As you may all know already,
we've been going through the books of the Bible and today
we're in Joshua. The book of Joshua, if you would
like to turn their. Joshua chapter one. Been very encouraged by going
through the books of the Bible and having to. Search and pray
and have a need that the Lord would show us his face in each
of these books that we've been through thus far, and it's very
clear and apparent in Joshua Joshua's broken into basically
three different segments. The first 12 books of Joshua
is the conquest of Canaan, of the land of promise. It's the
children of Israel being brought into Canaan and then conquering
those, the Canaanites, those in that area, in order to establish
what the Lord had promised them in order for it to come to pass.
After they do that, chapters 13 through 22 is the dividing
of this land that was just conquered. And then the last two chapters
are Joshua's final salutation. Now the name Joshua means Jehovah
is salvation. And that's exactly what I've
titled this message Jehovah is salvation. And if you look up
the word Jesus in the Greek in the New Testament it is the exact
same word as Joshua with the exact same definition Jehovah
is salvation. Jehovah means is the name that
he give to Moses at the burning bush. Do you remember in Exodus
chapter three, when the Lord appeared unto Moses in the burning
bush, well, as they converse, by chapter six, the Lord tells
them that your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, knew me by
the name Jehovah. And so he tells them that he
is the existing one, that he is the self-sufficient one, that
he is the I am, the one true God. This is what Jehovah means,
the Holy One of Israel, as he's referred to so often. So how
can Jehovah be salvation? Because Jehovah in and of himself,
in and of his expressed person is the existing one, the one
that's unapproachable by man. He's unapproachable by man in
and of themselves. So how can he be salvation? Well, the name Jesus is the exact
reason that he can be the salvation of his people, the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see that here throughout
the entire book of Joshua, the Lord bringing his people, fulfilling
the promise that he made of bringing them to his place, to the promised
land. And so let's read chapter one,
verse one. 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. Now we know from previous messages
that the Lord's given us even here listening that the law is
Moses and Moses represents the law. Moses could not enter into
the promised land. It was not possible for him to
enter the promised land because being a type and picture of the
law, where the law came, the law cannot bring us into the
promised land. It cannot lead us into the promised
land, but it can bring us to Joshua. And Joshua's responsibility
was then to bring the children of Israel into the promised land.
But the only way that you and I can enter into the promised
land, the only way that we could have salvation of the Lord is
that if the law was completely fulfilled. And that's what it
says right here in verse one of chapter one, now after the
death of Moses. After the law had been fulfilled,
then we were brought unto the Lord in salvation by the Lord
Jesus Christ, by the one that is called Jehovah is salvation. Now, if you look back in Exodus
34, just right above this passage, you'll see that Moses was, in
verse seven, it says, and Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his
natural force abated. And in verse 12, it says, and
in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which
Moses showed in the sight of Israel. Now understand the law
could not be diminished for the Lord's people to be saved. It
wasn't that the Lord turned a blind eye to some and said, okay, I'm
gonna give you salvation. It was that the law had to be
fulfilled. It could not be diminished. It
could not be cut down or watered down in any way. It had to remain
true. It had to remain what it was
and be fulfilled. This is why we need a substitute
is because we cannot fulfill this law. We cannot keep the
Lord's law, but Jesus Christ, our substitute did. He says that
his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. That means
that the natural man of Moses was not diminished in any way. And God's law cannot be diminished
in any way. He has to be just. He has to
be just. And the only way that he can
be just and the justifier is in the person, the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Joshua. We see that the law could not
bring us to the promised land, as I mentioned before. It's limited
by our flesh. The scripture says that our flesh
is weak. The law could not be satisfied
by us keeping of the law. Our flesh is weak. But the scripture
says in that the law was weak through the flesh, God sent forth
his son. made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that are under the law. The Lord Jesus Christ
did fulfill God's law. In Galatians 2, verse 21, Paul
was speaking and says, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for
if righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Now, do we understand that keeping
the law is works? It is what's being preached all
over in many different religions, but certainly in Christianity,
every man believes that they can work to keep God's law in
some way, shape, or form in order to appease the wrath of God.
