which means they
have to be a first partaker of the power of the gospel. Am I
making some sense? You Levites who represent faithful
gospel preachers, you exalt the art, but you better step in first.
You put your foot by faith on the brink of Jordan and you watch
Jordan move and then you go all the way in the middle of Jordan
and you stay there and you keep preaching the same message week
in and week out, month in and month out until all of God's
people do what? Pass clean over. Did you get
that? No new programs. No new methods. No innovation. People not getting saved by songs.
They're not getting saved by different techniques. They're
not getting saved by discussions. They're not getting saved by
testimonies. They're not getting saved by
anything but the preaching of Jesus Christ. Isn't that good? And so what the priest did was
they entered into Jordan and they stayed there until everyone
crossed over. And what is teaching us is the
perfection of the preaching of the gospel. That is Christ not
was crucified for us, Christ is crucified for us. And it becomes
for us the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believes. Thirdly, in the preaching of
the gospel, God's glory is manifesting. We know this, don't we? We know
that when the gospel is preached, men and women can see Christ
for who he is. Fourthly, in the preaching of
the gospel, God honors that gospel, brother Mack, to open up the
river, to open up Jordan and let sinners come across. Do you
hear what I'm saying? He said, exalt my son, lift up
my son, preach Christ, just keep preaching Christ until they all
come across, every one of them, until they all come across. Now,
what's going on with the stones? Remember that in chapter four?
Go there with me, I want you to see this, we'll wrap this
up. In chapter four, it tells us, it came to pass that when
all the people were clean, passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake
unto Joshua and said, now you take 12 men out of the people,
out of every tribe of man, and command you them saying, take
ye hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where
the priest's feet stood firm, 12 stones, and you shall carry
them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where
you shall lodge this night. What's that all about? Why do
that? Well, the Jordan is dry now,
you can go in. And when you go in, you take
12 stones, not 13, not 11, 12, because each stone represented
each what? Tribe. Each man represented each
tribe. We are in the Old Testament system
dealing with a patriarchal system. And so the heads of the nations
represented the nations, they represented the people. So they
went in and they all took a stone out of Jordan. Listen to me,
saints, you couldn't do that while the river was overflowing.
They took each one of them a stone out of Jordan over into Gilgal
and they placed the stone. Joshua said in Joshua chapter
four that he pitched the stones. And remember what it said? When
the children of Israel inquire of the Lord, what are these stones
all about? What were they supposed to say?
These stones are a memorial. to remind you what God did for
you when he brought you through the River Jordan into the promises
of God. Isn't that right? Who do those
stones represent? The people of God. Are you ready?
They represent sinners who have been raised from the dead. They
represent chosen sinners who are now living stones in the
temple of God almighty, who have been raised from the dead. See,
we were dead in trespasses and sins. We were under the wrath
of God, but we have passed from death to life through the Lord
Jesus now. So Joshua says, take out 12 stone
and set them on the side. You know what he also said? Take
12 other stones and place them in the river. Look down at verse
nine. I'll start at verse eight. And
the children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, took up 12
stones out of the midst of Jordan as the Lord has spoke, according
to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, carried
them over with them unto the place where they lost and they
laid them down. Verse nine. And Joshua set up 12 stones in
the midst of Jordan. in the place where the feet of
the priest that bear the Ark of the Covenant stood and they
are there unto this day. Look at verse 10, I love this. For the priest which bear 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 haste and they passed over. Isn't that good?
And you know what happens? These priests are doing their
job in this one job. And all that is, is exalting
Christ. And the people pass over. And
once the people pass over, the Jordan is still dry. Joshua says,
okay, now drop in the 12 stones. He drops in the 12 stones. And
then he tells the priest, now it's your turn, move out. And
the priests move out. You know why? Because the priests
have to be saved too. The priests represent the people.
The 12 tribesmen represent the people. And the waters immediately
overflow as soon as the priests come out. Isn't that right? Isn't
that what the text says? Immediately, as soon as the priests come out,
the waters overflow again. Is this not indicating? the importance
of the preaching of the gospel? Is this not indicating the importance
of the obedience of faith? Is this not indicating the importance
of the exclusive rights of Jesus as savior of his people? Is this
not indicating how important it is for us to stay on point
when it comes to the salvation of sinners? If we're gonna see
sinners saved, all the way saved, we can't change our program.
