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

00:00:00.000 All right, listen, guys, I get it.

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00:00:40.740 Today, our text is Joshua chapter 3, verses 1 through 17.

00:00:45.940 Joshua chapter 3, verses 1 through 17.

00:00:50.560 Would you join me now in standing for the reading of God's word?

00:00:53.760 I'll read our text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the

00:00:58.540 word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be

00:01:04.420 to God. One final time, our text for today is Joshua chapter 3 verses 1 through 17. The Bible

00:01:12.320 says this, then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim and they came to

00:01:20.240 the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. At the end

00:01:27.100 of three days, the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, as soon as you see the

00:01:33.640 ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priest, then you shall

00:01:39.000 set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two 0.75

00:01:46.660 thousand cubits in length do not come near it in order that you may know the way you shall go for

00:01:53.880 you have not passed this way before then joshua said to the people consecrate yourselves for

00:02:00.740 tomorrow the lord will do wonders among you and joshua said to the priest take up the ark of the

00:02:07.440 covenant and pass on before the people so they took up the ark of the covenant and went before

00:02:14.120 the people. The Lord said to Joshua, today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel,

00:02:21.520 that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the

00:02:29.980 priest who bear the Ark of the Covenant, when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan,

00:02:35.360 you shall stand still in the Jordan. And Joshua said to the people of Israel, come here and listen

00:02:41.960 to the words of the Lord your God.

00:02:44.240 And Joshua said,

00:02:45.620 Here is how you shall know

00:02:47.100 that the living God is among you

00:02:48.960 and that he will, without fail,

00:02:51.440 drive out from before you 1.00

00:02:53.400 the Canaanites, the Hittites, 1.00

00:02:55.860 the Hivites, the Perizzites,

00:02:59.080 the Girgashites, the Amorites,

00:03:01.880 and the Jebusites.

00:03:03.320 Behold, the ark of the covenant

00:03:05.040 of the Lord of all the earth

00:03:07.120 is passing over before you

00:03:09.680 into the Jordan. 0.68

00:03:11.200 Now, therefore, take 12 men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man.

00:03:16.960 And when the soles of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the Lord, 0.88

00:03:20.980 the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan,

00:03:25.120 the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing,

00:03:28.440 and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.

00:03:33.320 So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan

00:03:37.220 with the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people.

00:03:41.580 And as soon as those bearing the Ark had come as far as the Jordan,

00:03:46.400 and the feet of the priest bearing the Ark were dipped in the brink of the water,

00:03:51.060 now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest.

00:03:56.100 Then the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam,

00:04:03.800 the city that is beside Zarethon. And those flowing down toward the sea of the Ereba,

00:04:10.820 the salt sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the

00:04:17.760 priest bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle

00:04:23.140 of the Jordan. And all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing 0.55

00:04:30.340 over the Jordan. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead and

00:04:37.640 begin by focusing our attention on verses 4 and 5 of our text. To read them once more so that

00:04:45.020 they're fresh in our minds, the Bible says this, there shall be a distance between you and it,

00:04:52.120 that is the ark of the covenant of the Lord, approximately 2,000 cubits in length. Do not

00:05:00.020 come near it in order that you may know the way that you shall go for you have not passed this

00:05:07.240 way before then joshua said to the people consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the lord

00:05:14.180 will do wonders among you and your notes i've written the following christ is the antitype

00:05:20.520 of the ark an antitype is simply the substance of what a sign or symbol was meant to point toward

00:05:29.920 The antitype, again, is the substance of the shadow.

00:05:34.540 A type is the shadow, the sign.

00:05:37.300 The antitype is the substance, the real form,

00:05:41.040 the real substance of the thing

00:05:43.100 in which the sign and shadow was meant to convey.

00:05:47.380 So Christ is the antitype of the ark,

00:05:50.840 not Noah's ark, which he is also an antitype

00:05:53.900 of Noah's ark as well.

