The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Christ’s Faithfulness In The Moment Of Our Death

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00:00:40 Today, our text is Joshua chapter 3, verses 1 through 17.

00:00:45 Joshua chapter 3, verses 1 through 17.

00:00:50 Would you join me now in standing for the reading of God's word?

00:00:53 I'll read our text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the

00:00:58 word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be

00:01:04 to God. One final time, our text for today is Joshua chapter 3 verses 1 through 17. The Bible

00:01:12 says this, then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim and they came to

00:01:20 the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. At the end

00:01:27 of three days, the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, as soon as you see the

00:01:33 ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priest, then you shall

00:01:39 set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two 0.75

00:01:46 thousand cubits in length do not come near it in order that you may know the way you shall go for

00:01:53 you have not passed this way before then joshua said to the people consecrate yourselves for

00:02:00 tomorrow the lord will do wonders among you and joshua said to the priest take up the ark of the

00:02:07 covenant and pass on before the people so they took up the ark of the covenant and went before

00:02:14 the people. The Lord said to Joshua, today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel,

00:02:21 that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the

00:02:29 priest who bear the Ark of the Covenant, when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan,

00:02:35 you shall stand still in the Jordan. And Joshua said to the people of Israel, come here and listen

00:02:41 to the words of the Lord your God.

00:02:44 And Joshua said,

00:02:45 Here is how you shall know

00:02:47 that the living God is among you

00:02:48 and that he will, without fail,

00:02:51 drive out from before you 1.00

00:02:53 the Canaanites, the Hittites, 1.00

00:02:55 the Hivites, the Perizzites,

00:02:59 the Girgashites, the Amorites,

00:03:01 and the Jebusites.

00:03:03 Behold, the ark of the covenant

00:03:05 of the Lord of all the earth

00:03:07 is passing over before you

00:03:09 into the Jordan. 0.68

00:03:11 Now, therefore, take 12 men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man.

00:03:16 And when the soles of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the Lord, 0.88

00:03:20 the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan,

00:03:25 the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing,

00:03:28 and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.

00:03:33 So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan

00:03:37 with the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people.

00:03:41 And as soon as those bearing the Ark had come as far as the Jordan,

00:03:46 and the feet of the priest bearing the Ark were dipped in the brink of the water,

00:03:51 now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest.

00:03:56 Then the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam,

00:04:03 the city that is beside Zarethon. And those flowing down toward the sea of the Ereba,

00:04:10 the salt sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the

00:04:17 priest bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle

00:04:23 of the Jordan. And all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing 0.55

00:04:30 over the Jordan. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead and

00:04:37 begin by focusing our attention on verses 4 and 5 of our text. To read them once more so that

00:04:45 they're fresh in our minds, the Bible says this, there shall be a distance between you and it,

00:04:52 that is the ark of the covenant of the Lord, approximately 2,000 cubits in length. Do not

00:05:00 come near it in order that you may know the way that you shall go for you have not passed this

00:05:07 way before then joshua said to the people consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the lord

00:05:14 will do wonders among you and your notes i've written the following christ is the antitype

00:05:20 of the ark an antitype is simply the substance of what a sign or symbol was meant to point toward

00:05:29 The antitype, again, is the substance of the shadow.

00:05:34 A type is the shadow, the sign.

00:05:37 The antitype is the substance, the real form,

00:05:41 the real substance of the thing

00:05:43 in which the sign and shadow was meant to convey.

00:05:47 So Christ is the antitype of the ark,

00:05:50 not Noah's ark, which he is also an antitype

00:05:53 of Noah's ark as well.

00:05:55 But particularly for the purpose of our text today,

00:05:58 what I'm saying is that Christ is the substance, the real thing that the ark of the covenant of

00:06:05 the Lord was meant to symbolize. The ark in and of itself had a purpose, but it also has a higher

00:06:13 symbolic and ultimate purpose of pointing towards the antitype, the substance of the shadow, which

00:06:20 again is Christ Jesus the Lord. So Christ is the antitype of the ark. He is the only way to the

00:06:29 heavenly Canaan. The way to glory through the Jordan River, which is a type of death, as we've 0.96

00:06:36 discussed in previous weeks, is an untrodden and trackless path. It is, as we see in verse 4 and 5

00:06:44 of our text it is a way which you have not passed before so this way who is christ through the 0.96

00:06:54 jordan river which represents death is an untrodded and trackless path is a way that all christians

00:07:03 must go but none of us have traversed this path before all men must eventually go through the

00:07:12 river of death, but only once. And those who pass through it have never gone that way before.

