Let's turn tonight in our Bibles
to Joshua chapter one. Joshua chapter one. Let me read
the first two verses. 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 rise, go over this
Jordan, thou, and all this people unto the land which I do give
to them, even to the children of Israel. Two weeks ago tonight,
we looked at these words that God spoke to Abraham, They're
recorded in Genesis chapter 15, and I made the point, know of
a surety. But let me read these verses
again. Know of a surety that thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall
serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years. And also that
nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall
they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers
in peace, thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the
fourth generation, they shall come hither again, for the iniquity
of the Amorites is not yet full. So our text tonight When Joshua
is commanded to lead the children of Israel into the land of Canaan,
the iniquity of the Amorites was full. The iniquity of the
Amorites was full. And now the descendants of Abraham,
as the Lord told him of a surety, that they would go over and receive
the land of Canaan as he had promised. When we think of the
iniquity of the Amorites, and as we will see, this included
five other nations. It wasn't simply the nation of
the Amorites, but there's five other nations in the land of
Canaan that are included in that statement, the iniquity of the
Amorites. What was their iniquity? It would
include just about every sin known to man. That's the best
answer I believe I could come up with. What was the iniquity
of these six nations? It was about every sin known
to man. But at the foundation of their
sin, their iniquity, idolatry had to be there. The foundation
of all of their iniquity, it all would spring from their idolatry. Idolatry is worshiping anyone
or anything other than the Lord God. He's the only true and living
God. The land was full of idolatry. And that eventually we know became
a snare to the nation of Israel because they did not do what
God had commanded them to do in destroying all the idols and
the peoples there. And so it wasn't long until they
were involved in idolatry themselves. And it was the sin of idolatry
which caused God to take the nation of Israel into Babylon
for 70 years. It was strictly because of idolatry. Men apart from the knowledge
of the true God worship just about anything that
you can think of. Men, apart from the knowledge
of the true God, have made themselves gods of everything in nature
and everything that you can see with your eyes or touch with
your hands or feel. They've made gods of everything.
The sun, of course, is a god that many of the nations worshiped,
maybe as much as any other. The sun god, the moon god. the wind God, the water God,
every God that you can imagine, man have worshiped. And as I
said, the iniquity of the Amorites was now full. And God tells Joshua
that though Moses is dead, he is going to lead them even into
the land and notice which I do give them. And we saw last time
how that Joshua told the nation of Israel, you're going to live
in houses you haven't built. You're going to eat from vineyards
that you haven't planted. Everything's going to be given
to you. And that's a picture of grace,
a picture of salvation in itself. God gives salvation. Salvation
is of the Lord. We don't contribute anything.
It's a free grace gift. And that's the same way the nation
of Israel came into the land of Canaan. They were given the
houses and the trees for the fruit and the vineyards and everything
else. Wells to drink water from that
they didn't dig. It was all given unto them. A picture of God saving grace
and giving unto his people salvation. But I want us to see tonight
four miracles, four miracles that God worked when he brought
the nation of Israel into the land of Canaan. And they all,
the point I want to make is, they all show the sovereignty
of God over all things. Remember when Moses went into
Egypt and told Pharaoh, let my people go. One of the first miracles
that was performed there was over the water. The water was
all turned to blood. And that's what we're going to
see tonight. First of all, he is God over
the water, over the water. Look in Joshua chapter three. Joshua chapter 3 and beginning
with verse 9. And Joshua said unto the children
of Israel come hither and hear the words of the Lord your God.
And Joshua said hereby you shall know that the living God You
see, they're going into this land with all these dead gods,
these pygmy gods, these gods that had been manufactured in
the minds of men. But your God is the living God,
and He is among you, and that He will, without fail, drive
out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites
and the Perizzites and the Girgashites, and the Amorites and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant
of the Lord of all the earth. There he is, the Lord of all
the earth and over everything in his creation. He is Lord over. He passeth over
before you into Jordan. Now, therefore, take you 12 men
out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe of man. And
it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the
priest 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 an heap. And it came to pass when the
people removed from their tents to pass over Jordan, the priests
bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people, and as they
that bear the Ark were come unto Jardin, that is the river, the
river Jardin, as they had come unto Jardin, and the feet of
the priest that bear the Ark were dipped in the brim of the
water, for Jardin overfloweth all his banks all the time of
harvest, that the waters which came down from above stood, and
rose up upon an heap very far from the city, Adam, that is
beside Zeriton. And those that came down toward
the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed and were cut
off. And the people passed over right
against Jericho. 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. God is testifying that He is
the God over the waters. The Ark of the Covenant. And
we all know that was that small chest, really, in which the covenant,
the Ten Commandments, were placed. And it is a beautiful picture
of Christ, of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it was constructed
with four rings, a ring on every corner. And then there were the
two poles also that were part of the Ark, actually, so that
four priests could carry the Ark of the Covenant. And we see
the Ark of the Covenant going into the water first, the priest
carrying the Ark of the Covenant. And when the feet, this is amazing,
isn't it? When the feet, the picture here
is the only people who got wet were the priest. They're the
only ones. The four priests, their feet,
when they reached the brim of the water and their souls the
soles of their feet in the water, but everyone else passed over
on dry land. Isn't that a picture also of
Christ, of our Savior? When I think about the heels
or the soles of the feet, it reminds me of that first promise
that God gave in the Garden of Eden concerning a deliverer,
a Savior. Remember, he shall bruise the
head of the serpent, but his feet, his heel rather, will be
bruised. And the only one who suffered,
if you could call it suffering here, with the water were the
priest and everyone else passed over on dry land. What a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ who suffered, who suffered physically, emotionally, who
suffered for our sins, so that we never will suffer for our
sins. You know, there's a teaching
in the word of God in Hebrews chapter 12, which speaks about
chastisement. That God chastens his children. He chastens everyone that he
loves. But the thing about chastisement is it is a father dealing with
his children. It is not a judge dealing with
sin. Our sins, your sins, if you're
one of his tonight, your sins have been paid for. They've been
paid for, they've been put away. No one can bring you into condemnation. Why? Because Christ has died
for our sins. And notice this in verse 17.
It tells us there in the last part of the verse that the water,
this is a miracle, isn't it? Look at some river someday, the
Brazos River, maybe, and you just see that thing flowing along
there so wide and all of a sudden it just stands up. It just stands
up and doesn't go any further. It doesn't go to the sea. What
a miracle. Here, the Jordan River, God stopped
it. It didn't flow on into the Dead
Sea, the Sea of Salt, but it was stopped. And maybe even more
amazing, the ground was immediately dry. It was dry. What a powerful God. is the Lord our God. What a powerful
God. But here in verse 17, I wanted
to point out this. And all the Israelites passed
over on dry ground. That's the last part of verse
17. And notice, until all the people were passed clean over
Jordan. All the Israelites, not one of
them, not one of them was left on the other side. And all of
God's spiritual Israel, all who are saved by the grace of God,
will pass clean over the river of death. Many times, Jordan
is used as a picture of death, isn't it? And yes, we'll go down
into the river, but we won't remain in the river. We'll pass
through. And so will every one of God's
chosen people. all of God's spiritual Israel,
so that you and I tonight, along with the Apostle Paul, we can
say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. There were four
priests who were carrying that Ark of the Covenant, but we know
that there's only one high priest who effectually redeemed all
of his people. Now, if you will, let's see a
second miracle. So God is God over the waters.
God is God over the earth. Look in Joshua chapter six. Joshua chapter 6 and we'll just
read verse 20. So the people shouted when the
priests blew with the trumpets and it came to pass when the
people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted
with a great shout that the wall fell down flat. so that the people
went up into the city, every man straight before him, and
they took the city. This is, of course, the city
of Jericho, a very well-fortified and strong city. And God commanded
Joshua to carry the Ark of the Covenant around it one time for
six days, and before there were seven priests that were going
before the ark, and they were blowing on the trumpets. And
then on that seventh day, they encircled the city seven times. And again, all the priests, those
seven priests, they were blowing those trumpets. But on the seventh
day, when the command was given to shout, the walls came down
flat. What a picture. This is a preaching
the gospel. Have you ever heard anybody blow
an animal's horn? You know, Israel had some beautiful
horns. They had some silver trumpets,
rather, silver trumpets God had commanded them to make for special
occasions. But he doesn't use the silver
trumpets. marching around the city, but
he uses these trumpets of ram's horns. And to me, that's a picture
of men preaching the gospel. Satan, he has his goods, man's
soul, man's heart in peace until a stronger comes upon him. And
here he comes with the blowing of the trumpet. The blowing of
the gospel. The Apostle Paul said, for I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation unto everyone that believe it. The means of our warfare are
spiritual, aren't they? It's not blowing a silver trumpet,
but it is blowing a ram's horn. God uses weak vessels, men to
preach his gospel, and God the Holy Spirit uses his gospel in
calling his people and saving his people. The true and living God is not
some tribal God like these other gods that were worshipped there
in the land of Canaan, but he is the God of the whole earth,
the only true and living God. And the walls of Jericho came
down at his command because he is God over not only the waters,
but over the earth. There's no place where God is
not God, where he does not reign and rule. And then here's the
third one in Joshua chapter 10. He is God over the elements.
