Okay, this evening then we want
to take a look at the last part of Joshua chapter 8 from verse
30 down to verse 35. As I usually do, I usually find
a verse that has some words and I use part of the verse, part
of the word in the verse for a title. That way we can kind
of get a hold of what is being said. And the title comes from
verse 30 in Joshua chapter 8. Then Joshua built an altar unto
the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. So the title is the altar
of the Lord at this mountain named Ebal. The altar of the
Lord at Mount Ebal. Now in this text here, there
are two mountains that are mentioned. Down in verse 33, we see Mount
Gerizim, and then we see Mount Ebo mentioned as well. Now, it's
interesting that Gerizim means fruitful, fruitful, fruitful. There upon that mountain, the
blessings of the Lord were read to those people who were separated
by God and put upon that Mount Gerizim. Then the other mountain
that is mentioned there is Mount Ebal, which means just the opposite. One means fruitful and plentiful
and abundance of goodness. Mount Ebal means barren. It is a barren, rocky place. You couldn't get a plow in the
ground to plant anything. It was a place near Mount Ebal
where God designated those people and half the tribes of Israel
and put them over on Mount Ebal. And it was a place where the
curses of the law were read. God made a distinction, divided
Israel, some on the right hand and some on the left. And we'll
get back to that in just a minute. In Deuteronomy 11, 29, we read
this. Thou shalt put the blessings
upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal. Now, this is the Lord's doing
and it's marvelous in our eyes. Now, why was this altar of sacrifice
built on this particular spot, Mount Ebal? Well we know Israel
was commanded to do so by the servant and prophet of the Lord,
Moses. God gave this to Moses. We read
just a moment ago in Deuteronomy 27. Therefore it shall be when
you've gone over Jordan. Notice he speaks in such definite
terms. It shall be when you go over
Jordan. And this was spoken a good while
before they actually came to Jordan, that ye shall set up
these stones which I commanded you this day, and do it in Mount
Ebal. Now the exactness of God and
the order of God, everything we read is relative to the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It never ceases to amaze me as
we study through the Old Testament how everything points us to Christ
in the gospel. You see this Mount Ebal and the
reason that God told them to put this on the mount where the
curses of the law were read Because it also foreshadows the place
of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. Remember,
Calvary was called the place of the skull. It was a place
of death. Where upon Mount Calvary the
blessed Savior, where the curse of the law and the sin of God's
elect was placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what happened
at Calvary. When He bare our sins in His
own body on the tree, He endured the curse and penalty of that
law, which was death, right? The Lord Jesus Christ died. according to the curse of the
law. The guilty must die. Now you
remember how Joshua led Israel to a great victory over the city
of Ai. They had the victory by the command
of God and they were told how to win the battle. You remember
God gave Joshua the battle plan And we know the Lord Jesus Christ
is called the captain of our salvation. And the Lord gave
Joshua the battle plan to win the battle by setting an ambush
and taking the city of Ai. They could not fail in this fight
because this was God's fight. God was fighting for them and
God was fighting through them. We serve the God who is God,
who cannot fail. And everything he undertakes
for his covenant people, he knows nothing of failure. He knows
everything of success. We read in the book of Romans,
remember, if God before us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? You see these
command, the victory they had over Ai, as we read sometime
back from Psalm 44, God commanded deliverances for, Israel. They won the victory by the command
of God. They had deliverance from the
enemy by the command of God. And that's the only way that
we have any victory. The only way we have deliverance
is by the command of God. We've been delivered from our
sins by the command of God. But something most interesting
here takes place. After the victory is secured,
They were told to march to the Mount of Ebal. Now you can look
at your map in the back, and I love to study maps. I can look
at a map all day long. I've got a map program on my
computer. I've got a map program on my
phone, and I can open up that map app, and I can look at a
map and study a map all day. I love maps. I don't know what
it is, but I love to look at maps. But this, I got to looking
at this place from where it was from Ai, up north, up to a town
near Chicum, and there you see these two mountains. They're
actually on your map if you look in the back. But according to
the scale of the map, the way I figured it is somewhere around
20 miles. So that's about a whole day's
march. Something interesting takes place after the victory
is secured. They are told to march 20 miles
to this Mount of Ebo and construct a very special altar upon which
to burn offerings unto the Lord. Now this was a blood sacrifice. And every blood animal sacrifice
always points to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And through
those burnt sacrifices, they give us a type and picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ who is our peace offering. Notice it
says burnt offerings and peace offering. And because the Lord
Jesus Christ endured the wrath of God for us, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this was given by
Moses while they were yet on the other side of Jordan. We
know all of this was done in a way of preaching the gospel
to those people in that day. All this was done to preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to these people in type, picture,
and shadow. Now, we read, and I've quoted
this verse so many times, but I've written it down so I can
get it just exactly right. Romans 15, four, whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning. written for
our learning that we, through patient and comfort of the scripture,
might have hope. You see, the foundation of faith
is what? Not feelings, not our emotions,
oh, how they change. The foundation of faith is the
word of the Lord. The object of faith is the Lord
Jesus Christ, but we have a foundation to stand upon. The things we
believe, we believe because that is what the Word of God teaches
us. That we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. And I love what the
Apostle writes to the Thessalonians. He said, we have an everlasting
consolation and a good hope through. Remember that next word? Grace,
grace, grace. I love how that word grace almost
sounds like Christ, doesn't it? You ever notice that? Grace,
Christ. One and the same, is it not?