00:07:20 However, before crossing the Jordan, Israel was commanded to consecrate themselves. In the 0.77

00:07:27 ceremonial sense, Israel was commanded to consecrate themselves by washing their bodies and clothes, 0.85

00:07:34 as well as abstaining from relations with their wives. But in the moral sense, Israel was commanded 0.83

00:07:42 to consecrate themselves by prayer meditation and the repentance of sin in order to pass through

00:07:50 the river of death to the heavenly canaan likewise believers today you and i must be

00:07:57 consecrated that is we must be morally sanctified for without holiness no man shall see the lord

00:08:07 as Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14 tells us plainly.

00:08:12 When we preach through the book of Hebrews

00:08:15 and we came to this particular text,

00:08:17 Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14,

00:08:20 I said, and today I will say once more,

00:08:23 that the holiness spoken of in this context

00:08:26 is not positional righteousness,

00:08:29 which is belonging to justification,

00:08:33 and therefore it is received by grace through faith

00:08:37 in christ alone however there is another kind of holiness that each christian is commanded

00:08:44 to pursue and this holiness which i believe is in reference in hebrews chapter 12 verse 14

00:08:51 is not positional righteousness but rather progressive righteousness positional righteousness

00:08:59 is belonging to justification and it is received freely by grace alone through faith alone in

00:09:07 christ alone that is positional righteousness justification progressive righteousness is

00:09:15 belonging to sanctification it is belonging to sanctification this too is a merciful gift of god

00:09:23 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.

00:09:39 They are not something to be done begrudgingly, but that his commandment is good, holy and right.

00:09:47 that the commandments of God bring life

00:09:49 and that the law of God, as the scripture says,

00:09:53 restores the soul.

00:09:55 It does not save the soul,

00:09:57 but there is a sense even which the law of God

00:09:59 brings us back to life

00:10:02 when we put the law of God into practice

00:10:05 in obedience by grace through faith.

00:10:08 So holiness, that's the big banner, holiness.

00:10:13 Underneath this big banner of holiness,

00:10:15 two subcategories, progressive righteousness and positional righteousness. Positional

00:10:22 righteousness belonging to justification. It is not something that we work for, but rather this

00:10:29 is salvation, justification. It is something received by grace through faith in Christ alone.

00:10:35 Positional righteousness underneath the big banner of holiness. On the other hand, also under this

00:10:42 category of holiness, its progressive righteousness, belonging not to justification, but rather

00:10:48 sanctification. And I believe that the scripture is plain that no man will see the Lord without

00:10:55 justification, surely, but also without sanctification. And the reason why is not because

00:11:03 we are saved by grace plus works, but because good works are the evidence that we have actually

00:11:11 received saving grace through faith in Christ alone. There is no justification that does not

00:11:19 result in some measure of sanctification. Sanctification is not ultimately what saves us,

00:11:27 but it is the sign, the proof, the evidence, the seal of justification. This is precisely what the

00:11:35 book of James speaks up when he says that faith without works is dead. Are we saved by faith plus

00:11:42 works? No, we are saved by faith alone, but a faith that saves is never alone. True saving faith is

00:11:52 always accompanied by good works. You've heard me often say, I'll say it again. The formula of

00:11:59 salvation is not faith plus works equals salvation. Rather, it is faith alone equals salvation plus

00:12:10 works. I'll say it again. It is not faith plus works equals salvation, but rather faith alone

00:12:19 equals salvation and works.

00:12:23 True saving faith will not only save the soul,

00:12:27 but it changes a person's life.

00:12:30 It causes us to walk in God's ways.

00:12:34 It causes us to be a new creation with new habits,

00:12:38 new words, new actions, new behaviors.

00:12:42 If a person claims to have true saving faith in Christ

00:12:46 and therefore justification,

00:12:48 that is positional righteousness,

00:12:50 but there's not one sign or evidence of sanctification,

00:12:55 progressive righteousness,

00:12:56 then that person, according not only to James,

00:12:59 but also 1 John, is a liar and the truth is not in him.

00:13:05 And we as Christians are able to say such.

00:13:09 God alone sees the heart.