See, this is big to God. It's big to me. I hope it's big
to you. They all pass over safely. They all pass over safely. And
now those 12 stones on the outside become a memorial. See, chapter
three is the crucifixion of Christ and our death in him. That was
a once for all act. never to be repeated again. The
Jordan will never again dry up in the literal sense in which
it did. The people will never again literally cross over Jordan
again. Christ died one time. Before,
by one offering, one sacrifice has he forever put away sins
for those who are sanctified. You know that, right? One time
Christ died. But do you know how often we
remember his death? Every time we preach the gospel.
Today, we're about to remember his death. Isn't that right?
In the Lord's table, we're about to remember the one who loved
us and gave himself for us. We are going to remember these
things, that he's a great savior. We're great sinners. I hope I
have no argument with that from you. You are a great sinner.
That when Christ died, listen to me, he put away all of our
sins. Do you believe that? See, this is what we need to
remember, that the Jordan was dried up all the way to Adam,
all the way back to Adam. Everyone in Adam who are in Christ
had access to enter into the promise. Now, I want you to get
this, because this is important and we won't be able to develop
this today. We have moved from death to life. We have moved
from the wilderness to the promised land. Do you know they're in
the promised land now, Brother Mack? They're there. God fulfilled
his promise. They're there. What that means
now, and you don't see this, but in chapter three, around
verse nine, the last verse, verse 17, it says, and all the people
clean passed over. In the Hebrew, the word is, the
Hebrew word there is distinctly different from other, the word
is goi. Generally in the Hebrew, we have
for the heathen or the Gentiles, the word goyim. Hebrew people
know that, isn't that right? The idea of goyim is the idea
of nations, people groups who have a certain territory, a certain
possession, a certain land. Do you know the Israelites are
called goyim here? In verse 17 and in verse one
of chapter four, and all the goyim passed over. What are you
talking about preacher? Here's what I'm saying. Until
they actually landed on Canaan, they didn't have their possession.
They were just a traveling people. They were just a group of nomads.
They had promises that were given to them, but the promises weren't
realized. You and I, until we come to know God in Christ, we're
just wandering sinners. We may be chosen of God, but
we're wandering sinners. Until we come to know God in
Christ, until we see that when Christ died, we died, and when
he rose, we rose too. Until that experience occurs
by faith, by the power of the spirit of God, you and I are
not a nation. But once it happens, guess what?
We're a nation now. That's why Peter could say, you're
a holy nation. a peculiar people. You are lively
stones in the temple of God. Now watch this, ordained unto
good works. Now the people of Israel are
over in Jordan and over in the land of Canaan, having crossed
Jordan. What we are gonna come to see in weeks to come, saints,
are beautiful pictures of the success of possessing the land
while as Joshua is with the people. The book of Joshua is gonna show
us this marvelous accomplishment of God's promises to the children
of Israel. That's what he said in chapter
one to Joshua. Joshua, you're gonna take the land. Joshua,
we're gonna drive out all the inhabitants. Joshua, you're gonna
divide the inheritance to the people. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? It was without equivocation. There was no doubt. After Joshua
dies, that's when the people get in trouble. And the lessons
are gonna be worthy of our hearing. Because as long as we keep preaching
Christ, as long as we keep exalting Christ, as long as Christ is
present by his spirit, by his grace in the gospel, then we
possess the land. But let Joshua die. Let Christ
die. Stop preaching Christ. And you'll
see all kinds of trouble happen to the people of God. Are you
hearing me? So you remember the one who went
in before you? And listen to me, I mean this to those of you
who don't know our savior today, go after him. And it's simple,
just go after him by faith. Don't be doubtful, don't be fearful.
Don't worry about, well, what about all my sin and my evil?
He's a great savior. He came to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Do you believe that? We're about
to observe the Lord's table. And those of you who are believers,
you are welcome to join us at the Lord's table. The Lord's
table is gonna teach us once again, that man does not live
by bread alone, but by every word of God, which proceeds out
of God's mouth. And man lives because Christ
lives. So as we partake of the Lord's
table, I wanna encourage those of you who are believers, if
you really trust Christ today, you're resting in his righteousness.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? You're not looking to your own
good works, you can partake. If you believe you're saved by
something you did, something you're doing, or something you
will do, you don't get to partake. The table is for sinners who
are looking to Christ alone. Amen.