But the law did not bring salvation. The law did not bring salvation.
The law bring damnation. The law showed us what we were.
The job of the law was to bring us to our Joshua. That's the
law's responsibility. It's our schoolmaster. Us being
born in sin, shaped into iniquity, we know We can't keep God's law,
not one way, not one iota. We heard, I can't remember which
message it was, but I believe it was last week whenever the
Lord gave us on the re-giving of the Ten Commandments. Do you
remember? He gave it back to him. It was the exact same as
it was the first time. God did not change. He says he's
the same yesterday, today, and forever, and he demands justice
for the trespass of the law. This is why it's silly for us
to think that we can offer ourself up unto the Lord, that we can
do something in order to please God. Because if the law brought
righteousness, Christ's death is in vain, is what Paul was
just saying there. We do not keep the law. We do
not frustrate the grace of God. We cleave unto Christ, our Joshua. We cleave unto Him to bring us
into the promised land. And He did. He did bring us into
His promised land. He did bring us and presented
us as righteous before the Father. He's already done that. This
is why Jehovah is salvation. Turn with me to Galatians 3.
Brethren, we need one that bore this curse of the law the curse
of the law in his body for us. We need a substitute before the
Lord. We need one that is righteous, one that fulfilled the law before
the Lord. And in Galatians chapter three, we have good news of this.
In verse 10 of Galatians three, it says, for as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. but that no man is justified
by the law. That's as clear a passage of
scripture of justification by the law as we'll ever get. That
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. That's it.
We cannot be justified by the law. It is evident for the just
shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith.
The man that do with them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed. Now there is the interjection
of the gospel, isn't it? Christ hath redeemed. There's
our good news. Joshua, our Lord Jesus Christ,
hath redeemed. It's already been done. He hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. This is the reason why, brethren, in verse 14, that the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. This is what the Lord did for
his people. He was cursed. He was, you and I, first of all,
are cursed. We're sold under sin, sold under
the law, and we need a redeemer, but the Lord Jesus Christ had
to be cursed under the law for you and I to be set free from
the law. We had to, we had to, we, he,
had to be made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. Brethren, when he says
here in verse 10, cursed is everyone that continue with not. We are
the ones that cannot continue in the law. We're talking about
perfection. This is what God demands in his
law. Holy perfection. Every I must be dotted, every
T crossed, and you and I cannot do that. We're not capable. Do
you know why? Because we're born in sin. We're
shaping into iniquity. We are sinners by nature. We're
sinners by practice. What I mean by practice is, as
I've mentioned this before, a dog does not bark to become a dog.
It barks because it is a dog, and a dog certainly will bark
because it's thus. You and I practice sin. We don't
even mean to do it. It just comes out of us because
it's what we are in the eyes of the Lord. A man told me recently
he hopes when he dies and when he stands before the Lord that
he's done enough. And I said, enough for what? Enough for the Lord
to let me into heaven. And my response to him, and I
was gentle with him, but I told him, you're talking about your
good works, atoning for your bad works, as if the Lord has
a scale and he's balancing the scale to see if your goodness
outweighs your badness. Brethren, we're totally depraved.
Our badness hits rock bottom on that scale. There's nothing
that needs to be balanced. We've been found wanton already.