Joshua chapter 10 and verses 10 and 11. And the Lord discomfited
them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at
Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth
Oren, and smote them to Azekah and unto Makedah. And it came
to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going
down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from
heaven upon them unto Ezekiel, and they died. They were more
which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel
slew with the sword." Now the picture here is this city of
Gibeon. Remember how, when Joshua and
the Israelites came into the land, these people recognized
that they didn't have a chance. They were going to be destroyed.
And so they feigned themselves as being travelers from a far
country. And their bread was molded, their
shoes were worn out, and they told Joshua that they were from
a very distant place. and asked Joshua to make a league
with them. And Joshua and the elders, they
did not consult with the Lord, and they made a league. They
made a covenant, if you please, took an oath that they would
not destroy the Gibeonites, that they would be their defenders. Well, these five nations, if
you look back in verse five, Therefore the five kings of the
Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king
of Jarmoth, the king of Lasheth, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves
together and went up. They and all their host and encamped
before Gibeon and made war against it. Well, what did they do? Look in verse six. And the men of Gibeon sent unto
Joshua to the camp of Gilgal saying, help us. This is what you promised to
do. This is a treaty we have with you. This is an oath that
you've sworn to. This is a covenant, a league
that you have made with us. Now, we're in dire straits. Don't tardy. Don't take a long
time. Come up quickly. Come up to us quickly and save
us and help us for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in
the mountains are gathered together against us. We say that God is a God of elements
over the elements, but we also see God's faithfulness. You know,
the nation of Israel entered into this league with the Gibeonites,
and they swear to it. And it was binding. It was official. Reminds us, doesn't it, of the
covenant that God made with the Lord Jesus Christ before the
foundation of the world. And he confirmed it by an oath
in Hebrews chapter 6. It tells us that by two immutable
things, his word, his oath, that those of us who have fled to
Christ for refuge, that we might have a strong assurance, strong
consolation. Yes, God is faithful, and a league
or a covenant meant something. Even though they had deceived
the Israelites, the Gibeonites, but as far as God was concerned,
they had to live up to that covenant. And God has made a covenant with
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That is all of
His chosen people, all who trust in Him. Christ stood then as
our surety. And God's covenant is going to
be completed. It is completed. In fact, in
Hebrews chapter, or Hebrews, we read over that, a better covenant,
don't we? A better covenant than the covenant
that God made with Adam? The covenant that God made with
the nation of Israel? Why? Because both of those covenants
depended upon the works of men. The first covenant he made with
Adam depended upon Adam's obedience. And we know what happened there.
And then the covenant he made with the nation of Israel, and
how they faulted in that covenant immediately. When Moses was coming
down from the mountain, remember, they'd already broken the covenant.
And he threw the tablets down, showing that the covenant was
broken, because what were they doing? that made those gods like
calves, just like the ones the Egyptians worshipped where they
had come from. And they had said to the nation,
behold your gods. Here's the last miracle that
I wanted to point out there in chapter 10, verses 12 and 13.
He's God of the heavens, God of over the waters, and God over
the earth, God over the elements, and God over the heavens. In verse 12, we read, Then spake
Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the
Amorites before the children of Israel. And he said in the
sight of Israel, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon
in the valley of Adullam. And the son stood still. and
the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their
enemies. Is not this written in the book
of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the
midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day. Joshua prayed. What faith did
he have, right? To ask something like this, something
so great There's a scripture in the Psalms which says, open
thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. You know, when we pray, we
open our mouth wide, don't we? We're praying for our families,
our neighbors, our friends. We're opening our mouth wide. But Joshua sure opened his mouth
wide, didn't he, asking the Lord to cause the light not to go
down, the sun not to set, and the moon, so that he could finish
the battle that he was engaged in. And I'm going to go with John
Gill on this, how this is to be reconciled to the Kirpanikin system, that is the
system that tells us that the earth revolves around the sun,
that the sun doesn't move. How we can reconcile this, John
Gill said, I shall not inquire. And I'm not going to either.
I believe it. Whatever, whatever God said,
I believe. that God did this somehow, and
maybe one day we'll be told exactly. But I know He has power over
the heavens, over all the bodies of the heavenlies. He is God
over the heavens. The point I want to make is simply
this, that there is only one true and living God, and He is
God over all. And He has revealed Himself in
His Son. the Lord Jesus Christ. To see
his son is to see God because he is God. We're not ever going
to be able to see God who is spirit with these eyes, but we
will see our savior because we're going to have a body fashioned
like unto his glorious body. The psalmist said, the heavens
are thine, the earth also is thine. As for the world and the
fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. And I would just close
with this one statement that, remember I said the iniquity
of the Amorites was now full. And at the bottom, the foundation
of their iniquity had to be idolatry, sin of idolatry. That the Apostle
John closed that first letter First John, Chapter 5, with these
last few words. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. What an admonition to all of
us, not to make an idol of anything. We worship the true and the living
God in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. Brother Bill, if you
will come and let's sing a hymn.