SUNDAY SERMON - Christ’s Faithfulness In The Moment Of Our Death
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Summary
Joshua 3:1-17 The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before the people of Israel into the Jordan, and the Lord said to the people, Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you: He will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the priest who bear the Ark, when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan; you shall stand still in the Jordan.
Transcript
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Today, our text is Joshua chapter 3, verses 1 through 17.
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Would you join me now in standing for the reading of God's word?
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I'll read our text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the
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word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be
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to God. One final time, our text for today is Joshua chapter 3 verses 1 through 17. The Bible
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says this, then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim and they came to
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the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. At the end
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of three days, the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, as soon as you see the
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ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priest, then you shall
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set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two
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thousand cubits in length do not come near it in order that you may know the way you shall go for
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you have not passed this way before then joshua said to the people consecrate yourselves for
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tomorrow the lord will do wonders among you and joshua said to the priest take up the ark of the
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covenant and pass on before the people so they took up the ark of the covenant and went before
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the people. The Lord said to Joshua, today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel,
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that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the
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priest who bear the Ark of the Covenant, when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan,
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you shall stand still in the Jordan. And Joshua said to the people of Israel, come here and listen
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Now, therefore, take 12 men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man.
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And when the soles of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the Lord,
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the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan,
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the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing,
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and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.
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So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan
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with the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people.
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And as soon as those bearing the Ark had come as far as the Jordan,
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and the feet of the priest bearing the Ark were dipped in the brink of the water,
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now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest.
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Then the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam,
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the city that is beside Zarethon. And those flowing down toward the sea of the Ereba,
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the salt sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the
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priest bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle
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of the Jordan. And all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing
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over the Jordan. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead and
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begin by focusing our attention on verses 4 and 5 of our text. To read them once more so that
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they're fresh in our minds, the Bible says this, there shall be a distance between you and it,
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that is the ark of the covenant of the Lord, approximately 2,000 cubits in length. Do not
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come near it in order that you may know the way that you shall go for you have not passed this
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way before then joshua said to the people consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the lord
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will do wonders among you and your notes i've written the following christ is the antitype
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of the ark an antitype is simply the substance of what a sign or symbol was meant to point toward
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The antitype, again, is the substance of the shadow.
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in which the sign and shadow was meant to convey.
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But particularly for the purpose of our text today,
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what I'm saying is that Christ is the substance, the real thing that the ark of the covenant of
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the Lord was meant to symbolize. The ark in and of itself had a purpose, but it also has a higher
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symbolic and ultimate purpose of pointing towards the antitype, the substance of the shadow, which
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again is Christ Jesus the Lord. So Christ is the antitype of the ark. He is the only way to the
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heavenly Canaan. The way to glory through the Jordan River, which is a type of death, as we've
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discussed in previous weeks, is an untrodden and trackless path. It is, as we see in verse 4 and 5
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of our text it is a way which you have not passed before so this way who is christ through the
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jordan river which represents death is an untrodded and trackless path is a way that all christians
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must go but none of us have traversed this path before all men must eventually go through the
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river of death, but only once. And those who pass through it have never gone that way before.
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However, before crossing the Jordan, Israel was commanded to consecrate themselves. In the
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ceremonial sense, Israel was commanded to consecrate themselves by washing their bodies and clothes,
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as well as abstaining from relations with their wives. But in the moral sense, Israel was commanded
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to consecrate themselves by prayer meditation and the repentance of sin in order to pass through
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the river of death to the heavenly canaan likewise believers today you and i must be
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consecrated that is we must be morally sanctified for without holiness no man shall see the lord
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as Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14 tells us plainly.
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and therefore it is received by grace through faith
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in christ alone however there is another kind of holiness that each christian is commanded
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to pursue and this holiness which i believe is in reference in hebrews chapter 12 verse 14
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is not positional righteousness but rather progressive righteousness positional righteousness
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is belonging to justification and it is received freely by grace alone through faith alone in
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christ alone that is positional righteousness justification progressive righteousness is
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belonging to sanctification it is belonging to sanctification this too is a merciful gift of god
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It is by grace and it is through faith in the promises that Christ offers us in his word and faith, that is trust in the goodness of Christ's commandments, that his commandments are not oppressive.
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They are not something to be done begrudgingly, but that his commandment is good, holy and right.
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and that the law of God, as the scripture says,
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two subcategories, progressive righteousness and positional righteousness. Positional
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righteousness belonging to justification. It is not something that we work for, but rather this
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is salvation, justification. It is something received by grace through faith in Christ alone.
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Positional righteousness underneath the big banner of holiness. On the other hand, also under this
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category of holiness, its progressive righteousness, belonging not to justification, but rather
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sanctification. And I believe that the scripture is plain that no man will see the Lord without
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justification, surely, but also without sanctification. And the reason why is not because
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we are saved by grace plus works, but because good works are the evidence that we have actually
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received saving grace through faith in Christ alone. There is no justification that does not
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result in some measure of sanctification. Sanctification is not ultimately what saves us,
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but it is the sign, the proof, the evidence, the seal of justification. This is precisely what the
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book of James speaks up when he says that faith without works is dead. Are we saved by faith plus
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works? No, we are saved by faith alone, but a faith that saves is never alone. True saving faith is
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always accompanied by good works. You've heard me often say, I'll say it again. The formula of
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salvation is not faith plus works equals salvation. Rather, it is faith alone equals salvation plus
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works. I'll say it again. It is not faith plus works equals salvation, but rather faith alone
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It causes us to be a new creation with new habits,
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If a person claims to have true saving faith in Christ
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but there's not one sign or evidence of sanctification,
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but also 1 John, is a liar and the truth is not in him.
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God alone can see definitively, perfectly the heart of a man.
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But we are actually, not only is it permissible,
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Matthew chapter seven, verses one through five says,
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that you render to others, you too will be judged.
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I believe it's verse six of Matthew chapter seven
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that says, do not cast your pearls before swine
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If we're being commanded, don't give pearls to swine.
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You have to be able to determine who is swine, who is dogs.
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So what is the condemnation in Matthew chapter 7, verse 1 through 5?
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Is it a blatant condemnation of making all judgments?
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If that's the case, then there would be no category for discernment.
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Did you know, brothers and sisters, that biblical discernment, which we are not
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just merely allowed to exercise, but again, commanded in scripture to exercise again and
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again and again and again, biblical discernment is nothing more than making judgments. So what
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is forbidden? What's the prohibition? Judgment? No, wrong judgment. Wrong judgments is what the
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christian is prohibited from righteous judgments are good it's the same as i said before our
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service when it comes to biblical patriarchy rulership male headship men ruling father rule
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is not something that's bad the commandment is don't the commandment is not to not rule rather
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the commandment of God to men is to rule righteously, to rule well, to rule as servants
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with courage, with love, with compassion, all these things. So rule well. Likewise, make good
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judgments. Make good judgments. So all of this being said, progressive righteousness and
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positional righteousness, these two things are two peas in a pot. We should distinguish between the
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two, but we should never sever, divorce, or separate the two. We are saved by faith alone,
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but faith that saves is never alone. It is not faith plus works equals salvation, but rather
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faith equals salvation plus works we must strive by grace through faith in christ his covenant his
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promise and the goodness of his law even we must strive as christians to pursue progressive
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righteousness to pursue holiness as it refers to sanctification not only the holiness which comes
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And I believe that Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14,
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progressive righteousness, growing in Christ likeness,
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being progressively conformed to the image of Jesus in the process, the lifelong process of
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sanctification. Taking that back now to our primary text today, particularly verses four and five of
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Joshua chapter three, it is therefore not a coincidence that before passing over the Jordan
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river, which again is a type of death. Israel, representing a type of the church, the church,
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Israel, is being called to not go around or to build a bridge and go over, but they are rather
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called by God to go through the river. I've often used John Bunyan, he uses the river in Pilgrim's
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progress to signify the final trek for the Christian, for the pilgrim. And the river is
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death. Likewise, the Jordan River, that's where John Bunyan got this idea. And I believe it is a
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good allegorical symbolic idea. The Jordan River symbolizes death and the people of God, the church,
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namely Israel, they don't get to skip it. You don't get to skip the Jordan. You don't get to skip the
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river. You don't get to go over it. You don't get to go around it. You have to go through it.
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Now, if the Jordan River in Israel is not a good enough illustration for you,
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if John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress is not a good enough illustration for you,
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allow me to offer the full trifecta, a third illustration, homeward bound,
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right? Shadow and chance. They're begging sassy, begging her just right here. The river,
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it's slow, it's shallow. You just go through it. You go through it. And Sassy is arrogant
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and proud as all cats are. Dogs are objectively better. And the Homeward Bound movie makes this
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point thoroughly. Sassy has to go her own way and it gets her into trouble. She thinks instead of
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going through the river, she can go over the river and it does not work out. Now I'm hesitant to
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spoil the movie, but at the same time, I don't have a lot of compassion for people who have not
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watched a movie that's been out for probably 30 years at this point. So what happens is she's
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crossing the river on a natural bridge from a fallen tree. It breaks and collapses. She falls
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into the river and almost drowns. Likewise, Israel cannot go over the river, but must go through.
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And likewise, we are not going over the river of death
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And two things that jump out of these two verses of our text,
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namely verses four and five in regards to the christian's requirement to go through the river
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of death is this number one for you have not passed this way before that's the end of verse
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four this is a portion of life the final portion of life namely death that none of us have dealt
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with before it is appointed to man that he should die once and then comes the judgment
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but none of us get to truly go all the way to the end
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like Lazarus. But even then, it's not a benefit. Yay, Lazarus gets to die twice.
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There's no need for us to have jealousy in that regard. So this is an untrodden path.
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It's a trackless path. Israel is going away that no one has gone before.
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There's not a trail that has been etched into the ground
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or to remove obstacles and stones and roots and weeds.
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This is not a path that has been traversed many times.
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there is no practice but there is christ the ark of the covenant of the lord goes before them
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and jesus who has tasted death once and for all for all his people not only does he pass through
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the river of death with us when that time comes but he stands in the middle of the river
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rather the waters of death are swallowed up in his victory and that is what we can trust in
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when that time comes the late great rc sprawl once said as a christian i am not afraid of death
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the scripture is clear oh death where is your sting death has been swallowed up in life swallowed
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up in victory. And yet, Sproul said, although I do not fear death, I do fear dying. Dying will not
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be a pleasure. The loss of faculties, the loss of your own independence, reverting, regressing back
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to utter dependence on others, like going back almost to infancy for some. Sure, there are those
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We will lose our ability to take care of ourselves
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We may even experience certain degrees of dementia,
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But to know that Christ's covenant is steadfast.
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To know that we don't need a Roman Catholic priest
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before the moment of breathing our last breath.
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they walked into the water. And when Christ, the ark representing Christ, when the feet of the
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Levitical priesthood touched the brink of the water and they were carrying the ark, which
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represents Christ, the water had no choice but to stand up in a heap. And they walked into the river
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and notice they don't cross all the way. And then Israel follows. Rather, they walk into the middle
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of the river and stop. And so too, it shall be for us. For those who trust in Jesus, it is not up to
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you and your ability to keep your mind. You may lose your mind in the process of dying. It is not
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up to you and your ability to exercise perfect behaviors. My wife, she worked as an RN for
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several years. She now works as a mother in our home. But when she worked as an RN dealing with
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oncology, those with cancer, many people would die. And many people were unpleasant
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as they were dying. They became impatient. They became cruel. They became annoying.