That's the declaration of the law. We've been found wanting
and we need a substitute, the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ
that fulfilled this law. He continued. He continued in
the book of the law, continually looking unto his father. He kept
every law of his father. He declares to us that no man
is justified by the law in the sight of God. You know why? Because
the law cannot atone. The law cannot atone. The law
came by Moses, but grace and peace came by the Lord Jesus
Christ. His blood, without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. His blood is the atonement of
our transgression against God's holy law. The law cannot atone. It cannot. It was not made to
atone. It was not made to give atonement
unto the Lord's people. It was made to show them, this
is what you are and bring you unto Joshua for him to bring
you into the promised land. That is what the law was given
for. Now in verse 12, he tells us
that the law is not of faith. This is a very clear declaration
that gives us understanding that if a man tries to keep the law
thinking that it's going to save him, he's mistaken because the
law is not a faith. It takes faith in order to please
the Lord. Men trying to work is something
that they can see evidence in their life that they're better
than so-and-so and that justifies them in their mind. This thing
of keeping the law is that we're trying to produce something that
God would be satisfied with, or something that God would be
pleased with, but that's not a faith. Faith looks to Christ. Faith clings to Christ, and that's
what the Lord's pleased with. For by grace are you saved through
faith, in that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of
works, not of you keeping the law, not of me keeping the law,
lest any man should boast. If it was of the law and we could
keep it, Do you not think that we would all stand high and mighty
of one another and think how good we are and how wonderful
we are and look down upon others? No, it's all by grace, isn't
it? We're mercy beggars coming before our Joshua saying, Lord,
bring me into the promised land. There is one, you remember the
city of refuge that we talked about a few weeks ago? There
is one that has right to kill me. There is one that has declared
that justice must be executed upon me. Flee to the city of
refuge. That's what we have to do. Our
Joshua, we must flee to Christ. He's the only place where the
law cannot touch us because we're in him and he fulfilled the law
of God perfectly, perfectly. The law is our schoolmaster,
brethren. It brings us unto Christ. It brings us unto Christ. Romans 3.31 says, Do we then
make void the law through faith? So if someone hears that you
don't have to keep the law, If someone, if they hear me say
that, they say that the law has already been fulfilled, it's
already been kept, the natural response to that is, well, I
can live however I want to then. That's the natural response of
man. And so Paul asked the question, do we make void the law through
faith? God forbid. Yay, we established the law.
How do we do that? Well, it's in verse 13. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. That's how we establish
it, by looking to Christ our substitute, by looking to Joshua
and his finished work, not our finished work, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. To whom coming, the scripture
says. We are continually coming as
mercy beggars, saying, Lord, I cannot keep your law. I see
that I'm a wretched sinner. Have mercy upon me, the sinner.
This is not a one-time thing. This is a daily thing. Paul said,
I crucify the flesh daily. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. That is exactly how we establish
the law. That is how Jehovah is salvation. He causes us to look unto Christ
as all. Why does he do this? Well, he
tells us in verse 14 that we might receive the promise of
the Spirit through faith. What is the promise of the Spirit?
Is it not eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord? That's the promise
through the Spirit. You hath he quickened. "'You
hath he made alive. "'He hath breathed upon his elect,
"'and they have been made alive unto eternal life.'" That, that
is what he's talking about, the promise of the Spirit through
faith. And we know that it is the faith
of Christ. It is not our faith or something
that we produce. It's not something that we do in and of ourself.
It's something we have been made to do because he's bestowed his
faith upon us. And let's go back to Joshua 1. Joshua chapter one. The law has died. Because Christ
Jesus fulfilled it. Yay, he fulfilled it in his people. He fulfilled it in his people.
Now, here is the charge of the Lord unto Joshua and chapter
one verse seven. Only be thou strong and very
courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all
the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from
it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper
whithersoever thou goest. Brethren, we see that Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness sake. We see that Christ never
turned to the right hand, and he never turned to the left hand,
but he was fully persuaded, looking unto his father, in complete
communion with his father all the time, honoring his father
in deed, in thought, in action, in word, in every way possible.