00:05:55.500 But particularly for the purpose of our text today,

00:05:58.360 what I'm saying is that Christ is the substance, the real thing that the ark of the covenant of

00:06:05.700 the Lord was meant to symbolize. The ark in and of itself had a purpose, but it also has a higher

00:06:13.400 symbolic and ultimate purpose of pointing towards the antitype, the substance of the shadow, which

00:06:20.860 again is Christ Jesus the Lord. So Christ is the antitype of the ark. He is the only way to the

00:06:29.500 heavenly Canaan. The way to glory through the Jordan River, which is a type of death, as we've 0.96

00:06:36.220 discussed in previous weeks, is an untrodden and trackless path. It is, as we see in verse 4 and 5

00:06:44.940 of our text it is a way which you have not passed before so this way who is christ through the 0.96

00:06:54.860 jordan river which represents death is an untrodded and trackless path is a way that all christians

00:07:03.380 must go but none of us have traversed this path before all men must eventually go through the

00:07:12.740 river of death, but only once. And those who pass through it have never gone that way before.

00:07:20.260 However, before crossing the Jordan, Israel was commanded to consecrate themselves. In the 0.77

00:07:27.360 ceremonial sense, Israel was commanded to consecrate themselves by washing their bodies and clothes, 0.85

00:07:34.940 as well as abstaining from relations with their wives. But in the moral sense, Israel was commanded 0.83

00:07:42.040 to consecrate themselves by prayer meditation and the repentance of sin in order to pass through

00:07:50.220 the river of death to the heavenly canaan likewise believers today you and i must be

00:07:57.560 consecrated that is we must be morally sanctified for without holiness no man shall see the lord

00:08:07.460 as Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14 tells us plainly.

00:08:12.080 When we preach through the book of Hebrews

00:08:15.300 and we came to this particular text,

00:08:17.800 Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14,

00:08:20.200 I said, and today I will say once more,

00:08:23.200 that the holiness spoken of in this context

00:08:26.380 is not positional righteousness,

00:08:29.800 which is belonging to justification,

00:08:33.480 and therefore it is received by grace through faith

00:08:37.260 in christ alone however there is another kind of holiness that each christian is commanded

00:08:44.920 to pursue and this holiness which i believe is in reference in hebrews chapter 12 verse 14

00:08:51.780 is not positional righteousness but rather progressive righteousness positional righteousness

00:08:59.240 is belonging to justification and it is received freely by grace alone through faith alone in

00:09:07.820 christ alone that is positional righteousness justification progressive righteousness is

00:09:15.540 belonging to sanctification it is belonging to sanctification this too is a merciful gift of god

00:09:23.600 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.

00:09:39.740 They are not something to be done begrudgingly, but that his commandment is good, holy and right.

00:09:47.220 that the commandments of God bring life

00:09:49.920 and that the law of God, as the scripture says,

00:09:53.160 restores the soul.

00:09:55.260 It does not save the soul,

00:09:57.260 but there is a sense even which the law of God

00:09:59.920 brings us back to life

00:10:02.100 when we put the law of God into practice

00:10:05.060 in obedience by grace through faith.

00:10:08.800 So holiness, that's the big banner, holiness.

00:10:13.480 Underneath this big banner of holiness,

00:10:15.700 two subcategories, progressive righteousness and positional righteousness. Positional

00:10:22.720 righteousness belonging to justification. It is not something that we work for, but rather this

00:10:29.020 is salvation, justification. It is something received by grace through faith in Christ alone.