The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, here's the first thing I
want us to look at. The altar at Eba. Then Joshua built an altar, see
verse 30. and to the Lord God of Israel
in this particular spot, Mount Ebo. As Moses, the servant of
the Lord, commanded the children of Israel as it is written in
the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones over which no man had lifted
up any iron, no tool. And they offered thereon burnt
offerings unto the Lord. Now that's key. The sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ is offered not to men, is it? It's unto the Lord. And sacrifice,
peace offering. Now this altar, several things
here I want to look at. This altar was the altar of the
Lord God of Israel. It's His altar. It's His sacrifice. The Lord said, I am God. We read
this many times in Isaiah, don't we? I am God. Beside me there
is no other. The only just God and Savior.
Beside me there is no other. Remember when Paul was in the
city of Athens, Greece, and he noticed all those different altars
to different pagan gods. And his heart was moved, he was
stirred. And then it says in verse 23
of Acts 17, there was an altar there unto the unknown God. Now the altar we have The altar
of sacrifice we have is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not an unknown
God. It's the Lord God of Israel. Remember, the altar of God sets
the blood sacrifice apart. It sanctifies it as unto the
Lord. Upon this altar, it's set apart,
set aside, and what is offered on that altar is offered unto
the Lord. It sets it apart, it sanctifies
it, it separates it unto the Lord. You remember from our study
in Hebrews, I love the book of Hebrews. It talks so much about
Christ, so much better than the angels, better than Aaron, better
than an Old Testament priesthood, better offering, a better covenant. established upon better promises,
but one thing it mentions there is Christ, He is our altar. He's the altar of sacrifice. I've told you over the years,
and I don't know who came up with this saying but I heard
it years and years ago and it stuck with me, it stuck to me,
it stuck in me. The Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed
his humanity on the altar of his deity. You see it's his deity
who he is that sets the sacrifice apart as unto the Lord. It's not just some man from Galilee
died, This one who dies upon Calvary tree, the place of a
skull, the place of a curse, would none other than the God-man,
mediator, God, manifest in the flesh. It is who he is that gives
eternal merit, eternal power, eternal glory, to this sacrifice. God bought the church with His
own blood. Behold the Lamb of God upon this
altar, and the altar is Christ Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ
is not only the sacrifice, He's not only the altar, but the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest who brings that special
sacrifice and offers it unto God. And what did He bring? Not
the blood of bulls and goats. Remember Hebrews 9, verse 11 and 12. He didn't bring
the typical animal sacrifice. He brought his own blood, having
obtained for us eternal redemption, not with the blood of bulls and
goats, but with his own blood. Now, aren't you glad that we
have an altar? Christ is our altar. Aren't you
glad we have a sacrifice? His blood. Aren't you glad that
we have a great high priest who can represent us unto God and
be our mediator unto the Lord? He is the sacrifice. He is the
altar. He is the great high priest.
And I'll go one more. He's a God to whom it's offered.
He is God our Savior. How can it fail? How can it fail? This is the sacrifice that the
Lord has appointed. the Lord Jesus Christ dies the
appointed death at the appointed time for the appointed people
for the appointed purpose his glory. Now second thing the place
of this altar was constructed where it was constructed at was
the place where the curses of the law were read as we read
a moment ago in Deuteronomy 27 verse 4 and 5. The law of God
we know says stop your mouth You're guilty before God. You
remember from our study in Romans chapter three, the law of God
curses us because it says, cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of law to do them.