He did not deviate, and he fulfilled the law in doing so. that you
and I might be made the righteousness of God in him. That is our hope. Look in chapter three in verse
one. Joshua rose early in the morning. Joshua rose early in the morning
and they removed from Shittim and came to Jordan. He and all
the children of Israel and lodged there before they passed over. Now look at verse five. Joshua
said unto the people, sanctify yourself for tomorrow the Lord
will do wonders among you. Joshua spake unto the priest
saying, take up the ark of the covenant and pass over before
the people. And they took up the ark of the
covenant and went before the people. Now it starts here by
saying, and Joshua rose up early. Now understand at this, this
parallel that we have here is the Lord Jesus Christ, who not
only rose up early, but he did not sleep all night. In the garden
of Gethsemane, being in agony, he looks unto his father in his
heart, and he says, Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. He was doing business with God
even then, as the cup that he looked into, knowing that it
was our sin that he was going to have to drink. He was gonna
have to drink the bitter dregs. Every bit of the cup of God's
wrath was gonna be poured out upon him. and the agony that
this brought upon him, the separation, knowing the separation that he
would have to endure from his father brought such great agony,
he sweat great drops of blood, the scripture says. He tells
us, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He
had never been separated from his father. Do we understand
that that's what eternal damnation, that's what hell is, is separation
from God. Our children are learning right
now about the light and the darkness. The absence of light is darkness,
but you cannot create darkness. It's just the absence of light.
That is what hell is for eternity, is the absence of God's light,
the absence of God's goodness, the absence of God's mercy, his
grace, his love. It's completely removed, left
to yourself forever and ever and ever. Now, hell itself is
not enough to make a man desire Christ. The rich man lifted up
his eyes in torments in hell and said, Father Abraham, send
Lazarus that he may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue for
I'm tormented in this flame. Hell itself is not sufficient
in order to give man faith, is it? That man wanted one more
drop of water. He didn't want the fountain of
living water. And such is us if left to ourself. So our Lord
is looking into this cup, the separation from his Father. He
says, Father, if it be possible, it was not possible, was it?
It was not possible for him to not drink of this cup and for
you and I to be redeemed. He had to become the substitute
for sinners. He had to have kept the law perfectly
and been made sin for his people, for you and I to be set free,
for you and I to be saved, and he did so. Now, he took ownership of our
sin. I want you to think about that.
He became sin. It was imputed into him that
righteousness would be imputed unto us. This imputation is a
thing of substitution. He who knew no sin became sin.
Now, we as sinners, as men and women, as in the flesh, we do
not take ownership of our sin. Did you know that? We do not.
The way that I can give you an example in that regard or to
prove it to you, if I could say it that way, would be what's
the first thing you do when somebody attacks you? If something was
to happen, you instantly justify yourself, don't we? We do. Somebody
accuses you of something, and certainly if it's something vulgar,
something ugly, something that's just downright nasty, we certainly
would, if we know that we're innocent, we will immediately
defend ourself, won't we? And even if we're guilty, my
daughter, all my daughters have been caught lying to me. They've
been caught doing different things, and what do they do? They try
to lie to get out of the first lie. They try to justify themselves
after they're caught finally, and they say, well, You know,
I didn't really mean to say it that way, and I'm this, and I'm
good, and I'm not as bad as it. You know, that's what we do by
nature. The Lord Jesus Christ took ownership of our sin. And
do you know what else, who else takes ownership of our sin? Our
new man. Our new man is the one that says
guilty. Our new man is the one that throws
his hands up and says, have mercy on me, the chief of sinners.
Our new man, who is created in the image of Christ, who is perfectly
righteous before God, says, have mercy upon me, the sinner. It's
the one. It's the one that's not guilty before God. It's the
one that's righteous before God. But our new man takes ownership
of our sin, our old man's sin, just as the Lord Jesus Christ
took ownership of our sin. Ain't that amazing? The Lord
Jesus Christ took ownership of his people sin and our new man
certainly takes ownership of our sin and says guilty before
the Lord guilty. But the law says no, I see no
sin. I see no fault in this man. If we're in Christ, there is
no fault. There is no guilt. We kept the law perfectly. Now
look in verse verse 11 of Chapter 3. Behold, the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord "'of all the earth passeth over before you into
Jordan.'" I would remind us that this Ark of the Covenant is the
place where the Lord said, I will meet with you. This is the only
place that we can worship God. It represents the Lord Jesus
Christ so clearly. The Ark of the Lord of all the
earth passes over before you into Jordan, into death. Jordan represents death. "'Now
therefore take you 12 men "'out of the tribes of Israel, "'out
of every tribe a man, And it shall come to pass as soon as
the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of
the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters
of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from
the waters that come down from above and they shall stand upon
a heap. This Jordan represents death. Just about every time in the
script, yes, it's a real place. It certainly is a real place,
but it represents death throughout the scripture. The Red Sea represented
death for the children of Israel, just like this represented death.