00:10:35.800 Positional righteousness underneath the big banner of holiness. On the other hand, also under this

00:10:42.000 category of holiness, its progressive righteousness, belonging not to justification, but rather

00:10:48.580 sanctification. And I believe that the scripture is plain that no man will see the Lord without

00:10:55.500 justification, surely, but also without sanctification. And the reason why is not because

00:11:03.320 we are saved by grace plus works, but because good works are the evidence that we have actually

00:11:11.660 received saving grace through faith in Christ alone. There is no justification that does not

00:11:19.700 result in some measure of sanctification. Sanctification is not ultimately what saves us,

00:11:27.440 but it is the sign, the proof, the evidence, the seal of justification. This is precisely what the

00:11:35.100 book of James speaks up when he says that faith without works is dead. Are we saved by faith plus

00:11:42.560 works? No, we are saved by faith alone, but a faith that saves is never alone. True saving faith is

00:11:52.080 always accompanied by good works. You've heard me often say, I'll say it again. The formula of

00:11:59.280 salvation is not faith plus works equals salvation. Rather, it is faith alone equals salvation plus

00:12:10.300 works. I'll say it again. It is not faith plus works equals salvation, but rather faith alone

00:12:19.380 equals salvation and works.

00:12:23.640 True saving faith will not only save the soul,

00:12:27.900 but it changes a person's life.

00:12:30.500 It causes us to walk in God's ways.

00:12:34.340 It causes us to be a new creation with new habits,

00:12:38.520 new words, new actions, new behaviors.

00:12:42.380 If a person claims to have true saving faith in Christ

00:12:46.520 and therefore justification,

00:12:48.760 that is positional righteousness,

00:12:50.940 but there's not one sign or evidence of sanctification,

00:12:55.140 progressive righteousness,

00:12:56.820 then that person, according not only to James,

00:12:59.340 but also 1 John, is a liar and the truth is not in him.

00:13:05.740 And we as Christians are able to say such.

00:13:09.720 God alone sees the heart.

00:13:11.360 Man looks at the outward appearance.

00:13:13.380 God alone is omniscient.

00:13:14.840 God alone can see definitively, perfectly the heart of a man.

00:13:20.320 But we are actually, not only is it permissible,

00:13:23.360 but we are commanded by God to make judgments.

00:13:28.040 People say, judge not.

00:13:29.820 Okay, but let's finish the text.

00:13:32.740 Matthew chapter seven, verses one through five says,

00:13:36.720 judge not, lest you too be judged.

00:13:39.300 For with the same measure of judgment

00:13:40.960 that you render to others, you too will be judged.

00:13:43.700 But then it goes on in the very next verse.

00:13:46.100 I believe it's verse six of Matthew chapter seven

00:13:48.360 that says, do not cast your pearls before swine

00:13:51.540 or give what is holy to dogs.

00:13:54.420 Well, how do you determine who is a swine

00:13:57.680 and who is a dog, right?

00:14:00.620 If we're being commanded, don't give pearls to swine.

00:14:04.180 Don't give what's holy to dogs.

00:14:06.760 You know what you have to do

00:14:08.220 in order to obey that commandment?

00:14:10.120 You have to be able to determine who is swine, who is dogs.

00:14:15.580 Well, what's a word for determining?

00:14:19.200 What's someone in judgment?

00:14:21.200 You make a judgment.

00:14:23.520 Of course you do.

00:14:25.200 So what is the condemnation in Matthew chapter 7, verse 1 through 5?

00:14:30.640 Is it a blatant condemnation of making all judgments?

00:14:34.700 If that's the case, then there would be no category for discernment.

00:14:38.940 Did you know, brothers and sisters, that biblical discernment, which we are not

00:14:43.100 just merely allowed to exercise, but again, commanded in scripture to exercise again and

00:14:49.320 again and again and again, biblical discernment is nothing more than making judgments. So what

00:14:56.160 is forbidden? What's the prohibition? Judgment? No, wrong judgment. Wrong judgments is what the

00:15:04.820 christian is prohibited from righteous judgments are good it's the same as i said before our

00:15:11.900 service when it comes to biblical patriarchy rulership male headship men ruling father rule

00:15:19.380 is not something that's bad the commandment is don't the commandment is not to not rule rather

00:15:26.840 the commandment of God to men is to rule righteously, to rule well, to rule as servants

00:15:34.760 with courage, with love, with compassion, all these things. So rule well. Likewise, make good