The law of God curses us because we are sinners. Now, if we weren't
sinful, we wouldn't have any violations
against the law. The law of God curses us because
we've sinned against God and we have broken His holy law. We're all lawbreakers. We're
convicted felons. We've all sinned to come short
of the glory of God. We've broken all 800 precepts
of that law. Because if you violated one,
you violated the whole body of the law. I like what my friend
Brother Nybert says, Pastor Nybert down in Lexington. He says, we've
not kept one law one time. We've not kept one law one time.
We cannot not sin. We've not kept one law one time.
That's right. We have not loved the Lord our
God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, nor have
we loved our neighbor as ourselves. We're guilty, guilty, guilty
before God. The Lord Jesus Christ as our
substitute and by His blood sacrifice for our sin, suffering the penalty
of that law, now we have peace with God by His burnt offering. He consumed the wrath of God
for us. Now under the law, The fire consumed
the sacrifice. Upon Mount Calvary, the Lord
Jesus Christ consumed the fire of God's wrath. Therefore, in
Christ, there is no condemnation for us who can lay anything to
the charge of God's elect. Well, name it. Bring it up. The Lord Jesus Christ has already
justified us from all our sin. You know the reading from Colossians
1. He made peace for us with his own blood. We have peace
with God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then thank God for Galatians
3.13, Christ the God-man mediator has redeemed us from the curse
of the law. This is the best news. This is
the good news of the gospel. I don't know why preachers want
to put folks back under the law. Oh, we got to go back under the
law to be sanctified. Oh, we're justified at Calvary,
but we got to go back to the law to be sanctified. Really?
Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our justification.
The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us. God speaks from heaven, said,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Isaiah 42,
21 said, he will magnify the law and make it honorable. He honored the law of God for
us. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law. You remember in Matthew five,
I came to honor the law of God. Here's the third thing about
this altar. This altar was built by the instruction God had given
unto them, particularly speaking about the stones. They were to
be whole stones with no man-made tool. You know how we, when we
lay up stone, I know when I laid that stone up over to the house,
I fired up my air compressor with an air hammer chisel. And
if it just didn't fit just right, well I chiseled it until it did.
Split some of those stones in half so I could make them spread
out a little bit further. But this altar of God were to
be used, no man-made tool was to be applied to any whole stone,
as it says there. Now what does all that mean?
We read the reference there, Exodus 20, 25. And let me read
it to you. If thou wilt make me an altar
of stone, thou shalt not build it with hewn stone. For it thou
lift a tool upon it, you have polluted it. Now what is that
teaching us? What is that teaching us? The
altar was to be built by stone that God had shaped, not by the
tools of man. Now have you ever noticed stones
that have been laying in a creek bed for a long time? You can
identify one in a heartbeat, can't you? When you see those
fireplaces laid up with that stone that comes from the gravel
out of the riverbed, you can identify them because they rolled
and rolled and rolled by the power and providence of God.
He has shaped them. He has molded them. He has formed
them according to His doing and His liking. Tools of men were
to touch any of the stones built in this altar. But rather these
stones were fashioned by God, purposed by God's power, and
they were to use what the Lord had provided and given unto them. And we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is that foundation stone that God has laid in Zion for
us. Now, and here's the point. Here's
the gospel point. We're not to add the tool of
our merit, the tool of our works. You knew that's where I was going,
right? We're not to bring the work of our hands, the tool of
our hands, the merit of our hands, and add to the altar sacrifice
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it's all of
God. It's all of grace. It's all of
Christ. Christ is all and in all. We stand complete in Him. Man's
device, Man's merit or righteousness can add no beauty, no glory to
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You just mess it up. Imagine
someone, those famous European artists, Picasso or One of those
guys getting a masterpiece all painted up and ready for the
marketplace, and here comes a wandering man down the street and takes
a look at it, and he said, here, give me that brush. Let me just
touch it up a little bit. Well, you'd ruin the whole piece,
wouldn't you? You'd ruin the whole piece. You see, it's not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but it's according
to His mercy. He saved us. I tell you, give me another illustration
of this. You know, Brother Marvin Stoniker,
who was here last week, is a very accomplished professional artist. He made his living doing portrait
and doing Civil War scenes. You can find his work. I have some of them hanging in
my house and in my study. But he went to Mexico one time
and he wanted to, Walter and Betty wanted Brother Marvin to
paint a portrait of them. Brother Marvin is an expert professional
artist. And he was about to finish that
all up, and Brother Cody come along and said, Brother Marvin,
can I help you? Just let me add a stroke in here
somewhere. He said, get away, you'll just
mess it up. Now that pales in comparison
to think that any poor sinner can bring the merit of his righteousness
and stick it to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and then step back and said, hmm, look what boy. You see,
that's why salvation has to be only all of grace, not of works. God forbid we should glory. Christ
crucified is all that God requires, right? This is His Lamb. Christ crucified is all that
God requires. We have no part in it. Not in the accomplishment of
it. Now we enjoy the fruit of it. We enjoy the blessings of
it. Christ crucified is all that God requires. We have no part
in it. That's why Paul said, I'm determined
not to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Christ crucified is all that God has provided for us. Remember he's called Jehovah
Jireh, the Lord will provide. And only that which God has provided
will he accept. Christ crucified is all that
God will accept. We're accepted in the beloved.