So here they are on the western side of Jordan, wanting to go
into the promised land, but yet they had to go through death
in order to get to the promised land, in order to get to the
place of the Lord's promise. Now we know that the wages of
sin is death. So we are required to pass through
death. We are required to pass through
death. Our only hope is that we do not have to endure the
second death. Every man will die. Every man has an appointment. I was speaking to someone this
week that talked about punching a time clock. And he said, eventually
I know I got to punch that time clock and my time will be over.
I said, that's not the part that scares me. The part that scares
me is after that. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord, and it's appointed that the man
wants to die. And after this, judgment. Judgment. That's what
scares me. What if I'm not found in Christ?
What if I'm not found in the one that as soon as he entered
into death, Jordan parted for him? What if I have to endure
the wrath of God? It would be an eternal wrath,
eternal separation. That's my fear. But the good
news of the gospel is, brethren, that he hath put away the sin
of his people, and he hath conquered death. He hath conquered Jordan
for his people. Our high priest, the Lord Jesus
Christ, containing, now think about this, what was in that
ark that the priests were carrying? There were three things, weren't
there? Three things. The manna, the golden pot that
had the manna in it, that's the bread of life, is it not? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This was the priest's responsibility
to carry the ark with these items in it, and one of them was the
bread of life, the manna. The second is Aaron's rod that
budded. We found this in Hebrews chapter 12. I forgot to mention
that. Or Hebrews chapter 9, rather.
But understand that it had Aaron's rod in it that budded. Well,
what does that represent? Well, it represents life out
of death. It was a dead stick and God made
it to live again. God calls it to bud again. That's
the eternal life that he gives his people in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He causes, and he did that on a tree as well, did he
not? He did it upon a tree. So this rod represents what we
have in Christ is new life because our substitute hung upon a tree
for his people in the rod of Aaron that budded. And the last
thing that's in there is the table of the covenants, the 10
commandments, the thing, the very thing that points us to
Christ, that leads us to Christ, that draws us to Christ, that
shows us what we are and shows us that there is a savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now here we have Christ. Our
high priest bearing this ark up, keeping the law of God perfectly,
bringing salvation as the bread of life unto his people, enduring
the wrath of God upon the cross of Calvary, having drank the
cup, having been made sin for his people, the eternal wrath
of God being poured out upon him and every sin that he was
bearing in his body has been completely remedied, completely
paid for, completely done away with, he satisfied the wrath of God so that you
and I are now called justified. Every time I say that word, I
want to elaborate upon it as Todd Nabbert does because I love
the definition of justified. In religion, I heard it's called
just as if I'd never sinned. I heard that many times. That's
not true because if it's just as if I hadn't, that means I
did it one time and now it's just as if I hadn't. Justified
means never had. You've never sinned one time.
That's the glorious news of the gospel. That's what the Lord
did for his people in putting away their sin. He didn't make
it disappear. He absorbed the fire of God's
wrath until all the sin was paid for by his own death. Paid for,
put away. It wasn't swept underneath the
rug. He didn't just hide it. He put it away by the death of
himself, enduring the wrath of God. That's what he did for his
people. And as soon as every sin, every
sin that you and I will ever commit as the Lord's people,
every sin that we are, everything that we have done or will do
as the elect of God, as soon as it was put away, he cried
with a loud voice, it is finished. Father into thy hands, I commit
my spirit. And he bowed his head and his
foot touched Jordan. as the sinless lamb of God that
hath put away all of our sin and Jordan had to part because
he had no sin in his body any longer. When Christ Jesus entered
into death, he was sinless. He was sinless because the wrath
of God had already been extinguished in his person and the sin had
been put away. Do we see that? He didn't enter
into death He didn't enter into death with sin upon him. It had
already been accomplished, or he wouldn't have said, it is
finished. If there was something else that he had to do after that,
then it is finished would have been a lie. But it was finished. All the sin was put away so that
when he entered into death for his people, when he entered into
death on our behalf, Jordan had to part. The very moment his
soul touched the water, it had to flee away from him. It had
no claim upon him. It had to release him. We see this. His words are evidence
in this regard. It is finished is is the greatest
words that a believer could ever hear, knowing that our sin had
been put away, knowing that we have been made the righteousness
of God in him, knowing that we have complete union. Once again,
we've been reconciled to God. We are one with God because of
the death of Jesus Christ. After this, After his death,
he steps into Jordan for his people. And the scripture talks
about, as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three
nights, so shall the son of man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights. Understand that God is timeless. The spiritual
realm and the realm of time are so different than each other.
There is no seconds in time that passes by. So as soon as you
die, and you enter into the spiritual realm, time doesn't exist anymore. So three days and three nights,
was instantaneous as far as it's concerned. Now, did he spend
three days? Yes, absolutely, according to
man's time, but as soon as he touched death, it was instant.
He was alive again. Death could not hold him. It
could not hold him. Now, in time, yes, it was three
days and three nights. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying.
I'm not contradicting myself here. I'm trying to get us to
understand that it's the same thing that applies as if we're
in Christ right now, we've always been in Christ, and time hasn't
had an effect on that. It's instantaneous. We are in
him now, just as we're gonna be in him forever. So rather
than to continue trying to elaborate on that, I'm just gonna say that's
just the truth of it, and we just believe it, amen? Death could not hold him. Death
had to part as soon as he touched it. There's no sin, and all of
those that were in the Lord Jesus Christ, all of those that were
in the Lord Jesus Christ, it had no claim upon them either.
It had to release us, brethren, us. Jordan parted for us, the
believer, those for whom he died, those for whom he perfectly kept
the law and shed his precious blood. Jordan has to let go. It cannot hold us. We don't have
to face the second death because the Lord Jesus Christ did it
for his people. In verse 17 of chapter three
of Joshua, it tells us, and the priests that bear the ark of
the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst
of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until
all the people were passed clean over Jordan. Everyone that the
Lord died for is in Jesus Christ, has been presented as perfectly
righteous before the Father. Someone was talking about faith
this week to me and was mentioning how does faith exactly work in
regarding of salvation? Is faith necessary for salvation?
Absolutely. It'd be foolish to say it's not.
But faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity before time
ever began. And it is bestowed upon his people
in time according to as it comes to pass. When the Lord sees fit,
he bestows it upon his people. But as far as God's concerned,
we've already been given the faith of Christ to believe upon
him. It's called perennial grace. Prior to even believing him,
we believe him and don't even realize we believe him. He's
gonna make us to know the truth. and we believe Him. Faith just
looks to Christ. What does that mean? That means
all those that the Lord died for are going to pass over this
Jordan because they're looking unto Joshua. Jehovah is salvation. They're looking unto Him as their
salvation. They're looking unto Him alone
for their salvation. Now, in closing, I want to look
at chapter 4 in verse 1, and we'll read a few verses. And
it says, it came to pass when all the people were clean passed
over Jordan, that the Lord spake unto Joshua saying, take you
12 men out of the people, out of every tribe, a man, and command
ye them saying, take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out
of the place where the priest's feet stood firm, 12 stones, and
ye shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging
place where you shall lodge this night. And Joshua called the
12 men whom he had prepared of the children of Israel out of
every tribe a man. And Joshua said unto them, pass
over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan
and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder
according unto the number of the tribes of the children of
Israel. This is all the elect of the
Lord, and these 12 priests, is the Lord Jesus Christ bearing
up the ark, but these stones, every time we see the number
12 referring to the children of Israel, that's the Lord's
elect. That's the Lord's people, and it even says the chosen men.
The Lord is showing us here that the ones that he brought over
Jordan are the ones that he died for, his elect bride. Those are the ones he's carrying
over. And it says in the very last verse that I read, Verse
five. Oh, I've lost my place, I'm sorry.
I wanted to read verse nine. And Joshua set up 12 stones in
the midst of Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests
which bear the ark of the covenant stood. Now this is it, brethren,
right here. This is the good news. And they are there unto
this day. They are there unto this day. We're there right now. I don't
know how to explain that to you. But the Lord doesn't do something
temporarily as far as salvation is concerned. Salvation is eternal.
Therefore, if I am in Christ right now, I've always been in
him. I am there right now. I don't understand that, but
I believe it. And that's what he's telling
us here is we are there right now. We are already there. Now
quickly turn with me to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. Someone might say that they don't
believe that we're already there, but I want to point out to us
that according to the scripture, we've already been glorified.
That's what that means. So let's look in Romans chapter
eight, in verse 28. And we know, brethren, aren't
you glad there's some things we know? We know. We know that
all things work together for good, to them that love God,
to them who are thee called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he called. Whom he called,
them he also justified. In whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God elect? It is God that justified. God that justifieth. Brethren,
do we see that All this is past tense for whom He did predestinate. He called, that's past tense.
Whom He called, He justified, that's past tense. Whom He justified,
He glorified, that's past tense. Yes, it happened in time, but
the Lord Jesus Christ, He's already done it. He's already done all
of this for His people. He's already glorified us according
to being made to the image of the Lord. We're just gonna find
out when we got there that we've always been there. Ain't that
amazing? We've always been there. We've never not. We've always
been there. That's the glorious news of the
gospel. The 12 stones that these men brought have already been,
that the Lord Jesus Christ has already, that the Lord Jesus
Christ brought these 12 stones as a memorial, have already been
brought over and set down and they are there until this day. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God. It is God that justifieth. Now the last place I want us
to see is back in Joshua chapter four, Joshua 4. And in verse 22, He tells us,
Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over
this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up
the waters of Jordan from before you until you were passed over
as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from
before us until we were gone over, that all the people of
the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty,
that you might fear the Lord your God forever. He said previously
in Romans chapter eight, who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Paul, speaking of the love of
God, just shortly thereafter, he said, who shall separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus? Saw tribulation
or peril or stress or famine? He goes on to say, I am persuaded. I am persuaded. He knows this
is something Paul knew. the hand of God that he's speaking
of right here this mighty hand in Joshua chapter 4 had been
made known unto Paul in Romans chapter 8 and he says neither
death the Jordan neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities
nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height
nor depth nor any other creature that don't leave much room for
anything else does it none of them Nothing shall be able to
separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Christ did it all and put us in himself, putting away our
sin, and we cannot be separated from him. We can't mess it up.
That's the good news. So that the earth might know
the hand of the Lord that is mighty, that ye might fear the
Lord. That word fear means worship.
That you might worship the Lord your God forever. He dried up
the Jordan for us, didn't he? He brought us over safely, presented
us unto himself, a peculiar people, a sanctified people, a glorified
people, a people set apart, made perfectly righteous by the blood
of Christ. He brought us safely home. Something
I forgot to mention that I'm going to mention now, there wasn't
a single drop of water that got on the children of Israel as
they were crossing. Not one drop of that water, not one drop of
Jordan. They walked across on dry ground, upon the rock of
ages, upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that not us? Not one drop
of water from the death of Jordan can touch the elect of God because
he hath fulfilled the law, kept it perfectly, satisfied God's
wrath. Death could not hold him. Death
could not keep him, and you and I has no claim upon us. This
is why Jehovah is salvation. Father, bless your word according
as you promised. Cause us to rest in your finished
work, not looking unto ourself, but looking unto Christ. It's
in his name we pray, amen.