00:15:43.320 judgments. Make good judgments. So all of this being said, progressive righteousness and

00:15:52.140 positional righteousness, these two things are two peas in a pot. We should distinguish between the

00:15:59.480 two, but we should never sever, divorce, or separate the two. We are saved by faith alone,

00:16:07.740 but faith that saves is never alone. It is not faith plus works equals salvation, but rather

00:16:15.400 faith equals salvation plus works we must strive by grace through faith in christ his covenant his

00:16:25.100 promise and the goodness of his law even we must strive as christians to pursue progressive

00:16:33.060 righteousness to pursue holiness as it refers to sanctification not only the holiness which comes

00:16:42.760 as a gift in justification.

00:16:45.460 And I believe that Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14,

00:16:49.440 when it says, pursue holiness,

00:16:52.100 for without which no man will see the Lord,

00:16:54.720 I do not believe this is merely a reference

00:16:56.980 to justification, which comes by faith alone.

00:16:59.780 But that deep within the authorial intent

00:17:03.920 of this particular text is sanctification,

00:17:07.640 progressive righteousness, growing in Christ likeness,

00:17:11.980 being progressively conformed to the image of Jesus in the process, the lifelong process of

00:17:20.240 sanctification. Taking that back now to our primary text today, particularly verses four and five of

00:17:29.740 Joshua chapter three, it is therefore not a coincidence that before passing over the Jordan

00:17:37.060 river, which again is a type of death. Israel, representing a type of the church, the church,

00:17:45.540 Israel, is being called to not go around or to build a bridge and go over, but they are rather

00:17:52.220 called by God to go through the river. I've often used John Bunyan, he uses the river in Pilgrim's

00:18:00.960 progress to signify the final trek for the Christian, for the pilgrim. And the river is

00:18:07.100 death. Likewise, the Jordan River, that's where John Bunyan got this idea. And I believe it is a

00:18:13.160 good allegorical symbolic idea. The Jordan River symbolizes death and the people of God, the church, 0.70

00:18:20.960 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

00:18:27.920 river. You don't get to go over it. You don't get to go around it. You have to go through it.

00:18:34.540 Now, if the Jordan River in Israel is not a good enough illustration for you,

00:18:39.680 if John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress is not a good enough illustration for you,

00:18:44.580 allow me to offer the full trifecta, a third illustration, homeward bound,

00:18:50.580 right? Shadow and chance. They're begging sassy, begging her just right here. The river,

00:18:56.140 it's slow, it's shallow. You just go through it. You go through it. And Sassy is arrogant

00:19:01.900 and proud as all cats are. Dogs are objectively better. And the Homeward Bound movie makes this 0.85

00:19:10.340 point thoroughly. Sassy has to go her own way and it gets her into trouble. She thinks instead of 1.00

00:19:17.020 going through the river, she can go over the river and it does not work out. Now I'm hesitant to

00:19:23.500 spoil the movie, but at the same time, I don't have a lot of compassion for people who have not

00:19:28.560 watched a movie that's been out for probably 30 years at this point. So what happens is she's

00:19:35.520 crossing the river on a natural bridge from a fallen tree. It breaks and collapses. She falls

00:19:42.940 into the river and almost drowns. Likewise, Israel cannot go over the river, but must go through. 0.97

00:19:50.520 Likewise, as it pertains to you and I,

00:19:53.480 we are the new Israel, the spiritual Israel.

00:19:58.040 We are Israel in the truest sense.

00:20:01.300 We are the church, the people of God.

00:20:03.440 And likewise, we are not going over the river of death

00:20:07.440 or around the river of death,

00:20:09.820 but we must go through the river of death.

00:20:13.040 And two things that jump out of these two verses of our text,

00:20:18.460 namely verses four and five in regards to the christian's requirement to go through the river

00:20:24.520 of death is this number one for you have not passed this way before that's the end of verse

00:20:31.780 four this is a portion of life the final portion of life namely death that none of us have dealt

00:20:40.640 with before it is appointed to man that he should die once and then comes the judgment

00:20:47.960 In other words, brothers and sisters,

00:20:49.620 you do not get to practice death.

00:20:53.000 You do not get a rehearsal for death.

00:20:56.780 Sure, you may suffer in this life

00:20:58.760 and be on your deathbed, in a sense,

00:21:02.500 and then recover,

00:21:04.020 but none of us get to truly go all the way to the end

00:21:07.860 and die as a rehearsal to die again.

00:21:12.800 You could argue that maybe a few individuals,

00:21:15.180 like Lazarus. But even then, it's not a benefit. Yay, Lazarus gets to die twice.

00:21:23.780 There's no need for us to have jealousy in that regard. So this is an untrodden path.

00:21:31.120 It's a trackless path. Israel is going away that no one has gone before. 0.94

00:21:38.220 There's not a trail that has been etched into the ground 0.97

00:21:42.340 to make the path level or easy

00:21:45.220 or to remove obstacles and stones and roots and weeds.

00:21:49.880 This is not a path that has been traversed many times.

00:21:54.260 This is a path that they will cross but once.

00:21:57.680 It is a path that they do not know.

00:22:00.180 It is a path where they have not been.

00:22:02.720 There is no rehearsal.

00:22:04.520 There is no training, not really,

00:22:07.240 there is no practice but there is christ the ark of the covenant of the lord goes before them

00:22:15.000 and jesus who has tasted death once and for all for all his people not only does he pass through

00:22:24.440 the river of death with us when that time comes but he stands in the middle of the river

00:22:29.900 in the covenant of His promise,

00:22:33.120 in the covenant of grace,

00:22:34.840 and He causes the waters of God's judgment

00:22:37.520 not to swallow us up,

00:22:39.740 but rather to provide a path

00:22:41.960 we've never traversed before,

00:22:43.580 but a path nonetheless

00:22:45.200 where we can pass through as Jesus

00:22:47.960 in His righteousness,

00:22:49.860 in His covenant faithfulness,

00:22:51.580 holds back the wrath and judgment of God

00:22:54.280 so that we can pass through death

00:22:56.260 without being swallowed up.

00:22:57.700 rather the waters of death are swallowed up in his victory and that is what we can trust in

00:23:05.080 when that time comes the late great rc sprawl once said as a christian i am not afraid of death

00:23:12.120 the scripture is clear oh death where is your sting death has been swallowed up in life swallowed

00:23:18.900 up in victory. And yet, Sproul said, although I do not fear death, I do fear dying. Dying will not

00:23:28.100 be a pleasure. The loss of faculties, the loss of your own independence, reverting, regressing back

00:23:38.000 to utter dependence on others, like going back almost to infancy for some. Sure, there are those

00:23:45.960 who die peacefully in their sleep,

00:23:49.020 but many of us will die in a process.

00:23:53.000 We will die slowly.

00:23:55.600 We will lose our ability to take care of ourselves

00:23:59.420 and be dependent on the same children

00:24:02.360 that used to depend on us.

00:24:04.180 We may even experience certain degrees of dementia,

00:24:08.240 the loss of memory,

00:24:10.620 that we wouldn't even be able to speak

00:24:12.940 and think and contemplate and communicate

00:24:16.460 in the ways that we once were able.

00:24:19.780 But to know that Christ's covenant is steadfast.

00:24:24.840 To know that we don't need a Roman Catholic priest

00:24:30.320 to read us our last rites

00:24:32.540 before the moment of breathing our last breath.

00:24:35.920 To know that we are secure in the covenant.

00:24:39.680 These Levitical priests carrying the ark

00:24:41.820 of the covenant of the Lord

00:24:42.860 they walked into the water. And when Christ, the ark representing Christ, when the feet of the

00:24:48.880 Levitical priesthood touched the brink of the water and they were carrying the ark, which 0.72

00:24:53.700 represents Christ, the water had no choice but to stand up in a heap. And they walked into the river

00:25:02.360 and notice they don't cross all the way. And then Israel follows. Rather, they walk into the middle 0.91

00:25:09.080 of the river and stop. And so too, it shall be for us. For those who trust in Jesus, it is not up to

00:25:18.080 you and your ability to keep your mind. You may lose your mind in the process of dying. It is not

00:25:26.260 up to you and your ability to exercise perfect behaviors. My wife, she worked as an RN for

00:25:34.880 several years. She now works as a mother in our home. But when she worked as an RN dealing with 0.88

00:25:42.020 oncology, those with cancer, many people would die. And many people were unpleasant

00:25:48.280 as they were dying. They became impatient. They became cruel. They became annoying.

00:25:56.240 they became mean

00:25:58.580 and this may happen even for some of us

00:26:03.820 some of it related to our fallenness

00:26:06.720 that is our sin

00:26:08.040 like a sponge

00:26:09.480 we've been sanctified

00:26:11.060 but the sponge now being squeezed

00:26:13.220 for the final time

00:26:14.720 and a little bit more of that

00:26:17.280 deep residue of sin

00:26:19.260 squeezing out

00:26:21.300 but there's also a sense

00:26:23.160 in which we are creatures

00:26:24.700 not only fallen but finite and in our finitude there is the loss of faculties the loss of memory

00:26:32.300 the loss of speech the loss of being able to use the bathroom on your own these are very frustrating

00:26:39.860 things but to know that christ has not just gone before us but to know that christ he stops and

00:26:47.820 stands firm in the middle of death and that he is with us and that he is with us not conditionally

00:26:56.540 on the condition that we are on our best behavior on the condition that we can still think that we

00:27:03.020 can still reason that we're patient that we're kind but that christ is with us in the covenant

00:27:07.620 of grace stopping the waters of judgment because he has drank all of god's wrath for our sin already

00:27:15.380 not just our sin that we've committed in the past but even the sin that we may commit in the dying

00:27:22.320 process we are secure in christ and he will pass through death with us next verses 10 of our text

00:27:34.040 to read it once more so that it's fresh in our minds the bible says this here is how you shall

00:27:39.720 know that the living God is among you and that he will, without fail, drive out from you the 0.71

00:27:47.440 Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 0.99

00:27:55.920 Here is how you shall know. Oh, what is that referencing? Well, it's referencing just the verse

00:28:01.600 before. It's referencing the parting of the Jordan River. But notice this. It is not only

00:28:09.820 that God is going to part the Jordan River for the practical purpose of getting his people Israel to

00:28:16.140 the other side. And it is not only that God is going to part the river for the purpose, the

00:28:22.800 spiritual purpose, not only practical of crossing the river, but the spiritual purpose of proving

00:28:28.920 to his own people that he is the Lord. No, God is doing this so that not only would Israel know that

00:28:36.580 he is the covenant God of Israel, but that Israel might know that he is the earthly God, universal

00:28:44.900 God of all the nations. That God is God of all the peoples of the earth, the Lord of all the earth.

00:28:54.940 look at verse 13 of our text and when the souls of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the

00:29:01.060 lord the covenant god of israel no he is that never less than that but oh how god is more

00:29:09.740 when the souls of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the lord the lord of all the earth

00:29:16.140 shall rest in the waters of the jordan the waters of the jordan shall be cut off from flowing and

00:29:23.080 the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap there are many commentators that believe

00:29:30.720 that many people from jericho were actually able to physically witness and see this miracle take

00:29:38.320 place that god performing this sign and wonder was not only to the benefit of his people that is his

00:29:46.220 covenant people israel that they might come to trust in him all the more but that it was also

00:29:52.740 to terrorize God's enemies that they too would see that the Lord was with them so that when the spies

00:29:59.880 went into Jericho and they engaged with Rahab that this perhaps was one of the reasons 0.58

00:30:06.860 why Rahab knew with confirmation with assurance and certainty that the land would be given

00:30:15.580 to Israel, that God was actually against the Canaanites, that he was against the Amorites

00:30:23.820 in the case of Jericho. In the Old Testament, we see that God is uniquely the covenant God

00:30:31.220 of Israel. But God is also universally the God of all the earth. Not just now,

00:30:41.380 after the death resurrection and ascension of christ but he has always been so god has always

00:30:49.960 been the lord of all the earth and so here in verse 10 of our text one of the things that the

00:30:58.100 lord says to his people through joshua is this he says i will do this great sign and wonder among you

00:31:05.260 parting the jordan river so that you cross on dry land not only for the practical purpose of

00:31:11.320 getting Israel to the other side of the river, but also for the spiritual purpose of causing you

00:31:18.040 to firmly believe that not only will a portion of the land be given to you, but all of the land.

00:31:25.900 That is specifically what's said. Again, verse 10, here is how the parting of the Jordan is what's

00:31:32.620 in view here. Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without

00:31:39.080 fail drive out from before you everybody he then list by name all seven tribes that were currently

00:31:48.320 inhabiting the land of canaan the promised land so god says not only will i do this great sign

00:31:55.620 there are many purposes the practical purpose of getting across the river also as we saw earlier

00:32:00.480 in the text one of the reasons that god is going to perform this sign is to exalt joshua in the

00:32:06.120 people, that they would know that the same way in which the Lord was with Moses, the Lord is also

00:32:12.260 now with Joshua. So God is doing this practically to get his people across the Jordan. He's doing it

00:32:18.680 for the purpose of exalting Joshua as a leader over Israel in the eyes of his people. But he's 0.81

00:32:25.920 also doing it to convince Israel that he's not only going to get them into the land, but that 0.65

00:32:32.920 he's going to empower them to conquer the land. Let me say that again, because evangelicals have 0.60

00:32:40.060 not been able to understand this principle for approximately 70 years. So it bears repeating. 0.99

00:32:46.700 Conquering land is a foreign idea to Christians in Western society, but it is thoroughly biblical.

00:32:54.800 God not only causes the Jordan River to part so that they might know that Joshua is their leader

00:33:02.300 and that God is among them or to get them into the land, physically into the land. But God

00:33:08.260 specifically says that he will perform this sign and wonder as a guarantee, not only that his people

00:33:15.500 would enter the land, but that they would conquer the land and that God would not fail to drive out

00:33:23.140 before you every single inhabitant of this promised land all of the inhabitants all of 0.63

00:33:31.960 God's enemies he would drive out from before his people so this promise as it pertains again to the

00:33:40.820 the heavenly reality the eternal reality for us for those of us who are in Christ

00:33:46.180 What it means is that Christ died and rose again.

00:33:50.680 Christ, he passed through this Jordan River.

00:33:53.760 He promises to pass through it with us,

00:33:57.020 to accompany us through death when our time comes.

00:34:00.840 And what this means in real terms

00:34:03.020 is not only will we enter heaven,

00:34:05.960 but that God will give to us a full inheritance.

00:34:10.560 It is not only God's way of getting Israel into the land,

00:34:14.140 but saying, I will give you all of the land 0.67

00:34:17.480 and I will drive out every obstacle,

00:34:20.960 every inhabitant that would stand in my way

00:34:24.280 from giving you not just a partial inheritance,

00:34:28.160 but a full inheritance.

00:34:30.320 Christ's death and resurrection

00:34:32.540 and his covenant of grace and promise to be with us

00:34:36.220 in our death and resurrection

00:34:38.000 is likewise an assurance that we will not only enter heaven,

00:34:42.680 but that we will inherit all of heaven we are co-heirs with christ and every promise that has

00:34:50.060 been given to him through union with him by faith that promise belongs to us as well we are not only

00:34:57.740 promised that through faith we might enter into the heavenly canaan but that all of it belongs

00:35:03.560 to us and that every single sin which so easily entangles and every single drop of god's white

00:35:11.220 hot wrath for sin, every enemy that would inhibit us or hinder us from the fullness of this promise,

00:35:19.840 this inheritance, will be removed. And it has been removed in Christ by virtue of his life,

00:35:26.600 his death, his resurrection, and glorious ascension to the right hand of God the Father.

00:35:32.320 By trusting in Jesus, not only will you enter heaven, but you are promised to receive all of

00:35:38.680 heaven, a full inheritance. Every single promise given to Christ is yours through faith. Lastly,

00:35:49.120 verse 17 of our text, the Bible says this. Now the priest bearing the ark of the covenant of

00:35:57.660 the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan and all Israel was passing over

00:36:04.700 on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. John Gill in his

00:36:13.600 commentary on this particular text says this, and this may denote the presence of Christ with his

00:36:20.220 people in afflictions, who will not suffer those waters to overflow them. And in death itself,

00:36:28.260 when the swellings of Jordan shall not come near them to distress them, and when the covenant

00:36:35.880 of grace will appear firm and sure and be their great support. We've already addressed this point

00:36:44.560 at the beginning of our text, because the point is seen and made multiple times throughout this

00:36:51.440 chapter. But the point once more is this, that Christ has passed through death on our behalf

00:36:58.220 before us. But he is also Emmanuel, God with us, who promises to come alongside his people as we

00:37:06.480 go through the river of death ourselves. And when he does, like the Levitical priest, he will not be

00:37:13.780 struggling he will not be swaying he will not falter or stumble but rather his feet

00:37:21.580 as he holds in his hands the covenant of grace his feet will be surely and firmly planted

00:37:30.640 on dry solid ground this speaks to the security it speaks to the inevitability it speaks to the

00:37:41.440 firmness to the finality the assuredness of the covenant of grace that the covenant of grace is

00:37:50.100 not merely sufficient to help us in our sanctification during the time of our life

00:37:57.840 but when we need christ in his covenant the most at the moment of our death the covenant of grace

00:38:06.040 does not then begin to wane but rather it shores up all the stronger and when we pass through that

00:38:14.960 moment of dying Christ is there and Christ is not wavering Christ is not certain Christ is firm

00:38:23.980 he is true and he remains the same holding in his hand the promise of the covenant of grace

00:38:31.340 with us, Emmanuel, as we pass through the river of death. If Christ was to leave us or forsake us,

00:38:41.680 he would have already done so. As David once said, the Lord had been faithful to him so many times

00:38:50.860 after time after time, that at a certain point in David's life, he finally decided to merely call

00:38:58.840 a spade a spade and he said having seen thus far the faithfulness of the Lord surely goodness and

00:39:07.040 mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever

00:39:15.020 so too it can be said of us for all who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ alone

00:39:22.980 surely goodness and mercy

00:39:25.940 and all the promises and benefits

00:39:28.920 of the covenant of grace

00:39:30.340 shall not falter and fail me

00:39:32.620 on that final day

00:39:34.040 when I need them most

00:39:35.560 but rather they shall follow me

00:39:37.520 all the days of my life

00:39:39.340 and I shall dwell

00:39:41.720 in the house of the Lord

00:39:43.040 in the life to come

00:39:45.080 and I shall enter heaven

00:39:47.080 and I shall receive a full inheritance

00:39:49.820 of all of heaven

00:39:51.840 because it has been promised to Christ and I have by faith union with him. Let's pray. Father,

00:40:00.200 thank you for your word. Bless it to your people that we might live it, obey it, apply it to every

00:40:06.900 single realm of life, all for your glory. So that not only the church might see that you are our

00:40:14.720 covenant god but that all the nations might see that you are the lord of all the earth we pray

00:40:23.480 these things in jesus name amen we're going to continue can i be frank with you for just a second

00:40:29.540 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

00:42:00.080 realm of life gets out there. Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.

00:42:09.480 You

The NXR Podcast - May 14, 2023

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

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