00:13:11 Man looks at the outward appearance.

00:13:13 God alone is omniscient.

00:13:14 God alone can see definitively, perfectly the heart of a man.

00:13:20 But we are actually, not only is it permissible,

00:13:23 but we are commanded by God to make judgments.

00:13:28 People say, judge not.

00:13:29 Okay, but let's finish the text.

00:13:32 Matthew chapter seven, verses one through five says,

00:13:36 judge not, lest you too be judged.

00:13:39 For with the same measure of judgment

00:13:40 that you render to others, you too will be judged.

00:13:43 But then it goes on in the very next verse.

00:13:46 I believe it's verse six of Matthew chapter seven

00:13:48 that says, do not cast your pearls before swine

00:13:51 or give what is holy to dogs.

00:13:54 Well, how do you determine who is a swine

00:13:57 and who is a dog, right?

00:14:00 If we're being commanded, don't give pearls to swine.

00:14:04 Don't give what's holy to dogs.

00:14:06 You know what you have to do

00:14:08 in order to obey that commandment?

00:14:10 You have to be able to determine who is swine, who is dogs.

00:14:15 Well, what's a word for determining?

00:14:19 What's someone in judgment?

00:14:21 You make a judgment.

00:14:23 Of course you do.

00:14:25 So what is the condemnation in Matthew chapter 7, verse 1 through 5?

00:14:30 Is it a blatant condemnation of making all judgments?

00:14:34 If that's the case, then there would be no category for discernment.

00:14:38 Did you know, brothers and sisters, that biblical discernment, which we are not

00:14:43 just merely allowed to exercise, but again, commanded in scripture to exercise again and

00:14:49 again and again and again, biblical discernment is nothing more than making judgments. So what

00:14:56 is forbidden? What's the prohibition? Judgment? No, wrong judgment. Wrong judgments is what the

00:15:04 christian is prohibited from righteous judgments are good it's the same as i said before our

00:15:11 service when it comes to biblical patriarchy rulership male headship men ruling father rule

00:15:19 is not something that's bad the commandment is don't the commandment is not to not rule rather

00:15:26 the commandment of God to men is to rule righteously, to rule well, to rule as servants

00:15:34 with courage, with love, with compassion, all these things. So rule well. Likewise, make good

00:15:43 judgments. Make good judgments. So all of this being said, progressive righteousness and

00:15:52 positional righteousness, these two things are two peas in a pot. We should distinguish between the

00:15:59 two, but we should never sever, divorce, or separate the two. We are saved by faith alone,

00:16:07 but faith that saves is never alone. It is not faith plus works equals salvation, but rather

00:16:15 faith equals salvation plus works we must strive by grace through faith in christ his covenant his

00:16:25 promise and the goodness of his law even we must strive as christians to pursue progressive

00:16:33 righteousness to pursue holiness as it refers to sanctification not only the holiness which comes

00:16:42 as a gift in justification.

00:16:45 And I believe that Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14,

00:16:49 when it says, pursue holiness,

00:16:52 for without which no man will see the Lord,

00:16:54 I do not believe this is merely a reference

00:16:56 to justification, which comes by faith alone.

00:16:59 But that deep within the authorial intent

00:17:03 of this particular text is sanctification,

00:17:07 progressive righteousness, growing in Christ likeness,

00:17:11 being progressively conformed to the image of Jesus in the process, the lifelong process of

00:17:20 sanctification. Taking that back now to our primary text today, particularly verses four and five of

00:17:29 Joshua chapter three, it is therefore not a coincidence that before passing over the Jordan

00:17:37 river, which again is a type of death. Israel, representing a type of the church, the church,

00:17:45 Israel, is being called to not go around or to build a bridge and go over, but they are rather

00:17:52 called by God to go through the river. I've often used John Bunyan, he uses the river in Pilgrim's

00:18:00 progress to signify the final trek for the Christian, for the pilgrim. And the river is

00:18:07 death. Likewise, the Jordan River, that's where John Bunyan got this idea. And I believe it is a

00:18:13 good allegorical symbolic idea. The Jordan River symbolizes death and the people of God, the church, 0.70

00:18:20 namely Israel, they don't get to skip it. You don't get to skip the Jordan. You don't get to skip the 0.99

00:18:27 river. You don't get to go over it. You don't get to go around it. You have to go through it.