That is why we glory. We glory in what God glories
in. God glories in the cross of Christ. And that's why we glory, being
taught of God, seeing the necessity of the cross, and the glory of
the cross, and the accomplishment of the cross, and the purpose
of Christ crucified, we glory, we glory in that always and only. Now, here's the second thing
I want us to look at. In Joshua chapter eight, from
verse 32, 33, down to verse 34 and 35, there
is a great deal made about the written word of the Lord. And he wrote thereupon the stone,
the copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence
of the children of Israel, and all Israel, notice all Israel
now, their elders, their officers, their judges, stood on this side,
the Ark, and on that side before the priest and Levite, which
bear the Ark of the Covenant." Now you can't get away from this
either. There's the altar and the Ark. The Ark of the Covenant
is what? It's a picture of Christ. The
Ark of the Covenant. What was on top of that Ark of
the Covenant? The Mercy Seat. That's where God said, I will
meet with sinners upon the mercy seat, and the blood upon that
mercy seat on the day of atonement, which bear the ark of the covenant
of the Lord, as well as the strangers, as he that was born among them,
half of them over against Mount Gerizim, half of them over against
Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded before
that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read
all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings according
to all that is written in the book of the law." You see, they
made much of the word, didn't they? And there was not a word
of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before
all the congregation of Israel, with the women, The little ones,
the strangers that were conversant or that lived and walked among
them. Now, we know from Joshua when
the people received the law of Moses and wrote upon the stones
of the altar so that all could see. As we read there in Deuteronomy
27 verse 2 and verse 8, it repeats it. The stones were to be plastered
or covered with some substance. Then the word of the Lord or
the summation of the law was written upon the stones of the
altar so all could see what God demanded of them. Now, the priests
were carrying the Ark of the Covenant. Within the Ark of the
Covenant, you remember what was in the Ark of the Covenant? The
tables of stone written with the finger of God. Now, why didn't
they just take the tables of stone? In our thinking, we would
think, Wouldn't they have been much more impressed if Joshua
would have been told to take the stones out of that Ark of
the Covenant and hold them all up so everybody could see? But
no, leave those where God put them on tables of stone written
with the finger of God and you take the summation of that law
and you write upon the stones of the altar that were plastered
with this special plaster so that all who walked by could
see the written word of the Lord. The people, they could not touch
that ark. They could not even, and they
certainly could not look into that ark without terrible consequences,
could they? You remember the story of Uzzah? When that ark was put upon that
cart that was being led by two oxen and the
oxen stumbled and the ark started to fall and Uzzah said, I'm going
to help God. Stuck out his hand and steadied
the ark and God killed him. So then Joshua was told to write
the words of the law upon the stones of the altar so that all
could see and read the word of the Lord. And here we see the
Lord our God makes much of the written word. It is to be publicly
read and received by the Lord's people into their heart. Now, why is it so important that
we read the Word, that we hear the Word, and that we preach
the Word? Well, we're commanded to do so.