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not only fallen but finite and in our finitude there is the loss of faculties the loss of memory
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the loss of speech the loss of being able to use the bathroom on your own these are very frustrating
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things but to know that christ has not just gone before us but to know that christ he stops and
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stands firm in the middle of death and that he is with us and that he is with us not conditionally
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on the condition that we are on our best behavior on the condition that we can still think that we
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can still reason that we're patient that we're kind but that christ is with us in the covenant
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of grace stopping the waters of judgment because he has drank all of god's wrath for our sin already
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not just our sin that we've committed in the past but even the sin that we may commit in the dying
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process we are secure in christ and he will pass through death with us next verses 10 of our text
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to read it once more so that it's fresh in our minds the bible says this here is how you shall
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know that the living God is among you and that he will, without fail, drive out from you the
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Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
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Here is how you shall know. Oh, what is that referencing? Well, it's referencing just the verse
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before. It's referencing the parting of the Jordan River. But notice this. It is not only
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that God is going to part the Jordan River for the practical purpose of getting his people Israel to
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the other side. And it is not only that God is going to part the river for the purpose, the
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spiritual purpose, not only practical of crossing the river, but the spiritual purpose of proving
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to his own people that he is the Lord. No, God is doing this so that not only would Israel know that
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he is the covenant God of Israel, but that Israel might know that he is the earthly God, universal
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God of all the nations. That God is God of all the peoples of the earth, the Lord of all the earth.
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look at verse 13 of our text and when the souls of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the
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lord the covenant god of israel no he is that never less than that but oh how god is more
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when the souls of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the lord the lord of all the earth
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shall rest in the waters of the jordan the waters of the jordan shall be cut off from flowing and
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the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap there are many commentators that believe
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that many people from jericho were actually able to physically witness and see this miracle take
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place that god performing this sign and wonder was not only to the benefit of his people that is his
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covenant people israel that they might come to trust in him all the more but that it was also
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to terrorize God's enemies that they too would see that the Lord was with them so that when the spies
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went into Jericho and they engaged with Rahab that this perhaps was one of the reasons
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why Rahab knew with confirmation with assurance and certainty that the land would be given
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to Israel, that God was actually against the Canaanites, that he was against the Amorites
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in the case of Jericho. In the Old Testament, we see that God is uniquely the covenant God
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of Israel. But God is also universally the God of all the earth. Not just now,
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after the death resurrection and ascension of christ but he has always been so god has always
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been the lord of all the earth and so here in verse 10 of our text one of the things that the
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lord says to his people through joshua is this he says i will do this great sign and wonder among you
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parting the jordan river so that you cross on dry land not only for the practical purpose of
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getting Israel to the other side of the river, but also for the spiritual purpose of causing you
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to firmly believe that not only will a portion of the land be given to you, but all of the land.
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That is specifically what's said. Again, verse 10, here is how the parting of the Jordan is what's
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in view here. Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without
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fail drive out from before you everybody he then list by name all seven tribes that were currently
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inhabiting the land of canaan the promised land so god says not only will i do this great sign
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there are many purposes the practical purpose of getting across the river also as we saw earlier
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in the text one of the reasons that god is going to perform this sign is to exalt joshua in the
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people, that they would know that the same way in which the Lord was with Moses, the Lord is also
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now with Joshua. So God is doing this practically to get his people across the Jordan. He's doing it
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for the purpose of exalting Joshua as a leader over Israel in the eyes of his people. But he's
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also doing it to convince Israel that he's not only going to get them into the land, but that
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he's going to empower them to conquer the land. Let me say that again, because evangelicals have
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not been able to understand this principle for approximately 70 years. So it bears repeating.
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Conquering land is a foreign idea to Christians in Western society, but it is thoroughly biblical.
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God not only causes the Jordan River to part so that they might know that Joshua is their leader
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and that God is among them or to get them into the land, physically into the land. But God
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specifically says that he will perform this sign and wonder as a guarantee, not only that his people
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would enter the land, but that they would conquer the land and that God would not fail to drive out
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before you every single inhabitant of this promised land all of the inhabitants all of
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God's enemies he would drive out from before his people so this promise as it pertains again to the
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the heavenly reality the eternal reality for us for those of us who are in Christ
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What it means is that Christ died and rose again.
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to accompany us through death when our time comes.
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but that God will give to us a full inheritance.
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It is not only God's way of getting Israel into the land,
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but saying, I will give you all of the land
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from giving you not just a partial inheritance,
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and his covenant of grace and promise to be with us
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is likewise an assurance that we will not only enter heaven,
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but that we will inherit all of heaven we are co-heirs with christ and every promise that has
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been given to him through union with him by faith that promise belongs to us as well we are not only
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promised that through faith we might enter into the heavenly canaan but that all of it belongs
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to us and that every single sin which so easily entangles and every single drop of god's white
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hot wrath for sin, every enemy that would inhibit us or hinder us from the fullness of this promise,
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this inheritance, will be removed. And it has been removed in Christ by virtue of his life,
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his death, his resurrection, and glorious ascension to the right hand of God the Father.
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By trusting in Jesus, not only will you enter heaven, but you are promised to receive all of
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heaven, a full inheritance. Every single promise given to Christ is yours through faith. Lastly,
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verse 17 of our text, the Bible says this. Now the priest bearing the ark of the covenant of
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the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan and all Israel was passing over
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on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. John Gill in his
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commentary on this particular text says this, and this may denote the presence of Christ with his
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people in afflictions, who will not suffer those waters to overflow them. And in death itself,
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when the swellings of Jordan shall not come near them to distress them, and when the covenant
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of grace will appear firm and sure and be their great support. We've already addressed this point
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at the beginning of our text, because the point is seen and made multiple times throughout this
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chapter. But the point once more is this, that Christ has passed through death on our behalf
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before us. But he is also Emmanuel, God with us, who promises to come alongside his people as we
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go through the river of death ourselves. And when he does, like the Levitical priest, he will not be
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struggling he will not be swaying he will not falter or stumble but rather his feet
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as he holds in his hands the covenant of grace his feet will be surely and firmly planted
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on dry solid ground this speaks to the security it speaks to the inevitability it speaks to the
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firmness to the finality the assuredness of the covenant of grace that the covenant of grace is
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not merely sufficient to help us in our sanctification during the time of our life
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but when we need christ in his covenant the most at the moment of our death the covenant of grace
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does not then begin to wane but rather it shores up all the stronger and when we pass through that
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moment of dying Christ is there and Christ is not wavering Christ is not certain Christ is firm
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he is true and he remains the same holding in his hand the promise of the covenant of grace
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with us, Emmanuel, as we pass through the river of death. If Christ was to leave us or forsake us,
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he would have already done so. As David once said, the Lord had been faithful to him so many times
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after time after time, that at a certain point in David's life, he finally decided to merely call
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a spade a spade and he said having seen thus far the faithfulness of the Lord surely goodness and
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mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever
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so too it can be said of us for all who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ alone
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because it has been promised to Christ and I have by faith union with him. Let's pray. Father,
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thank you for your word. Bless it to your people that we might live it, obey it, apply it to every
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single realm of life, all for your glory. So that not only the church might see that you are our
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covenant god but that all the nations might see that you are the lord of all the earth we pray
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these things in jesus name amen we're going to continue can i be frank with you for just a second
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right here at the end look some of you guys you're financially supporting this ministry
00:40:34.260
and from the bottom of my heart i say thank you i cannot thank you enough however some of you
00:40:41.300
you just, you can't afford it. In fact, some of you, you shouldn't afford it. Let's be honest.
00:40:48.340
I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy. Our nation and our totalitarian political
0.94
00:40:55.860
elites lost their minds over the last three years due to COVID. We have written checks that we
00:41:03.680
simply cannot cash. It doesn't matter if people change the definition of a recession. We are
00:41:09.900
living in a recession right now regardless. Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs
00:41:17.180
at the grocery store. You cannot support financially this ministry at this time nor should you but you
00:41:24.980
could still help us tremendously. I am asking you please if you're willing to do so take one minute
00:41:32.240
of your time. Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform iTunes, Spotify, whatever
00:41:39.480
that might be, this is the way the system works. We want to be innocent as doves but shrewd as
00:41:46.140
vipers. We need to be strategic. You leave us a five-star review and our podcast shows up for
00:41:52.860
more people. And the Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every
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realm of life gets out there. Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.