00:18:34 Now, if the Jordan River in Israel is not a good enough illustration for you,

00:18:39 if John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress is not a good enough illustration for you,

00:18:44 allow me to offer the full trifecta, a third illustration, homeward bound,

00:18:50 right? Shadow and chance. They're begging sassy, begging her just right here. The river,

00:18:56 it's slow, it's shallow. You just go through it. You go through it. And Sassy is arrogant

00:19:01 and proud as all cats are. Dogs are objectively better. And the Homeward Bound movie makes this 0.85

00:19:10 point thoroughly. Sassy has to go her own way and it gets her into trouble. She thinks instead of 1.00

00:19:17 going through the river, she can go over the river and it does not work out. Now I'm hesitant to

00:19:23 spoil the movie, but at the same time, I don't have a lot of compassion for people who have not

00:19:28 watched a movie that's been out for probably 30 years at this point. So what happens is she's

00:19:35 crossing the river on a natural bridge from a fallen tree. It breaks and collapses. She falls

00:19:42 into the river and almost drowns. Likewise, Israel cannot go over the river, but must go through. 0.97

00:19:50 Likewise, as it pertains to you and I,

00:19:53 we are the new Israel, the spiritual Israel.

00:19:58 We are Israel in the truest sense.

00:20:01 We are the church, the people of God.

00:20:03 And likewise, we are not going over the river of death

00:20:07 or around the river of death,

00:20:09 but we must go through the river of death.

00:20:13 And two things that jump out of these two verses of our text,

00:20:18 namely verses four and five in regards to the christian's requirement to go through the river

00:20:24 of death is this number one for you have not passed this way before that's the end of verse

00:20:31 four this is a portion of life the final portion of life namely death that none of us have dealt

00:20:40 with before it is appointed to man that he should die once and then comes the judgment

00:20:47 In other words, brothers and sisters,

00:20:49 you do not get to practice death.

00:20:53 You do not get a rehearsal for death.

00:20:56 Sure, you may suffer in this life

00:20:58 and be on your deathbed, in a sense,

00:21:02 and then recover,

00:21:04 but none of us get to truly go all the way to the end

00:21:07 and die as a rehearsal to die again.

00:21:12 You could argue that maybe a few individuals,

00:21:15 like Lazarus. But even then, it's not a benefit. Yay, Lazarus gets to die twice.

00:21:23 There's no need for us to have jealousy in that regard. So this is an untrodden path.

00:21:31 It's a trackless path. Israel is going away that no one has gone before. 0.94

00:21:38 There's not a trail that has been etched into the ground 0.97

00:21:42 to make the path level or easy

00:21:45 or to remove obstacles and stones and roots and weeds.

00:21:49 This is not a path that has been traversed many times.

00:21:54 This is a path that they will cross but once.

00:21:57 It is a path that they do not know.

00:22:00 It is a path where they have not been.

00:22:02 There is no rehearsal.

00:22:04 There is no training, not really,

00:22:07 there is no practice but there is christ the ark of the covenant of the lord goes before them

00:22:15 and jesus who has tasted death once and for all for all his people not only does he pass through

00:22:24 the river of death with us when that time comes but he stands in the middle of the river

00:22:29 in the covenant of His promise,

00:22:33 in the covenant of grace,

00:22:34 and He causes the waters of God's judgment

00:22:37 not to swallow us up,

00:22:39 but rather to provide a path

00:22:41 we've never traversed before,

00:22:43 but a path nonetheless

00:22:45 where we can pass through as Jesus

00:22:47 in His righteousness,

00:22:49 in His covenant faithfulness,

00:22:51 holds back the wrath and judgment of God

00:22:54 so that we can pass through death

00:22:56 without being swallowed up.

00:22:57 rather the waters of death are swallowed up in his victory and that is what we can trust in

00:23:05 when that time comes the late great rc sprawl once said as a christian i am not afraid of death

00:23:12 the scripture is clear oh death where is your sting death has been swallowed up in life swallowed

00:23:18 up in victory. And yet, Sproul said, although I do not fear death, I do fear dying. Dying will not

00:23:28 be a pleasure. The loss of faculties, the loss of your own independence, reverting, regressing back

00:23:38 to utter dependence on others, like going back almost to infancy for some. Sure, there are those

00:23:45 who die peacefully in their sleep,

00:23:49 but many of us will die in a process.

00:23:53 We will die slowly.