But also this, faith comes by hearing the Word of the Lord. Those who have not heard the
Word of the Lord do not have saving faith. Mark it down. Faith
comes by hearing and hearing the word of the Lord. We should
always make much of the written word. I make much of the written
Word every time we have a service, a Bible study, reading the Word. We start our service with reading
the Word of the Lord, and by praying and asking God to bless
His Word. We should always make much of
the written Word of God, not only publicly, but in our private
life, because it tells us of the living Word, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Word is quick and powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword. The Word, the Lord Jesus, was
made flesh and dwelt among us. All the people and all Israel
were to receive the Word of the Lord. The greatest prince was
not excused. The poorest stranger was not
excluded. Women and children, they were
to hear the Word of the Lord. I thought about this and I wrote
it down. I believe it's so. Our attitude toward the written
Word of God revealed the condition of our heart. Now you think about
that a minute. Our attitude toward the word
of the Lord, the written word and the living word, reveals
the condition of our heart. That's so. David said this, to
thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false
way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.
In 1st Thessalonians, We read, For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, because when you received the word of
God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of
men, not as the word of Paul, Titus, but as it is in truth,
the word of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe it. The Bereans were more noble than
those in Thessalonica in that they received the word of the
Lord with all readiness of mind and searched the scripture daily
whether these things be so. Let us be swift to hear the word
of the Lord and slow to speak. But there's something else here
that's given in verse 33 and I've just got a few It won't
take me but a few minutes to get through this. Something else
was given here in verse 33, the last part of verse 33. There was a division here. God
divided the people and this arc seemed to be the dividing point.
Six tribes were put on Mount Ebal. Six tribes were put on
Mount Gerizim. half of them over against Mount
Gerizim, half of them over against Mount Ebal as Moses the servant
of the Lord had commanded before that they should bless the people
of Israel. Now, the tribes of Israel were divided
by the command of the Lord as we read there in Deuteronomy
27, 11 and 12. Six tribes were put on Mount
Ebal Six tribes were pulled on Mount Gerizim. and blessed. Six tribes were put on Mount
Ebal and they heard the curses of the law. Six tribes were put
on Mount Gerizim and they heard the blessings of the reading
of the law, the blessings that were involved. And here's the
point, God made a difference. That ark, like it divided Jordan,
that ark divided them. Some on this mountain, some on
that mountain, right? Now, I found something interesting
here. Josephus, who was an old Jewish
historian, says that Gerizim was on the right hand and Ebal
was on the left hand. Now, if you look at your map,
and with the Mediterranean Sea to your back, looking east, you
would see Ebal on the left and Gerizim on the right. Okay? You can look at your map, check
me out on it. which may serve to strengthen
the observation," this is Gill, which may serve to strengthen
the observation of Answorth. Now what in the world is that?
Gill is always quoting Answorth. I've read John Gill for more
than 30 years. I've read his whole commentary
several times. which may serve to strengthen
the observation of Answorth." Well, today I thought, I'm going
to look this man up. Who is Answorth? Well, I found
out that Answorth, his name was Henry Answorth. He was born in
1591 and died in 1622. He was a notable theologian in
England, but he was banished out of the country for taking
a stand for the gospel of God's grace. Now here's what Gill says,
the observation of Answorth in his allusion that in the last
judgment those on the right hand will be pronounced blessed and
those on the left hand. So even in these two mountains,
you see where old Answorth was going? Ebel, a place where the
cursings were read and Gerizim, the place where the blessings
were read. You remember in Matthew 25 he'll
separate the sheep from the goats. on his left hand, on his right
hand, he say to them on the right hand, come ye blessed in my father.
You see, even in this dividing on these two mountains, you see,
everything we read in the word of God is the gospel. Now, I
bet there's not one preacher in 10,000 I have never seen this before
until I started looking at this. And I've been looking at this
a long time. I've never heard anybody, any preacher ever mention
this, ever talk about it. Have you? I haven't. And I've
heard a lot of preaching. But you see, everything, that's
why digging into this book and going verse by verse, book by
book, chapter by chapter, and digging into the things of the
Lord, we just see the gospel everywhere, don't we? There was
an old brother down in the church in Ashland, and he said, if I
took a drill and drilled it right through every page of this book,
and then took a red thread and put that thread and pulled it
out the other side and opened up this book, Every page I turn
to, I see that thread, the red thread of the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's pretty good illustration.
That's pretty good illustration. And that's what this book is
all about. It's all about Christ. All about Christ. Joshua read
the cursing and the blessings that were found in the law of
God to the women, to the children, And we read this in Jeremiah
17, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, blessed be the man that
trusteth in the Lord. And then John 3.36, He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life, he that believeth not in the
Son shall not see life, but on him abides the wrath of God. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His Word, And bless us for one reason, and that's for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake.