Okay, now this evening, Lord
willing, we're going to try to look at Joshua chapter 3. I'm
taking the title for the message from what is said in verse 17. Joshua 3 verse 17, And the priest
that bare 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. Now here's the title, All Israel
Passed Over. All Israel passed over and they
passed over clean, clean. They passed over Jordan. All
Israel by the power of God When the waters were divided, they
walked across on dry ground. What a glorious picture of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ we have here. We studied in Romans
chapter 11 on Sunday, all Israel shall be saved as it is written,
there shall come out of Zion the deliverer. And we know that
Joshua, the leader of the people now, Joshua, was an imminent
type and picture, a personal type of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Joshua, our Savior, who did what? Saved his people, all his
people, from their sin. Joshua successfully delivered
Israel in his day. And he did so by the will of
God, by the purpose of God and by the power of God. And that
dividing of that water and going through that water over to the
other side, the promised land is a picture and type of salvation.
How much more, Joshua being a type of Christ, but how much more
shall our Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, deliver us fully, completely,
forever from all our sins and all of Jordan's muddy waters."
What does the muddy waters of Jordan represent? Our sins. The
Lord has separated us from our sins. And we pass over on dry
ground, on solid ground, on the solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God, to whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen. The Lord said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. all, and those that come
to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me, and
this is the will of him that sent me, everyone which seeth
the sun He said, I'll raise him up at the last day. Not one sheep
of Christ can perish because we have a mighty deliverer, our
greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it's most interesting
how many times the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is mentioned
in this chapter. At least eight or nine times
we read about this Ark of the Covenant. And you remember that
box. made of shit and wood, covered over with gold. And on top of
that was that mercy seat and the winged creatures. And the
atonement was made every year upon that mercy seat. And in
that covenant box was the law of God. And the blood on the
mercy seat covered the law. And that all is a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our mercy seat. He is our
priest. He is our ark. He is our atonement. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and that he sent his son to be the
sacrifice for our sin. I just want to work down through
this chapter and pick out a few nuggets here. Look at verse one.
And Joshua rose early in the morning, And they removed from
Shittim, came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and
they lodged there before they passed over. As soon as Joshua
received the report, the two spies were sent out. They came
back and they said, God's given us land. As soon as Joshua heard
that report, he said early in the morning, oh, he's eager,
couldn't wait to cross over and to take the land. And when we are blessed to hear
the report of the Gospel, to receive the report of the Gospel,
by faith we are eager and willing to act upon the Word of the Lord.
Not only to be a hearer of the Word, these folk not only heard
the Word, but they acted upon the Word of the Lord. You remember in the book of James
it says, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, Let every man be swift
to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, and let us receive
with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word,
not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. So it is good to
hear the word of the Lord, but it is also a blessing to be a
doer of the word. Be obedient to thus saith the
Lord. Now in verses two, four, five,
and six, Joshua and his officers commanded the people what to
do. And it came to pass after three
days that the officers went through the host. And again, this is
probably 2 million people or so. And when they commanded the
people saying, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord
your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you
shall go, remove from your place, and go after it." Verse 3, when
you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, remove
from that place, when it's on the move, they were to follow
it, go after it, he says there. When you see it, when you see
it moving, go after it, go after it. Isn't that a good statement? This too is a gospel message,
is it not? When we're blessed to see Christ,
our ark, our mercy seat, as he's revealed in the word of truth,
we too are instructed to be removed from our place of indifference,
indifference of unbelief and religious pride, and to go after
the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul said, We count all things
lost, dung, and ruined that we may win Christ and be found in
him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. When we see Christ as all of
our salvation, all of our righteousness, we are removed from a place of
indifference and unbelief, and we go after Christ. We follow
hard after the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice verse four. Yet there
shall be a space between you and it, between you and the ark,
about 2,000 cubits, a half a mile. Come not near unto it, that you
may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed
this way before. They were told to keep a measured
distance from the ark. that you come not near unto it. Now, remember this ark is a symbol
of God's power and holiness. There was a man one time, you
remember when David recovered the ark, put it on that milk
cart? You remember the ox stumbled
and that ark, that ox cart shook and the Uzzah reached up to touch
that ark and you remember, God killed him? So, under that dispensation
of law, no one could approach that ark but the high priest,
and that only once a year, and then on that special occasion
when the ark was moved. But in the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we are made nigh unto God by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you want to turn with
me, you can. If you don't want to turn, you just sit and I'll
I'll get it and read it to you, but over here in the book of
Hebrews chapter 10, we know that because of the blood atonement
of Christ, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Christ, verse 19, Hebrews 10, by a new
living way, which he had consecrated for us to the veil, that is to
say his flesh, having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near. with a true heart and full assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with that pure water, and that's the sanctifying
water of the gospel of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're told to come near to the
throne of grace, come boldly to the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We're instructed to always draw
near to Christ, We're instructed to always look to him who is
the author and finisher of our faith. We're instructed to embrace
him with arms of faith. Our Lord said, all you that are
laboring and heavy laden, come unto me and I will give you rest. Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the author and finisher of our faith. Look at verse five,
Joshua three, verse five. And Joshua said to the people,
Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do, he speaks this
in such a positive way, it may be or could be, something big
may happen tomorrow. He said, the Lord will do wonders
among you. Boy, that's the language of faith,
isn't it? The Lord is going to do something for us and among
us. Joshua told the people to sanctify
themselves. That's across over Jordan. For
the Lord will do wonders among you and in you. They were to
set themselves apart. I think that's what the message
is there. Sanctify yourself. They were to set themselves apart
from every other concern but this one thing. Set yourself
apart for this one thing. When the priests take up that
ark and head toward the river, don't take your eye off that
ark. Don't take your eye off the ark of the covenant. Keep
your eye upon that. Is not that the gospel message
as well? When we assemble to worship the
Lord, we are to set our heart, our spirit, our mind on things
above, not on the things of this earth. We're to set our mind
upon Christ, His person, His work, His beauty, His atonement.
That's why Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That we might behold the wonders
of the gospel of Christ. Isn't his name called Wonderful
Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, that we might
behold the wonders of the gospel of Christ, set our heart, our
mind, our spirit upon worshiping God, when the gospel is preached,
that God would enable us to behold the wonders of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus, how he saved sinners by His grace. And we can say with the Apostle,
this is the Lord's doing. This is the Lord's doing, is
it not? Those people crossing the Red Sea and crossing the
Jordan, this is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes.
And the Lord God saving sinners This is the Lord's doing, and
it's marvelous in our eyes. Salvation is of the Lord. Look
at verse 6. Joshua spake to the priest, saying,
Take up the ark of the covenant. Take it up! Take it up! And passed over before the people.
And they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the
people. The gospel always comes first.
The people were to follow that. The priests were to carry the
Ark of the Covenant. The priests now, not just the
common Levites, they were to go before the people over the
river bearing the ark upon their shoulders. You remember that
ark had rings and it had two staves and they were to bear
that ark upon their shoulders. That's the only way they were
to move it, not upon an ox cart. They'd be paid a heavy price
for that mistake. Ministers of the gospel. who
have been made kings and priests and to our God. Ministers of
the gospel carry forth the ark of the covenant, that is the
gospel of Christ, holding him up before the people, lifting
up Christ by the preaching of the gospel. That's how we lift
up Christ, by the preaching of the gospel of the blessed Lord
Jesus Christ. We say with Paul, we preach not
ourselves, But Jesus Christ, the Lord, and ourselves, your
servant, for His sake. We read in the book of Acts chapter
9, where the Lord gave instructions concerning the apostle Paul unto
one Ananias, Go thy way, For he, that is Paul, the chosen
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and king,
and the children of Israel. And that's what we do. We bear
his name before men, lift him up in the preaching of the gospel,
and our Lord gives us this promise. If I be lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all unto me. All his elect. all of his people."
Now look at verse 7, the Lord speaks to Joshua and he says,
I'm going to magnify you this day. The Lord said unto Joshua,
verse 7, you see it? This day, this day, today, this
day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel that
they may know that as I was with Moses I'll be with you. We're going to see over in chapter
5 where Joshua prior to going into Jericho had a special one-on-one. One-on-one. Read about it. He
met the captain of the Lord's host. One-on-one. The Lord Jesus
Christ. And as Moses saw the Lord face
to face, God said, I will be with you. As Moses was magnified
in the sight of the people when they passed through the Red Sea,
even so is now Joshua magnified in the eyes of the people. And that's what happens when
God teaches us the gospel, is it not? He's magnified. in our heart, in our mind, in
our soul. Now the most interesting note,
when the Lord Jesus came to be baptized of John, upon entering
into his public ministry, where was he baptized? In the River
Jordan. In the River Jordan. You remember
Naaman, we studied in 2 Kings chapter 5, Naaman the leper,
who came and was told to go to Elijah and he'll heal you of
that leprosy. Elijah wouldn't even go out and
send out his servants. He said, you go tell him to dip
down there in Jordan seven times and he'll be clean. Jordan? You want me to go down that muddy
river Jordan? Why, there are beautiful, clear
rivers back in my home country. Far, far on other rivers, I can't
go down that Jordan. You go down in Jordan and dip
or you will not be made whole. It's at the River Jordan when
the Lord Jesus Christ said to John, suffered be so for us now
to fulfill all righteousness. And when he baptized him, you
remember what happened? The spirit of the Lord came down.
God spake from heaven and said, this is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. This is exactly what happens
to a sinner when the Lord our God does a work in our heart,
we confess Him in believer's baptism. And the Lord is magnified
in our heart, our mind, our soul, our emotions, and our whole being. Christ in you is a hope of glory. You see, the whole grand design
of redemption is the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all people. That's exactly what God has done
in Christ. And that's what God does in us. God has highly exalted him, given
him a name which is above every name, that at that name, every
knee should bow, every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Look at verse eight.
Thou shalt command the priest that bear the ark of the covenant
saying, when you are come to the brink of the water of Jordan,
stand still. Don't jump up and down, don't
run around, don't make a big show, just bear that ark, go
down to the river, enter into the river, and just stand right
there and watch what happens. Stand still and see the salvation
that is of the Lord. Joshua commanded the priest to
carry the ark of the covenant to the brink of the water, to
the water's edge, and then wait. Stand still. until the waters
of Jordan pardoned, then stand in the middle of the river on
dry ground until Israel is clean, passed over, and passed over
clean. This again can truly be used
as a picture of the gospel of Christ as ministers carry the
message of the gospel into all the world. We bear up his name,
go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,
and then do what? Run around, jump up and down,
make a big show. No, we're to stand still and
to see the salvation of the Lord. We're to preach the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ and leave folks in the hands of God. He'll
do the work. He'll part the water. He'll divide their heart. He will get their attention.
The same message that the Lord gave Moses at the Red Sea, stand
still and see the salvation that is of the Lord. You see, God
never changes. God never changes. We're to wait,
we're to preach the gospel and wait upon the Lord to perform
the work for us And in us, he will bless his word to the hearts
of his people in due time. He said, my word will not return
to me void. I'll prosper in the thing whereunto
I will send my word. Now, in verse nine, down through
verse 13, Joshua words of instruction to Israel. The Lord said to Joshua,
verse seven and eight, Now Joshua, he has a message. The Lord has
spoken to his heart and he's going to declare, Joshua said
to the children of Israel, come hither and hear the word of the
Lord. And Joshua said, hereby you shall
know that the living God is among you, that he will drive out without
fail, drive out all the enemies Behold, the ark of the covenant
of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into
Jordan. Now, let's take a look at those
words there. First of all, verse 9, he says,
hear. He doesn't say, listen to me.
He said, hear the word of the Lord. It reminded me when I read
that. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you. It reminded me of the way Peter started his message
there in Acts chapter 2, where it says, Joshua said to the children
of Israel, come hither and hear the words of the Lord. In Acts
chapter 2, Peter said this, you men of Israel,
hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as yourselves know, Him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you've taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,
whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holding of it." Why couldn't
the grave hold him down, put away our sin? Sin was put away. He delivered for our offenses
and raised again because He justified us. Hear the Word of the Lord. And then I can remember reading
over in Acts chapter 10 when Peter was sent to the house of
Cornelius. You remember the Romans and Tyrian. And the Lord had
been working, preparing his heart. And when Peter came to his doorstep,
Cornelius said, we're all here today to hear all things commanded
thee of God. That's a good place to be. We're
all here to hear the word of the Lord. What a great privilege
we have in this book we hold in our hand, the book of God,
the Word of Life. This book called the Holy Bible,
it does not just contain the Word of God. A lot of people
say, well, it contains the Word of God. It is the Word of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for us. Words to live by, Words to
die by. Hear the word of the Lord. Look
at verse 10. Joshua said, Hereby you shall
know the living God is among you. How? Hearing the word of
the Lord. That's where He's revealed. In
the word of the Lord. You shall know that the living
God is among you. That He will, without fail, drive
out all your enemies. You will know that God is God.
that he only is God and he's the living God and will without
fail destroy all your enemies. And he has. You remember the
heathen came to David and said, David, where is your God? Remember
the answer? Our God's in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And I love this statement
here. He's the living God. He's the
living God. Remember the Scripture, let me
read it to you over here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, where it says, They
themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you,
how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true
God. Remember the way the Lord prayed
in John 17, this is eternal life, that you might know Thee, the
only true God, Jesus Christ our Lord. In everything God does
and what he has decreed, he has given, and what he has given,
every great and exceeding precious promise that he has made will
all come to pass without fail, that he will without fail conquer
all your enemies. Now, you remember the last words
of Joshua? I think we read it in the beginning
of our study in Joshua chapter 23 when he was when his ministry was over and
his life was about over, Joshua 23, 14, and behold this day,
I'm going the way of all the earth and you know in all your
hearts and all your soul that not one thing hath failed. Of all the good things which
God hath spoke concerning you, all are come to pass unto you,
not one word hath fallen. That is true of everything God
hath promised. All the promises of God in Christ
are yes, and in Him, amen, unto the glory of God by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at verse 11. Behold, the ark of the covenant
of the Lord, the ark of the covenant of the Lord, of all the earth,
passeth over before you into Jordan." He's almost personified
that ark as a person. Isn't that amazing? That ark
is such a type and picture of Christ. That mercy seat, the
way it's constructed, the law of God within, It's almost as
if he's saying, the ark is the Lord, and the Lord is the ark. Behold, the ark of the Lord of
all the earth passeth over before you. Notice this, he is the Lord
of most of the earth. He's Lord over all the earth. He's Lord over all creation. He's Lord over all creatures. The Lord Jesus Christ is King
of kings and He is Lord of lords. Psalm 47 declares, for God is
the King of all the earth. All the earth. Does He reign
in Russia? Does he reign in China? He reigns
everywhere, the same as he does in Pike County, Kentucky. He's the lord of all the earth. And he's lord not by what we
do. He's Lord by what God has done. God had made this same
Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He's not Lord
by what we have done. For to this end, to this purpose,
Christ died and rose, revived that he might be Lord, both of
the dead and the living. He's every man's Lord. Every
tongue gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. He is the living God. He's no
dead idol. He is the living God. He is the
unfailing God. Isaiah 42 forward, the Lord said,
I cannot fail. He is a covenant God. We have
covenant mercies in Christ Jesus, the God of peace that brought
again from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd
of the sheep to the blood of the everlasting covenant. Now take a look at verse 12,
now you therefore, now therefore take ye 12 men out of the tribes
of Israel, out of every tribe a man. Now if you read over in
chapter 4, the reason this was done that these 12 men might
gather up stones out of the middle of the river and when they got
on the other side they made a pile of rocks designating that these
rocks came out from the middle of that river and these men picked
them up and carried them rocks over. And then they picked up
some rocks on that side and put them down in the middle of the
water before the waters covered over. These twelve men were chosen
and taken out of every tribe and were used to pile up those
memorial stones. Again, this is typical of what? God's electing grace. The Lord said, you didn't choose
me, I have chosen you. Take you, take you therefore,
12 men out of every tribe, every tribe. And God has an elect out
of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, under heaven. Chosen
and taken by God, chosen in that elective love. and chosen in
sovereign grace. Verse 13, the priests were bearing
the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. It says that
again. As soon as the souls of the feet
of those 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, when the waters that come down from
above, and they shall stand up as a heap." The waters coming
down stopped. What about those waters going
this way too? They had to stop as well. He
stopped. He created this corridor for
them to walk through. The art being a picture and type
of the gospel of Christ, note then that the gospel is the He
says the ark of the Lord and the gospel is the gospel of God
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only this gospel that is
able to put away our sin, to part the muddy waters of Jordan,
which is also a picture of God's wrath and judgment, to enable
us to pass over clean, to pass clean over with no mud, no sin. No sin. When we pass over Jordan into
God's presence, into God's paradise, be no mud on us. We'll have our
garments washed white in the blood of the Lamb. Clean and white. Clean and white. I don't know if I can find that
scripture or not. I'm putting myself out on a limb
here. But here it is. And he said unto
me, Revelation 7, 13. One of the elders answered, saying
unto him, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and
whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation through the waters
of Jordan, have washed their robes, and made them white. in
the blood of the Lamb. That's what all that is a picture
of. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all our sin. They didn't have a spot of mud
on them when they got to the other side. They were to wash
their clothes clean, go through the river, and they came out
on the other side clean. No mud, no sin, no stain. And it came to pass verse 14
down through verse 17. And it came to pass. I love that
statement. It came to pass because God brought
it to pass. When the people removed from
their tents to pass over Jordan, the priest bearing the Ark of
the Covenant before the people, as they bear the Ark and were
come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bear the
ark were dipped in the brim of the water, where Jordan overflowed
all his banks all the time of the harvest. It was in flood
stage that the water which came down from above stood and rose
up a heap very far from the city of Adam, that is beside Sarton,
and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the
salt sea, failed north and south, the waters were cut off, and
the people passed right against, passed over right against Jericho."
Now notice, it makes mention there in parentheses, Jordan
overflowed his banks at this time. flood stage. Even that is a picture of our
justification in Christ. Where sin overflowed, where sin
abounded, grace does much more abound. Where sin overflowed,
grace does much more abound. Even though we overflow with
sin, and we do, We've all sinned to come short of the glory of
God. Nothing can prevent the Lord or hinder His purpose, handcuff
the mighty power of the gospel of Christ. He came to save sinners
who overflow with sin. That's me. That's me. This is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
came into the world to save sinners. It is still the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's still the power of God and
the salvation, is it not? It always will be. Verse 17, in closing, and the
priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood
firm, they stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the muddy
Jordan. Dry ground. And all the Israelites
passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed clean
over Jordan. That's the gospel. The priest
stood on firm ground, even so the gospel of Christ stands firm
on the solid ground of Christ. His blood and His righteousness.
The gospel doesn't stand on shaky ground, on unstable ground, on
sinking sand. It stands on sure and steadfast
ground, good ground. Remember what the Lord said to
Peter? Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I'm not talking about
Peter, but the rock of ages. I will build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Isaiah 28, remember? Therefore, thus saith the Lord,
the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone,
a stone. a tridestone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make haste." They stood
on dry, firm, solid ground until all the people passed over. You
see, all of this is typical of the gospel of Christ. This whole
incident happened This whole thing happened by the good providence
of God. We call that a providential type
of the gospel. And we see that the Lord Jesus
Christ, He is our priest. We have a great high priest.
We see that the Lord Jesus Christ is our covenant sacrifice. He
obtained eternal redemption for us. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
in the Ark of the Covenant on the mercy seat as the surety
of the everlasting covenant. We see in the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is our resting place. He is that solid rock, that solid
ground upon which we rest. You see, the point is in the
Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ is all And in all, in Him dwells
all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and we're complete in
Him." Thank God for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that
causes us to pass over, clean over, and that causes us to pass
over clean. Justified in the Lord Jesus Christ.