00:23:55 We will lose our ability to take care of ourselves

00:23:59 and be dependent on the same children

00:24:02 that used to depend on us.

00:24:04 We may even experience certain degrees of dementia,

00:24:08 the loss of memory,

00:24:10 that we wouldn't even be able to speak

00:24:12 and think and contemplate and communicate

00:24:16 in the ways that we once were able.

00:24:19 But to know that Christ's covenant is steadfast.

00:24:24 To know that we don't need a Roman Catholic priest

00:24:30 to read us our last rites

00:24:32 before the moment of breathing our last breath.

00:24:35 To know that we are secure in the covenant.

00:24:39 These Levitical priests carrying the ark

00:24:41 of the covenant of the Lord

00:24:42 they walked into the water. And when Christ, the ark representing Christ, when the feet of the

00:24:48 Levitical priesthood touched the brink of the water and they were carrying the ark, which 0.72

00:24:53 represents Christ, the water had no choice but to stand up in a heap. And they walked into the river

00:25:02 and notice they don't cross all the way. And then Israel follows. Rather, they walk into the middle 0.91

00:25:09 of the river and stop. And so too, it shall be for us. For those who trust in Jesus, it is not up to

00:25:18 you and your ability to keep your mind. You may lose your mind in the process of dying. It is not

00:25:26 up to you and your ability to exercise perfect behaviors. My wife, she worked as an RN for

00:25:34 several years. She now works as a mother in our home. But when she worked as an RN dealing with 0.88

00:25:42 oncology, those with cancer, many people would die. And many people were unpleasant

00:25:48 as they were dying. They became impatient. They became cruel. They became annoying.

00:25:56 they became mean

00:25:58 and this may happen even for some of us

00:26:03 some of it related to our fallenness

00:26:06 that is our sin

00:26:08 like a sponge

00:26:09 we've been sanctified

00:26:11 but the sponge now being squeezed

00:26:13 for the final time

00:26:14 and a little bit more of that

00:26:17 deep residue of sin

00:26:19 squeezing out

00:26:21 but there's also a sense

00:26:23 in which we are creatures

00:26:24 not only fallen but finite and in our finitude there is the loss of faculties the loss of memory

00:26:32 the loss of speech the loss of being able to use the bathroom on your own these are very frustrating

00:26:39 things but to know that christ has not just gone before us but to know that christ he stops and

00:26:47 stands firm in the middle of death and that he is with us and that he is with us not conditionally

00:26:56 on the condition that we are on our best behavior on the condition that we can still think that we

00:27:03 can still reason that we're patient that we're kind but that christ is with us in the covenant

00:27:07 of grace stopping the waters of judgment because he has drank all of god's wrath for our sin already

00:27:15 not just our sin that we've committed in the past but even the sin that we may commit in the dying

00:27:22 process we are secure in christ and he will pass through death with us next verses 10 of our text

00:27:34 to read it once more so that it's fresh in our minds the bible says this here is how you shall

00:27:39 know that the living God is among you and that he will, without fail, drive out from you the 0.71

00:27:47 Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 0.99

00:27:55 Here is how you shall know. Oh, what is that referencing? Well, it's referencing just the verse

00:28:01 before. It's referencing the parting of the Jordan River. But notice this. It is not only

00:28:09 that God is going to part the Jordan River for the practical purpose of getting his people Israel to

00:28:16 the other side. And it is not only that God is going to part the river for the purpose, the

00:28:22 spiritual purpose, not only practical of crossing the river, but the spiritual purpose of proving

00:28:28 to his own people that he is the Lord. No, God is doing this so that not only would Israel know that

00:28:36 he is the covenant God of Israel, but that Israel might know that he is the earthly God, universal

00:28:44 God of all the nations. That God is God of all the peoples of the earth, the Lord of all the earth.

00:28:54 look at verse 13 of our text and when the souls of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the

00:29:01 lord the covenant god of israel no he is that never less than that but oh how god is more

00:29:09 when the souls of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the lord the lord of all the earth

00:29:16 shall rest in the waters of the jordan the waters of the jordan shall be cut off from flowing and

00:29:23 the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap there are many commentators that believe

00:29:30 that many people from jericho were actually able to physically witness and see this miracle take

00:29:38 place that god performing this sign and wonder was not only to the benefit of his people that is his

00:29:46 covenant people israel that they might come to trust in him all the more but that it was also

00:29:52 to terrorize God's enemies that they too would see that the Lord was with them so that when the spies

00:29:59 went into Jericho and they engaged with Rahab that this perhaps was one of the reasons 0.58

00:30:06 why Rahab knew with confirmation with assurance and certainty that the land would be given

00:30:15 to Israel, that God was actually against the Canaanites, that he was against the Amorites

00:30:23 in the case of Jericho. In the Old Testament, we see that God is uniquely the covenant God

00:30:31 of Israel. But God is also universally the God of all the earth. Not just now,

00:30:41 after the death resurrection and ascension of christ but he has always been so god has always

00:30:49 been the lord of all the earth and so here in verse 10 of our text one of the things that the

00:30:58 lord says to his people through joshua is this he says i will do this great sign and wonder among you

00:31:05 parting the jordan river so that you cross on dry land not only for the practical purpose of

00:31:11 getting Israel to the other side of the river, but also for the spiritual purpose of causing you

00:31:18 to firmly believe that not only will a portion of the land be given to you, but all of the land.

00:31:25 That is specifically what's said. Again, verse 10, here is how the parting of the Jordan is what's

00:31:32 in view here. Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without

00:31:39 fail drive out from before you everybody he then list by name all seven tribes that were currently

00:31:48 inhabiting the land of canaan the promised land so god says not only will i do this great sign

00:31:55 there are many purposes the practical purpose of getting across the river also as we saw earlier

00:32:00 in the text one of the reasons that god is going to perform this sign is to exalt joshua in the

00:32:06 people, that they would know that the same way in which the Lord was with Moses, the Lord is also

00:32:12 now with Joshua. So God is doing this practically to get his people across the Jordan. He's doing it

00:32:18 for the purpose of exalting Joshua as a leader over Israel in the eyes of his people. But he's 0.81

00:32:25 also doing it to convince Israel that he's not only going to get them into the land, but that 0.65

00:32:32 he's going to empower them to conquer the land. Let me say that again, because evangelicals have 0.60

00:32:40 not been able to understand this principle for approximately 70 years. So it bears repeating. 0.99

00:32:46 Conquering land is a foreign idea to Christians in Western society, but it is thoroughly biblical.

00:32:54 God not only causes the Jordan River to part so that they might know that Joshua is their leader

00:33:02 and that God is among them or to get them into the land, physically into the land. But God

00:33:08 specifically says that he will perform this sign and wonder as a guarantee, not only that his people

00:33:15 would enter the land, but that they would conquer the land and that God would not fail to drive out

00:33:23 before you every single inhabitant of this promised land all of the inhabitants all of 0.63

00:33:31 God's enemies he would drive out from before his people so this promise as it pertains again to the

00:33:40 the heavenly reality the eternal reality for us for those of us who are in Christ

00:33:46 What it means is that Christ died and rose again.

00:33:50 Christ, he passed through this Jordan River.

00:33:53 He promises to pass through it with us,

00:33:57 to accompany us through death when our time comes.

00:34:00 And what this means in real terms

00:34:03 is not only will we enter heaven,

00:34:05 but that God will give to us a full inheritance.

00:34:10 It is not only God's way of getting Israel into the land,

00:34:14 but saying, I will give you all of the land 0.67

00:34:17 and I will drive out every obstacle,

00:34:20 every inhabitant that would stand in my way

00:34:24 from giving you not just a partial inheritance,

00:34:28 but a full inheritance.

00:34:30 Christ's death and resurrection

00:34:32 and his covenant of grace and promise to be with us

00:34:36 in our death and resurrection

00:34:38 is likewise an assurance that we will not only enter heaven,

00:34:42 but that we will inherit all of heaven we are co-heirs with christ and every promise that has

00:34:50 been given to him through union with him by faith that promise belongs to us as well we are not only

00:34:57 promised that through faith we might enter into the heavenly canaan but that all of it belongs

00:35:03 to us and that every single sin which so easily entangles and every single drop of god's white

00:35:11 hot wrath for sin, every enemy that would inhibit us or hinder us from the fullness of this promise,

00:35:19 this inheritance, will be removed. And it has been removed in Christ by virtue of his life,

00:35:26 his death, his resurrection, and glorious ascension to the right hand of God the Father.

00:35:32 By trusting in Jesus, not only will you enter heaven, but you are promised to receive all of

00:35:38 heaven, a full inheritance. Every single promise given to Christ is yours through faith. Lastly,

00:35:49 verse 17 of our text, the Bible says this. Now the priest bearing the ark of the covenant of

00:35:57 the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan and all Israel was passing over

00:36:04 on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. John Gill in his

00:36:13 commentary on this particular text says this, and this may denote the presence of Christ with his

00:36:20 people in afflictions, who will not suffer those waters to overflow them. And in death itself,

00:36:28 when the swellings of Jordan shall not come near them to distress them, and when the covenant

00:36:35 of grace will appear firm and sure and be their great support. We've already addressed this point

00:36:44 at the beginning of our text, because the point is seen and made multiple times throughout this

00:36:51 chapter. But the point once more is this, that Christ has passed through death on our behalf

00:36:58 before us. But he is also Emmanuel, God with us, who promises to come alongside his people as we

00:37:06 go through the river of death ourselves. And when he does, like the Levitical priest, he will not be

00:37:13 struggling he will not be swaying he will not falter or stumble but rather his feet

00:37:21 as he holds in his hands the covenant of grace his feet will be surely and firmly planted

00:37:30 on dry solid ground this speaks to the security it speaks to the inevitability it speaks to the

00:37:41 firmness to the finality the assuredness of the covenant of grace that the covenant of grace is

00:37:50 not merely sufficient to help us in our sanctification during the time of our life

00:37:57 but when we need christ in his covenant the most at the moment of our death the covenant of grace

00:38:06 does not then begin to wane but rather it shores up all the stronger and when we pass through that

00:38:14 moment of dying Christ is there and Christ is not wavering Christ is not certain Christ is firm

00:38:23 he is true and he remains the same holding in his hand the promise of the covenant of grace

00:38:31 with us, Emmanuel, as we pass through the river of death. If Christ was to leave us or forsake us,

00:38:41 he would have already done so. As David once said, the Lord had been faithful to him so many times

00:38:50 after time after time, that at a certain point in David's life, he finally decided to merely call

00:38:58 a spade a spade and he said having seen thus far the faithfulness of the Lord surely goodness and

00:39:07 mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever

00:39:15 so too it can be said of us for all who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ alone

00:39:22 surely goodness and mercy

00:39:25 and all the promises and benefits

00:39:28 of the covenant of grace

00:39:30 shall not falter and fail me

00:39:32 on that final day

00:39:34 when I need them most

00:39:35 but rather they shall follow me

00:39:37 all the days of my life

00:39:39 and I shall dwell

00:39:41 in the house of the Lord

00:39:43 in the life to come

00:39:45 and I shall enter heaven

00:39:47 and I shall receive a full inheritance

00:39:49 of all of heaven

00:39:51 because it has been promised to Christ and I have by faith union with him. Let's pray. Father,

00:40:00 thank you for your word. Bless it to your people that we might live it, obey it, apply it to every

00:40:06 single realm of life, all for your glory. So that not only the church might see that you are our

00:40:14 covenant god but that all the nations might see that you are the lord of all the earth we pray

00:40:23 these things in jesus name amen we're going to continue can i be frank with you for just a second

00:40:29 right here at the end look some of you guys you're financially supporting this ministry

00:40:34 and from the bottom of my heart i say thank you i cannot thank you enough however some of you

00:40:41 you just, you can't afford it. In fact, some of you, you shouldn't afford it. Let's be honest.

00:40:48 I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy. Our nation and our totalitarian political 0.94

00:40:55 elites lost their minds over the last three years due to COVID. We have written checks that we

00:41:03 simply cannot cash. It doesn't matter if people change the definition of a recession. We are

00:41:09 living in a recession right now regardless. Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs

00:41:17 at the grocery store. You cannot support financially this ministry at this time nor should you but you

00:41:24 could still help us tremendously. I am asking you please if you're willing to do so take one minute

00:41:32 of your time. Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform iTunes, Spotify, whatever

00:41:39 that might be, this is the way the system works. We want to be innocent as doves but shrewd as

00:41:46 vipers. We need to be strategic. You leave us a five-star review and our podcast shows up for

00:41:52 more people. And the Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every

00:42:00 realm of life gets out there. Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.

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The NXR Podcast - May 14, 2023

SUNDAY SERMON - Christ’s Faithfulness In The Moment Of Our Death

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